Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The white light engulfed the entire cave.

The black sword energy clashed head-on with the gray law chains in mid-air. The dark red blood-red tip of the sword energy embedded itself in the runic grooves on the surface of the chains, metal biting metal, producing a sharp, piercing friction sound. Sparks scattered from the point of contact, landing on the rough rocky ground and burning small black craters into them.

The weight of a hundred gray chains pressed down relentlessly.

The broken sword's blade was visibly bent slightly.

The hilt of the sword sank down an inch.

The black sword bone on Chen Xuan's back exploded with a series of cracking sounds—like someone was hammering his spine one by one. The black sword energy on the bone surface burst out with a net-like crack, which spread across the entire sword bone without hesitation.

Blood seeped from every pore on his body.

It wasn't flowing. It was squeezed out. Dark red liquid trickled down the lines of his skin, soaking through his tattered clothes and dripping into the puddle of blood on the sole of his foot. The puddle expanded two inches further.

His knees dug into the rock. His kneecaps struggled against the stone surface, producing a dull thud. Radial cracks appeared on the rock beneath his feet.

Li Changgeng stood by the stone platform.

With palms facing down and fingers spread wide, the gray laws flowed continuously from the fingertips, feeding into the massive net of chains in mid-air.

The chains of law tightened once more.

The gray light almost completely obscured the black and red blood-red glow on the broken sword.

The broken sword was still sinking.

It was only three feet above Chen Xuan's head.

A cracking sound came from Chen Xuan's cervical spine. His bones had dislocated. His head was forced downwards, and his pure black eyes could only stare at the ever-growing pool of blood on the ground.

---

Su Chang'an stood behind the crack in the cage of laws.

Their gaze pierced through the crack, fixed intently on Chen Xuan's back.

A third of the black sword bone had already broken off. The shattered bone fragments were embedded in the surrounding flesh. The exposed skin and flesh were purplish-black, completely lifeless.

In the lower left corner of my vision, the system panel was flashing wildly.

The red numbers jump around.

[Destined Death Tribulation Progress: 98%]

Su Chang'an's mind raced.

Chen Xuan's dantian was ruined. Utterly shattered. Ninety percent of his meridians were broken. The strength that kept him standing, the strength that allowed him to draw his sword, was all forged from burning his soul and heart's blood.

Li Changgeng's output of the law remained unchanged.

The foundation of a quasi-emperor is there, it's a whole heaven thicker than that of a Great Sage—he can't outlast him.

There's only one outcome if we keep going.

Within ten breaths, Chen Xuan's soul was burned away, and his body and spirit were completely destroyed.

There are no "ifs." There are no "what ifs."

Su Chang'an kicked with his left leg.

His toes scraped the ground, and he shot out.

The red hem of the dress exploded in the air.

She passed through the crack in the cage of laws and landed beside Chen Xuan.

A fifth grayish-white tail peeked out, its fur tightly wrapped around Chen Xuan's waist.

The seventh tail shot skyward, its tip aimed at the broken sword in mid-air.

The dark red essence of the celestial fox shot out from the tip of its tail—a straight beam of light that struck the hilt of the broken sword.

The force did not touch the sword.

It precisely cut into the invisible energy umbilical cord between the sword hilt and Chen Xuan's soul.

Cut in two with one stroke.

The black sword energy cut off the supply.

The light on the broken sword vanished completely. The blade wobbled in mid-air before falling, its tip embedding itself three inches into the rock beneath. The hilt was still trembling slightly.

The black sword bone on Chen Xuan's back lost its energy source, turned into a cloud of black mist, and dissipated.

The moment he lost his support, Chen Xuan felt as if his skeleton had been removed, and he fell straight forward.

Su Chang'an's fifth tail tightened suddenly, forcefully pulling him back.

Chen Xuan fell at Su Chang'an's feet.

The side profile was slapped against the rough stone surface.

His left hand groped on the ground. His fingers curled up. His fingertips touched Su Chang'an's boots.

They exerted their strength.

The fingernails dug directly into the leather of the boot, leaving five deep dents.

---

Li Changgeng withdrew both hands, his fingers pressed together.

The gray chains in mid-air stopped. The cage of laws, hanging five zhang above their heads, neither pressed down nor disintegrated.

Li Changgeng stared intently at Su Chang'an's face from three zhang away.

Su Chang'an looked up.

Make eye contact with him.

"You can't win," Li Changgeng said.

The sound didn't echo at all in that huge cave. It was as heavy as a piece of iron thrown into water.

Su Chang'an moved his right foot slightly, kicking away a small pebble beside him. The pebble rolled away with a clatter.

"I know."

She raised her left hand. Her palm was open.

The wound on his palm, where a piece of flesh had been torn away by the stone wall, had stopped bleeding. A layer of dark brown scab had formed on the wound, making it a gruesome sight.

"Let's make a deal," Su Chang'an said.

Li Changgeng's gaze shifted from her face to the seventh tail behind her. The dark red light at the tip of the tail was still slowly flowing.

"You have no bargaining chips," Li Changgeng said.

"I have."

Su Chang'an raised his right hand. His charred fingers touched his chest.

The dark red light on the seventh tail began to go berserk.

It flashed and leaped violently. Light poured back from the tip of the tail to the base, passed through the veins on the back, and rushed into the center of the chest cavity.

Dark red light shone through the red fabric.

Her chest glowed.

A fist-sized ball of light compressed, condensed, and became purer with each burning. An extremely dense aura of the Celestial Fox's essence exploded out, filling the entire cavern.

"You want this." Su Chang'an lowered his hand. His phoenix eyes locked onto Li Changgeng.

"You want to use it to fill the heart of that body on the stone platform. The power of the same origin, to repair those heart vessels torn apart by chains."

Li Changgeng's breath hitched. His chest stiffened, forgetting to rise and fall.

"I'll give it to you." Su Chang'an spoke at a measured pace. "Actively strip away the source, dissipate all consciousness from this soul. This power will become ownerless, pure energy, completely merging into her heart meridian. Clean and honest, no deception."

Li Changgeng slowly clenched his fists at his sides. His knuckles cracked.

"Conditions," he said.

Su Chang'an pointed downwards with his left hand.

She pointed at Chen Xuan, who was lying at her feet.

"Let him go."

Two words crashed into the cave.

"Remove the outer protective formation. Send him out of the Chen family ancestral land. Let him return to Zhongzhou alive."

Chen Xuan's fingers, which were gripping the top of his boot, tightened suddenly.

The fingernail pierced the leather and embedded itself in the inner lining.

He twisted his neck. The muscles in his neck twitched wildly.

Those pure black eyes looked up, staring intently at Su Chang'an's profile.

Blood gushed from the corner of his mouth, trickling down his chin and dripping onto Su Chang'an's boots.

He opened his mouth.

A hoarse, hissing sound squeezed out of his throat. His vocal cords were vibrating desperately, but he couldn't form a single complete word.

Su Chang'an did not bow his head.

Her gaze remained fixed on Li Changgeng from beginning to end, not shifting even an inch.

Li Changgeng glanced at Chen Xuan. His gaze swept over the broken spine, over the crippled arms, and over the mangled frame that could barely cling to life.

"A useless person," Li Changgeng said.

"That's my business," Su Chang'an replied quickly. "You just need to choose: yes or no."

Li Changgeng raised his right hand. His palm opened. The gray laws gathered again at his fingertips.

"I can take it myself."

Su Chang'an's seventh tail suddenly straightened into an iron rod, its tip piercing straight into the dome of the sky.

The ball of light on his chest went berserk.

The dark red light increased more than tenfold, so bright that even a quasi-emperor instinctively squinted.

The air around the ball of light twisted.

It's not the kind of twisting caused by a heat wave. It's the space itself being deformed by a high concentration of primordial forces.

"You can give it a try."

Su Chang'an's speaking speed and tone remained unchanged. It was flat, as if he were simply saying the weather was nice today.

She stared at Li Changgeng's raised hand.

"The Quasi-Emperor's attack was swift. Your laws pierced my chest cavity, at most in a breath."

There was a pause.

"But the command to self-destruct only requires half a thought."

His left hand hung at his side, fingers completely relaxed. No clenched fist, no defensiveness. He was as relaxed as a gambler who had already revealed all his cards.

"An explosion won't hurt you. This little thing can't even collapse this cave." Su Chang'an's lips twitched, his smile utterly nonchalant.

"But this primordial essence will be completely annihilated. Not even a trace will remain. The one on your stone platform—won't even get a single drop of tonic."

The gray laws at Li Changgeng's fingertips solidified.

I'm not leaving. We're not meeting anymore.

The law-based cage suspended in mid-air emitted a very faint hum.

The cave was extremely quiet.

It was so quiet that only two sounds could be heard.

Chen Xuan was breathing heavily, like a broken bellows.

The dripping of blood onto the rocks.

Li Changgeng's gaze swept back and forth between Su Chang'an's expressionless face and the ball of light in her chest that seemed ready to explode at any moment.

Three thousand years.

He waited for three thousand years. He searched for three thousand years. He knelt for three thousand years.

This source was his only hope.

It was the last chance for the body on the stone platform to survive.

His right hand, inch by inch, lowered itself. The laws at his fingertips dissipated.

"Okay," Li Changgeng said. "I agree."

---

The energy in Su Chang'an's chest calmed down.

The dark red light stopped flashing and flickering, returning to its original brightness. The distorted space in the air returned to normal. The seventh tail relaxed and drooped down.

Su Chang'an turned around.

Facing Chen Xuan, who was lying on the ground.

Chen Xuan trembled like a leaf.

He loosened his fingers from the top of his boot.

His elbows were braced against the ground, the broken bones in his forearms digging into the rocks. He was trying to prop himself up.

My spine is broken. I can't transmit any strength downwards from my waist.

My elbow slipped in the blood.

He lost his balance and fell sideways again.

He slammed his right cheek against the stone. A two-inch-long gash appeared below his cheekbone. Scraps scraped off the stone became embedded in his flesh.

He didn't stop.

He braced himself with his elbows and dragged his body forward on the ground, crawling towards the direction where Su Chang'an was standing.

The bloodstains left a crooked, dark red trail on the rock.

Su Chang'an bent his knees and squatted down.

He stretched out his left hand and placed his palm on Chen Xuan's left shoulder.

Apply force. Press down.

They pressed his raised upper body back down to the ground.

Chen Xuan's pure black eyes stared intently at Su Chang'an's face.

His chin was shaking violently. His teeth were chattering loudly.

"Shut up," Su Chang'an said. "Listen to me."

Chen Xuan closed his lips. He bit down hard on his lower lip with both his upper and lower teeth. He bit so hard that the skin broke and blood seeped out, mixing with the blood at the corner of his mouth.

"My soul will break down."

Su Chang'an looked into his pure black eyes. He lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard by a third person.

The system panel flashed frantically in the corner of her consciousness.

The red line is set at 99%. Just one final push is needed to reach the maximum.

"After the original essence is stripped away, this borrowed body will dissipate. The consciousness will sink into the shell underground. The original body will fall asleep."

There was a pause.

"It's hard to say when he'll wake up."

Chen Xuan raised his left hand from the ground.

My wrist is bent at an angle. My fingers are spread out.

His fingertips touched Su Chang'an's wrist, which was resting on his shoulder.

I didn't have the strength to hold it. I could only let it drape over my skin.

My fingertips were as cold as a stone.

"This is not death," Su Chang'an said.

The sound was still steady.

"It's for sleeping."

Su Chang'an raised his right hand.

Her hand was covered in burnt, dead skin. It hadn't healed since she entered the Guiyuan Hall. She pressed the back of her hand against Chen Xuan's face.

It avoided the fresh, bloody gash below the cheekbone.

"Go back alive."

The sound dropped a notch. So low it was almost drowned out by the sound of dripping blood.

"Leave this place. Heal your wounds. Regain your cultivation."

Chen Xuan's head swayed slowly from side to side on the rock.

The amplitude is very small. Less than half an inch.

But the meaning is very clear.

He opened his mouth. His teeth loosened his lower lip.

He squeezed out a single word from the deepest part of his throat.

"No."

He spat out a mouthful of bloody foam.

Su Chang'an withdrew his right hand.

He removed his left hand from Chen Xuan's shoulder.

She stood up. Her legs were straight.

He looked down at him on the ground.

"I, Su Chang'an, do business."

She looked into his eyes.

"I never do business at a loss."

Behind it, five gray-white tails began to turn transparent.

The fur gradually diffused from the edges, transforming into tiny, dark red specks of light. These specks detached from the tail, hovering in the air without falling.

"We've suffered a huge loss this time," Su Chang'an said.

The seventh tail was also dissipating. The dark red light gradually shattered into solid dust.

You owe me a life.

Su Chang'an's gaze didn't waver. Not even for a moment.

"You stay alive. When I wake up, we'll settle this score."

It paused for a moment.

Interest will still be calculated.

Chen Xuan's left hand slipped off Su Chang'an's wrist. Losing its support, the back of his hand slammed against the rock with a dull thud.

He stared at Su Chang'an.

The light spots scattered faster and faster.

The five tails are gone.

The edges of the red hem began to blur. The fabric's texture crumbled into light, strand by strand, drifting into the air.

Su Chang'an turned around.

He turned his back to Chen Xuan.

Facing the stone platform.

She didn't turn around.

His left hand hung at his side. His fingers clenched slightly.

It's loosened up again.

---

Li Changgeng stood on the right side of the stone platform.

Hands form a mudra in front of the chest. Fingers move swiftly.

The gray laws drew out an extremely light current within the cave. This current, carrying with it dark red specks of light suspended in the air, was directed towards the stone platform.

The point of light drifted past.

Grains fell one by one onto the surface of the withered remains on the stone platform.

The moment it fell, light seeped into its gray-black skin. Silently.

The chest of the body rose and fell slightly more.

It was only slightly more.

It was almost invisible to the naked eye. But the surface of the withered skin had a very faint sheen—like an old porcelain piece that had accumulated dust for three thousand years, finally being polished.

Su Chang'an's lower body disintegrated.

The legs were gone. The waist was gone. The upper body was suspended in mid-air, surrounded by drifting dark red dust.

She didn't turn around.

The ball of light in his chest detached from his body.

Contraction. Coagulation.

Finally, it transformed into a dark red bead the size of a longan. The purest essence of the celestial fox emanated from the bead's surface, so dense that it even stained the air.

The bead flew forward.

It crossed a distance of three zhang (approximately 13 meters) and stopped directly above the stone platform.

It hangs directly above the body's heart.

Li Changgeng spread his hands to the sides.

The bead fell straight down.

It passes through the gap between the ribs and enters the chest cavity.

His body twitched violently.

The dozen or so main locks that pierced through the heart meridian clanged loudly.

---

Su Chang'an's head was scrambling.

Long hair turned into specks of light. The outline of her face gradually blurred.

Chen Xuan lay on the cold rock.

Eyes wide open to the limit.

The blood from the tear at the corner of the eye had long since dried, forming a dark red, hard crust.

Those pure black eye sockets reflected the light that drifted across the sky ahead.

He looked at that splash of red.

It's getting fainter. Thinner. More fragmented.

The last dark red dot of light drifted away with the airflow and merged into the direction of the stone platform.

Gone.

The remaining dark red light in the cave was completely extinguished.

Only the faint gray light emanating from Li Changgeng's laws remained. It couldn't even illuminate a shadow.

Chen Xuan's fingers were bent on the rock.

Maintain the curve when cutting the boot surface.

Clutching at the air.

---

Li Changgeng walked up to Chen Xuan.

Standing. Looking down.

He raised his right hand. Gray laws surged from his palm.

Light enveloped Chen Xuan's body.

Chen Xuan's gaze passed over Li Changgeng's clothes.

Look towards the stone platform in the distance.

The body lay quietly on the stone platform. Broken chains were scattered all around.

A gray light swept over, covering the entire image.

Everything went black.

Chen Xuan's fingers were still bent.

It's always bent.