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

Inside the dark, mysterious ice passage, the chill seeped into the bones. The pale glow of the luminous pearls on the wall cast elongated shadows on the four figures.

Gu Xiang, dragging his tattered blue robe, walked unsteadily; Bai Yin clutched a laceration on his back, breathing heavily. The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, lagged half a step behind Su Chang'an.

Heeding the previous warning, they dared not speak again, even deliberately suppressing their breathing. But in the dead silence, another silent battle was brewing beneath the surface.

Gu Xiang slightly turned his head, his gaze sweeping past Su Chang'an's shoulder and glancing sideways to his right. The Prime Minister of the Great Zhou looked at him with disdain, deliberately straightening his hunched back, intending to use his scholarly air to suppress others.

Bai Yin keenly observed that the Great Sage of the Demon Clan's vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and a sinister smile curled at the corner of his mouth. He deliberately tilted his broad shoulders slightly to the left, returning the gaze with a sarcastic look: Rotten wood and withered bones, do you even deserve to compete for glory?

Their gazes clashed fiercely in mid-air. If it weren't for the white-robed figure suppressing them from the front, the two would have already been locked in a fierce struggle within the narrow passage.

Su Chang'an remained oblivious to the farce unfolding behind him.

She walked steadily, her eyes fixed on Luo Qingxue, who was leading the way. The crimson array patterns on her cloak flowed, dispelling the chill around her, but unable to calm the knot in her heart.

The deadly predicament at the Chen family ancestral land in Zhongzhou, Li Changgeng's cage of laws, and the broken figure that fell into the spatial rift at the last moment, have always lingered in my sea of ​​consciousness.

She took a deep breath, the cold air filling her lungs, forcefully suppressing her chaotic thoughts.

"Luo Qingxue," Su Chang'an spoke, his clear, cold voice echoing through the icy walls, "Li Changgeng used the power of the laws to send Chen Xuan out of the Chen family's ancestral land. Where is he now exactly?"

Luo Qingxue paused slightly, the ice-blue tassel on the sword hilt coming to a standstill. She didn't turn around, but her fingers gripping the scabbard tightened unconsciously, her knuckles turning white.

The atmosphere in the passageway suddenly became heavy.

Luo Qingxue turned around, her usually cold face now showing an unusual solemnity. She looked directly at Su Chang'an, her tone flat, yet she uttered top-secret information that would shake the Northern Region.

"That's not a way out." Luo Qingxue's voice was extremely low. "As a quasi-emperor, how could Li Changgeng leave any loopholes in his actions? He has long had a secret deal with the main family of the Chen family in Zhongzhou. The landing point of the spatial rift is not a safe place at all, but the most dangerous place in Zhongzhou—the Fallen God Abyss."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "The Chen family's secret guards have been mobilized in full force, and the elite of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect's Enforcement Hall have also been assembled. A net has been laid out around the outer perimeter of this forbidden land; this is a cross-boundary, relentless slaughter."

Su Chang'an's pupils contracted slightly, and his body tensed instantly beneath his plain robe.

Luo Qingxue lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on the frosty ground, and recounted the confidential spiritual images transmitted back by the Enforcement Hall.

"When he fell out of the spatial turbulence, he was already at his last gasp." Luo Qingxue's voice trembled slightly. "In the spirit shadow, his spine was broken and his meridians were nearly withered. An ordinary person would have been a rotten mess long ago."

"But he didn't die."

"He plunged the broken black sword deep into the frozen earth, using his mangled body to rise again. The Enforcement Hall's sword formation surrounded him, with several times the number of elite troops setting up a killing trap."

"He didn't retreat an inch, like a mad wolf in a desperate situation. He gave up resisting, letting the sword energy permeate his body, and fought bloodily in the most primitive and brutal way, tearing a bloody path out of the deadly place."

The temperature inside the secret passage dropped further.

Luo Qingxue looked up, her gaze complex: "The elder who was chasing us sent back a message via flying sword. When he fled, he was already insane, his eyes were filled with nothing but killing intent, and his five senses were almost completely stripped away."

"But he had nothing else on him except a broken jade pendant that he was tightly guarding at his waist."

Luo Qingxue slowed her speech, each word striking the ice: "That was his last line of defense. Whenever pursuers got close to the jade pendant, or the sword energy reached that spot, he would go completely mad."

"When he has no spiritual power, he uses his broken sword; when the broken sword is destroyed, he uses his teeth. He is willing to burn his heart's blood to crush his opponent's throat. Even if it costs him his life, even if his hands and feet are cut off, he will never back down an inch. He values ​​that jade pendant more than his own life."

Su Chang'an's steps suddenly halted.

That broken jade pendant was a keepsake she left behind. The rebellious son she raised in the snowstorm, aloof and violent boy, actually used his own flesh and blood to guard the only trace she left behind in a desperate situation thousands of miles away.

Beneath the sleeves of his plain robe, Su Chang'an's hands clenched tightly.

Fingernails dug into the palm, piercing the skin. Warm blood seeped from between the fingers, dripping onto the cold stone slab.

She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes concealing the pure violence and piercing guilt surging within them.

A chilling aura emanated from her, dropping to freezing point. The remaining spiritual energy in the secret passage was forcibly frozen by the killing intent, and the luminous pearls on the wall dimmed abruptly. Fine ice spikes spread wildly along the stone slabs beneath her feet, producing a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

She remained silent, only her suppressed anger swirling in the air.

Gu Xiang and Bai Yin stopped in their tracks behind them.

The gazes that had been locked in mid-air instantly returned. Their powerful intuitions allowed them to simultaneously detect the dramatic shift in Su Chang'an's emotions.

Seeing the ice spikes spreading beneath their feet and feeling the murderous intent that seemed to tear space apart, alarm bells rang in their hearts.

"Chen Xuan".

The unfamiliar name, spoken by Luo Qingxue, pierced their hearts like a poisonous thorn.

They once thought they were each other's greatest rivals, each occupying the most important place in her life at Luofeng Slope and Guanghan Palace.

Now, a man far away in the Central Continent, being hunted like a stray dog, has managed to make this woman, who remains calm even if Mount Tai collapses before her, lose control to this extent with just a jade pendant.

An intense possessiveness surged wildly within Gu Xiang and Bai Yin's chests.

Gu Xiang frowned deeply, his brows furrowing into a deep crease.

The Grand Chancellor of the Great Zhou Dynasty was a man of great influence in the court and insightful in understanding people's hearts. He instantly concluded that Chen Xuan was definitely a greater threat than the foolish tiger beside him.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness in his heart, and vigorously wiped his chilblain-covered hands under the tattered hem of his blue robe, trying to put on the airs of a great scholar.

"Qing'er..."

Gu Xiang took a small step forward, his tone drawn out, his voice tinged with a pedantic and refined manner.

"Just who is this young friend Chen Xuan?" He narrowed his eyes, deliberately downplaying the matter. "A mere cultivator should know that life and death are predestined once they embark on the path of cultivation. Since he has fallen into the hands of his enemies, it is his fate. Why do you worry so much, even to the point of having murderous thoughts?"

Gu Xiang paused, then adopted the demeanor of a magnanimous elder: "If they are citizens of the Great Zhou, once I have recovered my cultivation, I will certainly send someone to the Central Continent to take care of them. Why should you worry about such outsiders?"

Bai Yin listened from the side, his brows furrowing. He disdained Gu Xiang's roundabout probing, understanding only one thing: Su Chang'an felt sorry for that wild man.

The territorial consciousness of the Great Sage of the Demon Clan was greatly challenged.

He suddenly looked up, his dim beastly eyes instantly turning bloodshot, the scarlet light appearing particularly ferocious in the secret passage, and a violent aura surged forth.

"Who cares about Chen Xuan or Li Xuan!"

Bai Yin gritted his teeth, his rough voice causing ice crystals to fall from the stone roof.

He suddenly turned to Su Chang'an, his eyes filled with naked jealousy and rage.

"He'd better die in Central Continent! Chop him into mincemeat by the Chen family and the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect!" Bai Yin clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking. "Little Jiu, listen up! If this Chen fellow dares to set foot in the Northern Region, even if I lose all my cultivation, I'll crawl there and bite his neck off alive!"

The atmosphere in the secret passage plummeted to freezing point. Gu Xiang's sarcastic remarks and Bai Yin's wild pronouncements intertwined, making the cramped space even more suffocating.

Su Chang'an suddenly turned around.

The white robe swept across the paper in a sharp arc.

Her gaze was icy, carrying an undeniable air of authority, as she swept her gaze across their faces.

There was no explanation, no reassurance.

She glanced coldly at the two men who had lost their composure due to jealousy, and with a slight parting of her red lips, uttered two words:

"Shut up."

The sound wasn't loud, but it made the two men's blood surge.

Gu Xiang's fake smile froze, and the words "I was just concerned" stuck in her throat.

Bai Yin's violent temper suddenly froze, his open mouth hung in mid-air, and in the end only a muffled breath escaped.

The two fell silent instantly.

The passageway fell silent again, and the luminous pearl shone coldly.

Gu Xiang and Bai Yin silently lowered their heads and retreated to their original positions. In the shadows unseen by Su Chang'an, the murderous intent towards Chen Xuan in their lowered eyes not only did not diminish, but instead rose to its peak.