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

Su Chang stood quietly in the snow. The tattered leather coat on his shoulders, stained with the blood of demonic beasts and the yellow sand of the far west, weighed heavily on his back, revealing Bai Yin's frenzied and burning body temperature.

Before him, Gu Xiang maintained the highest etiquette of the Grand Chancellor of the Great Zhou Dynasty; though his blue robe was tattered, his spine remained ramrod straight. The high wall of absolute rationality in his heart had finally been forcibly breached by these two unreasonable men.

Su Chang'an lowered her eyes, concealing the turbulent emotions within. She was accustomed to the cold, equal exchange of her past and present lives, accustomed to weighing gains and losses with calculation. She had intended to sever ties with cause and effect with the most unbearable truth, to face the deadly trap with a light heart. But these two people, one wrapped her in a fur coat with the crudest words, the other used the most airtight logic to excuse her soft heart.

Amidst the fierce wind and snow, Su Chang'an's cold snort rang out clearly across the icy plain. She raised her hand, gripped the edge of her tattered coat, and pulled it tightly inward, wrapping her thin body up, leaving only a section of her pale chin exposed.

When he looked up again, the shock and helplessness he had felt earlier had completely subsided, and his cool and aloof expression once again revealed his arrogant disdain for the world and his view of everything as mere pawns.

"Since you're so eager to die," Su Chang'an said in a chilling tone, "I'll grant your wish."

Bai Yin's tense back suddenly relaxed, and a look of wild joy flashed in his bloodshot eyes. Gu Xiang straightened up, a faint smile curving her pale lips. They knew her too well; this cold, harsh statement was proof of their acceptance.

Su Chang'an didn't look at the two of them, but turned around and faced due south, towards the Central Continent.

"I'm not running away anymore."

The sound pierced through the wind and snow, carrying a chilling killing intent. The aura of a peak Great Saint Realm expert flowed, and the surrounding ice, unable to bear the weight, cracked inch by inch.

"We'll march straight back to Central Continent." Su Chang'an's words were resounding. "Li Changgeng is attempting to extract the evil energy of heaven and earth to resurrect an empty shell. That shell holds my true body, imprisoned for three thousand years. I must go back, overturn the great formation, and reclaim my physical form!"

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes filled with arrogance: "I'll let him know that he can't stop me from orchestrating this!"

Before he finished speaking, Bai Yin's aura surged dramatically. His body, refined by the Heavenly Fox's blood, erupted with terrifying power, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists. The extreme western Geng metal evil energy transformed into a white stream of energy that swirled wildly, pulverizing the flying snow.

"Li Changgeng?" Bai Yin grinned, his smile twisted in a grotesque grimace. "I don't care if he's a quasi-emperor or not! If he dares to touch you, I'll crush his bones inch by inch and burn his soul to the heavens!"

On the other side, Gu Xiang brushed away the ice shards from his sleeve. He showed no signs of rage, yet his aura was earth-shattering. The gentle warmth of his righteous energy faded, revealing a dark golden edge, swirling and elongating in the wind and snow, faintly outlining the shape of a five-clawed golden dragon. It was a sign that the fate of the Great Zhou Dynasty had merged with his righteous energy.

Gu Xiang raised his eyes, his gaze deep and unfathomable, revealing the ruthless power of the Great Zhou Prime Minister who held the reins of life and death.

"Anyone who obstructs my wife shall be executed." His tone was gentle, but his words carried the weight of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. "I, Gu, will break the scheme between the Chen family and the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect. I will collect the three thousand years I owe you, with interest."

Before the Xuanbing Gate, former mortal enemies who used to fight each other have now formed the most powerful and unreasonable alliance in the world for the sake of one person.

Inside the Xuanbing Gate, in a dark corner, Luo Qingxue stood quietly in the shadows.

She had spent half her life cultivating the "Supreme Forgetfulness Technique," taking the severing of the seven emotions and six desires as her guiding principle, her heart as solid as ice for millennia. But now, seeing the three men outside the door, covered in wounds yet exuding an overwhelming aura, the iceberg deep within her Dao heart quietly melted.

Li Changgeng cultivated the Supreme Detachment from Emotions, but became a coward who imprisoned himself within his own circle. The three men outside the gate were crude, calculating, and trapped by love, yet with their deepest feelings and true nature, they dared to cross boundaries, burn blood, and defy the Heavenly Dao with their remnant souls.

The idea of ​​transcending emotions is utterly laughable!

Luo Qingxue closed her eyes, and her decades-long cultivation of detached inner energy completely dissipated, giving rise to a vibrant sword intent. Her Dao heart crumbled, but she rose again from the ashes.

She pushed open the heavy, icy door. The wind and snow whipped up the hem of her white dress. Luo Qingxue stopped three steps in front of Su Chang'an, her gaze clear and no longer filled with confusion.

"The far north is tens of millions of miles from the Central Continent. Even a peak Great Saint Realm expert tearing through space at full speed would take time," Luo Qingxue said calmly. "By the time you arrive, the great formation will already be complete."

Su Chang'an remained silent.

Luo Qingxue met her scrutiny: "Deep within the Xuanbing Sect lies an ancient teleportation array. It is the sect's escape route, capable of bypassing spatial blockades and reaching directly to the heart of the Central Continent."

Bai Yin stepped forward, standing like an iron tower beside Su Chang'an, staring intently at Luo Qingxue: "Would a disciple of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect be kind enough to help us kill our own ancestor?"

Ignoring the oppressive aura, Luo Qingxue looked directly at Su Chang'an: "I will always remember Chen Xuan's mercy in sparing my life in the secret realm. Today, I am lending you this formation as a way of repaying that favor. From this day forward, I sever all ties with the Supreme Forgetful Sect."

Upon hearing the name "Chen Xuan," Su Chang'an's eyes suddenly turned cold and sharp.

Deep within his consciousness, the Heavenly Dao Destiny Plate was trembling violently. The life fire representing Chen Xuan's "Destined Death Tribulation" was extremely weak, flickering with a blinding blood-red light. That blood-red light almost pierced through his soul, revealing a suffocating, deathly despair.

Su Chang'an suddenly clenched her fists tightly. She looked at Gu Xiang and Bai Yin, her tone calm yet extremely solemn.

"Central Continent isn't just rife with Li Changgeng's trap," she said, emphasizing each word. "There, too, lies a mad dog I raised from childhood, now desperately trying to protect me. I must go and save him."

In the wind and snow, the atmosphere suddenly froze.

The righteous golden dragon behind Gu Xiang suddenly froze, its golden light flickering. Bai Yin's clenched iron fist also stiffened in mid-air, the muscles in his hand twitching slightly.

The wind howled fiercely in the far north, yet a strange, bitter, and murderous aura permeated the air.

Gu Xiang and Bai Yin turned their heads, their eyes meeting. Neither drew their swords nor uttered a word of mockery. The two peerless experts gritted their teeth.

"Raised from a young age." Bai Yin chewed these four words to pieces in his heart.

"I'll risk my life to protect her." Gu Xiang pondered this thought over and over in his heart.

The two tacitly withdrew their gazes without uttering a word, but in the blood-stained ledger of their hearts, they made a heavy mark on this "third brother" they had never met.

Su Chang'an ignored the undercurrents between the two, and the murderous intent was imminent.

"lead the way."

Luo Qingxue turned and led the way. After passing through the winding ice cave, an ancient altar covered with mottled array patterns appeared. She cut her wrist and dripped her life essence blood into the array's eye.

The ancient array roared, and a blinding white light shot into the sky, forcibly tearing through space to reveal a dark passage.

Su Chang'an didn't hesitate. Beneath her tattered fur coat, her plain white robe fluttered in the wind. She stepped into the array of light.

Gu Xiang and Bai Yin stood to the left and right respectively. The blue-robed man and the bare-chested man, the golden dragon and the white tiger exuding menacing aura, followed closely behind that pure white figure.

The burst of light engulfed the three. Its sharp edge, capable of killing even gods and Buddhas, pointed directly at the Central Continent.

Zhongzhou, the ancestral home of the Chen family, is located in the abyss of Guiyuan Palace.

Dark red light filled the ground, and the materialized malevolent energy of heaven and earth was pungent and nauseating. Li Changgeng's great formation had reached its critical point; the formation patterns writhed like living things, frantically devouring life force.

Above the abyss array eye.

Chen Xuan was suspended in mid-air by four black iron chains. The chains pierced through his collarbone and knees, and dark runes burrowed into his flesh, gnawing at it inch by inch.

His bones were shattered, and his body was twisted in a bizarre way. Dark red blood dripped from his toes into the array's eye, sticky and pungent.

The excruciating pain was like a relentless tsunami, enough to drive even a Great Sage to madness, yet Chen Xuan remained silent. He gritted his teeth, blood staining his chapped lips.

In his limp right hand, his five fingers clenched a black fragment of a broken sword almost spasmodically—the only keepsake Su Chang'an had left him. The fragment pierced deep into his palm, flesh and blood mingling with malevolent energy.

Chen Xuan didn't look down at the crazed Li Changgeng. He tilted his head slightly, staring intently at the darkness shrouded in blood-red light above the abyss like a dying lone wolf. His unfocused pupils revealed an extreme obsession.

"Don't be afraid..."

His chapped lips parted slightly as he silently murmured something.

"Don't be afraid...she will come back..."