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

Su Chang'an gripped the greatsword tightly, his eyes cold, the blade pointing directly at the second layer of light shield.

As she moved, the hundred-foot-tall nine-tailed ice fox avatar raised the giant ice sword condensed from the laws of extreme cold. The nine thick, ice-blue fox tails stretched wildly in the void, forcibly drawing in the extreme cold spiritual energy wandering in the surrounding world and frantically pouring into the avatar.

The temperature in the air plummeted. The moat surrounding Chen Family City froze instantly, emitting a dull cracking sound. On the city walls, the heavily armored Chen Family cultivators felt a bone-chilling cold pierce through their armor, reaching their very marrow. Those with weaker cultivation levels even found their hands gripping their weapons trembling uncontrollably.

Gu Xiang stood to the left of the Dharma Image, his blue robe fluttering in the cold wind. His left hand was behind his back, while his right hand held the sage's giant brush, pointing it lightly in the air. A surge of righteous energy flowed continuously from his body, condensing in mid-air into large, golden ancient seal characters. Each character carried a powerful, all-encompassing aura, crashing down upon the crumbling array's protective barrier.

Bai Yin crouched on the right shoulder of the Dharma Image, his upper body leaning forward, his back arching in an explosive arc. Dark red Geng metal aura churned around his body. He opened his mouth, and a deafening tiger roar pierced the sky from deep within his throat. The sound waves transformed into tangible dark red ripples, crashing against the Chen family's defenses wave after wave.

The two stood on either side, frantically channeling their power while glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"Press harder, haven't you eaten?" Bai Yin grinned, revealing gleaming white teeth. "You can't even crack a tortoise shell, yet you dare call yourself the Prime Minister of the Great Zhou?"

Gu Xiang kept his eyes straight ahead, his giant brush still in his hand, and replied in an extremely calm tone: "Brute force is crude and vulgar. To break an array, you must find its core and cut off its vital energy. Your haphazard, aimless rushing around is nothing but a waste of energy. Qing'er is watching, so don't embarrass yourself."

"Shut up! It's Xiao Jiu!" Bai Yin roared, and the Geng metal evil energy on his body suddenly surged by three points, transforming into countless dark red claws that swept towards the light barrier.

Chen Boyong stood atop the city wall, cold sweat trickling down his temples and instantly freezing into beads of ice. He stared at the nine-tailed dharma image in mid-air, radiating the pressure of a quasi-emperor, and the powerful beings on either side, their auras astonishing. His breathing became extremely heavy.

The sound of the first layer of light shield shattering still echoed in his ears. He knew clearly that conventional methods were simply no match for an attack of this level.

He bit his tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the array plate in his hand. His hands formed intricate hand seals, and his divine sense directly connected with the Chen family's main spiritual vein deep underground.

"Merge!" Chen Boyong roared fiercely.

Following his command, the remaining eight layers of golden light shields in the Ninefold Returning Origin Array began to contract violently. The original layered defense mechanism was forcibly broken, and the eight layers of light curtains overlapped and intertwined, eventually condensing into an incomparably thick, dark golden absolute defensive barrier outside the city wall.

On the surface of the barrier, countless mysterious and ancient array patterns flowed rapidly, exuding an aura of indestructibility and weight.

Looking down at the dark golden barrier, Su Chang'an's lips curled into a cold smile.

Without a word or any fancy moves, the Taiyin Greatsword, carrying the might of a quasi-emperor, slashed straight down from above.

The massive, icy blade slashed through the dark gold barrier.

There was no deafening explosion, only a teeth-grinding friction sound. The extremely cold Yin Law and the dark golden array Law were frantically clashing and eroding each other at their point of contact.

The space beneath the blade could not withstand this level of compression, cracking open with jet-black fissures. Spatial turbulence spilled out, shattering the surrounding air into fragments.

The dark gold barrier trembled violently. Although it barely blocked the direct strike of the sword, the enormous recoil force traveled along the foundation of the formation and directly to the city wall below.

The sturdy city walls of the Chen family, built from special obsidian and weathered by thousands of years of wind and rain, began to groan under the weight of the burden.

Large cracks spread across the surface of the city wall, stones crumbled, and rubble tumbled down. Large sections of the city wall cracked and collapsed under the immense pressure.

The Chen family cultivators standing on the city wall lost their footing, and many of them fell with the collapsing rubble, screams echoing throughout the city.

Meanwhile, deep underground within the Chen family's city walls.

This is the confluence of the Chen family's spiritual veins, and the dim space is filled with extremely rich earth-attribute spiritual energy.

Tianpeng concealed himself as he moved through the intricate network of underground caves. In his hand he held a nine-toothed rake, its nine teeth gleaming with a cold, starlight-like light.

He stopped in front of a massive tributary of a spiritual vein that emitted a pale golden light. This was one of the four backup spiritual veins supporting the Ninefold Returning Origin Array.

Without any hesitation, Tianpeng gripped his rake tightly, unleashing his peak Great Sage Realm cultivation. He channeled the power of the Taiyin Star into it, then swung the rake, smashing it fiercely against the spiritual vein.

A deep, resounding boom echoed from the ground. The pale golden spiritual vein was forcefully severed by the nine-toothed rake, and spiritual energy scattered everywhere.

on the ground.

Chen Boyong was desperately supporting the array plate when he suddenly felt the array's operation stagnate. The seemingly indestructible dark gold barrier dimmed slightly in an instant. The previously smooth array patterns also paused briefly.

Someone is damaging the spiritual veins underground. Chen Boyong immediately realized this, and his face turned ashen.

He knew that once all the backup spiritual veins were severed, the main spiritual vein alone would be insufficient to maintain the absolute defense after the fusion. Faced with Su Chang'an's unreasonable quasi-emperor-level attacks, the destruction of the formation and the city was only a matter of time.

A glint of mad ruthlessness flashed in Chen Boyong's eyes. He turned his head and looked at the low-level servants and guards of the Chen family behind the city wall who were responsible for carrying supplies.

"For the survival of the Chen family, this is your honor." Chen Boyong's voice was icy as his fingers moved rapidly across the array plate, activating a hidden and insidious auxiliary array.

"Blood sacrifice!"

Inside and outside the city walls, hundreds of hidden dark red array patterns suddenly lit up.

The unsuspecting low-ranking servants and guards were instantly engulfed in crimson pillars of light. Before they could even scream, their bodies rapidly withered under the corrosive influence of the bloody light.

A large amount of essence and blood were forcibly drained by the formation, turning into streams of bloody red blood that quickly flowed into the core of the Ninefold Returning Origin Formation along the engravings on the ground.

Hundreds of vibrant lives were reduced to withered corpses in the blink of an eye, lying on the cold bricks and stones.

The dark gold barrier, having absorbed the essence blood, emitted an eerie crimson light. The light, which had dimmed due to the rupture of the spiritual veins, intensified once more, even showing a faint tendency to push the Taiyin Greatsword back.

A strong stench of blood and resentment filled the air.

Su Chang'an stood high in the sky, looking down at the horrific scene below, his eyes flashing with extreme disgust and coldness.

A family that can treat its own members as disposable objects without hesitation is utterly rotten.

She did not sheathe her sword; the Taiyin Moon Amber between her brows burst forth with an unprecedentedly brilliant and clear light.

The pure Yin-Yang Cold Law flowed along the giant sword and directly into the dark gold barrier that glowed with blood-red light.

The extreme cold law flowed downwards along the tiny crack cleaved by the Taiyin Greatsword. The crimson resentment formed from the essence of hundreds of people was completely frozen the moment it came into contact with the power of Taiyin.

The crimson light solidified within the array patterns, then transformed into countless sharp red ice spikes.

These ice spikes did not attack the outside world, but instead followed the energy return path of the formation, crashing back and directly attacking the various array points on the city wall.

The dozen or so Chen family elders responsible for maintaining the array's core had no time to sever their connection with the array. Red ice spikes burst forth from the array, piercing directly through their chests.

The dozen or so elders stared wide-eyed, their bodies stiffening in the extreme cold before shattering into ice shards on the ground.

Gu Xiang keenly sensed the chaos within the formation.

He gathered up the scattered words he had written, a surge of righteous indignation rising within him. He bit his tongue, using his blood as a catalyst, and swiftly wrote with the giant brush in mid-air.

A brilliant proclamation against the traitors was instantly formed.

"This clan of tigers and wolves, harming their own kind, is intolerable to heaven and earth, and arouses the wrath of both gods and men!"

Each golden character, as large as a millstone, carried an awe-inspiring and righteous spirit, slamming heavily onto the crumbling barrier.

This is not merely a physical attack, but a judgment directly targeting the soul. Every word is like a knife to the heart.

The surviving Chen family soldiers on the city wall, already terrified by Chen Boyong's massacre of his own clan, were now shaken by the righteous spirit and completely lost their will to resist. Many dropped their weapons and collapsed to the ground, burying their heads in their hands.

Upon seeing this, Bai Yin let out a wild laugh.

He held back no longer, and the dark red Asura White Tiger Dharma Form manifested directly in mid-air. The enormous tiger claws, carrying the murderous aura of Geng metal that could tear everything apart, fiercely pierced into the cracks in the barrier created by the Taiyin Law and the Righteous Qi.

"Open it for me!"

Bai Yin's arm muscles bulged high, and with a teeth-grinding tearing sound, he forcefully ripped the crack open to both sides.

Just then, three muffled cracking sounds came from deep underground.

With a swift and brutal motion, Tianpeng severed all three remaining backup spiritual veins.

Having lost the support of the backup spiritual veins and being attacked from both inside and outside, the Ninefold Returning Origin Formation finally reached its limit.

The dark golden barrier let out a mournful cry and shattered under the pressure of the Taiyin Greatsword.

The countless fragments of the formation turned into golden dust, which fell gently down and covered the entire Chen family city.

The moment the formation was broken, a powerful shockwave surged through the main formation plate and directly into Chen Boyong's body.

Chen Boyong's face turned deathly pale, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. His body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into a thick pillar of the city gate tower, leaving a deep crack in the pillar.

The massive bronze city gate of the Chen family, now unprotected by the array, slowly opened inwards under the impact of the energy storm.

The ancestral home of the Chen family was completely exposed to Su Chang'an's oppressive aura, with no barriers remaining.

Su Chang'an put away the Taiyin Dharma Image and her figure slowly floated down. Her white robe was spotless. Carrying the Taiyin Dharma Sword, she walked step by step towards the city gate, stepping on the broken stones and frost on the ground.

Gu Xiang and Bai Yin followed closely behind, one on the left and one on the right, exuding murderous intent.

Chen Boyong clutched his chest and struggled to his feet. His hair was disheveled, his once-luxurious robes were now stained with dust and blood, and his eyes were filled with the madness of someone at their wit's end.

He knew that the Chen family had already lost in a direct confrontation.

"Stop!" Chen Boyong roared hoarsely.

He yanked his right hand sharply, pulling out a thick black iron chain from his storage ring.

At the other end of the chain were dozens of Chen family members, their cultivation sealed and their hands bound behind their backs. They were ragged and pale, clearly having been severely tortured before being brought out.

Among this group of people, Su Chang'an saw that familiar figure.

Chen Fan.

The collateral descendant who risked his life to deliver medicine to Chen Xuan outside the sealed cave, and even tried to warn Chen Xuan to escape.

At this moment, Chen Fan was weak and bloodstains were on the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were still stubborn.

Chen Boyong grabbed Chen Fan and pulled him in front of him, holding a short blade coated with green poison to Chen Fan's neck. The sharp blade cut through the skin, drawing out a trickle of black blood.

"Su Chang'an!" Chen Boyong's voice trembled with extreme tension and madness. "I know you're protecting Chen Xuan. You also know who these people are. They're from a collateral branch of the Chen family, blood relatives of Chen Xuan!"

Su Chang'an stopped, still ten zhang away from the city gate. She looked at Chen Boyong but didn't speak.

Thinking he had grasped a lifeline, Chen Boyong's facial muscles contorted as he roared, "I've already planted an explosive restriction within them. With just a thought, they'll be instantly annihilated!"

He pressed the dagger against Chen Fan's neck, continuing his threat: "If you take another step forward, I'll kill them. That bastard Chen Xuan's Dao heart is already unstable. If he finds out that your forceful attack caused the deaths of these innocent kin, do you think he won't be consumed by inner demons? He will forever bear the infamy of causing the deaths of his own kind, never to rise again!"

Chen Fan struggled to lift his head, looking at Su Chang'an outside the city, and shouted through gritted teeth, "Miss Su, don't worry about us! As long as the main branch of the Chen family is destroyed, Brother Chen Xuan will never survive! Fight your way in!"

Chen Boyong slapped Chen Fan across the face, knocking out several of his teeth.

Gu Xiang stopped, his brows furrowed deeply. His fingers, gripping the large pen, turned slightly white. As a Confucian scholar, he valued propriety, law, and cause and effect above all else. Chen Boyong's despicable tactic of using the lives of his own people as leverage disgusted him.

Bai Yin also stopped in his tracks. A low growl escaped his throat, and the dark red light in his eyes flickered erratically. Although he didn't care about the lives of these ants, he knew that Su Chang'an cared about Chen Xuan's feelings.

The two turned their heads at the same time to look at Su Chang'an, who was walking at the front.

Su Chang'an stood silently in place, holding the Taiyin Magic Sword. The cold wind fluttered her white robes, and her eyes were icy, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

An eerie silence fell over both inside and outside the city gates. Only Chen Boyong's heavy breathing and the crisp clanging of iron chains could be heard.

All eyes were on the woman in white, awaiting her decision.