Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

The blood was drained and flowed into the grooves of the magic array, giving the entire array a nauseating stench.

Even more horrifying, three people were kneeling directly in front of the altar.

Two men and one woman, dressed in modern clothes, but with empty eyes and numb expressions, each with a black talisman pasted on their foreheads.

They knelt there, like three soulless puppets.

"It's someone from the Chu family!" Ye Qingcheng whispered. "The middle-aged man on the left looks somewhat like Chu Ling'er; he should be her uncle, Chu Wenbin!"

Lin Chen glanced over and confirmed that the other two were likely collateral descendants of the Chu family.

"They are having their life force drained to nourish that altar," Lin Chen said in a deep voice. "The Ghost Face isn't here, but the formation is already mostly activated."

"He could come back at any time to complete the final step."

"My lord, what should we do now? Rescue them or break the formation?" another ice guard asked.

Lin Chen thought quickly.

Rescuing people will inevitably trigger the formation and alert the enemy.

Breaking the formation will take time and could cost the lives of the three people inside.

But Ghost Face could return at any time, making it even more difficult to deal with.

"Ice Guards A and B, you're in charge of perimeter security, setting up ice traps to delay any enemies that might return," Lin Chen quickly instructed.

"Qingcheng, come with me inside to save them."

"Your Frosty Yin energy can temporarily freeze the loss of life force, buying them time."

"clear!"

The two ice guards quickly dispersed, setting up simple ice-sealing talismans and alarm devices in the direction they had come from.

Lin Chen and Ye Qingcheng took a deep breath and stepped into the range of the magic array.

The moment the foot touched the ground, the magic circle suddenly lit up!

The runes drawn with blood seemed to come alive, emitting a dark red light.

The seven soul banners fluttered in the wind, and countless translucent vengeful spirits poured out of the banners, emitting mournful shrieks as they rushed towards the two of them!

"A mere vengeful spirit dares to block my way?" Lin Chen sneered, releasing his Nine Yang True Qi, making it seem as if a small sun was rising three feet around him.

The vengeful spirits, upon touching the golden light, scattered with screams of agony.

But the power of the magic array continued to increase, and more vengeful spirits emerged from the ground—these were the countless souls buried in the mass grave itself, now awakened by the array!

Ye Qingcheng formed a hand seal, and the Frosty Yin Qi surged out, forming an ice-blue barrier around her and Lin Chen.

Wherever the cold air passed, the vengeful spirits became sluggish, and some of the weaker ones were even frozen solid.

Despite the onslaught of vengeful spirits, the two quickly approached the altar.

When they were still three zhang away from the three kneeling figures, a sudden change occurred!

The seven soul banners on the altar simultaneously shot out a beam of black light, which intertwined in the air and transformed into a huge black skull that opened its mouth and bit down at the two of them!

The aura emanating from this skull is already close to that of the early Foundation Establishment stage!

"Watch out!" Lin Chen pushed Ye Qingcheng aside, clasped his hands together, and frantically compressed the Nine Yang True Qi in his palms, turning it into a golden ball of light the size of a fist.

"Nine Yang True Fire - Blazing Sun Explosion!"

The ball of light slipped from his hand and collided head-on with the black skull!

boom--!

Amidst the deafening explosion, golden flames and black yin energy annihilated each other, and the shockwave blew away all the surrounding weeds.

Lin Chen grunted and took two steps back, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth—that attack had taken a toll on him.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ye Qingcheng rushed to Chu Wenbin and the other two. Her Frosty Yin Qi transformed into three strands of ice, which wrapped around the black talismans on their foreheads.

"Frozen and Peeled!"

The ice silk contracted, and the talisman was forcibly torn off!

The three of them shuddered violently at the same time, and a glimmer of light returned to their empty eyes, but they immediately showed expressions of extreme pain—the aftereffects of having their life force forcibly extracted had erupted!

"Hold on!" Ye Qingcheng stuffed three life-saving pills given to her by Shen Qingqiu into their mouths, while simultaneously protecting their heart meridians with her Frosty Yin Qi.

Just then, a sinister laugh came from all directions:

"Hehehe... They've come after all."

"A spiritual body is indeed a good bait; it has caught a big fish."

A figure in black robes appeared at the top of the altar like a ghost.

The newcomer wore a pale white ghost mask, revealing only two scarlet eyes.

He was tall and thin, with silver skull patterns embroidered on his black robe, and held a white bone staff in his hand.

It was none other than Ghost Face, the fourth elder of the Netherworld Sect!

"We've been waiting for you for a long time." Ghost Face twirled his white bone staff, his voice like sandpaper rubbing together. "A Nine Yang Burning Heaven Body, a Frost Yin Body... plus the Chu family's Spiritual Body, this is truly a great harvest."

Lin Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at him coldly: "Are you that confident you can take us all down?"

The masked man chuckled, "If it were the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Body at its peak, I would naturally have to give way. But you now... your Yang energy is weak, clearly you've just experienced a backlash and haven't fully recovered yet, have you?"

"As for this little girl with the Frost Yin Physique, the Heart-Locking Curse has just been lifted, and her foundation is not yet stable. How much of her strength can she unleash?"

He slammed his bone staff down: "Besides, this is my home turf!"

Before the words were even finished, the ground of the entire mass grave began to shake violently!

Countless skeletal arms burst from the ground, followed by mutilated skeletons crawling out of the earth, their eye sockets burning with eerie green flames.

In just a few breaths, over a hundred skeletons surrounded Lin Chen and his group!

These skeletons were clearly crafted using secret techniques; their bones were jet black and hard, and their movements were incredibly swift, far surpassing those of ordinary zombies.

What's more troublesome is that the seven soul banners on the altar lit up again, and seven beams of black light poured into the skeletons, making their aura even stronger!

"The Hundred Bone Yin Soldier Formation." The ghost-faced man looked down at him with a smug voice, "Combined with the extremely yin nature of this place, each of these Yin soldiers has the strength of the early stage of Qi Refining."

"Kid, how many can you kill?"

The two ice guards retreated to Lin Chen's side, their expressions grave: "Young Master, we've detected more Yin energy gathering on the outer perimeter; we're surrounded."

Ye Qingcheng shielded Chu Wenbin and the other two, gritting her teeth as she said, "Lin Chen, you guys go first! I'll cover your retreat!"

"Leave?" Ghost Face laughed. "You think you can leave once you've entered my Hundred Bone Yin Soldier Formation?"

He waved his bone staff: "Kill!"

Hundreds of skeleton soldiers roared in unison and surged forward like a tidal wave!

Skeleton soldiers surged in like a tide, their white bones gleaming and ghostly flames flickering.

Lin Chen's eyes sharpened; he knew he could no longer hide his abilities.

"Qingcheng, do you still remember the basics of 'Frosty Shade Transformation' that I taught you?" he asked quickly.

Ye Qingcheng nodded: "I remember! But I'm not good at it..."

"No need for proficiency, just cooperation." Lin Chen began to form hand seals, and the Nine Yang True Qi circulated wildly within his body along a specific route.

"In a moment, follow my instructions and channel all your Frosty Yin Energy into my Mingmen acupoint on the back!"

"What?!" Ye Qingcheng exclaimed in shock, "Yin and Yang clash, you will..."

"Trust me!" Lin Chen shouted. "You two protect the Chu family and form a defensive array! Buy me and Qingcheng ten breaths!"