Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

"If you were to grow to the Nascent Soul stage, you might truly become a threat to me."

He slowly raised his hand, and this time, all five fingers simultaneously glowed with a ghostly green light.

"Unfortunately, there are no 'what ifs'."

Five green beams, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, shot towards Lin Chen from different angles.

Each one contained a sinister poison that corroded the soul, and its speed was so fast that it was difficult to see with the naked eye.

The spiritual mark that Chu Ling'er had drawn on Lin Chen's forehead suddenly became hot.

In his "vision," the five green rays became clearly visible, their trajectories, speeds, and even the number of vengeful spirits they contained were all revealed.

—Three to the left, two to the right, three in front, two behind, crisscrossing to block all evasion routes. The main targets are the heart and dantian!

In a flash, Lin Chen made a decision.

Instead of dodging, he took a step forward, and the Nine Yang True Qi condensed into a solid golden shield in front of him.

At the same time, his left hand was hidden behind his back, and a tiny, extremely compressed golden spark quietly gathered in his palm—the essence of the Nine Yang True Fire, only the size of a grain of rice, yet containing the will to burn everything.

Five green beams struck the golden shield.

Chi Chi Chi -!

The shield trembled violently, and countless cracks appeared on its surface, as the green light eroded it wildly like a living thing.

Lin Chen coughed up blood again. The moment the shield shattered, his body flew backward like a cannonball and crashed hard into the gate of the Chu residence.

The heavy solid wood door suddenly shattered, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

But just as he was flying backwards, he suddenly swung his left hand out!

The golden spark drew an almost imperceptible arc, bypassing the green light's blockade, and shot straight at the face of the Netherworld Old Ghost!

This attack was too stealthy and too sudden.

Caught off guard, the old ghost of the underworld only had time to turn his head to dodge.

A golden spark grazed his cheek, leaving a charred burn mark.

Although it was just a superficial injury and there was no blood, it was still a great humiliation—a dignified Nascent Soul cultivator was actually injured by a pseudo-Golden Core junior!

The old ghost of the underworld touched the burn mark on his cheek, his eyes turning completely cold.

"You're asking for it."

He stopped playing cat and mouse; with a clenched fist in his right hand, a long banner, entirely black and embroidered with suffering faces, appeared in his grasp.

The Banner of Ten Thousand Souls is one of the most treasured artifacts of the Netherworld Sect!

The banner moved without wind, and the wails of countless vengeful spirits swept out like tangible sound waves.

The vegetation around the Chu residence withered instantly, and black frost formed on the ground.

Lin Chen struggled to his feet from the ruins, his chest caved in and at least three ribs broken.

But his eyes remained clear, even carrying a hint of mockery: "A Nascent Soul cultivator is nothing more than this."

He was provoking the other party and also stalling for time.

According to the spiritual mark on his forehead, the fluctuations of the array inside the Chu residence were getting stronger and stronger—Shen Qingqiu was almost finished.

The old ghost of the underworld clearly sensed the fluctuations in the formation. Without further ado, he waved the Myriad Soul Banner!

"A thousand souls devour the heart!"

From within the banner, tens of thousands of vengeful spirits surged forth, transforming into a black torrent that roared towards Lin Chen.

This attack was a full-force strike from a true Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

Wherever the torrent of vengeful spirits passed, space distorted slightly, and the air was filled with negative emotions of despair, pain, and madness, enough to cause those with weak minds to collapse instantly.

Lin Chen closed his eyes, and the remaining essence and blood in his body began to burn for the second time.

This time, what's burning is the essence of the heart and blood—the true life source of a cultivator.

Once it burns out, even a god can't save it.

But at that moment—

"Yin and Yang are reversed, Heaven and Earth are turned upside down—Begin!"

Shen Qingqiu's cold voice echoed throughout the Chu residence.

Centered on the Chu residence, countless intricate rune lines lit up the ground. Four colors of light—cyan, red, gold, and black—soared into the sky, intertwining to form a giant Tai Chi diagram in the air.

The Tai Chi diagram slowly rotated, and the Yin and Yang energies circulated, forming a barrier that covered the entire Chu residence.

The torrent of vengeful spirits crashed into the barrier as if it had entered an invisible vortex. Its forward momentum was forcibly reversed and dispersed, and some of it was even bounced back by the barrier!

The old ghost of the underworld frowned slightly: "The Four Symbols Yin-Yang Formation? No, wait, it also has the enhancement of medicinal spirit energy and spiritual power... Interesting."

He waved the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in his hand again, and this time, the banner surface lit up with a blood-red light.

"Let's see how long your broken formation can hold out."

The crimson light merged with the torrent of vengeful spirits, which went berserk as if they had been injected with adrenaline. The ghostly flames in their eye sockets turned blood red, and their attack power surged!

The barrier began to shake violently, and the tai ji diagram on its surface began to distort.

Inside the Chu residence, Shen Qingqiu stood under a locust tree, his hands forming a mudra, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.

At the core of the array beneath her feet, seven oil lamps flickered violently, three of which had dimmed to the point of being just embers.

"The northeast corner of the formation is about to collapse!" an ice guard urgently reported.

Shen Qingqiu gritted his teeth, biting his tongue until it bled, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the array plate in front of him: "Draw upon the Yin energy of the locust tree, reverse Yin and Yang—Turn!"

The locust tree trembled violently, and countless painful human faces appeared on its trunk—the vengeful spirits of the victims of the Chu family.

Under Shen Qingqiu's guidance, the resentment of these vengeful spirits was forcibly extracted and injected into the formation.

Resentment is inherently a yin force, but under the transformation of the "Yin-Yang Reversal Array," yin reaches its extreme and yang is generated, transforming into pure yang energy that nourishes the barrier.

The barrier shone brightly, temporarily stabilizing the situation.

But Shen Qingqiu's face was as pale as paper—forcibly extracting and transforming resentment had placed a great burden on her soul.

At the same time, Chu Ling'er's devout chanting could be heard coming from the direction of the ancestral temple.

That was the "Soul-Soothing Incantation" passed down through generations of the Chu family. Combined with her spiritual power, the ancestral tablets enshrined in the ancestral hall simultaneously emitted a warm white light.

The white light spread like ripples, merging into the barrier and giving it a sense of righteousness, peace, and invulnerability to evil.

This is the power of bloodline protection; though not strong, it is incredibly resilient.

A look of seriousness finally appeared in the eyes of the old ghost of the underworld.

These three individuals with the Nine Yin Body were more troublesome than he had anticipated.

The Medicine Spirit Body set up the array, the Spirit Communication Body summoned spirits, and although the Frost Yin Body had not yet appeared, the gradually rising icy aura deep within the mansion made him feel a little apprehensive.

Not to mention, there was also the Nine Suns Burning Heaven Body, a fearless warrior who burned his life essence and was in the way.

"It seems we have no choice but to get serious."

The old ghost of the underworld put away the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, slowly raised his hands, and chanted an ancient and obscure incantation.

As the incantation was chanted, the space around him began to distort, and a huge black hole phantom slowly emerged behind him.

Deep within the black hole, countless struggling souls can be vaguely seen, along with... a slowly beating, cracked black heart.

That was his nascent soul—the Netherworld Ghost Infant!

Nascent Soul leaving the body is the ultimate method for Nascent Soul cultivators, but also the riskiest.

Once the nascent soul is damaged, one's cultivation level will permanently decline, and one may even die and perish.

However, correspondingly, the combat power of the Nascent Soul after it leaves the body is more than three times that of the original body!

"You should be proud that I can use my Nascent Soul."

The old ghost's voice became hollow and overlapping, as if countless voices were speaking at the same time.