The SSSSSSSS-level Mad Dragon is released from prison!

Wu Lie's lewd grin stopped abruptly as he looked down at the little girl with her head tilted to the side, her face full of innocence.

He didn't hear clearly.

Or rather, he simply didn't take her words seriously.

"Little one, what did you say?"

Wu Lie stretched out his dirty, greasy hand, about to push Jun Yao away.

His foot was already raised, ready to kick the black cloth wrapped around Jiang Chen on the ground.

Just then.

The wind stopped.

All the soft sounds in the woods—the chirping of insects, the rustling of leaves—vanished.

An indescribable silence enveloped the space.

Wu Lie's hands froze, and he felt as if his heart was being gripped by an invisible hand, causing it to skip a beat.

He looked around in surprise and uncertainty.

Those originally menacing Black Miao warriors all turned pale, and their hands holding the blowguns began to tremble.

"What happened?"

Ulie growled, trying to dispel the inexplicable fear with his voice.

No one answered him.

The crystal jar containing the Three-Turn Golden Gu in his arms suddenly began to vibrate violently.

"Buzz...buzz..."

"Baby?"

Wu Lie quickly looked down.

The golden Gu that he cherished as a treasure, once so majestic, was now frantically crashing against the inner wall of the crystal jar, its six thin wings flapping wildly and emitting mournful cries.

That wasn't fighting spirit; it was the fear and despair that came from the deepest part of one's blood when facing one's natural enemy.

Wu Lie hadn't reacted yet.

"Snapped!"

A soft sound.

The body of the Three-Turn Golden Gu exploded in mid-air without warning, turning into a pool of golden, viscous liquid that covered the entire crystal jar.

Wu Lie's eyes widened instantly.

His mind went completely blank.

A small, cool hand gently rested on his shoulder.

He mechanically turned his head.

Jun Yao was already standing in front of him without him noticing.

That innocent little face still held that pure curiosity.

You scared my friend.

Junyao said softly.

Wu Lie felt a chill rush from his tailbone straight to the top of his head. He wanted to back away, but his body wouldn't obey him.

He tried to shout, but no sound came out of his throat.

Junyao raised her other hand, and with her five slender fingers, she casually gripped his neck.

The next second, Wu Lie's feet left the ground.

He was a burly man over 1.8 meters tall, yet this seemingly frail little girl lifted him into the air with one hand.

As the feeling of suffocation came over him, Wu Lie's face turned a deep purplish-red, and his legs kicked wildly in the air.

To his horror, he saw wisps of purple mist seeping from the girl's fingertips, frantically drilling into his body through the pores of his skin.

"Let...let go of the young master!"

The surrounding Black Miao warriors finally reacted and raised their blowguns, aiming them at Jun Yao.

But none of them dared to fire the first arrow.

Because, behind Junyao.

A gigantic, sky-covering purple phantom is slowly taking shape.

The outline of the phantom was indescribable, resembling both a ferocious beetle and an ineffable sense of nobility and majesty, as if it were a deity emerging from the primordial chaos.

A powerful pressure originating from the soul suddenly descended.

"thump!"

"Thump thump—"

All the Black Miao warriors dropped their weapons, as if all the bones in their bodies had been removed, and knelt down in unison.

They pressed their foreheads firmly to the muddy ground, their bodies trembling violently, not daring to lift their heads.

"ah--"

Wu Lie let out a scream that sounded inhuman.

The purple Gu mist that had seeped into his body was frantically gnawing at his flesh and blood, devouring his life force.

He could clearly feel his bones breaking inch by inch and his meridians withering away one by one.

"Gu...Gu God...Spare me..."

He squeezed out a few broken syllables from his throat.

Just then.

"stop!!"

An old and frightened voice came from the depths of the dense forest.

Immediately afterwards, an elderly man with gray hair and a face covered in tattoos tumbled and crawled out of the woods.

He saw the purple phantom in mid-air, and then saw Wu Lie being held in Jun Yao's hand, and was so frightened that his soul almost left his body.

With a "thump," the old man prostrated himself on the ground, kneeling in a posture more humble than the others.

His forehead slammed against the hard stone ground with a loud thud, and soon it was a bloody mess.

"High Priest of the Black Miao, Wutu, pays homage to the Gu Master upon his return!"

"We were blind and foolish, offending the divine might of the Gu Master. We beg the Gu Master to forgive our ignorance, for the sake of the Black Miao clan's generations of protection of this sacred land!"

The old man's voice was choked with sobs.

Junyao tilted her head, looked at the old man on the ground, and then at Wu Lie, who was almost dead, in her hand.

She curled her lip and casually tossed Wu Lie onto the ground like trash.

"Bang."

Wu Lie collapsed onto the muddy ground, like a pile of rotten flesh, only able to breathe weakly.

His limbs were twisted at an odd angle, clearly rendered useless.

Junyao didn't look at him again.

She walked up to Shen Suxin and frowned when she saw her pale face and shoes covered in mud.

She turned her head, beckoned to the pile of rotten flesh with her finger.

Wu Lie let out a whimper and, with his already twisted body, struggled and crawled to Shen Suxin's feet.

Junyao stepped on his back.

"Put it on."

She said to Shen Suxin.

Shen Suxin looked at the man at her feet, who had been incredibly arrogant just a moment ago but was now less than a dog, and was speechless for a moment.

Xiao Ruoye walked over, helped Jiang Chen up from the ground, checked him over, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he had not suffered any further injury.

She stared at the bizarre scene before her, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Where are the best holy water and medicine stores in your village?"

She coldly asked the old man kneeling on the ground.

The old man, Wutu, dared not be negligent in the slightest. He scrambled to his feet and led the way.

"At...at the altar! Lord Gu Master, esteemed lords, please follow me!"

The Black Miao village is built in a secluded valley.

When Xiao Ruoye and her group entered, everyone in the village, regardless of age or gender, had already knelt on both sides of the road to welcome the arrival of their so-called "Gu Master".

Jiang Chen was carefully carried into the stone house in the center of the village, the one with the most abundant spiritual energy.

The Black Miao's medicine storehouse, accumulated over hundreds of years, was opened without reservation.

Countless rare and precious herbs and medicinal plants, long extinct in the outside world, were delivered to Shen Suxin like a flowing stream.

Looking at these medicinal herbs, a glimmer of light finally appeared in Shen Suxin's eyes.

She carefully fed Jiang Chen a bowl of medicine made from "Black Jade Broken Heart Ointment" and "Thousand-Year-Old Snake Gallbladder".

They then fetched the holy water from the "Moon Spring," which had been worshipped for generations in the village and was believed to cleanse the marrow and meridians, and used it to wipe his body.

After doing all this, she put her hand on Jiang Chen's wrist and closed her eyes to concentrate.

After a long while, she slowly opened her eyes.

"How is it?"

Xiao Ruoye immediately asked.

A tired smile appeared on Shen Suxin's face.

"The power of the Immortal Slaying Curse is too domineering; it still cannot be eradicated."

"But... the life force within him has stabilized."

"His pulse... is starting to get stronger."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ruoye's tense body finally relaxed slightly.

Inside the stone house.

Jiang Chen lay quietly on the stone bed carved from a single piece of cold jade.

The black runes on his body seemed to have dimmed somewhat.

There was no expression on that bloodied and mangled face.

Sudden.

His tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open.

There was no confusion in those eyes, only a deep, unfathomable dark gold.

A dark golden dragon claw phantom appeared out of thin air above his body.

Without pausing, the illusory figure slammed down heavily on the cold jade bed beneath him.

"boom!"

The incredibly hard jade bed, along with its bluestone foundation, was instantly reduced to dust.