The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

Qi Ji's [Thousand Peaks] attack was almost an instinctive, all-out strike.

The white antler-shaped beam cannon, like a meteorite falling from the sky, crashed straight into a three-story building behind Blackstone Fortress with a piercing whistling sound.

"Boom!"

With a deafening roar, the entire building was blasted through from the roof to the foundation, sending debris, wooden beams, and dust billowing into the sky.

The violent shockwave spread in all directions, even shaking the walls several dozen feet away, causing dust to fall and shattering all the window frames.

Everyone in front of the fortress was stunned.

Merchants, bodyguards, and travelers crowded at the door and windowsills, their mouths agape, a mixture of excitement and fear in their eyes.

What was exciting was witnessing the legendary spirit beast unleash its power, which was truly awe-inspiring.

What was terrifying was that the white deer was clearly filled with boundless rage, and no one knew whether the next blow would fall on their head.

The guards and stewards of Blackrock Fortress were pale and in a panic.

Someone shouted "Take down the attacker!" in a blustering tone, but then shrank back after shouting it.

Someone nearby muttered with a mournful face, "Take what? That's not an ordinary wild beast, it's a spirit beast, something no ordinary person can handle!"

Qi Ji leaped and landed steadily on the top of the tallest watchtower in the fortress.

Golden eyes swept across the entire Black Stone Fortress. The deathly, foul feeling remained, not only undiminished but also amplified by the collapse of the buildings.

"Yo~"

Qi Ji let out a deep, angry roar, and the antlers on his head flashed with light.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Three consecutive bursts of [Thousand Peaks] power descended, causing the three buildings to collapse in an instant, billowing smoke and dust, and sparks flying everywhere.

The entire Black Stone Fortress was trembling.

The merchants who had already settled in panicked completely. They ran back to their rooms crying and shouting, hurriedly packed their luggage, and rushed to escape from the fortress, fearing that if they were a step too late, they would be buried inside the collapsed building.

"This... Benefactor Su, is this the method you told Lord Bailu to use to attract attention?"

Inside the fortress gate, Xu Ling stared blankly at the white figure on the upper floor not far away, her mouth agape, before turning to ask Su Yanji beside her.

Su Yanji's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

She did say she wanted to attract attention, but she didn't say she wanted to tear down half the fort!

And how long has it been? Less than a tenth of the agreed time has passed!

Su Yanji covered her forehead. Having navigated the business world for many years, she was most wary of her subordinates acting on their own initiative and disrupting her plans.

The problem is, Qi Ji is not her subordinate at all.

She can't control it, and she can't manage it.

"There's no other way; the plan has to be changed."

Su Yanji took a deep breath, suppressing the helplessness in her heart, and made a decisive decision: "While everyone is focused on Bai Lu and in chaos, let's immediately sneak into the side courtyard and find the captured children. Five Guards, clear the way!"

The five men in gray nodded in unison, and with a swift movement, they slipped silently into the backyard under the cover of the chaotic crowd and dust.

Up in the building, Qi Ji paid no attention to the chaos below.

He destroyed two more buildings, but the nauseating vibration remained.

Qi Ji closed his eyes, his powerful senses covering the entire Black Stone Castle, carefully pinpointing the exact location of that nauseating, deathly fluctuation.

"Down there!"

Qi Ji opened his eyes, his golden deer-like eyes fixed on the ground and inside the mountain.

He felt that the entire mountainside was hollow, like a giant beehive, filled with petrified stillness and the faint cries of children.

【Wanmu Chaozong】

Golden-green energy rippled above Qi Ji's head.

Qi Ji did not urge the plants to sprout from the soil. Instead, the dormant tree roots grew wildly, thickening and lengthening, like countless giant dragons, spreading towards the underground palace deep within the mountain.

Suddenly, the entire Black Stone Fortress began to tremble slightly, the plaster peeled off, and rubble rolled down, as if some enormous creature was about to emerge from the ground.

... ... ...

Just minutes before Qi Ji made his move, the underground palace beneath Black Stone Fortress was already in complete chaos.

A mysterious woman dressed in black slipped in, moving through the stone chambers like a ghost.

Wherever she went, the patrolling guards either fell down silently or were trapped in an illusion, standing there blankly.

Finally, she rescued two children, a boy and a girl, from a stone chamber. Both of them had mild petrification symptoms and were so weak that they could barely walk.

"Who goes there?!"

Upon receiving the news, Duan Chi flew into a rage and personally led more than fifty skilled men to the scene, completely blocking the corridor.

But the woman in black, carrying two children, moved as fast as a wisp of smoke.

A pair of deep blue eyes gleamed coldly in the dimly lit underground palace, and every time they swept over someone, that person's gaze would instantly become dull.

More than fifty martial artists rushed forward, their swords flashing and raining down on them.

The woman in black, carrying the child, swayed slightly, her blue eyes sweeping across the entire scene.

The next second, the thirty-odd people at the front all swayed, as if they were drunk, and the knives and guns in their hands were uncontrollably slashing at their companions.

"oops!"

"Why are you cutting me?!"

"It hurts so much! What are you doing?!"

Screams and angry curses erupted instantly.

Duan Chi was charging forward when he was suddenly kicked in the waist by one of his henchmen who was under an illusion spell, and he staggered and almost fell to the ground.

"waste!"

Duan Chi was furious and slapped his subordinate across the face, making the man spin around and bleed from his nose.

"snort!"

The woman in black stood at the end of the corridor, glanced at Duan Chi with a cold smile, and turned to rush towards the exit of the underground palace.

"Trying to leave?"

A loud shout suddenly rang out behind her.

The fierce monk, wielding a thick iron cudgel, charged out from behind, bringing a sharp gust of wind as he swept the cudgel across the woman in black toward her back.

The true energy of a top expert exploded, causing the air to crackle.

The woman in black frowned, her figure neither dodging nor avoiding, but the dark blue true energy behind her suddenly surged, condensing into a huge phantom fox tail, which she lashed out fiercely.

"clang--!"

The deafening clang, like metal clashing, shook the entire corridor, and the powerful gust of wind knocked over all fifty-odd people.

Another loud bang caused the air to explode, and the two men shuddered, each staggering back several meters.

The fierce monk's arm, gripping the iron rod, went slightly numb, and his heart sank.

His injuries had already been healed by the Blood-Replenishing Pill, and his full-force attack, launched with the momentum of a sneak attack, was easily blocked by this woman in black.

"What the hell? When did such a powerful woman appear in the martial arts world? Even while holding someone in her arms, she can still block my attacks with her internal energy?"

Suppressing his inner shock, the fierce monk asked in a deep voice, "Woman, who are you, and why are you trespassing on Black Stone Fortress?"

"What's it to you?" The woman in black said in a cold, dismissive voice.

Duan Chi then led his men to surround them again. Hearing this, he laughed angrily: "You trespassed on our territory, murdered and kidnapped people, and you dare to say it has nothing to do with us?"

The woman in black swept her gaze over him, her eyes filled with chilling coldness: "Those children had nothing to do with you originally, it wasn't your business, so why did you capture them and do such a heinous thing?"

Duan Chi's expression froze, then darkened.

"If you see something you shouldn't have seen, don't expect to leave here alive."

He looked at the fierce monk, his tone grave.

"My lord, this woman is quite powerful. I'll have to trouble you to take action."

The ruthless monk nodded, stretched his neck, and his joints cracked.

Although the woman before him was somewhat mysterious, the fierce monk was confident in himself. With the assistance of Duan Chi and dozens of his men, who surrounded him layer by layer, he did not believe that he could not capture her.

"You think you can keep me here?" the woman in black sneered.

At this moment, the two children in her arms trembled with fear, their little faces turned pale, and they clung tightly to her clothes.

She looked at Duan Chi and the vicious monk, and said, word by word, "I don't want to waste my energy here. I'll only say this once: I must take these two children with me. If you insist on courting death, I don't mind sending you on your way."

"How arrogant!"

The fierce monk laughed angrily and slammed his iron rod on the ground: "No child has ever come out of this Black Stone Palace alive. Their lives are destined to be wasted!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire underground palace suddenly began to shake violently.

Stone fragments were falling from the stone wall overhead, and dust stung our eyes.

"!"

Everyone was startled and instinctively looked up.

"Click—click—"

The stone wall was cracked with jagged fissures.

The next second, a large number of tree roots as thick as buckets smashed through the rocks and emerged from the ceiling, slamming into the crowd with a sharp gust of wind.

"ah--!"

Several screams rang out as several of his men, unable to dodge in time, were struck squarely by the tree roots, their bones broken and tendons snapped, killing them instantly.

The fierce monk stared at the tree roots brimming with life, his pupils contracting sharply. A strong sense of foreboding surged into his heart, and a chill ran through his body.

"What...what happened?!" Duan Chi exclaimed in shock, his face drained of all color.

The woman in black also raised her head, looking at the tree roots that pierced through the rock layers, sensing the aura that did not belong to humans, and a trace of shock and solemnity flashed in her eyes.

"This aura is..."