His Dao Heart Shattered

The Profound Nether City Lord knelt on the ground, raised his head to look at the broken lava giant on the city wall, and spoke calmly as if he were stating a trivial matter.

"Flame Venerable, let me offer you a word of advice."

"Lowering the formation and surrendering the city is your only way to survive."

He paused, then added.

"To obey one's master is the true path."

At that moment, Flame Venerable's Dao Heart.

It wasn't broken by being smashed, it was broken by being frightened.

Even the Profound Nether City Lord, Half-Step Ninth Tier cultivator, was reduced to a servant; how could a crippled formation with only one arm resist?

But... will surrender guarantee survival?

The Three Ancestors of Red Rock were his fellow Senior Fellow Apprentice. Chen Fan cut off their heads and took them away for tea.

Surrender?

"Ha ha!"

Flame Venerable laughed wildly, his laughter becoming shrill and eventually turning into a roar.

"Surrender? No!"

"I will die with you!"

He pressed down with both palms, pouring all his remaining cultivation and Lifeblood Essence into the deepest part of the array.

The array patterns changed from crimson to dark purple, and the ground trembled tenfold. The volcanoes beneath Red Rock City, which had been dormant for ten thousand years, began to awaken, drawn by the forcibly reversed array.

Boiling magma gushed from every crack in the city, and the ground rose and expanded.

He's going to detonate the earth's veins.

He dragged an army of 300,000 and the entire Red Rock City to their deaths.

In the rear ranks, Tuo Ba Lie's expression changed drastically.

"Get out of here! The ley lines are about to explode!"

Gu Yuan also gasped in surprise.

"This place, within a radius of a hundred miles, will be turned into a sea of fire!"

However, Chen Fan remained seated on horseback, not moving an inch.

He raised his head and looked at the mad, thousand-foot-tall giant, his gaze as calm as if he were looking at a clown.

"Have you made enough of a scene?"

Boom.

Behind Chen Fan, the gray and white Life-and-Death Millstone Phantom suddenly expanded.

Hundred zhang!

A thousand feet!

Lofty!

The Millstone grew larger and larger, like a giant cloud that swallowed the sky and covered the entire sky above Red Rock City.

The power of the Dao Principles within the Millstone flowed like mercury onto the ground, silently permeating every pattern and node of the Red Earth Molten Gold Formation.

Flame Venerable suddenly felt an irresistible force surging in from the center of the formation, stripping away his control over the formation bit by bit.

He resisted desperately, his essence and blood gushing out.

However, the level of that power was far beyond his reach.

Three breaths later, the key to the formation changed hands.

The dark purple array patterns turned crimson again, the tremors of the earth veins stopped abruptly, and the gushing magma slowly flowed back.

Flame Venerable stared blankly as his connection with the great formation was completely severed. The thousand-foot giant slowly turned around above him, lowered its head, and looked down at him.

Its owner is no longer him.

Smack

The giant raised his remaining left arm and slapped Flame Venerable off the city wall as if he were swatting a fly.

The old man's body crashed into the central square of the city, sending debris flying and creating a large, human-shaped crater six or seven feet deep.

After a while, a faint coughing sound of blood came from the bottom of the pit.

Chen Fan dismounted, put his hands behind his back, and slowly stepped into the open city gate of Red Rock City.

The 40,000 garrison soldiers watched him walk past, and not one of them dared to move.

He walked to the edge of the square, looked down at the mangled body at the bottom of the pit, and flicked his finger.

A wisp of grayish-white light entered Flame Venerable's brow.

The old man's body trembled violently, then fell completely silent.

A moment later, Flame Venerable crawled out of the pit, knelt on both knees, and his face was ashen.

"This servant... greets his master."

Chen Fan withdrew his gaze and gestured with his chin towards the city gate.

"Plant the flag."

Wang Dafu couldn't wait any longer. He led a hundred Fire Crow Elite Cavalry, howling as they charged into the city gate and planted the black Fire Crow Battle Banner with Red Rock Main City.

The flag unfurled in the wind, covering the spot where the crimson banner had originally stood.

Red Rock City has fallen.

The inventory of the treasure vault lasted a full day.

The ancient heritage of Red Rock City far surpasses that of Profound Nether Main City. Wang Dafu searched the depths of the treasury until his eyes were glazed over, wiping his mouth again and again.

"Young Master! 170,000 cubic meters of High-Grade Spirit Stones! Over 3,000 inner cores of Eighth-Order ferocious beasts! Top-grade fire vein spirit marrow..."

"Um."

"And the Land Deeds for six low-grade spiritual veins! Mining permits for thirty-two mines!"

"Um."

"And..." Wang Dafu pulled a dusty Beast-Skin Scroll from a hidden compartment deep within the treasure vault, "This..."

He unfurled the scroll, and the excitement on his face slowly turned into confusion.

This Beast-Skin Map has no cities marked on it. Only a blood-red vortex is drawn in the very center, with ancient lines and rough strokes, unlike anything from modern times.

Beside the whirlpool, two words were inscribed in ancient script that he couldn't understand.

Chen Fan took the animal hide, his fingertips tracing the two characters, his pupils suddenly contracting for a moment.

Guixu.

His Divine Thought probed into the animal hide, and a faint, almost imperceptible aura brushed against his perception.

That breath contained a hidden vitality.

Chen Fan pressed down on one corner of the animal hide, his Divine Thought slowly penetrating along the blood-red patterns.

The outer layer is filled with lifeless energy, but inside, a spark of life never dies out.

The two are extremely close, yet there is an invisible barrier between them, preventing either from penetrating the other.

It's not rotating.

It's more like someone deliberately sealed them together.

The Life-and-Death Millstone in his Dantian rotated half a circle, and the blood-red vortex in the center of the animal hide contracted accordingly, causing several originally dry lines to gleam with a moist luster.

Chen Fan immediately withdrew his Divine Thought.

The vortex stopped changing.

He gripped the edge of the map and didn't try again.

This clone is only at the Eighth-Order Late Stage, and its origins are unknown. There's no need to stick your head inside.

"Call Flame Venerable over."

The words had barely left his mouth when a series of hurried footsteps sounded outside the warehouse door.

Wang Dafu rushed in, his forehead covered in sweat, holding up the corner of his robe.

"Young Master, people have arrived from the Giant Spirit Main City!"

"How many?"

"A carriage, with twelve guards. The envoy specifically requested to see the person in charge of Red Rock City and inquired about yesterday's breach of the city!"

Chen Fan rolled up the animal hide.

"Why are you running so fast? Did they attack you?"

"No, but we just broke our Blood Oath Pact..."

Wang Dafu's voice grew softer and softer.

Chen Fan had already stepped out of the warehouse.

Conference Hall, several generals who had just received their rewards had not yet dispersed when they heard the news and stood up one after another. Tuo Ba Lie clutched the newly hung storage bag at his waist in his hand, the opening of the bag crumpled up.

"If Giant Spirit City wants to restore the old system of the two cities, these mining deeds..."

"Put the mining contract aside for now."

Chen Fan glanced at him.

"It's ruined from being squeezed too tightly, so it has to be recarved."

Tuo Ba Lie let go.

The Profound Nether City Lord stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Master, this time the troops deployed are the Profound Nether Iron Cavalry. This old servant is willing to step forward and take responsibility for the breach of contract."

Chen Fan didn't stop walking.

"I conquered the city; why should I send you out to defend it?"

The hall fell silent.

He bypassed the crowd, taking only the Profound Nether City Lord and Flame Venerable to the city gate. Wang Dafu hesitated for a moment, then quickly followed.

Smoke still lingered on the long street.

Outside several houses collapsed by lava, a woman knelt among the rubble, scooping out grains mixed with ash from a broken earthenware jar. A child beside her carried a cloth bag, carefully covering the holes in the bottom of the bag with each handful he took.

Chen Fan paused for a moment.

"Is the city warehouse open yet?"

Wang Dafu was taken aback. "It hasn't been inventoried and entered into the register yet; it's waiting to be included with the proceeds from the government treasury..."

"Open the position first."

Chen Fan interrupted him.

"Distribute food to the disaster victims and find empty houses to house them. Set aside separate supplies for city defense and house repairs, and the rest will be awarded according to merit."

Wang Dafu nodded quickly.

"Remember this clearly." Chen Fan looked at him, "The people's winter rations are not your spoils of war."

How long have we been waiting for this invitation?