Wiped Out
Above the Xuanming City, amidst towering, dark clouds.
A long, narrow Flying Boat covered in black Bone Spikes pierced the Ye Mu and hovered silently in the depths of the Void.
The Flying Boat was surrounded by layers of concealment and restriction, absorbing all the flowing Stream of Light and breeze in the Void, without causing the slightest ripple on the city defense array below.
At the fore-end of the deck, the Gu You Commander stood with his hands behind his back.
His entire body was covered by pale, ghastly bone armor, with only a pair of dark, cold eyes visible through the mask.
In the palm of his hand, a crimson, spindle-shaped magical artifact was radiating a scorching, Deathly Silence Qi, its blood-red light flickering erratically.
"Old Man Xuanming's karmic ties were severed completely, but the remaining traces of his deathly aura are located directly beneath that great hall."
Gu You's voice was hoarse, revealing a coldness stemming from years of living among corpses.
As a top executioner in the inner hall of the Netherworld Heavenly Palace, he has stained his hands with the blood of countless Eighth-Order powerhouses.
In his eyes, this barren and remote Northern Border land was nothing more than a wild swamp.
If it weren't for the Black Tortoise Fragmentary Map personally selected by the Venerable One, he wouldn't have bothered to set foot there even half a step.
"Whoosh."
Gu You's figure swayed slightly, and his entire body transformed into a wisp of ethereal gray-black smoke, plummeting straight down from the front of the Flying Boat.
He moved with incredible speed, using the cover of night and concealed Dao patterns, like a silent ice spike piercing flesh and bone, piercing through the dilapidated protective barrier of Xuanming City without any hindrance, and directly infiltrating the depths of the City Lord's Mansion.
Three thousand feet underground Extreme Yin Earth Vein.
The secluded cultivation ground, which was originally covered with mysterious ice patterns and solid black iron, has now been reduced to ruins. The dome was violently smashed through by a tremendous force, revealing a dark, bottomless pit, with rubble and broken Formation Flags scattered all over the ground.
The air still carried the lingering, burnt smell of the earth's ley lines after their violent outburst.
Gu You landed atop a broken stone pillar, his eyes slightly narrowed.
It's too quiet.
The entire underground chamber was eerily silent; there wasn't even the sound of a single worm crawling.
He slowly walked to the shattered spirit-gathering Formation Disk, his pale fingers tracing the deep footprints in the ground, his pupils involuntarily shrinking to the size of pinpoints.
The hidden compartment was completely overturned, and the Black Tortoise Shell inside had long since disappeared.
Even more bizarrely, apart from a pool of grayish-white unidentified powder, not a single bone or drop of essence blood of the Xuanming Old Monster was left on the entire battlefield ruins.
"Not even bones were left behind?"
Gu You was filled with surprise and uncertainty.
The Xuanming Old Monster was at least Half-Step Ninth Tier cultivator. With the advantage of the Extreme Yin Earth Vein, it would take an ordinary Eighth-Order Peak at least several days of bloody battle to kill him and completely destroy this area within a hundred miles.
The damage before our eyes clearly indicates that it was crushed to death underground by absolute force in an extremely short period of time.
"Could it really be that old codger from Giant Spirit City who crossed over to do this?"
Gu You snorted coldly, flicked his wrist, and summoned the blood-red Soul-Seizing Blood Shuttle.
"Buzz!"
The Blood Shuttle hovered in mid-air, and the fierce pressure of the Ninth Tier treasure rippled outwards. Circles of scarlet ripples spread in all directions like a spider web, trying to search for the remaining fragments of Divine Soul in the Void.
However, ten breaths later, the crimson ripples swept across the entire ley line, only to return to nothingness.
There was no lingering resentment from any remaining spirit.
It was as if all traces of the Xuanming Old Monster's existence had been completely erased and crushed into nothingness from the very root by some kind of tyrannical and incomprehensible rule.
A chill Gu You rose up along my spine.
This method even exceeds the scope of the Netherworld Heavenly Palace's demonic arts!
"Who?!"
Just as Gu You's mind was reeling, a sudden, soft sound came from the broken stone door behind him.
Despair.
That was the crisp sound of a metal blade gently striking the stone wall.
Gu You's entire body of bone armor exploded with a blinding gray light. His powerful True Essence, at the Eighth-Order Late Stage, surged wildly through his meridians. His figure spun and retreated thirty feet like lightning, his hands gripping the Soul-Seizing Blood Shuttle as he roared fiercely.
"Who's playing tricks here?!"
In the dark, damp shadow of the stone gate, a thin figure leaned lazily against the broken door frame.
The boy looked to be no more than ten years old, with red lips and white teeth, and wore a slightly oversized plain white coarse cloth long robe.
He had a piece of dry grass clenched in his mouth, and dragged a rough, broken Broken Saber with a nicked blade in his right hand.
The boy showed no trace of True Essence fluctuations; he was as pure as a mountain child who had just returned from herding cattle.
But reflected in those deep, dark eyes, every hair on Gu You's body stood on end in that instant!
Divine Thoughts roared madly, and alarm bells blared deep within the Sea of Consciousness!
When did this boy start standing there?
How could he ignore the Soul-Seizing Blood Shuttle's search?
Why hadn't he, a powerful figure in the Eighth-Order Late Stage of the Great Wilderness, sensed even the slightest fluctuation of life force before?!
"You..."
Gu You stared intently at the boy, his eyes twitching wildly. He forcibly suppressed the panic in his heart and said in a chilling voice.
"Did you kill Xuanming? Black Tortoise Fragmentary Map was on you?!"
Chen Fan spat out the grass stem in his mouth, gently scratched his back with the Broken Saber, his expression calm and undisturbed.
"The people from the Netherworld Heavenly Palace travel quite fast."
Chen Fan examined the pale white bone armor on Gu You's body, a cold smile spreading across his lips.
"Too bad, it's just a small fry. Why doesn't the Netherworld Old Monster dare to come over himself?"
The face beneath the Gu You mask instantly contorted.
In the heart of the Great Wilderness, even the city lords of the major cities would give way at the mere mention of the Netherworld Heavenly Palace. And this immature brat, barely out of his teens, dares to address the Venerable One as an old monster?!
"You damned little beast! How dare you speak ill of the Venerable One?!"
Gu You's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he no longer had any intention of testing the waters. The Netherworld Demonic Art in his body was running wildly. He stomped his feet on the ground, and his body was surrounded by a gray-black evil aura that blotted out the sky. The Soul-Seizing Blood Shuttle in his hand transformed into a blood-red lightning bolt that tore through the sky and headed straight for Chen Fan's face!
Where the blood shuttle passed, even the space itself was corroded with scorching marks. The power of the Ninth Tier treasure was pushed to its limit, determined to completely drain this strange boy from his skin and bones!
Faced with this devastating attack, Chen Fan didn't even lift his leg.
He simply sighed softly.
"They said it was just small fry, but they still insisted on sending it forward."
The next instant.
Boom!!
An indescribable sense of terror suddenly descended upon the sealed room without warning!
Half-step into the Ninth-Tier Domain, fully activated!
In that instant, gravity, light, air, and even the ethereal spiritual energy within the entire ruins were completely drained away.
The black and white Life-and-Death Dao Resonance spread out from beneath Chen Fan's feet like a tide, transforming into a gigantic Taiji Life-and-Death Millstone, stretching across the heavens and earth!
Gu You's forward-rushing figure suddenly froze.
He was horrified to discover that the Eighth-Order Late Stage True Essence surging within his body like a mighty river had completely frozen in his meridians the moment this Dao Rhythm pressed down!
Even the Soul-Seizing Blood Shuttle that shot out was forced to hover three feet in the Void in front of Chen Fan, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable pressure!