Remnants of the Demon God, Talisman Array First Success

The black-scaled claw had barely emerged from the space rift when it brought with it a bone-chilling, icy current, and the surrounding chaos space seemed to freeze, solidifying in an instant. The spatial patterns on the claw were completely different from Kongming Demon God's—more intricate, more profound, each line like a miniature space rift, emitting a pressure that could devour everything.

The chaos rubble where Xuan Fu was hiding trembled violently. If he hadn't activated his newly refined Space Origin in time to form a thin spatial barrier on his surface, he would have been crushed by that pressure. He held his breath tightly, not daring to let even a wisp of his Spiritual Sense leak out, and could only greedily observe the claw's movements through the gaps in the rubble.

This was an application of the Space Dao far superior to Kongming Demon God's! Before the claw even touched the Innate Spiritual Root, the surrounding space began to collapse inward, forming an invisible gravitational field that locked onto the Three-Leaf Spiritual Root. Sensing the danger, the root's three emerald leaves trembled rapidly, and the Life Origin it emitted surged abruptly, forming a faint green protective barrier on its surface.

"Buzz—"

The protective barrier collided with the spatial gravitational field, producing a low hum. The pale green light and the black space rifts intertwined, creating an eerie curtain of light. The surrounding Chaos Streams were pulled by this force, spinning wildly into a massive vortex.

Xuan Fu could clearly feel that although the root's Life Origin was pure, it was no match for the claw's owner. Under the squeeze of the spatial gravitational field, the protective barrier was visibly dimming, and the Three-Leaf Spiritual Root's leaves were beginning to yellow slightly—clearly, it couldn't hold on much longer.

Just then, a hoarse, low voice came from the space rift, like metal grinding against stone: "A mere Innate Spiritual Root dares to struggle before This Venerable One?"

As the words fell, the black claw suddenly exerted force, and the spatial gravitational field intensified severalfold. With a crisp "crack," the root's protective barrier shattered, and the three leaves trembled violently, as if they might fall off at any moment.

Xuan Fu's heart tightened with urgency. This Innate Spiritual Root's Life Origin was crucial to him. If this mysterious powerhouse took it, who knew how long it would be before he encountered such pure Life Origin again? But he also knew that with his current strength, he couldn't possibly contend with this powerhouse. Acting rashly would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

His Spiritual Sense spun rapidly, and Xuan Fu quickly made a decision. Instead of trying to snatch it by force, he turned his gaze to the nearby Chaos Turbulence—there, several Chaos Fiend Spirits, drawn by the energy fluctuations from the earlier clash, were hesitating nearby. They were clearly tempted by the root's Life Origin but feared the powerhouse's pressure.

The corner of Xuan Fu's mouth (his rune patterns) curled into a barely perceptible arc. He activated his Space Rune, disguising his own aura as a wisp of dissipating Life Origin, drifting toward those Chaos Fiend Spirits. At the same time, he channeled his Fire Origin, mixing a faint trace of fire-attribute fluctuation into the disguised aura, like the root's final struggle before death.

The Chaos Fiend Spirits, already low in intelligence, were stirred into frenzy by this aura. No longer fearing the powerhouse's pressure, they roared and charged toward the Innate Spiritual Root, their target fixed on that "wisp of dissipating Life Origin."

This scene was immediately detected by the mysterious powerhouse in the space rift.

"Insolent wretches who don't know death!"

A hoarse, furious shout rang out. The black claw diverted a sliver of power and swatted at the Chaos Fiend Spirits. Invisible spatial force, like swatting flies, instantly crushed those wisps of Fiend Spirits into dust. But this brief delay gave the root a moment to breathe—and gave Xuan Fu an opening.

Seizing the instant the powerhouse was distracted dealing with the Fiend Spirits, Xuan Fu activated his Space Folding Power, turning into a streak of cyan-gold light, like an arrow leaving the bow, shooting toward the Innate Spiritual Root. He wasn't greedy enough to try to take the entire root; instead, as he closed in, he extended an invisible hand formed from runes, precisely grabbed the outermost leaf of the root, and smoothly stripped away a wisp of the purest Life Origin.

The moment he succeeded, Xuan Fu turned without hesitation, activated his Space Escape Power, and fled toward the densest area of Chaos Turbulence. His movements were as fast as lightning, the entire process taking no more than a breath. By the time the mysterious powerhouse reacted, he had already vanished into the violent turbulence.

"Courting death!"

The mysterious powerhouse was furious. The black claw lunged toward the direction Xuan Fu had fled. The space rift instantly expanded, and countless tiny Space Blades chased after Xuan Fu, slicing the Chaos Streams into countless fragments wherever they passed.

Xuan Fu's heart tightened. He dared not pause for a moment. He pushed both Space Escape and Space Folding Power to their limits, his form flickering continuously in the turbulence like a ghost, dodging the pursuing Space Blades. At the same time, he integrated the freshly stripped Life Origin into himself, and the Wood Attribute patterns on his rune surface lit up instantly, intertwining with the Fire Attribute and Space Attribute patterns to form a three-colored barrier, barely withstanding the spatial pressure behind him.

This wisp of Life Origin was indeed wonderfully useful. Not only did it add a touch of warm life force to his rune, but it also greatly enhanced the rune's resilience, keeping his Spiritual Sense from any disorder under the impact of the spatial pressure.

But the mysterious powerhouse's strength was simply too great. Even though Xuan Fu had fled into the turbulence, the other's Spiritual Sense had him firmly locked. The Space Blades behind him grew denser and denser, even beginning to predict his escape trajectory, forcing him into perilous situations.

Xuan Fu knew that if this continued, he would eventually be caught. He had to find a way to shake off the lock, or he would surely die today.

His Spiritual Sense spun rapidly, and his gaze fell on a massive Chaos Crystal not far ahead. The crystal was about several dozen zhang in size, its surface covered with thick spatial patterns. It had clearly existed for eons, incredibly hard, not even completely destroyed by the residual Sky-Opening Axe Light.

A bold idea sprouted in his mind.

He didn't change direction; instead, he sped up, charging straight toward the massive Chaos Crystal. In the instant he neared it, he suddenly altered his escape trajectory, circling behind the crystal, while simultaneously channeling all his Origin Power to quickly carve runes on the crystal's surface.

He would use this Chaos Crystal's hardness and spatial properties to set up a temporary rune array!

His rune patterns spun wildly, and Fire Origin, Space Origin, and Life Origin surged out simultaneously, turning into streaks of cyan-gold, fiery red, and emerald light that intertwined on the crystal's surface. Xuan Fu had no time to carve a complex rune array, so he fused the three rune powers he was best at—concealment, defense, and counterattack—into a simple but practical "Hidden Void Burning Array."

Cyan-gold Space Runes formed the array's foundation, connecting to the Chaos Crystal's spatial patterns to conceal the array's internal aura using the crystal's power. Fiery red Fire Origin became the array's eye, containing the violent power of Yanhuang Demon God's origin, ready to erupt if triggered. Emerald Life Origin stabilized the array's form, preventing it from being swept away by the Chaos Turbulence.

The entire carving process took no more than two breaths. Just as Xuan Fu completed the final rune, the Space Blades behind him had already closed in.

Without hesitation, Xuan Fu dove into the rune array and activated it.

"Buzz—"

The moment the array started, the spatial patterns on the Chaos Crystal resonated with the array's Space Runes, and Xuan Fu's aura vanished without a trace, as if he had never existed. The pursuing Space Blades struck the crystal with loud "clangs," sending sparks flying, but they couldn't damage the crystal at all, nor could they detect the array's presence.

A moment later, the black claw caught up to the crystal. The mysterious powerhouse's Spiritual Sense probed repeatedly around the crystal but found no trace of Xuan Fu. He could sense that Xuan Fu's aura was nearby, but it was perfectly concealed by some power, impenetrable even to his spatial perception.

"Hmph, a skulking ant, thinking you can hide from This Venerable One?"

A hoarse, cold snort rang out. The black claw slammed heavily into the Chaos Crystal. The immense force made the crystal tremble violently, and the rune array on its surface rippled. Inside the array, Xuan Fu felt a tremendous pressure, and his rune patterns nearly collapsed.

But he had prepared for this. He channeled Life Origin to steadily stabilize the array's form while quietly accumulating the power of Fire Origin. If the array was broken, he would immediately launch a counterattack and flee.

The black claw struck dozens of times. The Chaos Crystal was battered until it wobbled, with many cracks appearing on its surface. But the rune array, relying on the crystal's support and Life Origin's stability, stubbornly held on. The mysterious powerhouse seemed to realize the crystal's hardness and the array's peculiarity, unwilling to waste time here—after all, the Innate Spiritual Root was still waiting for him to collect.

"Ant, if This Venerable One meets you again, I'll make sure your soul is scattered to the winds!"

After leaving a harsh threat, the black claw slowly retracted into the space rift, which then closed, and the surrounding spatial pressure gradually dissipated.

Xuan Fu lurked inside the array for another three Chaos Hours. Only after confirming that the mysterious powerhouse had completely left did he dare to emerge from the rune array. His rune body trembled slightly, his Spiritual Sense heavily depleted. The series of actions just now had nearly exhausted all the Origin Power he had accumulated recently.

But his face (rune patterns) was brimming with excitement.

Not only had he successfully stripped the Life Origin from the Innate Spiritual Root, but he had also, through the crisis, successfully deployed his first practical rune array, the "Hidden Void Burning Array." More importantly, from the Space Dao of the mysterious powerhouse and Kongming Demon God, he had gained many new insights.

He didn't linger. He immediately fled into the Chaos Turbulence, found a relatively safe corner, and began to refine that wisp of Life Origin. The emerald Origin power merged into his rune, nourishing and intertwining with the Fire Attribute and Space Attribute powers. The patterns on his rune surface became smoother and more intricate, and his Spiritual Sense grew considerably stronger.

After refining it, Xuan Fu felt that his rune dao system had taken another step toward perfection. He could now not only set up simple rune arrays but also fuse and apply Origin powers of different attributes. In the chaos, this was undoubtedly an extra layer of survival assurance.

He sorted through his gains, then oriented himself and continued fleeing toward the edge of chaos. The influence of the Sky-Opening Axe Light was still ongoing, and the Chaos Core region was growing more dangerous. Only by escaping to the fringe could he gain a moment's respite.

Just as he passed through a relatively calm layer of chaos qi, his Spiritual Sense suddenly caught a familiar aura.

It was Kongming Demon God's aura!

Xuan Fu's heart tightened. He immediately restrained his aura and concealed himself within a mass of Chaos Qi. Following the aura, he probed and saw that tens of thousands of li away, Kongming Demon God was locked in a standoff with another demon god covered in earth-yellow scales. That Yellow Earth Demon God was massive, standing like a mountain, exuding a heavy Earth Attribute Origin aura—clearly another formidable Chaos Demon God.

The Chaos Streams between them churned violently, a clear sign that they had just been through a fierce battle and were now in a stalemate.

Xuan Fu's Spiritual Sense observed closely, discovering that the Kongming Demon God's aura was much weaker than before, and the spatial patterns on his body had dimmed somewhat—clearly, he had been injured in the earlier battle. The Yellow Earth Demon God was not much better off either, with many scales shed from his body and his aura in disarray.

Just then, the Kongming Demon God suddenly moved. He fiercely activated the Power of Space, transforming into a streak of pitch-black light and attacking toward the Yellow Earth Demon God's weak point. The Yellow Earth Demon God roared, a thick earthen barrier emerging on his body surface as he threw a punch carrying the force to shatter mountains and crack rocks, meeting the Kongming Demon God head-on.

"Boom!"

The violent collision rang out as the Power of Space and the power of earth clashed, forming a massive Energy Ripple. The Kongming Demon God was sent staggering back repeatedly, black Origin Power leaking from the corner of his mouth (energy gap); the Yellow Earth Demon God fared no better, cracks appearing in his earthen barrier as his body stumbled.

Xuan Fu's eyes (Spiritual Sense) lit up.

This was a perfect opportunity to pick up scraps! Whether the Kongming Demon God or the Yellow Earth Demon God, both were now severely wounded. If he could seize the chance to strip away a wisp of their Origin Power, it would greatly aid his growth in the Dao of Talismans.

But he did not act rashly. Even injured, the two Demon Gods were far stronger than him; one misstep and he would bring disaster upon himself.

He patiently lurked within the Chaos Qi Masses, like the most patient hunter, waiting for the optimal moment to strike.

The battle between the Kongming Demon God and the Yellow Earth Demon God erupted again, growing fiercer and fiercer. Their Origin Power was continuously depleted, and their openings multiplied. Xuan Fu's Spiritual Sense locked tightly onto both of them, his talisman patterns spinning at full speed, ready to launch an attack at any moment.

Just as the two were locked in fierce combat, their Origin Power more than half consumed, on the verge of Both Suffer Losses, Xuan Fu suddenly sensed an ice-cold gaze locking onto him from some direction deep within the Chaos. This gaze did not come from the Kongming Demon God or the Yellow Earth Demon God, but from a far more distant, far more mysterious existence. That aura was cold, eerie, carrying an indifference that looked down upon all living things, causing Xuan Fu's talisman body to involuntarily birth a fear rooted deep in his soul.

The Chaos Qi Masses trembled violently. Xuan Fu's Spiritual Sense dared not probe recklessly any longer, and could only curl up tightly deep within the masses, his heart filled with shock and doubt.

This existence that had locked onto him—who was it? When had the other party discovered him? And what was its purpose?