Carefree Manor

This was the boldness that came with great skill. As a vast amount of poison gas rushed into his body and mingled with his blood Qi, the blue-black gas surged joyfully into the pale-gold and red currents.

Even Spirit Bodies were immune to most poisons, while Holy Bodies and Divine Bodies were all but impervious to every poison, let alone Fu Yuan's Myriad Tribulations Indestructible Physique.

Fu Yuan's body rumbled, and his internal organs trembled. They were not expelling the poison, but devouring the blue and black poison gas with ravenous hunger.

A long black nail hurtled through the air, moving with incredible speed, an evil presence rushing toward him. Golden light blazed, and immense sword intent surged forth, cutting the nail down.

Severed by Sword Qi, the nail embedded itself in the ground. Evil power poured from it, and the earth instantly caved in.

The tower-like man, his body transformed into a mountain peak, came at him. His terrifying strength was on full display, making the void resound as sonic booms rang out without cease.

Faced with this onslaught, Fu Yuan merely raised his right hand. Pale-gold light flowed around it as he clenched his five fingers into a fist and struck out with overwhelming force.

Boom!

Wave after wave of air swept through the sky in an absolute clash of strength. The blue gas scattered, and heaven and earth were clear for a moment.

Fist met fist, and a cloud of bloody mist burst apart from the tower-like man's right hand. Blood sprayed across the sky as Fu Yuan threw several more punches from a distance. The winds from his fists whipped up towering waves, and sonic booms rang out.

Clouds of bloody mist erupted, shattered bones flew, and the stench of blood filled the air.

In an act of violence and slaughter at its most extreme, he had blasted a Nirvana Realm body cultivator apart. The scene was horrifying.

At the sight of such a gruesome end, the two black foxes were scared out of their three souls and seven spirits. They knew all too well that it was time to fight for their lives.

Their bodies collided in midair, and black light blazed to its utmost brilliance. Their life force rose, and their essence grew stronger.

"Trying to escape?" As Fu Yuan blasted the tower-like man apart, the middle-aged Daoist flung out a talisman. His speed suddenly increased, and he flew toward the mouth of the valley.

Sword Qi surged forth. Several streaks of imperial Dao Sword Qi slashed swiftly toward him, severing his limbs and pinning him to a mountain peak.

"How could this be?!" The middle-aged Daoist was horrified. His opponent had casually devoured the poison puppet's gas, and even a Divine Movement Talisman could not help him escape. His body was suppressed against a great mountain, his dantian and eight meridians sealed, leaving him unable to move.

"Twins who share a fate?" Fu Yuan was slightly surprised. As his Double Pupils opened and closed, the two black foxes within the black light merged into one, their lives joined together.

The black light faded, revealing a strange-looking black fox with two black tails, eight legs, and two heads. Its presence had actually reached the fourth level of the Nirvana Realm. As expected of a trump card kept up their sleeves, it was indeed powerful, raising their cultivation by a full two minor realms.

"What a pity. Your bloodline is too weak; you don't even count as ferocious beasts." Fu Yuan sighed. For one-tailed black foxes to cultivate to such a level was already an act against the heavens. Never mind nine tails-even two foxes with seven- or eight-tailed bloodlines would be treasured by the entire Heavenly Fox Clan.

A one-tailed fox was the equivalent of a human with a first-grade bloodline, inherently unsuited to cultivation. Even refining Qi was fraught with a thousand difficulties.

Such was the cruel world of cultivation. Some were born destined to stir up wind and clouds, kings from birth, while others were born to be slaves and servants. It was all the work of fate.

"Go on." Fu Yuan suddenly found it somewhat dull and waved for them to leave.

The two fox heads were stunned, then overjoyed. As they departed, they remained on extreme alert, their spiritual senses fully extended.

Fu Yuan retrieved an object from a distance, taking a black storage bag from a cloud of exploded bloody mist. The treasured possessions of a Nirvana Realm cultivator were enough to pique his interest.

He easily broke the restriction on the storage bag and sent his spiritual sense inside.

Unfortunately, not everyone had a great fortuitous encounter. Nothing inside gave Fu Yuan the slightest pleasant surprise.

"Spare me, spare me!" The middle-aged Daoist was terrified, but the Sword Qi held him sealed and unable to move. "The treasure map bears writing from the immemorial era. I can lead you to the hidden treasure, my lord."

The imperial Dao sword intent was extraordinary. Though it had severed his limbs, not a drop of blood had spilled.

"How could a treasure map from the immemorial era be made of such ordinary beast hide?" Fu Yuan stood in the air, looking down at the middle-aged Daoist. His casual remark exposed the lie, leaving the man even more terrified.

"I've spared your life only because I'm curious who is behind you." Fu Yuan tapped the void lightly with his right hand, intrigued. "Living puppets, the Yin-Yang Disc, and the Life and Death Nail are all inauspicious things."

"Think carefully before you speak. I wouldn't want to hear anything I dislike." The young man spoke kindly, a smile on his face.

"You're a holy son, someone high and mighty." The middle-aged Daoist smiled, his bitterness tinged with despair. "But even someone like you has people he can't afford to offend."

Fu Yuan was patient. He transformed Spiritual Qi into hundreds upon thousands of fine needles and drove them into the man's meridians and bone marrow, repeating the process dozens of times.

Piercing screams filled the valley and continued for a long time.

"A Life and Death Restriction. The one behind you has some tricks." Fu Yuan spoke softly as a mass of golden light shot from his eyes, enveloping the black lines one by one. "Whether you talk or not, you'll die. Why suffer so much torment?"

The middle-aged Daoist was in a wretched state. His limbs were severed, and pain that reached deep into his bones washed over him in waves.

"Have you heard of Carefree Manor?" Driven mad by such torment, the middle-aged Daoist bared a vicious grin. "Or perhaps you've heard its other name: Ghost Domain!"

"Ghost Domain?" Fu Yuan murmured. A sharp light shone in his eyes, and his fearsome might was overwhelming. "The Ghost Domain of the Imperial Dao era?"

The Imperial Dao era was the darkest time for humanity, when humans in many world domains had nearly been wiped out.

Back then, there had been a Carefree Saint King whose methods were sinister. To stay alive, he became a lackey of the emperors, studying the various physiques of the human race and refining countless living beings into puppets while they were still alive.

The present-day Desolate World had been called the Carefree World in that era. Humans were kept there like livestock, while human prodigies and great powers were seized from the various worlds, either to be dissected for research or presented with certain medicinal herbs to influential figures of the Imperial World.

Those years had lasted for tens of thousands of years. Heaven knew how many lineages and holy lands had been wiped out, and many world domains had been left desolate and uninhabited.

It was not until the Indestructible Heavenly Venerable awoke from his slumber that he struck with overwhelming force, suppressing and killing an old emperor and slaughtering countless great powers of the Imperial World. He alone held all the emperors in awe.

Furious, the Indestructible Heavenly Venerable fought the emperors alone, striking the Heavenly Emperor until he coughed up blood, overturning the sun and moon and setting heaven and earth spinning. The Imperishable Heavenly Wheel descended upon the Carefree World with world-destroying might, wiping out that lineage.

That battle had nearly shattered the Imperial World, but however strong the Indestructible Heavenly Venerable was, he was still only one man. In the end, wounded and bleeding, he had been forced to return to the Indestructible Forbidden Zone.

Only after that battle did the emperors rein themselves in, bringing humanity's darkest hour to an end.

But the Indestructible Heavenly Venerable had made enemies of the emperors led by the Heavenly Emperor. Thus, at the end of the Imperial Dao era, the Heavenly Emperor joined hands with the Heaven-Equaling Demon Emperor to invade the Indestructible Forbidden Zone, while the other emperors intervened from the shadows.

"That lineage wasn't wiped out?" Fu Yuan's voice was icy. Killing intent surged wildly from him, taking tangible form as it pressed outward.

Rumble!

Several mountain peaks were crushed under the killing intent. As it swept over the flying rubble, it reduced the fragments to dust.