She stared intently at the spot where the black hole disappeared, her fingernails digging deep into her palms, the blood dripping onto the ground instantly freezing.

The last traces of Qin Ze's breath lingered in the air, mixed with intense demonic energy, pricking her nerves like sharp needles.

"Tuanzi! Search for me! Even if I have to dig three feet into the ground, I will find the lair of the Angry Sect!"

Shen Chumo's voice was terrifyingly cold, and the killing intent emanating from her body caused the surrounding temperature to plummet to below zero.

She looked up at the dark sky, her icy blue spiritual energy swirling wildly around her: "Chenmen, Xuanming! I will settle this score with interest."

"Tuanzi, analyze the residual traces of demonic energy immediately!" Shen Chumo's voice was chillingly cold, and the icy blue spiritual power gathered at her fingertips drew a complex rune in the void.

The white orb of light on her shoulder flickered violently, releasing countless fine data streams. These threads of light, like living things, burrowed into the remaining traces of demonic energy in the air. Tuanzi was a spirit she had subdued atop Mount Kunlun, possessing powerful spatial perception abilities.

"MoMo, three paths have been detected!" Tuanzi's voice rang in Shen Chumo's mind. "The concentration of demonic energy is highest in the southeast direction, and spatial fluctuations indicate large-scale teleportation!"

Shen Chumo narrowed his eyes. Sensing its master's anger, the Demon-Slaying Sword lit up one by one with its ancient runes.

She had just exhausted a lot of spiritual energy fighting against the Heaven-Locking Formation, but she couldn't afford to recover right now.

“Give me the exact coordinates,” she commanded curtly.

Tuanzi quickly projected a three-dimensional map, with a scarlet path winding through the void, eventually pointing to an area on the outskirts of the city marked as an abandoned sanatorium.

At the edge of the map, three faint blue dots are flashing—these are the life signals of Lin Lin, Lin Chuan, Zhou Ye, and Qin Ze.

"They still have vital signs, but Qin Ze's signal is extremely weak," Tuanzi reported. "A high-intensity energy barrier has been detected in this area, which cannot be breached by conventional methods."

Shen Chumo's lips curled into a cold smile: "Then let's use unconventional methods."

She formed a hand seal, and the ice patterns around her suddenly shone with a dazzling blue light. Water molecules in the air condensed into countless tiny ice crystals around her, which collided with each other, producing a crisp sound.

As spiritual energy was continuously injected, the ice crystals began to rotate at high speed, forming a miniature storm.

"Space jump preparation complete, Momo," Tuanzi reminded her, "but continuous teleportation will put a strain on your meridians."

"It's alright." A cold glint flashed in Shen Chumo's eyes, and he was instantly engulfed by the ice crystal storm.

The next moment, her figure appeared on top of a high-voltage power tower five kilometers away.

She lightly touched the top of the tower with her toes, and her figure vanished once more. Each teleportation left a burning pain in her meridians, but she paid no heed, her eyes fixed only on the ever-approaching crimson path.

As the third teleport ended, Shen Chumo suddenly felt a strong spatial distortion. She immediately swung her sword at the void, and the Demon-Slaying Sword collided with the invisible barrier, bursting into dazzling sparks.

"Master, be careful! It's a demonic energy trap!" Tuanzi warned urgently.

Shen Chumo retreated hastily, but it was too late.

The surrounding space shattered like a mirror, and countless black tentacles emerged from the cracks, coiling towards her. These tentacles were covered with suction cup-like runes, each greedily absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.

"A mere trick." Shen Chumo sneered, making a hand seal with her left hand and drawing a circle with her sword in her right.

Nine ice lotuses bloomed around her, each petal as sharp as a knife, severing all the attacking tentacles. Black sap spurted out, but froze into eerie ice sculptures the moment it touched the ice lotuses.

With a flick of her sword, the ice lotus exploded, and the resulting shockwave completely shattered the spatial trap.

Using this power, Shen Chumo teleported again, this time breaking through the final barrier.

When she regained her balance, she was standing in front of a gloomy complex of buildings.

This abandoned sanatorium is hidden deep in the mountains, its outer walls covered with dark red vines that look like dried blood under the moonlight.

Above the main entrance, the words "Qingshan Sanatorium" are already faded and worn, with only half of the character "Shan" remaining, making it look like "Qingshi Sanatorium" at first glance.

"This is it," Tuanzi confirmed. "The life signal is about thirty meters underground, but multiple restrictions have been detected."

Shen Chumo did not act immediately, but closed her eyes and spread her divine sense.

In her perception, the entire sanatorium was shrouded in a thick layer of demonic energy, like an inverted black giant bowl.

Dozens of spiritual energy reactions were wandering on the ground, likely patrolling Chenmen disciples.

Underground, there were more complex energy fluctuations, and three familiar spiritual energies made her heart tighten—Lin Lin and the others were there.

"Master, spatial blockade detected. Direct teleportation to the target location is not possible," Tuanzi reminded.

Shen Chumo opened her eyes, her pupils gleaming with an icy blue light: "Then let's charge in."

She flashed forward, appearing like a ghost behind the guards at the main gate. The two men in black robes didn't even have time to raise an alarm before their throats were pierced by ice blades, their bodies frozen into ice sculptures before they fell to the ground.

Shen Chumo did not stop. The Demon-Slaying Sword in her hand transformed into a blue lightning bolt, and wherever it passed, the disciples of the Chen Sect fell one after another.

Her movements were clean and swift, each sword strike hitting a vital point precisely, giving the enemy no chance to raise an alarm.

After passing through the front hall, Shen Chumo arrived at a staircase that extended downwards.

The concentration of demonic energy here suddenly increased, and the walls were covered with twisted runes, just like the Heaven-Locking Array.

She noticed fresh drag marks on the ground, and a few drops of undried blood glowed eerily red in the darkness.

"Master, there is a life form reacting ahead, but the spiritual energy fluctuations are abnormal," Tuanzi suddenly warned.

Shen Chumo paused slightly, extending her divine sense forward. At the corner of the stairs, a hunched figure was moving slowly.

It was an elderly man wearing a hospital gown, with an abnormal bluish-gray complexion and cloudy, lifeless eyes.

Even more bizarrely, there was a hole the size of a bowl in his chest, and inside was not flesh and blood, but a wriggling black substance.

“Living corpse puppets.” Shen Chumo recognized this evil technique. “The Angry Sect actually uses ordinary people for experiments.”

The zombie seemed to sense the presence of a living person, and suddenly turned its head, opening its blood-red maw to pounce.

Shen Chumo dodged to the side, and with a flash of sword light, the zombie's head rolled to the ground. But the headless body was still moving, the black substance on its chest writhing wildly, extending dozens of thin threads that tried to entangle Shen Chumo.

"Purify." Shen Chumo formed a hand seal, and a pure, icy-blue flame erupted from her palm, burning the black substance to ashes. Only then did the zombie completely collapse, turning into dust.

As they ventured deeper underground, they encountered more and more similar undead. Some still retained human form, while others had completely mutated into twisted monsters. Shen Chumo frowned deeply; these experimental subjects had clearly suffered inhuman torture.

"Master, a large energy reaction has been detected ahead; it should be the main experimental area," Tuanzi reported. "Lin Lin and the others' signal is there."

Shen Chumo quickened her pace and arrived at a heavy metal door.

The door was engraved with intricate formations, with a grotesque demon mask relief at its center. As she approached, the demon mask's eyes suddenly glowed red, and a hoarse voice rang out:

"Trespassers will be killed."

Shen Chumo sneered, and the Demon-Slaying Sword pierced straight at the Ghost Face. The moment the sword tip touched the door, the entire passage shook violently, and countless black spikes shot out from the walls and ceiling.

She moved like lightning, weaving through the spikes, while the spiritual power on her sword surged, cleaving open the metal door with a single strike.

Behind the door was a huge circular space with nine black stone pillars standing in the center, each with a person tied to it.

Shen Chumo spotted Lin Lin and Lin Chuan immediately. They were bound by chains, with blood-red runes drawn on their chests, and had fallen unconscious. Qin Ze, on the other hand, was imprisoned alone in a transparent container, his body covered in tubes from which bright red blood was being slowly drained.

"You've finally arrived, Miss Shen." A soft, feminine voice came from the shadows.

Shen Chumo turned her head and saw a man in a white robe slowly walking out.

His face was so handsome it was almost otherworldly, his hair was as white as snow, but his eyes were pure black, without a trace of white.

Behind him stood more than ten men in black robes, each holding a strange magical artifact.

"You are... Xuanming?" Shen Chumo pointed her sword at the other party, and the ice patterns around her body shone brightly.

The white-robed man chuckled and shook his head: "It's merely a wisp of the master's soul. The master greatly admires you, Miss Shen. To be able to move freely within the Heaven-Locking Array—that's commendable."

"Release them." Shen Chumo was too lazy to waste words. All the runes on the Demon-Slaying Sword had been activated, and the temperature of the entire space dropped sharply.

"Don't rush," the Xuanming clone gestured, "Why don't we first take a look at the results of our centuries of research?"

He snapped his fingers, and the ground suddenly lit up with complex array patterns. The nine stone pillars began to rotate, and the people bound to them groaned in pain.

Shen Chumo then noticed that, apart from Lin Lin and the other two, the other six all wore the Murong family crest on their chests. One of them looked particularly familiar to her; it was Murong Xue's brother—Murong Jing.

Unexpectedly, even he was arrested.

Murong Jing was chained through his collarbone and hung from the top of a stone pillar. His pale face was covered with crisscrossing whip marks, and dried blood scabs mixed with filthy mud, ruining his once exquisite features beyond recognition.

"The Murong family's bloodline is quite special, isn't it?" Xuanming's clone strolled to a stone pillar, his fingers lightly stroking the middle-aged man bound to it.

"A hundred years ago, an ancestor of the Murong family accidentally consumed the 'Mysterious Yin Fruit' from the Kunlun Secret Realm, and from then on, his bloodline contained a trace of the energy of an ancient demon god."

He turned to Shen Chumo, his dark eyes flashing with a crazed light: "But pure blood is too rare; we have to 'harvest' it every twenty years. Until recently, we finally found a way to purify the bloodline."

As he spoke, the Murong clansmen on the stone pillar let out a shrill scream. The blood-red runes on their chests lit up with a dazzling red light, and strands of golden liquid were drawn from their seven orifices, gathering into the central container.

"Stop!" Shen Chumo swung her sword at Xuanming's clone, but was blocked by a black barrier that suddenly rose up.

"Don't rush, your friend's turn is coming soon," the Xuanming clone sneered. "Especially that Qin Ze; his spiritual energy attribute is very special, making him a perfect catalyst."

Shen Chumo's eyes flashed with murderous intent. She no longer held back and her spiritual power surged wildly within her body.

The runes on the Demon-Slaying Sword detached from the sword and formed a complex array in the air.

"Thousands of miles of ice!"

With a clear shout, the entire space was instantly filled with icy blue light.

Extreme cold erupted from her center, causing the black stone pillar to crack in the cold air, and the iron chains binding Lin Lin and the others to break inch by inch.

Xuanming's clone's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly retreated, but he was still grazed by the cold air, and half of his body immediately froze.

"How dare you—" he roared as he crushed the black crystal in his hand. A terrifying demonic aura surged from the ground, transforming into countless hideous ghost faces that lunged at Shen Chumo.

Shen Chumo neither dodged nor evaded, her Demon-Slaying Sword pointing straight at the sky: "Break!"

As soon as Shen Chumo's Demon-Slaying Sword sliced ​​through the air, countless dark chains suddenly sprang up from the ground, wrapping around her ankles like living creatures.

Her icy lotus phantom suddenly shone brightly, and frost flowed upstream along the chains. The black-robed figures collectively bit their tongues, spitting out blood mist. Runes multiplied wildly in the blood rain, and barbed demonic patterns appeared on the surface of the chains, cutting a deep, bone-revealing wound into her calf.

"A mere trick!" Ice patterns spread like a spider web around Shen Chumo's body as he pushed the power of the Floating Life Realm to its peak.

The Demon-Slaying Sword transformed into a hundred-foot-long ice dragon, crashing into the black barrier with the force to split mountains and shatter rocks.

Amidst the deafening roar of the ice shattering, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the barrier, while Xuanming's clone suddenly vanished from the spot.

"Watch out behind you!" Lin Lin's weak shout made Shen Chumo instinctively roll to the side.

A claw mark as black as night grazed her shoulder, tearing a ten-foot-deep abyss into the ground.

Xuanming's clone's long hair moved without wind, and the demonic energy dripping from his fingertips ignited upon touching the ground, leaving sizzling scorch marks: "Miss Shen's spiritual power is perfect for suppressing the container!"

Before the words were even finished, a torrential downpour of blood-red rain suddenly descended from the sky. The raindrops instantly transformed into vengeful spirits upon contact with the air, their sharp claws piercing through Shen Chumo's hastily conjured ice shield, leaving streaks of blood on her arms.

Shen Chumo swung out nine ice blades with her backhand, only to see the fierce ghosts quickly reform after being shattered, shrieking as they engulfed her in the ghost tide.

"Ice Soul? Myriad Calamities!" Shen Chumo suddenly closed his eyes and focused his mind, and the temperature around him plummeted to absolute zero.

Centered on her, the space within a hundred meters was instantly frozen, and the vengeful ghosts, still in their attacking postures, were turned into ice sculptures. However, Xuanming's clone seized the opportunity to close in, his five fingers forming claws as he aimed straight for her heart.

At the critical moment, the Demon-Slaying Sword automatically returned to defense, its spine colliding with the ghost claw and sparking dazzling flames.

Using the force, Shen Chumo soared into the air, forming complex hand seals. The entire space began to distort, and countless illusory ice lotuses emerged from the void, each containing destructive power.

Xuanming's clone finally showed a look of terror. He frantically crushed three black crystals and summoned a sky-covering demonic cloud.

The demonic cloud transformed into a gigantic ghost face, opening its blood-red maw to devour the illusory ice lotus.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like