I transmigrated to a chaotic world and became the sole player.

A chilling, heavy, and terrifying spiritual pressure, like ancient ice, poured down from the top of the altar, locking onto the rocky area where Lu Zhao was hiding. It was the rage of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, a life-level pressure far exceeding that of a Qi Refining cultivator. Lu Zhao felt the surrounding air solidify, his body bound by invisible shackles, even moving a finger becoming incredibly difficult. His bones groaned under the unbearable weight, his soul trembled, as if he would be crushed into dust by this pure, supreme will in the next moment.

On the altar, the high priest's eyes, hidden beneath the dragon-headed skull crown and burning with dark red flames, were like two shrunken, blood-red suns, piercing through the pervasive blood mist and the hundreds of feet between them, landing precisely on Lu Zhao. Lu Zhao could even "see" the undisguised killing intent, anger, and a hint of...surprise in the other's eyes.

Yes, it was an accident. The high priest probably never imagined that in such a crucial and heavily guarded blood sacrifice ritual, a mere fifth-level Qi Refining insect would successfully disrupt the vital array node in such a bizarre way! This was an utter disgrace!

"You actually managed to destroy the 'Soul Pillar'... You little worm, I want the secret within you!" The high priest's voice pierced through Lu Zhao's fragile spiritual defenses, like a cold, venomous snake burrowing into his consciousness, carrying a powerful mental shock and a greedy intent to seize. Clearly, Lu Zhao's methods of destroying the Soul Pillar (the Qi of Annihilation, the Soul-Silent Pearl) had piqued the intense interest of this late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As the high priest finished speaking, the black-robed female guard beside him, holding a jet-black longbow, moved.

She didn't even turn her head, but merely slightly raised the longbow in her hand. Three jet-black arrows, their arrowheads burning with eerie purple flames, silently materialized on the bowstring. The arrows were locked onto Lu Zhao's location! Although hundreds of feet apart, Lu Zhao could clearly feel the chilling killing intent, the piercing sharpness, and the eerie purple flames that could burn the soul contained within those three arrows! This female guard was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, but her archery skills posed a threat to Lu Zhao no less than the spiritual pressure of a high priest!

"Purple Flame Soul-Shattering Arrow... Die." The female guard's icy voice was like a cold wind sweeping by.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three purple flame arrows transformed into three black lines, trailing purple flames, almost invisible to the naked eye. They tore through the air, ignoring distance, and arrived in an instant! Before the arrows even arrived, the terrifying aura that locked onto the soul and froze life force already caused Lu Zhao a stinging pain between his brows and a feeling of being pricked by needles in his sea of ​​consciousness!

There's no way to dodge it! No way to block it! This is a Foundation Establishment cultivator's furious attack, something no Qi Refining cultivator can withstand!

The shadow of death had never felt so real. Lu Zhao could even "see" the purple flames rapidly enlarging in his pupils and "smell" the scent of death.

No! I can't die here!

In that critical moment, when his consciousness was almost overwhelmed by fear, the almost instinctive will to survive, honed from countless brushes with death, erupted with astonishing power from the deepest part of Lu Zhao's soul! At the same time, the Nine Nether Token (the relatively complete one) obtained from the "Nether Tomb" within his body, which had been dormant, and the "Demon Lord's Mark" between his brows, which had been carefully concealed by the [Return to the Void Concealing Breath Technique], both stirred at this moment!

The Nine Nether Token was slightly warm, emitting a faint fluctuation that shared the same origin as the earth beneath its feet and the remnant soul of the sealed "Nine Nether Evil Dragon," yet seemed even more ancient and transcendent. Meanwhile, the "Demon Lord's Mark" emanated a scorching, pulsating heat, as if stimulated and aroused by the soul attack aura of the purple flame arrow, or perhaps by the aura of the "Nine Nether Evil Dragon" sealed beneath the altar further away!

These two unusual movements were extremely faint and fleeting. But the instant they appeared, something incredible happened.

The three purple-flame arrows, poised to pierce Lu Zhao's skull, strangely and simultaneously deflected and slid away when they were only three feet from his brow! It was as if they had struck an invisible, imperfectly smooth barrier, imbued with some higher-level repulsive force! The three arrows grazed Lu Zhao's ears, hair, and shoulders, creating a sharp gust of wind that tore his skin in several bloody gashes, yet none hit his mark! They then slammed into the dark red rock wall dozens of feet behind him, blasting three bottomless craters with purple flames burning at their edges!

"Huh?!" On the altar, the high priest and the female guard exclaimed in surprise at the same time. With the female guard's early Foundation Establishment cultivation and archery skills, locking onto a Qi Refining stage cultivator suppressed by spiritual pressure at such close range was absolutely impossible! Not to mention firing three arrows simultaneously!

Is that kid some kind of heaven-defying protective treasure? Or... something else entirely?

In that split second of their astonishment and confusion, Lu Zhao seized this one and only chance to catch his breath, a chance he had earned with his life!

"roar--!"

A guttural roar, a mixture of pain, madness, and defiance, escaped his throat! Within his body, the Qi and blood of "Sleeping Dragon" were pushed to their limit, like a dormant, angry dragon awakening, unleashing astonishing power and forcibly breaking free from some of the High Priest's spiritual pressure! At the same time, without hesitation, he took out the last Soul-Suppressing Pearl and the bottle with only one drop of "Life and Death Liquid (diluted)" from his bosom and swallowed them in one gulp!

"Gulp!"

As the Soul-Silent Pearl entered his stomach, the pure annihilation soul power and the immense life-and-death balancing medicinal power of the "Life and Death Liquid" exploded within his body like two raging torrents! The annihilation soul power frantically impacted and eroded his meridians, internal organs, and soul, bringing extreme pain and a sense of decay; the medicinal power of the "Life and Death Liquid" desperately repaired, nourished, and balanced, attempting to stabilize his life force which was on the verge of collapse.

This is like drinking poison to quench thirst! It's suicide! But he has no other choice! Only by relying on this violent power, enough to overwhelm an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, can he possibly gain a slim chance of survival under the lock-on of the late Foundation Establishment High Priest—not to win, but to escape!

"Pfft!" Lu Zhao spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with gray aura and green medicinal power, his face instantly turning ashen like a dead man, but in his eyes, two clusters of crazed blood flames ignited! At this moment, due to the forced infusion and conflict of two extreme forces, his aura actually briefly and unstablely climbed to nearly the sixth level of Qi Refining! But the price was that his meridians shattered inch by inch, his internal organs felt as if they were being cut by thousands of knives at the same time, and his soul felt as if it were being torn apart by excruciating pain!

"Flowing Cloud Step! Swift Movement Talisman! Blood Burning Escape!"

He roared hoarsely, pouring all the remaining and newly unleashed chaotic power within his body into his legs and movements! He unleashed the [Flowing Cloud Step] to its fullest extent, his figure almost becoming a twisted, gray-green afterimage! Simultaneously, a treasured, top-grade Tier 1 [Swiftness Talisman], a reward from the sect's grand competition, was instantly activated, increasing his speed by another 30%! Furthermore, he forcibly activated a [Burning Blood Escape Technique (Fragment)], obtained from the Contribution Hall, which required burning his life essence for a short burst of speed!

With the triple effect, Lu Zhao's speed reached an unbelievable level at this moment! It even faintly exceeded the limit of ordinary late-stage Qi Refining! He no longer fled in a straight line, but like a frightened rabbit, he fled desperately towards the west side of the altar, the area where the energy was disordered due to the destruction of the Soul Pillar, the blood mist was particularly thick, and the terrain was complex with ravines and gullies! His figure leaped between the ravines and shuttled through the blood mist, his trajectory was unpredictable and hard to fathom.

"Trying to run? Too late!" The high priest's killing intent intensified. Although he was surprised by Lu Zhao's bizarre "arrow dodge" and the speed he unleashed now, his late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation gave him absolute confidence. He didn't personally pursue him; dealing with a Qi Refining stage insect was not something he needed to do. He simply coldly said to the female guard beside him, "Kill him, extract his soul. I will personally search his soul."

"Yes." The black-robed female guard bowed in response, and then, like a ghost, her figure vanished from the top of the altar. The next moment, she appeared a hundred feet behind Lu Zhao in the air, her black longbow drawn back into place, nine purple flame arrows simultaneously condensing on the bowstring, forming a net that sealed off all of Lu Zhao's escape routes to the left and right!

"Nine Stars Align - Soul Lock!"

Nine streaks of purple-black light, accompanied by a piercing shriek, arrived faster than Lu Zhao's escape light, instantly catching up to him!

The threat of death has returned! And this time, it's a localized threat, with no way to escape!

Lu Zhao could even feel that the soul-locking power attached to the nine arrows was like nine venomous snakes that had firmly bound his soul. No matter how he changed direction, the arrows would adjust accordingly until they pierced through him!

"It's over..." A deep sense of despair welled up in his heart. The difference in strength was too great; no matter how he struggled, it was all in vain before a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

However, just as the nine purple flame arrows were about to riddle Lu Zhao with holes, another unexpected event occurred!

This anomaly did not originate from Lu Zhao himself, but from... the earth beneath his feet, from the disrupted and disordered blood sacrifice ritual, and... the sealed remnant soul of the "Nine Netherworld Evil Dragon"!

"Roar! Ro ...

An unprecedented, earth-shattering dragon roar, filled with rage, pain, and boundless ecstasy, erupted from the depths of the earth beneath the altar! This roar was clearer and more terrifying than any before! The sound waves were so tangible that they instantly swept across the entire plain, causing blood clouds to churn, the ground to crack, and countless kneeling black-robed believers to stagger and spit blood!

At the same time, the blood-red light of the altar, which had been fluctuating and weakening due to the destruction of a soul pillar, suddenly flickered violently and became unstable! The blood-red runes on the altar seemed to have lost some support, and their light began to become chaotic, clashing, and even backfiring!

"Not good! The seal is weakening! The evil dragon is attacking the weakest point! Stabilize the altar quickly!" The high priest's expression finally changed drastically. He could no longer care about Lu Zhao, this "little insect," and slammed his blood-red scepter heavily on the altar floor. He uttered even more urgent and distorted demonic sounds, trying to regain control and stabilize the blood sacrifice formation. The hunchbacked priest also hurriedly flipped through the blood-red tomes, unleashing streaks of blood light to reinforce the formation.

However, the remnant soul of the "Nine Netherworld Evil Dragon" seemed to have seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Sealed for countless millennia, its yearning for freedom had long since transformed into its deepest obsession and madness. Now that the seal had cracked due to external interference, how could it possibly let it go?

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The earth trembled violently, and the ground beneath the altar suddenly bulged and exploded! Thick, dark red energy beams, carrying the scorching aura of sulfur and the terrifying might of dragons, shot into the sky from the cracks in the ground like volcanic eruptions, slamming heavily into the base of the altar and the surrounding array!

The entire blood sacrifice ritual was thrown into unprecedented chaos and out of control due to the chain reaction caused by Lu Zhao destroying a soul pillar, coupled with the frenzied counterattack of the remnant soul of the "Nine Netherworld Evil Dragon"!

The nine purple flame arrows that were shot at Lu Zhao were inevitably affected by the sudden and terrifying energy turbulence and the earth-shaking impact! The trajectory of the arrows deviated slightly, and the locking and coordination between them was momentarily disrupted.

It was that momentary confusion!

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!..."

Eight arrows grazed Lu Zhao's body as they struck the ground or into the air, creating deep craters. Only the last arrow, due to its erratic trajectory, pierced Lu Zhao's left shin, shattering his shinbone. The purple flames attached to it instantly spread, scorching his flesh and veins!

"Ah—!" Lu Zhao let out a piercing scream, staggering and almost falling from the air. The excruciating pain in his left leg and the corrosive purple flames nearly made him faint.

But he knew this was his only chance! The "Nine Netherworld Evil Dragon's" frenzied counterattack had inadvertently saved his life! He had to seize this chaos and escape as far away as possible!

He endured the excruciating pain, ignoring the fact that his left leg was almost useless. Relying solely on his right leg and his agility, and taking advantage of the impact of the earthquake and the turbulent energy flow, he continued to roll and leap desperately towards the deepest part of the ravine to the west, where the terrain was most complex and the energy most chaotic! Blood gushed from his shattered calf and other wounds on his body, leaving a shocking trail of blood on the dark red ground.

"Damn it!" The black-robed female guard's eyes flashed with cold light as she prepared to draw her bow again. However, just then—

"Bang!"

A dark red beam of energy erupted from the ground, exploding just a short distance in front of her. The violent energy turbulence instantly forced her back, interrupting her attack. The entire plain had now been transformed into a chaotic battlefield of rampant energy. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators could no longer calmly lock onto and pursue a "bug" that was desperately fleeing through the complex terrain, its aura extremely weak due to severe injuries and the interference of chaotic energy.

"Stabilize the altar first! Suppress the evil dragon! That insect can't go far; we'll deal with it later!" The chief priest's cold voice rang out, brooking no argument. Right now, controlling the blood sacrifice ritual that was on the verge of spiraling out of control and suppressing the remnant soul of the "Nine Nether Evil Dragon" that was about to break free of its seal were the top priorities. As for that Qi Refining stage insect that had managed to escape, in his eyes, it was already dead; it was just a matter of sooner or later.

The black-robed female guard glared hatefully in the direction where Lu Zhao had disappeared, but ultimately dared not disobey the chief priest. She turned and flew back to the altar to help stabilize the formation and suppress the evil spirits underground.

Lu Zhao had no idea that he had narrowly escaped death. All he knew was that he had to run, keep running, away from that terrifying altar, away from those dreadful black-robed men.

The excruciating pain in his left leg and the burning of the purple flames gnawed at his will and life force like maggots clinging to his bones. The violent medicinal power of the Soul-Suppressing Pearl and the "Lip of Life and Death" he had swallowed was also rampaging through his body, fiercely clashing with the corrosive power of the purple flames and his own injuries, making him feel as if he were in an ice cave at times and as if he were being burned by raging flames at others, his consciousness struggling repeatedly on the edge of clarity and confusion.

He didn't know how long he had run or how far he had gone. The roars, dragon cries, and furious shouts of the black-robed man behind him gradually faded into the distance and became blurred. The scene before him also became distorted and shaky due to blood loss and excruciating pain.

Finally, after plunging into a deep, winding ravine with its walls covered in strange, gray-black moss, he could no longer hold on. His vision went black, and he collapsed heavily onto the cold, damp ground, splashing up a patch of dark red mud.

Consciousness, like a candle flickering in the wind, quickly faded away.

In the instant before he completely lost consciousness, he seemed to feel a faint, strange resonance and tremor emanating from the Nine Nether Token in his arms and the Demon Lord's mark between his brows. It was as if something deep within this chasm was attracting, or rather, calling to them...

Darkness completely engulfed him.