Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 725 Unexpected Change! Terrifying Pressure!

When they returned to the center of the ruins, everyone else had already finished looting.

Blood Butcher carried the crimson spear on his shoulder, his smile impossible to hide. The spear was taller than him, and the flame patterns on its shaft burned even more fiercely in his hand, the spiritual pressure emanating from it distorting and warping the surrounding air.

Upon seeing Chen Fan, he laughed loudly, "Fellow Daoist Guimu, why did you come back empty-handed? This place is full of treasures, you didn't take a single thing, did you?"

Chen Fan ignored his teasing and simply said, "Take it."

Bingpo drifted back from another direction, carrying an ancient bronze mirror and several jade slips. Her expression remained aloof, but a rare flicker of emotion appeared in her icy blue eyes.

Clearly, she gained quite a lot.

Aoki and Shiyan also returned with a pile of fragments of magical artifacts and bottles of pills. Although they were not as laden with their loot as Xue Tu and Bing Po, they could not hide the joy on their faces.

They had served under the Fire Source Daoist for thousands of years, and had never seen so many treasures before.

Huoyuan Daoist was the last to return.

Instead of searching through the ruins, he stood on the stone steps in front of the stone hall, gazing intently at the circular pattern on the hall's door.

Hearing the footsteps of the crowd, he slowly turned around, his smile even brighter than before.

"You've all had a good haul," he said, stroking his goatee. "However, in my opinion, the treasures in these outer ruins are just an appetizer. The real main event is probably yet to come, deeper inside."

Blood Butcher slammed his crimson spear into the ground with a dull thud. He grinned and said, "Fellow Daoist Fire Source is right. I found a fire-attribute spear at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage on the outskirts. If we go any further in, we might find a Void Refinement level magic weapon. At that point, what are we afraid of, those half-step Void Refinement level old monsters? We can just fight our way out."

Ice Soul rarely spoke, but his voice was as cold as ice: "The exit. Finding the exit is the priority."

Huoyuan Daoist nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone's faces, his tone becoming more serious: "Fellow Daoist Bingpo is right. No matter how many treasures one possesses, if one cannot leave this place, they will ultimately be nothing more than burial goods. Since everyone has already gained something, let us continue onward. I have a premonition that the exit lies at the deepest part of these ruins."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Chen Fan, as if seeking his opinion.

Chen Fan didn't say much, he just nodded slightly.

The group of six sorted out their loot and continued deeper into the ruins.

After passing through the ruins that shone with dazzling light, the scenery ahead changed again.

The ruins grew larger and larger, and the architectural style became increasingly ancient. The stone pillars were no longer isolated entities, but rather formed a vast forest of pillars. Each pillar was engraved with star chart patterns, and the patterns on the pillars echoed each other, forming an ancient array that was larger than anyone could imagine.

Huoyuan Daoist quickened his pace unconsciously.

Although the smile remained on his face, an uncontrollable flame ignited in his narrow eyes.

There was anticipation, longing, and an indescribable awe in the flames. He walked step by step toward the golden light, as if on a pilgrimage.

Chen Fan followed behind him, his left hand unconsciously resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

The golden bowl in his arms trembled more and more violently!

Just as the group was about to step into the center of the forest of pillars, a voice came from deep underground.

The sound was neither a human voice nor the roar of a demonic beast, but an extremely heavy and ancient sound of metal clashing.

chain.

That was the sound of chains slowly dragging on the ground.

The sound wasn't loud, but it clearly entered the consciousness of everyone present.

Immediately afterwards, a powerful pressure descended from the depths of the earth.

That pressure wasn't at the Nascent Soul level, but rather at the half-step Void Refinement level, or even at the Void Refinement level.

It was more terrifying than any aura Chen Fan had sensed before, so terrifying that he couldn't even describe it in words.

In that instant, he felt his blood freeze.

The spiritual energy and demonic energy in the meridians stopped circulating at the same moment, and the three gates of intent in the dantian remained frozen in place.

Chen Fan tried to draw his sword, but he couldn't move even a single finger.

He wanted to speak, but he couldn't make a sound, and he couldn't even get into the golden bowl.

thump.

Blood Butcher was the first to kneel down. The crimson spear he carried on his shoulder slammed to the ground with a clang, and the flames on the spear were instantly extinguished under the pressure.

He braced himself on the ground with both hands, veins bulging on his forehead, his jaw clenched, but he still couldn't lift his head.

Ice Soul followed closely behind.

The icy aura surrounding her dissipated the moment the pressure descended, leaving her frozen in place like an ice sculpture, unable to even blink.

For the first time, fear surfaced in her icy blue eyes.

Aoki and Ishiyama fared even worse. They collapsed to the ground, fine blood seeping from their seven orifices. They were only at the late-stage Nascent Soul realm, and even maintaining consciousness was extremely difficult under this oppressive force.

Huoyuan Daoist was the one with the highest cultivation level among them, and also the only one who could still barely stand with Chen Fan.

However, he was merely standing there.

The smile on his face vanished quickly, replaced by a paleness bordering on despair. He opened his mouth several times, trying to say something, but found his voice stuck in his throat, unable to utter a single word.

The sound of chains being dragged grew closer.

Deep underground, in the very center of the pillar forest, amidst the golden light—the very core of this ancient ruin—a colossal shadow slowly rose.

The shadow was taller than the thousand-foot stone pillars, taller than the crystal pyramid suspended in mid-air, and even taller than the crack that stretched across the sky in the dome.

It enveloped the entire ruins, swallowing all the precious light, all the array patterns, and all the star charts into boundless darkness.

In the deepest darkness, nine enormous chains trembled slowly.

Each chain was as thick as several people could hug, and was dark red in color, with its surface covered with densely packed sealing runes.

Those runes were unlike any script Chen Fan had ever seen. Each one emitted a faint crimson light in the darkness, like nine eternally burning stars.

Nine chains extended from nine different directions and converged at the center of the darkness.

There, a figure was firmly locked in place.

Chen Fan couldn't make out the figure's appearance clearly, only a very blurry outline. The outline was much taller than an ordinary person, still several feet tall even when sitting cross-legged.

His body was covered with a thick layer of dark blue armor, the surface of which was covered with cracks, from which a faint green light seeped out, like bloodstains that had dried up for countless millennia.