The icy night wind swept by, and the figure of Di Zangchuan slowly sank into the hard earth, starting from below his soles, like a spectral giant emerging from the ground, as if plunging into mire or quicksand.

In the pitch-dark, cold earth, Di Zangchuan’s body moved like a fish slipping into water. A viscous, thin membrane seemed to envelop him, and he swam deeper into the soil with his eyes wide open. All the rocks and 'Dibing Crystal' (a type of metal found in the soil) appeared before him like transparent bubbles, easily pierced through.

Soon, he arrived before a colossal, deep-blue crystal. In the black, frigid earth, this crystal shone like a radiant egg, its surface covered in minute, diamond-shaped facets, emitting a faint, soft, pale-blue glow that obscured whatever lay within.

Though powerful, Di Zangchuan remained cautious. He twisted his body like a small, black serpent, winding his way around the immense deep-blue crystal once. Discovering its sheer scale—nearly a kilometer in diameter—he stopped, gazing intently at the massive structure before him.

“Cangxue, Cangxue, even in death you stir up such trouble, leaving me with such a conundrum. If I’m not mistaken, this crystal must be the [Ancient God-Sealing Crystal]. Its hardness rivals that of a Void-Heaven Artifact. You truly played your final card decisively,” Di Zangchuan mused, looking at the giant crystal sleeping light-years beneath Mount Cangshen. His dagger-sharp black eyebrows knitted together slightly. “It must have the Demon-Sealing System and the God-Banning System laid over it, doesn't it? Those two systems are notoriously complex to construct. It seems you were truly determined to guard this place at all costs…”

He lightly licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with a peculiar light. “If I hadn't obtained [this], cracking this thing of yours would have been quite difficult…” With a smile, he slowly raised his hand, as if lifting a feather, and gently opened his palm. A strand of black light bloomed from his center, rising like an aurora before ascending as black mist. It stopped rising when it reached about two feet high, then rapidly contracted like receding tide or gathering shadow, revealing what it held: a dagger. Both the blade and the hilt were obsidian black, seemingly forged from the darkest black iron. Instead of shining, the surface appeared to consume all light, like a monstrous beast. It bore no inscriptions or ornamentation—it was purely black.

“You never expected the [Heaven-Slaying Dagger] to fall into my hands, did you?” Di Zangchuan’s smile deepened. He grasped the dagger in a reverse grip, then quickly and quietly raised a finger to his lips, chanting a long string of strange, ancient syllables. With a sudden roar, his figure shot forward like a streak of black light, slamming into the enormous deep-blue crystal.

“Hiss—”

Like the crisp sound of a water droplet piercing glass, the hard, massive deep-blue crystal emitted a brittle keen. The dagger in Di Zangchuan's hand plunged deep into the crystal, the sharp tip tearing through it as easily as puncturing a balloon. The entire massive, deep-blue crystal seemed to shatter, with dense, fragmented fissures spreading rapidly from the point of impact until they covered the whole structure.

“Boom!”

The hard, colossal crystal violently exploded. Just as a faint smile began to curve Di Zangchuan’s lips, a beam of golden light erupted from within, roaring like an enraged dragon, and smashed straight toward him.

Di Zangchuan’s pupils constricted instantly. Unable to fully evade, his body was struck by the golden radiance and sent flying backward heavily, like an angel with broken wings.

Strangely, this golden light and his body seemed to interact with the subterranean earth and rock as if they were air, passing through them freely, just as they would in open space.

The golden light struck Di Zangchuan’s chest, throwing him back tens of thousands of meters. As the light dissipated, before he could even gasp for breath, his eyes reflected a black beam, sharp as a cold knife, colliding head-on and enveloping his entire body, seemingly intent on tearing his frame into countless fragments!

“God-Banning System, Demon-Sealing Sy—,” Di Zangchuan’s furious roar was swallowed and gradually extinguished as he was consumed by the encroaching black light. 6. Ming Tianjun Divine Continent, Underground World.

A low panting sound, like that of a trapped beast exhausted, filled the air. Ye Chen stood drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through. The muscles in his arms trembled slightly from overexertion. The situation was identical for Nuwa beside him; this peerlessly beautiful woman leaned against a large boulder, her stunning crimson lips slightly parted, emitting fragrant sighs with every breath. In her hazy, watery eyes, undeniable fatigue mingled with a nascent smile of relief, like the clearing sky after a rainstorm.

The two gazed upon the figure of Great God Pangu before them. He sat motionless, resembling a small hill, his pectoral muscles parted like sluice gates. Within, several vein-like metallic tubes, writhing like living things, were bound tightly around a small figure—the child in the red hood.

The child in the red hood was covered in countless tiny wounds across his small frame, the blood soaking his entire body. These gashes looked as if they were inflicted by sharp daggers; not immediately fatal, but continuously bleeding and stubbornly resistant to healing. Even the child’s adorable face was crisscrossed with over a hundred lacerations, a gruesome mess of torn flesh and flowing blood.

These vein-like tubes pulsed rhythmically, tightening and loosening like a heart. Wisps of bloody energy flowed from the child’s body into the conduits, then drifted toward Pangu’s body.

Replenished by these subtle crimson threads, Pangu’s complexion gradually regained a touch of ruddy health. Two beams of sharp light shot from his eyes as he gave a low, sharp command, and the vein-like tubes tightened their constriction around the child. The child in the red hood seemed to have fallen unconscious; under the forceful grip, his body spasmed slightly, emitting a faint moan of pain.

Slowly, under Pangu’s relentless absorption, the child’s body withered visibly before their eyes. His smooth, pale skin withered like dead weeds, covered in layers of wrinkles, resembling a desiccated corpse starved of moisture. Soon, only a thin membrane wrapped around the skeleton remained, an eerie and terrifying sight.

His hair and pupils lost their luster. His hair turned snow-white and drifted away in the slight breeze, instantly leaving him bald. His eyes were deeply sunken, the eyeballs shriveled like two dried longans, ridged with wrinkles. The retinas and nerve connections behind them, having lost elasticity and tension, snapped. The two eyeballs rolled out of their sockets, hitting the hard ground and flattening upon impact.

The vein-like tubes increased their grip, squeezing the corpse of the child in the red hood tightly until the last shred of energy was extracted. Only then did they release the body, letting it fall from the air. The blood-like conduits retracted back into Pangu’s chest, and the gate-like metallic sternum slowly closed.

The falling corpse struck the ground with a brittle sound of shattering bone, dissolving into a pile of ash-white dust, sparsely covered by a few fragmented, withered scraps of skin, clinging like thin, soiled rags.

In the inky darkness, Ye Chen and Nuwa stood silently to one side. Pangu’s eyes flashed with a faint emerald light, his pupils revolving like spinning data wheels. He slowly straightened his massive body, looking down at the tiny Ye Chen and Nuwa at his feet, his voice sounding pleased and relaxed. “Energy restored. Congratulations, this time I owe a great deal to you both.”

Nuwa, having largely recovered, sketched an elegant smile upon her lips and stood tall, looking up at Pangu. “This was nothing of consequence. Ye Chen contributed the most; he unleashed his Self-Destruct Secret Art, burning through a significant portion of his life force.”

Ye Chen still felt weakness lingering in his limbs, but the severe depletion had eased. He smiled and shook his head. “That’s hardly worth mentioning. To contribute to the clan, this small measure of life force is nothing.”

Pangu observed them quietly for a moment, then suddenly sensed something, raising his head sharply. Brilliant, sword-like divine light erupted from his pupils. “An enemy approaches!”

“What?” Nuwa exclaimed in surprise.

“There is a massive energy fluctuation above, suspended over the entire Divine Continent… This, this energy signature…” Pangu’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, and his stern, resolute features contorted into an expression of pure terror. “This is… this is a monster!”

Ye Chen felt a profound shock; he too sensed an extraordinary power outside, as immense and overwhelming as an endless ocean, bearing the aura of total consumption… 6. Mount Cangshen, Underground.

“Cough, cough…” Di Zangchuan clutched his chest, coughing violently, his body trembling with each spasm. He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of thick, viscous blood. A red light flickered in his eyes, and the clump of thick blood spontaneously ignited, vaporizing instantly.

“Damn it all!” Di Zangchuan wiped the blood from his lips and swore loudly like a shrew. “Cangxue, you son of a… you actually embedded Void-Heaven Patterns within these two systems! You wanted to kill me!” He cursed passionately, completely forgetting that his adversary hadn't merely intended to harm him, but to tear him to shreds.

Muttering under his breath, Di Zangchuan tended to his internal injuries. He walked to the edge of the shattered crystal fragments and saw within a gleaming white structure resembling a palace. The ice-crystal floor reflected the cold light like a snow-mirror, showing his distorted image.

At the far end of his sight lay an altar-like circular platform, encircled by twelve ice-like crystal pillars, each etched with minute carvings. Atop the central arch of these pillars rested a crystal coffin, carved from snow-white ice and jade.