161: The madness detonated, and the harvest of skills in the chaos of the old nest

Silence.

Lin Fan was like a discarded rag, slumped on the cold stone platform, his aura as weak as a candle in the wind.

Yet, his Divine Soul was like a giant net quietly cast, capturing that faint, almost imperceptible aura leaking from the deepest part of the Immortal Cave.

That aura was violent, ancient, filled with destructive pollution, yet intertwined with a trace of supreme vitality.

It was exactly like the "Monument of Immortality" in the Immortal Mansion.

That's right.

How could Xuanji Zi, that old monster, not hide a few trump cards in the nest he had spent hundreds of years building?

A treasure vault hidden in the core of the Immortal Cave.

That was the final stage for his "jailbreak" performance.

Lin Fan's consciousness sank into extreme calm.

Petty squabbles could no longer satisfy him.

What he wanted was to completely overturn this chessboard.

He wanted to burn Xuanji Zi's century-old Foundation to ashes.

He wanted to exchange the complete collapse of this Soul Transformation old nest for the ultimate reward, described in the System mission, a reward so generous it could allow him to reach the heavens in one step.

Divine Rank Cultivation Technique.

A complete set of Formation diagrams.

And that unknown fragment emitting an Immortal Dao aura.

He wanted them all.

The plan rapidly formed in his mind.

First step, lure the snake out of its hole.

From deep within his sealed Immortal Grade Nascent Soul, a trace of Divine Soul power, so faint it was almost non-existent, was carefully peeled away by him.

This power did not directly impact the Restriction.

Instead, like the finest spider silk, it silently probed beyond the cell, following the energy Veins of the Formation.

Outside the stone chamber was a deep, long corridor.

Two Qi Refinement Stage servants were idly guarding the entrance, conversing in low voices.

Lin Fan's Divine Soul power did not alarm them.

It merely gently stirred the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi around them.

A trace of coldness.

A trace of heat.

Two diametrically opposed Spiritual Qi fluctuations were skillfully injected into their perceptions.

The servant on the left suddenly shivered.

He subconsciously looked at his companion, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"Did you just use some kind of chilling Spell on me?"

The servant on the right, feeling parched, immediately grew angry upon hearing this.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I feel a wicked fire coming from you. Are you trying to make a move on me?"

Once the seed of suspicion is planted, it will grow wildly.

The two were Loose Cultivators who had been forcibly conscripted, with no trust between them.

Under Lin Fan's continuous, faint, and precise Spiritual Qi interference, the world in their eyes began to distort.

Their companion's face became hideous and terrifying in their hallucination.

The air seemed to be filled with deadly killing intent.

"You really want to harm me!"

"You started it first!"

The quarrel instantly escalated into a fight.

The brawl of two low-level Cultivators should not have caused any ripples.

But the location of their fight happened to be at the intersection of several low-level alarm Formation patterns.

The chaotic Spiritual Qi instantly detonated one of the Formation patterns.

"Boom!"

A muffled explosion.

A large hole was blasted in the corridor floor, sending debris flying.

This explosion was like a lit fuse.

Inside the Immortal Cave, servants in other areas were also startled by the sudden commotion.

Panic began to spread.

Several other poorly maintained low-level Formations also exploded in succession due to a chain reaction of energy.

The disturbance was rapidly expanding at an incredible speed.

"Useless!"

From deep within the Immortal Cave came Xuanji Zi's furious roar.

He hadn't expected that after only a moment of Soul searching, the outside would turn into a complete mess.

A powerful Divine Thought swept out, instantly crushing the two still-fighting servants into a bloody mist.

Xuanji Zi's figure transformed into a streak of light, forced to personally go and suppress the disturbances everywhere.

Now!

This was the opportunity Lin Fan had been waiting for.

The moment Xuanji Zi was tied up by external chaos, unable to spare a Clone.

All the Divine Soul power he had accumulated for a long time erupted instantly.

Intense pain!

An indescribable agony instantly swept through his mind.

Forcibly activating his sealed Divine Soul, each vibration was like countless steel needles fiercely tearing at his consciousness.

His vision blurred.

In the intense pain, he seemed to see Zhao Linger's worried, beautiful face again, her eyes shimmering with tears.

He saw Li Hanyue's cold yet resolute gaze, as if saying she would wait for him forever.

He saw Su Meier's fluffy fox tail, tightly wrapped around his wrist, transmitting warmth.

These old monsters only saw the mystery of his immortality.

But they would never understand what he truly wanted to protect behind each death and resurrection.

The power to protect them was still far from enough.

Lin Fan's will, at this moment, became harder than diamond.

His Divine Soul power, mixed with the Formation mysteries he had analyzed from the Immortal Mansion's Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Formation, transformed into an invisible sharp cone, fiercely piercing the treasure vault Restriction hidden in the deepest part of the Immortal Cave.

"Sizzle... crackle..."

The defensive Restriction outside the treasure vault was incredibly strong, far surpassing the stone chamber that imprisoned him.

The moment Lin Fan's Divine Soul touched it, it was almost shattered by the powerful backlash.

But he didn't care.

Divine Soul damaged?

It didn't matter, he would recover after death anyway.

He used this most savage, most reckless method, time and again, to impact that core Restriction.

Finally.

The moment before Lin Fan's Divine Soul was almost completely worn away.

That impregnable core Restriction of the treasure vault was forcibly corroded by him, creating a tiny, imperceptible crack.

"Rumble—"

A chain reaction instantly erupted.

Inside the treasure vault, the violent and unstable energy of that fragment containing the Immortal Realm's Dao rhyme found an outlet.

A gray torrent of energy surged out from that crack.

It instantly overwhelmed everything around the treasure vault.

Xuanji Zi's quiet room, specially used for closed-door Cultivation, was directly hit by this energy, and all the furnishings within it instantly turned to dust.

Even more terrifying, this energy directly triggered the entire Immortal Cave's ultimate defense mechanism.

"Buzz— Buzz— Buzz—"

Piercing, shrill alarm sounds echoed throughout the entire Immortal Cave.

All the Formations within the Immortal Cave flashed wildly, and the energy flow began to spiral out of control.

The mountain trembled violently, and countless huge cracks spread across the rock walls.

This was a warning that the Immortal Cave was about to self-destruct!

"No—!"

Xuanji Zi, who was dealing with the external disturbances, felt the collapse of the core area and that familiar, yet hated and loved, energy fluctuation, and his entire being froze.

He understood instantly.

The servants' disturbance was just a smokescreen.

This little beast's goal from the very beginning was not to escape.

He wanted to destroy everything of his!

"Madman! You are a complete and utter madman!"

Xuanji Zi let out a desperate roar that sounded inhuman.

His Dao Heart trembled violently.

That was the Foundation he had spent eight hundred years of effort to establish.

It was his Foundation for breaking through to a higher Realm.

It was his everything!

Endless rage instantly consumed his reason.

Research?

Mystery of immortality?

None of it mattered anymore.

He now had only one thought.

Kill Lin Fan.

To grind this ant, who dared to destroy his home, to dust, to obliterate his Divine Soul, to prevent him from ever reincarnating!

Xuanji Zi's mind was completely engrossed by unprecedented fury and the panic of the Immortal Cave's collapse.

And this gave Lin Fan an excellent opportunity.

His Divine Soul, taking advantage of the moment the treasure vault Restriction opened wide, rushed straight in.

Like a glutton that had been hungry for billions of years, he frantically devoured everything in the treasure vault.

The pure Immortal Dao power emanating from the immortal realm fragment was swallowed by his Divine Soul, nourishing his almost dry consciousness.

Inside the treasure vault, rows of jade shelves were filled with Xuanji Zi's lifelong collection.

"Profound Sky Blazing Fire Art"!

"Nine Revolutions Divine Demon Body"!

"Great Evolution Star Formation Diagram"!

Countless Divine Rank Cultivation Technique Jade Slips, precious Formation records, and ancient texts were all rapidly copied and inscribed under Lin Fan's Divine Soul scan.

Knowledge is power.

These were the spoils of his journey to death!

However, this was not enough.

Lin Fan's goal was to detonate everything.

Through the just-copied, most core "Great Evolution Star Formation Diagram," he instantly found the "heart" of the entire Immortal Cave's Formation.

That was a huge energy hub, composed of countless runes, located deep within the Spiritual Vein.

It was the source of Xuanji Zi's power.

And it was the last Foundation to maintain the stability of this Immortal Cave.

Found it!

Lin Fan wrapped his last trace of Divine Soul power, along with the power of the immortal realm fragment he had drawn from the treasure vault, into a deadly fuse, and precisely shot it towards that energy hub.

"Explode... for me!"

He roared in his heart, using his last bit of strength.

The next moment.

Heaven and earth overturned.

The entire mountain peak let out its most muffled roar from within.

The underground Spiritual Vein was completely detonated.

Endless Spiritual Qi transformed into an energy storm that destroyed everything, gushing out from every crack in the mountain.

Xuanji Zi's old nest was undergoing an irreversible, complete collapse.

"Die! Die for me!"

Xuanji Zi's eyes were bloodshot, looking like a madman.

He watched helplessly as his life's work was destroyed, all his reason burned to ashes.

He abandoned all futile attempts to save it, transforming into a bloody light burning with rage, and rushed back to the already dilapidated cell.

He stared intently at the culprit who had caused all this, on the stone platform.

Lin Fan.

That Nascent Soul ant, who in his eyes, should have been a lamb to be slaughtered.

At this moment, was slowly, mockingly, smiling at him.

That smile was calm, satisfied, and even carried a hint of relief.

"You!!!"

Xuanji Zi let out a world-shattering roar.

He condensed all his Soul Transformation Late Stage Cultivation, and the destructive power of the entire Immortal Cave's collapse, onto his right palm.

That palm shattered space.

That palm annihilated time.

Boom—!

Lin Fan's body, under that world-destroying blow, along with the stone platform beneath him and the surrounding walls, shattered inch by inch.

His flesh, bones, Nascent Soul, Divine Soul.

All turned into the most primitive particles in that extreme energy, completely dissipated, returning to nothingness.

Consciousness plunged into absolute darkness.

A perfect way to die.

Generous rewards, here I come.

This was his last thought before he dissipated.

And in a distant, unknown myriad miles away, at a secure anchor point he had set with the highest authority.

A faint, undetectable aura was appearing out of thin air, quietly coalescing.

Xuanji Zi.

Your nightmare has just begun.