173: All materials are gathered, everything is ready!

"Pfft!"

Lin Canghai spat out a large mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

With disheveled hair, he looked like a malevolent ghost.

He struggled to lift his head, staring at the figure not far away who still maintained a sword-striking posture; the shock and anger in his eyes were practically overflowing!

"You... you are not Overlord!!!"

Lin Canghai roared, his voice shrill: "Overlord absolutely doesn't have this kind of strength! Much less this kind of murderous weapon! Who on earth are you?!"

He never imagined that his most trusted junior, who had just been "weeping bitterly" for the Family, would suddenly deal him this fatal blow.

"Who am I?"

Chen Xu slowly straightened his back and beckoned with his hand. The immortal slaying sword tip, carrying a string of blood droplets, flew back into his palm, hovering and pulsing with a hum that craved blood.

He reached out and wiped his face.

The middle-aged face belonging to Lin Overlord vanished.

In its place...

Was an aged face with a playful smile.

Simultaneously, a majestic aura belonging to the Void Refining Stage Early Stage exploded forth without any concealment, standing on equal footing with Lin Canghai's half-step Body Integration pressure, and even slightly surpassing it!

"Old ghost of the Lin Family, I'll borrow your tai xu realm stone for a bit, and by the way..."

Chen Xu smiled slightly, his gaze cold as a knife: "Send you on your way."

"???"

Lin Canghai reacted instantly, trembling with rage, and spat out another mouthful of old blood.

It turned out this whole thing was a setup!

From the start of the auction, to the ambush, to impersonating the Family Head to infiltrate the Lin Family... this person had actually calculated his path to a dead end step by step!

"Good! What a method! What a scheme!"

Lin Canghai struggled to stand up, even though half of his body was a bloody mess.

But the Death Qi on him began to burn frantically at this moment.

He was burning his final life Origin!

Since he couldn't live... then he would drag this enemy who destroyed the Lin Family's Foundation into Hell with him!

"You destroyed my path to the Dao and wiped out my descendants! Today, even if this Secret Realm collapses, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!!!"

Lin Canghai formed hand seals, and the shattered meteorites in the surrounding Void Realm seemed to receive some kind of summons, frantically converging to transform into a ten-thousand-foot-long meteorite Dragon!

"The struggle of a trapped beast."

Chen Xu snorted coldly, not backing down in the slightest.

"Xiao Hei, guard the exit, don't let him escape."

For a time, within this strange space, shattered stones fell like a rainstorm.

That Dragon, formed from countless meteorites and carrying Lin Canghai's lifelong cultivation and full-blown malice, slammed violently toward that black robe.

However, the expected evenly matched collision did not occur.

Chen Xu's figure was like a black nail moving against the current.

He didn't even have the intention to dodge.

The streak of blood-red light in his hand seemed insignificant before that massive meteorite Dragon, yet it was so sharp it brought despair.

"Crack—"

A crisp sound echoed throughout the entire Void Realm.

That seemingly indestructible meteorite Dragon head met the immortal slaying sword tip and was pierced without any resistance.

The blood-red sword light tore through the entire dragon head like dry weeds and rotten wood, then continued with irresistible force all the way down.

Stone chips flew everywhere as the once-mighty meteorite Dragon was split down the middle by Chen Xu's sword strike in the blink of an eye.

It then turned into countless fragments, losing its spiritual nature.

With a clatter, they fell into the lava fissures below.

"This... this is impossible!"

Lin Canghai's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Although his Lifespan was nearly exhausted, this was a killing blow unleashed with the power of the Secret Realm.

Even a true Void Refining Stage Early Stage Cultivator wouldn't dare take it head-on. How could this person break it so easily?!

Before he could recover from his shock...

A cold aura had already approached his face.

Chen Xu passed through the rain of shattered stones unscathed, a faint hint of mockery hanging on his aged face.

The sword tip in his hand was still dripping with blood that hadn't dried yet.

"This thing is too blunt; it can only scare children."

Chen Xu's voice was flat, and with a flick of his wrist, the sword light surged again.

This time, Lin Canghai had no way to dodge.

"Pfft!"

The Sword Qi swept across, and Lin Canghai's only remaining intact arm flew into the air.

"Argh!!"

The intense pain made Lin Canghai scream. He stumbled back, his hair disheveled.

His already withered body was now in an even more miserable state.

Blood sprayed wildly as if it were free, staining the rocks beneath his feet bright red.

But he was, after all, an old monster who had lived for nearly ten thousand years.

Even in such a desperate situation, the fierce light in his eyes grew even stronger.

"Want to kill me? It's not that easy!"

Lin Canghai suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood.

His shriveled skin suddenly began to writhe violently, and countless blood-red lights bored out from inside his body.

They crawled all over his face.

A nauseating stench of blood soared into the sky.

"Burn my remnant body, sacrifice to the Netherworld! Blood Demon Reincarnation!"

Along with that hoarse roar...

Lin Canghai's body instantly expanded, and his originally withered muscles bulged as if inflated.

His skin cracked inch by inch, revealing the bright red muscle fibers underneath.

In just a single breath, the decrepit old man was gone, replaced by a hideous monster three zhang tall.

It was covered in flowing lava and foul blood!

This was the ultimate taboo technique among the Lin Family's forbidden arts.

Once used, it meant completely burning one's Divine Soul and Physical Body, cutting off the path of Reincarnation.

In exchange, one gained power that exceeded their limits for a short time.

"Since I can't live, don't you think about living either!"

The voice of Lin Canghai, now an Incarnation of a blood demon, became murky and layered, like a ghost seeking a life.

His massive blood claw suddenly lunged out.

The surrounding space showed fine cracks under this violent force.

"Die for me!!"

Regardless of anything else, he adopted a posture of mutual destruction.

He clawed fiercely at Chen Xu's crown.

Facing this seemingly terrifying desperate blow, Chen Xu only slightly raised an eyebrow.

He slowly raised his right hand... and in his palm, a purple-gold light suddenly condensed.

"Risking your life against me? You're not worthy."

Before his voice fell, a grand and majestic suction force erupted from Chen Xu's palm.

Universe in the Palm!

This was not simple suction.

It was the direct manipulation of the Spatial Law of this Small World.

That massive blood demon, before this palm, was like being instantly compressed by some invisible rule.

Lin Canghai's charge, filled with destructive power, came to an abrupt halt.

He found himself becoming smaller.

No, the surrounding world had become larger, and that palm had turned into a sky that blotted out the sun!

"No... what kind of Divine Ability is this?! Let me go!!"

The blood demon struggled desperately in his palm, but under the confinement of that purple-gold light...

Even moving a single finger became a luxury.

Chen Xu looked expressionlessly at the blood-red monster struggling like an ant in his palm.

There was not a shred of pity in his eyes.

"In your next life, remember to keep your eyes open. Oh, right, you don't have a next life."

Chen Xu's five fingers suddenly clenched.

"Screech!"

A scream rang out.

Within his palm, the blood demon instantly disintegrated, turning into a cloud of blood mist, and along with that burning Divine Soul, it was completely crushed!

Chen Xu opened his palm; it was clean, with only a black storage ring lying there quietly.

This was the last trace Lin Canghai left behind.

"Old man, you certainly hid your wealth deep."

Chen Xu's Divine Sense aggressively pierced into the storage ring and quickly browsed through it.

Although most of Lin Canghai's wealth had been used to maintain his life and set up Formations...

This storage ring still recorded many detailed pieces of information about the Lin Family's secret accounts, hidden outposts, and the core of this Secret Realm.

After confirming nothing was missed, Chen Xu casually put away the storage ring.

He turned to look behind him.

There, Xiao Hei was lying on a rock, lazily licking its paws.

Seeing the battle end, it immediately stood up full of energy, its tail wagging like a propeller.

"Stop wagging and get to work."

Chen Xu kicked Xiao Hei's butt: "Lead the way, find that star core."

"Woof!"

Xiao Hei barked excitedly, sniffed the air, and immediately picked a direction.

It turned into a black shadow and dashed out.

Without Lin Canghai's interference, and with the detailed map given by Xu Linger, Chen Xu moved through the depths of this peril-filled Secret Realm as if on level ground.

Crossing that area of collapsed rubble, the space ahead became increasingly distorted.

Even the light was stretched into eerie curves.

At the very center of that distortion... a massive underground pit appeared before his eyes.

Inside the pit, there was no scorching lava, but instead a silver-white liquid flowing.

It was heavy and viscous like mercury.

It emitted an extremely dense power of the stars.

This was the life-extending divine object the Lin Family's Old Ancestor dreamed of—Star Spiritual Liquid!

And at the bottom of the pool where the spiritual liquid gathered, a mineral vein emitting a faint blue light could be vaguely seen, winding and coiling.

Like the spine of a giant dragon buried deep underground.

The vein was crystal clear throughout... every inch contained the purest power of the Spatial Law.

"void star crystal vein..."

Even the usually calm Chen Xu had a flash of amazement in his eyes.

A mineral vein of this level would cause countless experts to fight to the death even in the Spirit Realm.

To think it was hidden in this broken Small World.

"No wonder the Lin Family could rise in these few hundred years; guarding such a gold mine, even a pig could fly to the sky."

Chen Xu landed on the edge of the pit, feeling the majestic spiritual power rushing towards him. He took a deep breath and felt instantly refreshed.

Xiao Hei had long been unable to restrain itself, salivating at that pool of Star Spiritual Liquid.

If Chen Xu hadn't spoken, it would have already jumped in for a bath.

"Go ahead, that spiritual liquid is yours, the rest is mine."

Chen Xu waved his hand.

Xiao Hei cheered and jumped into the pool with a splash.

It opened its large mouth and began to drink greedily.

Chen Xu then locked his gaze on that vein buried deep underground.

The normal mining method should be a steady flow, excavating bit by bit.

This way, it wouldn't destroy the stability of the Secret Realm and would ensure continuous output.

But Chen Xu didn't have that kind of time, much less that kind of patience.

He was here to stock up, not to be a miner.

"Since we're all one Family, we should keep everything together."

Chen Xu hovered above the pit, his massive cultivation from the Void Refining Stage released without reservation.

He formed hand seals, and the Universe in the Palm Divine Ability was activated once again.

But this time, it wasn't targeted at a person, but at this entire Earth Dragon Vein!

"Rise!"

Chen Xu gave a low shout and raised his hands.

Rumble—!!!

The entire Secret Realm trembled violently at this moment.

The ground cracked open, with countless fissures spreading in all directions.

The soil at the bottom of the deep pit churned.

It was as if some colossal entity was about to burst out of the earth.

"Creeeak—Creeeak—"

The tooth-gritting sound of rocks snapping echoed incessantly.

Under the pull of that terrifying suction, that void star crystal vein, which stretched for hundreds of Zhang...

Was actually pulled straight out of the ground by Chen Xu!

A deep blue light illuminated the entire dim space... The crystal-clear vein, like a giant dragon that had just awakened, slowly ascended into the sky, carrying countless amounts of soil and rubble.

This scene was spectacular to the extreme... If an outsider were here, their Dao Heart would surely have collapsed from fear.

This was no longer mining... This was clearly pulling out the "backbone" of this Small World!

"Collect!"

The veins on Chen Xu's forehead bulged slightly.

Clearly, collecting such a complete vein was no small drain on him.

With a wave of his large sleeve, a massive opening split in the space within his palm. Like a giant whale swallowing water, it gulped down the hundred-Zhang-long vein in one go!

With the disappearance of the vein... the deep pit instantly became empty and hollow.

And this became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Having lost the support of its core vein, this already unstable, fragmented space...

Finally headed toward total destruction.

"Crack! Crack!"

The originally minute spatial cracks instantly expanded countless times, turning into hideous spatial chasms.

The purple light screen in the sky peeled away in shards like a shattered mirror.

Revealing the violent void turbulence outside.

The magma below, no longer suppressed, erupted with a roar, shooting straight into the clouds.

The entire Secret Realm was collapsing at an astonishing speed!

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Xiao Hei, who was still in the pool drinking until his belly was round, was startled and hurriedly paddled his limbs to climb ashore.

He barked anxiously at Chen Xu.

"Stop barking, we won't die."

Chen Xu's expression was calm, even amidst this scene of heaven and earth rending apart.

He remained unhurried.

With a beckoning motion, a shuttle gleaming with lightning appeared beneath his feet.

The thunderbolt void-piercing shuttle!

"Get on!"

Chen Xu scooped up Xiao Hei, then formed hand seals. Runes instantly lit up on the surface of the lightning shuttle.

A thick lightning barrier firmly protected the man and the dog.

"Sit tight!"

A sharp light flashed in Chen Xu's eyes. Steering the lightning shuttle, he charged toward the rapidly shrinking exit vortex just a second before the Secret Realm's total destruction!

...Meanwhile, in the outside world.

"Grand Elder, is the Family Head really alright?"

Inside the hall, a Manager couldn't help but ask.

Although the Grand Elder was also a bit nervous, he still feigned composure and scolded, "What are you panicking for! The Family Head is naturally fine!"

"Besides, the Divine Stone is already in our hands. The most important thing inside that Secret Realm will surely belong to my Lin Family. Once the Old Ancestor successfully advances to the Body Integration stage, that will be the time our Lin Family dominates the Beiming Wilderness!"

Hearing this, everyone's hearts settled slightly.

Just as everyone was dreaming of hegemony.

The entire room suddenly trembled without any warning.

Immediately after, a piercing red light shot straight into the sky!

"What's going on?!"

The Grand Elder's face changed drastically, an extremely ominous premonition welling up in his heart.

Before he could react, an indescribably terrifying energy gushed out from the Forbidden Ground in the back mountain!

It was the spiritual energy storm generated by the collapse of the Secret Realm!

"Not good! Run!!!"

The Grand Elder let out a shrill scream and turned to flee.

But it was too late.

"BOOM————!!!"

An earth-shattering roar instantly drowned out all other sounds.

A visible white shockwave, with the force of sweeping through a thousand armies, instantly swallowed all the Lin Family members present.

They didn't even have time to scream... before their bodies were turned to ashes under this terrifying spatial power.

But this was only the beginning.

The shockwave continued unabated, roaring as it rushed out of the back mountain.

Inside the Lin Family mansion.

Countless... pavilions, carved beams, painted rafters, and defensive Formations... were as fragile as paper before this celestial might.

The rumbling lasted for ten full breaths.

Once the dust settled.

The Lin Family estate, which had occupied the best location in Zhenyuan City and stretched for several miles, had now completely vanished.

Replacing it was a massive deep pit several miles in diameter.

Inside the pit, wisps of black smoke were still rising... aside from ruins and broken walls, not a single soul remained alive.

The entire Zhenyuan City instantly exploded into an uproar!

Countless Cultivators were startled from their sleep, staring blankly at the massive cloud rising from the direction of the Lin Family.

Every single one of them had their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering from fear.

Is this divine retribution?!

Just then, two streaks of light flew rapidly from the distance, hovering at the edge of the deep pit.

They were Liu Yunsheng, the Pavilion Master of Tianbao Pavilion... and that mysterious City Lord of Zhenyuan City.

Even with the experience and composure of these two, as they looked at the massive pit below and the completely erased Lin Family...

Their faces were pale... and their eyes were filled with horror.

"This... is this a Secret Realm collapse?"

Liu Yunsheng swallowed hard, his voice dry. "The Lin Family... is just gone?"

"It wasn't an accident."

The usually taciturn City Lord suddenly spoke, his gaze fixed intently on the high sky.

Liu Yunsheng followed his gaze.

He saw that in the smoke-filled sky, a shuttle gleaming with lightning was suspended quietly.

At the bow of the shuttle, an old man in a tattered Daoist robe stood with his hands behind his back.

The mask on his face had been removed, revealing a plain, aged face. He looked down at the ruins below with an indifferent gaze, as if looking at a long-abandoned anthill.

At his feet, that big black dog was lying there, letting out a somewhat comical burp and spitting out a puff of black smoke.

Chen Xu paid no heed to the horrified gazes of the two big figures below.

He just gave Zhenyuan City one last indifferent glance... then tapped his toe lightly.

"Let's go."

The thunderbolt void-piercing shuttle let out a hum and instantly turned into a streak of light, tearing through the sky.

It sped toward the horizon.

Leaving behind only the ruins on the ground and two Void Refining experts who didn't dare to move for a long time.

"This..."

The City Lord took a deep breath!

Cold sweat instantly broke out on his back!

Ruthless. Too ruthless.

Just for a few stones, he directly wiped out a Family with a Legacy of thousands of years, along with its people and territory!

The thunderbolt void-piercing shuttle had activated its concealment Formation, silently traversing through the clouds ten thousand Zhang high.

Behind it, the once glorious Zhenyuan City had turned into a small black dot at the edge of vision.

But Chen Xu knew that after tonight, the legend of the "mysterious Void Refining powerhouse who destroyed the Lin Family in a rage" would spread throughout the Beiming Wilderness as if it had grown wings, and might even alarm several surrounding great domains.

But all of this had nothing to do with him for the time being.

On the deck of the shuttle, Chen Xu sat cross-legged, a smile difficult to hide on his face.

"This trip out for supplies has completely earned back the initial investment."

He waved his large sleeve, and a burst of rosy light immediately covered the entire deck.

Clatter—!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of collisions, he poured out a heap of storage rings and Storage Pouches.

Inside were not only the Lin Family's thousands of years of accumulation but also the private collection of that old monster Lin Canghai from nearly ten thousand years!

It was no exaggeration to say that the wealth on this Flying Boat right now was enough to buy half of the Beiming Wilderness!

Xiao Hei, who was originally dozing off to the side, perked up his ears at the sound.

He lunged over and dived into the pile of Spirit Stones emitting dense Spiritual Qi, rolling around happily and making comfortable grunting sounds.

The Lin Family had started out by plundering, after all, so the items in their treasury were a mix of everything.

Among them were quite a few high-quality Ancient Treasures and Spirit Treasures. Although Chen Xu didn't care for them himself, taking them back to replenish the Family treasury and arm the Family disciples would definitely allow the Chen Family's overall strength to jump several levels in a short period.

"Not bad, these dozen or so Fifth-grade Flying Swords can be used by Dao Xuan and the others to form a Sword Formation."

While counting, Chen Xu planned out the future development blueprint for the Family in his mind.

This feeling of becoming rich overnight, even for him whose state of mind was already as calm as an ancient well, was an indescribable enjoyment.

But these were just the appetizers.

Chen Xu took a deep breath... and flipped his palm.

Two treasures emitting heart-palpitating spatial fluctuations appeared in his palms.

In his left hand was a fist-sized piece.

A tai xu realm stone that seemed to contain an endless starry sky inside.

In his right hand was a deep blue, hexagonal prism-shaped piece—naturally the top-grade void star crystal refined from the core of that vein.

Either of these two items appearing in the outside world could cause a bloodbath.

And right now, they lay quietly in Chen Xu's hands, reflecting each other's light.

"Finally... I've gathered them all."

Chen Xu spoke with a sigh of emotion.

The Grand Teleportation Formation is finally going to be completed!!

Now, the tai xu realm stone sets the coordinates, and the void star crystal builds the channel.

Everything is ready, only the final touch is needed!

"As long as I go back and build the Formation, the Beiming Wilderness will no longer be a land of trapped dragons for the Chen Family, but a true back garden."

Chen Xu carefully put away these two supreme treasures, his mood excellent.

Just then... a slight sound of clothing rubbing came from a corner of the deck.

Chen Xu turned his head and saw Xu Linger, who had been shrinking in the corner.

She was staring at him blankly.

Although the little girl's face had been washed clean, revealing an exquisitely pretty face, her large eyes still held lingering shock and daze.

She had witnessed everything.

Witnessed how this man had charged into the Lin Family alone.

How he had crushed Lin Overlord, who had caused her endless nightmares, like crushing an ant.

And how he had slain that old monster who had lived for nearly ten thousand years with a single sword, and finally, how even the entire Lin Family mansion had vanished into thin air in an instant.

That was the Lin Family!

The colossal entity that had weighed down on the Xu Family, caused her Family's destruction, and forced her to live like a rat in the gutters.

Just like that... it was gone?