169: Chapter 169 While she was frozen in place, I unleashed a critical hit.

As Chen Fan slammed down onto one knee onto the broken stones, the roar of the lake water closing echoed in his ears.

The warmth of the person in his arms seeped through his torn clothes. He looked down at Su Shuang; her lips were as pale blue as porcelain shards soaked in a deep pool. The fox tail mark on her chest was now only a fingernail-sized spot of light, threatening to extinguish at any moment.

"System Notification!" Golden text exploded across his retina, causing his pupils to contract—【Fox Demon Charm - Beginner Level has been stored】【Can trigger the "Bloodline Devour" synergistic buff】.

His fingertip unconsciously rubbed the back of her cold hand, where red marks from the restraints still lingered. "Hold on," his Adam's apple bobbed, his voice soft as if afraid of shattering something. "You aren't a sacrifice; you are the person I must protect."

Before his words faded, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

The Dark Water Envoy's water blade sliced toward him with a fishy stench. Chen Fan could even see the water droplets condensed on the blade—a 'gift' from Critical Hit Foresight.

The system drew a faint blue trajectory in his mind: The water blade will deviate 0.3 inches to the left; the optimal jump time is 0.4 seconds later.

He didn't retreat. Instead, he bent his legs and pushed off the ground, his back muscles tensing like an iron bow. He spun half a circle, shielding Su Shuang in his embrace.

The water blade grazed his neck, the chill raising red marks on his skin, but it didn't touch a single corner of Su Shuang's clothing.

"Go!" The hammer of the thunder god smashed toward the Dark Water Envoy's chest with the force of wind and thunder.

【Critical Hit Triggered! 3.7x Damage】

The Dark Water Envoy's body, made of water, instantly exploded, shattering into thousands of silver beads. Only Su Wuxia's chanting pierced through the mist: "The lake sacrifice never ceases, the soul lock binds eternally—"

Cold sweat beaded on Chen Fan's back.

Only then did he notice the grating tremor coming from the bottom of the lake. Hundreds of chains burst through the water, their barbed tips writhing like living things, coiling toward his wrists and ankles.

He rolled on the spot while holding Su Shuang. The chains scraped across his lower back, plowing deep trenches into the ground.

"Shuanger?" He called out, but the person in his arms didn't respond.

But just as the chains were about to wrap around his neck, Su Shuang suddenly opened her eyes.

Her gold-red pupils lacked focus but shone like two small lamps, illuminating her pale blue face.

Her fingertips trembled slightly, and an invisible ripple spread through the air—it was Charm: Immobilize.

Chen Fan watched as the hundred priests rushing toward him with sacrificial knives froze in place. Even the Light Erosion scales suspended in the air were fixed, their fins still maintaining the arc of movement.

The system's alert blared painfully in his eardrums: 【Non-human buff detected—Fox Demon Charm - Beginner Level, absorb?】

"Absorb!" he roared through gritted teeth.

Five beams of golden light shot through his fingertips into his meridians, scalding him as if he were melting honey over a fire.

As the notification 【Critical Hit Rate + 20%】 vanished, he felt his temples throbbing violently. Even the trajectory of the chains appeared slower.

"Come on!" Chen Fan swung the hammer of the thunder god.

The first strike shattered the chain on his left leg; the notification 【Critical Hit! 4.1x】 caused the chain blade to crumble into dust. The second strike swept toward the chains on the right, the 【Critical Hit! 5.3x】 power making his hand numb. The third strike aimed directly at the largest chain overhead, 【Critical Hit! 6.0x】!

The crisp sound of metal fracturing erupted mixed with his roar. Shrapnel rained down on his shoulders.

"Go!" He carried Su Shuang and ran toward the center of the lake. But after only ten steps, the sound of a wooden fish suddenly rang in his ears.

"Dong—"

Chen Fan's steps faltered.

The sound was like a needle stabbing directly into his brain.

The Silent Lake Monk stood before the stone temple on the lakeshore, his gray robe flapping wildly in the night wind. The wooden fish in his hand glowed faintly: "Sinner, the key must not be taken."

Critical Hit Foresight suddenly flashed: 【The wooden fish sound contains mental shock; coma will be induced in three seconds】.

Veins bulged on Chen Fan's forehead. He remembered the "Sacrificial Water Talisman" hanging from the Dark Water Envoy's waist—he had pocketed it while tearing apart the Envoy's watery body.

He pulled Su Shuang closer into his arm, then slapped the water talisman onto the ground behind him: "I don't listen to sermons, but I will snatch the order!"

In the blue light of the talisman's explosion, an illusion of the altar at the bottom of the lake emerged.

Chen Fan's pupils constricted—hundreds of indistinct figures knelt on the altar, glowing Soul Rings around their necks. Their essence was being drawn out and injected into the crystal pillar in the lake center through transparent tubes.

Atop the crystal pillar, a milky-white crystal stone glowed faintly, resonating with the moon marrow crystal in his arms, making his chest burn.

The system notification sounded precisely on cue: 【'Mirror Lake Bottom Palace' entrance discovered; requires 'Dual Blood Resonance' to open】.

Chen Fan looked down at Su Shuang.

Her gold-red pupils had closed, but the fox tail mark on her chest brightened slightly, like a flame fanned by the wind.

He looked again toward the depths of the altar, where thicker chains were wrapped around the crystal pillar, their heads carved with the bizarre markings of an alien civilization.

"You say the key is blameless?" He laughed, a harshness in his smile. "Then I'll use this sin to smash your altar!"

The night wind whipped up the bloodstains on his cloak, and the afterglow of the cracking sky spilled onto his shoulders.

Chen Fan carried Su Shuang, walking step by step toward the center of the lake, past the still-breaking chains and the frozen priests.

His boots crushed the broken stones on the ground, each step falling onto a semi-transparent Soul Ring—the lingering regrets of the dead, vengeful spirits trapped in this watery domain by the system.

The moment the remnant thoughts touched him, fragmented images flooded his mind: an infant's cry, a mother's scream, an old craftsman's sigh... Chen Fan's steps paused briefly. He cursed under his breath, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he walked even more steadily.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered to the Soul Rings beneath his feet. "I'll take you out."

The light from the crystal pillar in the lake center grew brighter, filling his eyes with gold and red.

Su Shuang stirred in his arms, her fingertips lightly hooking his collar.

Chen Fan looked down, seeing her eyelashes flutter like butterflies brushing against snow.

Meanwhile, at the pinnacle of the Shadow Pavilion, the Third Seat of the Red Robes crushed the last monitoring jade tablet. "He's going into the Mirror Lake Bottom Palace!" he roared. "Activate the Final Defense—"

Chen Fan naturally didn't hear any of this.

He only heard his own heartbeat and Su Shuang's gradually strengthening breath in his arms.

He gazed at the milky-white crystal stone atop the pillar, then touched the moon marrow in his chest, suddenly laughing out loud: "Dual Blood Resonance, is it?"

"I'll play along with you."

His heel heavily stomped down on the last Soul Ring.