50: Chapter 50 With the totem in hand, I am the ancestor.

The firelight within the dilapidated temple finally extinguished, the last wisp of smoke blending into the dead silence of the darkness, taking with it the tragic mural depicting the fall of the Qingqiu Fox Clan on the wall.

The icy air rushed back in, more biting than the gale winds atop the cliff.

Chen Fan held Su Shuang, whose body temperature was faint, in his arms, yet a fierce fire, unprecedented before, burned within his heart.

The qingqiu jade was not just for extending life.

It was the core of the seal!

The 'them' that Su Shuang mentioned in her delirium, the entity that they were willing to destroy the entire Qingqiu Fox Clan to seize, its value had long surpassed the mere survival of a race.

It was connected to secrets of a higher echelon, a secret potent enough to drive both the 'System' and the so-called 'Extraterrestrial Light Pillar' into a frenzy.

And Wu Xiang, the Qingqiu clansman who once knelt powerlessly before the altar, had now become the enemy's sharpest blade, implanted with the absolute creed that 'Fox blood equals contamination,' personally hunting down his last surviving kin.

How ironic, how desolate!

"Brainwashing..." Chen Fan's knuckles turned white as he gripped them. A surge of anger mixed with killing intent churned in his chest. "To transform a guardian into a destroyer using the greatest pain and despair. What skill, truly remarkable skill!"

The giant eye of the stone pupil slowly closed, and the images on the wall faded completely, as if they had never appeared.

But the location of the second partial map reflected there was now deeply etched into Chen Fan's mind—the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff, beside the Moon Burying Well.

"We must go there immediately," Chen Fan's voice was low and resolute.

Time waited for no one. Su Shuang's life was barely sustained by the totem's lingering radiance; every second wasted increased the danger.

And since the System could select Wu Xiang, it meant he could reappear like a ghost at any moment.

Xiao Jin jumped down from his shoulder. Its small nostrils twitched as it circled Chen Fan and Su Shuang. It whispered with a grave expression, "Brother Chen Fan, that place called Soul Severing Cliff, the Yin energy is so heavy... a hundred times more terrifying than here. Xiao Jin smelled it. Sister's blood scent came from that direction, very strong, very strong... Also, the smell of many, many dead foxes. They seem to all be buried there."

Many dead foxes.

The Moon Burying Well.

Chen Fan's gaze instantly turned sharp as a blade.

He remembered the six characters at the wellhead—'Only Blood Pacted May Enter'.

This was not a test at all; it was a bloody curse!

The so-called 'Blood Pacted' likely referred to the person possessing the purest Qingqiu bloodline.

This entrance, from the very beginning, was prepared for Su Shuang, or rather, for the successor of her lineage.

"Use her blood to open your gate..." A cold curve lifted the corner of Chen Fan's mouth. He picked up Su Shuang and strode out of the dilapidated temple. "Then I will use her blood to flatten your graves!"

Soul Severing Cliff, truly living up to its name.

The gale winds roared out like countless invisible blades from every crack in the cliff face, slicing through everything in their path.

An ordinary person standing here for a moment would be cut to shreds.

Chen Fan used his spiritual energy to maintain a faint protective shield, wrapping Su Shuang tightly in his arms, while he endured the slow torture of the lacerations, step by step moving toward the bottom of the cliff.

Every step he took was extremely steady, as if the uneven rubble beneath his feet were a flat avenue.

His gaze was colder than the ten-thousand-year ice of Soul Severing Cliff.

The bottom of the cliff was vaster and even more dead silent than imagined.

An ancient stone well stood quietly in the center, its mouth sealed by a massive circular stone slab, upon which six large characters were inscribed in vigorous strokes: Only Blood Pacted May Enter.

The surrounding air was filled with a thick, impenetrable stench of blood and resentment.

"This is it."

Chen Fan did not hesitate. He carefully lifted Su Shuang's pale hand; the trace of crimson blood on his fingertip had not yet dried.

He gently pressed it onto a tiny indentation in the center of the stone slab.

"Buzz—"

A dull resonance echoed up from the depths of the earth.

That drop of blood seemed to possess life, instantly absorbed by the stone slab, and the six large characters lit up one by one with a bloody glow.

Immediately following, the entire stone slab, weighing tens of thousands of pounds, slowly shifted to one side, revealing the bottomless, pitch-black well opening below.

However, the moment the stone gate opened, there was no treasure, no passage—only three crimson shadows shooting out at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye!

They were three humanoid puppets!

They were forged entirely from unknown metals, but their joints were entwined with strands of silk as red as blood. The ends of the threads connected to their limbs and bones, giving their movements a bizarre swiftness filled with ominous energy.

Red-Thread Remnant Puppets!

Chen Fan's pupils constricted sharply, and he instinctively retreated backward.

Having suffered once from a direct confrontation, he would never make the same mistake twice.

This time, he did not choose to meet them head-on.

"[Totem Critical Hit]!"

He hissed inwardly. The Nine-Tailed Fox Totem behind him no longer blasted toward the enemy, but struck fiercely at the ground beneath his feet!

The immense recoil force instantly propelled him and Su Shuang in his arms tens of meters into the air, perfectly evading the puppets' first wave of attack.

Mid-air, Chen Fan twisted his body, holding Su Shuang, and looked down upon the three puppets that had missed their mark.

The killing intent in his eyes boiled. The Nine-Tailed phantom condensed again behind him; this time, it contained not just raw power, but his understanding of the rules!

"Die for me!"

A colossal energy fox claw descended from the sky, its target not any single puppet, but the ground beneath them!

[Rule Critical Hit] stacked!

"Rumble!!!"

The ground in the entire wellhead area violently collapsed. Crushed stone and earth were lifted by the massive force, creating a localized earthquake.

The System's cold prompt sounded in Chen Fan's mind:

[Detected unknown high-energy impact, judged as 'Environmental Collapse', triggering chain reaction...]

[Warning: Traps in the area 'Red-Thread Remnant Puppets' passively activated, judged as secondary damage from 'Natural Disaster'...]

[Kill 'Red-Thread Remnant Puppet' x 1, Gain 1500 Experience Points (Environmental Kill Judgement, Experience x 5)!]

It worked!

Chen Fan used the power of the Totem Critical Hit to fake a 'natural disaster,' successfully deceiving the System!

The System judged the puppet's death as due to natural causes rather than player elimination, thereby triggering a hidden reward mechanism!

Amidst the swirling dust, one remnant puppet was completely buried by a massive boulder, its red threads severed, completely lifeless.

Without waiting for the other two remnant puppets to recover from the chaos, Chen Fan landed.

He did not pause. He once again activated the totem, this time aiming at the sturdy inner wall of the Moon Burying Well!

"Boom!"

Another loud crash. A huge breach was blasted into the well wall, and countless pieces of rubble poured down like a torrential rain, accurately covering the movement path of the second remnant puppet.

As soon as the puppet looked up, it was smashed into pieces by the sky-falling stone rain, the red threads at its joints snapping one by one.

With two eliminated, the remaining one was no longer a threat.

Chen Fan moved like lightning, slipping past it. The totem power condensed on his fingertip accurately struck the brow of the last remnant puppet.

With a crisp 'crack,' the puppet's movements stiffened, and it was completely scrapped.

The wellhead returned to silence.

Chen Fan took a deep breath, calming the surging spiritual energy. Holding Su Shuang, he unhesitatingly leaped into the bottomless Moon Burying Well.

The bottom of the well held a different world.

It was a circular stone chamber, not too large. The surrounding walls were carved with ancient Fox Clan script, recording fragmented past events.

In the center of the stone chamber stood a black stele, over a person's height, and the second partial qingqiu jade was quietly inlaid in the very center of the stele, emitting a faint, soft glow.

Found it!

Chen Fan rejoiced in his heart and quickly stepped forward, reaching out to take the partial map.

But just as his fingertips were about to touch the partial map, an unexpected change occurred!

The Nine-Tailed Fox Totem on his back—the totem that had always served as his strongest source of power—erupted with astonishing malevolence without any warning!

The giant Nine-Tailed phantom suddenly turned direction. No longer guarding, it transformed into the deadliest fierce beast, its claws flashing with cold light, striking directly toward Chen Fan's face!

The attack was unimaginably fast, filled with an aura of betrayal and destruction!

Chen Fan's scalp tingled. At the moment between life and death, he forcibly interrupted his resonance with the totem, falling backward in an extremely undignified posture.

The sharp claws grazed past the tip of his nose, the fierce wind leaving a shallow scratch on his face.

The totem phantom twisted in the air for a moment, then slowly dissipated.

Chen Fan knelt halfway, panting heavily, his heart pounding wildly.

The System's cold warning only arrived belatedly:

[Warning: Totem Resonance Exceeded, Risk of Backlash Exists! Current Mental Load 37%, please use with caution!]

Backlash? Why the sudden backlash?

While he was still shaken, a faint and urgent voice sounded at that moment.

"Don't... don't trust... the totem..."

It was Su Shuang!

She had opened her eyes at some unknown time, her beautiful fox pupils filled with pain and anxiety. She used all her strength, grabbing the corner of Chen Fan's robe, weakly spitting out a few words:

"It... it is also being... rewritten by 'them'..."

Before she finished speaking, an even more terrifying pressure, like dark clouds pressing down, descended from above the well opening.

On the summit of Soul Severing Cliff outside, the wind and snow had become even more violent at some point.

A solitary, proud figure stood at the edge of the cliff, unmoved despite being battered by the wind and snow.

It was Wu Xiang.

He no longer held the ancient bronze bell in his hand, but a brand-new bell burning with a faint black flame.

His gaze pierced through the deep well, locking precisely onto Chen Fan and the newly awakened Su Shuang. A cruel smile curved his lips.

"Scavenger Chen Fan, you thought you found hope?" His voice seemed to come from the Nine Hells, clearly reaching the bottom of the well. "No, what you found is merely the beginning of her next despair."

"This time, I want you to personally destroy her last hope."

As the words fell, Chen Fan at the bottom of the well suddenly felt a burning, searing pain in his left arm.

He looked down sharply, only to see a complex and demonic Nine-Tailed Fox totem pattern emerging slowly from beneath his flesh on his arm, like a red-hot branding iron, emitting an ominous red light.

Simultaneously, Su Shuang, having heard Wu Xiang's voice, trembled violently. She forced herself to endure her heavily injured body and struggled to stand up.