73: Chapter 73 Desperate Counterattack and Obvious Evidence

That killing intent, mixed with a foul stench and deep resentment, poured over Master Chiyang's head like a basin of ice water.

As a Late Stage Golden Core Cultivator, his Divine Sense had already enveloped the entire secret chamber; Hermit Duxin's lurking and sudden outburst were captured by him almost simultaneously.

Fast! Too fast!

Hermit Duxin's figure had almost turned into a distorted black line in Lin Chen's field of vision. The mist composed of countless tiny Gu insects dragged a long, nauseating trail through the air, heading straight for Master Chiyang's defenseless back.

But Master Chiyang did not even turn his head.

Lin Chen only saw his wide Daoist robe suddenly bulge, and the right hand that had just been dispelling the poisonous miasma slapped backward at an angle completely defying the natural joints of the human body!

"You seek death!"

A low shout, like a thunderclap on dry land.

Master Chiyang's palm turned as crimson as a branding iron in an instant, and a burst of extremely pure, scorching spiritual power erupted, manifesting out of thin air one foot behind him as a raging wall of fire!

It was his signature technique—the Chiyang True Fire!

"Hiss, hiss—!"

The layer of black Gu insect mist slammed into the wall of fire, instantly erupting into countless sharp, shrill shrieks.

The sound did not resemble ordinary insects being burned; it sounded more like countless tiny vengeful spirits being forcibly purified in the flames, making one's scalp tingle.

Large swaths of Gu insects burst and curled in the true fire, turning into wisps of green smoke, leaving not even ashes behind.

Hermit Duxin's figure halted abruptly in front of the fire wall, and he let out a stifled grunt. Clearly, the instantaneous mass death of his natal Gu insects had caused severe damage to his Divine Soul.

But the crazy blood-red color in his eyes grew even more intense. His body twisted to the side at an extremely strange angle, forcibly avoiding the core burning area of the fire wall, letting half his body be licked by the flames; his robe instantly turned to charcoal, and his flesh sizzled.

The intense pain only incited all of his ferocity!

"Die!"

He roared, and with a flick of his left hand, which had avoided the flames, several black lines thinner than a hair and shimmering with a faint dark light pierced through the aftermath of the flames, silently stabbing toward the vital points of Master Chiyang's back!

This was his true killing move—natal Gu silk tempered with potent poison and Spirit-Breaking Curse Seals!

At this moment, Master Chiyang had just turned around, his palms as crimson as jade, facing Hermit Duxin's face, which was twisted by pain and madness.

He looked at those few black lines that were almost impossible to capture with the naked eye.

He crossed his palms, and the majestic Chiyang True Fire gathered into two rotating small suns, directly meeting Hermit Duxin's demonic claw, which was embedded with poison-needle-like Gu silk.

For a time, in the narrow space, the scorching true fire and the sinister Gu silk collided violently, and the sound of spiritual power explosions was incessant.

Hermit Duxin was using a completely desperate fighting style, with every move targeting vital points, ignoring his own defense. The remaining Gu insects turned into black shadows, harassing Master Chiyang from all directions, and actually managed to entangle this Late Stage Golden Core Vice President tightly in a short time.

Lin Chen's heart rose to his throat.

Master Chiyang was entangled, and that damn Formation had not completely stopped!

He could clearly feel that although Elder Iron-Face's punch had destroyed the core, the structure of the entire secret chamber had become extremely unstable.

Above the dome, dust and rubble fell with a "rustling" sound. On the ground, the dimmed dark red Formation patterns still had a few places flickering with a faint, unwilling light, like the eyes of a dying poisonous snake, ready to erupt with a final, deadly blow at any moment.

In the air, although most of the remaining poisonous miasma had been dispelled by Master Chiyang's true fire, there were still wisps of dark green mist, as if they had a life of their own, drifting toward the injured Enforcement Disciples lying on the ground.

He couldn't wait any longer!

Lin Chen resisted the weakness of having his spiritual power almost drained, and grabbed several pale yellow Talismans from his Storage Pouch.

These were several high-quality Talismans that Han Ji had specially left for him before going into seclusion, in case of an emergency.

He did not hesitate at all, injected all the remaining trace of spiritual power in his body into them, and threw them toward several dark corners of the secret chamber!

"Activate!"

Several Talismans ignited without fire in the air, instantly turning into several basin-sized, scorching white light orbs emitting a pure Yang aura, hovering high in mid-air.

Wherever the light orbs passed, the dark green poisonous miasma, like snow meeting boiling water, made a "sizzling" sound and quickly dissolved and purified.

The entire dark secret chamber was illuminated as bright as day, with no shadows left to hide in.

"What are you still standing there for!" Lin Chen growled at the few Enforcement Disciples beside him who could still move. "Drag the injured Senior Brothers to the entrance! Hurry!"

Those Disciples seemed to wake from a dream and immediately scrambled to help and drag their poisoned and unconscious companions, moving toward the relatively safe entrance of the secret chamber.

After doing all this, Lin Chen's gaze immediately turned to Elder Iron-Face, who was clearing the remaining Formation.

He saw Elder Iron-Face stomping on the still-flickering Formation nodes one by one, a simple and crude action, but extremely effective.

But he always felt that something was wrong.

The layout of this secret chamber and the reaction of the Ge Family all revealed a kind of "mutual destruction" madness.

Matters would definitely not end so simply.

Just as Elder Iron-Face was about to stomp on the last piece of glowing Formation Plate, a roar filled with endless resentment and madness suddenly exploded from the shadows in the deepest part of the secret chamber!

"You ruined my great cause, you must all die!"

A figure stumbled out from that darkness, hair and beard bristling—who else could it be but Ancestor Ge Hong of the Ge Family!

At this moment, he no longer had any appearance of an immortal, his face was as hideous as a demon crawling out of Hell, his eyes were blood-red, and the spiritual power around his body was uncontrollably surging—it was a sign of Qi Deviation.

His left hand was clutching a fist-sized, pitch-black tumor-like object, covered in blood-vessel-like veins, which was still slightly squirming!

As soon as that thing appeared, the stone ring on Lin Chen's thumb sent a wave of unprecedented, intense stinging pain, as if an ice needle had been fiercely jabbed into the depths of his Soul!

The crisis warning in his mind reached its peak instantly, and a sense of fear stemming from the instinct of life, wanting to escape immediately, overwhelmed him.

This thing was a hundred times more terrifying than the self-destructing Formation from earlier!

"Hahaha..." Ancestor Ge Hong looked at Elder Iron-Face, who had been forced to stop his actions, and Master Chiyang, who was also casting a suspicious gaze from afar, and let out a manic laugh. "This is the 'Ten Thousand Soul Gu Mother' that my Ge Family spent a hundred years of effort to refine with thousands of living Souls! Although it is not fully mature, as long as this old man crushes it, within a hundred miles of this place, whether human, animal, or vegetation, will all turn into a dead land devoid of spiritual energy! All living beings will have their Divine Souls completely extinguished!"

He held the constantly squirming black tumor high and roared with a grim smile: "Release the Formation and let us leave safely! Otherwise, we will all perish together!"

In an instant, the air in the entire secret chamber seemed to freeze.

Those few Enforcement Disciples who were moving the wounded were even more terrified, their faces pale and their hands and feet cold.

Master Chiyang and Hermit Duxin clashed once, each being shaken back several steps. He looked at the "Ten Thousand Soul Gu Mother," and his expression also became incomparably grave.

He could feel that Ancestor Ge Hong was not lying; the destructive energy contained within that thing, once out of control, would have unimaginable consequences.

However, Elder Iron-Face, standing in front of Ancestor Ge Hong, did not show the slightest fear or hesitation on his cold, iron-like face.

His gaze was cold and calm, as if looking at a dead person.

In the instant before Ancestor Ge Hong's threatening words of "perish together" had fully faded, Elder Iron-Face moved.

He abandoned the last piece of Formation Plate under his feet. His large body did not appear cumbersome at all; instead, like an arrow released from a bow, leaving an afterimage in place, he instantly closed in on Ancestor Ge Hong!

Too fast!

So fast that the grim smile on Ancestor Ge Hong's face had not yet faded, and he could only see a giant hand covered with a thick metallic luster rapidly enlarging in his field of vision.

Elder Iron-Face's target was incomparably precise: it was the very wrist of Ancestor Ge Hong that was supporting the black tumor!

"Crack!"

A tooth-aching sound of bones shattering was clearly audible in the silent secret chamber.

Ancestor Ge Hong's left wrist, which was supporting the tumor, was crushed into pieces by Elder Iron-Face's giant hand, which was like an iron pincer!

"Ah—!"

The intense pain made Ancestor Ge Hong let out a shrill scream, and the black tumor in his hand immediately slipped out, flying into the air.

No sooner said than done, Elder Iron-Face's other hand had long been ready. His five fingers joined together, turning into a hand-blade shimmering with sharp golden-iron Qi, without any flowery technique, and fiercely chopped at Ancestor Ge Hong's lower abdomen, specifically the Dantian and Qi Sea!

"Pfft!"

Ancestor Ge Hong's scream stopped abruptly, as if he were a rooster whose throat had been strangled.

The violent, surging spiritual power around his body, like a punctured balloon, dissipated without a trace in an instant.

His entire person seemed to have all his bones removed; he slumped down limply and was held in Elder Iron-Face's hand, lifted like a chick.

The entire process was smooth and flowing, as fast as lightning!

The black tumor that had been thrown into mid-air, before it even hit the ground, was instantly wrapped by a Chiyang True Fire that appeared out of thin air. Amidst the "sizzling" burning sound, it quickly turned into a wisp of void green smoke, without even a trace of aura leaking out.

At the same time, Hermit Duxin, having lost Ancestor Ge Hong's leverage, finally could not hold on under Master Chiyang's increasingly fierce offensive.

His chest was fiercely pierced through by a spear of Chiyang fire that was condensed like substance.

He looked down at the bowl-sized hole in his chest; the crazy blood-red color in his eyes quickly faded, replaced by endless resentment and unwillingness. Immediately, countless tiny Gu insects crawled out from his seven orifices, instantly devouring his own flesh and blood, killing him on the spot.

The crisis was completely resolved.

In the secret chamber, only heavy panting and the dead silence of surviving a disaster remained.

Only then did everyone begin to thoroughly search this sinful secret chamber.

Deep in the secret compartment where Ancestor Ge Hong had previously hidden, the Enforcement Disciples discovered a large number of Jade Slips.

These Jade Slips were densely recorded with the detailed cultivation methods of the "Heart-Linking Gu," inhumane Soul-control experiment data, and a long list recording the names of dozens of controlled alchemists.

Besides this, there were also quite a few fragments of secret letters exchanged with certain hidden forces in the Central Continent. Between the lines, they all revealed an even larger and more terrifying scheme.

The evidence was as solid as a mountain!

And Steward Yan Song, who had long been scared out of his wits and tried to escape through the backup secret passage during the chaos earlier, was also caught on the spot at the exit by a meticulous Enforcement Disciple who had been waiting there.

Master Chiyang looked at the devastated secret chamber and the piles of evidence accumulated like a mountain, his expression as cold and grim as ten-thousand-year black ice.

"The Ge Family is finished." He slowly spat out the four words, each one like a heavy hammer striking everyone's heart.

Lin Chen stood to the side, silently watching Ancestor Ge Hong, who had been crippled by Elder Iron-Face and thrown on the ground like a dead dog, and then looked at Hermit Duxin, who was nothing but tattered robes. He did not feel much pleasure in revenge, only a heavy sense of relief after the dust had settled.

And the Lin Family would move toward a broader and more dangerous stage in this upcoming huge upheaval.

He subconsciously rubbed the rough stone ring on his thumb; the cold touch allowed his chaotic thoughts to calm down slightly.

Master Chiyang walked to his side and patted his shoulder, his voice carrying a hint of appreciation and emotion: "Kid, this time, you and your Lin Family have performed a great service. The Association will not mistreat those who have performed meritorious service."

Master Chiyang paused, his gaze sweeping over the Jade Slips recording the shocking conspiracy, his eyes becoming profound: "However, the greater the merit, sometimes, the greater the trouble. The things involved behind the Ge Family are... much deeper than we imagined."