40: Chapter 40 Using a borrowed knife to kill

Deep within the Earthly Fiend Yin Vein, the Yin-Sha Qi was as thick as ink. There was no light here, only eternal, cold silence; but for Ye Fan, who was desperate to shake off his pursuers and possessed the Yin-Yang Dao Body, it was the perfect sanctuary.

After he and Su Qianxue had ignited the "guixu fragment" incident and created a chaotic battle in the canyon, they had rushed all the way and finally reached this deep underground location. The Yin-Sha maze and the chaotic magnetic fields greatly interfered with Divine Sense, temporarily isolating them from the killing intent of the outside world.

"This is the place." Ye Fan stopped in the center of a spacious cave. On the ground lay a dilapidated stone Formation Plate, three zhang in diameter, covered in thick dust. Although its runes were fractured, it still emitted obscure, ancient spatial fluctuations—this was the wreckage of an ancient, one-way, random, ultra-long-distance teleportation Formation.

"Young Master, it's so severely damaged, can it still be used?" Su Qianxue asked with concern.

"Under normal circumstances, no." Ye Fan carefully inspected the Formation Plate. "The core spatial positioning and energy stabilization runes are almost completely destroyed. Only the basic channel construction runes and the coordinate base remain somewhat intact, and the energy source is exhausted. By all logic, it's just a pile of waste rock."

He took out the "guixu fragment" that had been emitting cold fluctuations, a strange glint flashing in his eyes. "But we happen to have this, which might be able to compensate for the defects."

He used Yin-Yang Two Qi as a catalyst, grinding and mixing several pieces of Void Realm stone fragments, a small bottle of Void Gazer sand, and several low-level spatial stabilization Formation Flags, infusing them with his own essence blood containing Yin-Yang Dao rhymes. He barely refined an extremely unstable "Yin-Yang Void Gazer Paste," then smeared it to fill the connections between the key energy nodes and the fractured runes of the Formation Plate, simulating energy flow paths to provide a weak energy source that could be interrupted at any moment.

After doing this, Ye Fan took a deep breath and precisely placed the "guixu fragment" into the coordinate positioning groove at the center of the Formation Plate.

The moment the fragment was placed—hum! The entire Formation Plate trembled slightly, and those temporarily connected rune nodes briefly lit up with a faint light. The gray-white patterns on the surface of the fragment accelerated their flow, and the fluctuations, carrying a strange spatial Dao rhyme amidst the cold silence, actively permeated into the dilapidated Formation Plate. It was not repairing the Formation, but rather using itself as a guide to forcibly "awaken" the last bit of instinctive memory regarding spatial channels within the Formation's wreckage.

"It's reacting!" Su Qianxue exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

Ye Fan, however, became even more solemn. This awakening was extremely unstable. To truly construct a spatial channel, one final step was needed—injecting powerful energy sufficient to tear through space, along with at least a vague direction for the teleportation. He and Su Qianxue could exhaust all their strength for the energy, but the direction... This Formation was inherently random and one-way, and the coordinates had long been lost. They could only hope for the Formation's residual random properties and the fragment's affinity for space to send them to a relatively safe area roughly near the Central Plains. This was entirely a gamble.

"Su Qianxue, stand in the center of the Formation, back to back with me, and pour all your Spiritual Qi into the Formation Plate beneath your feet."

"Yes!" The two stood back to back. Icy blue Profound Yin True Origin and the black-and-white swirling Yin-Yang True Origin erupted simultaneously, crashing into the Formation Plate.

Receiving the infusion of the majestic True Origin of the Golden Core Stage, the dilapidated Formation Plate shone brightly once more. The resonance of the fragment became increasingly intense, and the spatial fluctuations began to twist and stretch the surrounding Yin-Sha Qi. An extremely unstable, gray, swirling spatial channel with constantly twisting edges slowly formed above the Formation Plate. Inside the channel was Chaos, and the breath of heart-palpitating spatial turbulence could be faintly felt.

"The channel can only hold for five breaths! Go!"

The two protected their bodies and leaped into the vortex. The moment they disappeared—crack! The Formation Plate shattered into powder, and the Yin-Yang Void Gazer Paste evaporated and dissipated. The guixu fragment seemed to be pulled by an invisible force; it flew up automatically and followed Ye Fan into the disappearing vortex.

The gray vortex contracted inward and completely vanished, leaving behind only slightly distorted spatial ripples and a floor covered in stone powder.

At this moment, on the outskirts of the Dragon Fall Abyss. Lin Feng had just used the space-time suppression ability of the chaos bell fragment to insidiously ambush and kill a hunting squad composed of three Late Stage Golden Core cultivators and two Middle Stage Golden Core cultivators. He wiped them out and devoured them, his aura surging to near Golden Core Peak.

Suddenly, a cold voice rang out rapidly in his mind—[Warning! Special spatial fluctuations detected! Location: Deep within the Earthly Fiend Yin Vein; Nature: Ancient random teleportation Formation activated; residual fluctuations contain faint "guixu" Dao rhymes and the Spiritual Qi aura of the target "Ye Fan"! Analysis: Ye Fan has activated a damaged teleportation Formation for ultra-long-distance random teleportation and has currently left the Eastern Region, with the general direction pointing toward the Central Plains; he is suspected of carrying the "Eye of the Void" key fragment, and the "Hunting/Cauldron Refining" mission progress is hindered.]

"What? Ye Fan ran away? And he went to the Central Plains?!" The smugness on Lin Feng's face froze instantly, turning into rage. "Where did he get an ancient teleportation Formation? The guixu fragment... it really was him! That Chaos in the canyon was something he deliberately created to shed his skin like a cicada? Borrowing a knife to kill? He used me as a spear?"

He was trembling with anger, his killing intent almost solidifying. "A fine Ye Fan indeed! How dare you play me! Do you think you're safe just because you escaped to the Central Plains?"

He looked up suddenly, gazing toward the Central Plains, and revealed a cruel smile. "The Central Plains... perfect! The Tiangong Realm token, the clues to the Era Codex, the Dao scriptures of Jixia Academy, the auction of the heaven-deceiving talisman... the Central Plains is the real grand stage. Ye Fan, you aren't going there to avoid disaster; you are walking right into a trap, jumping into a bigger and bloodier hunting ground!"

Lin Feng took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. "System, publish a piece of misleading information; Content: The fated owner of the chaos bell fragment, Lin Feng, because he is being hunted by the whole world, has secretly fled to the Central Plains, intending to use the complex situation in the Central Plains to hide and plot for Opportunity. Leak this information to all the top forces in the Central Plains anonymously and through multiple channels."

[Consumed 500 destiny points. Information publishing has started. It is estimated to reach the upper echelons of the major forces in the Central Plains within twelve hours.]

"Ye Fan, my good Cauldron..." Lin Feng licked his lips. "You can just attract fire for me in the Central Plains and scout the path first. When I achieve Major Achievement in my divine art, I will go and cherish you properly."

At this moment, Ye Fan and Su Qianxue, having just experienced spatial tearing and Divine Soul agitation, were struggling to stand up in a completely unfamiliar, primitive ancient forest. Their clothes were tattered, their auras were unstable, and their faces were pale. Su Qianxue couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood carrying icy blue cold Qi. Ye Fan's condition was slightly better, but his Qi and blood were also churning.

His first instinct was to reach into his bosom—it was empty! Was the fragment lost?

Suddenly, the Yin-Yang Golden Core slowly rotating in his Dantian trembled slightly. A point of black light seeped out from the black-and-white intersection at the core of the Golden Core and hovered above it—it was the guixu fragment. It didn't know when it had run into his Dantian and formed a strange connection with his Golden Core. The fragment was still icy cold, and the gray-white patterns on its surface flowed, emitting a guixu aura that both conflicted with and faintly resonated with Ye Fan's Yin-Yang Dao rhyme.

Ye Fan was shocked in his heart. Could the fragment enter his Dantian on its own? Was it because an energy channel was established when activating the teleportation Formation? Or was there an unknown attraction between the Yin-Yang Dao Body and the guixu Dao rhyme? He made contact with his Divine Sense, and the fragment transmitted a trace of an icy, submissive, yet weary and silent intent—as if the recent teleportation had exhausted its power and it needed to sleep to recover.

"Young Master, the fragment..." Su Qianxue adjusted her breathing for a moment, barely suppressing her injuries.

"The fragment is inside me." Ye Fan temporarily suppressed his doubts and looked up to observe his surroundings. Ancient trees towered into the sky, vines coiled like Dragons, and the Spiritual Qi was far more abundant than in ordinary mountain ranges in the Eastern Region, permeated with the fragrance of grass and trees and the aura of the earth. In the distance, a Yao Beast let out a low roar.

"The concentration of Spiritual Qi is at least three times higher than in the Eastern Region, carrying the aura of accumulated civilization..." A sharp glint flashed in Ye Fan's eyes. "We really have arrived in the Central Plains. Landing in an uninhabited, primitive mountain forest—our luck isn't too bad."

"The Central Plains..." A trace of confusion flashed across Su Qianxue's face, which then turned into determination.

"Let's first find a safe place to heal and recover, then figure out our specific location." Ye Fan forced himself to stand up and identified the direction. Supporting each other, they restrained their auras and cautiously crept deeper into the mountain forest.