Supreme Emptiness

Carefree Master finally reacted, his pupils dilating in rage.

"Ze Yun!!!"

He was incredulous.

His most prized disciple... just like that, gone!

The enormous roar created a powerful shockwave.

Jiang Fan, suspended in midair, stumbled from the impact, his Dustless Talisman shattering instantly.

His figure was suddenly exposed!

Before Carefree Master could react.

Jiang Fan decisively snatched back the seed while simultaneously pulling out the Space Storage Device that contained grave soil from Carefree Master's robes.

Without a moment's hesitation, he fled.

"Ah!!! You wretch!"

"How dare you kill my disciple!"

Carefree Master roared furiously, hurling the broken Spiritual Artifacts in his hands to temporarily block the Hell Beast.

Then, filled with murderous intent, he pursued Jiang Fan.

As he passed a breach in the wall.

He stopped abruptly and raised his hand, firing a burst of flames to clear the area around the breach.

Anything lurking nearby would be destroyed.

Anything indestructible would be exposed.

Wu Manyue and Ren Guhong, who were moving stealthily along the distant wall, felt a chill in their hearts.

It was exactly as Jiang Fan had predicted.

High-alert individuals like these were wary of the very spots that seemed ideal for ambushes.

Even as Carefree Master was overcome by rage, he retained a high degree of vigilance.

He didn't fall for the trap so easily.

Jiang Fan glanced back, his heart tightening.

He had killed Nascent Soul-level opponents twice before.

Once when Green Crane Master was critically wounded and dying.

Once when he tricked Yan Dao'an into drinking Netherworld Poison.

But he had never faced off directly against a Nascent Soul Expert.

Now being pursued, it was impossible for him not to feel nervous.

But since he had already acted, what was there to hesitate over?

As he ran forward, he overtook two disciples fleeing in panic.

Without a second thought, he swung his sword in a decisive slash, severing the head of one and taking it with him.

The other disciple reacted, darting to the side in terror.

But the air behind him twisted—Ren Guhong struck suddenly, his fist punching cleanly through the opponent's heart.

Then, in one swift move, he hacked off the head and took it away.

"Finally! I managed to snag one!"

Ren Guhong laughed loudly.

The whole way, he had watched Jiang Fan and Wu Manyue, those cunning scoundrels, snatching all the kills.

He could do nothing but glare helplessly.

It had stifled him terribly.

Wu Manyue clicked her tongue and said, "You two really have no regard for your lives."

"Killing someone else's disciples right in front of the Master?"

"Run while you can."

Yet even as she urged the others to flee.

Her eyes suddenly flashed cold.

Without warning, she launched a Hidden Weapon, severing the head of a nearby disciple.

Ren Guhong rolled his eyes dramatically. "Ha! Telling us to leave, while you snatch a kill?"

"You'll stop at nothing for treasures, utterly deranged!"

Jiang Fan's forehead twitched with anger.

While he was drawing Carefree Master's fire, these two scoundrels were busy snatching kills.

"Fine, you keep snatching."

"I'll run ahead!"

He dashed into a tunnel. Just as he made it through.

A beam of icy light, bursting with immense power, shot toward him.

He looked up to see a disciple who had been hiding in the dark corner of the tunnel, waiting for an opportunity to unleash a strike comparable to the Ninth Layer Perfection.

Boom—

Even with his chain armor, Jiang Fan was hit by the sudden attack and spat out blood.

"Soul-shocking Stab!"

The attacker retreated after his failed strike, but Jiang Fan promptly activated his Soul-shocking Stab, causing the disciple's body to shudder uncontrollably.

Immediately, Jiang Fan triggered the Yin Marrow Talisman.

A swirl of Yin Qi enveloped the disciple, and before he could recover, his Golden Core had already been invaded by Yin Qi, rendering it paralyzed.

From afar, Carefree Master witnessed this and shouted urgently, "Quick, use your life-saving Magical Treasure!"

In truth.

Even before the warning, the disciple realized the peril.

In a hurry, he pulled out a Space Scroll.

But Jiang Fan, having suffered a loss to Kang Lin before, wouldn't give him the chance to use the scroll this time.

With only a short distance between them.

Just three or four meters.

Jiang Fan decisively pulled a massive six-meter-long Wolf Fang Club from his Space Storage Device.

Without hesitation, he slammed it down.

Before the disciple could react, darkness consumed his vision.

His head throbbed painfully, and his consciousness dimmed.

Another swing followed quickly.

Not even iron would endure such strikes.

Let alone flesh and blood?

He collapsed on the spot, unconscious.

Even as the figure was falling, Jiang Fan drew his sword in a sharp slash, decisively severing the head and packing it away.

"You wretch!"

Carefree Master's eyes burned with rage.

He unleashed a destructive fire burst toward the tunnel.

But a sudden thought stopped him from collapsing the tunnel entirely.

If the tunnel caved in, he'd also perish here!

Instead, he redirected the attack elsewhere, which brought misfortune to Ren Guhong and Wu Manyue.

Though merely caught in the blast.

The two were scorched into blistering visibility, their clothing burned into tatters and their skin reddened by the heat.

They resembled roasted suckling pigs scorched to a dark red hue.

"Hiss, hiss!"

The pair cried out in pain, fleeing immediately into the tunnel.

Carefree Master roared with murderous intent, "All three of you will die!"

Boom—

He leaped forward with impossible speed, chasing after them.

Jiang Fan turned coldly and growled, "No, you'll die first!"

"Explode!"

Buzz—

A sharp, resounding hum.

Carefree Master, who had reached the tunnel's central area, suddenly froze uncontrollably.

Moments later.

A circular light with a diameter of seven or eight meters surged beneath his feet.

Intricate runes connected into gleaming chains on the ground, forming an elaborate prison.

Like a bird in a cage, he was trapped within.

"An array?"

"You set up an ambush?"

Carefree Master was incredulous.

He hadn't expected a trap in such an open area.

"A mere array—do you think it can trap me?"

He furiously unleashed two bursts of flame toward the array before him.

But the chains were incredibly sturdy.

After merely quivering from the impact, the array restored itself completely.

"What?"

"Which of the Celestial Stems or Earthly Branches does this array belong to?"

"How can it restrain a Nascent Soul-level expert like me?"

But there was no time for thought.

Looming from the breach behind.

Heavy steps echoed ominously.

The Hell Beast.

It had arrived!

And he was sealed in place, unable to escape!

Carefree Master's face twisted in terror as he shouted, "Kid, disarm the array!"

Jiang Fan cast him a cold glance. "Don't you people like impersonating Hell Beasts to create massacres?"

"How about a little quality time with the real deal to deepen your understanding?"

With that, he immediately fled upward.

Carefree Master panicked, shouting, "Young man, wait!"

"Disarm the array, and I'll offer you profound treasures!"

Jiang Fan sneered.

Without looking back, he rushed upward.

Along the way, he encountered lagging disciples of the Divine Movement Sect and mercilessly slaughtered them.

Joined by Ren Guhong and Wu Manyue, both determined to snatch kills.

For a while, the tunnel was filled with cries of agony.

Carefree Master's eyes burned with rage: "You three wretches!"

"I'll grind your bones to dust!!!"

Never in his worst nightmares.

Did he imagine his disciples wouldn't perish at the hands of the Hell Beast.

But would instead fall to three insidious juniors!

Yet.

As the Hell Beast emitted a cold voice.

Carefree Master felt as if he'd been plunged into an icy abyss.

"Oh? You're impersonating me?"

As the Hell Beast approached, its fearsome face displayed a hint of amusement.

It spoke! And shockingly.

If Jiang Fan were present, he would recognize.

That voice belonged to Yan Dao'an!