Gu Chen stared down at the glowing, crimson blood-tattoo burning into the skin of his left wrist. The jagged lines pulsed with an unpleasant, intrusive heat, anchoring a dimensional link straight to the ancestral halls of the Lin Clan.
‘A Lin Clan Beacon...’ Gu Chen’s dark eyes narrowed into cold slits. A rare flicker of annoyance passed through his mind. ‘How unexpected. Yet... I should have anticipated a clan embedding an automated tracking spell inside their Young Master's spatial ring. Perhaps merging with this fragile, mortal body has made my instincts dull’
"Gu Chen! We have to leave right now!"
Su Yan’s frantic voice cut him off mid-thought. She rushed to his side, her flaming robes fluttering wildly as her face grew pale with genuine panic. She grabbed his sleeve, her fingers trembling slightly.
"That was a high-grade beacon spell!" Su Yan gasped, her breathing rapid. "The Lin Clan elders already know Lin Feng has been defeated! We have to run straight back to the Sun-Moon Sect immediately! If we reach the Lotus-Phoenix Peak, my master and the sect elders can protect you! If the Lin Clan elders catch you out in the open, they will kill you without hesitation!"
Gu Chen gently pulled his sleeve from her grip. His expression remained as still as a frozen lake, his dark-violet eyes entirely devoid of fear.
"Calm yourself," Gu Chen said, his tone deadpan and steady. "Panicking does nothing. Every action bears a consequence; I will simply face what is to come."
Su Yan froze, the hysterical edge in her voice dying instantly. She looked up into his dark, hollow gaze, mesmerized by his chilling, unshakable composure. Facing the imminent wrath of the terrifying lin clan, any other Qi Refining youth would be weeping or fleeing in utter terror. Yet here he stood, speaking of facing his own destiny as if discussing the evening weather. A quiet, profound reverence washed over her, completely muting her panic.
BOOM!
Before Su Yan could speak, the subterranean vault shook violently. Massive cracks tore through the obsidian pillars, and rivers of liquid sulfur began erupting from the ceiling. The core energy of the Crimson-Cavern Secret Realm was rapidly depleting, signaling its total collapse.
"The realm is falling apart!" Su Yan shouted over the roaring stone.
Gu Chen didn't waste another word. He stepped over to the unconscious, blood-soaked Lin Feng, bent down, and tossed the Young Master of the Lin Clan over his left shoulder like a sack of grain.
Su Yan’s eyes widened in confusion. "You're... carrying him?! Why are you saving your enemy?!"
"If the Young Master of the Lin Clan possesses even a single shred of martial honor when he wakes," Gu Chen replied casually as he turned toward the exiting tunnel, "he will tell his elders the truth of what transpired here, that I saved his life from a demonic sword. I am giving him that single opportunity. Now, move."
Gu Chen carried Lin Feng with one arm, sprinting smoothly beside Su Yan through the crumbling, lava-streaked corridors. All around them, chaos had erupted. Hundreds of surviving cultivators from various sects were screaming, frantically pushing past one another as they fled toward the exiting spatial rift. Gu Chen and Su Yan navigated through the panicked crowd like shadows, bursting through the glowing portal just as the subterranean world folded in on itself.
SWOOSH!
They emerged back on the surface world, landing among the ancient, moss-covered ruins near the edge of a dense, primordial forest.
The moment their feet touched the grass, Gu Chen unceremoniously dropped Lin Feng’s unconscious body onto the dirt near the ruins' edge.
Su Yan looked around frantically, her hand gripping her sword hilt as she paced back and forth. "What do we do now?! How do I contact my master the fastest?
Gu Chen raised an eyebrow. "The Lin Clan main territory... how far is it from here?""
"It's about a two-day journey by ordinary transport," Su Yan explained, her eyes darting toward the horizon. "But a high-tier elder riding a spiritual vessel or flying on sword-Qi could span that distance in a matter of hours! Once they arrive-"
"Be quiet," Gu Chen interrupted smoothly.
He reached into his dark robes and pulled out a plain, pitch-black band, the Ring of Qi Suppression awarded by the System. He slipped it onto his finger.
HUM...
Instantly, a soft, invisible wave swept over Gu Chen’s body. The lingering spiritual fluctuations around him completely vanished. To the outside world, he no longer appeared like a cultivator at all, he looked like a completely ordinary, harmless mortal youth devoid of a single drop of Qi.
Gu Chen checked his left wrist. The crimson blood-tattoo was still glowing, but the active spiritual frequency it was broadcasting into the heavens had gone dead.
"A tracking spell of this nature requires the target to radiate active spiritual Qi to transmit a live spatial coordinate," Gu Chen reasoned deadpan. "Without Qi emanating from my dantian, the beacon's signal is severed. Unless an elder comes within a few paces and manually scans me, they cannot trace my location."
Su Yan blinked, staring at the plain black ring on his finger in utter astonishment. "That ring... what kind of treasure is that? It masked your entire cultivation in a single second!"
"An old family heirloom," Gu Chen lied without batting an eye.
Su Yan paused, her voice softening with hesitant curiosity. "Your family... oh... where are they now?"
Gu Chen looked straight ahead into the dark tree line. "All dead."
Silence fell over the forest path.
"Find a secluded cave," Gu Chen instructed, stepping into the foggy woods. "We are not running back to the sect just yet."
An hour later, deep within the mountainous woods, Su Yan scouted a damp, hidden cave concealed behind a thick curtain of hanging vines.
Inside the dim cavern, Gu Chen sat cross-legged atop a flat basalt stone. He reached into his spatial storage, retrieving his rewards: two bottles of Earth-Grade Foundation-Refining Pills, a vial of High-Grade Foundation-Nourishing Elixir, and a pile of spirit stones.
‘I originally intended to perform my breakthrough in a quiet cultivation room back at the sect,’ Gu Chen thought, examining the glowing pills in his palm. ‘However, leaving this Lin Clan Beacon on my skin is an unnecessary annoyance. Breaking through straight to Foundation Establishment right now will flood my meridians with raw Abyssal Qi, allowing me to burn this curse mark off my flesh once and for all.’
Gu Chen looked toward the cave entrance. "Guard the mouth of the cave. Do not let anything disturb me."
Su Yan nodded earnestly. "I won't let a single leaf pass through!"
Gu Chen closed his eyes and unhesitatingly swallowed the Flawless Earth-Grade Foundation Pills along with the nourishing elixir.
BOOM!
The moment the high-grade pills dissolved in his stomach, an overwhelming, volcanic wave of spiritual energy erupted inside his body. But instead of condensing a standard golden or elemental Foundation base like ordinary cultivators, Gu Chen forcefully activated the ancient, forbidden mechanism of his Abyssal Sovereign Technique.
His dantian opened like an ravenous void!
SWIRL!
A terrifying, pitch-black vortex of Abyssal Qi exploded outward from Gu Chen’s body. The ambient spiritual energy in the cave was violently devoured, turning into dark, liquid streams that crashed into his meridians.
Standing at the mouth of the cave, Su Yan was blown backward by a crushing wave of gravitational force. She gasped, forced to raise her arms and shield her eyes from the roaring, pitch-black storm filling the cavern.
Through the roaring dark Qi, she caught a glimpse of Gu Chen. He sat motionless at the center of the pitch-black vortex, his face cold, his dark hair flying wildly, looking exactly like an unshakeable, ancient god descending upon the mortal world! Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs, her mind utterly mesmerized by the terrifying, magnificent sight.
BANG!
Inside Gu Chen’s dantian, a dark, flawless Abyssal Sovereign Foundation slammed into place!
His cultivation shattered the barrier of 9th-Stage Qi Refining, stepping firmly into the 1st-Stage Foundation Establishment Realm!
With a surge of new, terrifying power, Gu Chen directed the black Abyssal Qi straight toward his left wrist.
SIZZLE!
The stubborn Lin Clan Beacon curse dissolved.
The black storm dissipated, leaving the cave in utter quiet.
Su Yan rushed back inside, her eyes dropping straight to his left wrist. She gasped in absolute shock. "The... the Lin Clan Beacon spell... it's gone?! How is that possible?!"
She stared at Gu Chen in sheer disbelief. Purging an elder-level blood-tracking mark was something even Core Formation masters struggled with! How could a young man using a few "family elixirs" completely erase it during a breakthrough?!
‘Is he really just an orphan from a unknown family?’ Su Yan’s mind reeled with crazy, wildly romantic theories. ‘Could the Chen Clan have been a legendary, ancient hidden clan of supreme power?! Or... is Gu Chen actually the reincarnation of an ancient deity who has descended to the mortal realm?!’
Meanwhile, outside the collapsed ruins of the secret realm...
TEAR!
The sky above the mountain split open as a blinding golden streak crashed onto the dirt. An elderly man in crimson silk robes,an elder of the Lin Clan, landed with a force that shattered the surrounding stone.
"Where is the perpetrator?!" the elder roared, his divine sense sweeping the area.
However, all he found was the unconscious, bloodied Lin Feng lying on the dirt, surrounded by a dozen greedy rogue cultivators who had been trying to strip the Young Master's spatial ring.
"Scum!"
With a careless flick of the elder's sleeve, a crescent of razor-sharp Qi swept across the glade. In a split second, all twelve rogue cultivators were decapitated, their heads rolling into the grass before their bodies hit the dirt.
The elder rushed over, scooping up Lin Feng and pulling out his tracking compass. He aligned his divine sense, expecting to pinpoint the perpetrator's location.
CLICK. CLICK.
The compass needle spun helplessly in circles. The signal was dead.
"What?!" The elder’s face twisted in rage and disbelief. "The Beacon... vanished?! Erased completely?!"
He glared toward the dark, endless forest, his teeth grinding. ‘Impossible! No junior of low cultivation could ever erase a Lin Clan Soul-Beacon! A rival clan elder must have intervened....’
Back inside the quiet cave...
Gu Chen slowly opened his eyes. The moment his consciousness settled, the Ring of Qi Suppression on his finger activated instantly, clamping down on his newly formed Foundation Establishment aura and disguising him once again as a harmless villager without any Cultivation base.
Gu Chen adjusted his dark charcoal robes, calmly checking his clean left wrist.
"I have expended my immediate Qi reserves breaking through and purging the tracking mark," Gu Chen said smoothly, looking over at the still-bewildered Su Yan. "We will rest here tonight to stabilize our breath, and head to the Sun-Moon Sect tomorrow."
Su Yan snapped out of her trance and nodded frantically. "Y-Yes! Whatever you say, Gu Chen!"
Gu Chen paid no attention to her flustered expression. He reached into his robes and pulled out the physical, unawakened Asura Blood-Spite Sword, resting the heavy, dark-crimson blade across his knees.
As Su Yan quietly sat across from him to meditate, Gu Chen lightly ran his pale fingers down the indestructible, cold immortal steel, his dark-violet eyes reflecting the dim cavern light with cold, boundless ambition.