The night was like ink, and the dark red glow of the earth fire from the volcanic fissure cast Gu Xuan's figure in flickering light and shadow.
The seventh day's dead silence was broken by a strange low-frequency hum.
Before him, two pieces of Forge Heart Remnants, separated by three inches, vibrated on their own as if alive. The sound seemed to come from the ancient primordial chaos, piercing the bones and reaching directly into the Soul, calling for their last scattered parts.
The Demon Suppression Hall's divine light was restrained, its scan instantly covering thousands of miles of mountains and rivers.
In an instant, a clear three-dimensional map unfolded in his Spirit Sea, countless light spots flickering. Only in the northernmost part of Bei Jing, deep within the forbidden land known as the Burial Soldier Abyss, did a stable and intense frequency echo back faintly.
Found it!
But instead of joy, Gu Xuan felt a surge of alarm.
Almost at the same moment the twin remnants resonated, he clearly "saw" a thread of black, thinner than a strand of hair, seeping out from the furnace wall of the majestic Alchemy Workshop within his Spirit Sea.
This black thread ignored all barriers, extending downward coldly and persistently, passing through layers of halls, and piercing straight toward the very bottom of the Ten Thousand Laws Pool—where the mysterious "Spring Bottom Whisper" was imprisoned!
A chill originating from the depths of his soul exploded outward.
These remnants were actually the key to unlocking that unknown existence, or rather, a meticulously laid trap!
"Sever!"
Gu Xuan did not hesitate in the slightest. His divine sense transformed into a sharp blade, instantly cutting off the connection between that black thread and the furnace.
As if struck heavily, the black thread violently retracted to the bottom of the Ten Thousand Laws Pool and vanished without a trace.
Without pausing, he flipped his hand and took out a special Bone Card polished from the spine of a fierce beast, forcefully pressing the two still-trembling remnants into it.
The moment the box lid closed, he mobilized the extreme cold Yin Energy from the Black Water Pool within the Demon Suppression Hall, transforming it into three pitch-black chains that wrapped around the Bone Card layer by layer, completely isolating all internal and external aura.
The humming abruptly stopped.
After completing all this, Gu Xuan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
He spread out the incomplete scroll of the Desolate Beast Map, which he had obtained from the Mountain Ghost Child, his fingertip still warm from the earth fire, and quickly sketched on the beast hide.
He integrated all the memories gathered from hunting along the way—the patrol routes, the merchant associations' spheres of influence—into the map. Finally, a hidden and winding route emerged.
It perfectly avoided all the overt and covert sentry points of the Chained Candle Association, bypassed the resource patrol zones of the three major merchant associations in Bei Jing, and stabbed like a sharp knife into the flank of the Burial Soldier Abyss—the Valley of the Dead Craftsmen.
Legend held that it was the burial ground for all the craftsmen from the ancient "War of the Forge Gods."
They exhausted their hearts and minds forging divine weapons, only to be massacred upon completion. Their bones piled up into mountains, and the Wrath Energy of eons condensed and refused to dissipate, forming a deadly land.
It was said that even the wind blowing through the valley carried mournful wails.
The more perilous the place, the more lax the defenses.
Gu Xuan put away the map, his figure transforming into an afterimage, vanishing into the night.
At the entrance to the Valley of the Dead Craftsmen, the cold wind was bone-chilling.
Two stone statues of craftsmen, ten zhang tall, holding giant hammers, were supposed to have their backs to the valley entrance in a posture of guardianship.
But at this moment, they had simultaneously twisted ninety degrees. Their hollow stone eyes were staring fixedly at the spot where Gu Xuan stood, and at the corners of their eyes, two long-dried streaks of black blood tears looked particularly ferocious.
Something is wrong.
Gu Xuan's gaze sharpened, and he did not rashly enter.
He forced out a drop of crimson Essence Fluid from his palm, flicking it lightly with his fingertip.
The blood drop arced through the air, and upon landing, instead of soaking into the soil, it ignited with a "poof," transforming into the phantom of a thumb-sized, blood-red Wūzhòu.
The Wūzhòu flapped its wings and flew silently into the valley.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths!
"Roar—!"
A tragic, inhuman roar suddenly came from the depths of the valley!
Immediately following, one, two, dozens of skeletal remains of craftsmen, long reduced to dry bones, violently stood up from the pile of corpses. Ghostly green fire ignited in their empty eye sockets, and they frantically lunged at their comrades nearby, biting and beating each other, as if the aura of the Essence Fluid—which was also a "living being"—had completely ignited their millennia of suppressed frenzy.
Chaos was the best cover.
Gu Xuan pushed his movement technique to the extreme, like a ghost gliding close to the ground, sneaking into the valley amidst the turmoil.
He moved through the gaps between the layered piles of corpses, his feet treading on shattered bones and decaying weapons, the sound of frantic roars and collisions filling his ears.
Just as he was about to pass through this chaotic area, the ground beneath his feet suddenly gave way!
He fell!
It was an underground cellar concealed by bones.
The cellar floor was cold and damp, the four walls piled high with broken weapon molds, exuding an aura of unwillingness and despair.
In the very center, an armless iron statue was enshrined. In the palm of the statue's remaining left hand, lay a Forge Heart Remnant identical to his two pieces, resting quietly.
Gu Xuan's heart stirred, and he was about to step forward to take it.
Suddenly, a faint and familiar voice sounded beside his ear—it was the last whisper of the Mountain Ghost Child before dissipating, reappearing across time and space in this very spot:
"It has waited for you for a long time... This furnace burns yourself."
As the voice faded, the entire cellar shook violently!
The eyes of the armless iron statue suddenly lit up with a blinding red light, as if it had come alive!
It opened its metallic mouth and spat out a string of cold, emotionless ancient inscriptions:
"Whoever holds the remnants must offer one memory, one drop of blood, and one oath."
One memory, one drop of blood, one oath?
There was no hesitation in Gu Xuan's eyes.
He brought his fingers together like a blade and cut open his palm. Blood dripped down, landing precisely on the stone platform before the iron statue.
"Buzz!"
The iron statue seemed to devour the blood, its red light growing stronger.
Simultaneously, an irresistible suction enveloped his Spirit Sea.
Gu Xuan did not resist, voluntarily offering the most painful memory he was most unwilling to recall—
It was a rainy childhood afternoon. His young sister was dragged away by a Demon that crawled out of a ground fissure, screaming, pulled bit by bit into the darkness.
And he hid behind the door, tightly covering his mouth, too terrified to even take a single step, watching helplessly as the fissure closed before his eyes.
Endless regret and pain surged like a tide.
The iron statue had consumed the blood and accepted this memory.
The red light on its body slowly receded, and it spoke again, its voice still cold: "Where is the vow?"
Gu Xuan raised his head, his gaze sharp as a torch, staring fixedly at the iron statue. He spoke word by word, his voice not loud, but carrying the resolve and hatred capable of incinerating the Nine Heavens:
"I, Gu Xuan, hereby swear—"
"On the day this blade is forged, I shall carve the true name of the Cultivation Court across the Nine Heavens, burn their Pastures, exterminate their Shepherds, and ensure that the myriad realms... shall have no more slave contracts!"
Boom—!
As the oath settled, the iron statue let out a mournful cry as if unable to bear the weight, collapsing from within, shattering inch by inch into iron filings.
The third Forge Heart Remnant then flew up automatically, hovering before Gu Xuan.
Before he could reach out, the three remnants resonated with unprecedented power through the Bone Card's Seal!
The Bone Card exploded, and the three streams of light converged in the air, instantly fusing into a gray-gold Fu Zhong the size of a walnut, covered in profound patterns. With lightning speed, it shot "whoosh" into his glabella!
Inside the Spirit Sea, the heavens and earth were overturned!
The Alchemy Workshop in the Demon Suppression Hall erupted with violent tremors never seen before; the ancient furnace seemed to have been infused with a new soul.
A clear system notification sounded throughout Gu Xuan's entire Soul:
【 Core component assembled. "Forge God System" unlock progress 3/3. System activated!】
【 New forging authority obtained. Attempt to forge 【 Pseudo-Divine Grade Weapon - Tentatively named: Broken Covenant Blade】!】
【 Required core materials: Sucking Soul Dagger ×1（ Not obtained）, Essence Fluid ×5（ Not obtained）, Ancient Soul Steel ×1（ Not obtained）, Obsession Fire ×1（ Satisfied）】
Gu Xuan closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, forcefully suppressing the surging blood within him due to the Fu Zhong's integration.
Just then, the Bone Card stored in his chest suddenly sent a burning, stinging pain.
He quickly pulled out the Bone Card. On its reverse side, the thread of Ancient Soul Thread, thin as gold wire and long dormant, was now beating violently like a heart, as if responding to some summons from the ends of the world.
At the same time, deep within the distant Burial Soldier Abyss, the legendary giant furnace that forged divine weapons, silent for a thousand years, slowly opened a crack in its lid with a loud "creak."
A stream of azure flame rose from the crack, illuminating the dark abyss for a moment.
As the firelight flickered, it revealed eight twisted and crazed characters written in blood on the inner wall of the furnace:
Before the blade is forged, the Heavenly Eye opens.
At the same moment, in the Southern Wilderness, millions of miles away, in Silent Moon Valley.
Ye Xi, clad in a black dress, stood silently atop the ancient Witch Temple, the evening wind blowing her hair.
She suddenly raised her head and gazed toward the northern horizon.
There, a crimson crack, almost invisible to the naked eye, flashed and vanished.
A complex expression appeared on her exquisitely beautiful face—part relief, part worry—which finally turned into a long, drawn-out sigh that dissipated in the wind.
"You finally... reached this step."
Gu Xuan did not know that the moment he gathered the three remnants and swore the blood oath to destroy the Cultivation Court, he had transformed from a mere piece on the chessboard into a player capable of stirring up the storm.
But he was equally unaware that the invisible hand named "Heavenly Eye" had quietly plucked another string.
An unprecedented sense of crisis prickled his back.
He didn't even have time to tally his gains before sensing several divine senses, so powerful they were suffocating, tearing through the void and sweeping madly toward the Burial Soldier Abyss.
He must leave immediately!
Gu Xuan did not hesitate. He forcefully suppressed the surging blood within his body caused by the Fu Zhong's integration, his figure flickering as he fled into the shadows, running for his life in the direction completely opposite to the Southern Wilderness.
He knew clearly that Bei Jing had become a land of death, and while the Southern Wilderness was far, it might be his only chance for survival.
A storm sweeping across the entire continent had already begun.
And at the center of the storm was a solitary figure who had just escaped a deadly place, urgently needing a safe haven to lick his wounds and digest his gains.