Chapter 192: Gu Qingwan has been captured!!!

"BZZZZZZ—!!!"

That sound, a vibration that directly shook the soul and trembled the very rules, like the funeral bell of the apocalypse, tolled at the heart of this meticulously prepared cage.

When the final shred of resistance was forcibly shattered.

When those countless, arduously condensed black and red light points finally, under some irresistible will, completed their ultimate, violent fusion and eruption,

The descent was complete.

It was not silent, but rather declared its existence in an extremely domineering, extremely forceful manner, almost "bursting" through this independent space reinforced with layer upon layer of restrictions.

Thick, impenetrable black-red mist, like a living river of blood from the underworld, instantly flooded the large space around the cave entrance.

The mist churned, viscous and heavy, within it seeming to contain the phantom destruction of endless stars, the floating shadows of ancient bloody battles.

There were indescribable, terrifying whispers echoing, and more so, a cold majesty that stood above all things, indifferent to all existence, filling every inch of the air like a tangible substance.

First to catch the eye was an extremely abrupt, yet perfectly harmonious presence within this palette of destruction... moon-white.

It was a simple, well-tailored moon-white cheongsam.

The fabric seemed soft, yet under the contrast of the black-red mist, it flowed with a strange luster, clear and cold like moonlight, yet resilient like cold jade.

The cheongsam bore no superfluous patterns, only at the collar, cuffs, and hem, extremely subtle flowing cloud patterns were embroidered with silver thread, almost undetectable if not examined closely.

As the mist surged, those clouds seemed to flow slowly as well.

The cheongsam perfectly wrapped a tall, slender figure, outlining breathtaking curves,

yet it also radiated an aloofness that kept others at a distance, a sacred, inviolable solemnity and... divinity.

Her long hair was not loose, but was loosely tied into a bun at the back of her head with a simple, unadorned white hair tie.

A few strands fell beside her neck, adding to her clear, cold, and casual demeanor.

That hair tie was as white as snow, standing out starkly and... jarringly against the backdrop of her black hair and the black-red mist.

Because it was the most ordinary cotton cord Lu Yuan had casually bought in the town during the New Year.

Her face was still obscured by a faint, veil-like mist seemingly condensed from the purest darkness, indistinct.

But through the mist, one could vaguely glimpse the outline beneath—so perfect it was breathtaking, yet so cold it held not a trace of human vitality, as if carved from ten-thousand-year-old black ice.

A delicate nose, cherry lips, brows and eyes like a painting, yet utterly lifeless, possessing only an absolute calm that looked down upon all living beings, indifferent to life and death.

And what was most soul-stirring were those eyes.

Behind the thin mist, what kind of eyes were they?

Two bottomless, pure crimson abysses that seemed to lead to the end of all things, the ultimate void of everything.

Within the abyss were reflected the extinction of stars, the collapse of worlds.

Reflected was eternal loneliness and... a supreme divinity that transcended good and evil, transcended emotion, leaving only absolute rationality and indifferent rules.

But deep within those crimson abysses that seemed capable of freezing souls and extinguishing hope, when your gaze slowly swept across that cave.

Swept across Liu Xuanyin and Hu Huxu, who were facing a formidable enemy.

Swept across the phantoms of the "Thousand-Faced Dream Fiend" and the "Ten-Thousand-Filth Mother" writhing wildly in the darkness, emanating shocking evil qi...

Her gaze, ultimately...

Focused on that young Taoist priest sitting cross-legged on the damp ground, his face pale, dark red blood seeping from the bandage on his right fist, his entire body battered and disheveled yet his spine still straight.

Lu Yuan.

Their eyes met.

In that instant, Lu Yuan felt as if he had been dragged into that boundless crimson abyss.

Extreme cold, extreme majesty, an extreme will of destruction assaulted his sea of consciousness like a tidal wave.

His zhenran was locked, his soul injured; under such a gaze, his very soul felt as if it were about to freeze and tear apart.

But...

Amidst that terrifying gaze that seemed about to utterly annihilate him.

Lu Yuan, with extreme sensitivity, caught a trace of... an extremely obscure, fleeting, indescribable fluctuation.

It wasn't an emotion, more like a... confirmation.

Confirming if he was safe, confirming if he was injured, confirming if... he still needed her.

Even though this process of confirmation was accompanied by a pressure and coldness sufficient to make an ordinary cultivator's soul scatter.

Then, that gaze moved away.

The moment it moved away, Lu Yuan felt the terrifying pressure that had almost crushed him suddenly lighten.

But his heart felt as if it had been tightly clenched by an invisible hand.

Sourness, guilt, powerlessness... all sorts of complex emotions surged up.

Lu Yuan saw, saw the moon-white cheongsam on Gu Qingwan, saw that pure white hair tie in her hair...

That was what Lu Yuan had given Gu Qingwan, what Lu Yuan had gifted her.

In this forbidden land filled with evil filth, conspiracy, and slaughter, in this death trap meticulously prepared for her.

Gu Qingwan was still wearing the clothes he had given her, using the hair tie he had given her...

And Lu Yuan had personally led her here.

Lu Yuan wanted to say something, wanted to tell Gu Qingwan something.

For example, run...

For example, don't worry about me...

But given the current situation, Lu Yuan felt that anything he said would be useless...

Anything he said would already be pointless.

This killing trap had already been calculated to the end.

And after Gu Qingwan's gaze moved away from Lu Yuan, it returned to that absolute indifference and coldness that looked down upon ants.

She slowly turned her neck, the movement elegant and slow, yet carrying a heaviness that seemed to congeal the very space.

Gu Qingwan's gaze slowly swept across the entire scene.

Finally settling on the two massive phantoms deep in the cave emanating shocking evil qi, and on Liu Xuanyin, standing still like a sinister willow tree.

Her gaze was indifferent, cold, devoid of any emotion.

As if appraising two pieces of garbage about to be cleaned up, and one... slightly special tool.

"This place is filthy."

"It shall be purified."

A clear, cold, calm, yet rule-laden voice, carrying undeniable authority, once again resounded in the depths of every conscious being present.

As her words fell, the point of pure darkness at her fingertip suddenly expanded.

Transforming into an extremely slender, yet seemingly capable of cutting space, annihilating all things... black thread.

Soundlessly, it extended towards the darkness where the "Thousand-Faced Dream Fiend" and the "Ten-Thousand-Filth Mother" resided.

However, just as the black thread was about to touch those two writhing masses of darkness—

Liu Xuanyin, who had been standing motionless, moved.

He seemed to have already anticipated that Gu Qingwan would attack the malevolent deities first, or rather, this was precisely a part of his plan.

To force Gu Qingwan to actively consume her power here, while simultaneously, fully activating all the means prepared for her within this heaven and earth!

"With the Nine Netherworlds as the foundation, the Earth Veins as the network."

"All ghosts heed the command, refine the gods and return to the origin!"

From Liu Xuanyin's mouth, a rapid, strange, syllable-filled string of eerie incantations suddenly rang out, as if countless wronged souls were wailing in unison, or like the Earth Veins themselves were sobbing!

This incantation was not human speech; it more resembled some ancient secret language communicating with the earth-vein yin energy and the core of the evil array!

As the incantation sounded, his pair of bony, distinct hands with dark blue nails rapidly changed in front of his chest.

Forming a series of dazzling, complex hand seals exuding a strong aura of evil and antiquity!

"Yin Malevolence Soul-Locking Seal"

"Earth Vein Communicating with the Netherworld Seal"

"Ten-Thousand Ghosts Paying Homage Seal"

"God-Refining Return to Origin Seal"...

The hand seals changed so fast they almost left afterimages in the air.

With each completed hand seal, the dark blue mist swirling around him thickened by a degree.

His connection with the earth beneath his feet, with the surrounding rock walls, with the "Nine Nether God-Refining Array" deep in the cave grew tighter by a degree!

His deathly pale face even flushed with an abnormal, sickly dark blue hue, as if he were forcibly extracting some kind of fundamental power.

"Rise!"

The final hand seal solidified. Liu Xuanyin pointed his fingers like a sword, aiming in the direction of Gu Qingwan, and tapped the air!

The dark blue mist at his fingertips condensed into substance, transforming into a thin stream that instantly vanished into the rock layer beneath his feet.

It then seemed to connect, through some invisible network, with the entire cave, with the "Nine Nether God-Refining Array" below!

"BOOM—!!!"

The entire cave, no, the entire mountain's interior, seemed to completely "come alive" in that instant!

The ground shook violently, ten times, a hundred times more intensely than when Gu Qingwan had descended!

It wasn't a disturbance of spatial structure, but the result of the earth-vein yin energy being thoroughly agitated and erupting wildly!

Countless streams of pure, viscous, bone-chillingly cold, deathly white earth-vein yin energy erupted like geysers from various points in the cave, shooting straight towards the ceiling!

Within the yin energy, countless distorted ghostly shadows and faces of agony faintly appeared, wailing and screaming.

They were the residual thoughts of yin souls refined and imprisoned here by the Liu Family over countless years, now fully activated by the great array,

Transforming into the purest, yet most chaotic, tide of yin energy!

Simultaneously, the ancient, dark red runes that had originally only faintly appeared on the cave's four walls, ceiling, and floor,

Now, like red-hot branding irons, suddenly erupted with blinding, dark red blood light!

The runes writhed madly, extended, intertwined, instantly connecting to form an enormous, incredibly complex, three-dimensional evil array net covering the entire cave space.

The "Spirit-Locking Forbidden Land" and the "Nine Nether God-Refining Array" were forcibly linked and fused into one by Liu Xuanyin's secret method at this moment!

The "Thousand-Faced Dream Fiend's" amorphous mass of flesh suddenly expanded, twisted.

Instantly transforming into a sky-blotting, constantly shifting mass of dark green mist filled with various distorted, terrifying dreamscapes.

From within the mist came the murmurs, screams, and mad laughter of countless living beings, carrying the deepest heart-devil temptations and mental pollution.

Like an invisible tsunami, it swept towards Gu Qingwan!

The intensity and scope of this mental attack were many times stronger than before!

Under the dual amplification of the "Spirit-Locking Forbidden Land" and the "Nine Nether God-Refining Array," its mental erosion power was sufficient to instantly corrupt and disintegrate the souls of any conscious being!

The "Ten-Thousand-Filth Mother's" filthy sac violently swelled.

Countless pores on its surface frantically opened and closed, spewing forth a waterfall-like torrent of dark yellow, foul blood and pus, reeking of soul-corrupting, spirit-rotting stench!

Within the torrent, mixed in were countless "Filth Offspring," instantly condensed from foul blood and broken bones, with twisted, ferocious forms.

They shrieked, brandishing sharp claws and bone spikes, swarming towards Gu Qingwan like the most frenzied insect horde, riding the tide of foul blood and pus!

At the same time, from within the mass of deathly white mist above the sac, countless gigantic faces emitted overlapping "Ten-Thousand Souls Wailing" cries powerful enough to scatter souls.

The sound waves, mixed with filthy aura, formed visible, space-distorting, deathly white shockwave ripples.

Arriving later but striking first, they blasted towards Gu Qingwan!

A net spread from heaven, a trap laid on earth—the ultimate killing trap!

Earth-vein yin energy erupting to restrict space, dual evil arrays suppressing and weakening her essence, two super malevolent deities greatly empowered by the arrays launching full-force attacks,

One assaulting the soul, the other corroding the body and polluting the spirit, perfectly coordinated, their power multiplied!

Faced with this terrifying encirclement and attack that would make any "god" pale, Gu Qingwan in mid-air still... quietly floated there.

The moon-white cheongsam fluttered slightly within the black-red mist, the white cord in her hair swaying gently.

She didn't even look at the sky-blotting dark green dream fiend mist, the torrent of foul blood and pus, the horde of filth offspring, or the deathly white soundwave impacts sweeping towards her.

She merely raised her head slightly, those eyes shrouded behind the thin mist quietly "gazing" at the madly flashing, interweaving dark red evil array runes on the cave ceiling.

As if observing, analyzing, or perhaps... simply indifferent.

No movement, no defense, no sign of counterattack.

As if... she had been completely... "stunned" by this suddenly erupted, terrifyingly extreme combined assault of array and malevolent deities?

Lu Yuan sat slumped on the ground, looking up at that motionless red figure in mid-air, his heart almost stopping.

He didn't understand those profound arrays and malevolent deity secret arts, but he could clearly feel the terrifying power filling this space at this moment—power sufficient to instantly crush his soul into dust a billion times over!

It was a long-planned, ultimate killing strike that combined the advantages of terrain, the array, the malevolent deities, and the full power of Liu Xuanyin, the array's core manipulator!

Or perhaps... Qingwan was already powerless to resist?

Despair, like the coldest tide, once again completely submerged Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan looked at that motionless, seemingly resigned moon-white figure in mid-air.

Looked at the destructive torrent of dark green, dark yellow, and deathly white that was about to engulf her...

Lu Yuan opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

And Liu Xuanyin, looking at the motionless Gu Qingwan in mid-air, looking at that ultimate killing strike—the culmination of countless calculations and efforts of the Liu Family—about to hit its target.

Deep within those grayish-white, deathly pupils, a trace of extremely obscure, hunter-like cold certainty and... a hint of barely suppressible fanaticism finally flashed.

This perfect "material" was about to be captured!

The Liu Family's centuries-old aspiration, the ultimate creation surpassing "malevolent deities," was about to be realized... in his hands!

"BREAK!!!"

Liu Xuanyin's low shout, suppressed with fanaticism, seemed to sound the horn for the general assault.

It also seemed to add the final, fatal punctuation to this long-planned killing trap.

Time, in Lu Yuan's despairing pupils, seemed to stretch infinitely, yet also collapse in an instant.

The first to hit was the "Ten-Thousand-Filth Mother's" overlapping, soul-scattering "Ten-Thousand Souls Wailing" soundwaves.

The deathly white, space-distorting shockwave ripples.

Passed unhindered through the black-red mist surrounding Gu Qingwan, which seemed dense but had become much more "docile" after she became still.

Solidly striking her moon-white cheongsam!

There was no earth-shattering roar, only an extremely dull, heavy thud, as if a sledgehammer had struck ten-thousand-year-old cold iron!

The sound wasn't loud, yet it made the entire cave space tremble violently!

The black-red mist around Gu Qingwan suddenly caved inward.

On the surface of the moon-white cheongsam, the flowing cloud patterns embroidered with silver thread, almost imperceptible, suddenly erupted with blindingly intense silvery-white light!

The light flashed and vanished, as if fiercely resisting, annihilating the deathly white soundwaves.

Immediately following was the "Thousand-Faced Dream Fiend's" sky-blotting dark green dream fiend mist.

The mist instantly engulfed Gu Qingwan and the space around her for several zhang!

Countless distorted, terrifying dreamscapes, the murmurs, screams, and mad laughter of countless living beings, the deepest fears and desire phantoms.

Like the most venomous poison, they madly eroded towards Gu Qingwan's consciousness!

The mist churned, dark green light blazing brightly, illuminating that area like a ghostly realm of the underworld.

Even various bizarre, grotesque, reason-defiling terrifying phantasms faintly formed and shattered within the mist.

Almost simultaneously, the dark yellow torrent of foul blood and pus spat out by the "Ten-Thousand-Filth Mother," mixed with countless "Filth Offspring," poured down like a heavenly river reversed.

Carrying the stench of soul-corruption and spirit-rot, along with endless filthy curses, it fiercely washed over Gu Qingwan's location!

The foul blood and pus mixed with the dark green dream mist, emitting a sizzling, hair-raising corrosive sound.

As if even space itself was being eroded and dissolved by the filth.

Those ferocious "Filth Offspring" shrieked and pounced within the torrent.

Brandishing bone spikes and sharp claws, they frantically tore and scratched at the area submerged in mist and pus.

Finally, there was the restriction and suppression power that Liu Xuanyin had fully activated with his secret method, linked as one with the "Nine Nether God-Refining Array," originating from the earth veins of the entire mountain interior and the residual thoughts of countless yin souls.

This power was formless and intangible, yet the most massive, the most fundamental.

It was like countless dark red chains originating from the depths of the earth, from the array's core.

Ignoring all defenses, it directly acted upon the "essence" of Gu Qingwan's existence, madly contracting, restricting, weakening, eroding her "divinity."

Attempting to drag her down from her lofty position as "sovereign," lock her firmly within this prison and purgatory prepared for her!

"BOOM—!!!"

"SZZZZZ—!!!"

"ROAR—!!!"

"AH—!!!"

Various energies difficult to describe with words clashed fiercely.

The terrifying sounds, light and shadow, and mental fluctuations produced by annihilation, corrosion, mental assault, physical tearing, and rule suppression.

All erupted, mixed, and exploded in that small space where Gu Qingwan was!

Dark green dream fiend light, dark yellow filthy pus, deathly white soundwave afterimages, dark red array blood light, silvery-white flowing pattern resistance light,

And Gu Qingwan's own black-red mist, impacted into violently churning, flickering instability... all of it mixed together.

Forming a chaotic energy storm sphere over ten zhang in diameter, constantly madly expanding and contracting, twisting and transforming, emitting destructive fluctuations, its colors chaotic to the extreme!

Inside the storm sphere, light was completely distorted.

Space appeared like a shattered mirror, covered with countless fine, black cracks, rapidly filled and torn open again by the violent energy flow.

Terrifying suction and repulsion forces alternated, madly drawing everything around them—rocks, dust, even the erupting earth-vein yin energy—into the sphere.

Instantly grinding them into powder, or corroding them into even more disgusting, viscous matter by the filthy pus.

Blinding intense light, chaotic energy fluctuations, violent mental pollution, pungent stench, spatial distortion, and annihilation sounds—

Everything erupted concentrated within that terrifying energy storm!

Lu Yuan was sent flying by a residual wave mixing mental assault and physical shock, slamming heavily against the rock wall behind him. His throat tasted sweet, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

Ignoring the intense pain, Lu Yuan struggled to get up, staring fixedly at the center of that destructive storm. His eyes streamed with tears from the intense light stimulation, yet he refused to close them.

Hu Huxu had long since scrambled and crawled to a corner further away, his face as pale as a ghost, trembling like a leaf.

His eyes were filled with the fear of someone who had narrowly escaped death, and a trace of... stunned disbelief that the plan seemed to have succeeded.

Liu Xuanyin still stood in place, letting the residual waves of the energy storm impact his wide black robe, blowing the few withered strands of hair on his forehead.

His grayish-white pupils were locked onto the center of the storm. The stiffness on his face finally showed a noticeable loosening.

The corners of his mouth uncontrollably twitched upward, forming an extremely strange smile mixed with fanaticism, anticipation, and a hint of relief.

Success!!!

Gu Qingwan has been taken down!!!