The Jiuzhou Branch of the Star Pavilion was destroyed, the Fire Cloud Ancestor self-destructed and died, and Zhang Lingshui mysteriously disappeared—news of these events quickly spread across the entire Jiuzhou.

This news naturally reached Li Chen’s ears.

Li Chen was greatly enraged by the news.

He immediately rushed to Heavenly Sword Mountain.

The once magnificent cluster of buildings now lay in ruins, as if a super typhoon had passed through.

Li Chen stood alone atop the ruins, closed his eyes, allowing the mountain wind to tousle his hair.

At that moment, Li Chen was expressionless, like a weathered statue.

Beside him, the Little Demon Immortal wanted to console him with a few words.

But as the words reached her lips, she felt it was unnecessary, so she swallowed them back down, silently standing by Li Chen’s side.

Suddenly!

Li Chen opened his eyes, shooting forth a piercing gleam.

"Brother Chenn, what’s wrong?"

The Little Demon Immortal was startled by Li’s sudden action and quickly inquired.

Li Chen didn’t directly answer the Little Demon Immortal’s question, but tersely uttered a word.

"Go!"

The Little Demon Immortal blinked her lively eyes and curiously asked, "Where to?"

Li Chen did not reply but headed straight to the secret chamber at the back of Heavenly Sword Mountain.

The Little Demon Immortal, seeing this, had no choice but to follow quickly.

The secret chamber in the rear mountain was where the Heavenly Swordman secluded himself.

Later, when the Heavenly Swordman went mad there, it became a forbidden area of Heavenly Sword Mountain.

"What is this place?"

The Little Demon Immortal saw the boundless darkness, and her delicate brows furrowed slightly.

Li Chen paused, releasing his Divine Sense to probe the area.

Someone had been here not long ago.

Moreover, Li Chen sensed Zhang Lingshui’s aura.

Zhang Lingshui had a Spirit Talisman he specially made, allowing Li Chen to easily sense her aura.

However, this aura was intermittently appearing and disappearing, quite eerie, as if it was being blocked by something.

In addition to that, Li Chen also sensed a very bizarre presence deeper within the chamber.

There was a barrier that blocked things, but what exactly it was, he couldn’t tell just yet.

"Be careful!"

Li Chen looked back at the Little Demon Immortal and reminded her.

The Little Demon Immortal, seeing Li Chen’s serious expression, understood that this place must be extremely dangerous.

Otherwise, given Li Chen’s strength, he wouldn’t have shown such a cautious expression.

With this in mind, the Little Demon Immortal nodded vigorously, like a chicken pecking at rice.

Out of caution, she even summoned her protective Magical Treasure, the Lotus Platform.

Li Chen’s guess was correct—someone had indeed been here not long ago.

It was Jian Hee and Zhang Lingshui!

When Jian Hee learned of Li Chen’s return, he understood that with his current abilities, he couldn’t possibly escape.

For this reason, he decided to take a desperate gamble.

That night, he ordered Hei Xin, Heu Lei, and others to take the plundered gold, silver, jewels, pills, and crystal stones, and move them to the stronghold of the True Immortal Alliance.

He himself, however, took Zhang Lingshui and ventured alone into the forbidden area of the secret chamber.

As a disciple of the Heavenly Swordman, Jian Hee knew a bit about this forbidden chamber.

He knew that this forbidden area held within it a chasm, suppressing a very bizarre and extremely powerful presence.

He brought Zhang Lingshui as bait, intending to lure Li Chen inside.

After all, with Li Chen’s Divine Skills, he could certainly sense the aura of his own disciple.

Moreover, Li Chen’s character was vengeful and unforgiving.

Once he knew Jian Hee was hiding in the secret chamber’s forbidden area, he would definitely come to chase him down.

Thinking of his cunning plan, Jian Hee couldn’t help but show a proud, sinister smile.

Jian Hee had come here before and was familiar with the way, soon reaching the top of that chasm.

He didn’t look into the chasm but dragged Zhang Lingshui over.

Zhang Lingshui, seeing this, was shocked and urgently asked, "What are you going to do? My master won’t spare you!"

Jian Hee grinned darkly and responded, "Don’t worry, your master will come to save you soon!"

With that, he suddenly drew a dagger that gleamed coldly.

Before Zhang Lingshui could react, the gleaming dagger was already thrust into her body.

Blood gushed like a waterfall, flowing out and trickling into the chasm below.

"You can wait here patiently for your master to save you!"

Before finishing his words, Jian Hee’s figure turned into a stream of light and quickly fled.

It was pitch black, hand outstretched to the point where one couldn’t see fingers, and the surrounding darkness was thick as ink, sending shivers down one’s spine.

Zhang Lingshui lay quietly on the icy, bone-chilling stone, her frail body instinctively curling up due to the pain.

Cold, pain, loneliness, death, fear—all surged to Zhang Lingshui’s heart at once.

She could clearly hear her blood flowing out, dripping on the cold stones, making crisp sounds.

Was she really going to die like this?

Zhang Lingshui pondered in her heart.

She briefly recalled her short life, how she was once as insignificant as wild grass, dim and unremarkable, before meeting her master.

After meeting her master, this wild grass bloomed into beautiful flowers.

It was worth it!

Her only regret was that she couldn’t see her master one last time before dying.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lingshui’s heart ached sharply.

She shifted into a more comfortable position, turning her head toward the chasm, quietly gazing down.

She gazed into the abyss!

The abyss gazed back at her!

Suddenly!

From the bottom of the abyss came a soul-stirring low growl, sending shivers down her spine.

Zhang Lingshui shivered instinctively, trying to move her body as far from the abyss as possible.

But she was too badly injured, losing too much blood, leaving her entire body devoid of strength, utterly unable to move an inch.

At that moment, the abyss suddenly began to swirl like thick black ink.

Soon, the mass of black mist gathered more and more, from which emerged a massive head.

Its eyes glowed with a blood-red light, instilling a deep soul-threatening fear.

This was a Demon Dragon!

Initially, Zhang Lingshui thought it was a hallucination due to excessive bleeding.

However, the Demon Dragon suddenly thrust out its scarlet tongue to lick the blood flowing from her body.

They were so close that Zhang Lingshui could distinctly feel the sticky, sinister sensation of the Demon Dragon’s tongue touching her body.

Realizing this, Zhang Lingshui shuddered.

She opened her mouth, wanting to speak.

Yet, her injuries were so severe that she couldn’t utter a single word.

But at that moment, the Demon Dragon suddenly spoke.

"Such delicious humans. It’s been so long since I had such tender and tasty meat!"

With that, it suddenly opened its huge maw, ready to feast heartily...