The star marrow dark river surged like tumultuous waves beneath Lu Qingyang's feet, and countless fragments of Spirit Treasures, like brilliant gems, reflected an eerie, deep blue light. He flicked his finger, and the Soul-Devouring Insects wrapped around his ankle fell like broken kites. The moment their corpses hit the river, they instantly solidified into ice crystals, like a mirror, reflecting the afterimage of Leng Yuehan wielding her sword in Tianshuang Pavilion—within the cracks of the ice split by that sword, the star patterns floating on the surface of the bronze coffin were faintly visible, echoing the Big Dipper patterns on the cauldron ear fragment like twins.
"Brother Lu, be careful!" Lin Pangzi, the Pill Cultivator, suddenly let out a thunderous roar, and his purple-gold Pill Furnace, like a wild horse, slammed into two Jiaozi statues, sending them flying. The moment the lid opened, the Sanwei True Fire, like a fire dragon, swept through the dark river, carrying the scent of medicine, and vaporized the star marrow into a misty haze. "The karmic fire from these stone statues will defile one's Nascent Soul!" Lu Qingyang's figure spun like a whirlwind, dodging the gushing Fox Fire, and his copper coin sword, like a nimble snake, picked up a tattered banner fragment floating in the mist.
The moment the Starry Sky imprint on the banner touched the Chaos Green Lotus like a magnet, his Nascent Soul Dao platform suddenly vibrated violently like an earthquake—the Big Dipper star patterns eroding his Nascent Soul resonated with the banner's imprint like a symphony, projecting a bizarre star map onto his spiritual platform: seven main stars were tightly bound by chains, and the central Yin and Yang spring eye, like a black hole, was slowly being swallowed by the bronze coffin.
"Lin Pangzi, catch!" Like a peerless master, he elegantly flung the blood-stained copper coin sword, its tassel, like a nimble snake, tightly coiling around the Pill Furnace's handle. "Quickly, pour your life-bound Pill Fire fiercely into the roots of the Green Lotus!" "What do you take my Pill Fire for? Street-side syrup?" Lin Pangzi's face was filled with anguish, but he could only helplessly form hand seals, and the purple fire in the furnace, like a surging torrent, rushed along the sword tassel.
The Chaos Green Lotus, receiving this powerful assistance, bloomed wildly like a suddenly opening flower bud. Wherever its lotus petals passed, the twelve Jiaozi statues melted rapidly like fragile snowflakes encountering the scorching sun, revealing the curled-up Qīngqiū fox bones within.
The Xuan-robed youth from the Northern Dipper family suddenly fell from the umbrella. The star pattern chain in his hand trembled wildly like a startled venomous snake: "Lu Senior! These fox bones are calling..." However, before the youth could finish speaking, a bloody curse mark suddenly appeared on his neck, and the chain instantly became like a ferocious venomous snake, fiercely strangling his throat.
Lu Qingyang's eyes narrowed, his fingers clasped like a sword, pointing precisely at the youth's glabella. The Tiantian Daowen, like lightning, drilled into the youth's Meridians along his arm: "Northern Dipper family's brat, didn't your Third Uncle teach you that the Soul Devouring Sect's star pattern curse can only be dispelled with the essence blood of the fox tribe?" With that, he abruptly tore off the ice crystal from his waist, and Su Meiniang's sealed tail fur suddenly ignited with blazing Fox Fire.
The youth screamed, spitting out black blood, and in the bloody mist, half a face of the Starry Sky Merchant Guild's steward appeared: "Lu Qingyang, you think you can break... Ah!" His words abruptly ceased. Lu Qingyang had already crushed the ice crystal, and the Fox Fire, following the bloody mist, burned towards a certain spot in the Void Realm. At the end of the dark river, the sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came, and the Starry Sky steward in a certain secret room, covering his burnt right eye, was furious.
"Petty tricks." Lu Qingyang crushed the remaining curse mark, and the Chaos Green Lotus suddenly retracted into armor. In the illusory image of the Yin and Yang spring eye appearing in the lotus heart, a scene was clearly reflected: Leng Yuehan was inserting the ice soul hairpin into the bronze coffin—the moment the coffin lid moved, the gushing Primordial Xuanhuang Qi was exactly the same as what was seen at the formation eye in the market.
Lin Pangzi suddenly flung out a torn page from an alchemy manual; the yellowed paper condensed into a Pill Formula in the star marrow mist: "Look quickly! The formation eye of the Yin and Yang spring requires both Yin and Yang to be activated simultaneously, and on Guanghan Palace's side..."
"Fairy Leng will handle it herself." Lu Qingyang cut him off. His copper coin sword suddenly plunged into the dark river. The moment the sword tip touched the riverbed, the entire star marrow dark river suddenly reversed, revealing intertwined bronze chains at the bottom. Each chain was wrapped around a frozen corpse, one of which was clearly the Grand Elder of Guanghan Palace, who had "fallen" centuries ago.
The Xuan-robed youth suddenly pointed to a certain chain and exclaimed, "That's our Northern Dipper family's missing Sixth Elder!" The chain snapped in response, and the moment the frozen corpse opened its eyes, the fragments of the compass thrown by the Northern Dipper Old Man suddenly pieced together into a complete star map. Under the starlight, all the corpses' glabella displayed the same Big Dipper curse mark as Lu Qingyang's Nascent Soul Dao platform.
"What a grand scheme." Lu Qingyang stroked the cracks on the Green Lotus armor, a hint of ferocity flashing in his eyes. "Using the corpses of powerful cultivators from other Sects as formation eyes, is the Starry Sky Merchant Guild trying to refine the entire Yin and Yang spring?"
The sound of shattering glass suddenly came from the dome of the dark river, and seventy-two Soul-Slaying Lamps fell into the river. In the ghostly flames burning in the lamp wicks, a scene of Su Meiniang fighting fiercely in the Qīngqiū ancestral land appeared—the traitorous Elder, whom her nine tails had entangled, had the black flag pattern of the Starry Sky Merchant Guild embroidered on his sleeve.
"Brother Lu, catch this!" Lin Pangzi suddenly flung out a crimson pill. "Use your Tiantian Daowen to swallow it; it can temporarily suppress the Nascent Soul's erosion!"
Lu Qingyang held the pill up to the light, examining it, then suddenly chuckled, "Lin Pangzi, you've mixed fox heart blood into this Nine-Turn Tribulation Pill, haven't you?" Saying that, he tilted his head back and swallowed it. Immediately, a crimson-gold flame erupted around him. The moment the flame touched the bronze chains, the entire dark river suddenly flipped, and everyone felt as if they were falling into an abyss.
After three breaths of weightlessness, Lu Qingyang's boots touched solid ground. He flicked his finger, igniting the Green Lotus fire, which illuminated a massive underground karst cave. The stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling were all shaped like star pattern chains, and the star marrow dripping from their tips converged into the central spring eye. Above the spring eye, the bronze coffin, floating up and down, had its lid open by half a foot, and the overflowing Primordial Xuanhuang Qi echoed the coffin in the Forbidden Land where Leng Yuehan was located.
"The time has come." Lu Qingyang suddenly flung out his copper coin sword, its blade wrapped in Fox Fire, stabbing towards the spring eye. "Lin Pangzi, forge the Pill Fire; the Northern Dipper family, control the star map; I will tear open this sky-covering curtain!"
Lin Pangzi reluctantly summoned his life-bound Pill Furnace, and the purple fire within it condensed into a fire Dragon coiling around the coffin; the Northern Dipper youth bit his tongue, and the star map stained with his essence blood transformed into a Restriction chain; Lu Qingyang's Nascent Soul left his body, and the roots of the Chaos Green Lotus plunged into the spring eye. The moment the three forces converged, the bronze coffin exploded with a roar, and in the surging torrent of star marrow, the illusory image of the Starry Sky Merchant Guild's Spirit Boat appeared.
"It's here after all!" Lu Qingyang's Nascent Soul suddenly opened its eyes, and in its pupils, the Starry Sky steward on the Spirit Boat's deck was reflected. The Formation Plate in that person's hand was connected to the Qi of the coffin in the Forbidden Land that Leng Yuehan had broken.
The Northern Dipper Old Man suddenly coughed up blood and knelt: "Daoist Lu... the star map shows the Yin and Yang spring eye is about to collapse!"
"Let it collapse then." Lu Qingyang recalled his Nascent Soul, and a bloodstain on his palm suddenly split open. The Tiantian Daowen, following the bloodline, climbed onto the copper coin sword. "Such a filthy Spiritual Vein, it's better to feed it to my Green Lotus!"
The moment the sword tip pierced the spring eye, countless star pattern chains snapped. In the collapsing cave, the roots of the Green Lotus frantically devoured the star marrow, and the lotus heart gradually condensed into a Yin Yang Jade Pendant with two fish. As Lu Qingyang fished out the jade pendant, he vaguely heard Su Meiniang's voice coming from the Void Realm: "Little Lord, the Qīngqiū rebirth monument is missing a cornerstone..."
He flicked the jade pendant away, watching it shatter the last Soul-Slaying Lamp: "Su Jiejie, is this interest enough to buy you three jars of drunken immortal brew?"
From the spatial rift that appeared where the lamp shattered, a fox tail wrapped with a golden bell suddenly stretched out, coiled around the jade pendant, and disappeared. The ground beneath their feet collapsed with a roar, and when they opened their eyes again, they were on the North Sea coast. In the blizzard, the Starry Sky Merchant Guild's Spirit Boat was sinking, and the ice sculpture of the Grand Elder of Guanghan Palace on the deck had largely melted.
Lu Qingyang caressed the gradually cooling fragment of the cauldron ear in his embrace, then suddenly chuckled softly: "Fairy Leng should have reached the formation eye by now." Before his words finished, a heaven-shattering sword cry came from the Tianshuang Pavilion Forbidden Land a thousand miles away, and in the cloud sea of the avalanche, two intertwined streams of Primordial Xuanhuang Qi shot straight into the sky.
The Northern Dipper youth looked at the gradually dimming star pattern chain in his hand and suddenly asked, "Lu Senior, what do we do next...?"
"Wait." Lu Qingyang tossed the newly acquired Yin Yang Jade Pendant, the illusory image of the Green Lotus flickering in his eyes. "Wait for the fish to bite, wait for the Starry Sky to collapse, wait..." He suddenly stopped, looking at the slowly emerging bronze coffin afterimage beneath the sea, a sharp curve forming on his lips. "Wait for those who deserve to die to fall into the trap."
The wind and snow grew fiercer, swallowing the unspoken words. No one noticed that the Big Dipper curse mark on Lu Qingyang's Nascent Soul Dao platform had quietly bloomed into a Green Lotus flower bud.