341: The Demon King's trap! This is the stage prepared for me!

Qingmu Continent.

The sky was an eerie ink-green.

Huge runes, composed of countless twisted Souls, shrouded the entire firmament like a slowly rotating nebula, emitting a nauseating Aura of decay.

The earth was cracked, and the vegetation had withered.

The world, once vibrant with life, was now left with only deathly silence.

"Hold on! Form the formation!"

In front of the Cuiyun Sect's mountain gate, an Elder roared hoarsely; his sect-protecting robe was already tattered, and blood had stained his chest red.

Behind him, hundreds of young Disciples, each injured and pale-faced, were struggling to maintain a crumbling sect-protecting formation.

Outside the formation's light barrier were endless monsters twisted by the power of the curse, frantically crashing against the barrier and emitting silent roars.

"Senior Sister, I... my spiritual power is about to run out..."

A female Disciple, only in her teens, had blood at the corner of her mouth, her body swaying precariously.

"Hold on!"

Liu Qingqing stood before her, her spirit sword humming as she cast a cyan wood-attribute Spell, restoring a glimmer of vitality to her Junior Sister.

But her own face grew increasingly pale.

Despair.

Like the ink-green sky, it pressed heavily upon the hearts of every survivor.

They were trapped here, with no help from heaven or earth.

They could only watch helplessly as the energy of the sect-protecting formation was consumed bit by bit, waiting for the arrival of death.

Liu Qingqing looked up at the massive curse formation eye in the sky, her eyes filled with endless sorrow and unwillingness.

Just then.

Above the firmament, the thick, ink-like cursed clouds were abruptly torn open by an invisible force.

A figure walked out from the rift, unhurriedly.

He did not ride any Magic Treasure, nor did he display any earth-shattering Aura; he simply stepped calmly onto the Void Realm, as if taking a stroll in his own backyard.

Everyone was stunned.

Whether it was the despairing Cuiyun Sect Disciples or the cursed monsters frantically attacking the formation, they all stopped their actions at that moment.

They stared blankly upwards, looking at the person who had appeared so abruptly.

Lin Fan lowered his head, overlooking the land below eroded by the curse. His gaze passed through the crumbling sect-protecting formation and landed on Liu Qingqing's face, which, despite being stained with blood and dust, could not hide its beauty.

He flashed, instantly appearing in front of the Cuiyun Sect's mountain gate.

"You..."

Liu Qingqing gripped her sword tightly, looking guardedly at the strange Cultivator who had appeared suddenly, whose Aura was only at the Body Integration Middle Stage.

His clothes were strange, but his eyes were terrifyingly calm.

Lin Fan ignored the Elders eyeing him like tigers, simply offering Liu Qingqing a reassuring smile.

"Don't be afraid."

He said softly.

"Today, I will lead you all to fight our way out."

The voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

In an instant, many Disciples on the verge of collapse felt a faint spark of hope reignite in their eyes.

Lin Fan's heart was without waves.

(Not bad, morale is usable. When the fighting starts later, it'll be perfect for helping me draw fire, giving me plenty of time to study the fatal flaws of this formation.)

He turned around, facing the endless army of monsters and the curse formation that shrouded the heaven and earth.

The moment he took his first step.

Boom!

The power of the curse throughout heaven and earth seemed to find a vent, transforming into a thick, ink-green beam of light that crashed down from the formation eye above the firmament, precisely pouring into Lin Fan's body!

A black smoke, carrying the wails of countless resentful Souls, poured frantically from his seven orifices.

Black demonic patterns emerged on the surface of his skin, as if countless worms were crawling beneath it, trying to burrow into the depths of his Soul.

Excruciating pain!

A tearing, excruciating pain that acted directly upon his Soul Origin instantly swept through every inch of his consciousness.

Lin Fan groaned, his body trembling violently.

He felt that the mysterious connection between himself and the Resurrection Anchor deep in the distant starry sky had actually begun to become unstable, like a candle in the wind, flickering.

[Warning: "God-Lord Level" Soul-locking curse detected — Infinite Soul Domain!]

[Warning: Your Soul Origin is being contaminated... Resurrection process is severely interfered with!]

[Warning: If the Soul Origin contamination level exceeds 10%, there is a high probability that the Resurrection Anchor will fail!]

"Ah—!"

Behind him, a Cuiyun Sect Disciple saw this scene and let out a terrified scream.

Liu Qingqing's heart also tightened abruptly.

However, Lin Fan, who was enduring this terrifying curse, had no trace of pain on his face.

Instead, his lips slowly curled upward, outlining a crazed arc.

This is the feeling!

Resurrection can be interfered with! The Soul can be contaminated!

This is the prestige that an EX-level rating should have!

"plague god, welcome to the graveyard I have prepared for you."

A hoarse, dry voice full of malice and glee rang directly in his mind.

It was exactly that Lich Adjutant!

"Enjoy it! In this Infinite Soul Domain, every one of your deaths will only deepen the curse brand in your Soul. Each of your resurrections will make you taste pain a hundred times more intense than the last!"

"Until your Soul is completely eroded, melted, and becomes the most succulent nutrient in my great formation!"

The Lich's voice was filled with the playfulness of a cat catching a mouse.

Lin Fan endured the excruciating pain of his Soul being gnawed at and instead closed his eyes.

He did not resist, but instead actively let go of his mind, allowing that massive power of the curse to run rampant in his Soul sea.

He would use this power as a signpost!

That Lich thought he was the hunter, but he did not know that the trap he had laid was guiding Lin Fan to the core!

"Hmm?"

The Lich seemed to have sensed something was wrong.

Why was this bug not screaming? Why was it not struggling?

In his perception, Lin Fan's Soul was like an ice cube thrown into boiling oil, being "melted" at an astonishing speed, but his life Aura not only did not weaken, but instead had a strange... excitement?

Lin Fan's consciousness followed the power of the curse that had invaded his Soul, flowing upstream.

His "vision" was instantly raised.

The entire Qingmu Continent turned into a huge, three-dimensional formation diagram composed of countless black energy lines before his eyes.

He saw it!

Thirty-six!

Exactly thirty-six energy nodes, like black vortexes, were evenly distributed across every corner of the continent.

They were the core formation eyes supporting this Infinite Soul Domain curse formation!

And at this moment, above the largest formation eye in the central continent, the grey-robed Lich Adjutant was grinning, observing Lin Fan's every move through a crystal ball.

As if sensing Lin Fan's prying, the Lich looked up, baring its mouth to reveal a silent sneer.

"Do you see it? plague god."

"This is the inescapable net I have laid for you."

The Lich's voice rang in Lin Fan's mind again.

The scene shifted, and Lin Fan's "vision" was pulled closer to one of the formation eyes.

There, a Centurion clad in dark gold bone armor, holding a giant axe, was standing quietly in the center of the formation eye.

Around him, a full squad of twelve Soul Hounds were crouching on the ground, their sickly green Soul fire emitting a hungry and violent Aura.

Each formation eye was guarded by a Centurion at the Mahayana Early Stage and a complete squad of Soul Hounds!

"In my Soul Domain, you have nowhere to hide."

The Lich's voice was full of absolute confidence and a sense of control.

"And nowhere to run!"

Lin Fan opened his eyes abruptly.

In those eyes burned a fanaticism a hundred times hotter than the Soul Hounds' Soul fire!

Almost simultaneously, a new line of golden prompts slowly appeared on his System screen.

[Hidden Achievement Triggered: Curse Breaker!]

[Achievement Requirement: Before the Soul Origin is completely contaminated, destroy all core formation eyes simultaneously with a single self-detonation within the "Infinite Soul Domain" core area.]

[Achievement Reward: EX-level rating x2, System gains "God-Lord Soul Net" conceptual immunity patch!]