70: Chapter 70 With jade in hand, I won't kneel even if the heavens try to stop me.

The raging fury of Night Candle's remnant soul nearly scorched the projection of the Starlight Tower's side hall. The figure locked within the red circle was like a steel nail jammed into the gears of fate, making him feel a long-lost sense of trouble.

Chen Fan, completely unaware of this, merely weighed the cold Calamity Appointer waist token in his hand. The complex patterns on the token surface shimmered with an ominous, bloody light under the moonlight.

"Calamity Appointer..." Jade Spirit's voice trembled slightly. It circled the waist token once. "This is no ordinary Scavenger! In the Life Recording Division's system, Scavengers are just low-level units responsible for 'sweeping' abnormal data. But the Calamity Appointer is a mid-level executor with 'adjudication' and 'guidance' authority! They... they are here to 'determine your calamity' for you!"

Su Shuang's cool voice sounded at the appropriate moment, interrupting Jade Spirit's panic: "In other words, we have already been targeted by a higher level of the Life Recording Division. Their monument is marking your fate track, attempting to bind you with their rules."

"Bind me?" Chen Fan scoffed, suddenly exerting force with his five fingers.

Crack!

The waist token, forged from a special alloy capable of withstanding the full power of a Diamond-tier player's strike, shattered under his grip, turning into a pile of metallic dust that slipped through his fingers.

"If they want to set rules for me, they need to see if their lives are tough enough."

His arrogance was not without foundation.

Just as he crushed the waist token, Critical Hit Foresight in his mind flashed again. But this time, it wasn't an attack warning; it was a line of brand-new information: [Detected 'Life Recording Division' Karma Line, marked. Upon dealing critical hit damage to a 'Life Recording Division' unit next time, partial 'Fate Track' data can be stolen.]

This unexpected gain made the curve of Chen Fan's lips lift even higher.

This so-called 'Life Recording Division,' in his eyes, had transformed from a mysterious threat into a mobile treasury from which he could farm equipment and information.

However, they did not have much time to marvel.

High above the horizon, the seven stars that had originally hung silently were now seemingly moved by an invisible hand, beginning to slowly shift at a visible speed. The intersection point of their trajectories was precisely the Qingqiu ruins beneath their feet!

"Starlight Hunt Order is not as simple as locking coordinates," Su Shuang looked up at the starry sky, her silver hair dancing in the night wind like flowing moonlight. "It is constructing a temporary Law Domain. Once the Seven Stars align, everything within this area will be forcibly 'Divinely Punished.' All non-authorized personnel, including us, will be indiscriminately erased!"

Jade Spirit shrieked: "So, even if those players don't come, we'll be killed by this ghostly thing in the sky? That's unreasonable!"

"To them, we are the unreasonable 'BUGs'." Chen Fan's eyes narrowed. He could clearly feel that as the starlight converged, a suffocating sense of pressure permeated the air, as if the entire world was rejecting them.

"They aren't here to steal the jade, nor are they here to kill people; they want to erase all traces related to Qingqiu, including this entire land, in one go," Su Shuang said word by word, her voice carrying an icy chill.

Chen Fan grinned, lightly tapping his chest with his fist, producing a dull thud: "Then that's perfect. My ledger needs to record a big one."

As his voice fell, several streaks of light tore through the night on the distant horizon, rapidly approaching their location!

"They're here!" Jade Spirit shouted nervously. "It's the players! So fast! They must have used the highest-tier Guild Teleportation Scrolls!"

In just over ten seconds, the first wave of hunters arrived.

Leading them was a Warrior whose ID was 'Mad Dragon.' He wore a set of glittering Diamond-tier armor and wielded a massive axe burning with fierce flames. Behind him followed a vast contingent of nearly a hundred players, all wearing the guild emblem of the 'Dragon Soul Hall' on their chests.

"Hahaha! God-tier equipment! I'm here!" Mad Dragon's laughter was coarse and arrogant. He pointed his giant axe vaguely at Chen Fan and Su Shuang. "Kill the man, keep the woman! The S-rank relic and God-tier gear all belong to the Dragon Soul Hall!"

The mages behind him had already begun chanting incantations. Colorful magic orbs gathered above their heads, forming a brilliant yet deadly barrage.

The archers had also fully drawn their longbows, their arrows shimmering with the faint light of armor-piercing and poison-tempering.

This was an encirclement with no suspense.

In their view, the only outcome for two globally wanted players facing an elite squad from a top guild was to be crushed into dust.

However, Chen Fan's expression did not change in the slightest.

He merely tilted his head and said to Su Shuang: "Give me ten seconds."

Su Shuang didn't ask why; she just nodded, and the qingqiu jade in her hand shone brightly.

An invisible cold aura suddenly spread out with her as the center!

"Qingqiu Secret Art: Frost Bloom Domain!"

In an instant, within a hundred-meter radius, the ground froze over with layers of white frost, and the air temperature plummeted. The magic barrages and arrows flying in mid-air actually slowed down, as if trapped in thick mud.

"What the hell? A slow-down domain?" Mad Dragon frowned but didn't care. "Force kill! Warrior T charge, mages keep outputting! Don't give them a chance to breathe!"

Just as everyone's attention was drawn to Su Shuang's domain skill, Chen Fan moved.

He left a faint afterimage in his original spot, his entire body vanishing like a phantom.

The guard knight beside Mad Dragon's pupils contracted violently, instinctively raising his shield, but it was too late.

[Critical Hit Foresight: 0.4 seconds later, seven steps to the front right, Rogue 'Ghost Shadow,' critical point: Heart.]

[Critical Hit Foresight: 0.4 seconds later...]

In an instant, over ten critical hit warnings popped up in Chen Fan's mind. The dense red characters formed a three-dimensional map of the battlefield. Every red dot was an impending fatal threat, and also a fleeting, decisive opportunity!

A 0.4-second foresight window was not even enough time for an ordinary person to blink.

But for Chen Fan, whose physical reactions had been honed to the extreme, this was enough time to do a great many things!

He didn't choose to retreat; instead, he plunged straight into the densest part of the mage formation!

"Courting death!" A mage sneered, his Fireball spell already aimed at Chen Fan's face.

But the next second, his smile froze.

Chen Fan's body twisted at an incredible angle, just narrowly dodging the Fireball, while simultaneously, a precise hand-chop landed on his throat—the most vulnerable point during the incantation.

[Critical Hit!]

-99999!

An exaggerated red number floated above the mage's head. He dissolved into white light without even letting out a scream.

Chen Fan's movement did not pause in the slightest. He was like a ghost dancing on the tip of a blade. Every flash, every sidestep, perfectly evaded at least three to four attacks.

His figure weaved through the crowd. Every strike was inevitably accompanied by a jumping critical hit number.

Fists, elbows, knees, fingers... Every part of his body had transformed into the deadliest weapon.

The players watched in horror as their attacks seemed to have eyes, always grazing past Chen Fan by the narrowest margin, while their companions turned into white light one after another before their very eyes.

"How... how can he dodge every attack!"

"Monster! He's a monster!"

"Don't let him get close! Control! Use control skills quickly!"

Mad Dragon finally realized the severity of the situation. He roared, activating the Warrior's signature Charge skill. His entire body turned into a fiery meteor, charging straight at Chen Fan.

However, right on his charge path, Chen Fan punched a Rogue attempting a sneak attack away, and his body naturally arched backward in an Iron Bridge stance, allowing Mad Dragon's charging giant axe to whistle past his nose.

Immediately after, Chen Fan exerted force with his waist, his body snapping up like a fully drawn bow, driving a knee strike fiercely into Mad Dragon's chin!

[Concealed Critical Hit x 3!]

Mad Dragon's magnificent Diamond armor let out a painful groan. He was lifted off the ground by the immense force, and a damage number appeared above his head that was enough to make everyone's heart stop.

The arrogance and greed in his eyes were instantly replaced by terror and incomprehension, followed by his vision sinking into eternal darkness.

The Guild Leader of the Dragon Soul Hall, 'Mad Dragon,' ranked in the top one hundred of the server's combat power list, was instantly killed by one strike!

The entire battlefield fell into a bizarre second of silence.

Ten seconds, no more, no less.

Chen Fan's figure reappeared beside Su Shuang. Behind him, a large portion of the Dragon Soul Hall elite squad lay fallen. The remaining players all showed fear on their faces and slowly retreated.

"A bunch of mere chickens and dogs," Chen Fan shook his hand, as if simply dusting off some dirt.

This bloody and efficient slaughter completely shattered the pursuers' psychological defenses.

They finally understood that the God-tier equipment and millions of experience points announced by the system were not rewards, but death warrants!

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Someone shouted, and the remaining players immediately scattered like startled birds, scrambling to flee this land of death.

Chen Fan did not pursue. His gaze turned north again.

This battle was merely the beginning. The real threat was the seven increasingly bright stars overhead, and the 'Life Recording Division' hiding behind the scenes.

"Let's go," he said to Su Shuang.

Su Shuang nodded and retracted her domain.

The light of the qingqiu jade guided the direction. The legendary Northern Dead Marsh was not far now.

The two walked one after the other, stepping over shattered flagstones and solidified bloodstains, heading rapidly north.

Their figures soon disappeared into the shadows of the ruins, leaving behind only the mess and the seven increasingly eerie stars in the sky, silently proclaiming the arrival of a greater storm.

The path ahead was shrouded in thick fog, and a decaying, damp odor began to permeate the air—the unique smell of a swamp.

Finally, they stopped walking.

Before them, the earth seemed to be torn open by a hideous wound.

Black mud pits churned with deadly bubbles, and withered giant trees stood like ghosts within them. The surroundings were deathly silent; not even the sound of insects could be heard.

This was the Northern Dead Marsh.

And in the center of the Dead Marsh, a staircase paved with ancient stones was vaguely visible, sinking step by step into the depths of the pitch-black muddy water, leading to an unknown destination.