Chapter 1: When the father suffers humiliation, the son will surely avenge him

  "The young man must have been following me all along, and he too had the intention of killing me to get the treasure. I dare not ask for anything from him, but only wish that I can die quickly without suffering any pain before death." The woman's eyes were brimming with tears, her expression was pitiful and sad, making people feel a surge of protective instincts in their hearts.

  Xiao Chen bit his tongue hard, but a cold sweat broke out on his back. Just now, he had actually thought of risking his life to protect this woman. If not for his relatively strong willpower, he would have been controlled by someone else already. Indeed, even a seriously injured cultivator was absolutely not easy to deal with.

  Xiao Chen's heart was secretly on guard, but his face remained expressionless as he opened his mouth and said: "Don't play any more tricks, hand over that brocade box obediently, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless!"

  That woman's eyes flashed with a hint of resentment, and then she said pitifully: "I'm severely injured and can't move at all. The brocade box is in the storage bag on my waist. If you want it, come and get it yourself."

  Xiao Chen's eyes flashed, and a hint of hesitation appeared on his face, then he slowly walked towards her.

  When he was less than three meters away from the woman, a hint of madness flashed in her eyes. Xiao Chen's mouth slightly curved up, and without hesitation, he flipped his hand to take out the fireball spell scroll that had been hidden in his sleeve, then poured all his spiritual energy into it.

  A burst of fiery red color exploded out, and two fireballs suddenly appeared, shooting straight at the woman.

  "Ah!" The sudden change made the woman exclaim, but at such a close distance, before she had any reaction, two fireballs hit her body.

  The woman's body flashed with a faint green light, and after a brief moment of hesitation, flames instantly engulfed her entire body, burning her into a pile of ashes.

  At this point, Xiao Chen finally let out a slight sigh of relief. The woman had previously killed her own dual cultivation partner without hesitation in order to monopolize the treasure, and such a ruthless woman made Xiao Chen vigilant! Earlier, the joy in the woman's eyes did not escape Xiao Chen's notice, he hesitated for a moment before retreating tens of meters back, picking up a stone from the ground and throwing it towards the woman.

  "Bang!" The stone fell to the ground, and a sudden change occurred in an instant.

  Only to see that the originally smooth ground surface, with the woman's location as the center, suddenly burst out of endless dark green flames within a radius of three meters. The flames constantly twisted and turned into skull-like ghost faces, and from time to time, there were bursts of wailing and howling sounds.

  Looking at the eerie green flames, Xiao Chen's heart felt a chill run down his spine. Fortunately, he was cautious and if he had rushed to search for treasure from the start, he would have probably become a corpse by now. Although he didn't know what the flames were, the waves of cold air emanating from them made his heart tremble with fear.

  After a moment, the green flame gradually weakened and was finally sucked into a certain point like a tide. The space shook, and a black gourd appeared before my eyes.

  Xiao Chen took out a few more stones and threw them out one after another, but nothing unusual happened, which made him slightly relieved.

  He quickly walked to where the woman was, picked up four storage bags from the ground, and opened them. Xiao Chen's face suddenly showed a few hints of surprise. The black wind old ghost and the pair of brothers in front of him were absolutely foundation-building cultivators. Xiao Chen found five spiritual instruments inside their storage bags, although they were not of high quality, this already made him extremely happy! It was known that even some true disciples in Luoyun Valley didn't have many spiritual instruments during the Qi-refining stage. With a joyful heart, Xiao Chen put the five spiritual instruments aside and then took out dozens of low-grade talismans, hundreds of ten-graded low-grade crystal stones, and over a dozen pellets of unknown purpose from the bags. Among the talismans, three were clearly similar to fireball technique talismans, but the patterns on them were several times more complex, containing spiritual power that was beyond comparison. Xiao Chen carefully put these talismans away, deciding to study their uses when he returned. As for the crystal stones, they were even better, being very beneficial for cultivation, and he naturally put them away with care.

  After cleaning up the four storage bags, Xiao Chen looked at the brocade box in his hand, and his eyes also showed a few points of fiery color. The things inside could lead to a life-and-death struggle among the four foundation-building cultivators, and even made this woman willing to kill her dual-cultivation partner, it can be seen that it is absolutely not an ordinary object.

  After a brief hesitation, Xiao Chen placed the brocade box on the ground, retreated several meters back, picked up a nearby spiritual sword, and carefully raised it upwards.

  "Crack!"

  In the instant the brocade box was opened, a burst of white smoke suddenly erupted from it, filling the surrounding three meters in an instant. Xiao Chen was shocked and immediately felt numbness in his hands, as if he had lost all his strength, and the Ling Sword also fell to the ground with a clang.

  In the midst of that white mist, only to see that the spirit energy's oppressive spiritual sword's luster instantly dimmed, its spirituality greatly lost, and in an instant it had transformed into a useless sword.

  Xiao Chen was shocked and lost his color, he hurriedly looked at his hands and saw that three of his fingers had turned into a strange black color. Black air flows quickly swirled up, spreading to his wrist in an instant, and even began to rot on his fingertips, dripping with black blood. Feeling the energy in his body rapidly disappearing, his spirit also showed a few moments of dizziness. Xiao Chen's heart was filled with bitter laughter, could it be that he had just started on the path of cultivation and would perish here? Thinking of his parents who had just escaped their predicament, would they also be sent back to their original state because of his downfall?

  Xiao Chen's heart surged with endless regret, his mind muddled and confused as he walked forward a few steps. Even if it meant death, he had to see for himself what exactly he was dying for!

  The brocade box had already been opened, and the white mist that lingered for a moment had long since dispersed. A simple, unadorned, entirely golden square seal was inside.

  "Haha, so it was just this thing after all. What a pity, I've lost my life for it. And yet, I still don't know what kind of treasure you are." Xiao Chen collapsed to the ground, struggling to hold onto the golden seal in his hand, as a hint of despair began to appear in his eyes.

  "My parents are upstairs, I'm unfilial, can't continue serving by their side anymore..."

  Muttering to himself, Xiao Chen slowly closed his eyes, and the vital energy on his body rapidly weakened. At this moment, the black gas had already filled his entire arm and was surging towards his heart and internal organs. If he were completely occupied by the black gas, it would be a fatal blow, with no chance of survival!

  Xiao Chen, although he had fainted, still clutched the golden seal in his hand. Drop by drop, black blood fell onto it, accumulating more and more until the entire seal was enveloped. Suddenly, the originally unresponsive golden seal flashed with a hint of radiance. The dense black blood covering it seemed to undergo some sort of purification, transforming into a bright red color before being instantly absorbed within.

  PS: Second update, there will be three more updates today.