Su Kun and Sang Wusheng looked at Qin Nan, whose eyes were glistening with tears but whose face was beaming with smiles, and they couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

The two stepped forward and hugged Qin Nan, feeling the real warmth. Qin Nan couldn't hold back his tears again; he really didn't want to cry.

Su Kun: "Good boy, don't cry, Mommy and Daddy are fine. We've been waiting for you. Daddy will take you inside, and Mommy and I will wait here for you. Just do as Daddy says, and everything will be alright!"

Qin Nan: "Okay, Dad, take me there."

Su Kun released Qin Nan, and Sang Wusheng gently wiped away his tears.

Qin Nan smiled and stood up.

Inside the turquoise barrier, besides the two people, there was a stone slab engraved with an array. Su Kun asked Qin Nan to sit cross-legged; this was a teleportation array.

Qin Nan obediently stepped forward and sat down. Su Kun used the power of wood to activate the formation, and the light in the formation shone brightly. He couldn't help but close his eyes, the wind whistling in his ears, and his body feeling slightly cold.

When Qin Nan opened his eyes again, he found himself in a dark space. He stood up, somewhat bewildered. It was pitch black all around him, and his night vision couldn't see anything clearly; it was an impenetrable darkness.

Qin Nan took out the brocade, extracted the corpse of a golden crow from it, and then suddenly retreated dozens of steps.

The fire of the sun god burned on the corpse of the golden crow, igniting the surrounding darkness, with crackling sounds rising and falling.

Even in death, the sun's rays illuminate the darkness, burning away the darkness in a certain area, thus expanding Qin Nan's field of vision.

He used the brocade to retrieve the Golden Crow's corpse, then touched his somewhat dry face. The Sun God's Fire was indeed quite ferocious. Fortunately, it was a dead Golden Crow, so it only burned on the corpse and did not spread. Otherwise, not only would this place have been burned to ashes, but Qin Nan would have been reduced to nothing as well.

As the Golden Crow's corpse was retrieved, the darkness that had dissipated tentatively began to spread again.

Qin Nan reached out and touched the ethereal darkness, feeling an aura similar to that of the Underworld River. Guided by this aura, he walked forward.

As darkness deepened, Qin Nan instinctively sensed danger. He raised his hand and used the scroll to release more than a dozen ghosts.

The ghosts that came into contact with the darkness instantly gained immense power, their ghostly energy overflowing. They also completely lost their minds. Qin Nan easily leaped away from their attacks, watching them fight each other.

While attacking, the ghost was also absorbing the power of darkness. As it devoured more and more, the ghost's size increased dozens of times.

Upon seeing this, the danger hidden in the darkness was revealed.

When a force attacked the ghost beside him, Qin Nan decisively threw out the corpse of the Golden Crow.

"Sizzle—"

The sun's fire scorched that unknown thing, and the sound was very much like food being fried in oil.

"Roar—"

The sobbing cries seemed to come from all directions.

The appearance of the Golden Crow's corpse also dispelled the darkness on the ghost, and the mutated ghost gradually returned to its original form.

Upon seeing this, Qin Nan quickly retrieved the Golden Crow's corpse to prevent the ghost from being burned to death.

This method can only be used once. Qin Nan also used the scroll to retrieve the ghost. There is something in this darkness. After stirring up the grass to alert the snake, it will not act rashly.

Qin Nan continued walking forward, the brocade nestled in her hands, its heat radiating outwards.

As darkness deepened, Qin Nan knew he was nearing his destination until his feet touched the muddy slime.

Qin Nan took a deep breath and threw out the corpses of nine golden crows in one go.

In an instant, darkness was illuminated as if it were daytime.

Qin Nan retreated swiftly, glancing back as he did so. He saw two black monsters, each the size of his beast form, guarding a small mud pit. They were being engulfed by the Sun God's Fire, and the two monsters struggled to their deaths in the flames.

Retreating to a safe distance, Qin Nan paused and looked back. The darkness in the entire space had almost been burned away by the gathered divine fire, and the temperature was rising sharply.

The sun fire of the nine golden crows gathered together, which was a spectacular sight. Even their corpses were once the sun.

The darkness in the space gradually disappeared, but he could no longer see the small mud pit on the other side of the Golden Crow clearly; the firelight was a bit dazzling.

Qin Nan waited a while, hoping that burning it longer would slow down the regrouping of darkness, giving him time to set up the formation and tear apart the space.

After waiting for a long time, Qin Nan looked at the thin darkness in the space and felt that it was about time. She carefully approached and used her magic to protect the brocade and quickly put the Golden Crow into the air.

The temperature suddenly dropped, and Qin Nan couldn't help but shiver. However, the brocade in her hand was hotter than before. She was afraid that the brocade wouldn't last long and would be burned.

Qin Nan hurriedly followed Su Kun's instructions and set up an array around the mud pit. After selecting the location of the array's core, he looked at the small mud pit in the middle.

The small mud puddle, no more than a meter in diameter, had a small spring formed by black, viscous liquid surging within it, with a black, heart-shaped crystal scattering pale golden dust on its surface.

Both strange creatures disappeared, but the crystal remained.

"Is this the Heart of Houtu?"

Qin Nan couldn't help but murmur to herself.

He never imagined that a god who was once so kind and benevolent would have no remains after his death, yet the Heart of Power here created the River of the Dead, attracting despair and sorrow to the world, condensing into endless darkness.

[Su Kun... Su Kun...]

Suddenly, a strange, soft call reached Qin Nan's ears. He paused for a moment, looked around, and finally his gaze fell on the Heart of Houtu in front of him.

[Su Kun...my...child...]

Qin Nan: "Is that you speaking? Su Kun is my father. What child are you talking about?"

Su Kun... is... my child...

Qin Nan was stunned. He only knew that his father was the son of the Wood Emperor, but he really didn't know his father's mother. So, it was Houtu?

Is my father the son of the Wood Emperor and the Earth Goddess?

Qin Nan suddenly realized why his father could pass through the earth to enter the underworld and use the power of earth. He had always thought it was the earth element among the five elements, but it turned out to be Hou Tu!

So, does that mean the Houtu in front of me is my...grandmother in terms of generation?

Qin Nan was speechless. This was too sudden!

[Su Kun...seed...burial...]

Qin Nan looked at the crystal with a puzzled expression, "Bury what?"

[Bury...you!]

Qin Nan was startled. Suddenly, a cold, bone-chilling force wrapped around his neck, tightening its grip. He grabbed the object around his neck with both hands, forcefully pulled it away, and threw it off.

"Cough cough cough—whoosh—"

Qin Nan coughed twice, panting heavily, and got up to look around, but found nothing.

When he came to his senses, a dark light pierced his forehead, and Qin Nan knelt down with a "thud".

He didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, he shouldn't delay any longer.

Qin Nan placed the golden crow corpse from the brocade at one of the nine key points of the formation, and then quickly left.

The next moment, a bright light burst forth behind him, and the Sun God Fire was drawn out from the Golden Crow's corpse, instantly devouring the black heart crystal.

The black mud pool slowly turned into scalding hot magma. As the temperature of the flames rose, the magma rolled and surged upwards, beginning to flow in all directions.