This heart is not made of flesh and blood, but is formed from the purest evil power in the world. If it gives birth to a living being and it awakens, the entire Tianchen Continent will be plunged into unprecedented turmoil and chaos.
The surrounding fog grew thicker, and a suffocating sense of oppression filled the air. Wisps of demonic energy surged and spread like black mist that devoured living beings.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble, as if some enormous creature was about to awaken. The blood-red heart pounded violently, each beat like a heavy hammer striking their hearts.
Immediately afterwards, a low and eerie heartbeat sound rang in everyone's ears.
The rhythm was irregular, yet filled with both allure and fear; it was the legendary crimson heart calling to them.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, the three people's expressions changed drastically, clearly indicating that the heart had developed a will.
"Empress, is this the entrance to the Heavenly Road? Why is the Heart of Annihilation born here?" Lin Fan asked.
"Hmph, it's all the work of those things in the Upper Realm. They must know that the Heavenly Road is irreversibly broken, so they left this thing behind as a trump card," Empress Tianyao said coldly.
The strongest group of experts on the Tianchen Continent back then discovered that the continent was about to be destroyed. Therefore, in order to sever the path to heaven, countless experts sacrificed themselves and suffered countless deaths and injuries.
Those in the upper realms were unwilling to accept this, so they left behind the Heart of Destruction here. If it truly achieves perfect enlightenment and is born, the demonic path will surely flourish and the immortal path will be in peril.
A heart set on destroying the world can corrupt all living beings on the continent, and annihilation is inevitable.
The crimson heart hovered in mid-air, surrounded by distorted space and violent energy, each beat seemingly tearing the void apart.
Lin Fan secretly circulated his spiritual energy to suppress the rhythm of his heart, not wanting it to go astray.
The heart seems to be able to see into people's hearts, releasing strong fluctuations at any time to entice them.
Do you want to return to Earth? Do you yearn for supreme power?
A strange fluctuation came through, as if it were communicating with him.
"No!" Lin Fan replied.
Heart of Doom: ...
"Then do you yearn to hold power and rule the continent?" it continued to ask.
"No!" Lin Fan replied.
"So, do you want to have a harem of wives and concubines, live a shameless and carefree life with your junior sisters, and have a house full of children and grandchildren?" it continued to tempt.
“I don’t want to!” Lin Fan replied.
The Heart of Destruction asked, "So what do you want to do?"
"I want to feed you a stone," Lin Fan said.
"Are you crazy? That's a Soul-Suppressing Jade. You're going to feed it to me?" The World-Destroying Heart knew that the boy in front of him was not easy to fool, so he simply stopped pretending.
It meant well and wanted to help him grow bigger and stronger, but he actually wanted to send himself to heaven.
"You can read my mind?" Lin Fan was surprised. This heart really did have a problem; it could see through his intentions.
The Soul-Suppressing Jade was a gift from the system, unknown even to his two junior sisters. He still kept it in the system's inventory. This Heart, whom he had just met, knew he wanted to use the Soul-Suppressing Jade, so it must have seen through his heart.
"Hmph, I am immortal and indestructible, and none of your schemes will succeed!" said the Heart of Annihilation.
"I don't believe you can live forever. Unless you can eat the stone I gave you!" Lin Fan sneered.
The Heart of Annihilation fell silent. This guy's thought process was flawed; his thoughts always strayed from his own ideas.
"You forced me to do this!" it roared angrily, then burst into a blinding red light, and a powerful suction force pulled them into its heart.
Caught off guard, the three felt as if they were falling from a great height. Lin Fan opened his eyes, turned slightly, and landed safely on the ground. He then reached out and helped his falling junior sister up.
They looked around at the unfamiliar scenery, as if they had entered a strange world. The surroundings were lifeless and there was nothing there.
The nearby cities, primeval forests, and land were ravaged and severely damaged, even the spiritual energy had been depleted, making it seem like a dead world.
“This doesn’t seem like Zhongzhou,” Murong Xuanqiu said.
Their divine senses were released, and they discovered that there was no life within a thousand miles.
"It must be an illusion," Lin Fan said.
"Huh? Without any living beings, wouldn't that be incredibly boring?" Murong Xuanqiu exclaimed.
This is a fantastical realm, different from reality and beyond the mortal world. The environment is harsher than imagined. It is very quiet all around, without even the sound of wind. If one wants to survive here, one will go mad.
The desert, with its endless yellow sand and no sun, is like nature's most primitive and wild strokes, freely painted across this land.
The sun, like a fireball in a furnace, relentlessly scorched the earth, every grain of sand radiating a scorching heat. Even the most resilient creatures could hardly linger there.
Within this seemingly hopeless wasteland lies a wicked plot to destroy the world. It wants to use this environment to torment the will of Lin Fan and his companions, to drive them mad, and ultimately force them to compromise.
If they were the only people in the world, they might be able to endure it for a day or two, but if it were to happen repeatedly over hundreds or thousands of years, day after day, year after year, a normal person's temperament would change drastically.
Lin Fan released his divine sense, sensing every inch of this world. He vaguely and keenly sensed a will that controlled the desert land and possessed the magical ability to manipulate sandstorms and perceive the earth's veins.
They began to explore their surroundings, initially finding it interesting and novel. However, after half a month, Murong Xuanqiu became sullen, pouting and fussing while hugging Lin Fan.
"Senior brother, this place is so lifeless and boring!" She clung to Lin Fan's arm, her body devoid of color and life, the atmosphere oppressive.
"Give me a little more time, and I'll be able to break through the illusion!" Lin Fan said.
“Senior brother, life here is extinct. Why don’t we do something to benefit humanity?” She glanced at Chu Yunying, who was surveying the terrain in the distance, and then moved closer to Qing Linfan, breathing into his ear.
"To benefit mankind?" Lin Fan stared at her curiously, noticing that her eyes were shining, her pretty face was flushed, her red lips were slightly parted, and her gaze was almost drooling.
"Cough cough..." Lin Fan coughed violently and said, "Stop fooling around, let's deal with the current predicament first."
Murong Xuanqiu was used to his attitude, so when he looked away, she gave him a hard kiss on the cheek.
Suddenly she sensed a strong killing intent. She looked up and saw that Chu Yunying's face was dark and her aura was surging.
Murong Xuanqiu chuckled and said, "Senior brother, do you like me more, or do you like Junior Sister Yunying more?"
Lin Fan pushed her away with disgust, wiped the drool off his face, and said, "I don't like any of them!"
Lin Fan also looked at Chu Yunying and saw that her pretty face was full of grievances and her eyes were brimming with tears.
He glanced at the system update progress and saw that version 5.0 had just been updated. He wondered if the system would have to update to version 99 before it was finished.
"Ding, congratulations host for updating to version 5.0. The system has added new features. The host has safely passed the mid-stage of the villain's journey. Reward: two jade hairpins."
"New mission issued: Destroy the Heart of Annihilation, reward: Immortal Slaughtering Formation Diagram."
He looked at the hairpin's attributes; its defensive power was extremely strong, capable of blocking attacks from those at the Tribulation Transcending stage. He thought to himself that the system's rewards were getting more and more amazing, even including defensive spiritual treasures for those at the Tribulation Transcending stage.
He took out two hairpins and said with a smile, "I have two hairpins here, which are defensive magical treasures. You can wear them for now."
He then picked up the jade hairpin and put it on Chu Yunying, then on Murong Xuanqiu, and casually tidied her disheveled hair.
The grievance in Chu Yunying's eyes disappeared, and then she lowered her head and stood obediently to the side.
"Indeed, it's not scarcity that's the problem, but inequality." He thought to himself. Although Chu Yunying's personality was somewhat aloof, she would be quite obedient if given some benefits.
That dog system is really good at causing trouble. Every time it sends the exact amount of things, it does so perfectly. But he feels a little jealous. Whenever his junior sister is around, he doesn't get any benefits. That dog system is really inconsiderate.
He also really wanted one or two spiritual treasures that could withstand the attacks of those in the Tribulation Transcending stage.
Murong Xuanqiu pulled out the jade hairpin, his eyes filled with joy, and he was happy all day long, his smile never stopping.
Lin Fan opened the character attribute panel to see what new features the system had added to him.
Hmm? He looked at the attribute panel and saw that in addition to Chu Yunying and Murong Xuanqiu's names, sects, genders, and cultivation levels, they also had their background stories.
He looked at Murong Xuanqiu's backstory and learned that she was an orphan whose family had been killed by bandits.
The poor child, another tragic story, he thought to himself.
Murong Xuanqiu noticed Lin Fan stealing a glance at her. Then, disregarding Chu Yunying's presence, she closed her eyes, pouted, and looked ready to be taken advantage of.
Lin Fan's face twitched slightly, then he clapped his hands and looked up at the sky.
"You really want to trap us here? If you don't let us out, I won't be polite!" he shouted, his voice filled with murderous intent.
He observed this illusionary space for a while and learned that it was very large and difficult to break through by ordinary methods. The only way to break through it was with the most direct and brutal force, which of course had to be stronger than the illusionary space could withstand.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and strange phenomena appeared frequently. The originally deep blue sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds, as if thousands of black dragons were churning, shrouding the entire Cloud Hidden Domain in an atmosphere of oppression and mystery.
Lightning bolts raged through the clouds, each one like a wrathful whip from the heavens, tearing through the sky with a deafening roar, foreshadowing something extraordinary about to happen.
As the first thunderclap boomed, Lin Fan's eyes sharpened, a strange light flashing in his pupils. He knew that the heart of the world was about to begin to move.
He rapidly circulated his internal energy, and a warm and powerful force surged from his dantian, flowing swiftly along the eight extraordinary meridians, eventually converging between his hands to form a dazzling sword light.
The light was not extinguished by the torrential rain; instead, it shone even brighter, as if it could penetrate all darkness and gloom.
The Heart of Annihilation could see through his thoughts, and thus knew that he had devised a solution and decided to eliminate him.
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