Just before the two invaders from the Federation had arrived, the trio gathered the accumulated liquid of the fountain, with Ning Xiao and Rui taking hold of the biggest portion.

  After securely storing the liquid, Rui’s gaze lingered on the ornate fountain. Its craftsmanship was intricate, yet as he studied it more closely, a subtle unease crept into his mind. Something felt wrong. For an artifact said to produce a liquid of such immense power, it was far too fragile—too ordinary.

  His thoughts were interrupted by Yue’s cold, detached voice resonating through their shared connection.

  “Master, this fountain is a decoy,” Yue stated flatly. “Its energy stems from an external source deep beneath this structure. The true Fountain of Youth lies underground, far beyond this chamber.”

  Rui stiffened at the revelation, his pale eyes narrowing as he took a step back from the fountain. The realization hit him like a blow—he’d been so focused on the fountain's allure that he’d overlooked the inconsistencies.

  “The true source…” Rui muttered, his tone sharp.

  Before he could process further, a wave of oppressive energy rippled through the chamber, faint at first but growing stronger by the second. Rui’s rune glowed faintly, his instincts flaring. He turned toward the entrance to the chamber, his senses honing in on two powerful presences that had just entered his range.

  Something was wrong.

  A sharp chime echoed in his mind, and the system’s familiar yet unwelcome interface materialized before his eyes.

  [Emergency Quest has been created]

  [Federation Infiltration (1)]

  [You have come into contact with Federation members partaking in an external mission. You have acquired a portion of their goal.

  Quest Clear Conditions:

  Eliminate the invaders: 0/2

  Acquire the true source liquid of the Fountain of Youth

  Quest Rewards:

  Unknown

  Penalty:

  Unknown]

  Rui’s jaw tightened. Though the system’s functionality had been unreliable since entering the Abyssal Arcane Realm, the sudden appearance of this quest only reinforced his growing unease.

  “Federation…” he muttered under his breath.

  He could feel the two presences growing closer, their movements deliberate, purposeful. These weren’t aimless wanderers—they were hunters, closing in on their prey.

  Although the system functions had so far functioned normally, R.A.I. had yet to recover, which made the situation worse than it should have been.

  Without hesitation, Rui turned toward the fountain. His hand raised, the Ansuz rune on his forehead flaring brightly. A pulse of destructive energy surged outward, striking the fountain with unrelenting force. The ornate structure cracked and shattered, the golden liquid vaporizing into a faint mist.

  The reaction was immediate.

  “What have you done?!” Ning Xiao’s furious voice cut through the air as she rounded on Rui, her face a mask of shock and anger.

  “That fountain was priceless!” she shouted, her voice trembling with rage. “Do you even realize what you’ve just destroyed?”

  He had already set a plan into motion, it was time to gauge both Ning Xiao and his new assailants.

  Back to the present, the trio was met with a stranger in front of them. Their gray skin along with the crimson pupils made it obvious he wasn’t human.

  “It’s a ghoul,” Ning Xiao said, her tone edged with tension. Her sharp eyes scanned the figure warily as she bit her lip in hesitation. “I didn’t expect to encounter one here. This is… troublesome.”

  “A ghoul?” Han Feng asked, his voice calm but alert as he unleashed a protective sphere of water runic energy that hovered close to his body. “Care to explain? What exactly are we dealing with?”

  Ning Xiao’s gaze remained fixed on the ghoul, her hand gripping her weapon tightly. “Ghouls are corrupted entities,” she explained. “Once human, but twisted by abyssal energy over time. They’re drawn to places of concentrated power, like this ziggurat. Their bodies are unnaturally resilient, and they feed on life force. Killing them isn’t easy.”

  Rui stepped forward, his Ansuz rune faintly glowing as he observed the ghoul. The creature’s crimson eyes locked onto him, unblinking, as if studying his every move. Rui felt the weight of its deathly aura pressing against him, a suffocating presence that seemed to sap the very air from the corridor.

  “Resilient or not, it’s in our way,” Rui said coldly. “If it wants a fight, we’ll give it one.”

  The ghoul’s thin lips twisted into a grotesque smile, revealing jagged, yellowed teeth. Its voice, when it spoke, was a guttural rasp that echoed through the tunnel.

  “You… should not be here… Leave, or perish.”

  Rui’s grip tightened on [Sun Cutter], the blade expanding from its small knife shape, elongating and releasing a sharp dark aura.

  The ghoul’s crimson eyes flared, and with a sudden burst of speed, it lunged forward, its clawed hands outstretched. Rui reacted instantly, raising his blade to intercept. The clash of energy against the corrupted flesh sent sparks flying, the impact reverberating through the narrow corridor.

  Han Feng stepped in next, sending his water sphere hurtling toward the ghoul. The orb expanded and burst on contact, drenching the creature in a torrent of water laced with concentrated runic energy. For a brief moment, the ghoul recoiled, its movements slowed as the energy sizzled against its flesh.

  But the reprieve was short-lived. The ghoul’s body convulsed, and with a guttural snarl, it shook off the water, its wounds closing almost instantly.

  “It regenerates quickly,” Han Feng muttered, his brow furrowing.

  “Typical of ghouls,” Ning Xiao said, her tone grim.

  She moved swiftly, her blade flashing as she struck at the creature’s side. Her attack was precise, aimed at severing its tendons to limit its movement.

  The ghoul screeched, its claw lashing out in retaliation. Ning Xiao dodged gracefully, her movements fluid, but the force of the strike sent cracks spiderwebbing through the stone wall beside her.

  Seeing that her attacks didn’t do much damage to it, she realized that the ghoul’s physique was equal to that of a peak nascent soul cultivator. Although she herself was in the nascent soul stage, she had barely reached the early stages and was in fact weaker than the current Rui.

  She had already been in the realm for three years now and things had so far been quite challenging. When she first arrived, she had appeared very far away from her goal, which was the fountain of youth.

  Ning Xiao’s grip tightened on her weapon as she steadied her breathing. The ghoul’s resilience was troublesome, but not insurmountable. However, she knew that wasting too much energy here could put them at a disadvantage later—especially with Federation invaders lurking nearby.

  Rui’s pale eyes flickered as he assessed the situation. The ghoul’s body had already started to mend itself, its flesh knitting together unnaturally fast. Killing it through conventional means would take too long. His mind raced through possible strategies when Yue’s voice whispered through their shared connection.

  “Master, its regeneration is fueled by the energy saturating its body. Destroy its core, and it will cease to function.”

  Rui’s gaze sharpened.

  “Where is its core?”

  Yue hesitated. “It’s shifting… but I can locate it. Ten seconds.”

  The ghoul lunged again. This time, its movements were even more erratic, almost frenzied, as if sensing the impending threat. Rui dodged to the side, feeling the rush of air as its claws barely missed him. In that instant, Han Feng’s water sphere reformed, swirling around his body before launching forward.

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  But the ghoul had adapted. Instead of trying to resist the water’s energy, it twisted its body mid-lunge, using the momentum to propel itself upward. Its clawed feet scraped against the stone ceiling before it pushed off with inhuman agility, hurtling straight toward Han Feng.

  Han Feng’s eyes widened, but he reacted quickly, forming a barrier of rippling water energy around himself. The ghoul slammed into it, the impact sending tremors through the air. The barrier held—barely—but deep cracks splintered through it as the creature snarled, pressing its attack.

  Rui saw his chance.

  A flicker of runic energy surged around him as he invoked the Ansuz rune. With a burst of speed, he closed the distance between himself and the ghoul, [Sun Cutter] humming with dark energy.

  With a single thought, he activated both [Void Cutter] and [Void Breaker] as black and purple energy cloaked his entire figure, his runic energy turning a similar color.

  [Beginning Sword: Third Form, Adulthood]

  Rui’s body unleashed a vast torrent of sword energy, engulfing the surroundings and even pushing back Han Feng and Ning Xiao in the process. Rifts appeared behind the ghoul, limiting his movement to the extreme.

  The rifts behind the ghoul crackled with immense energy, the distortions warping the space around them. Rui’s figure flickered, vanishing in an instant. Before the ghoul could react, Rui reappeared behind it, [Sun Cutter] vibrating with an eerie hum as it sliced through the air.

  The ghoul screeched as the void energy lashed through its body, the wounds refusing to heal as easily as before. Its shifting core, now partially revealed, pulsed erratically—a sickly crimson light trying desperately to sustain itself.

  “Now!” Rui commanded.

  Han Feng, already prepared, launched another sphere of concentrated water energy. But this time, instead of striking the ghoul directly, he targeted the unstable space around the rifts Rui had created. The impact sent shockwaves through the corridor, amplifying the distortions and further restraining the ghoul’s movements.

  Ning Xiao seized the opportunity, her blade flashing with silver light as she aimed a precise strike toward the core. The ghoul shrieked, twisting violently, but Rui anticipated its movement. Activating [Heaven's Netherrealm Step], he reappeared in its blind spot, his sword already descending.

  [Beginning Sword: Fourth Form, Old Age]

  A wave of pure destructive energy surged outward, consuming the ghoul entirely. Its crimson eyes flickered one last time before the core shattered, sending a shockwave of abyssal energy rippling through the corridor. The ghoul’s body disintegrated into black mist, leaving only silence in its wake.

  Rui let out a slow breath, retracting his blade. The oppressive aura in the air dissipated, but an unsettling feeling still lingered.

  Han Feng studied the remains of the ghoul, his expression unreadable.

  “That thing… it wasn’t just a mindless creature. It was intelligent, calculating. Almost like it was guarding something.”

  Ning Xiao’s grip on her weapon tightened, but she didn’t say anything. She glanced cautiously at Rui, completely taken aback by the latter’s combat prowess. It was clear that in a one on one battle she would without a doubt lose.

  It was odd, since when she first met him, he seemed relatively week, but in the span of a few days, he had somehow overtaken her as if it was natural.

  Rui’s pale eyes flickered as he turned his gaze deeper into the tunnel. He could still feel it—that pulsing energy, like a heartbeat underground. The true Fountain of Youth lay ahead.

  And they were running out of time.

  “We need to move,” Rui said firmly. “The Federation’s agents are close. If they catch up, we’ll be dealing with more than just ghouls.”

  Ning Xiao hesitated for a brief moment, then nodded. Without another word, the trio pressed forward, vanishing into the depths of the ziggurat.

  The Federation agents moved swiftly through the dimly lit corridors of the ziggurat, their auras exuding confidence and menace. The blue-skinned figure, irritation still evident on his sharp features, glanced at the swirling patterns of energy that his ability had traced through the chamber.

  “They’re close,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing. “The residual energy from the created water hasn’t fully dissipated.”

  The towering three-eyed man beside him continued to scan their surroundings. His central eye flared with a deep violet hue as he activated his perception abilities. The intricate web of abyssal energy stretched beneath the ground, tangled and vast, like veins pumping life through the ancient ruin.

  “They went deeper, fought something it seems.”

  He rumbled, his voice an unshakable force of certainty.

  The blue-skinned agent’s irritation morphed into a predatory grin.

  “Well, since there is no exit from the depths, we are bound to find these littler rats…”

  Suddenly, he paused and stared behind him, seeing two figures rushing towards them. It was a young woman dressed in red attire and a tall dark skinned man with his entire body covered in tribal tattoo’s.

  “Seems we’ve found ourselves some stragglers. Didn’t your masters teach you better than to wander into places you don’t belong?”

  The blue-skinned agent grinned, his eyes blinking in a way that was similar to a reptile.

  “Just get rid of them quickly. The fountain is our top priority…”

  The giant three-eyed man said, completely disregarding his companion’s intentions.

  The crimson-clad woman’s eyes flashed dangerously, her posture unyielding.

  “This place belongs to no one, least of all Federation dogs.”

  Her voice was smooth yet sharp, like a blade wrapped in silk.

  The towering three-eyed man’s central eye flared with a violet light, his aura expanding, casting ominous shadows across the stone walls.

  “You’re bold, little girl. But you’re in our way.” He took a step forward, the ground trembling beneath his weight. “I’ll crush you both before you become a nuisance.”

  The tattooed man didn’t flinch, his dark eyes fixed on his adversaries. His voice was calm, almost casual.

  “Bold words for dead men.”

  He raised his arm, the tattoos on his forearm igniting with a golden hue.

  “You have one chance to walk away. Waste it, and you’ll never leave this place.”

  The blue-skinned agent’s laughter echoed through the chamber, cold and hollow.

  “Arrogant fool. Do you even know who you’re threatening?”

  His body flickered, phasing in and out of view as the space around him distorted.

  “You’re already dead.”

  In the next instant, he was gone—a blur of movement too fast for the eye to track. He reappeared behind the crimson woman, his hand aimed at her neck, fingers curled into claws glowing with violet energy.

  But his strike met only empty air.

  His eyes widened in shock as the woman’s figure dissipated into a crimson mist, swirling around him before reforming a few meters away. Her eyes gleamed with amusement.

  “You’re slow.”

  Before he could react, she moved, faster than even his heightened senses could register. Her form flickered, leaving behind a crimson afterimage as she appeared in front of him, her hand pressing against his chest.

  A shockwave of scarlet energy erupted, sending him hurtling backward, his body slamming into the stone wall with a deafening crash. The impact shook the corridor, cracks spiderwebbing through the ancient structure.

  The three-eyed man’s expression remained neutral, but his central eye flared dangerously.

  “Interesting… Crimson Sect’s secret techniques. So, you’re not just anyone.”

  His aura surged, the ground beneath his feet splintering.

  “No matter. Your blood will paint these walls.”

  The tattooed man stepped forward, his golden tattoos blazing with power.

  “You talk too much.”

  His arm shot forward, the air around his fist warping as it collided with an invisible barrier. A shock-wave rippled outward, distorting space itself.

  The three-eyed man grunted, his barrier cracking under the pressure. But he held firm, his central eye blazing with fury.

  “Spatial manipulation? You must be from the Hallowed Tribes.”

  The tattooed man’s expression didn’t change.

  “Last chance. Leave or die.”

  The three-eyed man’s laughter was deep, rumbling through the chamber like thunder.

  “I was going to offer you the same choice.” His aura surged, the entire chamber shaking. “But I think I’ll enjoy breaking you.”

  The air grew heavy with power, the energy from all four combatants colliding, distorting space and time around them. The ancient runes on the walls flickered, reacting to the immense forces at play.

  The blue-skinned agent recovered, wiping blood from his mouth as his eyes burned with rage.

  “You… I’ll make you suffer for that.”

  His body phased again, splitting into three shadowy clones that surrounded the crimson woman, their claws gleaming with lethal energy. The woman’s eyes narrowed, her aura flaring as her form shimmered, ready to counter.

  “Pallurad, go all out. These two aren’t simple.”

  The three-eyed man said, his gaze fixed on his opponent.

  “I’m already on it Buxia… damn it.”

  Pallurad’s eyes flared with anger, his blue skin shimmering as his body phased in and out of visibility. The clones surrounding the crimson-clad woman grinned in unison, their claws crackling with violet energy. They lunged simultaneously, their attacks synchronized to trap her from all sides.

  But she was faster. Her body flickered, transforming into a crimson mist once more, slipping between the strikes with ease. As the clones’ claws met nothing but air, she reformed behind Pallurad, her cold voice echoing through the chamber.

  “You’re predictable.”

  Her hand surged with scarlet energy, crashing into his back. Pallurad’s eyes widened as the force sent him sprawling across the stone floor, his clones dissipating into shadows. He skidded to a stop, his body flickering uncontrollably.

  Buxia’s third eye gleamed with violet light as he observed the exchange, his posture unmoving. “So you possess blood manipulation,” he mused. “A rare gift, even among the Crimson Sect. But that won’t be enough.”

  The tattooed man stepped forward, his golden markings igniting with power. “I warned you,” he said, his voice calm yet lethal. “You should have left.” He punched the air, and the space around his fist warped, ripples distorting reality itself. The shockwave tore through the chamber, heading straight for Buxia.

  Buxia’s three eyes narrowed. The air around him shimmered, bending as if light itself was being sucked in. The shockwave collided with an invisible barrier and exploded, the force dissipating harmlessly around him.

  The tattooed man’s gaze hardened.

  “Spatial distortion. You’re a Void Manipulator Race.”

  Buxia’s lips curled into a cold smile.

  “Correct. And you’re from the Hallowed Tribes. I’ve heard stories about your kind… masters of space and time.” His eyes gleamed. “This will be entertaining.”

  His aura expanded, the space around him twisting as if reality were being rewritten. The ancient runes on the walls flickered erratically, reacting to his power.

  “I am Buxia, a rank C member of the federation. People call me the the Void Sovereign!”

  He declared, his voice resonating through the chamber.

  “And you will fall before me.”

  The tattooed man’s golden markings pulsed with light, his eyes locked on Buxia.

  “I am Zolrak, warrior of the hallowed tribes, son of the great Ol’Zahir.”

  He replied, his stance unwavering. “Your title means nothing to me.”

  Pallurad staggered to his feet, his body still flickering as he stabilized his form. His eyes burned with fury.

  “You… you dare to humiliate me woman?”

  His body split again, this time into five clones that surrounded the crimson woman.

  “You’ll regret that.”