Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 445 Our family still needs your plans! The life-and-death situation reappears!

Wang Tiangang trembled with rage: "You... what else do you want?"

Chen Fan thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "The complete diagram of the Eight Extremes Breaking Formation, and your specific plan for breaking the formation."

"What!" Wang Tiangang's expression changed drastically. "You...how do you know about the Eight Extremes Breaking Formation Diagram?"

"There are some rubbings in Zhao Wuji's storage bag," Chen Fan said calmly. "I'm very curious about how you plan to break the seal of the Soul Refining Sect's ancestor."

Wang Tiangang stared intently at Chen Fan, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

The Eight Extremes Formation Breaking Diagram is the greatest secret of the eight major families, and the plan to break the formation is a millennium-long scheme.

If this gets leaked, the consequences will be unimaginable!

But Young Master Wang had no choice but to save him!

He gritted his teeth and said, "I can give you the Eight Extremes Formation Breaking Diagram, but the plan to break the formation... is of great importance, and I cannot divulge it."

"Then there's nothing to talk about." Chen Fan turned to leave.

"Wait!" Wang Tiangang said urgently, "I can tell you part of the plan to break the formation, but not the core details!"

Chen Fan stopped and turned to look at him: "Tell me about it."

Wang Tiangang took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "The sealing power will be weakest on the night of the full moon six months from now. At that time, the eight major families and eight sects will join forces and use the Eight Extremes Breaking Formation Diagram as the core to cast spells at the eight array eyes in the sealed area at the same time, which will tear open a gap and allow entry into the core of the seal."

"Eight key points of the formation?" Chen Fan asked. "The exact locations?"

"This..." Wang Tiangang hesitated.

"Fine, then don't say anything." Chen Fan was about to leave again.

"I'll tell you!" Wang Tiangang gritted his teeth, "The eight array nodes are located beneath the mountain gates of the Qingyun Sect, Changchun Sect, Lingxi Sect, Fu Sect, Qi Sect, Zixia Mountain, Jingang Sect, and Xuanqing Sect! Each array node requires at least two Nascent Soul cultivators to be stationed there, simultaneously activating the sub-maps of the Eight Extremes Breaking Array Diagram in order to activate the main array!"

A glint of light flashed in Chen Fan's eyes.

That's it!

Beneath the gates of the Eight Sects lies the sealing array's core! No wonder the Eight Great Families sought to win over the Eight Sects, and no wonder the people of the Eight Sects readily agreed!

"And what happens after you enter the core of the seal?" Chen Fan asked again, "How will you deal with the Soul Refining Sect's patriarch?"

"This..." Wang Tiangang shook his head. "I don't know. The plan ends here. What happens next can only be decided after we enter the core of the seal."

Chen Fan stared at him for a moment, making sure he wasn't lying, before nodding: "Alright, I'll exchange the Soul Nourishing Wood, 100,000 high-grade spirit stones, and the complete Eight Extremes Breaking Array Diagram for Young Master Wang."

Wang Tiangang breathed a sigh of relief: "The array diagram is at my residence; I need to go back and retrieve it. I will return in three days, at which time we will exchange the hostages."

"Alright," Chen Fan said, "but let me remind Fellow Daoist Wang, don't try anything funny. If anything happens to Young Master Wang in my hands, he'll be the first to die."

Wang Tiangang's face darkened: "I, Wang, keep my word!"

"Then see you in three days." Chen Fan cupped his hands in greeting.

Wang Tiangang gave him a deep look, then glanced at Qingmu and Chiyan before transforming into a streak of purple light that shot into the sky and disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Only after he left did the soldiers watching from the city wall breathe a sigh of relief.

The pressure from that late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was truly terrifying. If it weren't for the presence of the two guest elders from Baicaotang, they probably wouldn't even be able to stand.

Aoki looked at Chen Fan, his eyes filled with inquiry: "Fellow Daoist, do you really intend to make an exchange with him?"

"Why not change it?" Chen Fan countered. "The Nourishing Divine Wood is something our family desperately needs, and the Eight Extremes Breaking Formation Diagram is even more crucial. As for Young Master Wang... keeping him around is just a bargaining chip."

Chi Yan grinned and said, "The expression on the face of the Wang family patriarch just now was truly fascinating. He probably didn't expect that Baicaotang would stand on Dayuan's side."

Chen Fan looked at the two men and solemnly cupped his hands in thanks: "Thank you both for today."

"It's my duty," Aoki returned the greeting. "Since Baicaotang is cooperating with Dayuan, it's only right that we protect Dayuan. However..."

He paused, then said in a low voice, "The eight great families have grand schemes, fellow Daoist, you must be careful. The Wang family patriarch retreated today because of the Hundred Herbs Hall. But if it really comes to breaking the formation, they may not care anymore."

Chen Fan nodded: "We understand."

The three exchanged a few more words and then returned to the imperial city together.

On the city wall, Emperor Jianwen came forward to greet him: "Master, are you alright?"

"It's alright," Chen Fan said. "The hostage exchange will take place in three days. Get ready."

"Yes." Emperor Jianwen replied, then looked at Qingmu and Chiyan, "We owe a great debt to you two seniors today."

"Your Majesty is too kind," Aoki said with a smile. "Now that we are stationed here, we should do our best."

After everyone returned to the palace, Chen Fan went to the quiet room alone.

He sat cross-legged and took out the Spirit-Nourishing Wood given to him by Wang Tiangang. Holding the dark wood branch in his hand, the warm and gentle spiritual power slowly seeped into his sea of ​​consciousness, calming his mind.

"With this, Tianxiangzi's injuries will heal even further," Chen Fan murmured. "But the Vitality Elixir..."

Chen Fan shook his head slightly.

It's extremely difficult to find the Vitality Elixir; even in the Southern Region, it's hard to come by!

He sighed, no longer wanting to think about it, and then vanished in a flash!

It was already afternoon in the bowl.

Chen Fan, who had returned to the bowl, intended to go directly to the place where Young Master Wang was imprisoned, but he suddenly stopped when he passed the spirit field on the west side.

Two figures were working in the fields.

One of them was Shi San, dressed in a coarse cloth short jacket, barefoot on the sacred soil, bending over to pull weeds. His movements were not fast, but steady and powerful, each movement perfectly timed.

The sunlight fell on his bronze skin, giving it a strange, warm glow, as if it were not flesh and blood, but jade polished over many years.

The other person was Xiao Die, dressed in a plain white dress, squatting by the edge of the field tidying up the weeds she had just pulled. She was slender and moved with light steps, her long hair casually tied up with a wooden hairpin, revealing her fair neck. Despite being a spirit, she showed no discomfort in the sunlight, instead, she was surrounded by a faint, moonlit glow.

Chen Fan had only glanced at it casually, but that glance made his pupils shrink slightly.

With each blade of grass Shi San plucked, a faint wisp of "vital energy" emanated from his body. This vital energy was neither true essence nor spiritual energy, but a more primal life force, like spring buds breaking through the soil, like a newborn animal, pure and vigorous.

This energy, when it seeped into the spiritual soil, caused the surrounding spiritual plants to sway slightly, as if they were being nourished.

Xiao Die was surrounded by a faint "death aura." This death aura was not sinister or terrifying, but rather exuded a tranquil peace, like autumn leaves returning to their roots, like the end of a long night, calm and profound.

As she cleared the weeds, a deathly aura quietly circulated, and the weeds that were pulled out quickly withered and turned into nutrients to return to the soil.

This was not surprising, after all, Shi San was an immortal with a long life force!

Xiao Die is a female ghost, shrouded in deathly aura, each belonging to their own path.

To Chen Fan's surprise, these two completely opposite auras quietly converged in the fields.

Shi San's life force, like a gentle stream, seeped into the spiritual soil but did not dissipate. Instead, it flowed slowly along the earth's veins, eventually converging on the ridge where Xiao Die was located. Xiao Die's death energy, like a thin mist, enveloped the withered weeds, extracting the remaining vitality from them and transforming it into purer nutrients to nourish the spiritual field.

Life and death, coming and going, have formed a subtle cycle within this small field.