No one expected Ye Chang'an to suddenly strike.
Ye Linchong was already suffering from the dark poison's invasion, and his spiritual energy was scattered and chaotic. Caught completely off guard, he could barely dodge.
The palm, carrying thick malevolent energy, slammed heavily against the side of his head. He let out a muffled groan as his vision suddenly went pitch black. A mouthful of blood sprayed onto the ground, and his body fell forward heavily, completely devoid of strength.
Ye Chongguang's eyes darkened instantly, and he flipped his palm to strike out ruthlessly.
A fierce wind swept through the room. With a loud bang, Ye Chang'an was slammed backward into the cold wall before falling back onto the couch, pinned down securely by a spiritual energy restriction.
Ye Chongguang rushed forward and bent down to check Ye Linchong's pulse.
The dark poison was already surging through his meridians toward his heart. Furthermore, that palm strike just now had damaged his soul's origin, making it hard to say if his life could even be saved.
His brow instantly knitted into a tight knot. He first channeled a strand of pure spiritual energy to stabilize the dark poison inside Ye Linchong as much as possible, then turned his attention to Ye Chang'an on the couch. The coldness in his eyes deepened.
This wasn't someone suffering from dark poison at all—she had clearly refined him into a puppet!
His previous weakness and swoon were entirely a disguise, waiting for the exact moment they transferred the poison and let their guard down to strike!
If Ye Linchong hadn't taken his place, the one afflicted by the dark poison and injured right now would likely have been him!
What a cunning girl, to orchestrate such a play to make them slaughter each other.
Had he known, he shouldn't have been so greedy. Just to let her cultivation reach a higher level and to allow the dark poison and puppetry within her to fuse more thoroughly, he had kept her on Black Cloud Mountain.
And now, she had actually grown to such a terrifying extent!
His fists clenched inside his sleeves. Just then, stumbling footsteps sounded from outside the door, accompanied by panicked cries that shattered the dead silence of the hall. “Pavilion Master! This is bad! Pavilion Master!”
Ye Chongguang raised his hand, and the doors slammed open. Suppressing his anger, he barked, “What is it now?!”
The disciple outside was pale as death. He fell to his knees with a thud, his voice trembling uncontrollably. “Pavilion Master! The Fourth Elder... the Fourth Elder sent word! He says Black Cloud Mountain was a trap! There's an ambush!”
“What?!” Ye Chongguang's expression shifted.
The disciple said in terror, “Not long after the Second Elder left with the Young Master, Wen Tang suddenly charged out with those puppets and caught them completely off guard! Both elders who stayed behind were injured, and over half of our disciples were lost! It took everything they had just to suppress them, and the situation is still looking grim!”
Ye Chongguang's face instantly turned ash-pale, looking incredibly grim.
To capture a single Wen Tang, they had actually lost three elders!
One of the Taiqing Pavilion's trump cards was the evil-shackling formation jointly practiced by five of their elders. Losing one was manageable, but losing three meant this trump card was effectively useless!
Those personal disciples from the Nine Saints Hall were truly troublesome!
Even when scattered like this, each of them was like a stubborn thorn that couldn't be pulled out, popping up to prick them at any moment!
His vision went dark with rage, but he made a decision almost instantly. “Take the Young Master back to the main hall. Set up our highest-grade evil-suppressing formation and seal his sea of consciousness. Under no circumstances must he be allowed to send any messages to Wen Tang!”
“Also, order the Sixth Elder to immediately lead reinforcements to Black Cloud Mountain. If necessary, wipe out everyone on Black Cloud Mountain! Including Wen Tang!”
Although extracting her dark poison and puppetry while she was alive would be more effective, they could no longer afford to care about that in their current situation!
A corpse would at least be obedient and cause no further trouble.
After giving his orders, he turned and rushed toward the back mountain.
Deep within the mountain cavern, seventeen layers of restrictions were stacked upon one another.
He raised his palm, and the barrier opened, releasing a thick wave of blackish-purple mist that rushed toward him.
In the exact center stood a green stone sacrificial altar carved with twisted and bizarre ancient runes. Dark energy slowly circulated along the lines of the patterns.
Stepping onto the altar, Ye Chongguang took out two sticks of incense from his sleeve and placed them firmly into the serpent-headed censer at the corner.
Eerie blue flames licked the incense sticks, and deep purple smoke curled upward, slowly gathering and churning in the center.
As the mist swirled, a tall, black-robed figure materialized from the smoke. His loose robes draped down like spilled ink, and his hood was pulled down extremely low, hiding his entire face in deep shadow without revealing a single feature.
A bone-chilling, cold aura radiated from him. At a speed visible to the naked eye, the entire cavern was coated in a layer of white frost. Even the mountain breeze seemed to freeze and stall in an instant, and the chirping of insects across the mountain fell into a dead silence.
Ye Chongguang shuddered. He hurriedly dropped to his knees, bending his back extremely low in a respectful and reverent posture. “Disciple Ye Chongguang respectfully welcomes the Immortal Venerable.”
A hoarse, deep voice echoed from beneath the black robe, sounding like a blunt instrument scraping together, flat and devoid of any warmth. “This immortal bestowed upon you the immortal path's secret arts to assist you in ruling the Tianshu Realm. Yet, your greed was insatiable, and you coveted the dark poison. Now that you have ended up empty-handed on both fronts, you have only yourself to blame.”
An invisible pressure bore down heavily with his words. Ye Chongguang's back was pressed almost flat against the ground, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, yet he did not even dare to breathe heavily.
He lowered himself even further, defending himself in panic. “Immortal Venerable, please appease your anger. It was not out of greed on my part. Rather, that Extreme Yin Sacred Body, Wen Tang, was born with dark poison. I only used her body to nurture my puppetry and fuse the dark poison along the way. Who could have known... who could have known that her soul would have an anomaly and break free of my control? It was a momentary miscalculation on my part. I beg the Immortal Venerable to forgive my offense.”
Seeing the figure above remain silent, he gritted his teeth and kowtowed heavily, pleading earnestly. “Now, the Beiyao Sect watches us like a tiger stalking its prey, and the remnants of the Nine Saints Hall are eager to make their move. I cannot hold the line alone. I beg the Immortal Venerable to lend me your strength once more to help me stabilize the situation. I will surely capture Wen Tang and Chen Qingqiu as quickly as possible!”
The black-robed figure stood silently, looking down and staring at him with utter indifference.
After a long pause, he finally raised his sleeve as if bestowing a meager favor.
A strand of solid blackish-purple spiritual light flew out from his sleeve, burrowing into the space between Ye Chongguang's brows like a small snake.
“This is your last chance. If you fail again, this immortal will extract your soul and refine it into a puppet.”
Ye Chongguang felt a surge of power coursing through his entire body, nearly bursting through the shackles of his meridians. He could faintly sense signs of an impending breakthrough!
Forcefully suppressing the wild joy in his heart, he kowtowed heavily onto the altar. “This disciple thanks the Immortal Venerable for his grace! I will surely not fail your trust!”
...
Song Yao was pulled out of the elixir cauldron by her collar.
Holding an elixir manual with bleary eyes, she suddenly snapped awake the moment she saw who was pulling her. After a couple of struggles, she shrunk her head back inside and looked at him warily. “Fourth Junior Brother? Why are you here? Don't you have to draw talismans and teach them today?”
Xie Zhou stood beside the elixir cauldron, his light green Daoist robes pristine and spotless.
Seeing her curled up into a ball inside the cauldron, his jaw tightened slightly. His face grew a bit paler, his long eyelashes trembling gently as he lowered his voice. “Are you really that afraid of me?”
Her Fourth Junior Brother was always showing this kind of expression, looking as if he were about to cry.
She couldn't bear to see him like this, so she immediately waved her hands. “No, of course not. I...”
Before she could finish, Xie Zhou interrupted her. “Is it because I kissed you?”
Song Yao: “...”
Hiss.
If she remembered correctly, there were still several Beiyao Sect cultivators in this elixir room, right?
Even with the cauldron separating them, she could feel several gazes drifting over, intentionally or otherwise.
Wait, no.
Wasn't Fourth Junior Brother's skin always the thinnest before?
Has he completely lost his mind now?
Rate on N.U.
