ATPnovel Chapter 478 A Dilemma! Compromise!
Chapter 478 A Dilemma! Compromise!
Chen Fan froze.
All attacks ceased at that moment. The fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators surrounded him, and the killing array's net of light completely sealed off all escape routes.
Tianxiangzi, however, fell into the hands of Young Master Wang.
"Let her go." Chen Fan's voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Release her?" Young Master Wang sneered. "Sure. Seal your cultivation and surrender, and I'll release her. Otherwise..." He applied slight pressure with the short sword, and a thin line of blood seeped from Tian Xiangzi's fair neck.
Tianxiangzi shook her head with difficulty, her eyes filled with anxiety and pleading. Her lips moved slightly, silently saying, "Don't worry about me... Let's go..."
Chen Fan looked into her eyes, then glanced at the fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators eyeing him menacingly, and at the layers of killing formations.
go?
How do I get there?
Although the golden bowl could help him escape, it was absolutely impossible for it to take Tianxiangzi with it at the same time.
If he escapes alone, Tianxiangzi will surely die.
He recalled her stubbornness when she pursued him across borders, her determination when she burned her divine soul to protect the Great Abyss, and the complex look in her eyes when she woke up in the Grass Valley, asking, "So what if he's a eunuch?"
This silly girl...
Chen Fan slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his eyes were filled with a calm, deathly stillness.
He dispersed his spiritual energy and gave up resisting!
"Fine." He uttered two words, "We surrender. Let her go."
"Chen Fan! No!" Tian Xiangzi cried out in tears, struggling to say something, but Wang Gongzi sealed her speech acupoint.
A glint of wild joy and cruelty flashed in Young Master Wang's eyes: "Excellent! Discretion is the better part of valor. Senior Qinglian, seal his cultivation!"
Qinglian Daoist stepped forward and used his whisk to strike Chen Fan's major acupoints, sending several sealing talismans into his body and completely imprisoning his nascent soul.
Zhou Shan then took out a specially made chain and tied Chen Fan's hands behind his back. The chain was covered in runes that were specifically designed to suppress the spiritual energy circulation of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Chen Fan did not resist, letting them do as they pleased. His gaze remained fixed on Tian Xiangzi.
"Now, can you release them?" he asked calmly.
Young Master Wang laughed, a laugh filled with malice: "Release her? Did I say I would release her? I only said that if you surrender, I wouldn't kill her. I didn't say I would release her."
He sheathed his short sword and patted Tian Xiangzi's pale cheek: "Such a beautiful woman is also excellent material for furnaces and puppets. Coincidentally, one of the patriarchs of my Wang family's main branch enjoys collecting such 'collectibles'."
"You!" Chen Fan's eyes were bloodshot as he tried to struggle, but his cultivation was sealed and he was bound by chains, making it impossible for him to move.
"Don't get excited," Young Master Wang said smugly. "You two, an old eunuch and a beauty, make a perfect pair. I'll turn you into puppets and keep you by my side forever, so you can witness firsthand how I take control of this sealed land and how I raze the Great Abyss to the ground! Hahaha!"
Amidst the maniacal laughter, Daoist Qinglian stepped forward and placed a seal on Tianxiangzi as well.
The last glimmer of light in Tianxiangzi's eyes dimmed, leaving only endless despair and sorrow as she looked at Chen Fan.
Chen Fan met her gaze and slowly, very slightly, shook his head.
Young Master Wang stared at Chen Fan and Tian Xiangzi, who were bound by chains and had their spiritual power completely sealed, his eyes filled with pleasure.
"Senior Qinglian, Guest Elder Zhou," however, with more important matters at hand, he turned to look at the center of the formation, "The time has come, let's not delay important matters for these two prisoners. Let's open the seal."
The Azure Lotus Daoist nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over Chen Fan, a subtle, complex emotion flashing across his face.
He had been entangled with this old eunuch for many years, from stealing the sword tomb's inheritance to sealing off the Qingyun Sect, and now to their life-or-death struggle. Although he hated him, he also felt a sense of apprehension.
With the greater good at hand, he suppressed his distracting thoughts and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, return to your positions and fully activate the Eight Extremes Breaking Formation Diagram!"
The fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators dispersed once more, each taking their place at one of the eight corners of the array. Young Master Wang stood in the center, his bronze array plate gleaming brightly. Vast spiritual energy surged from the fourteen of them, flowing into the intricate array patterns on the ground.
Eight battle flags fluttered in the wind, their runes moving as if alive, echoing the moonlight.
A deeper, more muffled rumble came from the ground, as if an ancient behemoth was struggling to awaken from its seal. The ground beneath the Qingyun Sect's mountain gate began to tremble violently, cracks spreading like a spiderweb. Deep within the cracks, a faint, dark red light shone through, carrying an ancient, savage, and chillingly sinister aura.
Although Chen Fan's cultivation was sealed, his eyesight and perception remained. He quietly watched the gradually appearing dark red array patterns, and his heart sank suddenly.
The layout of the array patterns and the rules governing the flow of the nodes bear a striking resemblance to the ancient array fragment that Qingxiazi visited him late at night in the Qingyun Sect's cave, asking him to study it together!
At that time, Qingxiazi, under the pretext of "studying ancient formations," took out a fragment of a map, her words evasive, her eyes revealing a mixture of probing and eagerness.
Although Chen Fan could tell that the fragmented map was extraordinary, and later discovered that it was related to a major secret of the sealed land, he chose to turn a blind eye at the time, adhering to the idea of avoiding karma and protecting himself!
"So... her real purpose in seeking out our family to study formations was to break the seal of the Soul Refining Sect's ancestor today." Chen Fan sneered inwardly, yet a bitter realization dawned on him.
The principles of cause and effect are profound and difficult to explain.
He thought he had avoided the cause and effect of Qingxiazi and was unwilling to get involved in the entanglement between the extraterrestrial forces and the Soul Refining Sect. However, after going around in circles, from his involvement in the game between the Eight Sects and the extraterrestrial forces, to Tianxiangzi being seriously injured and needing to find Soul Nourishing Wood and Vitality Elixir, and now being imprisoned for trying to prevent the seal from being broken... this invisible thread had long since bound him tightly to the core of the seal.
"Even if you turn a blind eye, the cause and effect will still find you... Is this the cycle of heaven and earth?" Chen Fan remained silent.
At this moment, the array patterns on the ground were fully revealed, forming a gigantic blood-red array covering an area of hundreds of feet in radius. At the core of the array, eight thick, dark red beams of light shot into the sky, converging in the night sky and slowly rotating to form a vortex that was slowly tearing open.
Deep within the vortex, layers upon layers of extremely complex sealing runes could be vaguely seen flowing, annihilating, and recombining.
"The entrance to the seal has appeared!" Zhou Shan shouted, his eyes flashing with excitement.
A fanatical look appeared on Young Master Wang's face: "Continue to inject spiritual energy! Stabilize the entrance!"
The fourteen Nascent Soul cultivators dared not slack off, and their spiritual energy output became even more intense.
The crimson vortex gradually stabilized, and a blurry gate of light formed at its center. The scene inside the gate was distorted and indistinct, only revealing an even more ancient and desolate aura, as well as... a faint but powerful pressure that made all the Nascent Soul cultivators tremble.
The oppressive aura was like that of a ferocious beast that had been dormant for countless ages; even a mere wisp of it caused everyone present to gasp for breath.
"The patriarch of the Soul Refining Sect... is indeed still alive!" The Azure Lotus Daoist's voice was hoarse, his eyes filled with both fear and a hint of greed.