Xiaoyue Secondary Residence, Love Flower Valley:
As “Ambush from Ten Sides” came to an end, with the killing of all the skeleton soldiers, Xiaoyue Secondary Residence also slowly turned quiet.
Venerable Liu Nian let out a long breath.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud sound rang out in Granny Qing Hua’s direction.
“Huh?” Venerable Liu Nian turned his head and looked.
“Get in formation!” Chu Chen shouted.
“Hah!” two thousand-odd Metal Division disciples shouted in response.
Suddenly, two thousand-odd swords flew out, looking like an enormous flower made of swords as they pressed down on Venerable Liu Nian.
Boom!
The Metal Division disciples drove their swords telepathically with their energy, setting up a sword formation to suppress Venerable Liu Nian.
“You bastard!” Venerable Liu Nian glared.
However, the sword formation was already completed. Two thousand-odd Metal Division disciples suppressed Venerable Liu Nian together.
If it were two or ten or one hundred Metal Division disciples, Venerable Liu Nian would not care. However, the two thousand-odd Metal Division disciples working together created a powerful formation that immediately suppressed Venerable Liu Nian.
“What are you doing? Chu Chen, you really are a spy?” Venerable Liu Nian shouted while glaring.
“Hah!” the Metal Division disciples shouted as one, pressing down harder.
Eighteen Buddhist prayer beads flew out when Venerable Liu Nian extended his hand, blocking the sword formation.
Chu Chen ignored Venerable Liu Nian. Instead, he stepped forward and flew towards Granny Qing Hua.
“What are you looking at? Why are you not helping out?” Venerable Liu Nian shouted to the hundreds of Wood Division disciples in the surroundings as he glared.
“Right, right!” The Wood Division disciples rushed over in a fluster.
Then, the Metal Division disciples who had not participated in the sword formation drew their swords and clashed with the Wood Division disciples.
Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang! A metallic clangor rang out.
“Oh, no! Oh, no! Break!” Venerable Liu Nian showed a ferocious expression. Then, the Buddhist prayer beads in his hand enlarged, erupting with a great force that immediately shook the sword formation, on the verge of breaking the formation at any moment.
Just at this moment, Chu Chen shouted in the distance.
“Metal counters wood. Heptagold Energy, chop!”
Boom!
“Chu Chen?” Granny Qing Hua roared furiously.
“Duke, hurry! Huangfu Chaoge is about to flee!” Chu Chen shouted.
Venerable Liu Nian’s expression changed dramatically. Then, he suddenly yelled, “Break!”
Boom!
The sword formation exploded under the immense force, shattering the two thousand-odd swords into pieces.
“Argh!”
Venerable Liu Nian’s attack knocked back all the Metal Division disciples involved in the sword formation.
Venerable Liu Nian felt exceptionally angry. However, he only glanced at the Metal Division disciples before ignoring them and charging after Chu Chen.
Outside the Thorny Ritual Array:
Chu Chen’s shout suddenly pulled everyone out of their immersion in “Ambush from Ten Sides.”
Duke Lu Yang narrowed his eyes and looked coldly at the Thorny Ritual Array before him.
“Huangfu Chaoge is trying to run? Humph! Unborn Man, break the Thorny Ritual Array.” Duke Lu Yang sat down slowly, showing a cold expression.
Among the group of strangely dressed people standing beside Duke Lu Yang’s throne on the flying ship, one wore robes divided into black on one side and white on the other.
Right after Duke Lu Yang finished speaking, that half-black-half-white-robed figure strode forward. It was the Unborn Man who had rushed out of the Thousand Islands Sea.
“Duke, this is the second time I am making a move. Do remember that,” the Unborn Man said indifferently.
“Just hurry up,” Duke Lu Yang prompted.
The Unborn Man continued moving forward slowly. Not far away, Army Breaker stepped back.
The Unborn Man walked over to the bow and looked at the Thorny Ritual Array, which was stronger than city walls. Then, he gently extended his right hand, which appeared withered, looking like just skin and bones. Age marks also covered that hand.
The Unborn Man stretched out his withered right hand and took a deep breath.
“Unfortunately, you cannot enjoy the lifespan bestowed by heaven. Return it,” the Unborn Man said softly.
At this moment, the Unborn Man did not speak with two voices but only an aged voice carrying a certain rhythm. When he called out, a cold wind blew in the surroundings, turning the atmosphere incredibly sinister. It was already night in the first place. Now, the night looked even colder and more sinister.
Then, the Unborn Man swiped his hand across, appearing to tear space apart. Surging black energy poured out of the tear, rushing towards the Thorny Ritual Array.
This tear seemed to open the gates to the nether realm; the surging energy of the nether realm instantly arrived at the Thorny Ritual Array.
[TL Note: The Chinese believe that the land of the living and the land of the dead have energies that oppose each other. The denizens of each place would thrive in the presence of their respective energies and be eroded by the opposing energy. It’s sort of a Yin and Yang thing. Duality is a common theme in Chinese beliefs and mythology.]
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The moment the black energy touched the Thorny Ritual Array, the Thorny Ritual Array withered.
“Unfortunately, you cannot enjoy the lifespan bestowed by heaven. Return it!”
“Unfortunately, you cannot enjoy the lifespan bestowed by heaven. Return it!”
The Unborn Man’s curse seemed to echo in the world, reverberating over and over again.
The Thorny Ritual Array in the distance quickly eroded, drying up and shriveling up.
“Plundering lifespan? This is directly plundering the Thorny Ritual Array’s lifespan?” Ao Shun’s eyelids twitched wildly.
“Plundering lifespan harms the harmony of the world. This will result in heaven’s retribution.” One of the strangely dressed people at the side frowned.
Craaaack!
The previously incredibly strong Thorny Ritual Array dried up rapidly and crumbled, falling over like dominoes as the walls of the Thorny Ritual Array toppled over.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After the Thorny Ritual Array dried up and crumbled, only dust remained, hanging in the air.
“Argh!”
“Save me!”
“No!”
Some of the treants keeping a lookout on a watchtower behind the Thorny Ritual Array let out pained cries.
As the Thorny Ritual Array crumbled, some of the treants got struck by the Unborn Man’s attack and withered, turning into dry wood as they fell to the ground.
Bang!
All the treants dried up and died. When they hit the ground, their bodies shattered.
Gasp!
Sharp gasps rang out in the surroundings.
Be it the one-million-strong army outside or the treants inside, they all appeared shocked and fearful upon seeing this scene.
“Granny, it’s over! It’s over! The Thorny Ritual Array is gone!”
“The one-million-strong army entered! The one-million-strong army entered!”
“Granny, what should we do?”
Startled cries came from Love Flower Valley.
Then, the Unborn Man withdrew his right hand.
Whoosh!
The black energy immediately returned to the tear in space.
The Unborn Man gently waved his hands, and space was normal again, looking like nothing had happened. Only the Thorny Ritual Array, which had its lifespan plundered, proved what just happened earlier.
“Duke, the ritual array is broken. Your second request is accomplished,” the Unborn Man said indifferently.
After speaking, the Unborn Man walked to the side and ignored everything else.
Duke Lu Yang looked at the Unborn Man with a somewhat complicated expression in his eyes.
“Enter the valley,” Duke Lu Yang said.
“Yes!” Loud shouts rang out in the surroundings.
The many flying ships immediately flew into the valley.
“Roar! Roar!”
The dragons roared as they rushed into the valley as well. Without the Thorny Ritual Array, they could enter easily. A strong army came attacking.
Gu Hai, Long Wanqing, Ensnaring Performance, Mu Chenfeng, and the treants showed shocked and horrified expressions.
“That’s impossible! Why did the Thorny Ritual Array break? That is something even stronger than Silver Moon City’s city walls!”
“That is Old Mister Guan Qi’s ritual array! How could the Thorny Ritual Array break?!”
“It’s over! It’s over! Duke Lu Yang’s army entered. My love flower treant race cannot escape this calamity!”
The treants cried out in horror.
“Master, how about I play ‘Ambush from Ten Sides’ again?” Ensnaring Performance asked anxiously.
“No. ‘Ambush from Ten Sides’ cannot deal with them. Ensnaring Performance, set up a sound barrier!” Gu Hai said.
“Huh? Alright!” Ensnaring Performance answered and waved his hand.
Buzz!
Suddenly, a sound barrier appeared around everyone, preventing Army Breaker from hearing.
“Gu Hai, what should we do now? Granny is in danger!” Long Wanqing appeared anxious.
However, Gu Hai showed a solemn expression as he looked at Long Wanqing and said, “Hall Master, I have already verified something.”
“What?” This startled Long Wanqing. What was there to verify at this moment?
“What Huangfu Chaoge said previously was a lie. He wanted to use us to deal with Duke Lu Yang, to have us kill each other,” Gu Hai said gravely.
“Ah? He lied to us? He lied to us? Duke Lu Yang did not kill my mother?” Long Wanqing said in shock while frowning.
“Yes. I am sure of it!” Gu Hai showed a certain expression.
“Alright, I misjudged him. However, what should we do now?” Long Wanqing asked worriedly.
Upon seeing that Long Wanqing believed him, Gu Hai inwardly released his bated breath.
“Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!”
Suddenly, many gigantic dragons, flood dragons, and baxias surrounded Gu Hai’s group under Liao Ya’s lead.
Splash! Splash!
Some of the gigantic dragons dived into the sea.
However, these dragons immediately saw that the one thousand baxias and flood dragons that had entered earlier had been reduced to piles of bones. They also saw the bones of the earlier five dragons at the bottom of the sea.
“Leader, they all died! They all turned to bones!” these dragons howled as they flew out of the sea.
The gigantic dragons carried out the bones and placed them on land. When all the dragons saw the white bones, they felt dread. Fortunately, they had run earlier.
One thousand flood dragons and baxias are gone just like that? Gone?
Liao Ya appeared furious. Then, it glared at Gu Hai’s group.
“Mister Gu, what should we do now?” a treant asked, feeling horrified.
“The Thorny Ritual Array is no longer around, but the ritual array I laid is. We can hide there for a while. Flee towards that ritual array.”
“Roar! You are still thinking of fleeing? After killing my subordinates, you still want to flee? You can forget about that. I want all of you dead!” Liao Ya roared while glowering at Gu Hai.
There were still close to one hundred dragons and five thousand flood dragons and baxias combined behind Liao Ya. At this moment, they showed a ferocious momentum. They quickly surrounded Gu Hai’s group, not letting Gu Hai’s group escape.
Gu Hai and the others showed sullen expressions. Just at this moment, Ao Shun’s voice came from afar. “The duke commands: you are not to hurt Mister Gu and the others!”
“Ah?”
“Crown Prince, they killed one thousand of my subordinates!” Liao Ya looked anxiously into the distance.
“Are you going to disobey my words? Liao Ya, are you tired of living? If any harm comes to Mister Gu, I will break your dragon horns!” Ao Shun’s voice rang out again.
Liao Ya’s expression turned stiff, depression darkening its eyes.
Then, Liao Ya turned its head and glowered at Gu Hai’s group with resentment.
At this moment, Gu Hai released his bated breath. Then, he showed Liao Ya a faint smile.
“What are you being cocky for? If not for the duke and the crown prince protecting you, I would have ripped you apart here!” Liao Ya roared while glaring.
Gu Hai ignored Liao Ya. Even though many dragons surrounded him, he did not show any fear.
“Let’s go. Head over to Granny Qing Hua!” Gu Hai led the group away, heading deeper into Love Flower Valley.
