Chapter 427 - 410: Immortal Jade Obtained, the Fortress Falls
A rain of fire filled the sky, pouring down!
Whether beast or cultivator, all suffered heavy casualties beneath the fiery downpour!
CRACKLE.
Wei Yang raised a protective barrier around himself, deflecting the rain of magma.
A dazed look appeared in his eyes as he muttered, ’The Array... it’s broken?’
’The timing was so precise... I’ve never heard of Yinshan having such skill in Arrays... Did he see the blueprints for the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array?!’
’What the hell?’
’Even I’ve never seen them... Does the Candle Python Cave have a mole high up in the Flame Alliance?’
Wei Yang was in disbelief, an expression of utter bitterness covering his face.
...
WHOOSH!
After the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array shattered,
Yinshan’s figure flickered and, in an instant, appeared above Su Ye.
"Junior..."
"Hand over the Nether River Soul Gold, and I will grant you a... hmm?"
’A fake?!’
Yinshan frowned slightly.
He pressed his palm down, turning "Su Ye" into a puddle of clear water!
"Fast little runner..."
"But what good will it do?"
He snorted coldly, took out a talisman, and formed a seal. The talisman shot up like a darting fish, then pointed in a specific direction!
That direction was... inside the Black Flame Fortress?!
"Oh...?"
’This junior is rather interesting.’
A playful look crossed Yinshan’s face.
WHOOSH.
His body twisted, transforming into a gust of blackish-green demonic wind that surged into the Black Flame Fortress.
Wherever the demonic wind passed, cultivators collapsed, their faces turning a deathly green-black. They clawed madly at their throats in agony, suffocating to death!
However, Wei Yang’s luck was good.
Yinshan didn’t head in his direction, allowing him to survive.
But...
"Mr. Wei."
"Fancy meeting you here."
CLACK. The sound of leather boots.
A cultivator in black robes with a sinister expression stepped out of the shadows.
He held out his hands, and two curved blades burning with purple fire materialized!
"Shangguan Zhi!"
Wei Yang’s gaze turned sharp instantly!
"Why? Why betray the Flame Alliance!"
"Betrayal?"
The corner of Shangguan Zhi’s mouth curved into an undisguised smirk.
CRACKLE.
The skin on his face twisted and contorted, revealing a different face!
"Dark Snake of the Candle Python Cave, at your service."
Wei Yang’s expression changed drastically.
His colleague had been replaced by a spy from the Candle Python Cave at some unknown time?!
"Thanks to certain idiots, I not only made a huge profit but also got my hands on the blueprints several years early, ending my infiltration mission!"
Dark Snake cracked his neck, a mocking sneer on his face.
Then, Dark Snake looked at Wei Yang and chuckled.
"Mr. Wei."
"We were colleagues, after all. How about... you lend me your head so I can claim some credit?"
SHING!
The purple-flamed scimitars slashed through the air toward Wei Yang!
"In your dreams!"
Wei Yang’s eyes narrowed as he summoned his magical treasure.
The two Core Formation cultivators went all out in a magical duel!
Meanwhile, after suffering tens of thousands of casualties, the insectoid army finally forged a path across the Magma River with their own bodies.
These fearless, engineered monsters dug their sharp limbs into the fortress walls and swarmed upwards, clashing with the fortress’s cultivators!
But this time, the cultivators had no Array to aid them.
They could only rely on the fortress’s terrain to fight a life-and-death battle against the numerically superior insectoid swarm!
"Kill!"
"These damned bugs!"
"Ah! My leg..."
The entire Black Flame Fortress instantly became a hellscape of blood and carnage!
...
「At that moment.」
Inside the fortress.
WHOOSH.
A ghostly blue Escape Light shot past like a bolt of lightning.
It was Su Ye.
Now, the power was completely out inside the fortress.
The silvery-white hatches lacked a power supply and couldn’t open on their own, so Su Ye simply ignored them and smashed his way through with his fourth-tier physical body, forging a path!
Just like that, after a dozen breaths,
he arrived at the Luotian Array node!
Su Ye made a grabbing motion with his hand toward the silvery-white metal cylinder. "Come to me!"
BUZZ!
His Divine Sense surged, activating the half-finished miniature Array at full power!
Pulled by the force, the Liangyi Immortal Jade flew out and landed in Su Ye’s hand!
The moment the immortal jade was in his grasp, Su Ye turned and fled without hesitation!
HUM!
Behind him, the silvery-white cylinder flickered as immense amounts of Spiritual Power began to run rampant!
Due to the tight schedule, Su Ye had to take shortcuts when building the insulation layer, omitting many of its intended functions!
For example:
This insulation layer could only protect Su Ye and the Liangyi Immortal Jade.
It offered almost no support to the stability of the Luotian Array node!
What’s more,
to avoid aiding the enemy,
Su Ye had pocketed the other fourth-tier Spiritual Object that was supposed to be used as a replacement.
’That’s just slander!’
’I left it there!’
’Yinshan was clearly the one who took it!’
’It has nothing to do with me!’
—To deceive others, one must first deceive themself.
In any case, with no replacement Spiritual Object to stabilize the Luotian Array node,
it began to collapse the moment the Liangyi Immortal Jade was removed!
And the most direct consequence of this collapse was...
SWOOSH!
Su Ye’s Escape Light shot out of the Black Flame Fortress and landed on the nearby sea. The pitch-black Ghostly Flood Dragon rose from the water to meet him.
Then, a breath later!
BOOM!
A terrifying explosion thundered out!
The entire Black Flame Fortress seemed to jump as the earth trembled and the mountains shook!
The good news!
A lot of the insectoid beasts were killed!
The bad news... eh, never mind. It would tarnish Mr. Su’s glorious image, so let’s not talk about it!
"Jiaojiao, let’s go, fast!" Su Ye didn’t even look back, urging the Ghostly Flood Dragon to flee at top speed toward the distant sea!
Time to run!
The Liangyi Immortal Jade was secured.
Now he was only a few months away from fully nurturing the divine seed!
Next,
he just needed to find a safe place, install the Liangyi Immortal Jade on the Ghostly Flood Dragon, and wait out these next few months to ascend to the Golden Core realm!
As for some great sea war... to hell with that!
SWOOSH!
The Ghostly Flood Dragon sped along, navigating at extreme speed thanks to Su Ye’s ability to see through the Luotian Maze!
But just then!
"Junior!"
"Don’t even think about leaving!"
Riding his flying sword, Yinshan transformed into a blackish-green Escape Light and gave chase relentlessly!
This Golden Core expert’s Tunneling Speed was incredibly fast, no slower than the Ghostly Flood Dragon. One pursued while the other fled, and in the blink of an eye, they had covered hundreds of miles!
’He’s fast...’
’And his combat power is...’
A flicker of surprise and doubt crossed Su Ye’s eyes.
’Even stronger than the Divine Incarnations, Shadow Binding and Blood Dragon?!’
The conclusion drawn from his Divine Sense assessment startled Su Ye!
Even though Yinshan was only at the Early-stage Golden Core, the threat he posed was by no means small!
There was a simple reason for this!
The blackish-green airflow swirling around Yinshan emanated the Power of Rules. This Power of Rules formed a Golden Core Realm, allowing him to leverage the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!
Thus, it granted the Golden Core cultivator an extremely powerful enhancement!
’That’s it!’
’The Jade Light Golden Cores aren’t burdened by sin.’
’The will of the world treats them impartially. Unlike the deities, they aren’t despised by the world’s will.’
’At the same realm, a Jade Light Golden Core can use the Power of Rules to leverage the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi for self-enhancement, making them more powerful than a Southern Divine Incarnation!’
Also, there was another reason.
The Jade Light World was a higher-tier world than the Far South World!
It was like comparing two presidents—the positions were equivalent.
But the difference between the President of the United States and the President of South Korea needs no further explanation, does it?
In summary,
a Jade Light Golden Core was generally a small tier stronger than a Southern Divine Incarnation.
’In that case, if I were facing a Mid-stage Golden Core, it would probably be difficult for me to score a kill...’ Su Ye assessed internally.
’However...’
’An Early-stage Golden Core is still within my kill range!’
A smile returned to his face.
HUM!
The Ghostly Flood Dragon slowed down and turned around.
"Done running?"
Yinshan caught up, his expression calm and composed.
"Junior, offer up the Nether River Soul Gold, open your Divine Sense, and allow me to plant a restriction. I’ll grant you a way out alive!"
Yinshan was certain of his victory. A Golden Core against a Core Formation? This was a guaranteed win!
But,
in the next moment,
Su Ye looked at him.
A hint of mockery rose in his eyes.
"The one who should be running,"
"is you!"
For some reason,
Yinshan suddenly felt his heart clench violently!
Was that... a sense of crisis?!