The Most Powerful Bodyguard

As soon as the words fell, the Evil Spirit Halberd began to tremble violently.

It released a vast amount of Evil Qi of almost the same essence, rapidly condensing into the shape of an evil ghost.

After a soul-shaking roar, the evil ghost forcibly broke through the gap torn in the Array and charged madly toward Nascent Void.

Seeing this, Yang Yan’s eyes hardened; without the slightest hesitation he released the Seven-Colored Divine Pupil to block the Evil Spirit Halberd’s assault.

Only, neither Yang Yan nor Nascent Void had expected that the Evil Spirit Halberd’s strike was not actually aimed at Nascent Void—it was merely a feint; its true target was Yang Yan!

The Evil Spirit suddenly switched its direction of attack; Yang Yan secretly cried out that things were bad and hurriedly gathered all the Spiritual Power in his body for defense.

At the same time, he released a strand of Spiritual Power he had long prepared in advance to intercept it.

However, this time the Evil Spirit Halberd was truly determined to win; Yang Yan’s defense held for only a brief moment before shattering.

Yang Yan let out a muffled groan, spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the palace wall.

Boom!

The stone wall, already corroded by Evil Qi, could no longer bear the strain and collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

A few seconds later, Yang Yan, his face somewhat begrimed, struggled out from the rubble.

He clutched at the spot on his chest where he had been struck, his face deathly pale.

That blow just now was no weaker than a full-strength strike from an early Divinity Transformation cultivator; he had no idea how many of his ribs had been broken.

The terrifying part was that his blood and Qi were surging violently now, utterly beyond his control.

Yang Yan knew very well that this was because the Evil Spirit Halberd’s attack carried a strand of evil intent.

Fortunately, after their first clash, Yang Yan had already made preparations.

Otherwise, in that instant of distraction just now, he would have given the other side an opening to invade his soul, and that would have truly been troublesome.

However, after unleashing that strike, the black Qi coiling around the Evil Spirit Halberd had also become much more insubstantial.

There was no doubt that it had paid a tremendous price for that blow; it was really a move of harming the enemy by a thousand at the cost of eight hundred of its own.

Seeing this, Yang Yan couldn’t help steadying his mind, a flash of brightness passing through his eyes.

Then he did his utmost to recover while constantly keeping an eye on the Evil Spirit Halberd’s attacks.

Just then, however, a thunderous rumble like a lightning strike echoed from outside the palace.

Outside the hall, Wuyi and the others had finally failed to hold back the Evil Spirit Army’s assault; the tide-like army swarmed in and surrounded them on all sides.

In the blink of an eye, Wuyi and his group had been forced to retreat step by step, herded by the Evil Spirits into a narrow open space beside the Underground Palace, and were on the verge of being completely devoured.

Wuyi shouted loudly, "Yang Yan, hasten the repair! We can hold on for at most another quarter of an hour. When that time is up, if it is still not repaired, we will be in grave danger!"

Yang Yan said no more; he hurriedly urged Nascent Void to increase its speed.

At the same time, while resisting the Evil Spirit Halberd’s Divine Thought attacks, he also mobilized all the Wish Power within his body to assist Nascent Void in repairing the Array as much as possible.

As the Evil Spirit Halberd continued its assault, the Demonic Qi surrounding it seemed to be rapidly dissipating, and the intensity of its attacks had already dropped sharply.

Yang Yan knew in his heart that he had indeed guessed right—just now had been the Evil Spirit Halberd’s final struggle; it had already exhausted the vast majority of its strength.

At this moment it was like a spent crossbow, no longer capable of posing any threat to him.

Gradually, Nascent Void’s repairs neared their end.

Seeing this situation, the Evil Spirit Halberd let out an unwilling roar, then locked its Divine Thought onto Yang Yan and threatened, "One day, I will return! You cannot seal me, you cannot seal me..."

Nascent Void paid it no heed, and Yang Yan merely snorted in disdain.

He focused his mind once more and continuously channeled Wish Power into the Array through the Yin Yang Five Elements Array.

This time, he truly held nothing back.

As long as they could seal the Evil Spirit Halberd again, everything else would be easy to handle.

Thus they continued for a full quarter of an hour until the Array became completely saturated and would absorb no more.

Only then did Yang Yan finally let out a temporary sigh of relief.

At the same time, he asked Nascent Void to superimpose several more layers of seals, preferably Arrays capable of isolating Spiritual Sense.

Nascent Void did as he said, adding several layers of seals, and the remaining Wish Power within its body was almost completely expended.

With the great work accomplished, Yang Yan carefully checked once more; after confirming that the seals here were flawless, he finally felt at ease and led Nascent Void back to help Wuyi and the others in their fight against the Evil Spirit Army.

By this time, the Evil Spirit Army, having lost the Evil Spirit Halberd’s confusion, gradually returned to normal; they became like scattered, leaderless soldiers, no longer a real threat, and the pressure on everyone eased greatly.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yang Yan and the others pressed the attack in one go and wiped out all the Evil Spirits.

When the Evil Qi had completely dispersed, the Demon Cave once again became as it had been in the past, a place like an immortal realm.

Yang Yan then borrowed Nascent Void’s power to purify all the remaining Sha in this place, turning it into something akin to a cultivation Saint Realm.

Yet when they looked upon the scars everywhere on the ground, the ruined buildings, and the heaps of white bones, all of these still clearly proclaimed that this had once been a land of utter desolation.

Wuyi smiled at Yang Yan and said, "Little friend, why go to such lengths? In truth, you have accomplished a great deed of merit! After hundreds or thousands of years of development, this place can become a holy land of cultivation for a sect."

Yang Yan hastily replied, "I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare. This was the result of the combined efforts of all you seniors and the Three Dragon Sons; this junior dares not claim the credit. Moreover, Wandering Dragon Star has paid far too great a price for this place."

Everyone shook their heads with a wry smile. Bai Ze spoke words of comfort: "As the saying goes, Chaotic Times give birth to heroes. Each time chaos descends, it is when outstanding figures emerge in droves—how is this not also a trial from the Heavenly Dao for all living beings?"

"Besides, with the hidden danger removed, future generations of cultivators will be able to develop all the better—how is that not a good thing as well?"

Yang Yan thanked Bai Ze gratefully, saying, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Bai Ze."

With the crisis now gone, he finally noticed that when they had arrived here, the key obtained from the altar within his Space Ring had been faintly glowing, as though resonating with this place.

After greeting the others, Yang Yan followed the key’s guidance, searching for the reason behind its abnormal reaction.

When Yang Yan walked to the center of the first level of the Underground Palace and examined carefully again, he indeed discovered an extremely well-hidden Array.

If not for the guidance of this mysterious key, even if Yang Yan had come right up to it, he likely would not have detected the slightest clue.

At Nascent Void’s reminder, Yang Yan infused Spiritual Power mixed with Wish Power into both the discovered Array and the key at the same time.

Whoosh—

Light and shadow flowed before his eyes, and in an instant Yang Yan’s consciousness was pulled into a strange space.

Seeing Yang Yan suddenly lose consciousness, the others couldn’t help but grow very worried.

At this moment, Nascent Void smiled as it explained for him, "There is no need for concern, everyone; in fact, there is no great harm. This is an opportunity my master left for my future owner. I did not tell Yang Yan beforehand simply because I wished to test him."

"I just did not expect him to grow so quickly, to reach this place earlier than I had anticipated—that was my oversight."

Only after hearing this explanation did everyone finally set their minds at ease.

Knowing that Yang Yan had encountered a great opportunity and likely would not wake up for a while, they consciously sat around him as Guardians, ensuring nothing could possibly go wrong.