Chapter 57

On Wutong Phoenix Island, in the Qifeng Pavilion, Jinyao was observing the celestial phenomena at midnight.

Suddenly, a star fell from the sky, and an uneasy feeling surged in his heart.

He raised his hand, and a water mirror appeared beside him.

The mirror was shrouded in mist, obscuring his view of everything in Yi City.

Jinyao furrowed his brow, channeling more celestial energy into his palm.

The water mirror trembled, but the mist refused to disperse.

Jinyao was already a demigod, and there was no place in the world he couldn’t see, unless someone with greater spiritual energy had set a barrier in the Yi city.

However, the Yi city only had the Mu Guang Spiritual Sealing Formation, and the Yi King had already entrusted Jinyao with the core of the formation.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed so many immortal and demon disciples to enter Yi City without worry.

“Yi King!” Jinyao closed his eyes and shouted with his spiritual consciousness.

A thousand miles away, no one responded.

Jinyao opened his eyes, his expression changing.

“Someone, bring Elder Feng Xian!”

At the same time, in the Wutong Forest, a frail figure stumbled in.

The guarding Phoenix clan soldiers blocked the person and released a blast of immortal energy.

“Who dares to trespass on Wutong Phoenix Island?!”

The person was struck by the immortal energy, groaning and falling to the ground.

Under the moonlight, the Phoenix clan soldiers approached and examined the figure. Upon seeing the person’s face, they gasped in shock.

“Immortal Lord Nan Wan?!”

(T/N: huhu..sorry….huhu..Okay, confession time—my brain was clearly stuck on Mumu, and somehow poor Nan Wan got renamed “Nan Mu” in the last chapter. Oops! Don’t worry; the mix-up has been fixed, and Nan Wan is back to being himself. Thanks for bearing with me, your tired little translator. Hehe.)

It was Nan Wan, wounded and collapsed in the forest.

His body was nearly broken, and only a faint trace of breath remained in his spiritual platform.

One of them quickly stepped forward to support Nan Wan.

“Lord Nan Wan, weren’t you going to the Wutong Martial Banquet? Why are you here?”

“Quick… quickly take me to see Master Jinyao and my teacher…”

Nan Wan coughed up a mouthful of blood, unable to speak further, and fainted.

“Lord Nan Wan!” The Phoenix disciples exchanged a look.

“Something happened in the Yi city!” one shouted.

“Go, quickly report to the elders and Lord Jinyao!” they said as they supported Nan Wan and vanished in a flash of light from the entrance of the Wutong Forest.

In the Qifeng Pavilion, prominent figures from both the immortal and demon clans rushed over. Before Jinyao could explain the strange happenings in Yi city, the Phoenix soldiers arrived, supporting Nan Wan.

“Nan Wan?” Master Yunxiao’s face changed, and he hurriedly approached to check Nan Wan’s pulse.

Upon examination, Master Yunxiao’s heart shattered.

Nan Wan’s spiritual veins were destroyed, and his spiritual core shattered, leaving only the faintest trace of life.

“Lord Jinyao!” Master Yunxiao turned and called for help.

Jinyao immediately injected a stream of spiritual energy into Nan Wan’s chest.

Nan Wan struggled to open his eyes.

“Nan Wan, who did this to you?” Master Yunxiao asked, his voice filled with anger.

“Lord… teacher… Jinyao… Lord…” Nan Wan was barely hanging on.

Jinyao rushed forward. “I am here, Nan Wan, What happened?”

“Master, I was with Yunxiao’s disciples on the way to Yi City when we encountered an evil spirit. The spirit wounded me and used my name to infiltrate Yi city..”

Nan Wan’s voice was weak.

“The spirit used your name to infiltrate Yi city?” Jinyao’s face changed as he recalled the Yunxiao disciples in the water mirror.

“What about the Yunxiao disciple who came with you?”

Nan Wan’s eyes were filled with pain.

“My brothers… they’re all… dead…”

Nan Wan spat out a mouthful of blood and tightly grasped Jinyao’s sleeve.

“Lord, the disciples in Yi city… they’re in danger…”

Before he could finish, he passed out.

“Nan Wan?!” Master Yunxiao’s face turned pale.

“Don’t worry. I have protected his spiritual core with my energy,” Jinyao said, his gaze cold as he looked toward the wilderness.

“I will see which evil spirit dares to challenge both our immortal and demon clans!”

Moments later, several streams of spiritual light flew out of the Qifeng Pavilion, heading straight for Yi City.

In the darkness, Bai Shuo was disoriented.

She felt someone lift her and didn’t know how far they had traveled before being thrown down heavily.

Her body was bruised and battered by the stone slab.

She frowned in pain, trying to open her eyes but couldn’t.

Suddenly, someone injected spiritual energy into her brow, and Bai Shuo’s eyes snapped open.

She tried to scream but was quickly silenced by a hand over her mouth.

Her eyes widened in panic, and then she heard a familiar voice.

“Master, don’t be afraid, it’s me.”

It was Mumu! Bai Shuo’s eyes filled with tears.

She turned her head, and her little disciple was holding her protectively in his arms, hiding in a shadow.

“Master, don’t make a sound.”

Not far away, masked Yi guards were carrying the disciples of both the immortal and demon clansm throwing them one by one to the ground.

“Mumu, are you alright?” Bai Shuo asked in surprise.

Fan Yue nodded.

“Then why did you faint in the main hall earlier?”

“I couldn’t defeat the Yi King,” Fanyue said honestly.

“I was afraid you were in danger, so I pretended to faint to save you.”

Bai Shuo almost laughed with relief.

How could she have forgotten that, although Fan Yue had lost his memory and his spiritual energy had diminished for some unknown reason, he was still a demigod.

Even if he had been drained of his heartfire liquor, his spiritual core wouldn’t be harmed, even if he swallowed a whole Wutong heartfire.

“Shh, Master, look.”

Her little disciple pointed into the distance.

With the moonlight, Bai Shuo turned to look and was horrified.

It was a huge stone hall, towering a hundred feet.

In the center of the hall was a blood pool, surrounded by unconscious disciples of the immortal and demon clans.

Floating in the pool was the monster with a human upper body and a serpent’s tail that she had encountered that night.

There were four stone pillars standing around the pool, inscribed with complex runes.

At that moment, Beichen, Nan Wan, Chong Zhao, and Mu Jiu were suspended above the pillars, surrounded by an evil energy escaping from the runes, forming chains that tightly bound them.

Bai Shuo was nearly paralyzed with fear by this terrifying scene.

The Yi King really had colluded with evil spirits? No, this stone hall was filled with a sinister aura, and it was clear that it had not been created overnight.

The Yi King was the greatest evil spirit! He had captured so many immortal and demon disciples; what was he planning to do?

The last disciple was thrown down, and the Yi guards left the hall, their footsteps fading away.

Bai Shuo darted out from her hiding spot and ran toward Chong Zhao.

“Ah Zhao! Bei Chen! Mu Jiu!” Bai Shuo called out loudly, but the three remained unconscious.

“Mumu, is there a way to wake them up?”

Fan Yue moved his palm, and several streams of spiritual energy fell on the foreheads of the three.

He disliked Nan Wan, so since Bai Shuo hadn’t mentioned his name earlier, he naturally didn’t waste his energy on him.

The spiritual energy entered their foreheads, and slowly, Chong Zhao and the others opened their eyes.

“Damn, what the hell is this place?”

As soon as Mu Jiu opened his eyes, he found himself chained mid-air in a strange stone hall.

He exclaimed loudly at the eerie surroundings.

“Shut up! Keep your voice down! This is the Yi King’s secret hall.”

Mu Jiu quieted down and closed his eyes, attempting to gather spiritual energy to break free from the chains.

However, the moment he tried, a sharp pain tore through his spiritual core, and he spat out blood.

“What the hell? Why is my spiritual core cracked? Damn that Yi King! What kind of poison did he give me?”

Mu Jiu’s face was filled with panic.

A broken spiritual core meant his cultivation path was effectively destroyed—worse than death for him!

Beichen and Chong Zhao also tried to gather spiritual energy, only to suffer the same fate, vomiting blood and wearing equally horrified expressions.

“Stop trying to use your spiritual energy! The Yi King tricked you into drinking Heartfire Wine. Now the third Wutong Heartfire is lodged in your spiritual cores!” Bai Shuo quickly stopped them.

“What?! The Heartfire is in my spiritual core?!”

Mu Jiu looked at Bai Shuo with suspicion.

“You drank the wine too. Why are you and your disciple fine?”

“My disciple and I haven’t formed our spiritual cores yet.”

Bai Shuo shrugged.

Mu Jiu was speechless. “If you’re fine, hurry up and save me already!”

“Alright, alright, stop whining!”

Bai Shuo scolded before looking at Chong Zhao.

“Ah Zhao! I’ll save you first.”

“Wow, playing favorites now, huh?”

Mu Jiu rolled his eyes so hard they could’ve flown out of his head as Bai Shuo hurried toward Chong Zhao’s pillar without a second thought.

Bai Shuo reached out to unbind the chains holding Chong Zhao.

However, the moment she touched the chains, they seemed to come alive, shooting toward her chest like sharp spikes.

“Watch out, Bai Shuo!”

Chong Zhao shouted, his expression changing drastically.

Bai Shuo’s eyes filled with terror, but just before the chains could strike, a force wrapped around her waist and yanked her away in the nick of time.

Stumbling, Bai Shuo found herself once again in the arms of her little disciple.

“That was close, that was close,” she muttered breathlessly.

“Good job, my dear disciple!”

Fan Yue held a silver chain tightly, his expression stern.

His hands trembled slightly as he held Bai Shuo.

Chong Zhao noticed the faint spiritual glow of the silver chain around Bai Shuo’s waist.

His expression became hard to read.

Who exactly was this boy? If he was who Chong Zhao suspected, how could the Yi King have manipulated him? Yet the weapon and his appearance… there was no mistaking it.

Beichen also noticed the spiritual light from the chain and furrowed his brows, scrutinizing Fan Yue.

Could this boy really be…?

Watching Bai Shuo pat her disciple’s head in praise, Beichen felt an odd mix of absurdity and disbelief.

There was no way—a dignified demigod would never stoop to being a disciple of a mere half-immortal!

“Hey, you two lovebirds! Stop flirting and help us already!” Mu Jiu roared in frustration.

Bai Shuo snapped back to reality and looked at Fan Yue.

“Mumu, can you undo these cursed chains?”

Fan Yue studied the stone pillars and shook his head.

“I can’t.”

“You haven’t even tried! How do you know you can’t?” Mu Jiu shouted.

“I just know,” Fan Yue replied coldly.

Mu Jiu was left speechless.

He could clearly see this disciple only cared about Bai Shuo.

To everyone else, he acted like they were already corpses.

Bai Shuo turned to Beichen.

“Lord Beichen, do you have any ideas?”

Beichen moved his palm, lightly touching the cursed chain.

A searing pain branded his hand, leaving a burn mark.

His face paled slightly, and he shook his head.

“These chains are formed by the array inscribed on the stone pillars. The array was created by the Yi King himself, who has reached the peak of the supreme lord level. Unless someone of equal strength intervenes, it cannot be undone.”

“The peak of the supreme level?”

Bai Shuo was stunned. In the entire immortal realm, there were only a handful who had reached that level. Where was she supposed to find such a person now?

There were only a few hours left before the Wutong Martial Banquet ended.

When Jinyao opened the Spiritual Sealing Formation on time, the entire Three Realms would learn that something had gone wrong in Yi City. Yet, the Yi King dared to capture immortal and demon disciples for sacrifice—clearly, he didn’t plan on letting them live until the banquet’s conclusion!

On the stone pillar, Chong Zhao suddenly spoke, looking at Fan Yue.

“Take her and leave. Now. Immediately.”

Clearly, he had come to the same conclusion as Bai Shuo. The Yi King could return at any moment.

If Bai Shuo didn’t leave now, she would lose her chance.

“No way! If she leaves, we’re dead!” Mu Jiu’s eyes widened in panic.

“I’m not leaving! If we go, we all go! I’ll figure out a way to save you all,” Bai Shuo shouted angrily, pacing around the stone pillars.

Hearing her determined outburst, Mu Jiu let out a sigh of relief.

His fox life still had hope.

“Bai Shuo, the Yi King is already at the peak of the Supreme Lord level. Even if you stay, you can’t save us. Don’t throw your life away needlessly,” Beichen said softly.

He glanced at Fan Yue.

“Take your master and leave. If you can hide in the city until dawn tomorrow, you’ll survive.”

“Go!”

Chong Zhao didn’t even look at Bai Shuo, staring directly at Fan Yue.

“Do you want to watch her die here?”

Fan Yue frowned, hesitating no longer.

He raised his hand to strike Bai Shuo’s neck, intending to knock her unconscious.

He knew that she would never leave willingly.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Fan Yue felt a pang of sadness.

Before his hand could land, Bai Shuo suddenly turned and caught it mid-air.

“Mumu, let’s go!” Bai Shuo said firmly.

Bai Shuo didn’t say another word.

She grabbed Fan Yue and turned to leave.

Everyone was stunned.

Fan Yue’s eyes lit up, and he obediently let himself be pulled away without sparing a glance at the three people behind them.

“Hey, you little brat, you’re just leaving like that?” Mu Jiu’s eyes widened.

“We’ve been through life-and-death situations together!”

Bai Shuo didn’t look back.

Mu Jiu panicked.

“Hey, your senior brother is still here!”

Chong Zhao silently watched Bai Shuo’s retreating figure, his gaze lowering.

As long as Bai Shuo was safe, it didn’t matter whether he lived or not.

“Ah Zhao, wait for me.”

In the quiet stone hall, a voice rang out from the distance.

Chong Zhao raised his eyes.

Bai Shuo had turned back, and their gazes met mid-air.

“Stay alive and wait for me to return. I swear I’ll save you,” Bai Shuo said firmly, her eyes resolute.

Without further hesitation, she turned and ran out of the stone hall.