Chapter 178 – Exposed

“You know him?” Zhou Lingfeng turned to ask You Hantian with some surprise.

“Of course. When Qingming activated the domain, the last person to enter the secret realm and scatter those jade slips just before entering was Gu Suihan.” There was no way You Hantian would forget the fellow who ruined all his plans. The mere mention of Gu Suihan’s name made him so angry his teeth chattered.

But when he saw the odd expression on Zhou Lingfeng’s face, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “You know him?”

“Who exactly is he?” asked Zhou Lingfeng after hearing You Hantian’s response, his heart thumping loudly in fear.

“Him? He’s a cultivator who took over another person’s body and restarted his cultivation journey.” You Hantian was getting more and more puzzled. He didn’t know what was going through Zhou Lingfeng’s mind.

“Shit!” Zhou Lingfeng wasn’t an idiot. After he put two and two together, his expression fell. “We didn’t lose every disciple inside the secret realm. Shuang’er from my sect somehow found a way out and was rescued by a disciple named Gu Suihan…”

Zhan Wuchang and the rest instantly paled. This was a typical story of someone letting a criminal into their own house.

“That fellow had a complete understanding with the sword and a natural formation of sword will.” Zhou Lingfeng’s eyes flickered and he had a bad feeling about this. “That’s why we took him in as one of our own disciples and put in a lot of effort to groom and train him. But when he was supposed to kneel before the portrait of our senior master, the portrait actually came to life and said that he couldn’t accept this show of respect. Back then, none of us took it to heart. When the time came for the inter-sect exchange, he came along too…”

“Ha! HAHA!” You Hantian scoffed. His expression was darkened and it was filled with fury and frustration. “You didn’t just ‘not take it to heart’, I’m sure.”

These words clearly hit the nail on Zhou Lingfeng’s head.

It was clear that Zhou Lingfeng’s plans were not much different from the Seven Kill Sect’s back then. They all hoped to use Gu Suihan as a mighty weapon for the sect, only to be bitten in return.

The price that the Seven Kill Sect paid for doing so was the death of hundreds of their disciples and five Peak Leaders being injured to the point of nearing death.

The price that the Youthful Clarity Sect paid for doing so was to have the Evil Ghost create chaos within its grounds. The entire place was covered in destruction and bodies lay everywhere. Nine out of ten rooms were empty.

Boom! As they discussed among themselves, the formation that protected the sect continued to run, turning countless disciples, elders, and others into nothing but minced meat. The beautiful red buildings became ruins and lay in pieces all over the ground.

“I’ll just get this over and done with. The Youthful Clarity Sect…is gone,” said You Hantian flatly. He raised his hand and thrust his palm out. The wind and clouds moved as a vast amount of energy turned into a gigantic ax. Zhou Lingfeng looked on angrily and blamed himself for everything that happened as that ax chopped the entire mountain into two.

The whirlwind of sword qi suddenly froze before disappearing into the wind.

The invisible pressure around them instantly disappeared as well. Zhan Wuchang and the other sect leaders breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

They weren’t at Nascent Change like You Hantian was. They were only just able to keep themselves from harm in the face of this sect-protecting formation. Unlike You Hantian, who could halve a mountain with one palm and destroy the formation.

“You…can stay here and tidy up. We need to get back soon. I’m afraid…something might have happened.” You Hantian’s heart and blood began to churn, making him feel a little uncertain as an uneasiness began to rise in his heart.

Cultivators were able to discern the laws of nature and the Way. Their bodies understood the heart of heaven. So, in most circumstances, they wouldn’t feel their heart and blood churn like this. If it happened, it meant that there was a crisis somewhere. A crisis that could possibly kill him.

Kaboom! Just when they had picked up the Huangquan Evil Ghost and were about to leave, the sky suddenly began to transform. The laws of nature became a giant spiderweb that trapped everyone and forced them to stay where they were.

While they were still in shock, a huge eye suddenly appeared in the midst of the swirling whirlpool in the sky that was slowly rotating.

A terrible pressure weighed down on them and caused their faces to pale. Their expressions carried a tinge of fear as well.

“What’s the matter?” Unlike the rest, You Hantian did not seem affected by this at all. He was a monster at Nascent Change after all, so he stood at the peak of this world. Anything he did attracted the attention of the will of this world and it was constantly watching him, so he wasn’t a stranger to this phenomenon.

“A person…has barged into the Devil Abyss. Xu Cangyue…is dead!”

As the eyeball moved, lightning kept flashing through the sky. A vast amount of energy shook through the sky as it turned into a voice that slowly flowed into their ears.

You Hantian’s expression changed a few times as he listened to what the voice was saying. His already nasty expression looked even nastier now, and the other sect leaders with him looked even more horrified.

He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, “This has nothing to do with you trapping us here, right? You must know that you’re the empire’s…”

Before You Hantian could finish his sentence, the tremendous energy in the air stopped him from saying more. His words seemed to have angered that eyeball and there was a vengeful hatred in its eye now. The sky changed dramatically as the laws of nature turned into a thick, black layer of clouds.

“I have called everyone belonging to the Seven Kill Sect to go there and I am forcibly moving all of you there right now. You must…kill that person!”

That voice was filled with fury and its resonance shook the sky. The eye did not wait for a response from the sect leaders. The space cracked open like a huge mouth as it swallowed all the sect leaders up and they disappeared in an instant.

PFFT! Gu Suihan spat a mouthful of blood out as he slowly made his way forward. Every step he took consumed so much energy.

Before the will of this world had left, it had also frozen all the laws of nature surrounding this little pavilion, weaving them into an incredibly complex formation. The intention was to slow Gu Suihan’s steps down.

What it needed to do was to kill Gu Suihan and not just chase him away. After everything that had happened, it had clearly reached its breaking point and could tolerate no more. Unfortunately, it was too weak and it didn’t want to inadvertently break the seal over the Devil Abyss either, so it could not use all its strength to attack Gu Suihan. It had no choice but to take a step back, get You Hantian and the rest over, then kill Gu Suihan in one fell swoop.

“It’s too bad.” Gu Suihan stood less than a hundred meters away with a slightly depressed look on his face.

Someone was here.

There was no way he could get rid of this complex formation in such a short time.

“All that…for nothing,” murmured Gu Suihan. He slowly put a hand around the handle of his saber and got ready to force a breakthrough. He had originally intended to hide his true prowess, but given the current circumstances, he realized he couldn’t hold back anymore.

He drew his blade. The wind and clouds billowed as heaven and earth seemed to spin. The stars filled the skies while fiendish and murderous qi swirled in the wind.

KABOOM! The furthest the laws of nature could go was the yin and yang of life and destruction. Massacres were the extreme end of the yin.

The invisible laws before him were sliced open easily, as though they were merely dried twigs and branches, revealing a very narrow passageway. The sound of something breaking continued to echo in the air. The sound of the laws shattering rang loudly in his ears.

“Stop!” Before Gu Suihan could brandish his saber again, a loud shout came from afar.

That blade had broken through the obstacles before him, but he had only advanced 300 meters. He had another 600 to go.

“Six Slashes of Mara – Breaking the Void!”

Blood dribbled out of Gu Suihan’s mouth. His face was pale, but his eyes shone like stars. He ignored the voice that called out to him and thrust his saber out again.

Everywhere within a 50-kilometer radius was suddenly filled with a faint sound of waves. The smell of blood became more and more apparent. The sky-high violent qi went forward with the blade. It sliced through the air, howling and roaring as though it were a black dragon that was baring its fangs and claws as it was thrust forward with great gusto.

“I said…STOP!” The voice that was far away earlier reached Gu Suihan and yelled out from behind him.

“You?” Gu Suihan had managed to move forward by several meters. He was now only 400 meters away from the pavilion.

He didn’t turn to look and brandished his saber again. The internal energy in his body was decreasing. His dried up spiritual meridians kept crying out to him but he did not care. He made his internal energy surge and made it circulate rapidly.

A second later, the smell of blood exploded again. A river of blood whooshed loudly and flowed like the milky way. The redness gleamed as gloriously as amber. His saber buzzed quietly and looked as gorgeous and shiny as a piece of art made from pure jade.

BOOM! The sound of metal suddenly rang out. Gu Suihan’s saber deflected that little sword that was as thin and weak as cicada wings, then he brandished it once more.

Now, Gu Suihan was only two meters away from the pavilion…

“Watch my next move!”

Gu Suihan turned to look at the old man who was deeply enraged. His lips curled upwards into a crazed smile. His left hand brushed past his saber. Blood-colored sparkles appeared and the laws began to twist and turn. At the same time, the qi around him began to move violently. The wisps of demonic qi that was seeping out from the Devil Abyss was also caught up in this move as it was absorbed by the saber as well.

The old man summoned his little sword back. His expression was nasty, but he did not look wary at all. He merely glared at Gu Suihan angrily and his beard moved slightly, as though he wanted to speak. “You…”

“Six Slashes of Mara – Destroy the Skies!”

The extremely concentrated massacre yin laws of nature combined with the violent qi from within Gu Suihan’s body. The violent qi that even the will of this world had failed to annihilate.

A demonic dragon seemed to roar angrily. The stars lost their shine and the silvery moon became like dust. The clouds seemed to weigh down on the skies and thunder rolled loudly. The entire ground shook as countless corpses rose from beneath.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The old man could sense that…the heavens had changed.

It had become nothing but darkness. The only thing he could see was that beautiful, sparkly blood-red light, the deadened air that had risen to the sky, as well as…that saber that was becoming more and more eye catching.

He couldn’t dodge it. He had no way of doing so and there was no way he could.

Before he knew it, the heavy laws of nature governing the space around him had quietly entrapped him. Even breathing required a lot of strength out of him. The internal energy in his body now felt like paths that were covered in mud. When he tried to send it through his body, it was barely visible and extremely sluggish.

That wasn’t all. The old man also discovered that this move had aimed straight for his heart and soul.

His expression was grim and very solemn as he used his little sword to protect himself and spun around, using any energy he had to fend off that blade that had come for him. As he held up against the terrible pressure weighing on him, he said in a deep voice, “How many laws have you actually comprehended?!”