In an instant, the vault of heaven above the entire Great Xia Sword Sect was torn apart!
His face twisted in agony, Cao Yan was charred black from head to toe, crackling arcs of lightning leaking from his wounds.
The terrifying pressure of the Void Refining Realm surged heavily from his body; Cao Yan had not even had time to stabilize his cultivation.
*Whoosh!*
Ye Feng looked at him, his face grave, and said in a heavy voice, "Brat, are you sure you're all right?"
Cao Yan replied with a chilling expression, "Second Brother... don't worry about me. Go find Boss first!"
Yet the moment Ye Feng placed his hand on Cao Yan's shoulder, a tremendous force blasted him back.
Stray blue flames instantly engulfed his palm.
At the sight, Cao Yan's eyes flared with urgency. Even as he suppressed the turbulent primal energy running rampant inside his body, he struggled to pull the flames back.
Feeling the scorching heat on his hand, Ye Feng felt a chill grip his heart.
He had not expected that even though Cao Yan had only just broken through, his primal energy would already possess such terrifying destructive power.
Even with the Yinming Profound Flame surging forth, it took a full breath's time to extinguish the fire.
By then, nearly all the high-ranking elders of the Great Xia Sword Sect had arrived.
Seeing that Cao Yan had risked everything just to accelerate the heavenly tribulation, everyone was stunned.
Under that barrage of countless lightning strikes, Lu Kangnian had even felt Cao Yan's aura vanish entirely from his senses for a fleeting moment.
*Swish!*
"What is going on with the two of you? Why are you so jumpy? Has something happened to Guanqi?"
Ye Feng hesitated, caught in a dilemma. He did not want to cause worry among the sect's seniors.
Yet Lu Kangnian had raised the sect to where it stood today in just a few short years; how could he possibly be a fool?
To cause both Ye Feng and Cao Yan to be so unsettled at the same time, he could not imagine anything other than Li Guanqi, who had yet to return from abroad.
In the end, Ye Feng shook his head and said heavily, "I don't know the exact details either."
At that, Ye Feng and Cao Yan exchanged a glance, their eyes fraught with concern.
Lu Kangnian also read the hesitation in their eyes. His gaze flickered slightly, and he instructed in a low voice, "I won't stop you. Cao Yan, take these healing pills and stabilize your realm on the way.
"No matter what happens, let me know immediately!
"The foundation of the Great Xia Sword Sect is far stronger than you imagine!"
Ever since Ye Feng learned that the sect was suppressing an Abyss Demon, he had deduced a few things.
Perhaps in the past everyone had looked down on the Great Xia Sword Sect, regarding it as nothing more than a minor sect that stubbornly clung to rules and grand airs.
To outsiders, it had always looked like a desperate struggle to save face.
Yet everyone had overlooked one crucial fact: through countless storms and upheavals, the Great Xia Sword Sect had survived completely intact for at least five thousand years.
Ye Feng nodded heavily, then set off alongside Cao Yan.
Activating the array plate, a seven-colored beam of light shot into the sky, instantly tearing a long fissure through the void.
Powerful spatial ripples rolled outward, and Cao Yan was the first to step into the formation.
Ye Feng gave Cao Yan a complex look. Before he could speak, Lu Kangnian's steady voice carried from behind.
"Do not worry about us. Even without you here, the sect will be fine."
Ye Feng nodded upon hearing this, then stepped into the teleportation array and vanished on the spot.
Standing beside Lu Kangnian with a tight scowl, Qin Xian said heavily, "I fear something terrible has happened.
"If it weren't exceedingly grave, Guanqi's temper would never have allowed him to summon both of them."
Lu Kangnian's eyes turned grave. He glanced to the side toward Ling Daoyan and said, "Elder Ling, make preparations, just in case!"
At those words, the old man's pupils constricted sharply, and his eyes widened at Lu Kangnian.
"You want to ready *those* things?"
Lu Kangnian swept his wide sleeve, his tone icy. "If things truly come to that pass, I would rather use those dust-covered relics to buy everyone's dread of the Great Xia Sword Sect!"
The old man nodded solemnly and replied in a deep voice, "Understood! I will go prepare at once!"
With a wave of his hand, Lu Kangnian raised the protective barrier of the Great Xia Sword Sect, a dense ward concealing everything from outside eyes.
Immediately after, every disciple within the sect felt the earth tremble.
Several nondescript peaks in the sect's rear mountains began to shake violently, sending countless boulders tumbling down.
Beams of golden light shot toward the heavens, and the air filled with the terrifying, suffocating aura of precious artifacts.
Young disciples swallowed hard, staring at the distant golden radiance in disbelief.
"Has some great treasure revealed itself and just happened to land in our sect?"
*Smack!*
A hand struck the back of his head as a slightly older youth scolded him in annoyance.
"Are you an idiot?
"A commotion this massive is entirely veiled by the sect-guarding barrier. It's obvious these things belonged to our sect to begin with! Great treasure my foot."
***
Inside the pitch-black teleportation channel, Ye Feng had just lowered the jade slip in his hand.
Xiao Chen's anxious voice and the howling wind could faintly be heard within it.
Ye Feng gripped the jade slip until his knuckles turned pale, madness and murderous intent flaring deep in his eyes.
His expression was equally fraught with turmoil...
From Xiao Chen, he had learned everything.
Although Cao Yan had never met Yu Sui'an, he had stayed in the Great Xia Sword Sect for a long time.
Having spent much of that time on Tianlei Peak, he had heard a great deal about the history between Yu Sui'an and Li Guanqi.
There was also his eldest brother's master, Li Nanting.
That elder would often speak fondly of the two.
Cao Yan still remembered the elder sitting on a stone stool in the small courtyard, looking at the empty seat before him and telling him about so many people, so many memories.
Pointing at the small stream outside his gate brimming with spirit fish, the old man had said with a smile, "The fish in this creek are plump and well-fed. I wonder when that little girl will come back to catch them."
Whenever the elder said such things, light seemed to shine in his eyes.
His voice had been filled with tender longing. Cao Yan could even picture how, whenever Li Guanqi had left the sect to roam abroad in the past, Li Nanting would frequently sit in Li Guanqi's courtyard, lost in thought...
It was the unspoken worry of an elder watching his young kin wander the outside world.
And now... such a monstrous thing had happened!
Emotions surged violently in Ye Feng's chest. Failing to control his strength, he crushed the jade slip in his palm, and it shattered with a loud pop.
He slowly sat cross-legged on the floor and said in a chilling whisper, "Third Brother, hurry and stabilize your realm. This time... we are going to kill together!"
Cao Yan took a deep breath. Using his formidable divine sense to forcefully suppress the chaotic turmoil in his heart, he crushed spirit stones, frantically stabilizing his newly broken-through cultivation.
Beside him, Ye Feng slowly laid his sword across his knees, drew a silk handkerchief, and gently wiped the blade.
The fury inside his chest felt like a boulder crushing a churning volcano.
He could not understand why...
Why did that little girl have to suffer such a cruel fate? Swallowing bitter coptis whole would not equal even a ten-thousandth of the bitterness she had endured.
Chapter 635