Amusement danced in Youming's eyes as the cloud boats, straining with everything they had to break away, rumbled violently!
The gunwales of the two massive vessels shattered with a roar!
Rocked by the violent tremor, both Lu Hengtian and Zhu Ying blanched!
Beyond the ancient boundary barrier they had originally erected, the entire Gu clan domain was now shrouded in a dense crimson glow.
With hands clasped behind his back and a faint, mocking smile, Youming strolled placidly toward the cloud boats.
Within his clasped palms, Yu Chang'an's divine soul had been kneaded into a turquoise sphere.
"Hehe. Now that you're here, did you think you could just leave whenever you pleased?"
A half-smile played on Youming's lips, as if their attempt to depart so leisurely was rather disrespectful to him.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the crimson grand array that had just obliterated Yu Chang'an shot across the sky!
Lu Hengtian and Zhu Ying felt their hearts leap into their throats.
They had witnessed the sheer terror of that crimson array earlier. If it truly engulfed the two of them, escape would likely be impossible!
From beyond the void, a pair of eyes remained fixed on everything unfolding within the Gu clan domain, a sharp glint flickering deep within them.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Yet as the man turned his head, he noticed densely clustered, invisible glimmers of inscription drifting throughout this stretch of void.
Concealed within the interlayers of the void, should anyone brush against even a single one, Youming inside the domain would instantly be alerted.
The black-robed man glanced at the drifting inscriptions beside him, raised a hand to trace an ancient inscribed talisman pattern in midair, and slapped it onto himself.
The drifting inscriptions continued along their path, passing through the black-robed man's body without the slightest hindrance.
Inside the domain, countless cultivators from both clans flew forth.
Seeing the colossal blood array spanning hundreds of zhang overhead, terror painted their faces.
Lu Hengtian and Zhu Ying exchanged a glance, combining forces to unleash an immensely powerful attack.
Both possessed formidable cultivation; by joining hands, they actually managed to withstand the hurtling blood array head-on!
With the blood array's advance checked, Lu Hengtian hurled out the array plate from before.
Demonic flames surged skyward!
Youming eyed the array plate with interest, a sharp glint suddenly flashing in his gaze.
Calm and composed, Youming raised a hand, and three crimson arrays bearing distinct inscriptions suddenly materialized across the surrounding skies!
The arrays rose upright, completely engulfing every member of the Lu and Zhu clans.
The corners of Youming's mouth curled up as he murmured softly, "If you fight back like this, I'll lose face in front of them.
"It's fine if Nangong gets angry, but if Huaizhi loses his temper, even I get scared..."
As he spoke, Youming extended his slender fingers and formed hand seals.
His fingers blurred into afterimages from the blinding speed of his casting.
Red radiance flooded the sky from the arrays, dyeing half the Gu clan domain crimson like burning clouds at sunset.
Cold sweat covered Lu Hengtian's forehead. Such terrifying array pressure was enough to crush both him and Zhu Ying!
Suddenly!
A pitch-black giant hand, spanning a full hundred zhang, tore through the barrier Youming had erected in an instant!
Formed of pure demonic qi, in the blink of an eye its chilling demonic miasma permeated the entire domain!
Youming narrowed his eyes. With a wave of his hand, four arrays aligned before him, and four thick pillars of light erupted from the blood arrays.
Boom!
"Who is it?! Sha?"
The man in the void flashed into motion, slipping silently through the fissure into the Gu clan domain while the two sides clashed.
Yet the man in black did nothing, merely watching everything quietly.
The chillingly demonic palm strike slammed violently against Youming's blood arrays!
Boom-crack!
A deafening explosion rang out. As the blood arrays shattered, bursts of fractured talismanic luminescence blasted across the entire sky.
Youming was furious. He slammed both hands against the void.
His expression contorted as he roared, "Kuilan: Blood Fiend Raging Dragon!"
Boom!
The shattered blood arrays instantaneously reassembled into a new formation.
A blood-red dragon, over three hundred zhang long, charged violently toward the fractured void!
In the void, a man clad in blood-red robes cast only an indifferent glance at the blood dragon.
Sha wore a mask. Casting an unreadable glance at the enraged Youming, he swept up both cloud boats with a wave of his hand.
The man hidden in the shadows looked on with flickering eyes; his clenched fists slowly relaxed.
Even if he stepped in, he would never be able to hold them back! The other party's strength... was formidable!
The man reached out, crushed a special inscribed talisman, and transmitted news of everything that had happened here.
Finally, the man's form turned ethereal. He gritted his teeth, then turned and departed.
Now... was not the time for him to appear before the world.
Standing in midair, Youming was not nearly as angry as one might expect.
Instead, he rubbed his chin where he stood and muttered, "Tsk. Carried off a fat guy, and dozens of alchemists.
"Great... I come out to play once, and I'll get chewed out again when I get back.
"Sigh, why is hanging out with Li Guanqi so hazardous?"
Rumble!
A rampaging sword qi ripped a gap several dozen zhang wide through Youming's blood array!
Youming frowned, turning around to see the crowd rushing over in haste.
His eyes lit up. Flashing over to Ye Xuan's side, he said excitedly, "Well, isn't this my Brother Ye?
"How many years has it been? Your physique is still so robust."
Ye Xuan shuddered, staring at the effeminate man beside him who seemed poised to get touchy-feely.
Suddenly recalling who this man was, his eyes went wide, and he blurted out, "Youming! You're still not dead?!"
At those words, Youming pulled his hand back, twirling a lock of hair by his temple with a resentful look.
"Brother Ye, how dull. We haven't seen each other in so many years, and your very first words are wishing I were dead."
Li Guanqi was also quite surprised to run into Youming here. He felt that there was more to this than met the eye...
Gu Changsheng was seething with rage, the murderous intent on his darkened face almost condensing into substance.
Gu Li's expression also shifted drastically as he flew down to the pavilions to tend to the wounded cultivators alongside Li Guanqi and the others.
Nearby, Gu Lie saw Youming chatting amiably with the group, but rather than letting his guard down, he grew even more cautious.
A man like Youming was completely mercurial—laughing and joking one breath, and quite capable of killing you the next!
Gu Lie simply sat atop the treetop on the mountain summit to nurse his wounds. The two alchemists beside him excused themselves to Gu Changsheng and departed.
Gu Changsheng did not exchange pleasantries; after a calamity of this scale, he was in no mood for it.
Clutching his wound, Gu Lie looked toward the somber-faced Meng Jiangchu in the distance, his eyes flickering with muttered thoughts:
"Could it be that swinging a hammer and smithing iron really is better for this old man?
"With how this mess turned out, swinging a hammer doesn't seem half bad after all?"
As Meng Jiangchu and the others helped the Gu clan clean up the wreckage, Youming looked at Li Guanqi and said meaningfully:
"Sorry about that. I arrived a little late, and that chubby kid got taken."
Chapter 899