Threats from All Sides

A streak of reddish-gold escape light appeared on the eastern horizon, hurtling toward the area at breakneck speed. Yet another expert from Xuantian Palace was about to arrive. In her bid to flee for her life, Shi Xue had flown a fair distance to the west, which was why this newcomer arrived a step later than Chen Yan. However, Qin Sang's attention was not focused on him. This person was not enough to put Qin Sang on such high alert. What Qin Sang was truly guarding against were two figures that had quietly arrived over the sea to the north. The waters there were open and rolling with waves churned up by the battle. Yet by the time the shockwaves reached that distance, they were no longer intense, unlike the center of the battlefield where monstrous waves surged and huge blocks of mystic ice drifted everywhere. No one had noticed those two figures, not even Elders Mei and Lan. *Old Man Hunmo!* Qin Sang's heart tightened. He completely subdued the Demonic Fire Armor on his body to avoid leaking any aura. Back when he first discovered the ambush and decided to strike, he had already swiftly run through the situation and all potential developments in his mind. This place was relatively far from Hunmo Island, and the Bewildering Array he had laid out was just ahead. Unlike Xuantian Palace, Old Man Hunmo could not predict and lock onto Qin Sang's route in advance. Even assuming the battle had alerted him the moment it broke out, it would still take him time to rush over from Hunmo Island. After seeing Shi Xue's unexpectedly numerous life-saving measures and the timely arrival of Elders Mei and Lan, Qin Sang had still chosen to capture Shi Xue rather than fleeing first or proposing a trade, for two reasons. First, no one capable of threatening him had appeared from Xuantian Palace; their palace master truly was absent. Qin Sang could easily shake them off even without using the Bewildering Array. Second, the time elapsed had not yet exceeded his predetermined limit. Naturally, this decision had been made based on the shifting tides of battle, after factoring in all kinds of unexpected circumstances. And as it happened, an unexpected development had arrived unbidden. Old Man Hunmo had arrived far earlier than anticipated. Fortunately, Qin Sang had never let down his guard. Qin Sang suspected that Old Man Hunmo might have been lured here by Xuantian Palace, silently cursing them for being so careless even after so many of their people had just been slaughtered at Huang Longshi's temporary palace. He did not know the full story; while the premise of his deduction was wrong, the conclusion coincidentally aligned with the truth. *I cannot linger here!* Qin Sang made an instant decision. Regardless of whom Old Man Hunmo had come for, he had to leave immediately. Qin Sang knew Old Man Hunmo held a grudge against Xuantian Palace, but he was not naive enough to think he could exploit the feud to pit them against each other and reap the spoils as the third party. Even if Old Man Hunmo failed to recognize him as the person who had seized the treasure in the Buddhist hall, once he realized Qin Sang possessed a supreme treasure coveted by Xuantian Palace, his first choice would undoubtedly be to seize it for himself before figuring out how to deal with Xuantian Palace. This was Old Man Hunmo's home turf; he possessed more than enough confidence and backing. Putting himself in Old Man Hunmo's shoes, Qin Sang would have done the exact same thing. When that happened, Qin Sang would be facing both Xuantian Palace and Old Man Hunmo at once, as well as any passing Nascent Soul cultivators drawn to the commotion. Even with preparations in reserve, his situation would turn extraordinarily perilous. His only alternative would be to make peace with Xuantian Palace and agree to return their sacred relic. Such a forced bargain was clearly disadvantageous to him. In an instant, thoughts flashed through his mind one after another. Qin Sang abandoned all intention of capturing Shi Xue, as she would only become a burden in this situation. He was not sure when Old Man Hunmo had arrived or how long he had been watching. When entering the Jinghai Sect, Old Man Hunmo had certainly seen the Jinchen Sword. Before attending the trade fair, during his stay on Mingzhu Island, Qin Sang had purchased some spirit materials from Mount Danding to modify the Jinchen Sword. But just like Tan Hao's demon-subduing pestle, its core essence could not be completely altered, and there was no guarantee Old Man Hunmo wouldn't spot something familiar. He had to get away as soon as possible. Leaving now was no real loss to him. His original plan had only been to confirm whether Xuantian Palace could sense the mysterious ice chest. The thought of capturing Shi Xue had only arisen when he saw her isolated and spotted an opportunity. Qin Sang withdrew the hand resting on the corpse puppet bag. As cover, he retrieved a handful of spirit pills from the Qianjun Ring, swallowed them to recover some true essence, and cast a sword incantation. *Buzz!* The Jinchen Sword's radiance blazed brilliantly, its aura shifting unpredictably. Between Qin Sang and Chen Yan, the seemingly calm void abruptly dimmed, and countless sword threads faintly emerged. However, these sword threads were extremely stiff, lacking their previous agility, appearing almost frozen by the extreme cold. At the same time, billows of white mist bloomed there. The appearance of this anomaly signified that the power of the Ice Soul Divine Light had erupted and was being blocked by the sword array. Qin Sang still had a vivid memory of the earlier sense of danger. He was extremely wary of Chen Yan's bizarre divine ability, which was why he had restarted the sword array without hesitation. *Crack! Crack! Crack!...!* Countless tiny icicles were crushed by the sword array, and the Ice Soul Divine Light was cut apart invisibly. To Qin Sang's surprise, the resistance met by the Jinchen Sword was not as great as he had imagined. *An empty facade?* Qin Sang looked at Chen Yan in surprise and found that the deep blue light in her eyes was no longer clear; it was somewhat unfocused, even showing faint signs of collapse. Qin Sang knew full well that even if Chen Yan had recognized him, she would not have held back under these circumstances. For one, she was anxious to save someone, and the woman in green clearly had close ties with her; for another, this divine ability had been unleashed before Chen Yan ever recognized him. The only explanation was that she could not use this divine ability consecutively; casting it by force made it pale in comparison to its initial strike. "Junior Sister, fall back!" Shi Xue had also noticed Chen Yan's abnormal state. Anxiety written all over her face, she did not want her junior sister dragged down on her account. Qin Sang gave Chen Yan a deep look, then drove the sword array forward, sweeping the residual force back toward her. At the same time, Qin Sang felt a faint, needle-prick pain in the back of his heart. His divine sense detected a grayish-white bone needle locked onto him, shooting silently toward his back. Moreover, the full moon formed by the Sun-Catching Hoop in midair turned from dim to bright, growing increasingly dazzling as its brilliant radiance surged. Elders Mei and Lan had finally recovered. They had no time to recalibrate or deploy other techniques. Seeing the dire urgency of the situation, they continued to wield the Bone-Piercing Needle and Sun-Catching Hoop they had already summoned, aiming first to force Qin Sang back and restrict his movements. Without looking back, Qin Sang violently flapped the phoenix wings behind him, transforming into a bolt of lightning and charging forward. The Bone-Piercing Needle shot forward with terrifying speed, but the trajectory Qin Sang chose was exceptionally cunning; with this maneuver, Chen Yan was positioned right between himself and the incoming needle. Engulfed by the storm of residual force, Chen Yan could not attend to anything else for the moment. Seeing this, Elder Mei's face showed a flicker of shock, and he abruptly clenched his fist. The Bone-Piercing Needle paused, its tip swerving around Chen Yan, thereby missing the optimal moment to strike. Yet the assault on Qin Sang was not over. *Whoosh!* The Sun-Catching Hoop blazed with light. A pillar of light descended from the heavens, several times thicker than before. This time, Elder Lan had wised up. Instead of aiming directly at Qin Sang, he dispersed the power of the Sun-Catching Hoop around him, freezing the sea waters into an icy cage! Above the sea, walls of ice sprang up at a speed visible to the naked eye. Runes faintly drifted within them; these were clearly no ordinary walls of ice. Though thrown together in haste and not yet fully formed, Qin Sang would still have to employ other means to breach them, which would inevitably slow him down. Restricting him for even an instant would be enough for the others to regain their footing.