At such close quarters, the withered elder's completely unshielded, immense pressure nearly shattered his body and soul to pieces.
It was blatantly obvious.
Let alone allowing Xu Yuan to contend against a Transcendent Realm expert, Luo Xiran's possessed augmentation could not even withstand a casual strike from one.
The gap was simply far too vast.
A withered hand had pierced straight through his chest. Gazing at the maniacally sneering elder before him, Xu Yuan felt his breath steadily begin to labor.
Fortunately, however, every inch of flesh and blood within him was held firmly in place by the black death armor under Luo Xiran's control, preventing the wound from worsening further for the moment.
Yet very soon, as a former Semi-Saint aberrant ghost and an Origin Realm powerhouse within the illusion, Xu Yuan discovered an even more lethal problem.
The damage inflicted by the withered elder was by no means mere physical trauma. For supreme experts who had stepped into the Transcendent Realm, every single strike carried its own unique "attack effect"—namely, Dao charm.
In merely an instant, Xu Yuan felt an unspeakable searing heat spread from the right side of his chest toward his entire body.
It reminded him of the black eagle that had just been roasted into a charred turkey in a heartbeat.
[Luo Xiran, I did what you said! Think of something, fast!]
Xu Yuan's slightly frantic voice rang out in his mind.
Since arriving in this world, even though he had faced numerous life-and-death crises, Xu Yuan had never felt himself so close to death.
The elder's Dao charm had already invaded his body. Now, the man needed only a single thought to roast him alive.
[Brat, don't panic.]
Luo Xiran's lovely voice was grave, yet it brimmed with composure.
Even as she spoke, Xu Yuan began to notice the searing heat invading his body steadily receding.
It was the black death fungal carpets.
Countless strands of fungal carpet, like swarms of thousands of ants, were devouring the invading heat inside him at extreme speed.
And Xu Yuan was not the only one to sense this change. In the eyes of the crazily grinning, withered elder before him, a flicker of displeasure suddenly flared.
He could not understand.
He could not comprehend how a mere Soul Condensation ant could possibly resist a Transcendent Realm powerhouse like him.
The elder stared at the handsome young master whose chest he had run through, and suddenly bared his teeth in a grin:
"Brat, if you beg for mercy, this old man might let you live a bit longer. Your father humiliated me back then, so this debt will be settled on your head for now."
[Brat, stall him for a moment. I need some time.]
Before Xu Yuan could respond, Luo Xiran's voice chimed in.
At those words, the veins on Xu Yuan's forehead almost bulged out.
Can you fucking be a little more reliable?
Didn't you promise that making physical contact was all that was needed?
[Sorry. I somewhat underestimated the Transcendent Realm of your era.]
"..." Xu Yuan was speechless.
Cursing under his breath, Xu Yuan could only brace himself and play along given the dire straits.
Looking at the derangedly smiling elder, Xu Yuan prayed inwardly that the villain would talk more, while squeezing out a sentence through gritted teeth:
"My... father?"
"Aye, your father, Xu Yinhe!"
Under the sway of the unknown plague, the surge of exhilaration and pleasure kept the withered elder from striking immediately. Laughing, he said:
"Back then, this old man happened across him at Pinxian Tower in Di'an City. I went out of my way to pay my respects, but he didn't even spare me a glance! What arrogance! I wonder what expression he'll wear once he learns that his favorite son was tortured to death by someone he looked down upon back then! Hehehe, hahahahahaha!"
His wild laughter, amplified by the vast Source Qi he could no longer precisely control, reverberated outwards, nearly rupturing Xu Yuan's eardrums.
"..."
Listening to the old man's raving nonsense, Xu Yuan couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly.
In my old man's eyes, you were probably just an extra passing by! Who the hell pays attention to an irrelevant passerby?
Pressed by circumstances, however, Xu Yuan managed to speak in a strained whisper. The puncture wound through his lung made every word agonizingly painful:
"Since it was my father who offended Senior... why didn't Senior go to Di'an City to settle the score with him?"
"Settle the score with him?"
Hearing this, the withered elder's grin froze, replaced by a sudden flash of realization. "Right! Why shouldn't this old man go to Di'an City to find that Xu Yinhe?"
As he spoke, he yanked his hand directly out of Xu Yuan's chest and turned on his heel.
With the hand blade withdrawn, Xu Yuan collapsed weakly onto one knee amidst the charred ruins and broken walls.
Thanks to the fungal carpets, not a single drop of blood gushed from his wound.
Instead, the hollow in his chest was being knit together by the fungal armor at a visible pace.
Yet Xu Yuan's eyes were fixed firmly upon the retreating back of the elder, a bizarre look writ large upon his face.
Was this troll plague really this potent?
He had merely spoken off the cuff to buy some time, and the old man was actually going to Di'an City to throw his life away against his father?
Yet the moment that thought crossed his mind, the elder's departing footsteps abruptly halted.
Crap.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan immediately realized he had been played.
In Xu Yuan's vision,
the elder slowly cranked his head around bit by bit, the bloodstained, manic grin on his face dripping with mockery:
"Did you... really think I would go seek death against that bastard Xu Yinhe?"
"..." Xu Yuan.
"Torturing you to death, then hiding away so Xu Yinhe can never find this old man—wouldn't that be far more delightfully pleasurable?! Hahahaha!!"
Before his laughter even faded, the elder's figure reappeared beside Xu Yuan as though teleporting.
Luo Xiran's reaction was swift, instantly assuming a defensive posture in a split second.
Unfortunately, in the face of absolute strength, all was in vain.
The withered elder seized Xu Yuan's wrist with one hand and his arm with the other, a cruel, mocking sneer playing at the corner of his lips:
"This old man will rip off your limbs one by one first, and then have someone deliver them to that lofty Prime Minister."
With those words, Xu Yuan felt a violent tearing force rip through his left forearm!
Controlling Xu Yuan's body, Luo Xiran sought to fight back. Opening his right hand, the willow ghost blade flew back into his palm from a dozen yards away, slashing fiercely toward the elder before him.
The willow ghost blade fell with its swirling ominous aura, yet it froze an inch before the elder, unable to advance a fraction further.
Without casting any arts, the withered elder merely compressed his Source Qi into a barrier, halting the blade in Xu Yuan's hand dead in its tracks.
However, the move caught the withered elder's attention.
He glanced up at the wooden blade draped in ominous energy. A sliver of greed surfaced in his turbid pupils as he chuckled:
"Brat, this old man quite fancies this wooden saber of yours. Consider it your tribute to me before your death."
By the time his words fell,
the willow ghost blade had already been forcibly ripped from Xu Yuan's grip into the elder's hand.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan felt joy rather than anger.
From the very start, drawing the willow ghost blade had not been about fighting his opponent, but about waiting for the other party to snatch it.
After all, the willow ghost blade was not something just anyone could hold.
Refined from a former Saint-rank yin ghost, the blade was shrouded in such immense resentment and madness that it could readily act as a demonic blade that devoured its wielder.
The elder before him was already slipping into madness; receiving another dose of influence from the Saint-rank yin source upon it...
And sure enough,
the moment the withered elder gripped the willow ghost blade, the violence and cruelty in his eyes flared several degrees fiercer.
Yet before Xu Yuan could celebrate, he heard a crisp snap.
His brows knit instantly as excruciating pain shot through his wrist.
Driven by sadistic fury, the withered elder directly crushed Xu Yuan's wrist to powder.
Lacking bone support, the flesh and skin of Xu Yuan's left hand dangled limply.
And then,
before his very eyes, the withered elder drove a whip kick straight into his abdomen.
Bang!
With a dull thud, an afterimage shot backward like a kite with a severed string.
Xu Yuan's body flew back hundreds of yards until crashing into a heap of ruins, sending up a billowing cloud of dust.
Had it not been for the fungal carpets firmly holding his internal organs and flesh together, that kick would likely have snapped him clean in two at the waist. Even so, Xu Yuan felt as though his soul were about to ascend to heaven.
Lying amidst the rubble, Xu Yuan felt time pass excruciatingly slowly.
A deafening ringing filled his ears, and countless disordered images flashed before his eyes.
Images of his past life, images of the Big Block of Ice, images of spending time with his family...
Memories surfaced scene by scene. Xu Yuan felt this was probably his life flashing before his eyes after getting beaten half to death.
It felt like a fleeting breath, yet also an eternity; who knew how much time had elapsed.
As his hazy consciousness regained a sliver of clarity, Xu Yuan mumbled:
"Aunt... Auntie Luo, I'm... I'm about to die. Aren't you done yet?"
Luo Xiran answered promptly, her voice faint and ethereal:
"The plague within his body has been completely triggered. Otherwise, do you think you would still be able to talk here?"
Hearing this, Xu Yuan's senses cleared a little more:
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"You were unconscious just now for half a quarter of an hour. Look at the sky."
"..."
Xu Yuan froze for a moment. Enduring the racking agony as if his entire skeleton had fallen apart, he forced himself up from the rubble and looked toward the sky.
The withered elder who had originally targeted him was now locked in combat with that middle-aged beauty.
The ringing in his ears receded slightly, allowing the woman's furious rebukes, the withered elder's vulgar, obscene banter, and his wild cackles to ring loud beneath the vault of heaven.
"Tian Bofang, you old ghost, you've truly gone mad!"
"This old man didn't misspeak! The Fairy Fu of old who'd sleep with any man, hehehahaha!"
"Mad raving nonsense!"
"Save it, my Fairy Fu! Even if you have that Dao companion surnamed Qi now, don't you still keep seven or eight gigolos in secret? With so many gigolos, what's the harm in letting this old man have a taste of your charms?"
"Bastard! As Sect Master of the Fenglan Sect, you slaughtered innocent commoners without cause. This seat shall enforce justice on behalf of Heaven!"
"Rest easy! This old blade of mine hasn't dulled with age yet. I guarantee I'll send you to cloud nine, hehahahaha!!"
Amidst their exchange, the shockwaves of their battle warped the surrounding space. In the half quarter of an hour Xu Yuan had been unconscious, they had already flattened nearly half of Huizhou County.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan sank limply back into the pile of rubble.
Well, it worked.
Though the process had been shaky, this little sister Luo Xiran had indeed turned the withered elder into a "neutral mob" as promised, redirecting his aggro entirely onto one of his own allies.
With the immediate danger passed, Xu Yuan began to inspect his physical condition.
A quick internal scan sent a chill straight through his heart.
He had suffered injuries even more severe than this before, but that was when he had been an aberrant ghost or inside the illusion.
As a mere Soul Condensation cultivator, it was hard to fathom how he had survived such wounds while retaining his sanity.
The bones and flesh of his wrist were pulverized into powder, half of his lung was missing, and the rest of his internal organs were shattered. His vitality was now maintained entirely by the fungal carpets under Luo Xiran's control.
Still, as long as he could hang on to a single breath until reinforcements arrived, raising the dead and regrowing flesh on bare bone was hardly an impossible feat with the peak medical arts of this world.
Letting out a long breath, Xu Yuan chuckled softly:
"Xiran, thanks for earlier."
Luo Xiran did not care in the slightest, chuckling in response:
"Were it not for you, brat, I probably would have slept in that underground palace until I faded away entirely. My life was saved by you, so this is merely what I ought to do."
Xu Yuan smiled faintly.
The open and upright conduct of this sworn sister would probably make Old Man Luo thoroughly ashamed.
Silence settled between them after those words.
Watching the clash of Transcendent Realm powerhouses high in the sky, Xu Yuan asked with a conflicted look in his eyes:
"Xiran, there are still two more Transcendent Realm experts hiding in the dark within the city. Do you... have any way to deal with them?"
Although he had temporarily escaped the lethal peril posed by the withered elder, he had by no means escaped this dead end of an assassination.
Hearing Xu Yuan's question, Luo Xiran fell quiet for a moment before uttering a single word:
"Yes."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan was taken aback.
He knew full well there were only two ways to break this deadlock:
First, Big Sister Lou Ji goes all out and unlocks hidden power.
Second, his maternal uncle, Feng Jiuxuan, arrives in Huizhou County in the nick of time.
Hence, asking Luo Xiran just now had merely been an offhand query, yet she had actually given him an affirmative answer.
After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan reminded her in a low voice:
"Xiran, there are still two Transcendent Realm experts in the city, and..."
At this point, Xu Yuan raised his gaze to look at the battle high above between the Transcendent elder and the iron-masked woman.
Although the elder remained wildly deranged with fierce offensives, he was already nursing considerable wounds. By contrast, the curvaceous woman had suffered pitifully few injuries.
"The old man has lost his mind. I fear he won't be able to last long against that woman."
"Yes, I know," Luo Xiran said placidly. "The remaining two have not made a move yet, most likely waiting for that woman to severely wound the old man. Once she has enough strength to dictate the flow of battle, she can direct the shockwaves to obliterate you."
Xu Yuan fell silent upon hearing this.
He had also heard what the woman in the sky said.
Clearly, the elder infected by the terrifying plague had already been discarded as a pawn by the ringleader of this assassination.
No one knew the relationship between the Fenglan Sect and the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, and the one who had slaughtered the city was solely this elder. As long as they killed him, the assassins' position would be reversed, turning them into heroes who saved the people from ruin.
And during an all-out clash between Transcendent Realm powerhouses, wouldn't the sudden death of a mere Soul Condensation cultivator be completely natural?
If handled properly, the Fenglan Sect behind the withered elder might even be cleared of blame due to the horrific mind-robbing plague.
All the blame and all the incriminating evidence would be pinned solely on the elder's shoulders.
As his thoughts raced, Xu Yuan realized something was wrong.
Where was Qianxi?
With Qianxi, a Transcendent Realm expert, by his side, how could stray shockwaves from a Transcendent battle possibly harm him?
At this thought, Xu Yuan began searching the surroundings for Li Junqing's confidante, but found nothing.
"Looking for that woman named Qianxi?"
As if reading Xu Yuan's mind, Luo Xiran said, "While you were unconscious, she stepped in to lure that old man away and drew his attention to the woman, after which she left to find the Third Prince."
"..."
Xu Yuan fell silent for a heartbeat, sighing inwardly.
Huizhou County's city-protecting array no longer offered any defensive protection; instead, it stood like a high wall trapping everyone inside.
The shockwaves from the two fighting in the sky could reach Li Junqing in the city at any moment.
Putting himself in her shoes, if he were in danger and told the Big Block of Ice to protect someone else, no matter how obedient she was, she would definitely rush back to prioritize protecting him.
Therefore, the choice made by this woman named Qianxi was hardly surprising.
Except... that woman wouldn't have brought Jing Xuelan along with her, would she?
Thinking this, Xu Yuan suddenly blurted out:
"Where is Jing Xuelan?"
Luo Xiran replied softly:
"She took her along."
Hilarious.
Hearing this, Xu Yuan inexplicably felt like laughing.
He could already picture Li Junqing's constipated expression upon hearing the whole story.
Since he had been willing to take the risk to seek out this woman, Li Junqing wouldn't fail to realize how crucial she was to these assassins.
He just didn't know whether that kid would dump this ticking time bomb of a Jing Xuelan...
Reigning in his wandering thoughts, Xu Yuan felt it wiser to focus on his own predicament and steered the conversation back:
"Xiran, what was the method you mentioned earlier?"
Instead of answering directly, Luo Xiran asked:
"Changtian, do you still remember Qi?"
The final primordial aberrant ghost, Qi.
Hearing this name, Xu Yuan's mind jolted:
"Of course I remember."
When they escaped the underground palace back then, this little sister Luo Xiran had utilized a contingency left behind ten thousand years ago to absorb Qi's flesh and blood along with everything it possessed.
"Mm," Luo Xiran said very softly. "Her demon crystal is with me."
Xu Yuan's breathing grew rapid. "What do you mean by that? Have me undergo aberrant ghost transformation again? There's no Fate-Reversing Liquid left now."
To be honest, he didn't reject turning into an aberrant ghost again right now; in fact, he harbored a trace of longing for it.
A thirst for power.
In their current predicament, if the two Transcendent assassins lurking in the shadows hadn't been aiming to manage the overall situation and cut losses, a single art blasted his way would have snuffed him out on the spot.
If he could regain that kind of power, it would be more than enough to handle the present crisis. He could even beat up these assassins, then give Xu Changge a good thrashing when he came to the rescue.
The problem was,
after undergoing aberrant ghost transformation, how would he change back?
If he couldn't turn back, he would truly become the Great Calamity of the realm.
Luo Xiran's voice held a note of amusement:
"What is that head of yours concocting, brat? Qi has already dispersed like smoke. Turning a living being into an aberrant ghost can only be done by a primordial aberrant ghost."
Xu Yuan sighed inwardly at her words, feeling a prick of disappointment:
"Then what do you mean?"
Luo Xiran asked softly:
"Your current body possesses the traits of an aberrant ghost. You should know this, right?"
Xu Yuan gave a soft chuckle:
"More or less. After all, without aberrant ghost traits, you wouldn't be able to manipulate these black death fungal carpets inside me as smoothly as moving your own limbs."
Luo Xiran's voice carried a hint of hesitation:
"So I was wondering... whether your body could withstand an aberrant ghost's demon crystal..."
Crack!
Before Luo Xiran could finish her sentence, the sound of the emerald canopy shattering over Huizhou County instantly drew Xu Yuan's attention.
Looking up,
he saw the dome-shaped light curtain in midair dissipating rapidly like foam.
Huizhou County's city-protecting array had been violently punched through from the inside.
Lou Ji manifested above it. Standing opposite her across the void was the peerlessly graceful woman in a black gown exuding a chilling aura, holding a sword. The light swirling within a hundred yards around her was as dazzling as a rising sun.
At the same time,
Xu Yuan suddenly heard that familiar voice of the kid Li Junqing resounding across the entire county seat.
His tone was thick with disgust and helplessness:
"You won't negotiate with that kid Xu Changtian? Then this prince will negotiate with you! Stop right now, or this prince will chop this woman Jing Xuelan to pieces!"
As those simple, blunt words fell, two slender silhouettes suddenly appeared in the sky.
It was none other than Qianxi and the still-unconscious Jing Xuelan.
"..."
Watching this scene from afar, Xu Yuan's gaze froze for a second.
He had expected Li Junqing to be clever enough to deduce Jing Xuelan's importance, but had not anticipated that the fellow would actually step up to help him at such a life-and-death juncture.
After a brief silence, a faint smile unconsciously tugged at the corners of Xu Yuan's thin lips.
Heh.
When this kid isn't screwing over his dad or running away, he's actually a god-tier teammate.
Talk Hero Number Two.
Li Junqing's voice likewise caught the attention of the two Semi-Saints outside the county seat.
Looking at this Semi-Saint of unknown origin, under the envelopment of her Dao domain, Lou Ji distinctly sensed the opposite woman's aura fluctuate for a split second.
And it was precisely this split-second shift that allowed her to piece together a wealth of information in an instant.
Jing Xuelan, Jing Tingxi, Jing Tingxi's confidante, perhaps even Jing Xuelan's birth mother.
A glint of killing intent flashed across Lou Ji's bewitching purple pupils. She had never expected the rats of Burial Village would dare show their faces here again, much less collude with the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion to assassinate Changtian...
The moment he had Qianxi punch through the city-protecting array and transmitted that proclamation, Li Junqing immediately regretted it.
Because no sooner had his voice fallen than an immense, chilling qi dynamic locked firmly onto him.
And the source of this qi dynamic was unmistakably the woman in the black gown beneath the firmament.
Feeling that frigid qi dynamic, Li Junqing swallowed with great difficulty.
Damn it! They came to assassinate the crown prince of the Prime Minister's Manor—what business was it of an imperial prince like him to stick his nose into this?
Was a powerhouse capable of trading blows evenly with Lou Ji someone he could afford to offend?
In the short term, he would probably be added to their hit list. In the long term, even if he survived this ordeal, how would he explain himself to his Imperial Elder Brother?
Such a massive, mobilization-heavy assassination would inevitably reach the ears of his eldest brother, the Crown Prince. Regardless of the reason, deploying so many powerhouses just to kill a single Soul Condensation cultivator would expose the kid Xu Yuan's exceptional significance before the entire world.
Given his elder brother's disposition, he couldn't fail to realize that. Moreover, as full brothers born of the same parents, his elder brother the Crown Prince knew full well what kind of person he was.
You, Little Third, value your life above all else. What do you mean by risking your neck to stick up for Xu Changtian?
Li Zhaoyuan is openly using sect forces to snatch my position as Crown Prince, and now you, Little Third, have secretly allied with the Prime Minister's Manor behind my back, haven't you?
Li Junqing suddenly felt like slapping himself twice across the face.
Impulse really can get a person killed.
Yet regret aside, the helpless look in Li Junqing's eyes gradually faded into a dark, resolute stillness.
Since he had chosen to help, there was no turning back now.
His detached gaze met that of the black-gowned woman in the sky for a heartbeat. Glancing at the red-robed woman in midair and the naked Jing Xuelan suspended in her Source Qi, Li Junqing's lips parted slightly:
"Do it.
"Kill her."
Under the watchful eyes of countless onlookers, the Source Qi around the red-robed woman in midair surged violently, the hold supporting Jing Xuelan tightening abruptly into a lethal choke!
And amidst this dead silence, the black-gowned woman moved suddenly.
Her graceful figure transformed directly into a beam of light, ignoring Lou Ji prowling at her flank as she bolted straight toward the red-robed Qianxi below.
Witnessing this, an immense wave of killing intent surged within Lou Ji's beautiful purple eyes.
She had found an opening. In her rush to save Jing Xuelan, the black-gowned woman had left her entire back wide open.
With Li Junqing stepping into the fray, the situation in Huizhou County underwent a subtle shift in an instant.
The shift was small, yet it carved out a sliver of hope amidst the dead end.
As long as Lou Ji seized this chance to wound the black-gowned woman—even if the injury was not life-threatening—the shift in momentum would leave Lou Ji with the surplus strength to protect Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan understood the opening created by Li Junqing, and Taishi Ran, lurking in the shadows, understood it just as clearly.
A soft sigh escaped Taishi Ran's lips.
It held regret, lament, and unwavering resolve.
Taishi Ran looked down at his palm.
There, a purple arc of lightning had long since coalesced.
Now that things had come to this, the scheme to use the withered elder as the sole scapegoat had fallen apart.
Thus, only one path remained for him.
With this thought, Taishi Ran calmly raised his hand, aiming straight at the brocade-robed young man lying in the rubble miles away.
Then—
Hum—
A tiny arc of lightning shot out from the raging flames miles away at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
As if covering a thousand li in a single breath, it pierced through burning bookshops along its path, tearing through collapsed stone walls and rubble, streaking directly toward the young man in brocade.
And just as Taishi Ran anticipated, Lou Ji did not choose to strike at the wide-open Luo Bingli. Turning completely away from Luo Bingli, she darted straight toward Xu Yuan in the blink of an eye.
She knew full well the objective of these people.
Severely wounding the woman in black was important, but no matter how important, it could not compare to Changtian's life.
And her speed was even faster than that arc of lightning.
However—
a rotund figure barred the path of her trajectory.
The moment his form materialized, an uncontrollable panic flared in Lou Ji's icy purple eyes. Her shout, echoing almost in unison with Luo Bingli's reprimand, rang across the heavens:
"How dare you?!"
The words fell.
The two figures of Fatty Zhou and Qianxi were blasted away almost simultaneously by formidable qi dynamics, crashing into Huizhou County and tearing through several streets amidst boundless billowing dust.
Jing Xuelan was dead.
And as the lightning arc swept in, under Luo Xiran's control, countless silk-like strands of fungal carpet abruptly condensed around Xu Yuan.
Twisting and intertwining along the lightning arc's path, they formed nine layers of sturdy shields in an instant.
Yet before the mighty, charged blow of a Transcendent Realm expert, all of it was in vain.
The lightning arc tore through the fungal carpet shields in a flash, arriving right before Xu Yuan's head.
And then—
the purple lightning arc passed straight through, as if through nothing at all...
Chapter 429