Come Up and Duel

Ye Chuan stood at the edge of the teleportation array, releasing his spiritual sense to meticulously observe his surroundings.

Hmm…

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and even when using detection techniques, he found nothing unusual.

Yet his intuition told him things wouldn’t go so smoothly.

Ye Chuan extended his hand, his fingertips hovering just above the bluish-black array patterns without touching them—though the faint fluctuations of spiritual energy had already dissipated, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this seemingly flawless teleportation array hid something insidious.

Rubbing his chin, Ye Chuan turned to the members of the Liu Family.

"Patriarch Liu, how long has it been since this teleportation array was last used?" he asked casually.

Liu Canglan tensed but forced himself to remain composed. "It was inspected and maintained just last month. It’s ready for use at any time."

Inspected last month?

Ye Chuan shot them a sidelong glance.

If not for their arrival, this array probably wouldn’t have been used at all.

Still, routine maintenance wasn’t necessarily suspicious.

Then again… maybe it’d be safer to just kill them all.

"Keh keh keh…" Ye Chuan unconsciously let out a low chuckle, though he quickly suppressed it. He couldn’t actually slaughter them—not if he wanted to activate the array.

The others who saw his grin couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

This guy… doesn’t seem like a righteous cultivator at all.

Was he really a demonic cultivator?

Considering his actions, it certainly seemed that way.

"Elder Ling Xu, take a look at these array patterns. Do you notice anything unusual?" Ye Chuan suddenly turned to Ling Xu.

Ling Xu hurried forward, channeling his spiritual energy into the patterns, only to frown and shake his head. "The patterns are flowing normally, and the spiritual energy isn’t obstructed. I don’t see any issues."

All that remained was to infuse the right amount of spiritual energy to activate the array.

Ye Chuan stood and dusted off his hands.

"Fine, perhaps I’m overthinking it," he said with a deliberately relaxed smile before turning to Liu Canglan. "Let’s proceed. The sooner we depart, the better."

Liu Canglan exhaled in relief and stepped forward, pressing his palm into the array’s core slot.

The Liu Family had prepared plenty of spirit stones. The moment the array activated, pure spiritual energy surged into it, causing the formation to erupt in dazzling light. Golden patterns slithered like living dragons across the spirit stones, and the surrounding spiritual energy churned violently as the shadow of a spatial passage slowly took shape at the array’s center.

"Young friends, step into the formation now," Liu Canglan said, retreating two steps, his voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor.

Ye Chuan exchanged a glance with Bai Qianshuang.

"Let’s go," he said.

Bai Qianshuang gave a slight nod.

The two stepped into the center of the teleportation array together. The pull of the spatial passage grew stronger by the second, but just as the passage was about to fully open, Ye Chuan suddenly felt the air around him solidify.

"Heh." A voice echoed from the shadows before countless threads shot out from the gaps in the array patterns, coiling around Ye Chuan’s limbs and waist like venomous snakes.

With a vicious yank, the threads flung Ye Chuan backward, slamming him into a stone pillar!

"Bzzzt—" In the next instant, a green glow enveloped his body, instantly healing his injuries.

Yet Ye Chuan’s expression shifted to one of surprise. "These threads…?"

At first, he had assumed the Liu Family had set up an ambush, but seeing these threads, he was taken aback.

Could it be… that egg-protecting old freak?

"Ye Chuan!" Bai Qianshuang cried out, turning to intervene—but the spatial passage’s pull suddenly intensified, trapping her in place.

"Damn it!" Ye Chuan immediately tried to teleport, but the threads had already dug into his skin, slowing his movements for a few critical seconds.

Bai Qianshuang could only watch helplessly as the threads yanked Ye Chuan upward. She couldn’t even reach out before her figure was swallowed by the blinding white light, leaving behind only a desperate, tearful cry: "No!"

The light vanished, and the teleportation array gradually came to a halt.

Ye Chuan: "…"

"Hahaha! Thinking of leaving? Not so easy!" Elder Xuan’s figure emerged from the shadows behind a stone gate, his withered fingers manipulating the threads as he hurled Ye Chuan toward the edge of the spirit stones. The moment Ye Chuan crashed into the ground, blood trickled from his lips—yet his eyes showed no panic, only an eerie calm as his body continued to pulse with green light.

"Who are you?!" Elder Ling Xu blurted out in shock, sensing the other’s aura.

"A Dao Comprehension realm expert?!"

Elder Xuan clasped his hands behind his back, flicking his fingers. In an instant, translucent threads coiled around everyone present—except the Liu Family members. Even Elder Ling Xu hadn’t expected to find his vitals ensnared!

Feeling as though his very soul had been shackled, Elder Ling Xu’s pupils trembled.

"The power of laws…"

Elder Xuan swept his gaze across the scene before settling on Ye Chuan. "Brat, you killed Bing San and humiliated the dignity of our sacred land. Today, you’ll remain here forever."

Yet as he spoke, Elder Xuan’s expression twisted in confusion. Ye Chuan’s body kept flashing with multicolored lights, flickering nonstop ever since the threads had wrapped around him.

"You don’t actually think you can pull off the same trick as last time, do you?" Elder Xuan said coolly.

After getting stabbed in the kidney, he had spent his recovery period in Fengyu City reflecting. He concluded that Ye Chuan must have been at his limit back then—merely bluffing to scare him off.

Elder Xuan had fled in his desperation to protect the egg, but now he realized that if he had held out just a little longer, Ye Chuan might have collapsed on his own.

Narrowing his eyes, Elder Xuan flicked his wrist. "Sever!"

The threads throughout the space abruptly tightened, poised to slice through Ye Chuan’s neck—but in the next moment, Elder Xuan’s face contorted in disbelief.

He had expected Ye Chuan’s body to phase out like before, but nothing happened!

His infallible threads, which had never failed him, couldn’t penetrate even an inch—they were still being blocked by Ye Chuan’s skin!

"Tch. I thought the Liu Family would be the ones to make a move, but it’s you again, you old fossil." Ye Chuan slowly rose to his feet before raising his right hand. With a sharp motion, all the threads binding him shattered under Elder Xuan’s stunned gaze.

He glanced at the teleportation array before speaking flatly, "Perfect timing. I’ve been needing a Dao Comprehension realm soul."

Elder Xuan sneered. "A soul? Empty bluffs. This old man won’t fall for—"

Before he could finish, his body suddenly locked up. Blood gushed from his mouth, his seven orifices began to bleed, and an invisible force seemed to ravage him from within—his skin started rotting, and even the whites of his eyes turned pitch black.

"Poison?! What kind of vile poison is this?!" Elder Xuan had no idea when he’d been poisoned. He hastily swallowed a detoxification pill, but before he could react, a sword stabbed into his side!

A familiar, mocking voice whispered in his ear like a demon’s taunt:

"Kidney stab~"

Schlick! The blade plunged deep before twisting viciously.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH—!!!!"

Elder Xuan’s scream tore through the air, the agony all too familiar. But before he could recover, Ye Chuan seized his face and slammed him headfirst into the ground!

BOOM!!!

Elder Xuan’s body cratered the earth like a meteor, the impact sending tremors through the ground. Blood gushed from the wound at his waist, soaking his robes.

Ye Chuan hovered in the air, looking down at him with cold disdain.

"Come on, old trash. Let’s see you fight back now."