The Mighty Foe Arrives

A sharp glint flashed in Xuanyangzi's eyes. Without a moment's hesitation, he focused his mind and contacted Ling Canglan through a special channel.

His divine sense transmission was full of undisguised delight and calculation.

"Canglan! I received the news! Wonderful! This is absolutely wonderful!"

"Accept! Accept this hit for me! Demand a sky-high price! A price that will make them so pained they won't be able to sleep at night!"

"Send a few of the smartest and best actors! The mission must fail! And it must fail spectacularly and logically!"

"It's best if the people who go come back looking a bit battered. They don't have to be seriously injured, but it needs to be noticeable!"

"That's not all!" Xuanyangzi's tone shifted, carrying an even deeper chill and killing intent.

"After the mission fails, have your people find trouble! Just say that the Liuli Sacred Land's intelligence was severely flawed, concealing the true strength behind the targets, causing the Netherworld Hall to suffer massive losses and even severe injuries to personnel!"

"Use this as an excuse to have the Netherworld Hall pressure them in return and demand a massive compensation! If they don't give it, or if they aren't quick enough..."

"Then have the assassins of the Netherworld Hall pay a 'visit' to the elders and disciples of the Liuli Sacred Land! Let them taste what it's like to be targeted by a top-tier assassin organization!"

"In short, muddy the waters and drag the Liuli Sacred Land into even greater trouble and fear, making them overwhelmed! Let's see if they dare to harbor such crooked thoughts again!"

"This time, we must let these old foxes of the Liuli Sacred Land taste what it means to lose the wife and the army! What it means to reap what you sow! What it means to play with fire!"

"Go do it immediately! Do it beautifully!"

After the transmission, Xuanyangzi put away the smile on his face, but the delight and a trace of coldness in his eyes lingered for a long time.

He stood with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of the Liuli Sacred Land, and coldly snorted, "Playing dirty with my Azure Profound Sect? Let's see who plays who to death!"

Ling Canglan received Xuanyangzi's murderous transmission and swept it with his divine sense.

He narrowed his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the Nether Jade Throne, rapidly weighing the options.

The Sect Master's plan was not only to accept the hit but also to turn the tables, using their plan against them and scamming the Liuli Sacred Land to death. This price... absolutely could not be light.

It had to be a sky-high price that would make a Sacred Land suffer a severe blow and feel agonizing pain to match the Sect Master's intentions and to be worthy of the weight represented by those few geniuses who might be connected to the Lord.

A moment later, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he made a decision.

Without any further hesitation, a divine sense condensed with icy will tore through the air, transmitting directly to the Eastern Region Branch Hall:

"Phantom Shadow, accept the hit! The price: three Sacred Weapons with complete artifact spirits; ten 'Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Sacred Pills.' Not one less, or no deal."

"Remember, you are only allowed to fail, not succeed..."

When Phantom Shadow received the strongly worded and incredibly harsh instructions from the Chief Hall Master, even he, a Saint King who had seen his fair share of storms, couldn't help but gasp.

"Three Sacred Weapons! Ten Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Sacred Pills!" The nether fire in his eyes violently danced. "The Chief Hall Master's price... is truly... slaughtering them!"

This price was no longer just making the Liuli Sacred Land feel pain; it was simply carving out their hearts and scraping their bones! How precious were Sacred Weapons?

The Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Sacred Pills were life-saving sacred medicines; a single pill was enough to make Saint Realm experts fight to the death!

The Chief Hall Master was clearly trying to bite off more than he could chew, not even leaving much room for the other party to bargain.

Moreover, the subsequent instructions to "find trouble" and "apply pressure" were even more vicious, clearly intended to scam the Liuli Sacred Land to death and continue to cause trouble afterward.

He didn't dare to delay and immediately followed the instructions, sending a message back to the Liuli Sacred Land through that Void Dark Talisman.

The message was extremely brief.

"The mission can be accepted. The price: three Sacred Weapons, ten Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Sacred Pills. Not one less, or no deal."

There was no explanation, no negotiation, only a naked sky-high price.

In the Liuli Sacred Land, when First Elder Perfected Liuguang received this message from the Netherworld Hall, the air in the entire hall seemed to freeze.

"Three Sacred Weapons! Ten Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Pills!" an elder cried out in shock, his face pale.

Even the Sacred Lord, Liuli Mingwang, upon seeing this list, couldn't control the violent twitching of his eyes, and his chest felt a burst of tightness.

This price far exceeded his psychological expectations and would almost empty a small half of the Sacred Land's top-tier inventory!

"The Netherworld Hall... this is extortion!" Elder Chiyan was furious, trembling all over.

Liuli Mingwang closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with resolute coldness.

"Give it to them!" he practically squeezed the words out from between his teeth. "Tell the Netherworld Hall that I... want to see results as soon as possible!"

At this moment, the hearts of all the higher-ups in the Liuli Sacred Land were bleeding. They seemed to already see the treasures the Sacred Land had accumulated over ten thousand years flowing continuously into that bottomless black hole.

...

On the other side, Ling Xi turned into an inconspicuous cyan streak of light, silently following behind Xiao Ruobai and the other two.

She clearly sensed that the speed of her two senior brothers ahead was far from their full potential.

With their current Heaven Realm cultivation, especially the "Can't Catch Me" movement technique taught by their master, if they really wanted to escape, those pursuers behind them, including the existence with the most terrifying aura, might not be able to keep up.

However, Xiao Ruobai and Fang Han Yu intentionally maintained their speed at a "just right" critical point where they could be caught.

On one hand, it was indeed to take care of Fatty Wang, whose cultivation was only at the Grotto-Heaven Realm and whose speed was limited even when desperately using secret techniques.

But the deeper reason was something the two of them tacitly understood: they needed this pressure that felt like a knife at their backs, this life-and-death coercion, to truly temper their newly broken-through realms and thoroughly integrate the gains from their life-and-death battles with the eternal projections in the Genius Pagoda, turning it into their own!

This was a kind of confidence, and also an ultimate pursuit of their own Dao paths!

"Big Brother! Second Brother! Can you guys go a little bit faster?! That old monster's aura behind us is almost licking the back of my head!"

Fatty Wang's face was pale, and he yelled loudly, feeling the chill on his back almost freezing his divine soul.

Xiao Ruobai's gaze was as sharp as lightning, sweeping across the vast mountain range ahead, and he said in a deep voice, "Cut the crap! Hold on! This is a sharpening stone, just right for consolidating our cultivation!"

Although Fang Han Yu didn't speak, the chaotic sword qi flowing around him became increasingly condensed and pure, as if undergoing some kind of transformation under the immense pressure.

Suddenly!

On an inconspicuous barren mountain ahead, space rippled like water.

An indescribably terrifying pressure, like the descent of an immemorial divine mountain, crashed down!

In an instant, the wind and clouds froze, and the void trembled! The spiritual energy within a hundred miles was instantly drained, turning into an absolute domain of confinement!

A figure silently appeared there.

He was dressed in a simple gray robe, his face gaunt, his wrinkles as deep as if carved by a knife and axe, and his gray hair sparse, as if it could blow away with the wind at any moment.

His eyes were cloudy, as if covered by a layer of dead ash, but upon closer inspection, deep within that cloudiness lay a fatigue that had seen through the vicissitudes of eternity and a terrifying will that made one's soul tremble!

The peak of the King Realm!

And it was by no means an ordinary peak! The profound and vast nature of his aura far surpassed the likes of Master Yuji. It was as if he had spent over a thousand years consolidating his foundation at the peak of the King Realm!

Now, his lifespan was exhausted and his vitality was in decline. However, that millennium of accumulation within the King Realm, combined with his near-Saint level comprehension, ensured he still possessed the power to destroy the heavens and decimate the earth!