Nangong Wan and the other person retreated to the edge of the formation, beside the azure light barrier.
The holy power within their bodies was rapidly draining, leaving them no time to hesitate. Nangong Wan formed a hand seal, and a silver-white glow flickered at her fingertips.
She pointed directly at the light barrier, and the spot she touched twisted into a whirlpool. In the next instant, a gap tore open.
Nangong Wan furrowed her brows and shouted, “Hurry!”
Opening the door, fleeing—done in one smooth motion, without a hint of delay.
“Daoist! Wait for us!”
“Big shot, save us!”
Only after Nangong Wan and her companion opened the azure light barrier did the crowd react, frantically rushing toward the small whirlpool opening.
Boom!
Yet, without Nangong Wan’s technique, the azure light barrier instantly restored itself. No matter how hard the others attacked, they couldn’t break through.
“Damn it!! That wretched woman actually escaped on her own!”
The crowd seethed with resentment, but their anger and unwillingness were useless now. As their spiritual power and holy energy drained away, their cultivation began to drop.
In just a short while, many cultivators had already fallen an entire major realm. Except for the Saint realm cultivators, who could barely maintain their Saint-level cultivation, the rest had nearly given up resisting.
If even the Saint realm cultivators could do nothing, what hope was there for them?
“I should have escaped with them earlier. We could have survived!”
“Hahahaha, this is fate. We were too greedy. We didn’t even know the truth about the treasure, and now we’re stuck here.”
Some cultivators were more optimistic, accepting their fate calmly.
Meanwhile, the Saint realm cultivators were still making a stubborn stand. “Fellow Daoists, is there really no way out? Are you all truly willing to be trapped here to death?”
“This azure light barrier seals off space. To get out, you’d need a special method like that woman had.”
“Or, we could join forces and attack a single point. The light barrier must have a limit to how much damage it can take. If we can unleash an attack equivalent to that of a Saint King, we might be able to break through a corner!”
Aside from Nangong Wan and Su Muxue, who had already fled, five experts of the Saint Realm remained on the scene. However, they were all within the Saint Realm, and the highest cultivation among them had only just reached the seventh level—effectively the late stage of the Saint Realm.
“Fine! Let’s combine our efforts while our cultivation hasn’t fully fallen below the Saint realm!”
The five Saint realm cultivators struck together, targeting one spot on the azure light barrier.
Boom!!
Five powerful attacks slammed into the light barrier. It trembled slightly, but after the various bursts of light faded, the barrier showed no change at all.
“How is this possible? What kind of damned place is this?”
The higher the cultivation, the greater the gap between minor realms. Pulling off an attack that leaps beyond one’s level is usually the exclusive skill of the chosen one. Clearly, none of these people were anywhere close to being such a chosen one.
“Whew.”
“Thank goodness you were here, Wan ‘er, or else we might have died in this awful place.”
After leaving the formation, Su Muxue still felt a lingering fear. She patted her impressive chest, which gave a slight bounce, and let out a small sigh of relief.
Nangong Wan gazed at the cultivators trapped within the azure light barrier, her expression calm. “This place isn’t safe to stay. The greatest danger here isn’t these formations but the Heavenly Tribulation that exists for some unknown reason.”
She looked up at the sky, which was as dark as splattered ink, oppressive and unsettling. Black and red lightning serpents coiled within the clouds, twisting like wild brushstrokes through the ink, making everyone feel deeply anxious.
Most cultivators had been so focused on the formation that they had completely overlooked the most threatening presence.
“Damn, there really is more danger. Good thing we got out early, or we’d be done for!”
“Thanks to the Daoist who ran first! Appreciate it!”
“Yeah, that was close. Luckily, that Daoist was kind enough to warn us before fleeing, or even Saint realm cultivators might have fallen here!”
The cultivators who had the foresight to escape early felt as if they had won the ultimate lottery, their faces full of joy.
Though they had gained nothing from this trip, seeing those who had sought fortune and ended up sealing their own fate made them feel much better.
As time passed, all the trapped cultivators within the formation had their realms drop below the Saint level. The Saint-grade talisman suspended above their heads burst into dazzling light, transforming into countless sword beams that attacked viciously.
That single Saint-grade talisman reduced the flesh of dozens of cultivators to ruin, leaving only their souls floating in the air.
“Sigh, we couldn’t escape death in the end.”
“But it seems the formation doesn’t attack their souls. That means if they can leave the formation, they might still survive.”
“If they’re lucky, they could live through possession. But losing their original bodies means their cultivation is mostly wasted.”
“Surviving at all is good enough. Who cares about cultivation?”
The cultivators outside watched those inside meet such a fate, shaking their heads in lamentation.
Su Muxue looked warily at the formation. “Good thing we ran fast. The way of formations is truly profound and unfathomable. Unfortunately, in the Xuanhuang Realm today, I doubt anyone’s formation skills could reach such a level.”
Nangong Wan nodded in agreement. “Let’s go. We need to find Senior Brother.”
Treasures were good, but only if you lived to enjoy them.
“Ah!!”
“No! Get away, get away from me!!”
Just as the two were about to leave, heart-wrenching screams echoed from the formation. They stopped and turned around, only to see the formation suddenly filled with countless vengeful spirits, madly tearing at the souls of those cultivators.
“This is…”
Nangong Wan’s eyes glowed faintly with white light. She spotted a flag in the hand of a ghostly cultivator with a white beard among the countless spirits, and her pupils contracted sharply.
“How is this possible!?”
“Wan ‘er, what’s wrong?”
Su Muxue, seeing the horrific state of those souls, felt a chill down her spine. “Let’s get out of here. This place is too eerie. There must be some great demon sealed here!”
The surrounding cultivators were all terrified. First their bodies were destroyed, and now even their souls weren’t spared. They were now certain that this treasure trove was no stroke of lucky fortune.
Nangong Wan’s expression shifted constantly—now frowning, now deep in thought. “Wait for me, Muxue. I need to confirm something.”
She had a guess in her heart, but she wasn’t entirely sure.
That treasure was definitely her Senior Brother’s. She couldn’t be mistaken. But she couldn’t guarantee it hadn’t been stolen from him. Over so many years, while her Senior Brother was out cultivating on his own, he must have faced countless dangers.
It was possible someone had robbed him.
But anyone who dared to rob her Senior Brother—no matter who they were—would pay a terrible price!
As she thought this, Nangong Wan’s eyes turned dangerous.
“Muxue, wait here for me. I’m going to…”
BOOM!!!
Before Nangong Wan could finish speaking, a massive tremor erupted from deep within the formation, shaking the ground for hundreds of miles around as if an earthquake had struck.
In the next instant, a thick, rainbow-like pillar of dark red light surged upward from the mountain depths within the formation, crashing straight into the sky above. It intertwined with the black and crimson lightning there, unleashing a sinister and terrifying pressure that swept across a radius of a hundred miles.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
