"Explain what's going on."
Li Zhaoye narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone deliberately casual.
Luo Luo: "..."
She wanted to ask the same question—the entire dark corridor trembled faintly, and from the great hall behind them came the shrieks of demons, as if a fierce battle was raging inside.
Who had fallen in there?!
"It's nothing," Li Zhaoye reassured her. "It's Wu Xie."
Luo Luo relaxed and nodded.
Li Zhaoye, however, was displeased. "People from the Divine Palace—falling down here, causing trouble."
He proceeded to curse the old witch’s ancestors for eighteen generations under his breath.
Luo Luo: "..."
She hesitated, then chose to remind him gently, "Wu Xie is your relative."
Li Zhaoye immediately protested, "What nonsense is this? Everything is my relative now?"
Spiders were his relatives, dogs were his relatives, and now the old witch too... Wait.
Actually, the old witch really was his relative.
By lineage, Wu Xie herself was one of his "ancestors eighteen generations back."
Li Zhaoye: "..."
He glared down at her, only to find her stifling laughter in his arms.
Li Zhaoye: Tch.
He narrowed his eyes and made a fierce face at her.
Luo Luo quickly composed herself and spoke seriously, "After my master tried to kill you, he muttered something strange to the air—'At least I listened when you said this kid was cunning.'"
"Who was he talking to?" she asked.
Luo Luo could sense that the "you" in that sentence wasn’t referring to her.
Li Zhaoye waved a hand dismissively. "Who cares? Doesn’t matter. Just kill them all."
Luo Luo: "..."
She had almost forgotten—he was now a ruthless Divine Sovereign.
She nodded and glanced around, relieved to see everyone unharmed and in high spirits.
Then, belatedly, she realized, "If the elimination round was based on this trial of the heart, then I must’ve ranked last!"
Li Zhaoye chuckled. "Exactly."
Luo Luo was momentarily dazed. "If not for that divine thought helping me, I wouldn’t have gotten out so quickly."
Thankfully, the Qingyun Tournament hadn’t included this test—otherwise, the entire world would’ve witnessed the first-place qualifier sleeping and crying like a fool.
"Divine thought?" A voice suddenly piped up behind her. "What divine thought could you encounter in the trial? Unless it was a ghost."
Luo Luo turned to see Feng Guanhai crouched nearby, eavesdropping shamelessly.
She huffed, "You—an elder—sneaking around listening to private conversations?"
"What’s wrong with elders having curiosity?" Feng Guanhai rolled his eyes. "So, what ghost did you meet?"
Luo Luo snapped, "It wasn’t a ghost! It was a kind elder!"
She could feel it—the owner of that divine thought had been stern yet gentle, full of goodwill toward her.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion shook the corridor.
A gleaming claw smashed through the hall, crashing against the bronze walls with a metallic roar.
The entire passageway reverberated with the impact.
Wu Xie darted out from under the demon’s massive pincer, landing before the group.
Pale-faced, she urged, "It’s lured—quick, retreat!"
Before she finished speaking, two enormous demonic eyes peered into the corridor, scanning the group from above.
A gaping maw opened, releasing an ear-splitting shriek.
Foul breath and drool sprayed down as the demon suddenly lurched forward, only to be trampled by the horde behind it.
The wounded demon’s agonized screeches nearly shattered eardrums.
"Move!"
The disciples scrambled, pulling each other toward the opposite end of the corridor.
Though demonic noises echoed from the next hall, they had no choice but to charge ahead.
Wu Xie, her face ashen, turned to Feng Guanhai. "Senior, I miscalculated!"
She hoped he would step in to clean up her mess.
Feng Guanhai had no such intention.
Shuffling in his straw sandals, he squeezed into the Tai Xuan Sect’s group. "Go, go!"
He’d already shown restraint by not slapping her—no way was he fixing her mistakes.
Gritting her teeth, Wu Xie conjured a golden talisman, slamming it into the corridor to block the demons.
The barrier trembled under the creatures’ frenzied assaults, its glow flickering.
"It won’t hold long," Wu Xie said, even paler now. "Run!"
When she turned, the Tai Xuan Sect had already scurried along the wall, nearly out of sight.
"Senior," Xu Junzhu asked Feng Guanhai respectfully, "Are the demons in the Sealed Divine Hall truly so formidable that even a Transcendent cultivator can’t withstand them?"
Feng Guanhai shook his head. "It’s like raising venomous insects. That old witch could kill a dozen at most—if she self-destructs, maybe twenty if she’s lucky."
The group gasped.
They hadn’t dared to look closely earlier, but at a glance, the hall had held hundreds of towering statues.
Zhao Yu cried out, "If that’s true, even if every powerhouse in the world sacrificed themselves here, they’d only clear one hall!" He counted on his fingers. "And there are twelve Sealed Divine Halls!"
Feng Guanhai wagged a finger. "No, no."
He pointed ahead and behind.
These interconnected halls of identical design counted as one. The Twelve Sealed Divine Halls weren’t twelve individual chambers—they were twelve layered palace complexes.
The group shuddered, spines icy with dread.
With two of the three ancient divine breaths already lost, if the Sealed Divine Halls collapsed and the demons escaped—who could stop them?
The entire world would be doomed!
After a pause, Xu Junzhu whispered, "What if the Dao Monarch intervened?"
Could there still be a sliver of hope?
Feng Guanhai sighed. "Why do you think every Dao Monarch avoids action? You think it’s by choice?"
Xu Junzhu frowned. "Then why?"
Feng Guanhai refused to answer.
"Hey, old man," Xu Junlan tugged at his sleeve, "why the suspense? We’re all about to die—what’s the harm in telling us?"
Feng Guanhai glared. "You brat!"
Xu Junlan glared back. "Well?"
Grumbling, Feng Guanhai muttered, "You lot use spiritual power to fight. I use my life. Got it?"
Spiritual power could be replenished. Life, once spent, was gone forever.
Zhen Tu, supporting Wu Xie, shot him a disapproving look. "Dao Monarch, was it necessary to tell them this?"
The old man bristled. "None of your business! Hmph!"
The golden barrier in the corridor dimmed further under the demons’ onslaught.
Ahead lay another hall they had no choice but to enter.
Li Zhaoye, carrying Luo Luo in his arms, glanced down. "Hold on tight."
Luo Luo: "Okay."
She reached up, then settled for gripping the fabric at his shoulders.
He didn’t lower his head to look at her, letting out a dissatisfied sound from his throat: "Tch."
Luo Luo: "..."
She knew this didn’t count as "holding tight."
Gritting her teeth, she stretched her arms further and wrapped them around his neck.
Now, her entire body was practically pressed flush against his.
This is dangerous, Luo Luo, she told herself. Now’s not the time to be shy! Don’t you dare blush!
Li Zhaoye seemed to chuckle faintly, his lean, muscular frame giving a slight tremor.
He strode into the next dark hall.
The situation wasn’t as bad as expected.
Only one or two corpses had fallen into this area, devoured almost instantly, failing to stir too many demons.
Li Zhaoye tilted his head slightly, and the group immediately followed him into the hall, pressing against the walls, holding their breaths as they moved swiftly forward.
Not far away, several demons wandered slowly.
Movement always carried wind, and in the sealed hall, the air currents made the eternal lamps flicker, casting shifting shadows that felt like the demons’ lingering gazes.
The atmosphere was suffocating.
Hurry, hurry, hurry…
The golden seals in the corridor wouldn’t hold much longer. If the demons behind them broke through, they’d awaken the dormant ones in this hall—then they’d be trapped between two waves.
Tension, fear, and oppression weighed heavily over everyone.
Heartbeats pounded painfully in their throats.
The air felt like a taut string stretched to its limit.
"Eeeek—"
A drawn-out, eerie sound.
Then, from the distance, came the faint sound of something shattering.
Wu Xie’s expression changed. "Move!"
Under the mountainous shadows of the demons, the group dashed silently, like ants threading through a valley.
"Boom!"
The first demon burst into the hall from the corridor.
Its clawed limbs stabbed into the ground as it reared back and let out a deafening roar: "Rooooar—"
Where the demonic soundwave passed, the dormant statues awoke one by one.
The awakened demons roused even more.
Cracks spread like sunlight over thin ice, dissolving everything in its path.
"Run!"
Now, it was truly a race against death itself.
The group sprinted desperately, slipping past the demons just as they began to stir.
The floor trembled faintly as more demons poured in from the corridors, a roaring tide threatening to swallow them whole.
One demon slowly turned its massive body, its blade-like claws slashing down with a thunderous crash, nearly splitting Bai Yi in half.
He gasped, "If that were Zhao Yu, he’d be in two pieces by now!"
Zhao Yu glared, ducking under the claw with lightning reflexes. "I’m fat, but I’m nimble!"
"Boom—hummm!"
Another claw swept horizontally ahead.
Li Zhaoye flung out a sealing thread, and the others grabbed hold.
With a flick of his wrist, the thread snapped taut, lifting the wounded group into the air.
"Whoosh—CRASH!"
The claw narrowly missed them, slamming into the wall instead.
"Kinda… feels like jump rope," Xu Junlan muttered.
They landed with a thud and kept running.
Closer… closer…
Behind them, the demonic horde surged, claws scraping against the indestructible floor with a teeth-gritting screech.
Their monstrous shadows swayed on the walls.
Li Zhaoye suddenly halted.
The wall was right in front of them—but there was no side corridor.
Feng Guanhai hissed, pointing downward. "There’s a door."
Ahead, instead of side passages, stood two towering stone gates, wide open. Beyond them stretched an endless sea of dormant demons.
"If we wake them, we’re dead," Wu Xie breathed. "We can’t lead these demons forward!"
Zhen Tu frowned. "Then what do we do?"
"Don’t look at me!" Feng Guanhai snapped. "I can’t hold them off!"
Wu Xie spoke hoarsely. "Someone has to stay behind—draw them away, lead them back."
She pointed ahead. "The rest of us go through that door and shut it."
That would buy them safety.
Li Zhaoye smirked. "So who’s the unlucky one?"
Wu Xie: "Me."
The group stared in surprise.
Given the impression this Holy Maiden usually gave… well.
No time for hesitation.
Expression unchanging, Wu Xie turned, summoned her lifebound artifact, and charged toward the demonic tide.
Zhen Tu’s lips parted. "I never thought you’d cling to useless sentiment in the end. Fine."
This colleague had broken her principles time and again since the incident with Wu Ya.
Now, she was willing to die for mere blood ties.
Pathetic.
Wu Xie plunged into the demons, immediately surrounded on all sides.
Zhen Tu barked, "She won’t last! Go!"
The group snapped out of it, scrambling through the massive gates.
Feng Guanhai was already pushing them shut. "Good, they’re silent!"
Beneath the doors, they looked like ants.
Xu Junzhu’s lips pressed tight. "If the Holy Maiden makes it back before they close, all’s well."
Feng Guanhai shook his head. "She won’t shake them off."
Within moments, Wu Xie was trapped, struggling like a fly in amber.
She pulled the demons back, away from the gates.
"Hummm—"
The doors began to shut with a faint rumble.
Wu Xie was wounded.
A thin, unseen claw speared through her body, lifting her into the air.
At her forehead, a golden Eight Trigram seal slowly surfaced.
"Damn it!" Zhen Tu gasped. "The Palace Lord’s Seal!"
Wu Xie was moments from being torn apart.
She, too, sucked in a sharp breath. "The Palace Lord’s Seal!"
With this seal, one could activate the Divine Palace’s grand formation, command its forces, and sway the world’s fate.
In the chaos, no one had remembered—until now.
"Zhen Tu…" Wu Xie struggled weakly in midair. "Take it… I’ll detonate myself… cover your escape…"
Zhen Tu hesitated for only a flicker of a moment before darting toward her.
With all the demons focused on Wu Xie, retrieving the seal would take just an instant.
Her white robes flashed as she teleported beside Wu Xie.
"Now!"
Wu Xie reached out desperately.
Zhen Tu opened her spiritual veins, bracing for the transfer.
"Thud."
Zhen Tu’s pupils contracted. She looked down—only to see Wu Xie slam a spell-seal, brimming with spiritual energy, straight into her chest.
Flesh tore. Blood sprayed. Agony seared through her.
"You—"
Wu Xie smiled.
There was no time for words now. She leaned aside and slipped free from the "slender claws"—only then did Zhen Tu realize those were not claws at all, but a thorned artifact Wu Xie had laid in wait.
"You—"
In one swift motion, Wu Xie hooked the grievously wounded Zhen Tu onto the thorns instead.
The brambles coiled, locking tight.
With a flick of her hand, Zhen Tu's agonized scream tore through the air as his soul-blood—saturated with a Nascent Soul cultivator's spiritual power—splattered in all directions, drawing the gaze of every demon and monster.
Wu Xie turned and vanished in a flash.
Zhen Tu understood the final look she left him: Self-destruct. Make it quick.
At the instant the stone gate sealed shut, Wu Xie flashed past its threshold.
"Boom."
All sound vanished behind the colossal doors.
Feng Guanhai hissed, "Damn! What a viper! You just sweet-talked him into dying?"
Wu Xie shot him an impassive glance. "Would you rather it were you?"
Feng Guanhai scratched his head and chuckled. "Hah. Him. Definitely him."
Wu Xie strode forward, and where she passed, the crowd fell silent.
As she moved past Xu Junzhu, Wu Xie tilted her head slightly and gave a faint nod.
"Your blessing served me well."
Xu Junzhu: "...Y-you're welcome?"
