Chapter 300: Can't Keep It Hidden!

Deep within the underground black market, A Qi ran his fingers over the jet‑black dagger in his hand.

When Tie Tu delivered the knife, his attitude remained deferential, even relaying the exact words of the white‑robed immortal.

But what A Qi heard in his ears was completely different.

"Disgrace him?"

A Qi sneered and flicked the dagger casually.

Without expending a iota of true essence, relying only on the blade's own sharpness, a nearby special alloy steel plate used to test prosthetic strength was sliced in two like tofu.

The cut was smooth; not a speck of metal shrapnel fell.

A Qi's eyelids twitched wildly.

He had survived in the wasteland for over a decade and had never seen such a terrifying weapon.

"Fine blade!"

Tianyuan Ancestor's divine thought resonated in the Sea of Awareness with praise, then began to provoke, "Such a divine weapon truly, as he claimed, can slay immortals; even for me it is a precious treasure."

"I am certain that the man possesses few of these. Yet he casually bestowed this upon you; it seems what he schemes through you is larger than I imagined.

Child, you must quicken your pace. If you cannot secure self‑preservation before he closes the net, both you and I will be doomed for ten thousand eons.

"I understand."

A Qi tucked the dagger close to his body, and the madness in his eyes grew ever more intense.

With this weapon, A Qi's hunting efficiency surged exponentially.

He no longer confined himself to drainage canals and abandoned zones, but began to roam boldly along the black‑market fringe.

Those stubborn elements attached to the conglomerates who have not yet adopted the Reverse Spirit Manual became his best fodder.

Ninth Realm.

Tenth Realm.

Eleventh Realm.

In a mere half‑month, A Qi's cultivation surged wildly.

Converted to the cultivation system of the immortal world, he has entered the Fusion Stage.

Even the foremost main cities are considered to be of a leader's rank.

The rapid expansion of his power completely shattered A Qi's remaining reverence.

He walked the streets, holding no one in his sight.

A few times he even deliberately released Eleventh Realm spiritual pressure, watching the newly initiated paupers writhe in agony on the ground, satisfying his twisted vanity.

Tianyuan Ancestor observed all this in the Sea of Awareness, sneering inwardly.

Fool.

The meridians of this flesh body have swollen to their limit; the unrefined, chaotic blood‑qi rams wildly within the dantian.

Had he not expended his Primordial Divine Thought to forcibly suppress it, A Qi would have burst his body and died long ago.

"Almost there… absorb a few more high‑tier cultivators, and my design will be complete,"

The Ancestor weighed the timing.

He does not intend to take A Qi's life.

Rather, the more A Qi cultivates, the more Tianyuan Ancestor confirms one thing.

A Qi is the trump card for dealing with that immortal!

And that immortal… perhaps is his trump card against other immortals!

"As long as he can wound other immortals…"

Then the victor will be him.

All of it… the entire Tian Shu Yuan Realm will become his one‑voice dominion!

"Eleventh Realm… still too slow. At least one must enter the Saint Dao Realm first,"

…

…

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Ancient Immortal Sect has reached a critical juncture.

Fifteen cities.

This is the answer sheet Tie Tu submitted over the past half‑month.

With the cooperation of four overseers, Gu Xuan Ce's assistance, and occasional interventions,

the lower strata of these fifteen cities have been completely reshuffled by the Reverse Spirit Manual.

Nearly one‑third of the conglomerates' harvest chain has been severed.

But progress stalled upon reaching City No. 31.

City No. 31 lies less than eight hundred kilometers from the core of the Tian Shu Yuan Realm.

The regional overseer here is a die‑hard purist, nicknamed "Feng Gou".

He does not blindly rely on the Great Array like other city overseers.

Instead, he leans more on multi‑person surveillance reminiscent of the Ancient Immortal era.

Even when Su Wan and Tie Mian arrived at the city gates with a large force of cultivators trained in the Reverse Spirit Manual, Feng Gou neither chose to negotiate nor to surrender.

He even refrained from any combat.

Before Su Wan and her party could react, he pressed the fortress's self‑destruct button outright.

"Boom—"

The violent explosion overturned half a district of City No. 31.

It was not a ordinary spiritual bomb; it detonated the Sub-array Eye of the massive spirit‑gathering matrix beneath the fortress.

The violent spiritual energy mixed with high-explosive energy, forming a pillar of light that shot straight into the clouds.

This purpose…… is to remind those four lofty immortals!

An enemy stronger than imagined has arrived!

In the depths of the air-raid shelter, Gu Xuan Ce, who was dozing with his legs crossed, was jolted awake by this surge.

"These brainless natives!"

Gu Xuan Ce jumped up cursing, his ten fingers flying, trying to rebuild the concealing array patterns.

"If we can't beat them, we self-destruct? Even our own ley lines are blown up?"

The energy is spilling out too fast, too violently.

No matter how high Gu Xuan Ce's array attainment, he cannot instantly smooth out the fluctuations caused by the explosion of a sub-array eye.

"Young master, it's my carelessness; this surge is simply too fierce, it has broken through our concealing array formation and reached the core of the Stellar River Great Array…… we can't conceal it anymore."

Gu Yuan stood beside the workbench at some point, watching the frenziedly surging energy fluctuations on the array plate; instead of blaming anyone, a look of extreme satisfaction appeared in the depths of his eyes.

"No problem, if we can't conceal it, we won't."

Gu Yuan spoke in a flat tone, idly playing with a discarded array plate component,

"If we don't kick up a fuss that hurts bones and tendons, how can we give those old geezers a push? They've been boiled in warm water too long, really thinking this is just a lowly skin disease. Now even the sub-array eye has blown up—this threat's weight should be enough to make them unable to sit still, right?"

Hearing this, Gu Xuan Ce jerked in surprise.

He looked at his young master's carefree, as-if-everything-is-under-control demeanor, and a flash of inspiration instantly crossed his mind.

The steward of Thirty-First City, nicknamed "Mad Dog," no matter how stubborn and tough his personality, would not have simply vanished without a word, without negotiation or even resistance, but would directly and decisively press the self-destruct button, blowing himself and the city's foundations to pieces.

This totally defies common sense!

Unless…… there is some deeper, intangible, ineffable force secretly pulling the strings of fate, affecting that mad dog's mind, even directly making him take this crazy decision!

"Young master……"

Gu Xuan Ce swallowed, feeling a faint chill run down his back, his eyes widening in disbelief,

"Could it be that the mad dog of Thirty-First City's self‑destruction was secretly…… your doing……"

Gu Yuan turned, his gaze piercing the thick strata toward the vast starry sky: "Fifteen cities, a third of the territory. This chunk of meat is enough to make those four old fellows jump in pain."

……

……

On the ruins of Thirty-First City.

Su Wan dispersed the protective true essence around her body, her red robe stained with much dust.

She gazed at the bottomless pit before her, brows furrowed.

"This mad dog truly lives up to his name."

Tie Mian walked over with heavy steps. Although Gu Xuan Ce had transformed him into flesh and blood, his conduct still bore the stiffness of the machine age.

"Withdraw." Tie Tu rushed up from behind, seeing the spiritual-energy light pillar still not dissipated in the sky, and made a snap decision: "The alarm has surely already been sent back to headquarters. Thirty-First City cannot be held; everyone retreat to the Twelfth City defense line."

The army of the Ancient Immortal Sect retreated like a tide.

But the mess they left behind is enough to stir up an unprecedented hurricane at the top of the Heavenly Pivot Source Realm.