Chapter 83: Skull

Ye Han trembled all over, his pupils constricted violently.

"You're the one who took the spirit stone resources from my father's treasury in Yunhai City, right?"

"Heaven really wants to kill you; this young master also didn't expect to meet you here, hum!"

"If it had been just ten breaths later—oh no, even one breath later—we might have missed each other."

"Who knows, you might actually have escaped."

"Really unfortunate!"

Su Chen held the Ancient Emperor Sacred Weapon, sword tip aimed at Ye Han's neck, savoring Ye Han's fearful and unwilling expression.

Ye Han, who valued his life like a treasure, immediately lowered his head to beg for mercy, all his former vigor gone: "Su Chen... you can't kill me; you know I'm Ye Xuan's sworn brother—if you kill me, Ye Xuan won't let you off."

"No, don't kill me; I can help you deal with Ye Xuan."

"Ye Xuan, he has concealed his cultivation; the one seated in the Qingming Divine Sect is not him—it's his avatar."

"Su Chen, I shouldn't have forced the Su Sect Master into a desperate situation; I shouldn't have..."

Too late.

Boom!

A bolt of heavenly lightning struck down, giving Ye Han a chilling shock to the core.

Smoke rose from his body, electric currents surging up and down.

His face black as charcoal, he collapsed straight to the ground, a puff of flame ignited, burning his corpse to ashes; even in death he did not close his eyes, though he clearly still possessed Quasi Martial Sovereign Realm cultivation, had not exerted his full strength, and still had hidden tricks.

What he least expected was that Su Chen would kill him without hesitation.

Only now did Ye Han realize how true and terrifying the Sixth Prince's jade-slip message was; if he had kept it etched in his heart, he would have avoided the direction from which Su Chen came.

If only...

No more 'if only'.

When the flames reached Ye Han's skull, Su Chen snapped his fingers, extinguished the fire, a surge of spiritual power lifted Ye Han's skull into the air, where it hovered; he then covered it with a burial cloth and stored it in his storage ring.

His form flashed and disappeared toward the East City Gate.

Only after Su Chen's figure had completely vanished did a sword attendant who practiced the Turtle Breath Great Technique dare crawl out from the pile of corpses: "Talisman masters are terrifying—just... just like a living killing machine, exactly as described in the Sixth Prince's jade slip."

I now finally understand why the Sixth Prince had the young master set a trap to lure Su Changfeng out of the city and capture him—it turns out the East Wasteland Region actually possesses such a heaven-defying legacy!

"Now that Su Chen has descended upon Yunhai City, I fear Yunhai City is about to be turned upside down..."

Su Chen's figure appeared at the East City Gate; the falling snowstorm was blocked outright by an invisible barrier.

He walked through the snow like a divine being, unstained by dust.

Step by step, he walked toward the East City Gate.

Not far away.

They could see cultivators fighting in midair, blades flashing fiercely.

"Reporting, Sect Master!"

"All the spirit stone reserves stored in East City have been moved out; what couldn't be taken was destroyed."

"Not a single spirit treasure or tamed demon beast was left behind."

"Damn Ye Han! It seems he doesn't intend to leave us a way out—while withdrawing he didn't leave us even a bit of spirit stone... I feel this battle was too easy; could there be a trick?"

"I hadn't even recovered when the battle ended—could it be too simple?"

Not only the Yunhai City cultivators tormented by the violent spiritual energy, but even Su Changfeng felt a sense of unreality.

How did we win?

According to the deduction, this is absolutely a dead-end situation!

Within a hundred li of East City, reinforcements must be lying in wait, hoping they'll leave the city so they can be caught in a urn...

In the end, they were surrounded like dumplings and slaughtered.

"No matter what, the formations of East City are already broken." Su Changfeng's spiritual power was overexerted, his body could barely support itself, and he plopped down onto a chair.

He panted heavily, and the lazy white tiger cub on his shoulder—its snowy white fur had at some point been stained with a hint of crimson.

Moreover, the several elders present, having forcefully used their spiritual power, suffered a relapse of old ailments and backlash, all collapsing powerlessly to the ground.

Bang!

Everyone sat cross-legged and began to regulate their breath.

The cultivators' last remaining breath of spiritual power was all spent here.

At this point, let alone fighting eight thousand cultivators, even eight hundred would likely doom everyone here.

"Sect Master, spirit explosions keep occurring; the central hub of the only spatial teleportation array here has been destroyed, and even the original spirit-gathering array has been ruined—what should we do?"

"That bastard Ye Han anticipated our breaking the formation; we have no spiritual power left, and the only way to leave is via the teleportation array—but now there's a spiritual storm, and without the spirit-gathering array's protection, we'd likely self-destruct within thirty li."

"No matter what, stay put and wait for orders; keep yourself alive—I'll tear open the void, go to other cities, and definitely bring back spirit stone supplies within two days at most."

Hearing the deflating words in his ears, Su Changfeng forced himself to perk up.

Looking at the cultivators whose spiritual power was leaking and whose meridians were clogged.

Not to mention going with him to other cities to buy spirit stones—just standing up would be difficult.

No!

We can't just resign ourselves to fate!

"I must go!" Su Changfeng intended to unleash his life-bound magic weapon.

However,

In the haste of mobilizing his spiritual power to rise, his body suddenly sank, and he nearly fell flat on his face.

"Sect Master!"

"Sect Master!"

"Seeing we broke the defensive formation, we thought we could leave via the space teleportation array; who would have thought the Grand Spirit Gathering Array's destruction would be enough, but now even the space teleportation array is damaged, and the cultivators are being invaded by violent spiritual energy, about to burst—could heaven's will be such?"

"Could it be… that Heaven intends to destroy us?"

"These sorrowful, desperate words were shouted."

"Suddenly, a voice from afar intercepted: 'Heaven's Way? With me here, even Heaven must make way for you.'"

"Who…"

"What voice?"

"Why does it sound so familiar?"

"Swish—swish!"

"Su Changfeng suddenly lifted his gaze, immediately looking toward the not‑far distance, his eyes filled with a certain anticipation."

"Swish—swish!"

"At the same moment, the surviving cultivators all turned their heads, following Su Changfeng's gaze toward that direction."

"That glance left everyone stunned."

"The comer wore a white robe, his body covered in divine radiance, bearing a spirit treasure inscribed with a minor Spirit Gathering Array."

"In his hand he held a spirit sword of unknown grade, exuding overwhelming pressure."

"It was no one else—it was Su Chen."

"His visage was stern, his black hair flying, as he came toward them through the wind and snow filling the sky."

"Su… Young Sect Master?!"

"Heavens! I must not have fallen into an illusion formation, right? Sect Master, is this the Young Sect Master?"

"Hiss! Outside the city there is a beast tide, and Ye Han's killing formation is laid—how could he have gotten in? It's impossible he charged out of the beast tide and broke the formation!" The cultivators stared with eyes as big as bells, utterly incredulous, fixed on Su Chen as he stepped step by step toward them."

"Father!!"

"Second Sister Su Lingxue ran out."

"Having just seen her father collapsed from exhaustion of his elemental power, her eyes welled up."

"In an instant,"

"All her worries and concerns turned into excitement; she lunged at Su Changfeng, finally daring to say, 'Father… sob… I thought I would never see you again.'"

"\"I was truly worried about you—are you hurt? You have no idea how close I and Mother came to dying of worry. \""