Chapter 237

The old man now looked at Lu Xingzhou as if he were a god.

Lu Xingzhou had only arrived at the glacier yesterday, and until this morning he had merely been diligently undertaking the herb-gathering trial; he had truly been involved in this affair for no more than three hours.

While many parties involved knew only fragments of this matter, he seemed to have observed every secret negotiation from start to finish, making judgments with pinpoint accuracy—even having prepared two contingency plans.

Including his judgment that he had a means of communication was also correct…

Thus, his other assessments carried immense persuasive power, such as that one: "In the end, it will be Gu Zhanting who tries to silence him."

Whether Gu Zhanting will actually silence him, no one knows—even if Gu Zhanting himself stood here now, he couldn't be certain what he'd do tomorrow, so Lu Xingzhou's remark was merely a malicious guess at Gu Zhanting, meant to frighten the old man.

Of course, the actual likelihood was also extremely high, making it far too convincing.

"But…" the old man muttered dejectedly, "it's useless for me to contact him now—he's surely lurking nearby, observing the right moment himself, not waiting for me to call before acting."

"You're the core handler of this matter, better than distant onlookers at sensing the pulse of all sides, with great advisory power. You only need to tell him: if he doesn't act, Si Han won't turn to attack your sect master either; if you delay further, Long Qinghuang will collapse first, and if they retreat, everything will be lost—tell him to act quickly."

The old man took out a communication treasure and input the message right before their eyes.

At this moment, Long Qinghuang's battlefield was indeed growing dire.

She was slightly inferior to Ye Tinglan, but not by much; if a true victor were to be decided, it would likely take a full day and night. But with Si Han and the bone dragon attacking from both sides, Long Qinghuang clearly couldn't hold—her front line kept retreating, looking like nothing but desperate resistance.

In truth, she could have summoned a peak-grade demon clan elite to assist, but she never did—precisely to lure the enemy step by step.

If, when Ye Tinglan believed victory was certain, Si Han suddenly betrayed him, Ye Tinglan would never expect that coming to rescue Si Han would mean being ambushed mid-battle—there'd be a high chance he'd be caught.

Such a powerful being is hard to kill… but if she can be wounded, forced to recuperate for years like Gu Zhanting, then this battle will be a great success.

The ideal scenario was to lure Ye Tinglan into using an attack requiring soul entanglement, leaving her unable to guard elsewhere—then, at that instant, the bone dragon beside her would suddenly turn, and in that split second, Ye Tinglan's state would be utterly chaotic; at that moment, the hidden ancient zombie of the Great Qian imperial family would strike—no matter how many arms or heads Ye Tinglan had, she'd struggle to escape unscathed.

But Ye Tinglan remained extremely cautious, never giving a suitable opening.

Just as Long Qinghuang prepared to launch a soul attack to provoke Ye Tinglan's counter, a blade of light slashed through the evening's fading glow like a rainbow, striking straight for Ye Tinglan's back!

Ye Tinglan didn't flinch, but Long Qinghuang was stunned.

This wasn't the optimal moment to strike—why was the ambush launching now? Ye Tinglan still had ample room to react!

But since it had already been launched, she naturally had to cooperate—otherwise all her prior efforts would be Bai Da. Her retreating form halted abruptly, and a furious, overwhelming dragon aura erupted, slamming directly into Ye Tinglan's chest.

Simultaneously, Si Han, who had been fighting alongside Ye Tinglan, now drove the bone dragon straight toward her.

Ye Tinglan's expression remained neutral, but in her mind flashed Lu Xingzhou's frantic earlier transmission: "Foolish woman, don't easily entangle your soul with others—beware ambushes, beware Si Han."

In that instant, she understood everything, and felt profound disappointment toward Gu Zhanting.

At the very moment three attacks converged upon her, Ye Tinglan's body dissolved into specks of starlight, scattering into the void—the three assaults all missed, instead colliding with each other in a cataclysmic explosion.

Long Qinghuang's ear also received Lu Xingzhou's transmission: "Go."

Ye Tinglan's form had already appeared behind her, her voice calm: "The Demon Emperor has been deceived—did you truly believe they would conspire with the demon race to kill me? At this very moment, aren't you surrounded by three humans?"

The Great Qian imperial elder and Si Han both felt a jolt inside, silently admiring her brilliance. Long Qinghuang had never fully trusted the Great Qian imperial family's cooperation—she'd always kept a guard up; Ye Tinglan's premonition-like escape seemed to prove it all.

One sentence shattered the alliance beyond repair—no more sincere cooperation possible.

At this moment, it might truly be better to just attack the Demon Emperor—if they could seriously wound her, that would be another kind of victory.

But before their thoughts could fully form, as Ye Tinglan spoke, Long Qinghuang let out a long roar, transforming into a hundred-zhang golden dragon that shattered the encirclement and soared into the heavens. Her dragon cry echoed across the sky: "Humans are truly the most faithless—our feud will be settled another day!"

Their minds reacted too slowly—they failed to intercept her. Ye Tinglan, though appearing to move to block, instead flicked her slender hand and struck the Great Qian imperial elder with full force: "Who are you? Why wear a mask and hide your face?"

The old man's mind was still in chaos—this rapid shift of enemy and ally was beyond ordinary comprehension; he merely remained silent and passively blocked the strike.

Long Qinghuang departed without pressure, her dragon eyes glancing downward to see Lu Xingzhou watching the battle from above.

That gaze was impossibly complex—whether hatred or something else, no one could tell.

A gale swept down, engulfing Lu Xingzhou and his disciple, as if trying to snatch them away in the chaos.

Ye Tinglan abandoned her clash with the Great Qian imperial elder entirely, shooting forward in a flash to intercept Lu Xingzhou and cut off the gale.

Long Qinghuang asked: "Chen Yu… will you come with me?"

Lu Xingzhou silently pressed himself tighter behind Ye Tinglan, answering with action.

"Good, very good, Chen Yu—I'll remember you." Long Qinghuang's gnashing voice faded as demonic energy retreated eastward.

Combined with the final "Chen Yu" hinting "go," Long Qinghuang finally realized Ye Tinglan's premonition-like evasion had nothing to do with the Great Qian elder—it was the same as her own, prompted by Chen Yu.

This man turned all her hard-fought efforts into empty words—she didn't get the dragon bones she wanted, didn't trap Ye Tinglan… he had stood with Tianyao Sacred Ground from the very beginning!

Yet he ultimately warned her too… leaving her heart deeply conflicted.

"After returning, immediately investigate! Find out Chen Yu's origins—and activate our covert forces in Great Qian—capture Chen Yu and bring him back to the demon realm, and you'll be richly rewarded!" Compared to the demon race, which exhausted itself and gained nothing, the even more tragic figure was Si Han, Lord of Tian Shuang.

His involvement in plotting against the Tianyao Sacred Master aside, the bone dragon he commanded was precisely what the Great Qian imperial elder sought to seize.

Originally, they planned to turn on him after the battle and seize the dragon—but now the situation was messy: Ye Tinglan was unharmed, the Tianyao Sacred Ground's high elders watched like hawks, and the Great Qian imperial elder realized he could do nothing. Glancing left and right, he stomped his foot in frustration and vanished.

A Supergrade was still a Supergrade—if he wanted to flee, no one could stop him.

Ye Tinglan's gaze finally settled on Si Han: "Lord Si, do you have anything to say?"

Si Han was only peak-grade One, and had already exhausted himself mentally and physically by participating in this Supergrade battle via the bone dragon; his reply was weak and listless: "This was the Great Qian Emperor's scheme—I merely assisted. We belong to different nations; whether the demon race or Tianyao Sacred Ground weakens, from my standpoint, I'm pleased. What's the problem? It wasn't my plan. Blame the guilty party, not me."

Ye Tinglan said nothing, only asked: "What did he use to make you cooperate? Help you subdue this bone dragon?"

Si Han remained silent, confirming it.

It was to help him obtain this bone dragon… with its aid, he could easily subdue all Gezong Sects in Tian Shuang, transforming the alliance-based nation into a unified one.

In other words, Gu Zhanting had betrayed even his own elder—the imperial elder had come solely for the bone dragon, unaware it had already been sold by Gu Zhanting to Tian Shuang.

"Whether you're the mastermind or merely an accomplice, your attack against me just now was real. If I don't repay this, won't the world think Tianyao Sacred Ground is easy to bully?" Ye Tinglan stepped forward coldly, her slender hand forming a spell.

The bone dragon, which had withstood prolonged direct combat against Long Qinghuang, now screamed in agony under this mere spell—its eye sockets' phosphorescent flames flickered, on the verge of dispersing.

Long Qinghuang had only engaged in raw power confrontation; Ye Tinglan was a Dao cultivator—Dao cultivators had countless methods specifically targeting such "undead beings."

Si Han was furious and desperate, shouting: "Don't! Show mercy!"

The sun had just set, and the sliver of moon cast its glow upon the frozen river.

The bone dragon writhed and roared as a deep rumbling echoed from beneath the ground—similar to the earthquake when the bone dragon first emerged from the glacier—as if something else stirred beneath the ice.

"Whoosh," the already deeply collapsed ice layer collapsed again—many were caught off guard and tumbled downward, dragging the screaming bone dragon down with them.

Lu Xingzhou and An Nuo couldn't fly; with no defense, they too could only fall.

Si Han's furious expression suddenly turned to horror: "This isn't some subterranean creature emerging from the ice! The residual shockwaves from the earlier battle have caused chaotic surges in the spatial fissures buried beneath the glacier! Whoever you are, evacuate immediately—once you enter a spatial fissure, no one knows if you'll ever come out!"

While he was shouting, Ye Tinglan had already abandoned the bone dragon and rushed toward the falling Lu Xingzhou and An Nuo.

As he fell, Lu Xingzhou grabbed An Nuo first and hurled her upward: "Save An Nuo first!"

Ye Tinglan caught An Nuo in one hand, used some technique none could name, and instantly sent her a hundred li away.

Then he continued descending, grabbing Lu Xingzhou's hand.

Just as he was about to do the same for him, a fissure flashed beside him.

Ye Tinglan cursed inwardly and instinctively shielded Lu Xingzhou with his own body.

The spatial turbulence could shred a person—Lu Xingzhou, as he was now, couldn't possibly withstand it!

The next moment, both vanished beneath the ice; amid the chaos, no one even noticed the sect master was gone.

Si Han seized the chaos to reapproach the bone dragon, preparing to flee with it, when a shadow slipped soundlessly behind him and drove a sword through his lower back.

Exhausted, Si Han had no chance to dodge—he barely twisted aside to avoid vital points, and blood gushed from his back.

He turned to see the shadow wearing the classic Yanluo Palace mask—it was Dongfang, the Ghost Emperor, Ji Wenchuan.

Ji Wenchuan pressed one hand against the bone dragon's forehead; its eye-fire flickered, then calmed as if tamed. He shattered the surrounding ice and soared skyward with the dragon: "Good thing I acquired the Yin Shi Sect's methods. Thank you, Lord Si, for your generosity—I'll gladly take this bone dragon. Hahaha…"

Si Han spat a mouthful of blood and nearly collapsed.

Ji Wenchuan rode the bone dragon straight south: "Old Lu's still sharp—he knew hiding till the end might let him snatch a leftover… Never thought so many Supreme-grade competitors would fight over it, yet the bone dragon ended up in my hands."

Before he finished speaking, he spotted a tiny figure below the glacier, running and crying: "Master! Master!"

Ji Wenchuan froze: "An Nuo? How are you here? Isn't your master with you?"

An Nuo wept bitterly: "My master just fell beneath the ice! The old woman is saving him!"

Ji Wenchuan exhaled: "If Tianyao Holy Mistress is rescuing him, what's there to fear?"

"You don't understand… I've lost all sense of my master… Since the day I was born, I've never been this far from him." An Nuo wiped her tears.

Ji Wenchuan lifted her onto the bone dragon's back: "Your master will always seek his wife—you can't cling to him forever. Though this wife of his is a bit… absurd. Should I report this to the Yanluo King?"

(End of Chapter)