Chapter 1452: Various Threats from All Sides

A streak of fiery golden light appeared on the eastern horizon, approaching rapidly. Another expert from the Heavenly Palace was about to arrive.

To escape, Shi Xue had fled west for some distance, causing him to arrive a step later than Chen Yan.

However, Qin Sang's attention wasn't on this person. This individual wasn't enough to make Qin Sang so wary.

Qin Sang was wary of two figures silently approaching on the sea to the north. The water there was open and choppy due to the battle, but the residual waves weren't as strong there as in the center of the battlefield, where massive waves surged and large blocks of black ice floated everywhere.

No one, not even Elder Mei Lan, had noticed those two figures.

"Old Man Hunmo!" Qin Sang's heart tightened.

The Fiery Demon Armor on his body became completely silent to prevent any leakage of aura.

The moment he discovered an ambush and decided to act, he had already quickly reviewed the situation and its potential developments in his mind. This location was quite far from Hunmo Island, and the Maze Array Qin Sang had set up was directly ahead.

Unlike the Heavenly Palace, Old Man Hunmo couldn't lock onto Qin Sang's route in advance. Assuming the battle had just started and alerted Old Man Hunmo, he would still need time to arrive from Hunmo Island.

Seeing Shi Xue possess so many unexpected life-saving abilities, and with Elders Mei and Lan arriving promptly, Qin Sang had two reasons for choosing to capture Shi Xue instead of fleeing first or proposing a trade.

First, no one from the Heavenly Palace appeared who could threaten him; the Palace Lord was indeed absent. Qin Sang could easily shake them off, even without using the Maze Array. Second, the time hadn't exceeded his predefined limit.

Of course, this decision was made based on the changing situation and after considering various contingencies.

The unexpected indeed arrived. Old Man Hunmo had come much earlier than anticipated, but fortunately, Qin Sang had never let his guard down.

Qin Sang suspected that Old Man Hunmo might have been drawn by the Heavenly Palace, silently cursing these people for not being more cautious after so many of them were massacred in Huang Longshi's temporary palace. He didn't know the full story, so his reasoning was flawed, yet his conclusion coincidentally aligned with the truth.

"I cannot stay here!" Qin Sang decided instantly.

Regardless of whom Old Man Hunmo had come for, Qin Sang had to leave immediately.

Qin Sang knew Old Man Hunmo had a feud with the Heavenly Palace, but he wouldn't naively try to exploit this to instigate a fierce conflict and benefit from it. Even if Old Man Hunmo didn't recognize him as the one who took the treasure from the Buddhist Hall, once he suspected Qin Sang possessed a supreme treasure coveted by the Heavenly Palace, his first choice would undoubtedly be to secure the treasure for himself before considering how to contend with the Heavenly Palace.

This was Old Man Hunmo's lair; he had sufficient confidence. In the same situation, Qin Sang would do the same.

By then, Qin Sang would face both the Heavenly Palace and Old Man Hunmo simultaneously, along with other passing Nascent Soul cultivators who might be drawn to the scene. Even with backup plans, his situation would be quite perilous. His only option would be to make peace with the Heavenly Palace and agree to return the sacred object.

Such a forced transaction would clearly be disadvantageous to him.

In an instant, numerous thoughts flashed through his mind.

Qin Sang abandoned the idea of capturing Shi Xue, as she would become a hindrance in this situation. Qin Sang wasn't sure when Old Man Hunmo had arrived or how long he had been observing.

Old Man Hunmo must have seen the Golden Submergence Sword when he entered the Pure Sea Sect.

Before the trade fair, during his time on Pearl Island, Qin Sang had purchased some spiritual materials from Dan Ding Mountain and modified the Golden Submergence Sword. However, like Tan Hao's Demon-Subduing Pestle, its essence couldn't be completely altered, making it possible that Old Man Hunmo might discern something. He had to leave as quickly as possible.

This wouldn't be a loss for him. His original plan was merely to confirm whether the Heavenly Palace could sense the mysterious ice casket. The idea of capturing Shi Xue only arose when he found her isolated and saw an opportunity.

Qin Sang's hand, which had been resting on the corpse puppet bag, retracted. As a disguise, he took a handful of spiritual pills from his Thousand-Jun Ring, swallowed them to seize the chance to restore some true essence, and began to cast a sword art.

'Buzz!'

The Golden Submergence Sword's light blazed brightly, its aura fluctuating erratically.

Between Qin Sang and Chen Yan, the seemingly calm void suddenly darkened, and countless sword threads faintly emerged. However, these sword threads were stiff, less flexible than before, as if frozen by extreme cold.

Simultaneously, bursts of white mist bloomed there. This phenomenon indicated that the power of the Ice Soul Divine Light had erupted but was being blocked by the sword array.

Qin Sang vividly remembered the previous sense of danger and was very cautious against Chen Yan's strange divine ability, so he didn't hesitate to reactivate the sword array.

'Crack, crack, crack...'

Countless tiny ice shards were shattered by the sword array, and the Ice Soul Divine Light was invisibly sliced apart.

To Qin Sang's surprise, the Golden Submergence Sword didn't encounter as much resistance as he had expected. "A facade?"

Qin Sang looked at Chen Yan in surprise, noticing that the faint blue light in her eyes was no longer clear; it was somewhat diffused, even showing subtle signs of collapse.

Qin Sang knew very well that even if Chen Yan recognized him, she wouldn't hold back in this situation. First, she was desperate to save someone, as the green-clad woman clearly had a close relationship with her. Second, this divine ability had been unleashed before Chen Yan recognized him.

The only explanation was that she couldn't use this divine ability continuously, and forcing its use diminished its power compared to the first time.

"Junior Sister, retreat quickly!" Shi Xue also noticed Chen Yan's abnormality, his face filled with anxiety, not wanting his junior sister to be implicated because of him.

Qin Sang gave Chen Yan a deep glance, activated the sword array, and swept the residual energy, pushing it back towards Chen Yan.

Meanwhile.

Qin Sang felt a faint, needle-like pain in his back. His divine sense perceived a grayish-white bone needle silently striking towards him, locked onto him.

Furthermore, the full moon formed by the Sun-Enveloping Ring in the sky changed from dim to bright, becoming increasingly dazzling and radiating light.

Elders Mei and Lan finally recovered. They had no time to adjust or use other techniques. Seeing the urgency of the situation, they continued to use the Bone-Piercing Needle and Sun-Enveloping Ring they had previously activated, first to force back and restrict Qin Sang.

Qin Sang didn't look back, his phoenix wings furiously flapping behind him, transforming him into a bolt of lightning as he shot forward.

The Bone-Piercing Needle swiftly thrust forward, but Qin Sang's chosen direction was extremely clever; his maneuver placed Chen Yan precisely between himself and the needle.

Chen Yan was surrounded by the storm of residual energy and temporarily unable to attend to anything else. Seeing this, Elder Mei's expression was slightly startled, and he abruptly clenched his hand.

The Bone-Piercing Needle paused, its tip swiveling to bypass Chen Yan, thereby missing its optimal timing. However, the attack on Qin Sang wasn't over.

'Whoosh!'

The Sun-Enveloping Ring glowed intensely.

A pillar of light descended from the sky, several times thicker than before. This time, Elder Lan was wiser; he dispersed the power of the Sun-Enveloping Ring, not aiming directly at Qin Sang, but enveloping him, freezing the seawater into an ice cage!

Above the sea, ice walls rose at a visible speed.

Runes subtly flowed within them, indicating they were clearly not ordinary ice walls.

Although time was short and they hadn't fully formed, Qin Sang would need to use other means to break through the ice walls, which would inevitably hinder him. Just restricting him for a moment would be enough for the others to adjust.