Chapter 933: Those Years the Eight Zun Owed Favors...

“Bazun An?”

Murong Ying didn’t immediately recognize who “Bazun An” was.

But soon, he noticed the figure standing above the spatial domain, his face changed dramatically, and his pupils contracted sharply.

The Eighth Sword Immortal?

Wang Chao, where did you get the nerve to call the Eighth Sword Immortal by his name?

“Calm down!” Murong Ying immediately let out a low cry, then flattened his body. At the same time, he continued to transmit a message to “Wang Chao,” saying:

“Stay absolutely calm, don’t act rashly. The Eighth Sword Immortal is not someone two of us can handle… H-how could he be here?”

Xu Xiaoshou squatted down, silently glancing at his suddenly flustered captain. He thought, “I’m calm, but you seem a bit overwhelmed. It’s just a name and an image clone; how did that scare you so much? You’re a Path Truncator!”

“Captain, this place is strange. The Eighth Sword Immortal is here; perhaps his people are also inside the spatial domain?” Xu Xiaoshou asked via voice transmission, using Wang Chao’s voice.

Murong Ying’s emotions clearly hadn’t settled; his face was pale, and he didn’t respond.

Xu Xiaoshou now understood the immense psychological damage the face of “Bazun An” could inflict on someone from the Red Coats, who belonged to the Holy Divine Palace. With a thought, he pointed at “Bazun An” with feigned panic and said, “Captain, look quickly, h-he seems to have found our position!”

The image clone of Bazun An, standing above the spatial domain, moved in response, casting a sideways glance towards their large rock.

It was just a casual glance. Xu Xiaoshou could even clearly feel that at that moment, Captain Murong Ying’s breathing stopped. All he could hear was the frantic pounding of his own heart.

“…” Murong Ying was speechless for a long time. H-hiding from oneself?

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless on the spot. “You’re not playing by the rules! Shouye is also a Path Truncator like you, but I’ve never seen him perform so poorly. He’s the type who would chase down a storyteller and fight him, yet you’re scared stiff just by seeing Bazun An’s image? At this moment, shouldn’t you be demonstrating your calm judgment as a Red Coat squad leader and immediately send a message to Rao Yaoyao, stating that there’s a great danger here?”

He couldn’t wait any longer… Seeing Murong Ying still unresponsive, Xu Xiaoshou could only let the image clone of Bazun An retract its gaze after a cold sweep.

It was as if, in Bazun An’s eyes, the two people hidden beneath the large rock were mere ants, not worth worrying about. The image clone retracted its gaze, returning its attention to the spatial domain beneath its feet. Although nothing was visible, a smile played on its lips, and it murmured, “Huang Quan?”

At the same time, Xu Xiaoshou’s “Perception” could discern Huang Quan, who was gradually approaching Ye Xiaotian within the spatial domain. His footsteps suddenly halted. He raised his head, his eyes beneath the mask flashed with astonishment. “He can see!” At that instant, Xu Xiaoshou’s scalp tingled, and his heart pounded.

Huang Quan could see what was happening outside, even from within Ye Xiaotian’s spatial domain! This meant that their arrival and subsequent waiting had all been seen by this guy. But he had the same attitude as Bazun An’s image clone at this moment… They were all just ants, nobodies, not worth fearing, or even glancing at!

“Thought clone?” Inside the spatial domain, Huang Quan exclaimed in surprise, his voice clearly tinged with doubt. Xu Xiaoshou immediately understood the meaning. Huang Quan had also seen the appearance of Bazun An’s image clone long ago, but he hadn’t paid attention to it because he perceived the crudeness of this image clone; for example, it had no life force at all! He should have been able to immediately determine that this was a fake Bazun An. But this fake Bazun An suddenly spoke, seeing through Ye Xiaotian’s incredibly solid spatial domain with a single glance and revealing his identity, which aroused Huang Quan’s suspicion. A fake person couldn’t possibly possess the ability to see through a spatial domain with a single glance. Thus, Huang Quan’s deduction was: even if the person standing above the spatial domain wasn’t Bazun An’s true form, it was at least a crude thought clone of his?

“Oh, good heavens…” Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoshou’s back was drenched in cold sweat. This Huang Quan was simply too terrifying, and his self-confidence was truly too high. Fighting such a guy from a distance, he dared not relax his guard even more.

Immediately, after Huang Quan’s remark, Xu Xiaoshou suppressed his inner fear, manipulating Bazun An’s image clone to shake its head slightly, then curling its lips, it said:

“Interesting… Even the King of Hell has made an appearance in the human world. It seems my ‘Holy Foundation’ was indeed thrown correctly.”

He spoke two vague sentences, not daring to say more. The more he spoke, the more mistakes he’d make. He left ambiguous information for Huang Quan and the Enforcers to piece together themselves!

Hidden behind the large rock, Murong Ying, who had just recovered from his state of fear and was attempting to report the situation to his superiors, predictably, fell into a daze once more upon hearing this. “K-King of Hell?” he repeated unconsciously.

If the “King of Hell” was mentioned by the Eighth Sword Immortal, then it must be the “King of Hell” organization, the dark force whose traces the higher-ups had been unable to find, right? And then there was that “Huang Quan” just now… The person inside the spatial domain is the King of Hell’s leader, Huang Quan?

Murong Ying’s mentality collapsed. He had only just entered the Path Truncator stage and hadn’t been a squad leader for long. He had heard the legends of these dark force leaders while cultivating, growing, and experiencing things. Now, two of them were gathered before him? Just now, he was even thinking of waiting for both sides within the spatial domain to be gravely injured, then leading the squad out to kill Huang Quan, the King of Hell’s leader?

As soon as Murong Ying thought of this, his lips began to tremble. His remaining rationality kept telling him, “Cannot delay, cannot delay, must immediately send a message to superiors!”

Raising his hand towards the tactical communicator, Murong Ying, without a word, pressed it three times consecutively, activating the highest-level danger alarm.

At the same time, within a hundred-mile radius, all Enforcers’ tactical communicators vibrated.

“Beep, beep, beep!”

“Highest alert. Coordinates as shown on the map. All nearby Enforcer squads, proceed immediately to provide support. You must hold the enemy, buy us time.”

Xu Xiaoshou also received the mechanical voice from the tactical communicator, along with a mental map injected into his mind. The coordinates marked on the map were precisely his current location. According to Wang Chao’s memory, at this moment, a flood of nearby Enforcers would begin to receive the message and converge. Those further away would immediately continue to triple-tap their communicators, executing the highest alert until the message reached Rao Yaoyao. This process, theoretically, would take no more than three breaths! In three breaths, Rao Yaoyao would receive the message and begin to react!

Inside the spatial domain.

At the exact moment Murong Ying triple-tapped his communicator, Huang Quan cast a sideways glance. His gaze landed precisely in the direction of the large rock outside the spatial domain. His face, hidden beneath the mask, showed no fluctuations, but a sudden premonition told him that the King of Hell’s people would soon encounter danger. Originally, even if Ye Xiaotian used his spatial domain, it would attract the attention of Enforcers. But in Huang Quan’s plan, the spatial domain fluctuations detected by outsiders would at most be at the Sovereign or Path Truncator level, thus not attracting too much danger. He had completely underestimated the situation, not predicting that a suspected thought clone of Bazun An would suddenly appear, expose his identity with a single remark, and instantly elevate the danger level of the area.

“What does Bazun An want?” Huang Quan’s thoughts quickly turned, and he found the answer. Bazun An belonged to the Saint Servant organization. The Saint Servant’s second-in-command, Wuxiu, whose real name was Sang Qiye, was previously the vice-dean of the Tianxang Spirit Palace and was connected to Ye Xiaotian. So, his appearance was merely to help Ye Xiaotian out of trouble?

As he pondered, Ye Xiaotian, already heavily injured, seized the momentary gap in Huang Quan’s action, immediately dispelled his spatial domain, and abruptly soared upwards, attempting to escape the area. However, the moment the spatial domain was lifted and he flew upwards, he strikingly brushed past “Bazun An” above…

“This is?” The moment Ye Xiaotian’s gaze met the face, he couldn’t look away; he recognized the person’s identity at a glance! The last time they met, the other party was disguised as a masked figure, who severed Ye Xiaotian’s arm during the night battle at Tianxang Spirit Palace. Afterwards, Ye Xiaotian had gathered all information about the Eighth Sword Immortal. So even though the person he brushed past this time had removed all head coverings and revealed his true appearance, Ye Xiaotian immediately recognized him: it was Bazun An! “So, this is the person Huang Quan saw inside the spatial domain?”

Ye Xiaotian suddenly realized why Huang Quan had stopped in front of him and uttered that seemingly meaningless phrase “thought clone.” He didn’t stop, continuing to move away from Bazun An while his spiritual sense swept across the area, surveying the situation. Beneath the large rock, two Enforcers. In the distance, countless other auras were rapidly approaching. “Extremely dangerous!”

Yet, even in such a dangerous situation, Huang Quan remained unfazed. He calmly looked at “Bazun An” standing in the void, pointed at Ye Xiaotian, and softly said, “Do you want this person?”

The Bazun An standing in the void showed no detectable cultivation level, not even a trace of life force leaking out. By normal standards, this was just a fake. But Huang Quan knew that Bazun An was currently in a “hidden sword” state. The more ordinary his thought clone appeared now, the less it should be underestimated.

“Bazun An,” facing the interrogation, appeared very relaxed, disregarding the great danger that was about to arrive. He merely chuckled, “How about you give me some face?”

As he casually uttered this sentence, Xu Xiaoshou, still hidden beneath the large rock, was actually sweating on his forehead and feeling cold in his soles, just like his captain Murong Ying. He had heard Bazun An say before that in this world, if he encountered trouble, he only needed to state his name. The younger generation, being ignorant, might not give face. But any significant figure who understood the meaning behind the name “Bazun An” would show respect. Now, it remained to be seen whether Huang Quan would give face or not. “Dean, I’ve done my best! If this helps you out of trouble, when we return to Tianxang Spirit Palace, you’ll owe me ten plates of roasted goose to repay my service!”

Xu Xiaoshou’s thoughts were a jumble.

On the other side…

Face… Huang Quan, still standing motionless on the ground, heard this and felt a nameless anger rising in his heart. “You want face, I can give it to you, but as fellow clandestine figures in the dark, why would you expose my presence as the King of Hell to the Red Coats here?”

“What if I don’t?” Huang Quan’s eyes, hidden beneath the mask, narrowed. He stretched out a hand and lightly clenched it in the void. The world seemed to be frozen.

At this moment, Ye Xiaotian, still rapidly fleeing, felt as if everything in the world was accelerating. “I’ve become slower…” Everything in the world was moving normally; only he, Ye Xiaotian, had become merchandise, unable to move until the two parties behind him settled their negotiation. A deep sense of powerlessness welled up in Ye Xiaotian’s heart.

At this moment, he vaguely understood what Elder Sang had told him, Qiao Qianzhi, and Xiao Qixiu in the past: “Hiding in this corner of the Tianxang Spirit Palace, not involving yourselves in the mundane world for a long time, doesn’t mean you can transcend it. It only means you’ve all been confined by the Tianxang Spirit Palace!”

Ye Xiaotian resented his own helplessness in this situation. Despite having mastered spatial mysteries, he was still like an ant in front of true great powers, easily manipulated.

In the void, “Bazun An” remained unmoved, not even glancing at Ye Xiaotian, displaying an arrogant demeanor as if everything in the world was under his control. Behind the large rock, Xu Xiaoshou, however, inwardly marveled at how useful “Bazun An’s” face truly was. Even at this point, Huang Quan had only imposed his time-freezing ability on Ye Xiaotian, not daring to easily test “Bazun An” in the slightest. On the other hand, he manipulated Bazun An, who was unaffected by the time-freezing power, to sneer and say:

“You can choose not to give me face, but after ten or thirty breaths, I can leave, and you can leave. But the people behind you… it will be difficult for them to leave.”

He spoke, casting his gaze towards Nine Nether Ghost Infant and Blooming Shore Flower. Although there was no murderous intent in his eyes, Nine Nether Ghost Infant and Blooming Shore Flower felt immense pressure bearing down on them at that moment; they couldn’t even lift their eyes to meet his gaze.

Huang Quan fell silent. He seemed to be making a choice between two difficult options. Should he forcibly take Ye Xiaotian, including the ‘Holy Source Crystal’ he had hidden? Or should he give Bazun An face, and while Rao Yaoyao hadn’t arrived, immediately take all the King of Hell’s people and disappear back into the darkness?

In his spiritual perception, numerous Path Truncator and Supreme Void auras were rapidly approaching. As for Sovereigns… On the outer perimeter of the surrounding area, many nearby Sovereign Enforcers had already gathered, but they dared not approach. They didn’t recognize Huang Quan. But they did recognize the fearless Eighth Sword Immortal standing in the void. One man guarding the pass, ten thousand cannot break through!

“Lord Huang Quan…” Nine Nether Ghost Infant was about to speak. As a member of the King of Hell, he wouldn’t let his presence cause Lord Huang Quan trouble. If necessary, he and Blooming Shore Flower were prepared to sacrifice themselves to protect the King of Hell’s secrecy. But at this moment, as he spoke, Huang Quan flicked his sleeve, and two swirling spatial-temporal vortices consumed them both.

Huang Quan had not yet left. He stayed until the very end, completely erasing the traces of the spatial-temporal vortices’ appearance, then looked at Bazun An and solemnly said:

“Today, I will give you, Bazun An, this face. Remember, you owe me a favor.”

With that, he glanced back at the approaching Enforcer auras, scoffed coldly, and his form dissolved into golden specks, vanishing into thin air.