Chapter 419: Recognition of Disguise

Given Xu Yang and the Empress's current speed, they flew from the Qianyun Sect to the distant Cold Moon Empire royal palace in just two hours.

Wu Shuang, with her formidable spiritual power, immediately sensed their auras and rushed to greet them.

"A-Yang, Sister Xue, you're back."

"Wu Shuang, how is the array being maintained?"

The Empress asked, noting how the two girls had truly become like sisters.

"The elders are channeling spiritual energy day and night to maintain it, but the crack seems to be worsening. The powerful Dragon aura within me clashes with the elemental properties of the Frost Guardian Array, preventing me from intervening."

Xu Yang nodded, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

For some reason, whenever Xu Yang said this, both the Empress and Wu Shuang felt a profound sense of reassurance.

The three entered the secret chamber of the Frost Guardian Array. Dozens of elders were gathered around the brilliant six-pointed star array, continuously releasing pure blue frost-attributed spiritual energy.

These elders represented the true foundation of the Cold Moon Empire lineage, but their strength was far from sufficient for the Tribulation Transcendence realm. It was impossible for them to fully repair this inherited array.

Xu Yang gazed deeply at the array. His powerful mind instantly sensed the ancient and profound aura of the formation, and he immediately located the flaw.

"You guessed correctly; someone has indeed tampered with it. The core of this grand array has been corrupted by some external, special power. To fully repair it, that power must be completely eradicated. I will need approximately three hours. During this time, no one is permitted to enter and disturb me. Those who disobey will be killed without mercy."

As soon as Xu Yang finished speaking, the Empress, with a single command, had all the elders escorted out.

As the elders retreated one by one, heading for the exit, the two young elders who were walking last, with their heads bowed deeply, brushed past Xu Yang. He immediately let out a cold snort, stopping them.

"I said the Cold Moon Empire elders should leave. There's no need for you two to go, is there?"

Xu Yang slowly turned around, and the two humble figures suddenly halted.

"What do you mean by this, Sir?"

"Hehehe, others might not see it, but you can't hide it from me. The way energy flows within your bodies is identical to that of the Northern Jin Sword Alliance's assassins. Although you've tried to compensate with your cultivation techniques, using the Cold Moon Empire's ice-attributed aura to conceal your true elemental properties, before me, you are as transparent as white paper. All your attempts at concealment are utterly meaningless."

This revelation astonished both the Empress and Wu Shuang, who looked over in shock.

Seeing their cover blown, the two immediately bared their fangs, turned around, pulled out two chilling daggers, and charged at Xu Yang.

These daggers were no ordinary weapons; even they wouldn't be foolish enough to use common blades to ambush a peak Tribulation Transcendence expert like Xu Yang.

The daggers appeared unremarkable, yet they possessed the resilience of divine artifacts, masterpieces among the Sword Alliance's most prized heirloom weapons.

Combined with their extremely fast movement techniques, they immediately rushed towards Xu Yang's location after locking onto his aura.

"Even if we are destined to die here today, we will make sure you experience the true power of our Sword Alliance."

Xu Yang merely scoffed. With a slight tremor of his foot, the two figures instantly appeared as illusory forms, seemingly completely immobilized in mid-air by a silent, invisible, powerful force, unable to move even an inch further.

Furthermore, the sharp daggers in their hands rapidly disintegrated into nothingness under the scorching intensity of Xu Yang's murderous gaze!

"My heavens! A-Yang can actually condense his inner essence into eye power to attack! His current cultivation realm has truly reached an astonishing, heaven-defying level!"

The Empress couldn't help but exclaim, "No wonder he could so easily see through their disguises, while others couldn't..."

In fact, Xu Yang had already achieved this level while in the illusory world; the "Heaven's Eye State of Mind" was its perfect manifestation.

Now, Xu Yang could perfectly unleash powerful Asura essence from any part of his body, unaffected by the inherent form of external objects.

This also included his unique understanding of the Void Dao, an ability no one else could imitate.

These two Northern Jin masters possessed the strength of Cold Moon Empire elders. Unfortunately, before Xu Yang, they were worse than mere rats, and their desperate hope of ambushing him made their situation even more pathetic.

In the next instant, both fell lifelessly at Xu Yang's feet.

"I won't kill you immediately. Go back and tell Feng Xiu to proceed with his original plan. I might appear at any moment; he doesn't need to hide from me because he simply cannot. I prefer spontaneous encounters over attacking your Northern Jin Sword Alliance stronghold."

Xu Yang injected his words as two soul-thoughts into the minds of the two assassins before him. At the center of their brows, a faint black flame pattern subtly materialized.

Unbeknownst to them, this was the mark of the Asura Path aura Xu Yang had embedded within their souls.

The two had already lost their independent souls, becoming physical puppets to transmit Xu Yang's soul-thoughts. Once their mission was complete, and the two soul-thoughts surged from their soul-seas into Feng Xiu's mind, they would instantly lose all vitality.

As expected, the two no longer possessed their former savage nature. After being completely subdued by Xu Yang, they immediately knelt and solemnly agreed to his command, then walked out of the secret chamber with vacant eyes, heading back towards the Northern Jin Sword Alliance.

"It's time to begin."

After Xu Yang dealt with the two infiltrators, he said simply and dispassionately, then slowly turned to face the incredibly volatile ice array.

Behind him, the Empress and Wu Shuang exchanged glances and nodded. Simultaneously, they cast a barrier towards the portal's exit, using its power to protect Xu Yang.

Powerful Asura energy slowly flowed from Xu Yang's palm into the core of the Frost Guardian Grand Array.

The array's originally crystal-clear core became shrouded in a crimson mist of light! The Asura essence, driven by the purpose of eradicating that foreign aura, steadily approached the core of the formation.

Soon, as his Asura essence made contact with the external force, Xu Yang sensed a faint demonic aura concealed within that special power.

"So that's it. I should have guessed why Feng Xiu suddenly broke through to the seventh realm of the Heaven-Defying Demonic Art."