Chapter 845: Proceed as Planned

In the early morning, the gentle sunlight bathed the earth.

Beizhen Cangyuan remained eerily quiet, the oppressive atmosphere still lingering, but now laced with an unsettling strangeness.

"What on earth is Xue Qiong up to?" On a distant mountain peak near Haotian Shijia, Yin Zhong and Yuan Shengtai, both cloaked in black robes, had frowned more than once.

Originally, they had come from afar to watch the spectacle unfold.

However, from the time they arrived until now, more than three shichen had passed, and the army of Shi Xue Dian remained motionless.

That wasn't the most baffling part. What truly puzzled them was that Xue Qiong, the hall master of the ninth branch of Shi Xue Dian, was simply sitting there without any sign of issuing an attack order.

"Could something have gone wrong?" Yuan Shengtai stroked his beard.

"How could anything go wrong?" Yin Zhong sneered sinisterly. "The entire Haotian Shijia is surrounded. Faced with the army of one branch from Shi Xue Dian, do they think they can grow wings and fly away?"

As the two conversed, the army of Shi Xue Dian's ninth branch began to stir restlessly.

From a distance, many soldiers were yawning, their eyes red and bloodshot. What should have been resolved in one shichen had dragged on for over three, forcing them to stand rigidly in place.

Xue Qiong himself had red eyes, veins bulging with bloodshot lines.

As the hall master of a Shi Xue Dian branch, he was utterly baffled—it was as if he'd been cursed. He had spent over three shichen debating with the so-called Haotian Xuanzhen, and to this day, he still had no idea what the person inside was saying.

Eventually, a commander approached obsequiously.

But before he could speak, Xue Qiong, who had been sitting on his throne, suddenly sprang to his feet. "Haotian Xuanzhen, you've worn out my patience. Open the barrier—now, immediately!"

The commander's approach had been so abrupt that the man who had just neared him nearly dropped to his knees from the roar.

Xue Qiong's outburst didn't just startle him—it also left the entire ninth branch army and Yin Zhong and Yuan Shengtai on the distant peak with expressions of surprise.

Now, they finally understood what Xue Qiong had been doing. He was waiting for Haotian Shijia to open their barrier voluntarily!

"Is the hall master just bored?" Some commanders muttered privately. "With our strength, breaking Haotian Shijia's barrier would take at most one shichen. We could charge right in, but he's waiting for them to open it themselves. Has he lost his mind?"

"Don't rush!" Just as everyone's expressions turned fascinating, Ye Chen's avatar spoke again. "This one is truly the last."

"You're toying with me." Xue Qiong erupted in fury.

"Hall master, you're mistaken. I—"

"Attack!" Before Ye Chen's avatar could finish, Xue Qiong swung his killing sword. "Kill them all, leave no one alive."

Instantly, the vast army surged forward, unleashing attacks with spell formations, natal spirit weapons, and secret divine arts, all crashing down on Haotian Shijia's protective mountain barrier.

Boom! Bang! Rumbling echoed through the heavens.

The tremendous shock caused peaks and palaces within Haotian Shijia to collapse one after another.

To Ye Chen's avatar, it was a relief that, despite the ferocity of the ninth branch's assault, breaking the protective mountain barrier would still take time.

"Kill! Kill them all for me!" Xue Qiong roared like a mad dog.

Only now did he realize he had been led around by the nose for over three shichen. The humiliation of being played fueled his raging anger.

"You idiot, total fool!" Inside the barrier, Ye Chen's avatar wasn't idle. He found a high vantage point and shouted insults at the top of his lungs. With the ruse exposed, there was no need to pretend anymore.

Ah!

Xue Qiong's furious roar thundered like lightning as he could no longer contain his killing intent, soaring into the sky to personally command the assault formation.

Damn!

Ye Chen's avatar inside the barrier cursed aloud and mentally slapped himself. He shouldn't have provoked Xue Qiong—after all, with Xue Qiong directing the attack formation, its power was extraordinarily formidable.

Boom! Bang! Rumbling continued.

As Ye Chen's avatar had anticipated, the ninth branch's attacks grew even more savage, cracking Haotian Shijia's protective mountain barrier in multiple places.

"Proceed as originally planned." Meanwhile, Ye Chen's true self sent a message. "You've delayed them long enough."

"That guy's intelligence must have been struck by lightning." Ye Chen's avatar grinned and immediately leaped down from the peak, darting into Haotian Shijia's underground palace. He then stepped into the teleportation domain gate.

However, he didn't teleport away. Instead, he hid at the edge of the gate, gripping a large saber in his hand.

His reason for hiding there was simple: to ambush anyone who came. Ye Chen's plan was to seize every opportunity to buy time, even if he couldn't hold off an entire branch army—delaying was better than nothing.

Boom!

At some point, Haotian Shijia's protective mountain barrier shattered completely, the deafening blast echoing across the nine heavens and spreading without limit.

At that moment, Haotian Xuanzhen, who was racing through the mountains, suddenly halted and glanced back toward Haotian Shijia, murmuring, "The protective mountain barrier has been breached."

"I'm surprised—how did Chen Ye manage to hold off a entire branch army for over three shichen?" Beside him, Huaxu took a deep breath.

It wasn't just her; all the elders present were equally astonished.

Especially Haotian Jingshan, whose eyes showed genuine shock for the first time, because he knew that if it had been him, he couldn't have delayed them for even three shichen.

"Let's go." Haotian Xuanzhen took one last look in that direction before turning and hurrying onward.

"You have to stay safe." Haotian Shiyue paused again, but Huaxu pulled her away.

"Kill! Kill them all for me, leave no one alive!" Back at Haotian Shijia, the army of Shi Xue Dian's ninth branch flooded in like a tidal wave, the air filled with Xue Qiong's furious roars.

Yet, as they charged in, the entire force froze for three seconds.

Where are the people?

Everyone's expressions turned extraordinarily vivid in that instant.

They had expected a desperate resistance from Haotian Shijia.

They had thought they would bathe in blood as they slaughtered everyone in Haotian Shijia.

But their expectations were just that—expectations. Haotian Shijia was completely empty, not a soul in sight, not even a bird, leaving these battle-hardened soldiers utterly dumbfounded.

"Could they have escaped early?" Someone whispered after the silence.

"Search! Search everywhere!" Xue Qiong's roar thundered like lightning, his rage making him like a frenzied lion. Even knowing the situation was beyond recovery, he deluded himself into thinking he could still settle scores with Haotian Xuanzhen.

Fearing Xue Qiong's wrath, the commanders divided into over a dozen groups for a thorough sweep.

"Here's a taste for you." At that moment, Ye Chen's avatar, still hidden in the teleportation domain gate, smirked.

With that, he crushed a token in his hand.

Boom! Bang!

Explosions erupted outside immediately.

Followed by waves of agonized screams.

He had activated Haotian Shijia's hidden restrictions—essentially, secret killing formations typically used against invaders. Now that Haotian Shijia was fully evacuated, these formations were finally coming into play.

Boom! Bang! Rumbling spread.

As the first blast sounded, the explosions became continuous and widespread, turning the entire Haotian Shijia into a chaos of flashing lights.

Caught off guard, the Shi Xue Dian army suffered heavy casualties. Every time a restriction detonated, swaths of figures turned into blood mist, dyeing the heavens red.

"Level Haotian Shijia to the ground!" A commander finally ordered.

Nine void killing formations locked onto Haotian Shijia, unleashing a barrage of radiant attacks that reduced the place to ruins, destroying most of the hidden restrictions in the process.

Haotian Shijia was flattened, but Xue Qiong still hadn't found a single person, his face twisting into a grotesque mask of fury.

In that moment, he truly confirmed he had been toyed with, led by the nose for over three shichen. This level of humiliation was the most embarrassing thing he had experienced since starting his cultivation path.

"Hall master, we've discovered an underground palace!" As he raged, a commander flew over. "There's spatial fluctuation inside. It's certain—there must be a teleportation domain gate. That's likely how Haotian Shijia escaped."

Xue Qiong said nothing, his body trembling with anger as he gripped his killing sword and charged toward the underground palace.

Once the palace doors were blasted open, he spotted the massive teleportation domain gate from afar, still flickering with strange, ethereal lights.

"The gate is trembling—they must have left not long ago," a commander said hastily.

"Chase them!" Xue Qiong bellowed.

Without needing his order, a dark mass of figures surged into the teleportation domain gate like a tide.

Boom! Bang! Rumbling followed.

Those who had just rushed in were sent flying back, their bodies battered and bloody, struck by the heavenly thunder curses Ye Chen had left behind. These weren't ordinary thunder curses—they were specially refined killing tools, far more powerful than those from Hengyue Sect.

"Trivial tricks." Several commanders snorted and charged in.

Boom! Bang! Rumbling echoed from inside.

The first commander to enter was slashed back out by Ye Chen's avatar, but with so many opponents, he couldn't handle them all at once.

"Ye Chen... Ye Chen is in there!" The commander who was thrown out pointed shakily at the teleportation domain gate.

Ye Chen?

Hearing that name, Xue Qiong's eyes flashed with sharp light. Without a second thought, he charged in.

Now that Haotian Shijia had all escaped, it meant he had failed his mission. Returning empty-handed could lead to severe punishment, even removal from his position as hall master.

But if he could eliminate Ye Chen—the holy lord of Nanchu Heavenly Court—it would turn failure into success. That's why he was so desperate.

With Xue Qiong and the other experts pouring in, the pressure on Ye Chen's avatar intensified.

"I'm not sticking around for this madness." After unleashing a powerful strike, Ye Chen's avatar didn't hesitate and bolted straight through to the other side of the teleportation domain gate.