The Traitor
But seeing the blisters on Chen Changqing's hand caused by the fire, a corner of the indifference deep in Chen Fan's eyes quietly softened.
He reached out and took the jade bowl, gulping it down in a few mouthfuls, and then wiped his mouth with his sleeve at the end.
"Sweet."
Chen Fan uttered a single word indistinctly.
Chen Changqing was overjoyed and patted Chen Fan's head.
"Good lad! Once the Grand Elder retrieves the Heaven-Covering Robe, I'll announce to everyone that the Ancestral Master's formation went awry, and I'll send you to the forbidden area in the back mountains for secluded cultivation. Twenty years later, when you emerge, I'll beat those Mysterious Sword Sect bastards to a pulp!"
Chen Fan chewed on some spiritual candy, his tender little face slightly turned towards the Void outside the hall.
Chen Changqing couldn't see through it, but his vast Divine Thought, spanning endless Dimensions, had already penetrated the layers of barriers of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.
In his Divine Soul vision.
The clouds in the south were stained with black blood, and tens of thousands of vengeful spirits and evil ghosts, accompanied by White Bone Warships, roared in.
In the northern Void, thousands of sharp and chilling sword lights tore through the sky, forming an overwhelming Extinction Sword Formation that blotted out the sun, its killing intent directly threatening the main peak of Setting Sun Mountain.
Encircled from both north and south, the killing intent was overwhelming.
Furthermore, two extremely powerful auras had already locked down the southeast corner of the mountain-protecting formation.
"Twenty years is too long, Father."
Chen Fan looked down at his fair and delicate hands. Deep within his palm, a subtle Daoist Life-and-Death Dao Resonance flowed in reverse through his meridians, transforming into a Millstone image of a millstone the size of a fingernail.
A slight, cold smile curved the corners of his youthful lips.
"Boom!"
The entire Spirit Spring Hall suddenly tilted three inches to the side.
The bronze furnace flew horizontally, splashing the scalding Thousand-Treasure Spirit Liquid all over the ground, turning into hissing white smoke.
Before Chen Changqing could even ponder the meaning of his son's words, "Twenty years is too long," the earth veins of the entire Sunset Glow Main Peak emitted a muffled lament.
That was no ordinary tremor; it was the protective mountain vein of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, which had existed for three thousand years, that had been forcibly severed at its most core acupoint.
"The Southeast Gate of Life... is breached?!"
Chen Changqing's body suddenly stiffened, and he abruptly looked up at the Void.
The once ever-flowing, hazy blue Light Screen on the roof of the palace shattered like fragile Glazed Crystal.
The bluish-gray fragments rained down from the sky, but before they even touched the ground, they were corroded into thick black smoke by the viscous blood-red light crashing down from the Firmament.
"Clang!"
The God-Shocking Ancient Bell an alarm on the main peak had only rung halfway before it abruptly went silent.
Thousands of snow-white flying swords tore through the sea of clouds, like a long-planned, violent hailstorm, instantly ravaging the scripture pavilion and various peaks below.
The screams of hundreds of Qingyun disciples and the rumble of collapsing buildings blended together in just a few breaths.
"Dugu Ao! Blood Fiend Old Monster! How dare you offend my Qingyun Mountain!"
From the direction of the Myriad Sword Ancient Tomb on the back mountain, Mo Wendao's extremely shrill roar suddenly erupted.
Before the roar had even subsided, it turned into a muffled groan as blood gushed out.
Three jet-black, nail-like shadows traversed the back mountain, pinning the Sword Qi of the Myriad Sword Ancient Tomb to the ruins.
Mo Wendao has fallen into an ambush.
"Haha! Old ghost Mo, you piece of rotten wood, half-buried in your coffin, dare to wear the Primal Chaos Heaven-Covering Robe? Just obediently breathe your last in your tomb!"
Rolling blood-red clouds roared down from the horizon.
A colossal, White Bone Warship, hundreds of feet long, crashed through the clouds and hovered atop Sunset Glow Peak.
At the bow of the ship, the emaciated Blood Fiend Old Monster stood with his hands behind his back, his body surging with a monstrous sea of evil energy at the Early Nascent Soul, which instantly withered the vegetation on the entire main peak.
On the right side of the warship, Dugu Ao stood on the Seven-Star Annihilation Formation Diagram, with a thousand elite sword cultivators from the Mysterious Sword Sect hovering behind him, their chilling gazes piercing through the broken roof of the hall and nailing him to the Spirit Spring Hall.
"Chen Changqing, hand over that six-year-old Dao embryo, and I'll spare your corpse!"
Dugu Ao's voice, mixed with the vast True Essence of a peak Golden Core cultivator, cracked countless fine lines on the White Marble pillars of the Spirit Spring Hall.
Chen Changqing's face was deathly pale.
Before them stood the Nascent Soul Demon Venerable, and behind them the Golden Core Sword Formation. The Supreme Grand Elder was severely injured and trapped, and the sect's life gate collapsed.
This is a doomed situation.
However, this usually gentle and refined sect leader showed no fear in his eyes at this moment, only an almost manic protectiveness.
"If you want my son dead... you'll have to step over my dead body first!"
Chen Changqing bit his tongue, and a mouthful of his Golden Core Lifeblood Essence sprayed onto his chest.
"Buzz!"
A three-legged ancient bell, its entire body shimmering with cyan runes, suddenly rose into the air, growing to a size of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), completely enveloping Chen Fan within it.
That was his natal Spirit Treasure, the Yi Wood Green Vine Bell.
He pulled the white-clad child tightly into his arms, using his own back, Late Golden Core cultivator, to shield the child on the outermost edge.
The sect leader's robes fluttered in the fierce wind outside, but his arm holding his son remained firmly in place without swaying.
"Fan'er, don't be afraid, your father is here."
Chen Changqing breathed heavily, his hot breath brushing against Chen Fan's neck. He gently pressed his hand against the back of his son's head, preventing him from looking at the demonic figures in the sky.
"When your father detonates his Golden Core to tear open a rift in the Void, you stick the Shrinking Earth Talisman on your chest and run towards the deep mountains of the Southern Region... run as far as you can, and whatever you do, don't look back!"
Chen Fan leaned on his father's broad shoulders, his eyes as deep as the void.
He sensed an intensely burning life force within Chen Changqing's body.
That was a resolute decision that disregarded life and death.
The "Myriad Realms Red Dust Scripture" suddenly began to churn deep within Chen Fan's Sea of Consciousness. Countless golden Sanskrit characters swam like dragons, and within his Miniature Divine Kingdom, the originally dormant pure white Life Formation Core ignited by this mortal paternal love, bursting forth with blazing golden light.
This is the Mortal World Karma he sought across the heavens.
"What an idiot."
Chen Fan let out a very soft sigh in his heart.
But on that eternally calm face, the corners of his lips were slightly pursed.
Firmament above, Dugu Ao watched Chen Changqing struggle in his death throes, a cruel sneer curling at the corner of his lips.
"Resist? You think you can protect him?"
Dugu Ao's eyes flickered slightly, and he pointed his right hand, fingers forming a sword shape, in mid-air with a flick of his wrist.
"Elder of Law Enforcement, if you don't act now, when will you?!"
Boom!
One sentence sent Chen Changqing into an icy abyss.
In the dim shadows of the pillars in the Spirit Spring Hall, a gray-robed figure, known for his rigidity and stern demeanor, suddenly tore through the Void and vanished without warning.
It was none other than Song Yan, the Grand Elder of the Law Enforcement Hall!
He held a narrow, short blade, as black as ink, in his palm.
A foul-smelling green light swirled around the blade.
"Sect Master, I'm sorry."
Song Yan was ferocious. He poured all his True Essence from the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm into the short blade, making him extremely ruthless.
He didn't even look at Chen Changqing; his blade aimed straight for the back of the six-year-old child in Chen Changqing's arms!
The distance was no more than three feet!
The attack was launched stealthily, swift as lightning!
"Song Yan! You piece of trash!"
Chen Changqing's eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his body were almost bursting.