Turning Blades on One Another

Seeing this, Xu Yan immediately took out brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from his storage pouch.

Using Primordial Script, he wrote a brief dharma pact. Its contents were roughly that neither party would harm the other, and whoever violated this oath would be punished by Heaven and exterminated by Earth, and so on.

He then pricked his finger, and a drop of essence blood fell onto the white paper.

"Brother Clam, please." Xu Yan raised the dharma pact and said.

The Profound Yin clam spirit remained sluggish for several breaths before shaking its enormous body. A drop of essence blood, black as ink, flew out from within its shell and landed on the paper.

In that instant, Xu Yan seemed to feel their heart's blood linked together. Somewhere in the unseen, it was as though a law of the Dao had bound one man and one demon.

"I shall help you escape your plight at once."

Without another word, Xu Yan immediately sent the flying shuttle forth, breaking the edict inscriptions on the chains around the stone stele one by one.

Before long, the iron chains snapped apart and crumbled into powder.

Having finally regained its freedom after so long, the Profound Yin clam spirit let out a howl and shook its body. Waves splashed across the pool, while a frigid yin wind roared from its mouth.

Each Profound Yin Pearl gleamed with a growing radiance, brimming with the power of utmost yin.

It wriggled its body, its enormous form swaying slightly as though it were performing some Daoist art. Strands of heaven-and-earth spiritual power were drawn into the clam spirit's body, and the injuries on its shell slowly began to heal.

Xu Yan was in no hurry and simply waited at the side.

Half an incense stick later.

Suddenly, a man's scream rang out from the ancient pavilion atop the cliff!

"Hm?"

Xu Yan's expression changed. He raised his eyes toward the heights above, frowning as he fell into thought.

"Brother Clam, I'll go up and take a look."

With that, Xu Yan stepped onto the flying shuttle and shot into the sky like a startled swan.

Three hundred zhang was crossed in no more than ten breaths.

He landed steadily within the rust-covered ancient hall.

Outside the palace pavilion ahead, a horrifying scene was unfolding.

Chen Shengzhi had formed his palm into a blade. His expression was gloomy and his eyes cold, while fierce astral wind coiled around his entire arm. From behind, he had thrust it straight through Zhang Gan's heart. Blood slowly dripped from his fingertips!

Beside them stood Song Yan, her face already drained white with shock. Covering her mouth, she stared at the scene before her in utter disbelief.

Zhang Gan's eyes were wide, his lips trembling faintly. He tried to turn around, but the light in his pupils was already beginning to scatter.

His heart had been pierced. Before he could utter a single word, his body crashed heavily to the ground. The life gradually faded from him, leaving behind a cold corpse.

Chen Shengzhi shook the blood from his hand. He remained silent, his eyes so dark they seemed ready to drip water.

Catching sight of Xu Yan in the corner of his eye, Chen Shengzhi turned his head. A smile curled at his lips as he raised a brow. "Young Master Yan, what is it?"

Xu Yan's expression tightened. "Turning your blade on one of your own—how could you do such a thing?"

Chen Shengzhi's gaze gradually calmed, as though he did not care much at all. He gave the blood on his hand another hard shake and said evenly, "That fool should have died long ago."

"Was it Uncle who told you to do this?" Song Yan's delicate body trembled. Her voice was hoarse as she demanded the answer with wide, beautiful eyes.

Chen Shengzhi remained silent. To Song Yan, his silence was as good as an admission.

Other than Song Yan, the remaining four Breath-Expelling disciples were all calm-faced, as though they had long been planning this.

"If he hadn't known the location of the Hunyuan Sect's hidden ruins, we would have purged him from the sect a year ago." Chen Shengzhi spoke calmly, then looked at Xu Yan with a faint killing intent in his eyes. Smiling with a trace of threat in his voice, he said, "Young Master Yan, Young Master Xu, may I ask you to help break the derivative formations around these treasure pavilions?"

"That doesn't sound like the tone of someone asking for a favor." Xu Yan took a slight step back as spiritual power began flowing through the meridians within his body. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "And if I refuse?"

Chen Shengzhi stared at Xu Yan without expression, cold to the extreme. He slowly paced forward, speaking loudly as he walked. "Young Master Yan was born under a lucky star. You are Prince Wu'an's adopted son, a great figure, born into wealth and honor. Since childhood, you have never lacked heavenly treasures or true scriptures of enlightenment. Within the Moat Dragon Eighteen Commanderies, no one dares provoke Prince Wu'an's Residence. How could people like us compare with you?"

Xu Yan said nothing, listening to the growing chill in his voice.

Chen Shengzhi spread his hands, each word cold as a blade. "Young Master Yan, you don't seem to understand your situation. You have no choice. If you refuse, I'll turn you into a human swine."

"Does Young Master Yan know what a human swine is?" A sinister smile hung at Chen Shengzhi's lips. "It means chopping off your hands and feet, gouging out your eyes, pouring molten silver into your ears to deafen you, then throwing you into..."

As he spoke, he directly produced a jar-shaped dharma artifact. Yin wind gusted around it, and from within the pitch-black jar came faint, heart-rending screams of misery.

Goosebumps rose across Xu Yan's body, and a chill ran down his spine.

Since when had Daque Temple begun cultivating such wicked arts?

Without another word, Xu Yan stepped onto the Literary Gold Shuttle and transformed into a streak of startled-swan light, fleeing backward!

"Catch him," Chen Shengzhi said indifferently.

The four Breath-Expelling disciples did not hesitate. They immediately flew after him, thrusting their five fingers forward as spiritual power howled forth.

After stepping into Breath Expelling, the first realm of the Five Realms of Mortal Existence, one could project spiritual power more than ten zhang away to seize objects and capture people!

Xu Yan was extremely fast. The Literary Gold Shuttle was the natal dharma artifact of Shangyin's Third Senior Brother, and it had already reached the high-grade tier.

Spiritual power howled in pursuit from behind. Xu Yan felt a chill run down his back. Reaching the cliff's edge, he hurriedly swooped downward.

The four Breath-Expelling disciples frowned. After pausing for several breaths, they immediately followed after him.

Elsewhere, Chen Shengzhi calmly walked to Zhang Gan's corpse, tore the storage pouch from his waist, and opened it. "There are quite a few spiritual materials and spiritual herbs in here."

Song Yan felt as though she no longer recognized the senior brother before her. Clenching her pearly teeth, she turned to leave.

"Where is Junior Sister going?" Chen Shengzhi asked coldly without even looking at Song Yan.

"What, are you going to kill me too?!" Song Yan fixed Chen Shengzhi with her beautiful eyes and questioned him word by word. Her status within Daque Temple was not low. Not only was she gifted, but the sect master was also her father's blood brother.

"Junior Sister!" Chen Shengzhi frowned and cut her off, saying coldly, "If Zhang Gan did not die, Daque Temple would sooner or later suffer disaster. Can't you understand that?"

"I don't understand!" Song Yan gritted her teeth, her expression stern, then demanded again, "And what about Xu Yan? He belongs to Prince Wu'an's Residence. Have you gone mad? You want to kill him?"

"We are deep within the Ten-Thousand Mang Mountains, in a place this secret. If he dies here, who could possibly know?" Chen Shengzhi narrowed his eyes and said darkly, "If he helps me break the formations, so much the better. I can give him a quick death. If he refuses, hmph, I'll make sure he wishes he were dead!"

The moment his words fell, several screams sounded from not far away.

A rolling yin wind howled past like a great river, making the bronze hall ring with clang after clang.

Chen Shengzhi's expression froze, and he abruptly turned his head.

Within the thin mist in the distance, an enormous clam spirit rode the yin wind as it flew toward them. Its shell-mouth opened and closed as it chewed on those Breath-Expelling disciples. Blood splattered everywhere, accompanied by crunching sounds!