"Qiong Rong! Come back!"
Having just escaped the Illusory Shadow Maze, Xing Yan and Xueyi immediately realized something was wrong when they saw the scene before them. Both cried out at once, hoping to call the deceived little girl back.
Yet the moment their cries left their mouths, they discovered that the sound waves seemed to strike an invisible wall. Azure light flashed, and a translucent, bell-shaped dome appeared before them. Its membrane enclosed Qiong Rong and the kindly-looking old man. Where their voices had struck the side facing Xing Yan and Xueyi, lingering ripples still trembled across the surface like waves on water.
The benevolent-looking old man before Qiong Rong was none other than Ancestor Kongya, the thousand-year-old monstrous immortal who had come to avenge his disciple. He was astonished to see the young man and woman escape his Illusory Shadow Tracing Formation so quickly. But on second thought, the ancient monster decided this was even better:
If these two youngsters witnessed someone dear to them, so lively and full of spirit, reduced before their eyes to a heap of white bones in an instant, the torment would surely shatter their hearts and minds, driving them mad. By then, his Soul Devouring power would have grown still stronger from consuming the girl's spiritual energy. He would no longer need any clever tricks to dispose of the pair with ease.
With this pleasing calculation in mind, Ancestor Kongya turned back and focused on the little girl before him.
Because of the Demon Bell enclosing her, little Qiong Rong, whose sole desire was to grow up sooner, heard neither her brother's cries nor Sister Xueyi's, and failed to notice their anxious expressions. She had turned back and was gazing expectantly at the "kindhearted" old grandfather who had promised to help her