Two beams of Jade Purity Immortal Light tore through the night and pressed down directly above the Ruined Temple.
The chill winds over the Mass Burial Grounds abruptly stilled.
The flames of life Yin Jiao and Yin Hong had just kindled shuddered violently at that moment.
Daluo Golden Immortals.
And two of them had arrived at once!
The Daoist on the left had an austere, ancient-looking face. An auspicious cloud churned above his head, and the Dao resonance of the Heaven-Flipping Seal rose and fell with crushing weight.
Guangchengzi, foremost of the Twelve Golden Immortals of Chan Sect.
The Daoist on the right held the Yin-Yang Mirror. Black and white mirror light flowed through his palm, and a fierce aura of menace hung between his brows.
Chijingzi.
The instant the two landed, vast waves of Jade Purity Immortal Light surged toward the Ruined Temple.
But the moment the immortal light touched the temple doors, a thread of primordial violet radiance lit up deep within the Incense Burner.
Hum!
The Jade Purity Immortal Light was blocked.
That seemingly dilapidated Desolate Temple stood like a Dao seal nailed into the mortal world, utterly unmoving.
Guangchengzi's gaze immediately darkened.
He looked first at Yang Jian.
Then at the Divine Statue.
Finally, he fixed his eyes on that speck of violet light inside the Incense Burner.
"Yang Jian."
Guangchengzi's voice was cold and heavy.
"So it really was you."
Chijingzi raised the Yin-Yang Mirror, casting its light onto the two youths inside the temple.
A heartbeat later, his expression changed sharply.
"Senior brother, Yin Hong's destiny has changed."
Shock and anger simmered beneath his voice.
"My master-disciple karma with him has been severed."
The chill in Guangchengzi's eyes deepened.
They had descended the mountain under a Saint's decree precisely for Yin Jiao and Yin Hong.
These two princes bore the last thread of Yin Shang's legitimate dynastic fate.
Originally, they needed only to guide the twins onto the path, and both would enter the Chan Sect.
But now...
A Purple-Gold Imperial Seal rose and fell between Yin Jiao's brows.
A Pitch-Black Demonic Mark lay dormant between Yin Hong's brows.
Someone had already forged both their Dao foundations into shape.
Moreover, that Dao resonance was exceedingly lofty.
So lofty that even Guangchengzi could not see through to its origins.
"Good."
Guangchengzi laughed in his fury.
"First you took Yang Jian, then the Yin Shang Twins."
"Does that fellow Daoist, whose origins even a Saint cannot fathom, truly intend to overturn my Chan Sect's Investiture of the Gods chessboard from its very roots?"
Yin Jiao and Yin Hong went pale.
They had only just taken a master, and had yet to fully stabilize the arts within their bodies.
Facing two Great Luo cultivators now, they felt even their divine souls tighten.
Yet neither retreated.
Yin Jiao gritted his teeth and stood in front of Yin Hong.
Yin Hong clenched his palms until they bled, and the Pitch-Black Demonic Mark flashed through his eyes.
Yang Jian stepped half a pace forward.
The strength god-demon acupoint trembled faintly within him, and primordial violet qi spread from beneath his feet, shielding the Ruined Temple's threshold.
"They have already become my master's disciples."
Yang Jian's voice was calm.
"The Chan Sect is too late."
Chijingzi's face turned so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
"Too late?"
"Yin Hong was meant to become my disciple and inherit my yin-yang lineage."
The black and white lights of the Yin-Yang Mirror blazed in his palm.
"You dare alter heaven-ordained fate, then claim my Chan Sect came too late?"
The mirror light suddenly shone down.
Its target was Yin Hong!
Yin Hong went rigid.
That black and white mirror light seemed intent on peeling his divine soul out of his flesh.
But the instant the mirror light reached his brow...
The Pitch-Black Demonic Mark suddenly blazed.
A Primordial Purple Seal emerged from the depths of Yin Hong's sea of consciousness.
The Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art activated on its own.
The mirror light was forcibly dragged into a pitch-black vortex, which swallowed a portion of it!
Bang!
The black and white beam from the Yin-Yang Mirror exploded on the spot.
A tiny crack appeared in the spiritual patterns on its surface.
Chijingzi grunted and stumbled back three steps, his palm numb from the shock.
"What art is this?"
He stared fixedly at Yin Hong.
Not a trace of contempt remained in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Guangchengzi also raised his hand and pressed down.
Great Luo pressure enveloped Yin Jiao like the sky collapsing.
"Yin Jiao, return to Kunlun with me."
"You bear the Yin Shang Orthodoxy's legitimate dynastic fate. How can you allow an evil path to taint it?"
Yin Jiao's chest tightened, and his knees nearly buckled.
But the next instant...
The Purple-Gold Imperial Seal between his brows lit up.
The Human Emperor Heaven-Sealing Art began circulating on its own.
A hazy phantom of a Human King appeared behind him, mountains and rivers wishfire coiling around its body.
"Beneath all heaven, no land lies beyond the king's domain."
A deep voice of the Dao resounded within the Ruined Temple.
That Human King phantom forcibly pushed Guangchengzi's Great Luo pressure back.
Yin Jiao jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot.
"Where was the Chan Sect when calamity befell my mother?"
"Where was the Chan Sect when my brother and I were hunted?"
"Now that we have taken a master, you come talking about the Heavenly Mandate?"
His voice trembled, but each word struck harder than the last.
"What gives you the right to dictate this Heavenly Mandate?"
Deathly silence filled the Ruined Temple.
Yang Jian glanced at Yin Jiao, a measure of approval entering his eyes.
He, too, had once been driven along by so-called fate.
His father and brothers had died, his mother had been imprisoned, and his younger sister had been at death's door.
Had his master not shown him mercy, he would long since have become a piece on someone else's chessboard.
Now Yin Jiao and Yin Hong had reached the same path.
Guangchengzi's face turned utterly livid.
The Yin Shang Twins had, right before his very eyes, completely deviated from the Chan Sect's arrangements.
This was already stealing their prize.
Worse, it was a slap in the face.
Chijingzi tightened his grip on the Yin-Yang Mirror and said coldly, "Senior brother, we cannot delay any longer."
"If Yin Jiao and Yin Hong remain under this man's tutelage, this branch of Yin Shang's fortune will slip entirely beyond our Chan Sect's control."
Guangchengzi nodded.
He looked at Yang Jian with an icy gaze.
"Yang Jian, before Kunlun Mountain, the Saint allowed you to preserve your dignity."
"Today, you have again intervened in the affairs of the Yin Shang Twins on your master's behalf."
"Are you formally contending with the Chan Sect for the fortune of the Investiture of the Gods?"
Yang Jian's expression remained unruffled.
"What if I am?"
Killing intent surged in Guangchengzi's eyes.
"Anyone outside Yuqing's orthodox lineage who recklessly alters heaven-ordained fate follows an evil path."
"Cripple their
Dao foundations, and I may spare their lives."
"As for you-"
The auspicious cloud above his head unfurled with a thunderous roar.
The Heaven-Flipping Seal's Dao resonance became the phantom of an ancient seal, pressing ponderously toward the Ruined Temple.
The ground of the Mass Burial Grounds cracked inch by inch.
The loose stones before the temple doors instantly turned to dust.
"Kneel, and wait for your master to collect you."
Yin Jiao and Yin Hong both paled.
Before that ancient seal had truly descended, they already felt as though their bodies were about to be crushed.
Yang Jian's gaze finally turned cold.
A thread of divine radiance emerged from the divine eye between his brows.
The strength god-demon acupoint shook thunderously.
He remembered that phantom of the Heaven-Flipping Seal before Kunlun Mountain.
He also remembered the moment he had shattered his ordained fate, punch after punch.
"Cripple their Dao foundations?"
Yang Jian raised his eyes to Guangchengzi.
His voice was very soft.
Yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"Are you worthy?"
Boom!
Primordial violet qi surged from beneath Yang Jian's feet, forcibly holding up the descending phantom of the Heaven-Flipping Seal.
Guangchengzi's expression chilled.
"You court death!"
He was about to drive the Dao resonance further.
A black shadow suddenly ambled in front of Yang Jian.
Xiaotian Dog shook his ears and looked up at Guangchengzi.
The Dark-Gold Vertical Mark between its brows slowly opened a sliver.
The God-Devouring Fangs gleamed with dim golden light inside his mouth.
Chijingzi frowned.
"A mere Heavenly Immortal Demon Hound dares stand against Great Luo cultivators?"
Xiaotian Dog bared his teeth.
A savage intent that devoured divine souls and Dao resonance instantly locked onto the two Great Luo cultivators.
Guangchengzi's and Chijingzi's hearts both jolted.
This dog's cultivation realm was indeed low.
Yet the aura within his mouth instinctively stirred a warning in their primordial spirits.
Xiaotian Dog stared at the Yuqing auspicious cloud above Guangchengzi's head, its eyes growing brighter and brighter.
"Yang Jian."
It licked its fangs.
"This smells tastier than the Demon King."
Yang Jian shot it a glance.
"Don't try anything."
Xiaotian Dog flicked its tail, but its gaze never left Guangchengzi.
"I'll just take one bite."
"Try out the God-Devouring Fangs and see if they can bite through a Yuqing Great Luo."
The words had barely fallen.
Inside the Incense Burner in the Ruined Temple, that tiny speck of primordial violet light suddenly pulsed violently.