Ye Tian's heart sank, and he blurted out, "What do your Tang Clan, Ouyang Clan... know?"
Tang Fengtian did not answer, but his eyes flickered slightly.
Ouyang Bin didn't say anything, but clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Both of them knew that there was indeed some kind of secret that had been buried for many years inside the Emperor Pass.
The border between the Foreign Domain and the Emperor Pass, the truth behind the ancient war between immortals, and those records that were deliberately erased.
But neither of them spoke.
The trust between the three shattered completely in that instant.
They're breaking up so soon after starting the partnership because they don't trust each other and are afraid of being betrayed.
Before them stood an Foreign Domain intruder, and behind them stood a Immortal Seed capable of triggering a war between two realms. As for themselves... they dared not even glance at each other.
"Hahaha..."
The laughter from that dark silhouette rang out again, tinged with an almost satisfied pleasure. "How interesting."
"They've only just finished working together, and they're already starting to distrust each other?"
"You humans... you really can't withstand a test."
He slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers spread, and a dark red storm of laws condensed in his palm, like a compressing heart, exuding a suffocating aura of destruction.
Then, he moved.
The Dark Matter exploded from his palm, transforming into hundreds of pitch-black law tentacles that shot towards the three of them simultaneously like a torrential rain. Each tentacle carried destructive power powerful enough to tear apart the protective laws of Quasi-Emperor, and wherever it passed, the void was ripped open with pitch-black cracks.
Tang Fengtian's sword flashed like lightning, layers upon layers of azure Sword Qi energy slashing out, severing the approaching tentacles one by one. But the tentacles would quickly regenerate the moment they were severed, as if they were endless.
Ouyang Bin's punches were as powerful as mountains, each punch shattering several tentacles, but the Dark Matter surged forth like a tide.
Ye Tian's body surged with Immortal Qi, and his golden fist imprint crushed the tentacles that were shooting at him one by one, but his expression grew increasingly grim.
The attacks from that dark silhouette just wouldn't stop.
The three were forced back step by step, each step leaving deep cracks in the stone slab.
The dark silhouette stood in the center, like an audience member watching a play from a mountaintop, its tone carrying a leisurely cruelty. "I'll deal with you slowly when you're tired of fighting."
He paused, his gaze falling on the Immortal Seed on the stone platform. "Of course, if you know what's good for you and hand over the Immortal Seed... perhaps I can spare your lives."
Outside the hall.
The Black Tide continues to surge.
Lin Fan stood in the shadows outside the palace, his aura completely concealed, like a stone blending into the night. He was about a hundred feet away from the palace gate, just enough to see everything happening inside, yet just enough to avoid being affected by the surging fluctuations of laws within.
He watched for a while.
Then he muttered, "Interesting."
He had originally intended to go straight in, but after seeing what he saw outside the hall, he was no longer in a hurry.
Tian Ming was invaded by darkness, and the three joined forces to fight the enemy. The dark creatures officially descended, and the trust between the three shattered instantly.
These scenes, as they appeared to him, were like a farce slowly unfolding.
He leaned against a stone pillar outside the hall, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the dark silhouette inside, scrutinizing the other's law patterns and aura level, assessing their strength.
" Peak Quasi-Emperor..."
" Half-Step Great Emperor?"
"It still has the makings of Great Emperor, but it's not quite pure."
He muttered something under his breath, then gently shook his head. "Not worthy of my intervention."
He decided to observe for a while first.
Entering now is too early.
There's still a good show to watch between the three guys and the dark creatures, and given their current state, even if he intervenes, he might not be able to solve all the problems instantly; instead, he might alert them.
Most importantly, the black-gold bone fragment in his hand was continuously heating up, and the dark red patterns on its surface were pulsating gently, as if it were resonating with something deep within the palace.
"You wait, I, the imperial prince, will watch the show first."
He glanced down at the bone fragments, then looked up at the Immortal Seed inside the hall.
On the other side.
Inside the hall, the three had been forced back to the edge of the stone platform.
Tang Fengtian's sword light dimmed considerably, and a fine layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Ouyang Bin had a deep, bone-revealing crack on his fist, which was bleeding, but he still gritted his teeth and did not back down.
Ye Tian also consumed a significant amount of his Immortal Qi.
But he stood at the very front, blocking most of the dark tentacles, and his face looked the worst.
Because that Immortal Seed was right behind him.
He knew that the dark silhouette's target had always been the Immortal Seed, not the three of them.
They are just obstacles in the way.
call...
The dark silhouette withdrew its right hand, the tentacles slowly receding like the receding tide. Standing in the center of the hall, it slowly flexed its fingers, its gaze falling on the stone platform behind the three, with a composure bordering on the perverse.
"You won't last long."
" The Immortal Seed... will be mine sooner or later."
Why bother?
He raised his hand, his five fingers spread, and the dense Dark Matter, like a plucked string, condensed in his palm into a jet-black spear of light. At the tip of the spear was a wisp of dark red law pattern, like a pulsating blood vessel.
The jet-black spear of light, like a black lightning bolt, carrying a destructive will, shot straight towards the Immortal Seed above the stone platform.
"Boom!"
In that instant, the dark golden skeleton on the stone platform suddenly lit up.
A dark golden beam of light erupted from the skeleton, like a lit lighthouse, shooting into the sky from the center of the stone platform, illuminating the entire palace as bright as day. The beam of light blocked the light spear, which stopped three inches above the skeleton, as if gently held by an invisible hand.
The Immortal Seed was protected.
The Law of the Emperor Dao on the surface of the withered bones lit up layer by layer, like an ancient talisman net being rekindled, enveloping the entire stone platform.
The pupils of the dark silhouette contracted sharply.
"Seal?"
No... it's not a seal.
"This skeleton... is protecting the Immortal Seed?"
He glanced down at the glowing skeleton, then at his own spear of light that had been blocked, and finally frowned.
"Interesting."
The light from the withered bones grew brighter and brighter, and the light from the Immortal Seed also intensified. The two lights intertwined, like a slowly erupting solar corona, forcing back all the Dark Matter in the hall.
Deep within Ye Tian's mind, the voice of that aged, remnant soul suddenly resounded, carrying an unprecedented solemnity. "Something's not right..."
"The seal... wasn't set up by our ancestors..."
"It looks like someone deliberately placed it here."
The voice echoed in Ye Tian's mind like a muffled thunderclap, shattering all his thoughts.
"What did you say?"
Ye Tian instinctively asked a question in return.
The remnant soul's voice was two decibels lower than before, carrying an indescribable heaviness. "Our ancestor did indeed obtain the Immortal Seed, but Immortal Seed was sealed beneath the withered bones; it wasn't our ancestor's doing."
" The Ye Clan ancestors only wanted to protect it, but they didn't have the ability to set up a seal of this level."
"The laws governing this skeleton... are not those of the Ye Clan's ancestors..."
Ye Tian's pupils contracted sharply. He looked down at the glowing skeleton, then at the spinning Immortal Seed, his mind churning with countless fragments of memories.
The downfall of the Ye Clan, and the legacy of their ancestors.
The existence of Immortal Seed.
Foreign Domain covetousness, collusion with the Emperor Pass...
The moment that sentence was uttered, all the clues came together like scattered beads finally strung together.
"Someone deliberately sealed the Immortal Seed here to lure Foreign Domain to steal it, and to entice those from the Emperor Pass to seize it."
" The Ye Clan... is merely a chosen pawn."
"Our ancestor... did not die protecting the Immortal Seed."
"Or were they used as a cover?"
The remnant soul remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, "I don't know, but I'm certain that the seal wasn't set up by our ancestors."
Ye Tian clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
He felt an unprecedented chill rising from the soles of his feet, not from the outside world, but from a long-buried memory deep within his bloodline.
The extermination of the Ye Clan may be more complicated than he imagined.
boom!
In the instant he was stunned, the Dark Matter inside the hall surged once more.