Chapter 43

"Wait," several Devil Venerables suddenly spoke up. Devil Venerable Mingyu said, "Cang Xiao, you want to eliminate Yin Fan, but we never agreed to that. Of course we choose the method of ascension."

They had previously agreed to help Cang Xiao deal with Yin Fan because Yin Fan possessed something they needed, but how could its value compare to a method of ascension?

The two sides began arguing, their expressions indignant and their words heated. Though they were all sect leaders and Devil Venerables who ruled their own domains, they now seemed to have lost their reason.

Caught up in it, they could not see clearly, but Wu Fei and Yin Fan, hidden in the shadows, saw everything. A layer of black mist as thin as smoke now hung over everyone near the altar. Focused solely on arguing, none of them noticed the dark figure at the center of the altar growing increasingly solid.

A cold gleam flashed through Wu Fei's eyes. In the next instant, the Silent Dust Pearl flew from his hand and burst with golden light, transforming into a giant golden bell engraved with all manner of Buddhist mystical patterns.

Dong-

The deeply penetrating toll rang through the heavens.

At the sudden sound of the bell, the sect leaders and Devil Venerables arguing among themselves felt their minds jolt and abruptly regained their clarity. Seeing the faint black mist rising from their bodies, they understood something and all retreated.

"What exactly is this...?" one person asked, his heart still pounding.

Just now, it had been as though they were being controlled!

Yin Fan's expression grew grave at the sight. He turned to Wu Fei. "Senior Brother, do you know what this thing is?"

Wu Fei considered for a moment, then said, "I once read about it in an ancient book in the Buddha Spirit Sect's scripture pavilion. People have desires, and cultivators have inner demons. Between heaven and earth, there is a being called an Obstruction Devil. It feeds on desire and can neither die nor be destroyed."

This altar was presumably meant to suppress the Obstruction Devil.

In this brief span alone, the black mist before them had grown several times stronger than when it was first summoned.

Only he, with his Exquisite State of Mind, was unaffected by the Obstruction Devil, while Yin Fan, wearing his Buddhist prayer beads, could also resist it to some extent.

"Where did that golden bell and golden arrow come from?" someone finally asked in confusion.

Without the golden bell and arrow to help them, they might still have been trapped within the black mist, unable to regain their clarity.

"To think that after all these years of suppression, someone still remembers my name..." Just then, another voice came from the black mist, chilling them to the bone.

As those before the altar wondered at these words, a mass of black mist suddenly shot in a certain direction with lightning speed.

Straight toward Wu Fei and Yin Fan!

Fortunately, Wu Fei and Yin Fan were already prepared. Their gazes turned cold as they swiftly struck, a golden arrow and the Blazing Cold Sword, alternating between searing heat and biting cold, meeting the black mist together.

The white-robed Buddhist disciple and the black-robed Devil Venerable were naturally revealed to everyone as well.

"Devil Venerable Yin Fan, and the Buddha Spirit Sect's Buddhist disciple..."

Everyone stared at the golden bow in Wu Fei's hand in shock. What was there left to wonder about? The golden bell and arrow had been the Buddha Spirit Sect's Buddhist disciple lending them aid.

"Wasn't the Buddha Spirit Sect's Buddhist disciple... supposed to be at the Spirit Transformation Stage?"

Judging by Wu Fei's aura, his cultivation was clearly at the Mahayana Peak Stage!

The black mist was naturally no match for Wu Fei and Yin Fan working together. Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Liu Yuexuan, on the altar, caught sight of Yin Fan and suddenly went mad. "Senior Brother Jing..."

Her voice was hoarse and resentful, as though it came from hell. "Senior Brother Jing, why won't you accept me? I like you so much. Why did you push me away...?"

Wu Fei watched her frenzied state, outwardly calm and composed, but a trace of suspicion lurked in the depths of his eyes.

Push her away? In the inheritance tomb, we simply parted ways with Liu Yuexuan and the others. When did anyone push her away? In the original novel's Seven Emotions Flower plot, though, the protagonist did firmly push her away...

Could this Liu Yuexuan have awakened memories from the book? If so, all her strange behavior before would make sense.

The more he thought about it, the more plausible this conjecture seemed. His brow furrowed slightly. He would have to find an opportunity to verify it.

"Like me?" Yin Fan gave a derisive laugh. "I'm not blind. Do you think I can't see the greed in your eyes...?"

Though he did not know what the "greed" in Liu Yuexuan's eyes sought, her intentions were impure regardless.

Liu Yuexuan froze at his words, then grew even more frenzied, her expression hideous. A vast quantity of black mist suddenly surged from her body and merged with the Obstruction Devil.

At the sight, Wu Fei's Exquisite Heart abruptly throbbed. A powerful sense of danger welled up within him, and he could not help tightening his grip on the golden bow formed from the Silent Dust Pearl.

In mere moments, the black mist suddenly swelled, giving a sound of satiation. Then a gaze concealed within it swept over everyone before finally settling on Yin Fan.

"So you're the junior they wanted to eliminate. Your providence is indeed tremendous, and your desires run deep enough..."

As it spoke, the center of the black mist suddenly began churning violently. The mist grew denser and darker, as though it were nurturing something utterly terrifying.

At this sight, a powerful sense of foreboding gripped everyone's hearts.

Gradually, a smooth, gleaming pearl condensed at the center of the churning black mist. The instant the black pearl appeared, Wu Fei's pupils contracted slightly, and he immediately seized Yin Fan's hand and retreated.

At the same time, the pearl streaked through the air in a flash of black light. Cang Xiao and the others nearby, along with the three Devil Venerables and Liu Yuexuan, were the first to be engulfed in dense black mist. Then the mist continued spreading with lightning speed.

Unable to evade it in time, Wu Fei's expression grew slightly stern. In the instant before the black mist engulfed them, the Silent Dust Pearl in his hand split in two. He placed half in Yin Fan's hand and kept the other half himself.

Now that the Obstruction Devil had produced an Obstruction Pearl, its power was too great for the Buddhist prayer beads to be of much use. The Silent Dust Pearl might offer some resistance.

Immediately afterward, he was pulled into an illusory realm by the dense black mist. Amid his daze, a voice reached him.

"How interesting. Even I cannot discern your desires..."

"Still, Buddhist cultivators always have so much more unnecessary compassion than others. Interesting. I can hardly wait to see that scene, hahahaha..."

Noisy!

Wu Fei inwardly grumbled, his face expressionless. Then his thoughts sank into darkness.