The three had just turned around when Shen Qingchen abruptly froze. His instinctive alertness, honed through countless life-or-death battles, surged forth before he could even think. His pupils constricted sharply without him even turning around. "Something's wrong!"
Laugh!!!
Deep within the dense forest, a long-dormant True Annihilation energy suddenly erupted. A divine power tore through the gaps in the trees, its momentum fierce and ruthless. Along its path, the growth patterns on the surface of several ancient trees instantly twisted and distorted, heading straight for the three people standing there!
Shen Qingchen suddenly spun around, his hands rapidly forming hand seals, unleashing the full power of his Fate Soul essence. "Get out of the way!" A thick shield of light burst open to meet the incoming divine power. Boom!!!
The two forces collided head-on, causing the light barrier to tremble violently. The residual power of the divine abilities swept outwards, sending large swaths of leaves flying into the air. Taking advantage of this momentary obstruction, Shen Qingchen darted to the side; Su Qingyuan and Chi Qingyue had reacted the instant they heard the warning.
The three figures quickly dispersed and separated. The sneak attack grazed the spot where the three had just stood and crashed heavily into the depths of the dense forest behind them.
Chi Qingyue steadied herself and turned around abruptly. The previous calm and composure on her beautiful face was gone; the veins on her forehead tightened slightly, and her eyes surged with anger. Trespassing on Chi Lineage territory was already a grave mistake, but now she dared to ambush the patrolling disciples. This blatant provocation instantly ignited the anger in her chest.
"Who is it!" Chi Qingyue drew her divine weapon, its sharp edge pointing directly at the dense forest ahead. "How dare you trespass into my Chi Lineage's Azure Wood Divine Forest! Come out and face your death!"
Su Qingyuan remained calm despite her anger. She quickly moved to Chi Qingyue's side and behind, her eyes scanning every possible hiding spot among the trees, the divine weapon in her hand gleaming with a cold, eerie light. "Be careful, the enemy is in the shadows."
Shen Qingchen also gripped his divine weapon firmly. The three stood back to back, each guarding a different position. Just then, a voice carrying a hint of mockery drifted slowly from the distant forest. "Return your Chi Lineage's Azure Wood Divine Forest..."
He paused briefly, his mockery growing even stronger. "Why don't you just say the entire Eternal Nonexistence Limitless Domain belongs to your Chi Lineage?" Shen Qingchen's eyes suddenly turned icy cold. Rustling sound
A large expanse of branches and leaves swayed in the distance. A figure slowly emerged from between two towering ancient trees, followed by a second, third, and fourth figure. In just a few breaths, seven cultivators stepped out of the dense forest from different directions.
All seven were masked, but what weighed even heavier on the hearts of the three was their undisguised cultivation aura. The True Annihilation Realm · Peak! A full seven of them!
The seven people stood in a relatively orderly fashion, forming a semi-encirclement that effectively blocked Shen Qingchen and his companions' escape route. The man in the lead wore a long robe with gold patterns, his face covered by a mask, revealing only a pair of sinister and cold eyes. He did not rush to attack; his gaze first swept over Chi Qingyue, and then slowly fell on Shen Qingchen and Su Qingyuan.
Shen Qingchen clearly caught that fleeting pause in his observation. His face showed no sign of panic; his hand firmly gripped the divine weapon, and he didn't retreat a single step. Yet, the immense pressure from seven True Annihilation Realm · Peak experts simultaneously pressing down still caused a wave of unease to wash over him.
He forcibly suppressed his turbulent emotions, his gaze sweeping over the seven figures one by one, attempting to deduce their origins from their robes, auras, and positions. "Who exactly are you?" Shen Qingchen demanded in a deep voice. "Knowing this place belongs to my Chi Lineage's territory, you still dare to secretly plot against us?"
The masked man in the golden robe did not answer. His gaze remained fixed on the three of them. The next instant, a vicious glint flashed in his gloomy eyes, and the corners of his lips beneath the mask curled slightly upward.
He slowly raised his hand. His finger passed over Chi Qingyue and pointed directly at Su Qingyuan. "Kill that female cultivator."
Then, his fingertip shifted slightly, lightly tapping between Shen Qingchen and Su Qingyuan. A chilling voice clearly reached everyone's ears. "The remaining two, capture them alive."
Shen Qingchen's expression suddenly changed drastically. Su Qingyuan's five fingers gripping the weapon tightened abruptly, and the two of them almost simultaneously realized the most dangerous inside story. This group of people had not accidentally wandered into the Azure Wood Divine Forest, nor had they decided to ambush the patrolling disciples on a whim.
Seven True Annihilation Realm · Peak had been lying in wait here beforehand, and they had even clearly divided the tasks, deciding who should be killed and who should be spared. Their targets from the very beginning were Shen Qingchen and Su Qingyuan.
After all seven masked cultivators appeared, the once tranquil and peaceful atmosphere of the northern part of the Azure Wood Divine Forest instantly plunged into a chilling and gloomy dead end. The masked man in the golden robe stood at the forefront, his hands slowly behind his back, showing no intention of personally taking action from beginning to end.
The pair of cold, sinister eyes behind the mask were fixed on Shen Qingchen and Su Qingyuan, clearly indicating that they had already identified the two as the core targets to be taken today.
As he uttered the words, "Kill that female cultivator, capture the other two alive," the six True Annihilation Realm · Peak cultivators behind him instantly scattered. One of them lightly touched the withered branches in the forest with his feet, his figure moving like a ghost, forcefully approaching Chi Qingyue's location.
The remaining five suddenly formed an encirclement, two in front and three behind, instantly locking Shen Qingchen and Su Qingyuan firmly in the center of the formation.
Shen Qingchen and Su Qingyuan were both at the True Annihilation Realm · Advanced Stage, and Chi Qingyue was also at the same level. However, they were now facing six cultivators at the peak of the True Annihilation Realm · Peak. The absolute suppression of their realm levels alone made the three of them feel a tightness in their chests and their breathing become heavy. Even so, none of the three of them retreated even half a step. Their figures were firmly rooted to the ground, and their fighting spirit was awe-inspiring.
Shen Qingchen's gaze swept quickly across the five people who had surrounded him, and the unease hidden in his heart grew clearer and stronger. If the other party was just seeking revenge, there would be no need to deliberately spare him and Su Qingyuan's lives, let alone make such a precise distinction between the three of them.
The golden-robed leader's clear planning and precise commands from the moment he appeared proved that this ambush in the forest was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but a well-prepared and clearly targeted trap.
"Capture me and Qingyuan alive..."
Shen Qingchen's eyes darkened, and he instantly realized the crux of the matter: the real danger was never just the masked cultivators in front of him, but the hidden forces and schemes behind them.
His right hand, gripping the divine weapon, remained as steady as a rock, while his left hand, concealed by his sleeve, quietly reached for the patrol jade slip at his waist. A wisp of pure Fate Soul essence seeped into the jade slip through his fingertips, attempting to awaken the Chi Lineage's exclusive communication Dao pattern engraved within.
If they can relay the unusual activity to any nearby patrol team, they still have a chance of receiving reinforcements.
A masked cultivator at the front had already seen through his intentions and would not give him a chance to send a message at his leisure. He stomped his foot on the forest floor and moved swiftly through the shadows of the trees, his five fingers forming sharp claws that reached out to strike Shen Qingchen's left arm, which was holding the jade slip.
On the other side, another cultivator simultaneously crushed in from the side and rear. The two powerful True Annihilation Sources, one in front and one behind, one on the left and one on the right, completely sealed off all space for the two to dodge and move.
Shen Qingchen caught the approaching killing intent out of the corner of his eye, and a decision suddenly formed in his mind. His left hand remained firmly pressed against the jade slip, without letting go for a moment, while his right hand suddenly raised his divine weapon to block.
Clang!!! The sound of metal clashing against metal was deafening as the two divine weapons clashed violently, the heavy and powerful impact flowing through his arm bones and into his shoulders and back. The soil beneath his feet cracked and the roots of ancient trees crumbled. He used the momentum to take a half step back to dissipate the force, and then, with two fingers joined together like a sword, he suddenly thrust them out from the side of the divine weapon.
His gaze pierced through the trembling remnants of True Annihilation, precisely locking onto the nearest True Annihilation Realm · Peak expert, his sharpness unwavering and relentless. "Trying to capture me alive?"
Shen Qingchen's lips pursed slightly, a sharp killing intent suddenly flashing in his eyes, "Then let's see if you have the ability— Ten Thousand Years in an Instant!"
With a light swipe of two fingers forward, no grand phenomena surged between heaven and earth; only a thin, almost imperceptible, transparent ripple of time suddenly swept across the masked cultivator.
The instant the ripples closed, the connection between this person and the current flow of time in the Azure Wood Divine Forest was forcibly severed and isolated. An independent temporal domain instantly enveloped his Fate Soul essence, completely stripping him of the present world's time.
While the leaves in the forest outside had not yet completed a full sway, in the cultivator's own perception, time was already rushing by at an Ultimate speed. One year, a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, the heavy weight of time layer upon layer pressed down on him.
The marks of time on his robes and divine weapons deepened rapidly, and the Source Dao patterns attached to his objects and body faded and decayed layer by layer. The original foundation rooted deep within his Fate Soul quickly showed signs of aging and decay under the suffocating and long erosion of time.
Shen Qingchen's supernatural power was extremely domineering, leaving no room for respite or repair. Every time the Fate Soul spontaneously healed its damage, a new round of millennia-old erosion would follow. Before the healing could take shape, the wear and tear of time was already approaching its very essence, accumulating layer upon layer, with no solution.