A Shocking Turn of Events

"Just you wait! When I get back to the Moon-Gazing Sect, I'll have my master deal with you! No, I'll get my senior martial uncle too!" Furious, Dai Cheng pointed at Madam Wang and threatened her.

Chen Ling leaned on Dai Cheng's arm, looking as frail as a willow swaying in the wind.

The sight made Dai Cheng's heart ache for her all the more. Chen Ling took the opportunity to nestle in his arms, stirring his heart and filling his voice with protectiveness.

Madam Wang's gaze darkened. "Princess, this elder's disciple is truly devoted to you, isn't he?"

In a shadowed corner where Dai Cheng couldn't see, Chen Ling raised her eyes slightly and cast Madam Wang a look of blatant mockery.

Annoyance flared in Madam Wang's heart, and she said to Dai Cheng, "Young master, there is no need to be so hostile toward me."

"I am helping you too. If the princess agrees to this divorce letter, you'll be able to pursue her openly and honorably. Isn't that what you want?"

Her tone was sincere, as though she truly had Dai Cheng's interests at heart.

The question brought Dai Cheng's indignation to an abrupt halt. He couldn't help glancing at Chen Ling.

The girl looked innocent, but tears had begun streaming from her eyes at some point. Her sparkling eyes looked like crystals soaked in water, and Dai Cheng's heart jolted.

"Young Master Dai, please don't. I can't bear such humiliation."

Chen Ling shook her head, her voice thick with tears.

Dai Cheng raised a hand and wiped her tears away.

"It's all right. If you don't want to, we'll go to the Moon-Gazing Sect first and ask my master to stand up for us. When the time comes, the Spirit King's Manor will have no choice but to agree."

Even Madam Wang fell silent at that. Everyone in the hall looked as if they wanted to speak but held back, feeling as sick as though they had swallowed flies.

"How shameless can you get, pretending to be so innocent and pure?" Behind Madam Wang, Ling Fei had long since had enough of Chen Ling's act and spoke up in disgust.

"Back then, your old man came begging my father like a dog, and you were so well-behaved at his side, saying how Brother Ling Yun was your favorite."

"Now I see you really are disgusting. Absolutely shameless."

With that, Ling Fei turned to advise Dai Cheng, paying no heed to Chen Ling's darkening expression.

"Brother, listen to me. You can't take someone this scheming. She treated Ling Yun like that before, and now she treats you like this. She can do the same to someone else later!"

"And here you are, foolishly giving her your whole heart. Acting like a bootlicker, you'd probably get a beating from your master if he saw you!"

"I just don't get it. Aren't there plenty of fairies in the Moon-Gazing Sect? How did you fall for her? Her looks are nothing special, and she stares at you all day with those eyes that take up half her face. Doesn't it creep you out?"

Ling Fei rattled on, looking thoroughly frustrated that Dai Cheng wouldn't see reason. The people in the hall felt much better after hearing him, and even Dai Cheng was stunned.

"Don't listen to him!"

Chen Ling suddenly turned Dai Cheng's head toward her and stared straight into his eyes.

"Ling'er, it's fine if you sign it. You're leaving the Ling Kingdom with me for the Moon-Gazing Sect anyway. Once we're there, people will only know you as a Moon-Gazing Sect disciple. Who'll care about your past?"

Dai Cheng tried to persuade her.

"We'll leave for the Moon-Gazing Sect as soon as you sign. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Besides, we didn't need to come to the Spirit King's Manor in the first place, and it's delayed our journey. I've been away from the sect for some time already. If I don't go back soon, I'm afraid Master will blame me."

Dai Cheng spoke in a gentle voice.

But Chen Ling said nothing. Her eyes seemed to turn into an abyss, instantly drawing Dai Cheng's attention.

"Quick, kill her!"

Suddenly, a muffled voice sounded in Dai Cheng's ear.

"What?"

Dai Cheng suddenly felt his consciousness grow hazy, but his gaze met Chen Ling's eyes against his will.

"Let's go."

For some reason, an inexplicable fear suddenly rose in Dai Cheng's heart, making him want to leave on instinct.

"Quick! Kill her! Use the trump card your master left you and kill her!"

But then Dai Cheng realized that the voice had sounded again, severely disrupting his thoughts.

The voice grew clear from its initial indistinctness, drawing closer and closer until it rang like a great bell, deafening and overwhelming.

"She's lying to you. She wants to destroy me..."

"Destroy you? Who wants to destroy you? I won't allow it."

Dai Cheng spoke in a daze.

"Kill her, and then we can be together."

"As long as you kill her, we'll go to the Moon-Gazing Sect..."

To Dai Cheng, this moment seemed to stretch on endlessly as the voice kept urging him on, bewitching him.

"Go on, kill her."

"Quick, kill her..."

Dai Cheng's expression showed his struggle, and his features began twitching beyond his control.

"Kill... kill her..."

"Together... go to the Moon-Gazing Sect..."

Dai Cheng's five senses fell silent, but boundless madness rose in his eyes.

Watching the bizarre scene, everyone felt an inexplicable agitation rise in their hearts. None of them knew what was happening.

"What's going on?!"

An ominous premonition rose in Madam Wang's heart, and her eyelids twitched wildly.

"Behave yourself, you wretched girl!"

She didn't know what was happening to Dai Cheng, but it had to have something to do with Chen Ling. She struck Chen Ling on the head with her palm, knocking her unconscious.

Even so, everyone saw that the change in Dai Cheng hadn't stopped.

His features were contorted, his gaze fierce and sinister. He looked utterly bizarre.

"Good heavens! What kind of hideous face is that? You scared me to death!" Ling Fei stared at Dai Cheng's twisted face, his heart jolting with fright, and couldn't help crying out.

"You, die!"

Dai Cheng suddenly roared, and a green jade pendant appeared in his hand.

The pendant looked perfectly ordinary, but an inexplicably powerful presence lingered around it.

"Master, save your disciple!"

Like a man possessed, Dai Cheng crushed the pendant in one hand under the shocked gazes of Madam Wang and the others.

Bang!

The pendant turned to powder, and at the same time, an incomparably terrifying force spread out.

Before everyone's eyes, the jade powder slowly rose like a wisp of green smoke, finally taking the form of a graceful, immortal-like figure.

The figure was nearly transparent, its features indistinct, but its strength was unquestionably terrifying.

"Primordial Spirit Realm!"

Madam Wang's expression changed drastically. She had no idea what madness had come over him to make him use such a trump card.

"Everyone, block it!"

Madam Wang shouted furiously. There was no time to think about what madness had come over Dai Cheng.

A dozen or so figures in the hall sprang into action, unleashing all their cultivation as they positioned themselves in front of Madam Wang.

"Tian'er, quick, get out of here!"

Without another word, Madam Wang used Spiritual Yuan to lift the dumbfounded Ling Tian and push him out of the hall, while she stepped forward alongside the others.

The entire upheaval had taken place almost in an instant.

The green smoke figure's full power erupted, reducing the entire hall to flying ash. The figure expanded without limit, finally becoming a thousand-zhang-tall Dharma body.

The Dharma body sucked in Spiritual Qi from dozens of miles around like a whale, and a vast force of heaven and earth gathered as well.

The power of more than a dozen Core Formation Realm cultivators, Madam Wang among them, erupted. Terrifying spiritual light illuminated the entire Spirit King's Manor as their attacks struck the Dharma body.

But all of it only destabilized the Dharma body for an instant.

The next moment, the terrifying Dharma body lifted its palm slightly. An enormous palm imprint descended, concentrating all its power in that single strike, like a falling star.

"Primordial Spirit Realm! It can't be stopped!"

"That strike is almost as powerful as a full-force blow from the Primordial Spirit Realm. How can we possibly block it?!"

Many people fell into despair.

But they couldn't flee. If they did, the entire Spirit King's Manor would be reduced to ashes!

"Spirit King's Halberd!"

Madam Wang clenched her teeth as a brilliant light shot into the sky. A terrifying cold gleam pierced the air and collided with the palm imprint, unleashing a fearsome shock wave.

"It's His Highness's magical artifact!"

Someone cried out in surprise.

"Go, activate all the manor's formations! I can't hold on for long!" Veins bulging on her forehead, Madam Wang roared without a trace of her usual noble bearing.

Given a moment's respite, the others didn't dare delay and hurried toward the formation points throughout the manor.

Madam Wang poured all her Spiritual Yuan into the Spirit King's Halberd, yet she could only barely slow the palm imprint's descent.

A fifth-tier magical artifact, wielded by me-it really is still a struggle to match a full-force strike from the Primordial Spirit Realm, Madam Wang thought, forcing herself to endure the strain.

The Spirit King's Halberd was the Spirit King's magical artifact, a high-grade fifth-tier weapon. If the Spirit King wielded it, blocking this strike would be effortless. Unfortunately, Madam Wang was only at the Core Formation Realm and could draw out less than a tenth of its power.

I've grown too complacent. From now on, I have to keep all the manor's formations and magical artifacts ready at all times. Otherwise, if something like this happens again, everyone will be finished!

That was what Madam Wang thought.

As they waited, every second feeling like a year, pillars of light finally rose from eight directions around the Spirit King's Manor, forming an enormous protective formation around the entire manor.

Relief washed over Madam Wang, but she didn't withdraw the Spirit King's Halberd.

At last, the palm imprint was about to fall, and everyone's hearts rose into their throats.

Rumble!

A terrifying explosion rang out. For some reason, the palm imprint broke apart and exploded in midair. Its fearsome power blasted the surroundings, and only part of it struck the formation.

Where no one could see, five cold flashes streaked past, flying toward the royal mausoleum on the mountain behind the manor.