svetikya Chapter 366 The Killing Trap
Chapter 366 The Killing Trap
Chapter 366 The Killing Trap
On the third day, the group continued to venture deeper into the ancient battlefield.
They arrived in an area with extremely harsh natural conditions.
Here, howling winds and raging flames intertwine, creating a chaotic and dangerous wasteland.
Through the raging energy curtain, one could vaguely see a target hidden deep within.
It was a pure golden demon core, radiating the powerful aura unique to fifth-tier demon beasts.
Finally, the trouble for Chen Yi has arrived.
Master Kudu's gaze pierced through the gale and flames, landing on Chen Yi and the other two.
He kept his hands clasped together, his face calm, and his voice unhurried: "In this environment, physical cultivators have a huge advantage and can forcibly withstand the onslaught of the gale and flames."
His gaze shifted to Chen Yi, then swept over Yuan Lingling and Xuan Hui.
"Fellow Daoist Chen Yi of Qingyun Cave Heaven, Fellow Daoist Yuan Lingling of Hongfeng Cave Heaven, and Master Xuan Hui of my Vajra Temple, the three of you can join forces to enter this place and seize that fifth-order demon core."
Master Kudu paused, then added with a hint of concern, "Of course, I will lead the others to form a temporary dispelling formation to clear away the gales and flames behind us, creating a temporary passage for the three of you and doing my best to reduce the intensity of the wind and fire."
Chen Yi felt a sudden tightness in his heart when his name was called.
His long-held premonition was confirmed at this moment.
He glanced at Hu Mingyue and Ning Bu'er beside him, his eyes conveying a hint of warning and reassurance.
The two women understood each other and nodded gently.
Chen Yi then stepped forward, walking alongside Xuan Hui and Yuan Lingling, preparing to enter that raging land.
Chen Yi did not remain completely silent before stepping inside.
He cupped his hands, his tone carrying just the right amount of "humility" and "worry": "Master Kudu, my body cultivation is only at the initial fourth level, far inferior to Fairy Yuanlingling and Master Xuanhui."
If anything goes wrong after entering, please forgive me, Master.
Master Kudu merely nodded slightly upon hearing this, his face showing no emotion whatsoever.
"It's alright. Just do your best. If it really comes down to life or death, I'll allow you to prioritize saving your life and give up the demon core."
Kudu's seemingly thoughtful remarks earned him the respect of most people.
Such magnanimity and breadth of vision are what make a true leader.
Chen Yi didn't say much, but simply nodded slightly, acknowledging the "favor".
The next moment, the monk Kudu stood with one hand in front of his chest, chanting incantations, and the dozen or so Nascent Soul cultivators from various forces behind him received the order.
Their secret techniques varied, and their treasures and talismans soared into the sky, creating thick barriers of spiritual energy that tore open a gap in the turbulent flow of spiritual energy in front of them.
The fierce winds were suppressed, and the raging flames were forced back.
The terrifying pressure that was originally enough to kill a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was actually suppressed by their joint efforts, and they forcibly carved out a barely passable path in the storm.
The remaining energy fluctuations within that passage were only at the mid-stage of the fourth rank.
This level of intensity does not pose a fatal threat to cultivators who specialize in physical cultivation.
"open!"
Kudu let out a soft shout.
Before she could finish speaking, Yuan Lingling had already moved.
Her body was surrounded by flashing lights, with silvery-white spatial runes swirling around her and wisps of crimson fire spirits leaping on her shoulders, enveloping her in a shimmering protective shield.
With a swift movement, she transformed into a streak of silver and red light, plunging headfirst into the newly formed passage without the slightest hesitation.
Xuan Hui followed closely behind.
"drink!"
A deep shout emanated from his chest, and his bronze skin instantly shone with an amber-like, diamond-like light, solid and weighty.
He formed the Vajra Immovable King mudra with both hands, and a blurry phantom of the King flashed by behind him.
The indestructible golden light!
Xuan Hui exerted force with his feet, and with each step he took, a golden lotus flower bloomed beneath his feet. The moment the lotus flowers bloomed, they were shattered by the surrounding turbulent currents, but he used this power to steadily and quickly rush into the depths of the passage.
In the past ten years of arduous cultivation, Xuan Hui has consumed countless rare and precious materials from the Vajra Temple. The foundation of his cultivation, which was destroyed by Fairy Xuan Yin, has been restored to seventy or eighty percent of its original state, and his aura is even more refined and profound than before.
Chen Yi's eyes flickered slightly as he pondered for a moment.
A layer of diamond-like light also emanated from his body, but the color of that light was much dimmer than that of Xuan Hui's, and even somewhat unstable, as if it would be extinguished at any moment.
He did not use any profound supernatural powers.
He was very careful, taking one step at a time, following Xuan Hui a few feet behind, using his most basic body-refining cultivation to slowly resist the oppressive feeling coming from the passage.
His movements looked somewhat clumsy, even a bit strained.
In the distance, the monk Kudu, who had been observing the three, had a faint hint of mockery flash in the depths of his handsome, otherworldly eyes.
Installed.
They're still pretending.
His Nascent Soul avatar's physical cultivation was indeed only at the mid-stage of the fourth rank, but his vision, his perception and interaction with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, were completely at the level of a fifth-rank great power.
With just one glance, he saw through Chen Yi's disguise.
Beneath that seemingly ethereal, diamond-like radiance lies a profound and indestructible power far exceeding its outward appearance.
Chen Yi did not use his true Vajra Technique cultivation at all, nor did he even touch his fundamental Thunder Spirit Body Refinement cultivation.
However, the suffering was not explicitly stated.
He merely sneered inwardly.
A grasshopper is still a grasshopper. No matter how high it jumps or how well it disguises itself as a locust, it is still something that can be held in the palm of your hand.
Once you're in the game, there will be plenty of opportunities to slowly manipulate you.
The surrounding gale and raging flames were forcibly suppressed to the mid-stage of the fourth rank by the combined spells cast by many Nascent Soul cultivators in Zhongzhou.
But the further in you go, the more chaotic the environment becomes.
The scene deep within the passage was beyond the control of those on the outside.
The raging fires and fierce winds there are the source of chaos formed by the intertwining of a fifth-order demon core and the special spiritual energy of this place over hundreds of years. Its core power has long surpassed the scope that ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators can interfere with.
As Yuan Lingling reached the middle of the passage, her speed noticeably slowed down.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and the silver fire spirit crystal shield around her body rippled violently under the violent energy impact, as if it would shatter at any moment.
Her abilities are better suited for movement and teleportation than for direct defense.
Xuan Hui, however, with the power of his Vajra Indestructible Divine Power, overtook Yuan Lingling and gradually moved ahead of her, relieving some of the pressure on her.
The passageway was not empty.
Before reaching the fifth-tier demon core at the very center, there were also some scattered opportunities hidden in the chaotic energy along the way.
Wherever the three passed, there were occasional flashes of spiritual energy fluctuations in the gale-force winds and raging flames several thousand feet away on both sides of the passage.
Those were scattered demon cores.
The weaker ones are at the mid-stage of the fourth rank, while the stronger ones can even reach the near-fifth rank.
They were caught in the storm, radiating an alluring glow.
Xuan Hui kept his eyes straight ahead, his heart as firm as a rock.
Yuan Lingling ignored it as well; her only goal was the real fifth-tier demon core.
Only Chen Yi.
Every time a near-fifth-tier demon core flashed by in the distance, his heart would leap uncontrollably.
A burning urge surged from the depths of his body, urging him on and calling out to him.
Go get it!
Ignoring all danger, they charged into the raging winds and flames and got their hands on it!
Chen Yi's face instantly revealed a mixture of struggle and greed, and he even paused in his tracks.
But in the instant he lowered his head, a cold wariness shone deep in his eyes.
This feeling —
He was all too familiar.
Just like back in Qingfeng Ridge, when Ji Yinglong irrationally and forcibly planted the soul poison in Xuan Yin, Ning Bu'er, and Chen Yi, this outrageous behavior is exactly the same as today.
Chen Yi believed that even if Ji Yinglong had this idea back then, he wouldn't have acted so directly; he might have waited a few more years before making a decision.
However, this is a kind of greed that has been forcibly fostered and amplified by external forces.
It's equivalent to having your thoughts manipulated by a higher-level mastermind.
Chen Yi's mind sank into his sea of consciousness, and his divine sense quietly spread out, not to explore the surrounding energy, but to sense the void above this chaotic space.
In an instant, he "saw" a thread that was almost imperceptible.
It was an extremely profound and obscure aura of cause and effect descending from nothingness, precisely enveloping him alone, silently stirring his heartstrings and influencing his thoughts.
That old bastard is plotting against me again.
Chen Yi thought to himself, "I understand now."
His current near-fifth-order lower trigram ability allows him to detect the existence of this thing, but he cannot get rid of it. This is the difference between near-fifth-order and true fifth-order abilities.
"Fairy Yuan, Benefactor Chen, the core of the storm ahead is too powerful; ordinary methods are insufficient to make any progress."
Xuan Hui, who was walking at the very front, spoke in a steady voice.
"In a moment, this old monk will use the Vajra Imprisoning Heaven Finger to forcibly open a passage. The passage will only last for a moment, so please seize the opportunity and quickly slip inside to retrieve the fifth-tier demon core!"
"We need to get out of there quickly, or we might avoid serious injury!"
His voice carried a convincing power.
The next moment, Xuan Hui suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly dazzling golden light, which even turned the surrounding flames golden.
"open!"
He pointed his index finger straight at the most chaotic and violent core of the storm ahead, as if it were a sword.
A gigantic, shimmering finger phantom, covered in countless golden runes, materialized before him and slammed forward with overwhelming force!
Om-!
There was no earth-shattering roar, only utter silence.
Wherever that giant golden finger passed, whether it was the roaring gale or the raging flames, it was all pierced and annihilated, revealing a brief but stable vacuum channel.
At the end of the passage, the demon core, radiating terrifying fifth-order power, was clearly visible!
good chance!
A glint flashed in Yuan Lingling's eyes.
She had been waiting for this moment.
Her body blazed with silver light, and she pushed the power of space to its limit. Her figure blurred instantly, transforming into a silver lightning bolt that tore through space and flashed toward the end of the passage.
She was moving at an extreme speed.
Almost at the same instant the passage appeared, her figure was already in front of the fifth-tier demon core.
She reached out and grasped, her palm flashing wildly with silver and flame light, enduring the terrifying pressure emanating from the closing passage. Her five fingers were about to touch the coveted fifth-tier demon core.
And in that split second...
A sudden change occurred.
The fifth-order demon core, which had been floating quietly, suddenly flashed with golden light without warning.
In the next instant, it swapped places with an inconspicuous near-fifth-tier demon core in the outer storm.
Yuan Lingling was slightly taken aback.
The near-fifth-tier demon core before her was warm to the touch, but she felt no joy; instead, she felt a chill of being fooled.
The change happened in an instant; she had no time to make a second choice.
Her body's instincts overwhelmed her thoughts, and she could only hold onto the demon core tightly, urging her movement technique to dodge awkwardly through the gaps in the gale and flames.
The protective aura was torn apart with a crackling sound, and the corner of her clothes instantly turned to ashes. Fortunately, she was prepared, and although she suffered some physical pain, her body was not fundamentally damaged.
Chen Yi, who was a step behind and fell behind, became the center of the entire situation.
His pupils suddenly contracted.
The real, fifth-tier demon core, radiating a five-colored, shimmering light, vanished into thin air deep within the passage. In the next instant, it swapped positions with the near-fifth-tier demon core near Chen Yi.
It hovered silently dozens of feet away, within another, even more violent passage of gales and flames.
That was the closest fifth-tier demon core to him at that moment.
A deadly temptation.
"Benefactor Chen, hurry! This is a good opportunity!"
Ahead, the monk Xuan Hui, who had just regained his footing, immediately noticed this astonishing change. Ignoring his own exhaustion, he flashed a burning urgency in his eyes and shouted to Chen Yi.
"The innate divine power of such a demonic core, 'Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations,' cannot possibly be used a second time in a short period of time!"
"Go and take it back!"
Xuan Hui's voice was like a fuse, instantly igniting a strange flame deep within Chen Yi's heart.
The flames burned away his reason and his composure.
An incredibly powerful thought forcefully took over his entire soul.
I must get it.
We must get it!
The thought was so pure, so ruthless, that it even overwhelmed his instinctive perception of danger.
At the edge of the crowd, Ning Bu'er's heart leaped into his throat, and his nails dug deeply into his palms.
She stared intently at Chen Yi's retreating figure, biting her lower lip so hard it almost bled.
Don't go, Chen Yi, please don't go! It's too dangerous there!
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, as if an invisible hand was gripping her throat.
On the other side, a cold, all-knowing glint quietly flickered deep in Hu Mingyue's eyes.
She could roughly guess what kind of vicious trap the Bitter Master, who possessed the ability to manipulate cause and effect at the fifth level, had set up.
That's quite a scheme.
To kill someone using another's knife avoids the consequences.
Her fingers, hidden within her wide sleeves, twitched slightly, and a barely perceptible fluctuation of spiritual energy quietly emerged.
The invisible gray aura that had been looming over Chen Yi's head and affecting his judgment was mostly dispersed silently by her action.
Given Chen Yi's temperament, he was able to shed most of the temptations and should be able to see through this obvious trap.
Hu Mingyue thought to herself that with her secret assistance, he should be able to avoid this calamity.
However, what happened next caused Hu Mingyue's eyes, which always carried a hint of laziness and amusement, to show genuine astonishment for the first time.
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