Volume 3 Chapter 61 / Chapter 228: The Furnace, Exploded
Drip…
Fresh drops of blood fell from the tip of the short dagger in Zhuang Yan’s hand. He glanced at Yun Yiyi, whose gaze seemed as if she wanted to skin him alive, and smirked in disdain. He then casually walked back to the furnace, tossing the bloodstained dagger into a hole on its surface.
Whoosh, whoosh—
The red-yellow flames burning within the furnace instantly turned bright red, tainted by blood. The eerie crimson glow reflected off the obsidian platform, casting a foreboding light across the entire cave.
Zhuang Yan peered into the furnace for a moment, then took out another short dagger from his storage pouch and slowly walked toward Yun Yiyi.
“Miss Yun, I had no intention of taking your lives. To me, you and your sister are no more than ants.”
Yun Yiyi, calmly thinking of a way to escape, asked, “Then why the change of heart?”
“You can thank the Third Young Mistress for that,” Zhuang Yan chuckled as he approached her. “If she had obediently come along, I would have taken just five drops of your blood and your sister’s. But since she’s not here, I’ll have to trouble you two to make up for her share.”
As he spoke, Zhuang Yan pressed the tip of the short dagger against Yun Yiyi’s abdomen.
Yun Yiyi gritted her teeth, bracing for the impending pain, while secretly forming hand seals to activate the protective amulet hidden in her belt.
Against a Nascent Soul cultivator like Zhuang Yan, she knew she couldn’t fight him here.
Her only option was to let Zhuang Yan take her blood, then rely on the amulet to fake her death. Once Zhuang Yan left, she would have a chance to escape.
As humiliating as it was, it was the only way to survive.
Ye Anping’s death needed avenging, and now, so did her younger sister’s. She couldn’t die until she had her revenge.
Shhh—
Yun Yiyi clenched her teeth, closing her eyes in anticipation.
But just as Zhuang Yan was about to plunge the dagger into her abdomen, a burst of energy exploded beneath him.
Boom—
Yun Jiujiu, who had been curled up on the ground, suddenly leapt up and swung her fist at the flat side of the dagger in Zhuang Yan’s hand, knocking it away. In the same motion, she redirected her punch toward Zhuang Yan’s face.
With a loud crash, Zhuang Yan was sent flying backward, slamming into the furnace at the center of the platform. The furnace rang with a deep, resonant sound like a morning bell.
Dong—
“Huff… huff…”
Yun Jiujiu stood, panting heavily, now positioned in front of Yun Yiyi. Her entire body was shrouded in golden mist, and Yun Yiyi could even feel the heat radiating from her.
Yun Yiyi quickly realized what had happened—her sister had forcibly activated all the spiritual energy in her meridians, breaking through her current realm by burning her life force.
Among the three sisters, Yun Jiujiu had always had the best potential. Decades of accumulated spiritual energy had erupted at once, allowing her to rapidly ascend several levels in cultivation.
But with each movement she made, she would feel excruciating pain akin to having her bones scraped, and she would likely die from the backlash soon after.
“Second sister, you—”
“I’ve had enough!! The Yun family is such a damned mess!!” Yun Jiujiu roared. “I was ready to leave it all behind, to stop caring about this crap, and now THIS happens!! Yun Yiyi, to hell with your father!!!”
What?
Yun Yiyi frowned and asked, “Why are you cursing at me?”
“I’m cursing your damn father!! That bastard had so many children—there’s you, there’s Yun Xi, and now there’s even Yun Kunwu!! It’s driving me crazy!!”
“I’m your elder sister.”
“Well then, Elder Sister, listen up!!” Yun Jiujiu shouted, grabbing a piece of the broken chain from the ground.
At that moment, the two Core Formation cultivators who had been restraining them earlier moved to flank Yun Jiujiu, their swords poised to strike.
“I’m getting you out of here, and when you escape, make sure to kill that old bastard Zhuang for me!!!”
Clang, clang—
She used the chain in her hand to block the swords of the two Core Formation cultivators charging at her. Then, with a swift kick, she sent them both flying.
“I’ll be waiting down there! You get him to me, and I’ll keep beating him up!!” Yun Jiujiu yelled as she struck the iron shackles on Yun Yiyi’s wrists with a hand chop, breaking them. She then wrapped her arm around Yun Yiyi’s waist, preparing to take her and escape.
Seeing the situation turn against him, Zhuang Yan decided not to hold back any longer. He had already extracted Yun Jiujiu’s blood, and as for Yun Yiyi, he could kill her later and take hers then. In an instant, Zhuang Yan made a sword gesture with his fingers, and ten golden spirit swords shot out from his storage pouch.
However, instead of trying to escape through the upper exit, Yun Jiujiu raised her right leg and kicked the obsidian platform with all her strength.
Boom—
The cave shook violently, like a giant dragon flipping over. The iron chains suspending the platform began to snap one by one from her kick.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators on the platform panicked, quickly summoning their flying swords to avoid falling into the lava below. Only the six Core Formation cultivators maintaining the furnace fire remained in place.
But the alchemical array, which originally required six Core Formation cultivators and dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators to function, was now severely weakened with the Foundation Establishment cultivators missing. The six remaining cultivators instantly felt their spiritual energy being drained.
Zhuang Yan hadn’t expected Yun Jiujiu to target his alchemical array first, and suddenly, he had no time to worry about the two sisters.
He hastily formed hand seals, using his own spiritual energy to replace that of the Foundation Establishment cultivators in maintaining the furnace fire. At the same time, he recalled the ten spirit swords, sending them out in various directions to replace the chains and lift the falling obsidian platform.
“Tsk,” Yun Jiujiu clicked her tongue.
Seeing that Zhuang Yan had no intention of pursuing them, she quickly picked up Yun Yiyi and prepared to flee.
But—
“Stop them!!” Zhuang Yan shouted, while continuing to maintain the alchemical array. His voice startled the panicked Foundation Establishment cultivators. He forced them all back into action.
More than sixty cultivators, including the two Core Formation cultivators Yun Jiujiu had kicked away earlier and the supervising Core Formation cultivators, all drew their spirit swords and rushed towards Yun Jiujiu and Yun Yiyi.
“Hiss—”
Seeing the sheer number of people, Yun Jiujiu’s face darkened.
She could defeat one Core Formation cultivator easily, and maybe fight two to a standstill. But against this many…
“Elder Sister!! Think of something!!!”
“Charge straight through.” Yun Yiyi scanned their surroundings and quickly pulled out the protective amulet from her belt, preparing to activate it and envelop both of them.
Although it wouldn’t hold up against a Nascent Soul cultivator like Zhuang Yan, it would buy them enough time to escape from these Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators.
Just then, a golden light flashed from the direction of the furnace.
Ding—
Zhuang Yan’s eyes widened in shock.
In the confusion, he hadn’t noticed what was happening until he saw the golden light.
Two Foundation Establishment cultivators had managed to sneak up to the furnace, and one of them had sliced a small hole into it.
Impossible!
The furnace was filled with dense spiritual energy, practically creating a protective barrier.
Even a full-force strike from a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t necessarily be able to cut through it. How had this person made a hole in the furnace?
Zhuang Yan’s face was full of confusion, but in the next moment, his expression turned to terror.
One of the intruders, his eyes a deep, mocking shade of purple, was staring directly at him.
Ye Anping held a pure water-attribute spiritual pearl in his left hand, hovering it near the hole that Feng Yudie had created in the furnace.
He didn’t immediately throw it in—he waited until Zhuang Yan saw what it was before letting it go.
“Wait!!!” Zhuang Yan shouted, reaching out to grab it, but the pure water-attributed spiritual pearl had already fallen into the furnace.
Almost simultaneously, Ye Anping scooped Feng Yudie into his arms and shouted, “Shield yourself!!”
Feng Yudie reacted quickly, releasing her spiritual energy to form a spherical barrier around them.
On the peak of Qiong Peak, amid fierce winds and swirling snow, a fiery light shot into the sky, breaking through the veil over the Shadowmoon Sword Sect.