Chapter 1353: Madness

Chapter 1353: Chapter 1353: Madness

When Xia Yu said this, Pei Yan no longer refused and retrieved the secret medicine back into his body, then turned to look at Hu Jiu beside him and instructed, "Stay here and take good care of her; I’ll be back soon."

"Are you alright? I see that you’ve expended quite a bit too," Xia Yu looked at Pei Yan, worriedly noting the bloodstains at the corners of his mouth and the bottom of his eyes after removing his visor.

"I’m fine, it’s not a big issue!" Pei Yan answered casually and drew a tissue from his spatial ring to wipe the blood off his face, then looked at Hu Jiu and said, "Transfer some of your spiritual energy to me."

Supporting Xia Yu, Hu Jiu responded with a silent nod, understanding that this was one of the benefits of the symbiotic contract. When one of the contracted individuals exhausts their energy excessively, the other can transfer spiritual energy from their own body to him. This process requires no complicated consciousness and has no distance limitations, it can be achieved with just a turn of thought.

Feeling the warmth from the spiritual energy surging through his body again, Pei Yan finally let out a long sigh and then turned to walk toward the battlefield; having already overfulfilled the task assigned by Lin Ruxue, he now needed to collect his spoils of war.

On the battlefield, Pei Yan’s last round of attacks shattered the final layer of defense of the White Deer Institute, sweeping many people in the square into the chaos. Yet, even so, there were still over two thousand elders and disciples of the White Deer Institute surviving on the square. Pei Yan was not completely incapable of launching another attack to continue inflicting damage on the opposition, but there was no need because those surviving in the square now were core disciples of the White Deer Institute, and the Embroidered Robe Envoy needed to capture some for intelligence gathering; moreover, there was no necessity for him as an outsider to compete with the Immortal Palace Six Guards for the credit in the siege of the White Deer Institute. His objective had been achieved!

The ceremony for the imminent completion and opening of the large-scale space transmission passage of an alternate dimension was thoroughly disrupted under the focus of Pei Yan’s last round of artillery fire. Such a gigantic transmission passage forcibly interrupted during its opening process, as soon as it collapsed, immediately transformed into countless space turbulences that swept those hosting the ceremony around it into chaos and shredded them to pieces. Subsequently, one after another fragmented space shards floated in the air above the battlefield; some of them were pitch black, leading to unknown places, while in others, faint images of the Blood Array Dimension could be seen. At this moment, if someone had the courage and capability to brave the space turbulence and squeeze into the space passage with revealed images, they might successfully escape to the Blood Array Dimension and save their life. But more likely, they would be shattered into pieces by the space turbulence or fall into the crevices of the space barrier, forever trapped until death.

When Pei Yan adjusted his state and arrived at the battlefield, the mountaintop of the White Deer Institute was already filled with shouts and screams of battle. Meanwhile, during the bombardment, the Six Guards Army did not just stand in place waiting but gradually surrounded the mountaintop of the White Deer Institute as Pei Yan’s artillery fire extended forward. As soon as Pei Yan’s artillery fire finally stopped, the Six Guards soldiers did not give the disciples of the White Deer Institute much time to react, launching a full-scale attack under the leadership of various captains.

Even until now, the battle did not exhibit the one-sided scenario that Pei Yan had anticipated. Observing the battlefield, he quickly understood the reason within; apart from the remaining two thousand or more being the core essence of the White Deer Institute, possessing considerable strength, the primary reason was these people falling into madness due to despair. Faced with one sudden change and blow after another, with the hope of escape right before them shattered at the same time, despair alternating with hope, the collapse of the space passage turned into the last straw breaking the camel’s back, causing mental breakdown.

When people break down, they either succumb to depression and lose all will, or unleash all their inner hatred in a frenzy of revenge. The people of the White Deer Institute evidently belonged to the latter; in their view, escaping seemed impossible, being captured was worse than death, might as well go out with a bang and take a few down with them.

With this mentality, every elder and disciple of the White Deer Institute was like a mad tiger, not adhering to any balanced offense-defense strategy, only seeking fierce attacks, even fighting life for life. In this crazy tactic, the first assault of the Six Guards Army was unexpectedly punctured and driven back.

At this moment, the battle among eighteen figures at the peak of the Heavenly Dao in the sky also shifted battlefield. With the destruction of the space passage in sight, the few Supreme Elders of the White Deer Institute were maddened by their hatred for Pei Yan but still retained their last ounce of calm. Under the lead of Shan Cai Chen, they fought while retreating until they reached the skies above the academy. Only then did Shan Cai Chen spare a glance at the battlefield, his eyes landing on the group as he shouted loudly, "Bo Shi, Ying Hua! Do not lose your sense; it’s not the final moment yet. Hold the last ground and entangle with the Six Guards Army. Let someone locate and mark the positions of the space turbulences, then consolidate the already cracked space passage. Now, we can only do our utmost and see what fate holds; if anyone can escape, even one life is worth it!"

The ones named by Shan Cai Chen woodenly lifted their heads to gaze upward. After hearing the Supreme Elder’s instructions, a hopeful gleam reignited in their frenzied eyes. Temporarily shedding their suicidal intent, they began following Shan Cai Chen’s guidance in securing the sect’s last glimmer of escape hope.

Smack! A bloodline slashed across the sky; the inconspicuous wooden sword retrieved from Pei Yan stabbed into Shan Cai Chen’s chest.

Holding the wooden sword imbued with divine grace, Liu Xuanji, at this moment, disregarded the loss of his hairband, allowing the gathered strands to fall to both sides, revealing his bare scalp. Gripping the sword single-handedly with heartily satisfaction, he pushed the wooden sword deeper into his opponent’s body, letting the fierce, unparalleled Sword Qi nurtured by the Liu Family for generations shred through Shan Cai Chen’s organs bit by bit.

"At a time like this, it’d be wiser to concern yourself rather than others, old scoundrel; a year from today will be your death anniversary, though no one will offer incense for you." Liu Xuanji gazed into Shan Cai Chen’s somewhat fragmented spirit and provoked him verbally.

Dealing with two figures at the peak of the Heavenly Dao simultaneously, even though being famed for years was still too demanding for oneself; just a single lapse allowed the opponent to seize an opportunity, Shan Cai Chen thought, his chest ached again. Ah! It’s the Liu Family’s ancestral Divine Artifact; this bizarre thing was even assimilating the spiritual energy within him, converting it into Sword Qi for its own use, and coupled with the consecutive layers of sword wounds accumulated on him previously, was he about to lose control?

No! It won’t work! I must hold on a bit longer, at least until more people escape. If ancestors could leave behind a legacy and rise again amidst such siege, I certainly mustn’t fail the teachings of family and sect—I can do it too!

"Little brat! Not that timid image as back when you clung behind your father haven’t you? You’re far behind compared to your father! Still persisting with that facade of bravado, getting arrogant as soon as you find success, unable to change even to your death!" While saying this, Shan Cai Chen first faced Mo Baiqi’s flank attack with his Judge Pen, then rapidly tapped his chest with his beast hand gestures where it was stabbed, these actions resulted in another fit of dry coughing and blood spitting moment later, he glanced at Liu Xuanji sneer and said, "Today, this old man will teach you a lesson on behalf of your deceased father."