Chapter 742 - 743: Surprised?

Chapter 742: Chapter 743: Surprised?

No matter how much she complained internally, Donggua knew she had to do this task that seemed to require zero intelligence.

She had already handled plenty of things like this before, but something this stupid still made Donggua feel she didn’t have enough experience.

However...

Donggua’s gaze drifted downward.

In this situation, Xu Linglong had actually given her a bit of inspiration. Her tone cooled slightly:

"I’ll do the task, but we have our own rules. Don’t worry about how it gets done."

"I won’t interfere, but I will report back." The Tianyan Sect disciple’s tone was equally unfriendly. "Before you start, think about the consequences."

Consequences?

Donggua said nothing, simply drawing her Soft-Bone Longsword as dark-red spirit energy surged around her.

The next instant, her figure vanished.

In the mountain hollow.

Crimson energy surged through it, barriers rising and shattering, fragments formed from condensed energy scattering in all directions.

Under the eerie glow, the mountain hollow was bathed in a bloody crimson haze.

Amid the churning spirit energy, the sounds of roars and combat faded into barely audible whispers.

In the Tianyan Sect disciples’ field of vision, Donggua’s demonic qi billowed without restraint, the Soft-Bone Longsword ruthlessly harvesting every life before her.

Even some with Nascent Soul cultivation were nothing more than bugs that needed a couple extra passes under Donggua’s blade.

Donggua didn’t care about those fleeing in all directions. She simply killed everything in sight with all her strength.

And so quite a few did scatter and run.

Donggua glanced back and saw that the Tianyan Sect disciples really weren’t going to intervene—whether this might ruin everything or not.

If they didn’t care, then Donggua had nothing to worry about either.

How long passed, she couldn’t say.

The mountain hollow became a land of death.

The crimson energy drained every living thing dry, even turning the soil into pale gray dead earth.

The entire hollow was almost unrecognizable, but not everything was erased.

Donggua stood at the center, staring at the faint traces of the ritual array ahead, her hand gripping the Soft-Bone Longsword trembling slightly.

She stood for a moment, and seeing those damned Tianyan Sect disciples still not coming down even after the killing was done, Donggua’s eyes filled with both terror and fury as she shouted:

"Something huge just happened! You idiots! Get down here!"

The voice had barely faded.

Two figures descended, the two Tianyan Sect disciples landing before Donggua.

Donggua raised the Soft-Bone Longsword, pointing it at the ritual array ahead, her voice shaking:

"This ritual array... it’s for spanning the great realms. They... they plan to..."

The Tianyan Sect disciples remained calm, ignoring Donggua’s words. One of them skillfully produced an Image-Recording Stone from his spatial ring and began photographing everything from every angle, while the other started sketching the remnants of the ritual array with remarkably plain methods.

After finishing that, both of them did their best to preserve the spiritual energy fluctuations on the array.

Once they finished all this calmly, one of them asked:

"Spanning the great realms—you mean the Heavenly Demon Realm? Was that also why the Celestial Demons ran rampant back then?"

Donggua’s lips trembled. "Do you understand what this means?"

"It means you’re out of options and planning to dig out your last reserves." The Tianyan Sect cultivator answered Donggua’s words with the same composure, then paused before turning to his fellow disciple. "The Great Tribulation Record seems to have similar fragments of ritual arrays. We should note this down and study it later to see if we can find anything."

Donggua’s head felt like it was going to explode. She spoke again:

"Two realms clashing—it won’t just be Xu Linglong who can only run away you’ll be facing! It’ll be an entire world on the verge of burning!"

The Tianyan Sect cultivator finished his records, packed everything up, and hearing this replied in a flat tone:

"Then we can only prepare accordingly. Or you could go persuade that Xu Linglong to stop doing this."

Donggua exhaled heavily, sheathed her Soft-Bone sword, and turned to leave, shouting back as she went:

"You don’t understand at all! Even when the demon race was beaten to the brink of collapse back then, they never activated this step! This isn’t just a confrontation between humans and demons—it’s a clash of Dao against Dao..."

"Oh, little Donggua, you sure know a lot, and your little mouth is quite the talker, isn’t it?"

A teasing voice suddenly rang out from the sky.

Donggua froze at the sound, unable to take a single step. She couldn’t even remember what the voice had actually said.

Because fear had already seized Donggua’s throat and filled her brain.

The two Tianyan Sect cultivators looked toward the source of the voice.

There, Xu Linglong stood alone in midair with a sweet smile on her lips, slowly approaching as a terrifying pressure swept over them.

"Damn it... Donggua, I underestimated you." The Tianyan Sect cultivator narrowed his eyes, a spirit-treasure longsword already in hand, his voice low. "I didn’t expect they’d actually come here to kill you."

Hearing this, Donggua’s eyes—already wide with terror—burned with rage as she stared at the Tianyan Sect disciple.

Could he please stop using things like this to praise her?!

The Tianyan Sect cultivator simultaneously activated everything he could carry, sending out all his reinforcement and danger signals, before pointing the spirit-treasure longsword straight at Xu Linglong and saying with a rather carefree air:

"Not a bad trade. We’ll exchange two for one Celestial Demon."

Xu Linglong let the Tianyan Sect cultivators below finish everything. Her eyes regarded Donggua with amusement as she spoke gently:

"I know little Donggua was forced into this. Why don’t you pretend you didn’t know, and I’ll pretend I didn’t know either. Come with me today and you won’t have to suffer Cui Hao’s bullying anymore—how about it?"

Donggua found her mouth so stiff she couldn’t say a single word.

Xu Linglong’s words sounded gentle, as if forgiving.

But in reality, the message was probably—Betray me and I’ll guarantee even your bone scraps get refined twice over.

By comparison, Cui Hao’s bullying was about as scary as telling ghost stories before bed.

The two Tianyan Sect disciples said nothing more, their eyes wary but not launching any attack.

The known gap in cultivation didn’t support them actually going up to tangle with Xu Linglong.

"Oh, little Linglong, such a big temper. Little Donggua is so scared by you she can’t even speak."

Another voice seemed to come from very far away.

Everyone looked and saw several streaks of rainbow light flying in from the horizon.

Figures descended.

Xu Jin, Daoist Yuyang, Yunxiao, and a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator from Xiaoyun Hall flew in.

Xu Linglong regarded them calmly, a faint smile at the corner of her lips as she looked at Xu Jin:

"Chu Xingchen has the nerve to speak but not to show his face?"

Daoist Yuyang raised his hand, revealing a peculiarly shaped treasure. With a slight activation of spirit energy, Chu Xingchen’s voice came from within.

"Oh, little Linglong, why are you scrambling to run away?"

Hearing this, the smile on Xu Linglong’s face turned considerably more vicious. Her longbow materialized in her hand as she spoke coldly:

"Several core disciples and a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator—you think that makes you safe?"

"Chu Xingchen really does know how to send people to their deaths while hiding behind them. Could it be he’s still recovering from his injuries after all this time?"

As soon as Xu Linglong’s voice fell, Chu Xingchen’s voice rang out again:

"If it’s little Linglong’s wish, then I suppose there’s no harm in taking a look."

Xu Linglong turned her gaze to Daoist Yuyang, her voice cold:

"Isn’t this getting old?"

Daoist Yuyang glanced to the side, signaling Xu Linglong to look in that direction.

Xu Linglong’s peripheral vision caught it.

Chu Xingchen sat in a tree, a peaceful smile on his face:

"Well? Surprised? Did I recover fast or what?"

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