Chapter 8: A Twist of Fate

Following the directions given by the mysterious figure, Xia Chenyu arrived at a lake several dozen miles away from Lingxiao Palace. The lake was shimmering with clear, rippling waves, and a gentle breeze blew through the air. However, as he looked around, no one was in sight.

The response continued to echo in his ears. Reciting the Water Avoidance Technique, he stepped onto the lake’s surface. After walking for several steps, a huge formation suddenly appeared, centered on the spot where his foot had landed.

He was filled with excitement and asked, “Senior, is it here?” After receiving confirmation, he continued to follow the instructions.

What he didn’t notice was that the moment he stepped into the formation, the spirit-gathering talisman at his waist shattered.

He drew the Cangling Sword, pointing its tip to the ground and aiming directly at the center of the formation. With a loud roar, a massive green dragon soared into the air.

After scanning the surroundings, the dragon let out a roar that seemed full of anger and then approached Xia Chenyu, its voice like a bell booming in his ears: “Little brat, who taught you this formation?”

The dragon spoke, and Xia Chenyu was momentarily stunned. After a brief pause, he calmly replied, “A friend.”

The dragon tilted its head to study the boy, snorting disdainfully: “Anyone who can trap me, a divine being, is no ordinary person. You actually have such a friend?”

Seeing that the boy didn’t respond, the green dragon soared into the sky, saying, “It’s not that easy to suppress me.” It tossed and turned in the air, crashing into the invisible barriers surrounding it.

The crashes created deafening sounds, and even the formation started to shake. Xia Chenyu lost his balance, and in his panic, he received more instructions in his mind. After hearing them, he quickly calmed down.

“Senior said, you can’t leave,” the boy said with a composed expression.

Upon hearing this, the green dragon roared in fury, shaking the entire lake and causing waves to ripple across its surface.

“You little brat!”

The formation began to spin, drawing in the green dragon’s spiritual power. The dragon struggled and thrashed, letting out cries of anguish and roaring. It charged at the boy, but a glowing protective shield in the shape of an egg appeared and blocked all its attacks.

Feeling helpless, the green dragon let out a heavy breath.

At that moment, a mysterious black figure appeared at the edge of the lake.

The figure glanced at the formation from a distance, then suddenly flew over and landed lightly outside the formation, his toes barely touching the ground. He laughed, “This is easy, no effort required.”

“Who are you?” Xia Chenyu asked warily.

The figure chuckled arrogantly, “I heard a green dragon was born, and I was planning to head to Lingxiao Palace to deal with it. But you delivered it right to my doorstep.”

Without a word, Xia Chenyu immediately thrust his sword toward the figure, but the man casually flicked his finger, deflecting the sword. Before Xia Chenyu could react, the figure appeared behind him, striking him with a palm that sent him flying.

So fast! Xia Chenyu didn’t even have time to react to the series of movements.

Before he could rise, he felt an overwhelming spiritual pressure that rendered him completely immobile.

Given the intensity of the pressure, it seemed to come from someone at least at the Yuan Ying level of cultivation.

The man glanced at the green dragon in the air, smiled lightly, and then sliced his palm, causing fresh blood to pour out. He clenched his fist, and the blood dripped into the formation.

“What are you doing?” Xia Chenyu barely managed to ask before he was pulled toward the man by an invisible force.

“I’m helping you sever the contract. You can’t control it anyway, so why not let me have it?” The man said with a smile, an unsettling aura surrounding him.

The blood quickly stained the formation red. The green dragon seemed to be in unbearable pain, thrashing and roaring.

“This formation really is a big help to me,” the man remarked as he grabbed Xia Chenyu’s chin and lifted him up with one hand. “Tell me, who set up this formation for you?”

Xia Chenyu gritted his teeth and weakly said, “I don’t know.”

The man snorted coldly and casually tossed him aside like a piece of garbage.

At that moment, the green dragon let out a long roar and charged, but the man didn’t even turn his head. Calmly, he waved his hand, and countless red threads shot out from the formation, binding the dragon tightly.

“Little brat, tell your friend to withdraw this formation, or else I won’t be able to use my powers,” the green dragon shouted as it struggled.

Xia Chenyu felt his strength rapidly draining away. Soon, he could hardly even stand.

“Who… exactly are you?” he managed to utter.

The black figure smiled coldly, “What? Don’t you recognize me from Lingxiao Palace?”

Seeing the confusion on Xia Chenyu’s face, the man continued, “Whose disciple are you?”

After thinking for a moment, Xia Chenyu shook his head, unwilling to answer. This person’s strength was beyond measure, and he couldn’t afford to cause trouble for his master.

“Not talking?” The man laughed, “Afraid I’ll go after your master?”

After the laughter, he added, “You’re quite clever. If you were the third master’s disciple, you would have to call me ‘Shishu’ (Master Uncle).”

Xia Chenyu’s eyes widened. He had heard that the third master actually had a younger disciple named Zhou Xuyiao, who had fallen to demonic ways and betrayed the sect decades ago.

It was said that this person had already reached the Huashen (Divine Transformation) stage.

Xia Chenyu’s heart began to race. With such a huge gap in strength, he wouldn’t even have the chance to escape.

At that moment, a white figure appeared in the distance. In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of him.

Before he could see clearly, Zhou Xuyiao was blasted away by a beam of spiritual light, crashing heavily into the lake and sending up waves of water as he slid backward.

The white figure floated down gently, and Xia Chenyu saw a tall, slender figure turn around. He exclaimed, “Master!”

At the moment when the person was struck, the overwhelming pressure that had been suffocating him disappeared.

The figure glanced at Xia Chenyu and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Not long before, he had felt a fragment of soul return, and using his spiritual power, he had traced the broken spirit-gathering talisman. That’s how he had found his way here.

Seeing Xia Chenyu hesitating to answer, the figure shook his head. It was clear that the mysterious person was behind all this—there was no need to ask any further.

He was about to fly over and expel the intruder from this plane when he saw the black figure rise, clutching his chest and coughing up blood. Gritting his teeth, he muttered, “Yu Wanjiao.”

The figure tilted his head in surprise. This wasn’t the mysterious person? How could that be? The shielding force on the spirit-gathering talisman could only be broken by a high-dimensional life form.

He was certain the man was faking it. With a cold snort, he raised his hand toward the sky, and the clouds instantly darkened, as if ink had been splashed across the sky.

A bolt of lightning descended, striking the figure with a thunderous roar.

The figure fell to the ground and didn’t move again.

So easy?

The figure was convinced that this was a high-dimensional life form, and the attack had been a destructive one capable of instantly shredding the soul.

Xia Chenyu stared blankly at the figure. At the Huashen level, the man had no power to resist in front of his master—he had been obliterated in an instant.

Master was terrifyingly strong!

“Scan the area,” the master commanded in his mind.

The system responded: “No signs of high-dimensional life forms detected.”

In the blink of an eye, the figure appeared beside the black figure. By then, the man was dead. The master finally saw his face, and after searching through the original’s memories, he paused for a moment.

He had just killed the number one demonic cultivator of this plane.

It seemed the mysterious figure hadn’t appeared here; he had mistaken the person.

But the next second, his mood sank. The system popped up a notification: “Indirectly led to the death of Zhou Xuyiao, a character who would have guided Xia Chenyu to fall into demonic ways. Time deviation reached 25%.”

A roar rang out in the master’s heart: Who told you to act without asking?!

In anger, he swung a punch, sending a torrent of spiritual energy crashing into the water, creating waves that soared into the sky. The roaring sound echoed across the lake for a long time before it faded away.

Xia Chenyu was startled. His master must have been furious or even heartbroken after having to kill his own disciple to save him.

Although he had fallen to the demonic path, he was still his senior brother. His master had killed him out of necessity to save him. This thought brought a touch of warmth to the boy’s face.

He then remembered what the old man in the Tower of Heaven had said: “You have a good master.”

Thinking of that, Xia Chenyu couldn’t help but feel a sense of happiness.

After some time, his emotions calmed down. The master sighed and looked up at the sky, then finally turned his attention back to the formation.

After the system scanned it, it revealed that this formation was composed of high-dimensional fields, meaning it had broken his spirit-gathering talisman.

The red threads that had bound the green dragon were also gone. The dragon seemed exhausted and looked at the master in surprise.

“You…” the green dragon muttered, its giant head looming before the master. Its whiskers floated in the air.

After a moment of staring, its deep, booming voice continued: “You are… a god…”

Before it could finish, the master’s expression turned grim as he clenched his fist, immediately crushing the formation.

The green dragon was absorbed into the sword. The formation shattered, sending a spiritual flow of wind toward Xia Chenyu.

It felt like a tidal wave rushing into his spiritual veins, and the energy released by the dragon overwhelmed him.

Xia Chenyu felt the pure spiritual power surge through his body, clashing violently within his veins. He cried out weakly, “Master… help me.”

Seeing this, the master furrowed his brows slightly. This formation was meant to weaken the green dragon and boost Xia Chenyu’s power, but the boy’s veins weren’t recovered, and the dragon’s energy was too domineering for him to bear.

The master sneered. The mysterious figure hadn’t considered this at all. Was he trying to help or harm the boy?

Thinking of this, the master raised his palm, creating a symbol that he pushed toward Xia Chenyu. As spiritual light flashed, the symbol sank into the boy’s forehead.

“The green dragon’s spiritual power is too overbearing. I’ll seal your veins first, or you’ll explode from the overload.”

This way, the master could also suppress the boy’s cultivation. It seemed the mysterious figure had helped him in this way.

With that thought, the master’s mood lifted, which had been at rock bottom just moments ago.