Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Lan Hua’s technique was quite reliable. In a blink of an eye, all of them arrived at the Emperor Ascension Stage. By that time, a red light illuminated the entire stage. It was extremely blinding. Xin Han stood in the middle of the array, controlling it. Zi Chen and Hui Ling were standing on either side of him, protecting it.

“I didn’t think your primordial spirits would come back after managing to escape,” Xin Han mocked them. He clearly recognised the Celestial Emperors’ primordial spirits. Xin Han scanned the crowd, spotted Shen Ying and paused. Then, his eyes widened. “It’s you!” There was a flash of panic that crossed his face. As if recalling something, he regained his composure. “The array has been activated. Nothing you do can stop it now.”

“Little Biao, stay here. I’m going to save them!” Yi Qing had no time to waste listening to Xin Han’s nonsense. He drew his immortal sword and charged forward.

Lan Hua flew out at the same time, heading straight for the bodies that were seated cross-legged in the array, motionless. Suddenly, a golden light shone out of the array. Before the two of them even made contact with it, they rebounded.

Yi Qing was quite alright – he was only forced back a couple of steps. Lan Hua’s sleeves, on the other hand, caught fire. He took off his Dharma clothing, which were covered in white hot flames, in order to prevent his own body from being burnt. The rich demonic Qi that surrounded his body before had dissipated.

Lan Hua started. That array… cleanses demonic Qi!

“I never thought that all the Celestial Emperors would one day join forces with demons,” Xin Han observed coolly, glancing at Lan Hua. He was obviously pleased. “It’s a pity that the Emperor Ascension Stage was set up by the divine beings. A demon trying to make contact with something made by divine beings – what a joke.”

If immortal Qi and demonic Qi were opposites, divine power would be considered toxic to demonic Qi. This Emperor Ascension Stage was actually made by divine beings.

“Celestial Emperor Lan Hua, please remain calm,” Chu Xuan reminded him worriedly.

Lan Hua”s expression fell. He had no choice but to retract what little demonic Qi he had left inside him.

“I’ll do it!” Yi Qing gestured for Lan Hua to step back. He regulated his immortal Qi and a burst of sword Qi rushed forward. A second later, a Great Golden Sword formed, charging straight for the pillar of light.

“Hmph! It’s useless.” Xin Han did not look in the least bit worried. “You cannot break this Emperor Ascension Stage.”

There was a loud crash. Yi Qing used every ounce of energy he had, focusing on his sword intent, willing it to cut through the red pillar of light. The Emperor Ascension Stage only vibrated a little, but the great sword did absolutely no damage to it. There really was no way to get to the bodies inside. The entire Emperor Ascension Stage was covered with this red shield – there was no way to break through it.

“Since you’ve sent yourselves here to die, I’ll grant your wish!” Xin Han’s expression hardened. He conjured a seal with both of his hands.

“The Spirit Manipulation Technique!” Chen Ge recognised Xin Han’s hand movements immediately.

The other radishes’ expressions fell at the same time. They could not help but curse under their breaths, “Bastard!”

He was trying to manipulate their own bodies to fight them!

Xin Han’s technique worked. The next moment, the bodies that were seated motionless within the array stood up one by one. They looked like puppets controlled by invisible strings as they charged toward Yi Qing.

“Young Emperor Yi, be careful!” Biao Ting shouted.

Yi Qing had no choice but to pause his attack on the pillar of light. He turned to defend himself, fighting four or five bodies at once. Xin Han could only manipulate all the bodies, but apart from Lonemoon and Tao Shu, all the bodies were those of Celestial Emperors. Even without their primordial spirits, they were powerful in their attacks.

Biao Ting was having a harder time. He had to protect all the radishes which were unable to fight, and he had to fight off the bodies. He also had to be careful not to cause too much harm to the bodies because they belonged to the radishes.

The situation was extremely tense. All the people had no choice but to play defensive. If they did not break through the array soon, they would never get their bodies back.

Xin Han laughed mirthlessly as he watched the helpless group. Pleased, he said, “You’re overestimating yourselves – I said before that no one can break through this array.”

“Well…” Before he could finish speaking, he felt someone tap his shoulder. A familiar voice spoke right beside his ear. “You seem to be forgetting about me.”

Xin Han jumped and whipped his head around. He immediately paled, as if he had just seen a ghost. “You… how did you get in here?” That’s impossible! This was a divine array – how could she come in even after the array had been activated? “How did you do that?”

“I jumped in!” Shen Ying pointed at the artifact that all the radishes were standing on. There was no space to walk past them, so she had no choice but to jump.

“No! That’s impossible! What kind of person are you?” Xin Han’s expression was panicked and wild – he could not believe what he was seeing.

“Alright, alright. Stop your nonsense! I haven’t even eaten dinner!” Shen Ying waved her hand at him.

Xin Han suddenly remembered something and all the colour drained out of his face. He supposed it was true that extreme fear could unlock one’s potential. “No!” He shouted, regulating his immortal Qi and retreating as fast as he could. Within the next few seconds, he cast several spells. Suddenly, on the Emperor Ascension Stage, there were ice towers, fire dragons, wind blades and bolts of lightning targeted at Shen Ying.

None of these had any effect on her whatsoever, except that she suddenly could not see clearly thanks to the myriad of colours flashing before her eyes. She reached out instinctively, meaning to grab Xin Han’s arms. She caught something and pulled, hearing a tear.

Shen Ying looked down and saw that she was holding a long and wide piece of cloth, with embroideries of clouds on it.

Her mind went black. Then she thought, could this be… a belt?

She turned and saw that three steps away from her, a pair of white trousers lay on the floor. Xin Han stood a metre away from her bare-legged and frightful.

Shen Ying: “…”

Zi Chen: “…”

Hui Ling: “…”

Er…

The corner of Shen Ying’s mouth twitched. If she said she did not do that on purpose, would they believe her?

(╯_╰)

“Well…” She returned the belt. Then, she hurt Father Niu’s urgent voice.

“Shen Ying, what the hell are you doing over there? Hurry, we can’t hold up any longer.” Outside the array, Lonemoon and the other radishes were trapped by the bodies that Xin Han manipulated. Biao Ting and Lan Hua could not fight them. They could only shout for help!

Shen Ying paused. She threw one end of the belt to the group of radishes. The belt was a part of the Dharmic clothing. Suddenly, it lengthened and turned into a rope, which circled around Father Niu and the rest. Then, she pulled the rope, dragging the group of them into the array. With a quick flick of her wrist, she threw the end of the rope to Yi Qing.

The group of bodies which were being manipulated by the Spirit Manipulation Technique fell down to the ground. Shen Ying threw the belt aside.

“Your turn!”

Xin Han stepped back when he saw Shen Ying turn to him. He tried to conjure a spell, but a red light suddenly flashed past the bottom of Shen Ying’s feet. The array took shape below her feet – it looked just like the one that trapped all the others on the Emperor Ascension Stage earlier.

The circular pattern started to change. A red light formed at the bottom of each person’s feet – including Zi Chen and Hui Ling.

“Little Han, what are you doing?” By the time Zi Chen realised what was happening, it was too late. He could not move. His cultivation level was dropping bit by bit. He looked at the people around him in panic.

Shen Ying paused. Is this… a rebellion?