Chapter 226: Dead End

“Something’s not right. I don’t know why, but I feel a little disturbed.” Inside Fire District’s tower, Lang Xie awoke from deep cultivation.

A blood cocoon had formed on the surface of his body, and it wrapped around tightly so not a trace of his bloody aura would seep out. This way, he would be able to gather his flesh, blood, and energy at the highest degree.

As he woke up, the thick cocoon fell off his skin like old tree bark. His scarlet pupils shook with worry. “Something dangerous is on the horizon,” he said as he turned to look at the city entrance not far away.

The five great forces had long withdrawn. When Zhan Tianyi and Song Siyuan had arrived, they also chose to stay away from Armament City out of sight.

Lang Xie looked at the front but noticed nothing wrong. He simply instructed the blood guard behind them, “Go to the plaza. Send more people over and keep a tight watch of that area!”

“Understood.” A blood guard hurriedly left.

……

At the plaza where the twelve spirit pattern pillars were.

A thick, long, and blood-stained chain had entangled itself around three spirit pattern pillars, and there was a person shackled to each of these three pillars—Shi Jingyun, Wu Tuo and Si Ziying.

After losing a finger, these distinguished people of incredibly high status, from Seven Fiends Valley, Cloud Sky Mountain, and Purple Mist Sea had long lost their arrogance and become obedient.

During this time, they were all very quiet and seldom talked to each other.

When Xie Zhizhang had been thrown over by Xue Li and had fallen over like a bloody blob right in between them, the trio had grown even quieter.

There were a dozen odd Blood Spear martial practitioners at the sides of the plaza, and another dozen or so outer sect martial practitioners forming defensive lines. They watched over these four without rest.

They knew full well that these four were critical in preventing the five forces from easily destroying the weak points of the city.

As long as these four were not rescued, then the five forces would definitely not dare to continue their assault. They would be able to buy time for the sect to think up a new round of countermeasures.

Out of nowhere, ripples appeared in the air. The wind in the plaza grew stronger…

“That’s odd, I feel like something passed by me just now,” a blood guard whispered to himself doubtfully.

He frowned and turned to the plaza, looking at Shi Jingyun and the others before glancing at Xie Zhizhang, who was wrapped into a bloody blob with only his head exposed. It seemed nothing was out of the ordinary.

Therefore, he continued to bow his head and cultivate.

While his head was lowered, Xie Zhizhang, who had his eyes closed all this time opened his eyes.

After being trapped for such a long time, Xie Zhizhang’s fresh blood still remained coagulated. His dantian’s spirit sea was contaminated by a plasma that prevented him from gathering even his spirit energy.

However, his mind detection ability wasn’t affected too much. He had sensed a very well hidden soul aura.

An aura that he was very familiar with…

“Siyuan is here.” Xie Zhizhang’s eyes relaxed.

After focusing his mind and sensing the area for a bit, he opened his mouth and made a yawning motion.

A pill that smelled slightly like fish was immediately pushed into his mouth by an invisible hand.

Xie Zhizhang closed his mouth and swallowed the pill. He could clearly feel a strange, thin long fish consuming the energy in his body.

—Consuming the shackling powers that came from Xue Li.

“Wall Breaking Flying Fish Pill!” Xie Zhizhang secretly turned excited.

The flying fish were refined from special fish eggs to specially consume this type of shackling energy. It could break through all sorts of energy barriers which was why it was called the Wall Breaking Flying Fish Pill.

As the flying fish consumed the shackling energy on his body, Xie Zhizhang’s sluggish mind swiftly healed.

After a while, the bloody light of the blob on Xie Zhizhang’s body slowly grew dimmer.

Xie Zhizhang suddenly nodded towards the air and said, “Thank you, Brother Siyuan for your assistance. I am fine now.”

“Kra-kra-krak!”

A strange noise abruptly came from the blood-stained shackles binding Shi Jingyun, Wu Tuo, and Su Ziying. It was as if they were being torn apart.

The trio that had been shackled for a long time immediately escaped the chains and regained their freedom.

When the surrounding blood guards had noticed something wrong and cried out, Song Siyuan’s body slowly appeared. He smiled coolly and spoke towards Xie Zhizhang, “How did you lose?”

“Armament Sect is hiding an old demon. He is probably even more terrifying than that You Hongzhi in the past. If I’m not mistaken, that person should be You Hongzhi’s master,” Xie Zhizhang answered solemnly.

“It’s not that Li Mu?” Song Siyuan looked shocked.

“No.” Xie Zhizhang shook his head.

The duo was speaking as if there was no one around them. They paid no heed to the surrounding Blood Spear martial practitioners at all. In fact, they didn’t even see Armament City itself as a threat.

“He’s here!” Xie Zhizhang did not look at the Blood Spear martial practitioners but instead fiercely stared at the back of the mountain.

A thick blood fiend aura rose from the forest behind the mountain, and a boiling cloud of blood rushed over to them.

“Who broke through my blood shackling arts!” Xue Li’s eerie chuckle came from the torrential blood cloud, causing the sky to seemingly shake along with the shockwave.

Song Siyuan looked up to the sky and took out an ancient book in his hands before saying, “I did.”

“Heh. So it’s a someone of the late stage of the Fulfillment Realm. It looks like the threat to Armament Sect has finally arrived.” Xue Li’s body, which was as thin as a dry mummy, fell down from the thick cloud of blood in the sky, landing on the plaza. His bloody red eyes peered at Song Siyuan once before nodding. He said, “And the other one?”

“He’ll be arriving shortly,” Song Siyuan answered before bowing slightly. Politely, he asked, “Where do you come from, senior?”

“Don’t give me that polite ** brat, it makes my ears itch. As for where I come from, there’s no use telling you this, so you can save the worry.” Xue Li grinned with a very relaxed look on his face. “So there are two fellows in the late stage of the Fulfillment Realm. I can’t handle you guys yet, and that Qin Lie kid still hasn’t appeared yet. It looks like Armament Sect is about to perish.”

He looked utterly careless.

Song Siyuan and Xie Zhizhang froze instead. They looked at him strangely and said, “Senior, shouldn’t you want to defend Armament Sect to the death?”

“I have nothing to do with Armament Sect whatsoever. I don’t care at all if this sect perishes or not.” Xue Li sat down and said with a bizarre look, “I simply had an agreement with Qin Lie, but there is a limit to it. I would not waste my powers to throw my life away.”

Song Siyuan and Xie Zhizhang suddenly felt a little confused.

After a moment’s hesitation, Xie Zhizhang narrowed his eyes and sent Xie Jingxuan a message, “Begin the siege!”

At the city entrance, the exquisite trinket at Xie Jingxuan’s neck suddenly lit up. After sensing it for a bit, joy appeared in her eyes as she said, “Second uncle has escaped. He’s asking us to attack the city. It should be save now.”

“Mn, all the people who were bound have regained their freedom. You can act now.” Zhan Tianyi from Eight Extreme Temple appeared out of nowhere while riding a Green Hunting Bat. While flying towards Armament Sect, he ordered them from the sky, “Slaughter everyone within the city!”

After being forced to hold back for such a long time, all the martial practitioners from the five forces wore dark faces and roared, “Invade the city! Leave no one alive!”

The three forces of Cloud Sky Mountain, Seven Fiends Valley, and Purple Mist Sea especially were feeling murderous to the brim. Many of the cried out loudly.

“Take revenge for Boss Shi!”

“Take revenge for Big Boss Wu!”

“Slaughter Armament Sect for Second Mistress!”

……

At the underground area of the Arctic Mountain Range.

Qin Lie, who was sitting on top of a glacier and channeling the Frost Arts, was suddenly awakened by an intense soul fluctuation. It was coming from the half of Xue Li’s soul hidden inside the Soul Suppressing Orb. “Kid, Armament Sect is just about to perish!”

“Creak creak creak!”

Ice exploded from Qin Lie’s body as he swiftly pulled himself out of the ice. His expression grew heavy.

His mind consciousness inspected inside himself, and he realized that the ninth Natal Palace inside his dantian’s spirit sea had not formed yet.

He hadn’t even entered the peak of the Natal Opening Realm and was still very far away from breaking through to the Manifestation Realm.

“There’s just not enough time…” He sighed deeply.

It really was an impossible hope to form two Natal Palaces and ascend to the Manifestation Realm in just ten days.

“Two martial practitioners in the late stage of the Fulfillment Realm have arrived, and that Xie Zhizhang has escaped. The three prisoners had also been freed…” Xue Li’s soul consciousness continued, “I told you before that helping the sect master recover would expend my blood essence. For a short time, my combat capabilities would be weakened. I cannot deal with the two martial practitioners at the late stage of the Fulfillment Realm right now, so I will not fight to the death. This Armament whatever Sect is going to perish very soon. Right now, the five Black Iron forces are already attacking the city. They will slaughter the whole city… Do you want to have a look?”

“Is there no way at all?” Qin Lie replied with his soul.

“I also told you before that unless you stepped into the Manifestation Realm sometime soon, the destruction of your sect cannot be prevented. Have you reached the Manifestation Realm yet?” Xue Li asked.

“No.”

“Then this sect shall await its destruction.”

At the peak of the glacier, Qin Lie’s expression had turned extremely serious. The pressure from Profound Heaven Alliance and Eight Extreme Temple was so heavy that he felt like he would suffocate from it alone.

It was a situation that even Xue Li was helpless to change. How could Armament Sect stop this, and who else could keep them standing?

Was the sect’s fall truly fated and unstoppable?

He thought of everything he could to attempt to overturn this situation, but he realized that unless Armament Sect’s people were transferred to this ice land, there seemed to be no other way.

Unfortunately, Li Mu had told him before he left that with the Eye of Frost alone, he could at most transfer two people in and out of this land.

This meant that this final plan would not work either.

“I have done all I can. Now I can only return to Armament Sect and hopefully do whatever little I can.” After a long while, Qin Lie let out a sigh and activated the Eye of Frost. He returned to the poisonous bog.

He rushed towards Armament Sect at top speed.

He only wanted to contribute his final efforts, hoping to save the people he truly cared for from that hopeless dead end.

“The five forces have invaded Armament City!”

“Armament Sect is about to be destroyed!”

“Where is Qin Lie? Why didn’t Xue Li act?!”

“As the sect master, where is Qin Lie, and why hasn’t he shown up?!”

“Did he not even have the courage to see his sect perish!”

Many angry yells came from every direction of Armament Sect. The moment where the sect was facing its destruction, many people were thoroughly disappointed that Qin Lie had not yet shown up as the proxy sect master.