Chapter 498: Staying Out

Every force other than Qin Lie’s group dove into the thunder lagoon one after another and disappeared.

When Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Chu Li, Pan Qianqian, and Xue Moyan were about to slip through the gaps of the Moon Blade Barricade and enter the thunder lagoon, they suddenly… stopped.

“Return!”

A bright light burst from Qin Lie’s eyes as he linked to the Sealing Obelisks with his mind consciousness and guided them using the spirit energy in his body.

The six Sky Obelisks were initially situated above the Moon Blade Barricade, neutralizing it and keeping all of the silver crescent blades from moving.

At this moment, however, the Sky Obelisks ascended into the sky one after another. When they did, the millions of motionless crescent blades instantly began moving again, flying around at extremely high speeds.

The Moon Blade Barricade covered the thunder lagoon once more. Every living being with a physical body would immediately be diced into pieces by the multitude of crescent blades the moment they approached them.

The Moon Blade Barricade essentially functioned as a barrier, separating Qin Lie’s group and the three forces that had just entered the thunder lagoon, preventing them seeing through the profoundness inside.

At the same time, the martial practitioners who had managed to bypass the barrier and enter didn’t have any immediate means of escape. They were trapped inside, facing confinement conditions similar to Qin Lie’s group on the outside.

“Qin Lie, will they be able to… seize the Pure Soul Springs quickly?” Du Xiangyang asked worriedly, feeling anxious.

This question voiced the doubt in everyone else’s hearts.

Chu Li, Xue Moyan, Luo Chen, and the others wore stern expressions as they looked at the thunder lagoon enveloped by the Moon Blade Barricade. They were worried that the six Pure Soul Springs below would be neatly divided between the three forces that had entered, leaving them with nothing in the end.

“Don’t worry. Even if Celestial Artifact Sect were the only force inside, quickly seizing the Pure Soul Springs would be impossible,” Qin Lie reassured them. “The thunder spirit is capable of controlling thunder and lightning from the depths of the lagoon, and right now, it’s in there with them. It definitely won’t just let them have the Pure Soul Springs. Once Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Black Voodoo Cult head deeper inside, they’ll definitely start slaughtering their way to the Pure Soul Springs. However, neither side will be able to annihilate one another right away. We just have to wait patiently.”

Qin Lie could clearly sense everything that was happening in the thunder lagoon.

At this very moment, he could sense an indescribable irritation through his soul consciousness. It came from the thunder spirit releasing horrifying amounts of thunder and lightning in the depths of the lagoon.

At the bottom of the thunder lagoon, thunder boomed, and lightning waves that even Qin Lie found terrifying were rampaging in every direction across every single martial practitioner that had entered.

Qin Lie believed that, if he and his group were also present for this, they would’ve suffered from the thunder spirit’s assault in similar fashion.

“Chu Li, those junior brothers and that girlfriend of yours… they don’t seem to have given up,” Du Xiangyang said softly, rubbing at one of the tokens owned by Celestial Artifact Sect as he raised his head to look into the distance.

Chu Li’s eyebrows twitched.

He took out a Terminator Sect token. With a weary expression on his face, he took a moment to examine it with his mind consciousness. A moment later, he sighed and said, “He Wei isn’t someone who gives up easily.”

Du Xiangyang wore an expression of indifference. “Unfortunately, she overestimates herself.”

“We didn’t do all of this to oppress He Wei, but to respond to He Wei and the other three resenting us. I still have yet to figure out where their resentment comes from.” The fact that He Wei still insisted on opposing them shocked Qin Lie. It didn’t make sense to him.

“I don’t understand it either.” Chu Li shook his head.

“It started when we unilaterally distributed the Spring of Life in the Forbidden Land of Wood,” Xie Jingxuan interrupted coldly.

Everyone looked at her with stunned expressions.

Xie Jingxuan looked unconcerned and her tone was icy. “All four of them have been infected with the voodoo toxin, and a considerable amount of their life energies had been lost. They all wanted to use the Spring of Life to recover their lost energy as quickly as possible. This is one of the reasons why they resent us.”

She paused for a moment, before continuing. “Ever since we first met, He Wei, Hu Ping, Ren Peng, and Wei Liang never took me, Qin Lie, or Sister Tingyu seriously. Since we came from the Scarlet Tide Continent, they subconsciously treated us like people of low status, like we weren’t qualified to negotiate with them as equals.”

Once she finished voicing her opinion, Xie Jingxuan abruptly went silent.

Without warning, Song Tingyu let out a cold laugh.

Since he was carefully observing the situation, Qin Lie saw that the expressions on Luo Chen and Chu Li’s faces seemed a bit uncomfortable.

“Miss Xie is right. Even I… I initially didn’t take you seriously because I considered myself superior in status,” Chu Li said apologetically, revealing a shameful smile. “Brother Lie, when I first saw you and Miss Song, I… indeed did not hold the two of you in high regard.”

“You were never the problem.” Qin Lie gave him a carefree smile.

Then he subconsciously looked at Luo Chen.

Luo Chen had his head lowered as if he were resting with his eyes closed. He didn’t say a word.

Xie Jingxuan’s words had clearly affected him like they had affected Chu Li.

Ever since he first encountered Qin Lie on Sea Moon Island, the arrogant, prideful Luo Chen had never taken Qin Lie seriously. He had always harbored contempt in his heart and wholeheartedly desired to suppress Qin Lie. He wanted to make things difficult for Qin Lie to prove that Li Mu’s choice was a mistake.

This was a knot in Luo Chen’s heart that had yet to be untied.

“Everyone could initially work together in harmony because Qin Lie and I prioritized your desires over ours the entire time and never dared to request anything,” Song Tingyu spoke up. “In the eyes of He Wei and her group, Qin Lie and I are of low status. They felt that it was natural for us to be humble. If we had continued to stay humble, everyone might’ve been able to continue getting along.

“However, Qin Lie didn’t yield when it came to Xue Moyan and basically forced them to hand over the Spring of Life. This act crossed into forbidden territory in the hearts of He Wei and her group. They couldn’t tolerate ‘lowly’ people like us taking something from them. This is where the problem originated!” Song Tingyu’s analysis hit the mark dead on.

“The reason why we can’t get along is because, in the end, He Wei and the others still look down on Qin Lie’s group from the bottom of their hearts. They stubbornly persist in believing that Qin Lie does not qualify to stand with them on equal footing!” Du Xiangyang exclaimed sharply, pointing out the most important factor.

Xie Jingxuan and Song Tingyu nodded slightly, while Chu Li, Luo Chen, and even Xue Moyan went silent. They wore thoughtful expressions.

“Awooo!”

The thunder spirit’s furious roar reverberated from the depths of the thunder lagoon. It was like an enormous lightning bolt had descended.

Qin Lie’s group, who were in the midst of conversing with each other, all shut their mouths at the same time. Their gazes gathered on the lagoon behind the Moon Blade Barricade.

Qin Lie focused his mind so he could make sense of the situation inside.

Behind the Moon Blade Barricade.

The moment they entered the thunder lagoon, the people of Black Voodoo Sect, the three great families, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain were immediately shocked by the scene before them.

The sealed area they were in wasn’t influenced by gravity.

They were able to float through the air here, and could even see six clear streams of light flowing through empty space.

These six streams of light were emitting clean, untainted soul auras. They were clearly authentic Pure Soul Springs!

This indisputable proof utterly shocked the crowd of martial practitioners.

However, there were clusters of arcing lightning and electric flame hovering beside the six Pure Soul Springs. They surrounded the Pure Soul Springs, sealing them like barriers of light.

Beneath them, crystalline lights filled the floor of the lagoon, shining brilliantly. If one were to look at them carefully, they would realize that all of the lights were bright soul crystals.

Every single soul crystal was translucent, dazzling to the eye, and radiated soul energy waves capable of stirring one’s heart.

Unfortunately, if one looked at them a little longer, they would see streaks of lightning crisscrossing above the soul crystals. Those terrifying streaks of lightning seemed as though they could easily annihilate a martial practitioner.

At the same time, a strange crystalline beast sitting on the soul crystals opened its eyes wide, glaring at them coldly.

This strange beast had the form of a lion, but its body seemed to have been constructed with mystical lightning crystals. Terrifying waves of lightning energy were present within those crystals.

It was the thunder spirit!

The thunder spirit sat on the soul crystals, and the thunder energy surrounding it erupted violently, releasing waves of it that seemed capable of shaking the world.

Electric flames could faintly be seen inside of its crystal eyes. As it breathed, terrifying surges of electrical light constantly flowed to and fro.

“Crack crack crack!”

The moment Huang Zhuli and the others arrived at the bottom, they spotted Feng Yiyou and his people from Celestial Artifact Sect gathered by a Pure Soul Spring.

They were presently trying to think of a way to destroy the clusters of electric flames and arcing lightning surrounding the Pure Soul Spring and preparing to seize the first of the Pure Soul Springs.

The strange crystalline beast was crouching at the bottom of the thunder lagoon. Traces of ridicule and disdain surfaced in its crystal eyes.

Feng Yiyou and the rest of his group pulled out their spirit artifacts and used various spirit arts, attempting to destroy the clusters of electric flames. However, the moment their spirit artifacts and spirit energies collided with the flames, violent explosions would immediately erupt, dispersing all of the spirit energies. The shockwaves from the explosion blew the spirit artifacts away as well.

Celestial Artifact Sect was ahead of everyone else by nearly seven minutes, but they had yet to acquire even a single Pure Soul Spring. Even the strange crystalline beast below had only roared occasionally. It hadn’t intervened or attacked them thus far.

“The Moon Blade Barricade has been resealed! Qin Lie and his group didn’t come down!” Xiahou Yuan roared furiously.

Huang Zhuli and Ye Yihao immediately reacted to this information, both realizing that they had fallen for Qin Lie’s scheme. They then looked at the current expressions of the people from Celestial Artifact Sect and immediately understood that seizing the Pure Soul Springs wouldn’t be as easy as they had thought.

At that moment, the thunder spirit roared again. Clusters of electric flames floated around in its eyes, and its breath of surging electricity resembled dragons.

The electric flames and intense lightning that filled this space suddenly became violent, crazily flooding toward Huang Zhuli, Ye Yihao, Yu Men, and the rest of their people.

In an instant, all of the people who had entered the thunder lagoon no longer had the leisure to seize the Pure Soul Springs. Instead, they used all of their power and desperately focused on dealing with the thunder and lightning inside of the thunder lagoon.

On the surface, Qin Lie opened his eyes and grinned, saying, “Everyone, rest easy. We can just wait in peace.”

“How is the situation inside?” Du Xiangyang said, overflowing with excitement.

“The thunder spirit is controlling the thunder and lightning and using them to slaughter Huang Zhuli and everyone else who entered. Barriers made from clusters of lightning surround the Pure Soul Springs. Celestial Artifact Sect has yet to break a single one even after having been down there for so long,” Qin Lie said with a smile.

Hearing his words, everyone in their group relaxed, and their faces were filled with joy.

“That’s great! Heh, once the thunder spirit has massacred every single one of them, we’ll dive straight in. Once the thunder spirit has been sealed by Demon Sealing Tombstone, it’ll be easy for us to obtain all of the Pure Soul Springs, right?” Du Xiangyang laughed loudly.

“The soul crystals too!” Pan Qianqian clenched her fists. “And we’ll be able to deal with that slut, Huang Zhuli!”

“Qin Lie, you brat! Did you lie to me back then? You and Miss Xue aren’t engaged, right?” Chu Li asked in a carefree tone.

Qin Lie and Xue Moyan both cultivated the Blood Spirit Art, so they clearly had a close relationship. When Chu Li asked Du Xiangyang about it earlier, he found out that Qin Lie’s relationship with Xue Moyan stemmed from her father, Xue Li. This was why he felt that Qin Lie and Xue Moyan couldn’t actually be engaged.

“Engaged?” Pan Qianqian cried out as if she had discovered a new world. “Qin Lie and Miss Xue are engaged? So that’s why…”

Xue Moyan was dumbfounded. She looked at Qin Lie in surprise, confusion clouding her vision.

“C-could we truly be engaged? Did father… plan for me to marry him?”

Turmoil overtook Xue Moyan’s heart.

……