147: Chapter 147 When a dog is cornered, it might break its teeth.

"Snap."

With a crisp sound, the priceless "Nine-Turn Glazed Lamp" turned into a cloud of crystalline dust in Lin Canghai's hand. Before the dust could even touch the ground, it was vaporized by the spiritual energy spewing from his palm, leaving nothing behind.

Inside the Lin family council hall, the air was as thick as if it had been filled with mercury.

A dozen core deacons of the Lin family knelt on the ground, their foreheads pressed tightly against the cold floor tiles; even their breathing had to be carefully fragmented. They could clearly feel the pressure belonging to a Golden Core Stage expert above their heads, like a collapsing snow mountain, ready to bury them at any moment.

"The Withered Bone Forest has been destroyed."

Lin Canghai's voice was very soft, devoid of joy or anger, sounding like two rusty iron plates rubbing against each other: "The three hundred and twenty-four blood slaves used for the ritual array are all gone. More importantly, that secondary flag is gone too."

He slowly opened his palm, looking at the remnants of glazed powder in his hand, his eyelids twitching violently.

That was one of the keys to opening the Fallen Demon Valley Secret Realm.

Without the guidance of the secondary flag, the energy required to forcibly open the Restriction left behind by that Soul Transformation master would increase geometrically.

"Have you found out who did it?" Lin Canghai asked.

A deacon in black kneeling below trembled all over, biting the bullet as he replied: "Re... returning to the Elder, the scene was cleaned up too thoroughly. Apart from the lingering presence of thick Evil Qi, there were no traces of any Cultivation Technique. And... and..."

"And what?"

"And the person's methods were extremely cruel; the guards at the stronghold were all killed in one blow, their Divine Soul obliterated. This style doesn't look like the Righteous Path of the Sect, but rather... like some unknown Vicious Beast."

"A Vicious Beast?"

Lin Canghai sneered and slammed his hand onto the table.

Boom!

The entire long table, crafted from ten-thousand-year-old agarwood, shattered instantly.

"In this Yunlan Sect territory, where would a Vicious Beast come from! It is clearly someone targeting my Lin family!"

He stood up and paced back and forth in the hall. With every step he took, a faint crack appeared on the floor tiles beneath his feet.

He had to remedy this.

The opening of the Secret Realm was imminent, and other factions within the Sect were eyeing that piece of fat. If they found out the Lin family had lost the key, the planning of these past few years would be completely ruined.

Lin Canghai stopped, a flash of ruthless red light flickering in his cloudy old eyes.

Since the key was lost, he would just use more blood to smash open that door.

"Pass down the order."

Lin Canghai turned around, his back to the others, his voice chilling: "Activate the 'Backup Sacrifice'. Have the 'Shadow Kill Guard' set out immediately for Baifeng City."

The deacon below looked up abruptly, his face full of horror: "Elder! Baifeng City has hundreds of thousands of Mortals, and there is also the Formation left by Gu Yan... If the commotion is too big, the Sect side..."

"Gu Yan?"

Lin Canghai scoffed, as if he had heard a joke: "A Guest Elder who only knows how to show off brute courage is currently hiding in Shafeng Cave, not daring to show his face. As for the Sect... as long as we act fast enough, before the rice is cooked, who will know?"

He waved his sleeve, and a bloody stench permeated the hall.

"Remember, you only have three days."

"Within three days, I want Baifeng City to become a dead city. I want every drop of blood there to flow into the Formation Plate of the Fallen Demon Valley."

"If you can't do it, jump into the blood pool yourselves to make up the numbers."

...

Shafeng Cave.

Gu Yan, who was meditating, opened his eyes abruptly.

The sound-transmitting jade talisman he kept close to his body in his bosom became scorching hot, even trembling slightly.

That was the highest-level alarm he had left for Leng Yuechan. Only when Baifeng City faced a catastrophic disaster would she activate it.

Gu Yan took out the jade talisman and input a stream of spiritual energy with his fingertips.

Zzz...

The surface of the jade talisman flickered with light, and Leng Yuechan's voice came from it. Although it sounded slightly distorted due to long-distance transmission, the calmness suppressed in her bones was still clearly distinguishable.

"Gu Yan, it's dark."

Only five short words.

No cry for help, no panic, just a code phrase.

It's dark meant the Lin family had made their move.

Gu Yan's fingers holding the jade talisman slowly tightened, his knuckles turning white.

He could imagine the situation appearing in Baifeng City. Dark clouds pressing down on the city, the great Formation roaring, countless greedy eyes peering from the shadows at that city, ready to turn it into a living hell.

"Lin family, you are even more impatient than I imagined."

Gu Yan stood up from the stone bed and walked to the cave entrance.

The wind outside was still howling, but the coldness in his eyes was even more biting than this evil wind.

Jiang Wanrou was practicing Alchemy. Sensing the change in Gu Yan's aura, the cattail-leaf fan in her hand stopped: "Something happened?"

"Someone wants to touch my foundation."

Gu Yan turned around and took out a dark red Formation Plate from his storage ring. That was the master plate of the Four Symbols Heaven-Locking Array. At this moment, the light spots on it were flashing violently, indicating that the sub-array thousands of miles away was under immense pressure.

"Then you..."

"I can't go back right now."

Gu Yan interrupted her, his tone chillingly calm: "Since the Lin family dared to make a move, they must have sent a Golden Core Stage old monster to oversee it. If I go back now, I'll only be going to my death; I won't be able to save the situation."

"Then what should we do?" Jiang Wanrou was anxious.

"We'll handle it."

Gu Yan sat cross-legged, placed the Formation Plate on his knees, and his hands quickly cast complex incantations.

"Since they want to eat meat, I'll add some seasoning for them."

Following his movements, the red light on the Formation Plate flared up suddenly, and an arcane fluctuation followed an invisible connection, crossing thousands of miles, instantly descending upon Baifeng City.

...

At this moment, thousands of miles away.

Above Baifeng City, dark clouds covered the sky. A dozen black flying boats hanging the Lin family flag hovered outside the city's protective Formation, like vultures about to land on a corpse.

On the city wall, Leng Yuechan stood in red, facing the wind.

She held the equally scorching control Formation Plate in her hand, looking at the ferocious cannon muzzles in the sky, but the corners of her mouth suddenly curled into a cold arc.

"Hum—"

Just then, the Formation Plate in her hand suddenly vibrated.

A familiar Divine Thought exploded directly in her mind:

[Close the door, release the dogs.]

Only four words.

It was Gu Yan's voice.

Leng Yuechan smiled. The smile was extremely beautiful, yet it revealed a chilling madness.

"All personnel, listen to my orders."

She held the Formation Plate high, her voice spreading throughout the city:

"The Family Head has ordered to activate the 'Four Symbols Slaughter' mode."

"This time, we will chew these dogs that broke in, skin and bones, into pieces!"

Boom!

The golden light curtain, which was originally just for passive defense, suddenly turned into a blinding blood-red. Four giant beast phantoms condensed from spiritual energy roared at the sky at the four corners of the city, and the originally gentle shield instantly turned into a huge meat grinder.

Inside Shafeng Cave.

Gu Yan looked at the light that suddenly erupted on the Formation Plate and withdrew his hands.

"Baifeng City can hold on for three days."

He stood up and looked at Jiang Wanrou. The killing intent in his eyes had receded, replaced by the shrewdness of a hunter seeing his prey caught in a net.

"Now, it's our turn to start a fire here in the Sect."

"Start a fire?" Jiang Wanrou was puzzled.

"The Lin family wants to silently blood-sacrifice Baifeng City; that's just a dream."

Gu Yan took out the "Blood River Formation Flag" he had snatched from the Withered Bone Forest from his bosom and tossed it to Jiang Wanrou:

"Take this, go to the Mission Hall, and find someone to identify it. Just say you picked it up in the back mountain, and it is suspected to be a Demonic Path Magical Artifact."

"Remember, the bigger the commotion, the better. It's best to let that old fox, the Sect Master, smell the scent and come over."

Jiang Wanrou took the Formation Flag, looked at the ferocious ghost face on it, and instantly understood Gu Yan's intention.

This is called Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao.

It is also to stir this pool of water until it is completely muddy.