Chapter 83 Interrupted, Chan Turns Against Him

When the Heaven-Turning Seal smashed down, half of Zhaoge shook.

The hunyuan golden bucket flew up from Yunxiao's sleeve toward the sky, its golden light colliding with the spiritual radiance of the Heaven-Turning Seal.

Airwaves pushed outward horizontally, and the roof tiles of the houses within thirty yards of the street in front of the Chen Manor were all swept away, falling onto the long street like a rain of shattered fragments.

Bixiao's movement in drawing her sword was faster than her voice. The Golden Dragon Scissors transformed into two dragons and twisted out, blocking the third-generation Disciples of the Chan Sect who were sweeping in from both flanks.

One held a sword and the other activated a talisman; both possessed the cultivation of a Heavenly Immortal.

Bixiao took on both at once, sparks flying wherever the scissor light passed, forcefully forcing the two back a hundred yards.

Qiong Xiao did not move.

She knelt before the door of the bamboo building, pressing both palms to the ground as the Restriction magic of the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array seeped from her fingertips into the floor tiles, stacking up layer by layer.

With every layer added, her face grew a shade paler.

The fluctuations of magic power emanating from the bamboo building were too violent—

The sound of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal barrier shattering was like bones breaking, one after another.

She gritted her teeth, refusing to let the Restriction dissipate.

Guangchengzi and Yunxiao faced off in mid-air, the Heaven-Turning Seal suspended above his palm, its spiritual light as heavy as a mountain.

"Yunxiao, you are shielding a variable of the Mortal world. Do you realize the consequences!"

Yunxiao's expression was like ice. The hunyuan golden bucket spun in her hand, deflecting the second strike of the Heaven-Turning Seal by three inches.

With just those three inches, the mountain-suppressing force of the strike grazed the edge of the bamboo building and boomed into the ground, blasting a pit over a yard deep and sending soil flying.

"The Eldest Senior Brother of the Chan Sect, a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, sneak-attacking a Junior in the middle of a Breakthrough."

Yunxiao's voice was not high, but every word was clear.

"Your face, your Revered Master's face, the face of Kunlun Mountain—is it lost enough?"

Guangchengzi's face turned livid.

He did not fear Yunxiao.

But he feared the hunyuan golden bucket.

The characteristic of this Spirit Treasure was not to kill—it was to capture.

Once caught inside, even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal would lose a layer of skin.

Every time he exerted full force to activate the Heaven-Turning Seal, he would reveal a momentary flaw, and the hunyuan golden bucket was best at seizing flaws.

He couldn't end the battle quickly.

Inside the bamboo building, blue veins bulged on Chen Yuan's forehead.

The Grand Unity Golden Immortal barrier was mostly shattered, and his magic power was taking the final step from quantitative change to qualitative change.

However, every shockwave from the Spirit Treasure collisions outside penetrated the Restriction, impacting the circulation of his Qi.

The Grand Unity magic power that was about to take shape became disordered time and again, only to be forcefully pulled back by him each time.

His teeth ground together with a creaking sound.

The voice of the Chess Ancestor surfaced from the depths of his memory.

Place the piece without regret; move the piece with sentiment.

He wasn't doing this to win.

He was doing it for those people.

The long neigh of an Ink Kirin tore through the battlefield.

Everyone's movements paused for an instant.

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong descended from the sky.

His Heavenly Eye was fully open, his Male and Female Iron Flails in hand, and the pressure of a Golden Immortal bore down, heavier than a mountain.

A flail struck between Guangchengzi and Yunxiao.

Both were shaken back simultaneously.

"To start a fight in the Great Shang's Zhaoge—"

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong's voice was like thunder.

"Have you asked this old man!"

A Taiyi Golden Immortal's cultivation, combined with the protection of the Great Shang's Luck, was enough to surpass an ordinary Grand Unity.

The golden light of the Heavenly Eye swept across.

Yunxiao retreated half a step, Bixiao gritted her teeth and withdrew her scissors, and Guangchengzi's two Disciples were so shaken by the golden light that their souls wavered, nearly making them unable to stand.

Guangchengzi and Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong locked eyes.

One from the Chan Sect, one from the Jie Sect. Their gazes collided firmly in mid-air.

"Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong, our Daos are different. This person is a variable of the Great Desolation; by Heavenly Mandate, he must be executed."

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong's brow did not twitch.

"Heavenly Mandate? Whose heaven's mandate? Your Revered Master's mandate?"

Guangchengzi's face alternated between green and white, and the spiritual light of the Heaven-Turning Seal surged violently.

He intended to force an attack.

The bamboo building exploded.

It wasn't smashed from the outside.

It was burst open from within.

A beam of golden light soared into the sky, piercing through the nine heavens and transforming into the phantom of a golden dharma wheel suspended above Zhaoge.

The patterns on the Great Dao Golden Wheel were as clear as if they were carved.

The texture of Grand Unity magic power diffused from the golden light, covering the sky and the earth.

Everyone stopped their movements.

Chen Yuan walked out from the shattered bamboo building.

His white clothes had several tears, his hairband was broken, and his black hair was scattered over his shoulders.

But his eyes were impossibly clear and bright.

Those were the eyes of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. A gaze washed by the power of the Law.

He glanced at Guangchengzi.

Then he raised his right hand, palm facing down.

The Shanhai Chessboard unfolded.

It wasn't aimed at Guangchengzi. It was aimed at the entire sky above Zhaoge.

The horizontal and vertical black and white chessboard Domain expanded with him as the center, covering the Chen Manor, the streets and alleys, and half the city.

Guangchengzi, Yunxiao, Bixiao, Qiong Xiao, Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong, and even Emperor Yi in the distant palace.

All felt a force 'fixing' them in their respective positions.

It wasn't imprisonment.

It was order.

Like every piece on a chessboard, placed where it ought to be.

"Guangchengzi."

Chen Yuan's voice was not loud, but everyone within the chessboard Domain heard it clearly.

"You came to kill me; I do not blame you. The Chan Sect has its own stance."

"But you chose the wrong place."

"This is Zhaoge. A city of Mortals. When Immortals fight to the death here, it is the common people who die."

He paused for a moment.

"I will not fight you here. But don't think you can touch me here either."

Guangchengzi stared at him intently.

The spiritual light of the Heaven-Turning Seal flickered uncertainly.

He felt the suppression of the chessboard Domain—the Domain activated by an Early Stage Grand Unity was more than ten times stronger than when he was at Taiyi Peak.

He could break it, but it would require his full strength. Full strength meant half of Zhaoge would suffer.

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong would not allow it.

The hunyuan golden bucket would not allow it.

Guangchengzi withdrew the Heaven-Turning Seal.

His face was so livid it had turned black.

"Chen Yuan—or should I call you Gu Ziyuan?"

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong's Heavenly Eye twitched.

Guangchengzi sneered.

"The debt to Kunlun will be settled sooner or later."

He transformed into light and fled. His two Disciples followed closely behind, vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

The chessboard Domain slowly retracted.

Chen Yuan's body swayed slightly.

The magic power from his recent Breakthrough had not stabilized, and the cost of activating the Shanhai Chessboard was far beyond his imagination.

Bixiao was the first to rush over to support him, her mouth scolding, "Do you think your life is too long?"

Her hands were shaking so much she couldn't hold his arm steadily.

Qiong Xiao ran out from the wreckage of the Restriction and crashed into his embrace without a word, her shoulders twitching.

Yunxiao walked over.

She said nothing, merely putting the hunyuan golden bucket into her sleeve.

Her palms were covered in blood. The web between her thumb and forefinger, which had been split by the shock of taking the Heaven-Turning Seal head-on, was still seeping blood.

Chen Yuan looked down and saw those hands.

He reached out and covered them.

Yunxiao did not pull away.

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong, riding the Ink Kirin, took a look from above.

His Heavenly Eye slowly closed.

Without saying a word, he turned the Kirin around and headed toward the palace.

He also had to give an explanation to Emperor Yi.

Chen Yuan watched the black shadow recede, then retracted his gaze.

The Early Stage Grand Unity magic power circulated steadily in his Meridians, and the patterns on the Great Dao Golden Wheel were clear.

He knew that after tonight, everything had changed.

With the Chan Sect moving openly, Emperor Yi's suspicion would be pushed to the peak by this fight between Immortals.

He was no longer the Guardian Qilin who could hide in the shadows.

The chessboard had been brought to the table.

From now on, either he would play the pieces, or he would be eaten.

At the peak of Kunlun Mountain.

Yuanshi Tianzun's gaze crossed ten thousand miles, falling toward Zhaoge.

"Jie Sect, what a fine Jie Sect."

On Jinao Island, in the Biyou Palace.

Grandmaster Tongtian suddenly opened his eyes, the whisk in his hand snapping into two pieces.

"Second Brother, if you dare touch my Jie Sect Disciples again—"

He didn't finish.

But dark clouds surged above Jinao Island, and thunder rolled heavily through the cloud layers.

The final layer of ice between the two sects had cracked.