151: The secret realm is in turmoil, and the immortal lotus is in danger.
Ye Chen did not hesitate for a moment. He pointed his fingers like a sword, and a condensed Chaos Sword Aura shot out from his body, accurately striking an ordinary-looking patch of mud in the center of the pool. That was precisely the Formation node Su Miaojin had pointed out.
“Boom!”
As the sword qi sank in, it seemed as if something at the bottom of the pool had been triggered. The murky water began to swirl violently, forming a massive whirlpool. At the center of the whirlpool, a speck of emerald-green light gradually lit up and expanded rapidly, finally transforming into a stable light gate that radiated rich fluctuations of vitality.
“It worked!” A look of joy appeared on Su Miaojin's face.
“Let's go.” Ye Chen's Divine Sense swept over the surroundings, and after confirming there were no other ambushes, he grabbed Su Miaojin's wrist. With a flash of movement, the two of them dove into the emerald-green light gate together.
A slight sensation of spatial transition washed over them. In the next moment, the two of them were standing in another world.
Before them was no longer a deathly, murky swamp, but a valley full of life, with the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers. The sky was clear, and the Spiritual Qi was so abundant it had almost materialized, making every breath feel refreshing. The valley was filled with rare flowers and exotic plants, many of which were Spirit Medicine that had long since gone extinct in the outside world. At the very center of the valley was a small lake as clear as green jade. On an island in the middle of the lake, a lotus flower, jade-like and possessing nine orifices, was quietly blooming, emitting a hazy immortal radiance and a refreshing fragrance. It was the nine-orifice immortal lotus!
However, before the joy on Ye Chen and Su Miaojin's faces could fully spread, it suddenly froze.
On the shore of that jade-green lake, three figures were standing!
Two of them wore the same Witch Poison Sect attire as Wu Huan and the others, but their auras were deeper and more restrained; they were actually two Elders at the Peak Ninth Level of Disha Realm! They were fully exerting theirDark green Poison Fiend Protective Aura, which transformed into two massive ghostly hands that continuously struck a pale pink protective light shield made of countless flower petal phantoms surrounding the island in the lake.
Under the fierce assault of the two Peak ninth-layer experts, the light shield fluctuated violently, its light visibly dimming, appearing as though it would not be able to hold on much longer.
The third figure was a gloomy middle-aged man dressed in magnificent black robes. He did not strike, but merely stood with his hands behind his back, looking coldly at the immortal lotus in the center of the lake. The aura he faintly emitted was like a crouching Vicious Beast, restrained yet ready to strike, giving Ye Chen a sense of pressure even stronger than the Tiangang Realm expert from the Dark Hall he had faced before!
The Sect Master of the Witch Poison Sect, Wu Meng! A Tiangang Realm powerhouse! He had actually come in person!
“Father! It's them! They killed the Young Sect Master and the Left and Right Poison Envoys!” One of the Elders attacking the shield was startled by the sudden appearance of Ye Chen and Su Miaojin, and immediately shouted sharply.
Wu Meng slowly turned his head, his deep eyes locking onto Ye Chen like a venomous snake. A terrifying pressure, as heavy as a physical mountain, crashed down!
“At the Fourth Level of the Earth Fiend Realm, yet you could kill my son and the elites of my sect... You are very good.” Wu Meng's voice betrayed no emotion, but the killing intent within was bone-chillingly cold. “Hand over the Poison-warding treasure on your person, and then this seat will let you experience the pain of Ten Thousand Poisons Devouring the Heart, wailing for a hundred days before you die!”
Under this Tiangang Realm pressure, Su Miaojin's face turned pale, and she could barely stand, her eyes filled with despair. The Sect Master himself had arrived, along with two Peak Ninth Level Elders; this was an absolute dead end!
Ye Chen shielded Su Miaojin behind him, and his Chaos Domain naturally expanded, neutralizing most of the pressure. His gaze was calm, and his mind raced. Fighting head-on was definitely not an option; he had to use the environment!
His Divine Sense instantly swept through the entire Secret Realm and immediately discovered an anomaly. While the Secret Realm appeared peaceful, its core—the island in the lake and the nine-orifice immortal lotus—was faintly connected to the vitality of the entire Secret Realm. That pale pink protective light shield was not man-made, but was more like the power condensed by the Secret Realm itself to protect the core immortal lotus.
“This Secret Realm has a spirit; it is protecting itself!” Ye Chen realized instantly. The attacks from the two Witch Poison Sect members were not only destroying the shield but were also damaging the Origin of the Secret Realm!
“Miss Su, this Secret Realm's protection is one with the immortal lotus. Can you try to communicate with the Spirit of the Secret Realm and draw upon its power?” Ye Chen quickly sent a voice transmission to Su Miaojin.
Hearing this, Su Miaojin suppressed her fear and nodded hurriedly. “I'll try! The Hundred Flower Valley Legacy shares the same source as the Secret Realm; it might work!” She immediately sat cross-legged and formed hand seals. The pure Wood-attribute Protective Aura within her and the unique Mind-Cultivation Technique of the Hundred Flower Valley began to circulate, attempting to resonate with the surroundings, especially the island in the center of the lake.
“Stubborn!” Seeing that Ye Chen was not only unafraid but seemed to be plotting something, a cold glint flashed in Wu Meng's eyes as he lost his patience. He did not act himself, as in his eyes, Ye Chen was not worthy. He merely said coldly to the two Elders, “Break this tortoise shell first, then capture them.”
“Yes, Sect Master!”
The two Peak ninth-layer Elders obeyed the command, and their attacks grew more urgent. The dark green ghostly hands, carrying a poison fiend aura that could corrode anything, smashed frantically against the pale pink light shield.
“Crack...”
The light shield finally became overwhelmed and let out a crisp sound as cracks appeared on its surface!
At this critical moment, a soft emerald light suddenly lit up on Su Miaojin's body, creating a miraculous resonance with the vitality of the entire valley. The grass beneath her, the flowers around her, and even the water of the jade lake all shimmered with light.
“Buzz—!”
A power of vitality, far more majestic and grand than before, gathered from all directions of the Secret Realm and poured into the nearly shattered pale pink light shield! The cracks on the shield repaired themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye, and its light flared brilliantly, even rebounding a soft yet resilient force that sent the two Elders stumbling back!
“What?!” The two Elders were shocked.
Wu Meng's gaze also narrowed as he looked at Su Miaojin sitting on the ground with genuine attention for the first time. “A remnant of the Hundred Flower Valley can actually draw upon the power of the Secret Realm?”
However, forcibly drawing upon such a massive amount of the Secret Realm's power clearly came at a price for Su Miaojin. Her face instantly became translucent, a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, and her aura quickly withered.
“Now is the time!” A sharp light burst from Ye Chen's eyes! This was the opportunity he had been waiting for! When the power of the Secret Realm was drawn upon on such a large scale, it would inevitably create a momentary disturbance and opening!
He no longer hesitated. The chaos ancestral talisman deep within his Qi Sea trembled slightly, and a surge of Chaos Origin power, far purer and more vast than before, was drawn forth! He transformed into a streak of gray light, his target being neither Wu Meng nor the two Elders, but the nine-orifice immortal lotus in the center of the jade lake!
“Presumptuous!”
“Stop him!”
Wu Meng and the two Elders shouted in anger simultaneously. The two Elders reacted extremely quickly, abandoning the shield to strike from the left and right, their strongest poison technique killing moves blasting directly toward Ye Chen in mid-air!
“Yellow Springs Netherworld Palm!”
“Ten Thousand Poisons Bone-Eroding Claw!”
Two attacks, condensed with the full power of the Peak Ninth Level of Disha Realm and carrying destructive poison fiend Demonic Astral Power, blocked all of Ye Chen's paths forward.
Facing this certain-death situation, Ye Chen did not dodge. The guixu sword suddenly appeared in his hand, and Chaos currents surged across the blade at an unprecedented speed!
“Chaos Guixu — Heaven-Splitting Line!”
He poured in all his strength and unleashed his most powerful sword strike to date! The sword light was no longer gray but had transformed into a primal light that seemed capable of dividing the clear from the murky and carving out a world! Wherever the sword light passed, space seemed to be sliced open with a fine crack, and those two violent poison fiend attacks were actually split in two by this sword light, forcibly cleaved apart!
Like a fish in water, Ye Chen's figure zipped through the gap in the energy. His speed did not decrease but instead increased as he went straight for the nine-orifice immortal lotus!
“What gall!” Wu Meng was finally truly enraged. He hadn't expected Ye Chen to be able to burst forth with such power, nor had he expected the other's target to be so clear and decisive!
He took a step forward, as if shrinking the distance to a mere inch, instantly crossing dozens of feet to appear at Ye Chen's side! A withered palm reached out, its fingers wreathed in a poison fiend as black as ink that seemed capable of devouring all light—the Tiangang Poison Palm!
This palm contained the rule power of the Tiangang Realm and was incredibly fast. Even before the palm wind arrived, that terrifying poison fiend Concept already caused the Chaos Domain around Ye Chen to fluctuate violently!
There was no way to dodge!
Ye Chen's pupils constricted, and in the blink of an eye, he made a bold decision. He completely ignored Wu Meng's lethal palm strike, and the guixu sword continued its path, its tip pointing directly at the root of the nine-orifice immortal lotus! At the same time, the phantom of the chaos ancestral talisman flashed in his left palm, and a powerful suction force was suddenly generated, its target also being the immortal lotus!
He was going to forcibly take the immortal lotus before Wu Meng could strike him!
“You seek death!” The killing intent in Wu Meng's eyes surged as he increased his palm power by another thirty percent! He was going to crush this boy, who had repeatedly exceeded his expectations, along with his reckless greed, into fragments!
Just as the Tiangang Poison Palm was about to land on Ye Chen's back, and the tip of the guixu sword and the Chaos suction were about to touch the nine-orifice immortal lotus—
At the critical moment—
Another change occurred!
The quietly blooming nine-orifice immortal lotus seemed to sense the extreme danger. Its nine lotus orifices simultaneously sprayed out dazzling Seven-Colored Immortal Light! As if it had a mind of its own, one surge of light met Wu Meng's Tiangang Poison Palm, while another wrapped around Ye Chen's guixu sword and the Chaos suction!
“Boom!!!”
The immortal light and the poison palm collided, producing a deafening explosion. Wu Meng's figure was actually momentarily halted by that seemingly soft immortal light! Meanwhile, the immortal light that wrapped around Ye Chen carried an irresistible, gentle force. It was not an attack, but rather it enveloped his sword tip and left hand, giving a gentle tug!
Ye Chen felt a world-spinning force. The scene before him blurred instantly as space seemed to twist and fold... When he could see again, he found himself no longer above the jade lake but within a small, enclosed space composed entirely of seven-colored light. Before him, the nine-orifice immortal lotus floated quietly, its light slightly dimmed. Beneath the lotus, a mass of emerald-green Origin energy, so dense it could not be dispersed, was pulsing slowly like a heart, radiating endless vitality.
This is... the Secret Realm core? The immortal lotus actually pulled him into the Secret Realm's most fundamental protective space at the last moment?
Meanwhile, in the outside world.
Wu Meng dispersed the immortal light blocking his path with a single palm, only to find that Ye Chen and the nine-orifice immortal lotus had both vanished. The island in the lake was empty, leaving only the residual fluctuations of that dense Origin energy. As for Su Miaojin, she had collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.
“Space Shifting? No, it's the self-sealing of the Secret Realm core!” Wu Meng's face was terrifyingly grim. His powerful Divine Sense instantly enveloped the entire Secret Realm, but he could not penetrate the spatial barrier formed by the seven-colored light at all.
“Good! Very good! Then this seat shall destroy the Foundation of this Secret Realm and see how long you can hide!” In his fury, Wu Meng turned his gaze toward the unconscious Su Miaojin and this vibrant Secret Realm world.
The terrifying pressure of the Tiangang Realm, like a dark cloud covering the sky, enveloped the entire Hundred Flowers Secret Realm.