249: Chapter 249 The Unwavering Determination of the Azure Sea's Crimson Light

Chapter 249: Cangming Chiguang's Certainty. Cangming Chiguang's voice echoed in the courtyard, carrying an unquestionable dominance.

Around the courtyard walls, the black-robed guards of the Cangming Clan gripped the long sabers at their waists in unison. The runes on the blades lit up one by one, and their dark green, cold light merged into a solid sheet, sealing the entire courtyard airtight.

The fluctuations of spiritual energy surging from all directions were firmly locked within these hundred feet by the Profound Ice Spirit-Locking Formation, with not even a single trace escaping.

The air seemed to solidify, pressing down so heavily that it made one's chest feel tight.

Cangming Wujian stood atop the courtyard wall, his hands still holding a hand seal as his spiritual energy poured continuously into the formation's core, maintaining its operation.

He looked down at the green-robed figure in the courtyard, a barely perceptible flicker of burning desire flashing in his eyes.

Two Quasi-Emperor Realm Puppets, one Lesser Spring-Autumn Secret Realm, and dozens of Heaven And Earth Treasures of the Saint Realm or above—

These were enough to drive any power mad.

And now, these things lay right on the Cangming Clan's territory, easily within reach.

"Venerable Qingyuan," Cangming Wujian's voice drifted in from outside the formation, slightly steadier than before but carrying an irrepressible hint of elation. "Hand over all the treasures on your person, and our Cangming Clan can still spare your life. Otherwise... vast as the Northern Plains may be, there will be no place for you to hide."

Cangming Chiguang stood at the very front with his hands behind his back. His eyes, glowing with a silvery-white light, gazed indifferently at Shen Qingyuan, as if looking at prey already caught in a net.

"Venerable Qingyuan, hand over the Lesser Spring-Autumn Secret Realm."

He paused, a meaningful smile appearing on his withered face. "If you stubbornly refuse to comply, then do not blame us for being ruthless."

With a thought, he manipulated the Puppets, releasing a wave of Quasi-Emperor Realm pressure that enveloped Shen Qingyuan.

"You... how can you be so shameless!" Jiang Li's face flushed with anger. Pointing right at Cangming Wujian's nose on the courtyard wall, she scolded, "Brother Qingyuan gave you so many spiritual materials and even lent you the Lesser Spring-Autumn Secret Realm to refine the Puppets. Yet you turn around and try to murder him for his treasures! And you call yourselves a ten-thousand-year-old clan—you are worse than a demonic sect!"

Cangming Wujian frowned slightly but did not reply.

His gaze passed over Jiang Li and landed on Shen Qingyuan, clearly not sparing a single thought for this little girl from the Chiyan Divine Palace.

Yet from beginning to end, Shen Qingyuan had not moved an inch.

He still stood lazily in the courtyard with his hands tucked inside his sleeves.

Raising his half-drooped eyes, he swept his gaze over the three Saint King Old Ancestors, and then around the black-robed guards surrounding the courtyard walls.

"Are you finished?"

These two casually spoken words fell into the courtyard like a pebble dropped into a cold pool, rippling outward in an invisible wave.

Even Jiang Li was stunned. She blinked her almond eyes and turned to look at Shen Qingyuan.

Shen Qingyuan did not look at Cangming Chiguang. He merely tilted his head slightly and looked up at the two Quasi-Emperor Realm Puppets in the sky.

The massive bodies of the Nether Mystic Snake and the Golden-Winged Peng still hovered in mid-air, runes flowing across their entire frames, their auras as steady as mountains.

Most of the scars left by the nine heavenly thunders earlier had already healed under the light rain of heaven and earth's gift. At this moment, the pressure radiated by the two Puppets was enough to make it difficult for any Cultivator below the Saint King Realm to even stand.

"Do you think that just because you blocked the nine Lightning Tribulations and handled the refining process, these two Puppets belong to you?" Shen Qingyuan withdrew his gaze, his tone remaining calm. "Or do you think that a single Profound Ice Spirit-Locking Formation, plus three Saint King Realms, is enough to keep me here?"

Cangming Chiguang's brow twitched imperceptibly.

The youth before him was far too calm.

So calm that the certainty of victory in his heart suddenly became somewhat shaky.

But he quickly suppressed that strange feeling, chalking it up to his own illusion.

He was a powerhouse at the Peak of the Saint King Realm, with two other Saint King Realm experts by his side. Coupled with this Profound Ice Spirit-Locking Formation that sealed Spiritual Qi and suppressed cultivation, even if a Quasi-Emperor personally arrived, they would have to expend some effort to escape.

Not to mention they also had two Quasi-Emperor Realm Puppets.

For this youth to turn the tables, he would have to be a living Great Emperor!

But was that possible?

Absolutely impossible!

There were no Great Emperors in this world!

"I only spoke these extra words with you out of respect for your title as a Venerable." Cangming Chiguang's voice turned cold, a grim killing intent surfacing in his silvery-white eyes. "Since you refuse to see reason, then do not blame me."

He suddenly flipped his withered fingers, and two silvery-white threads of spiritual energy shot out from his fingertips, sinking precisely into the two Quasi-Emperor Realm Puppets in the sky.

"Buzz—!"

The Nether Mystic Snake Puppet and the Golden-Winged Peng Puppet opened their eyes at the same time—one deep blue like deep-sea ice, the other crimson-gold like molten lava under a blazing sun.

The two waves of Quasi-Emperor Realm pressure poured down from high above like physical torrents, cracking the bluestones in the courtyard inch by inch and sending shattered ice flying.

The entire Beiming City could feel that heart-palpitating pressure.

On the streets, those Cultivators who had not yet recovered from the lingering fear of the Heavenly Tribulation turned pale once more. Some even slumped directly to the ground, trembling all over.

"This... Has the Cangming Clan truly gained control over Quasi-Emperor level Puppets?"

"It's over... The Northern Plains is about to undergo a massive upheaval!"

"Who is that person in the courtyard? To think they actually provoked the Cangming Clan into deploying two Quasi-Emperor Puppets at once?!"

In the distance, the various powerhouses observing in secret could no longer sit still. They flew out of their hiding spots one after another, yet none dared to draw near, only daring to watch from afar.

Controlling the two Puppets, Cangming Chiguang condensed the Quasi-Emperor pressure into two invisible giant palms, slamming them down toward Shen Qingyuan.

"Venerable Qingyuan, I will give you one last chance—hand over the Lesser Spring-Autumn Secret Realm, and I can leave you with an intact corpse."

His voice was ice-cold, brimming with killing intent.

Around the courtyard walls, the elite guards of the Cangming Clan also drew their sabers. Under the amplification of the Profound Ice Spirit-Locking Formation, the runes on the blades released a terrifyingly cold light, sealing the entire courtyard like an iron bucket.

However—Shen Qingyuan moved.

His hands remained tucked in his sleeves as he simply took a step forward with his right foot.

A casual step, landing on the cracked bluestone.

"Boom—!"

An extremely muffled boom resounded, like the heart of an ancient beast suddenly throbbing between heaven and earth.

At this instant, the ground of the entire Beiming City shook violently. The runes of the city-protecting formation flashed frantically before instantly bursting into countless cracks.

The massive body of the Nether Mystic Snake Puppet was thrown backward as if struck head-on by an invisible mountain. It rolled repeatedly through the air, crashed through the roofs of two side halls, and dragged a trench several hundred feet long before barely coming to a halt.

The Golden-Winged Peng Puppet was blasted so hard that both its wings fractured. Broken crimson-gold feathers rained down from the sky like a storm, and its entire body was pinned into the stone wall of the ancestral land in the deepest part of the Cangming estate, smashing out a massive crater.

Within the courtyard, the Profound Ice Spirit-Locking Formation that covered a hundred feet shattered with a resounding crash at this very instant!

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