105: despair

"Revered Master, are you there? Revered Master, I can barely breathe, it's so uncomfortable. Where did you go? Speak to me..."

The moment the Yin and Yang Formation was broken, Xie Chen's calls continuously came from the sound transmission stone in Liu Yixue's hand.

For five full hours, Xie Chen, trapped in the underground coffin, suddenly lost contact with Liu Yixue. He immediately became anxious and kept shouting into the sound transmission stone.

Precisely then, the light from the firefly stone gradually dimmed, finally extinguishing completely, plunging him into darkness.

This made Xie Chen, whose mental state was already on the verge of collapse, even more terrified.

Fortunately, just as he was about to break down, the long-silent sound transmission stone finally rang.

"Chener, how are you?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Xie Chen's desire to survive reignited.

"Revered Master, where are you? Why haven't you contacted me for so long? Revered Master, I'm so uncomfortable, I can barely breathe!"

"Chener, don't be afraid. Revered Master was just trapped by a Formation. I'm right above you. I'll get you out now."

"Revered Master, please take me away from here quickly. I'm really on the verge of breaking down."

"Hold on, Revered Master will get you out right away. Just bear with it a little longer!"

With that, Liu Yixue immediately activated her spiritual power, leaped into the Void Realm, and struck down with a palm.

Boom—

A single strike from the Primordial Chaos Realm directly stirred up a ten-thousand-foot wave of sand and mud beneath her feet.

After the dust settled, Liu Yixue's eyes lit up.

Amidst the swirling dust, a stone coffin lay quietly in the mud.

"Chener, you're saved."

Liu Yixue was overjoyed, landing directly on the stone coffin and pushing the lid with all her might.

However, the coffin lid, which she thought she could easily push open, was as heavy as ten thousand jun and could not be moved in the slightest.

"Hmm?"

Liu Yixue pondered for a moment, carefully examining the coffin.

Around the coffin, a faint blue light shimmered.

"Another Formation technique, Shen Lian, you truly are a devil!"

Liu Yixue cursed inwardly, then patted the coffin and shouted inside, "Chener, are you in there?"

Soon, Xie Chen's voice came from inside the coffin: "Revered Master, I'm here. Why haven't you come to save me yet? I feel like I'm suffocating, it's so uncomfortable!"

"Hold on, Chener, I'll get you out right away."

Looking at the time, with less than an hour remaining until the twelve-hour limit, Liu Yixue decided not to waste any more time and planned to forcibly break the technique with her cultivation.

"Ice Spirit Art: Ice Dragon Assaulting Heaven!"

With a palm strike, a materialized frost Dragon Qi descended from the sky, landing heavily on the coffin.

Boom—

With a loud bang, the coffin lid exploded open.

"Chener!"

Before the dust could clear, Liu Yixue jumped directly into the coffin, eager to rescue Xie Chen.

However, when she saw the scene inside the coffin, an unprecedented sense of despair immediately welled up in her heart.

At this moment, lying inside the coffin was not the Xie Chen she had been yearning for, but... a sound transmission stone.

Just then, the sound transmission stone glowed, and then Xie Chen's voice came from the sound transmission stone in her hand.

"Revered Master, where are you? I heard a big commotion just now, was that you?"

"Revered Master, why aren't you speaking? Speak up!"

"Revered Master! Speak up! What's going on?!"

Liu Yixue felt her body go limp, collapsing in front of the sound transmission stone, tremblingly reaching out her right hand to grasp it.

"Ah..."

But the moment she picked up the sound transmission stone, Star Dao Totems immediately appeared around the coffin.

The next moment, Xie Chen's agonizing scream came from within the sound transmission stone.

"Revered Master! This is bad! A technique has activated in the coffin, my spiritual power, it's all being drained away, ah, it hurts so much!"

Liu Yixue's pupils immediately constricted, and she hurriedly asked, "Chener, what happened?!"

"Revered Master... it hurts so much... Revered Master... my... ah... my flesh and blood are melting... ah..."

Immediately after, agonizing screams emanated from the sound transmission stone. The shrill wails made Liu Yixue's heart tremble.

"Where are you, Revered Master? Why... why haven't you come to save me?"

Liu Yixue finally understood that this was Shen Lian's trick.

From the very beginning, he never intended for her to rescue Xie Chen. She was simply too anxious and was misled by the belief that Xie Chen only had twelve hours to live.

She hadn't considered that even if Xie Chen were buried alive, with his cultivation, he wouldn't die if he was trapped for ten days or half a month.

But Shen Lian deliberately used psychological suggestion to guide her to this sound transmission stone. Firstly, to tell her that the medium for communicating with Xie Chen was through this sound transmission stone, and his actual body was not here.

Secondly, he wanted to use her hands to personally kill her fiancé.

This sound transmission stone was the key to activating the technique that would suppress and kill Xie Chen, yet she had picked it up herself.

Thinking of all this, Liu Yixue finally broke down.

She cried out to the sound transmission stone, tears streaming down her face: "Chener, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. This Revered Master was wrong, I can't save you!"

"Ah——"

A heart-wrenching roar came from within the sound transmission stone.

"Chener! Oh, Chener!"

Liu Yixue, helpless, could only hold the sound transmission stone and shout loudly.

The next moment, there was no more sound from the sound transmission stone.

And deep within Liu Yixue's Divine Sense, she clearly felt Xie Chen's life soul... shattered.

"Chener!"

Liu Yixue gripped the sound transmission stone tightly, tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks like a broken dam.

A moment later, her eyes were bloodshot, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "Chener, rest assured, this Revered Master will personally kill the culprit and avenge you!"

With that, she stood up and looked in the direction of Guyue Peak.

"Shen Lian! I will make you pay with your life for Chener!"

Meanwhile, in the Tianji Pavilion, Old Man Tianji looked bewildered as Xie Chen's Luck fate plate shattered into pieces.

"No, this cannot continue. This unexpected change must be nipped in the bud. One Son of Destiny is dead, and one is crippled. The remaining ones cannot be allowed to suffer any more mishaps!"

Just as Old Man Tianji was about to summon his Disciples to eliminate this unsettling factor, the scene before him suddenly changed.

The next moment, he found himself at the peak of a mountain range.

Before Old Man Tianji, a child was diligently planting unknown wild flowers.

The moment he saw the child, Old Man Tianji immediately knelt down reverently: "Greetings, Heavenly Dao!"

Hearing this, the child revealed a strange smile: "You must be very troubled right now, aren't you?"

Old Man Tianji: "Heavenly Dao, please forgive me. This Disciple failed to look after the Son of Destiny. I beg the Heavenly Dao to punish me."

The child extended a finger: "No need. That person is not someone you can target. To get rid of him, special means are required."

Old Man Tianji: "Please, Heavenly Dao, grant your instructions."

The child: "Deep within the Ice and Snow Sect's Forbidden Ground, there is an ice phoenix statue. Release the person sealed within it. Only she can counterbalance that person's existence."

Old Man Tianji was puzzled: "May I ask the Heavenly Dao, who is within that ice phoenix statue? Why have I never heard of them?"

"That is not for you to ask. Just follow the instructions." The child stood up and dusted the dirt from his hands. "After all, she is also an old acquaintance of mine."

"Yes!"

Old Man Tianji responded, and his figure was immediately sent out of the illusion space.

Once the person left, the System's mouth curved into an even more sinister smile.

"host, I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of sparks will fly between you and my former host. This System eagerly awaits, hahahaha."