180: Chapter 180 Is Xu Ruyu Going to Fight Xiao Nianyin? The Jade Pendant Makes a Strange Move at a Critical Moment

"But Soul-Falling Cliff..." Hua Xunhuan's eyes filled with tears. "That place, even a Golden Core Cultivator cannot last five years!"

Qingyan is only at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment; if she goes in for ten years, won't she be worn to death inside?!"

"Then that depends on her luck." Xiao Nianyin's voice did not waver at all. "Colluding with external enemies is already a capital offense."

"I have only sentenced her to ten years of imprisonment out of consideration for our fellow discipleship, dealing with her leniently."

"Sect Master!" Hua Xunhuan knelt in the Void Realm with a thud, her voice shrill. "Senior Sister begs you!"

"I only have Qingyan as my one Personal Disciple!"

"For the sake of our hundred years of fellow discipleship, please spare her this once!"

"I am willing to guarantee with my position as an Elder that I will strictly supervise her in the future, and she will never offend again!"

Xiao Nianyin looked at the Senior Sister kneeling before her, and a flicker of emotion finally flashed in her eyes.

But that flicker was gone in an instant, replaced by a deeper coldness and determination.

"Fifth Senior Sister, please rise," she said slowly. "Major matters of the Sect cannot be swayed by personal feelings."

"If I spare Qingyan today, more people will trample upon the Sect's laws tomorrow."

"In this matter—my mind is made up."

She no longer looked at Hua Xunhuan, but turned to the direction of the Law Enforcement Hall: "Law Enforcement Elder, why haven't you acted yet?"

Two expressionless Law Enforcement Elders dressed in black robes flew out, each holding a pitch-black chain.

The chains were covered in Restriction runes; they were the "Spirit-Sealing Locks" specifically used to imprison Cultivators.

"No! I'm not going to Soul-Falling Cliff!"

Zhao Yan roared, fire spiritual energy erupting from his body, actually trying to forcibly break through the Spirit-Locking Great Array's suppression!

But he had already consumed most of his spiritual energy while watching the battle, and now he was suppressed by the Spirit-Locking Great Array, with not even one-tenth of his cultivation remaining.

The two Law Enforcement Elders were both at Late Golden Core Stage cultivation, and the Spirit-Sealing Locks in their hands were Magical Artifacts specifically designed to restrain spiritual energy.

With a flash of black light, the two chains coiled up like venomous snakes, instantly binding Zhao Yan tightly!

"Seal!"

A Law Enforcement Elder shouted low, the runes on the chains lit up, and the fire spiritual energy erupting from Zhao Yan's body was extinguished instantly, as if doused with a bucket of ice water!

He groaned, his face pale as paper, unable to move anymore.

"Senior Brother Zhao!"

Qingyan cried out and tried to rush over, but was easily bound by another chain.

Ning Caihe gripped his long sword, a struggle flashing in his eyes, but ultimately he did not resist—he knew that resistance would only make the outcome worse.

Leng Ningshuang did not move from beginning to end.

She just knelt there quietly, like a statue that had lost its Soul. When the Spirit-Sealing Lock wrapped around her body, she didn't even look up at Xiao Nianyin.

The four were bound and taken to the center of the Law Execution Platform.

Xiao Nianyin floated in the air, looking down at them, her voice spreading throughout the field: "From this day forth, Leng Ningshuang, Zhao Yan, Ning Caihe, and Qingyan are imprisoned in Soul-Falling Cliff. Without my personal order, no one is allowed to visit.

After the ten-year period is up, if they are still alive, they may return to the Sect."

"Take them away."

The two Law Enforcement Elders bowed and took the order, escorting the four as they turned into two streaks of black light, speeding toward the back mountain.

Hua Xunhuan knelt in the air, watching the direction where Qingyan was taken away, tears falling silently.

She opened her mouth, but in the end, said nothing, only hanging her head in dejection.

The other Elders who were familiar with Zhao Yan and Ning Caihe also had complex expressions, but no one dared to speak up for mercy—they all saw that Xiao Nianyin was determined to establish her authority today and completely eliminate all unstable factors.

Whoever stood out now would be the next target.

After dealing with those who "colluded with external enemies," Xiao Nianyin's gaze finally landed back on Xu Ruyu.

That gaze was cold as a blade, with killing intent as tangible as substance.

"As for you, Xu Ruyu," Xiao Nianyin spoke slowly, every word sounding as if it were fished out of an ice cellar, "a spy of the Netherworld Sect, stealing our Sect's supreme Legacy, you deserve ten thousand deaths."

"I will give you one last chance—hand over the complete Legacy of the One Sword of Emotional Heaven and cripple your own cultivation, and I can leave you an intact corpse and let your Soul return to your hometown."

Xu Ruyu looked up and met that gaze.

Soul return to hometown? Heh!

He suddenly smiled, a smile without fear or anger, only a kind of calm that had seen through everything.

"Xiao Nianyin," Xu Ruyu called her by name for the first time, his voice carrying a calmness that even Xiao Nianyin found unexpected, "do you really think those lies you made up can deceive everyone?"

Xiao Nianyin's pupils shrank slightly.

"What Netherworld Sect spy, what stealing Legacy Jade Slips..." Xu Ruyu shook his head, "It's just an excuse you fabricated to cover up what happened in Ningyin Hall that night, so you could kill me legitimately."

"Presumptuous!" an Elder shouted, "How dare you call the Sect Master by her name and slander her!"

Xu Ruyu ignored the Elder's scolding; his gaze pierced through the cold air and fixed directly on the ice-blue figure standing in the air.

"You want the One Sword of Emotional Heaven?" Xu Ruyu spoke slowly, his voice unusually calm, yet exceptionally clear on this deathly silent Law Execution Platform, "Fine.

But a small person like me, who is less than an ant in your eyes, doesn't have the habit of dying on my knees.

If you want it, come and take it yourself!

Just like how you actively crawled onto my bed in Ningyin Hall every night!"

At this point, how could Xu Ruyu have any more scruples?

You think that by deleting everyone's memories, you can hide this matter?

Hmph, since you, Xiao Nianyin, want me dead so badly, why should I give a damn about face?

So what if you're a Saint Realm Expert? Just do it. Death is just a head hitting the ground; eighteen years later, I'll be another man who makes you beg for mercy between your legs!"

Thinking this, Xu Ruyu slowly raised his right hand.

He pressed his index and middle fingers together into a sword finger gesture, a movement as simple as a child just beginning to learn the Dao of the sword.

However, at that very moment—

At his chest, the jade pendant the Little Girl had casually given him suddenly became intensely hot!

That heat did not come from the outside but emerged from deep within the jade pendant, like a long-dormant volcano suddenly awakening, with lava surging and roaring beneath the rock layers!

A gentle yet resilient warm current, centered on the jade pendant, instantly swept through every inch of Xu Ruyu's Meridians and every Acupoint!

"This is..."

Xu Ruyu's pupils shrank slightly.

He suddenly remembered the words Fairy Qing Tian said when she gave him the jade pendant before he left the Ancient Hall of Love and Heaven—"This jade has been with me for many years, and it contains a wisp of my Natal Sword Intent.

If you encounter a life-or-death crisis, it might protect a sliver of your chance for survival."

At that time, he only took it as a Senior's gift and expectation, but he never thought that this "wisp of Natal Sword Intent" would be triggered at this time and place, in this way!

The heat of the jade pendant grew more and more intense, almost burning through his clothes.

Xu Ruyu could feel that the Sword Qi within the jade pendant, which had been silent for three hundred years, was like a hibernating Dragon, slowly opening its eyes.

At the same time, the aura around him began to undergo a strange change.

The Taixu True Qi, which had been suppressed to a near standstill by the Spirit-Locking Great Array, was at this moment injected with some kind of "lubricant" and "catalyst," and its circulation speed suddenly increased by more than thirty percent!

More importantly, the circulation path of the True Qi underwent a subtle adjustment—it was no longer simply resisting the Formation's seal, but cleverly following the gaps in the Formation's spiritual energy flow to penetrate and detour, like the most astute fisherman finding those hidden slow-current zones in a surging torrent!

The cultivation characteristics of the "True Explanation of Taixu Source Energy" were stimulated to the maximum extent.