Free Web NovelChapter 30: 30. The Separation
We descended silently, dropping like specters through the final layer of petrified branches until we reached the floor of a massive, sunken crater.
The ground here was made of smooth, obsidian-like stone, completely devoid of the rotting vegetation that plagued the rest of the forest.
Standing perfectly still in the dead center of the crater was Ye Chen.
He looked entirely different from the humiliated, broken boy who had been forced to his knees in the Grand Assembly Hall.
His posture was rigid, his jaw clenched tight, and a faint, golden spiritual light pulsed from the ancient ring on his right index finger. He held a complex, glowing jade map plate in his left hand, his eyes locked dead onto my descending form.
He was absolutely alone. There was not a single trace of the foul, pink and black miasma that had previously clung to his demonic companion.
"Lu Jianxiao," Ye Chen said, his voice echoing against the crater walls. He forced his tone to remain steady, though the sheer venom bubbling beneath his words was palpable.
"You actually came in person. I assumed you would send your Vanguard hounds to do the dirty work."
Mushuang drew her heavy silver broadsword with a sharp, metallic ring, her face twisting into a sneer of absolute disgust.
"You dare speak my father’s name directly, you filthy, outer-sect mongrel? I should have severed your tongue the moment you stepped onto the staging plateau."
Ning Xi and Ning Xuan mirrored her aggression instantly. Their spiritual swords ignited with azure flames, their bodies tensing like coiled vipers ready to strike the boy down for his sheer disrespect.
I simply smiled, a cold, empty gesture that did not reach my eyes. I slowly touched down onto the obsidian floor, raising a single hand to halt my daughter and the twins.
"Peace, Mushuang," I commanded smoothly, my voice carrying a heavy, echoing resonance that caused the ambient spiritual energy in the crater to tremble. I looked back at the fated rat, my hands resting lazily behind my back.
"We have a temporary arrangement, do we not? You hold the complete map to the innermost vaults of this pocket dimension, and I possess the absolute power required to shatter the ancient guardians blocking the path. A mutually beneficial team-up."
Ye Chen gritted his teeth, his grip tightening on the glowing jade plate. He was playing a very dangerous game, relying entirely on his belief that my supreme arrogance would blind me to his underlying plot.
He needed my raw peak Nascent Soul power to clear the outer defenses, just as much as he needed to lure me into the perfect kill zone.
"The map points directly to the central treasury and the suppression pendant," Ye Chen replied, his eyes narrowing as he calculated his next move.
"As long as we follow this path, we bypass the major spatial rifts. But I expect my fair share of the primordial elixirs once we breach the vault."
"Naturally," I lied smoothly, the corners of my lips curling up into a predatory smirk. "Lead the way, Ye Chen. Do not keep the treasures waiting."
Seeing no other choice but to play his part in this fragile, venomous alliance, Ye Chen turned around and began marching down the shadowy, damp path leading out of the crater.
We followed him at a leisurely pace, completely unbothered by the heavy atmosphere, both sides silently waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
As Ye Chen guided us through the twisting, narrow pathways of the subterranean ruins, the walls transitioned from rough volcanic stone to carved jade panels depicting ancient, forgotten battles.
Thanks to the glowing map in his hands and the mysterious spirit residing in his ring, he flawlessly disarmed several invisible array traps that would have otherwise triggered massive cave-ins.
Soon, the dark road culminated in front of a massive, heavy bronze door etched with glowing, blood-red suppression runes.
This was the gateway to the innermost sanctum, the exact location where the locket and the true treasures were sealed.
Standing before the heavy door, Ye Chen kept his back turned toward us, pretending to study the complex locking mechanism.
However, his thoughts had already descended into absolute darkness. The memories of his secret pact with the old demonic Daoist flashed vividly behind his eyes, the sickening deal resurfacing in his mind.
The foul, rotting voice of Old Ancestor Yin Ghost seemed to echo in his ears from their discussion just hours prior:
"I will help you kill him, but the girls are mine to be taken."
At the time, Ye Chen had not hesitated for a single second, responding with eager, desperate malice:
"You can take the twins. I need only his daughter, Lu Mushuang."
Staring at the ancient carvings on the heavy door, a repulsive, lewd smile slowly spread across Ye Chen’s face.
He was completely lost in his own mind, his shoulders trembling with a sickening thrill as his disgusting intentions bled right into his expression.
’After Jianxiao dies, I will break his arrogant daughter first, Ye Chen thought, his heart pounding with a mixture of excitement and twisted vengeance.
Then, I will use his ruined daughter to blackmail his pristine, untouchable wife, Leng Qingxue. I will force the Ice Queen to her knees, using her own flesh and blood to get her, until she belongs to me entirely.’
He took a deep breath to steady his ragged breathing, oblivious to how glaringly obvious his hidden malice had become.
’Oh, Jianxiao, just look at that disgusting creature’s face,’ Lucy’s voice purred in the recesses of my mind, dripping with a mature, slow heat that vibrated with dark amusement.
’He thinks he is hiding his intentions so well, but that vile, lewd little smile gives everything away. He is standing by that heavy door, practically drooling as he imagines whatever filthy, desperate plot he has lined up for you and the girls.’
’Let him indulge in his delusions a moment longer, Lucy,’ I thought back, my eyes locking onto his trembling shoulders with absolute ice.
’The higher a rat climbs on his tower of hope, the more spectacular the crash when I pull the foundation out from beneath his feet.’
The heavy bronze door groaned as Ye Chen channeled a burst of his golden spiritual energy into the central locking rune. Slowly, the massive slab of ancient metal receded into the stone ceiling, revealing the true heart of the inner sanctum.
The atmosphere inside changed instantly. We stepped into a vast, subterranean chamber that felt less like a room and more like an enclosed stellar void.
Unstable ribbons of gray spatial energy snaked across the floor, and ancient, towering obsidian pillars stretched into an artificial sky filled with floating, glowing script.
The air was bone-chillingly cold, saturated with a heavy, suffocating pressure left behind by a long-dead Sovereign. It was a place where physical laws felt brittle, and the smell of ancient iron and decaying arrays hung thick in the air.
Ye Chen walked several paces ahead, his eyes gleaming as he reached a central altar glowing with a sinister, crimson light.
"The vault is open," he muttered, his voice echoing through the vast void. Then, before Mushuang could even step forward, his expression twisted into a manic grin.
He slammed his glowing jade map plate directly into a hidden indentation on the altar. "But it closes for you, Lu Jianxiao!"
A violent, deafening roar shattered the silence of the chamber. The smooth obsidian floor fractured instantly as a blinding pillar of white light erupted from the altar, activating a hidden, high-grade spatial isolation array.
The moment the spatial energy turned volatile, threatening to tear the flesh from anyone nearby, a sudden shift occurred.
Despite being mere Foundation Establishment cultivators who should have been paralyzed by the terrifying spatial pressure, Ning Xi and Ning Xuan moved with terrifying speed.
They did not flee, nor did they freeze in terror. Instead, they lunged backward, crossing their azure-flamed swords right in front of me.
Their brown hair whipped wildly in the chaotic gales as they formed a desperate, defensive wall with their own bodies, completely determined to take the brunt of any incoming spatial blades to protect me.
I watched their immediate, unhesitating sacrifice, a deep, protective satisfaction settling in my chest. With a casual wave of my sleeve, my peak Nascent Soul energy flared, expanding into an absolute barrier that perfectly shielded them from the crushing pressure.
I refused to let any harm come to them, as they were uniquely mine, the twins I had personally rescued from the frozen streets so long ago.
At the same moment, a massive phantom guardian clad in crumbling bronze armor materialized near our left flank, swinging a colossal rusted halberd.
"Insolent rat!" Mushuang roared, her attention instantly drawn to the attacking phantom rather than the shifting floor. She leaped into the air, her heavy silver broadsword clashing against the halberd in a shower of sparks.
That split-second distraction was exactly what the array needed. Before Mushuang could fall back to my side, the spatial isolation barrier completely crystallized.
A series of massive, shimmering walls of distorted space slammed down across the chamber, tearing the fabric of the room apart and forcefully pulling each of us into entirely separate, isolated sectors of the subterranean labyrinth.
In a completely different, dimly lit corridor of the shifting vault, Ye Chen hit the stone floor hard, coughing up a small splatter of blood from the sudden spatial displacement.
He quickly picked himself up, his eyes burning with an unhinged, predatory excitement.
The ancient array had worked perfectly. Lu Jianxiao was now entirely isolated, cut off from his daughter and his guards.
"Time to collect my prize," Ye Chen muttered, a disgusting, lewd grin returning to his face.
He closed his eyes, focusing on the faint, unique spiritual resonance of the locket ahead.
He knew Mushuang had been separated nearby, and without her father’s terrifying presence to protect her, she was entirely at his mercy. He began navigating the dark corridors, eagerly searching for the MC’s daughter.
But he needed to ensure the apex predator was dealt with before the man could break through the isolation walls.
Reaching into his robes, Ye Chen pulled out a rare, blood-red Sound Transmitting Soul Jade, a taboo communication relic given to him by his hidden accomplice.
With a vicious squeeze, he shattered the jade piece. A pulse of foul, pink and black miasma seeped from the fragments, establishing a direct spiritual link across the spatial barriers to contact the old Daoist.
"Old Ancestor, the trap is sprung," Ye Chen whispered frantically into the dissolving smoke, feeding the exact coordinates of Lu Jianxiao’s isolated chamber through the connection.
"Lu Jianxiao is completely trapped in the western sector. Go, slaughter him while he is vulnerable. You’ll find the twins alongside with him."
Meanwhile, the chaotic currents of the isolation array deposited me and the twin sisters into a completely hidden, sealed chamber deep within the subterranean labyrinth.
Unlike the cold, shifting void of the main sanctum, this room resembled a long-forgotten sanctuary of forbidden knowledge.
Towering, ancient wooden shelves lined the walls, packed tightly with thousands of crumbling books, glowing jade slips, and dusty leather scrolls that had not been touched for millennia.
I stood calmly in the center of the room, my dark hair falling perfectly into place as I extended my perception.
Flaunting my peak Nascent Soul cultivation, I unleashed a massive wave of Divine Sense, attempting to scan through the perimeter of the room to locate Mushuang and the rats outside.
My spiritual pressure slammed against the walls like a localized hurricane, but the ancient masonry simply pulsed with a faint violet light. The array effortlessly absorbed my power, entirely blocking my sight and confining my awareness to the four corners of the room.
’It is no use trying to force your way out with your current output, dear,’ Lucy spoke up in my mind, her tone carrying a rare note of analytical gravity.
’This archive is locked down by a Sovereign-grade sealing matrix. The spatial density is simply too absolute. To shatter these walls and perceive what is happening outside, your current power is insufficient. You need to breakthrough from the Peak Nascent Soul realm to the Early Spirit Severing Realm.’
I withdrew my Divine Sense, my expression remaining entirely unbothered by the restriction.
Turning around, my eyes fell upon the twin sisters as they slowly pushed themselves up from the stone floor, their breaths coming in shallow, ragged gasps.
The violent spatial gales that had dragged us into this chamber had taken a severe toll on their attire.
The polished steel plate of their armor was heavily cracked and warped, and their form-fitting dark combat clothes underneath were shredded in numerous scandalous places.
Large strips of smooth, pale skin, the elegant curves of their waists, and glimpses of forbidden, intimate places were laid entirely bare to my eyes.
As I scanned their ruined clothes and the vulnerable, flush complexions of the two girls, a sudden, dark heat flared down low in my abdomen.
The tantalizing sight of my fanatical property being exposed in such a state instantly aroused my primal desires, firmly erecting my shaft beneath my dark robes.
Ning Xi and Ning Xuan looked up, notice my intense, predatory gaze, and instantly blushed a deep crimson. Yet, true to their fanatical bond scores, their eyes held no fear, only a feverish, melting submission as they crawled closer to my boots.
A cold, calculating smile spread across my face as the perfect solution crystallized in my mind. They were full of pure, unrefined yin energy, cultivated alongside my daughter using the finest resources of the Myriad Sovereign Sect.
Dual cultivation. By completely claiming the twins right here among the ancient scrolls, I could utilize their unyielding devotion and pristine yin essence to forcefully shatter my bottleneck.
I would indulge in their absolute submission, take care of my personal assets, and achieve the breakthrough to the Spirit Severing Realm all at once. Once my power ascended, the old Daoist and the fated rat would find out exactly what happens when you trap a god.
