C602 Invisible Knife
The unexpected transformation within the Sword Prison sent a ripple of shock through all the malevolent magnates present. Lin Zhuyun, who had refrained from any hasty actions, gazed intently at the Sword Prison, her eyes a pair of icy orbs within the Frozen Flames.
The fragments that fell were Moon Souls. Yet, once they departed from the Sword Prison, these stones, once rich with lunar essence, lost all value, unable to draw any moonlight from the Star River's moon.
In essence, the fallen stones were utterly worthless.
A perilous aura enveloped the Sword Prison as it was being sculpted, deterring Lin Zhuyun from intervening even in the absence of any explicit prohibition. She opted to wait and watch how events would unfold.
"This..."
Loong Jie, Zhongli Dapan, Xi Quan, and the others were positioned around the gleaming Sword Prison, observing its transformations while also keeping an eye on Yu Yuan.
More precisely, they were fixated on the sword sheath that Yu Yuan clutched in his grasp. The sword light and sword's will, once confined within the Sword Prison, had been absorbed by the sheath as Yu Yuan delved into the swordsmanship secrets of the Moon Slayer cultivator.
The Sword Prison was being intricately etched by an unseen carver's hand... Who could be sculpting the Sword Prison with such divine craftsmanship, and from whence did the power originate?
They suspected that the concealed sword light and sword's will at the base of the sheath were the culprits behind the disturbances. Yet, upon closer inspection, no clues or signs were evident.
Yu Yuan, standing next to Zhan Yun, wore a look of bewilderment. He turned to face the subtly shifting Sword Prison, sensing a mysterious and ominous force brewing within, which also stirred a sense of unease in him.
"But, who else has yet to emerge?"
Zhongli Dapan of the Forgeroses bellowed, his voice resonating like a great bell, causing the very air to vibrate and inducing a faint pain in the ears of those around him.
He looked up at the snow-white robe suspended in the air, his hands slowly balling into fists. As he clenched his fists, the space around him twisted as if wrung by an invisible force, becoming a maelstrom of chaos and flashing lights.
With the ingestion of a pill, Zhongli Dapan's presence surged, his vigor returning as he prepared to unleash his formidable power, capable of shattering meteors with a single punch.
The mere act of clenching a fist subtly released an intent that twisted the very fabric of space, instilling a terrifying sensation as if time and space themselves were on the brink of chaos, with time reversing in a frightening manner.
"Who else is there?" Loong Jie inquired.
The little green snake made its way over to Zhao Yafu, Zhan Tianxiang, and the rest of the Shadow's Keep juniors. It coiled itself, head held high, its cold, sinister triangular eyes fixating on the figure in the long robe.
Yu Yuan took a moment to assess the situation.
Zhongli Dapan, Loong Jie, Xi Quan, Zhan Yun, the green snake, the fat old man in Skyreach Consortium attire, a senior from Binders of Shadows covered in Ghoul Glyphs, and a gaunt man exuding a deathly aura – he had encountered each of them before within the Sword Prison.
"Qi Hongyi?"
As he scanned the area, his gaze fell upon a solitary figure drifting at the rear of the Sword Prison, cradling a lute – the same enigmatic woman he had once seen in the Forgotten Ruins.
Qi Hongyi hung her head low, radiating an aura of profound sadness and loss.
A thought struck Yu Yuan, and he recalled a man he had seen in the Sword Prison, a master of melodies who played the lute with great skill. It all clicked into place.
He remembered the lute player as a man reduced to skin and bones, yet still exuding an air of effortless sophistication and charm.
Regrettably, the lute player's vitality had nearly run dry, a far cry from the likes of Loong Jie and Zhongli Dapan.
The fate of the lute player, who had not emerged, was self-evident.
Qi Hongyi must have been aware that among the eight who had survived the Sword Prison, someone had slain her master, bolstering their own strength with his meager vitality.
Despite this knowledge, she refrained from asking any questions at this juncture.
The reason was clear: after surviving the horrific slaughter within the Sword Prison, the eight who emerged had only regained a fraction of their power, and were still beyond her ability to confront.
In such a situation, to question them would be tantamount to seeking her own demise.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
The Sword Prison continued to crumble, stones flying in all directions. The once vague statues were now taking on distinct features, their faces emerging with clarity under the meticulous chisel work.
The statue's two heads faced them with a kind and compassionate expression, hands clasped in a spell that brought peace to the onlooker's mind. The three souls of heaven, earth, and man felt as if they were basking in the warmth of the sun, indescribably comforted.
On the reverse side of the Sword Prison, Qi Hongyi, who had been looking down, quietly lifted her gaze. She beheld the back of the statue, its face fierce and terrifying, exuding a destructive and extreme ruthlessness that seemed to assault her soul, as if she were being infected by the statue itself.
On the front, the statue's benevolent face appeared, and Yan Qiling, suspended in midair, was suddenly rocked by a massive tremor.
"Don't go to the back of the Sword Prison! Don't look at the face behind him!" Yan Qiling, recovering from the shock, suddenly remembered something and shouted a warning, "Everyone, stay away from his back! Don't look at the face behind him!"
The magnates from the Everlands all turned their attention to Yan Qiling.
"Who are you?" Zhongli Dapan of the Forgeroses scoffed, his massive fist raised, his intent enveloping Yan Qiling's portion of space. "You may be skilled in space magic and have escaped others, but here with me, it may not be so easy."
Yan Qiling suddenly found the space around him saturated with fist intent. The spatial patterns he once could sense and capture were now overwhelmed by Zhongli Dapan's presence. Strands of subtle and minuscule fist intent were stealthily infiltrating his body and soul, as if intending to bind him with the mere intent of a fist, rendering him immobile in that confined space.
Not to mention, he was already unable to employ his space magic to flee.
Zhongli Dapan, a practitioner of the "Ancient Echoes of the Void," was likely one of the few natural predators to people like Yan Qiling and the fat old man. The mantra, capable of slowing time and shattering space, would be a nightmare for Yan Qiling and the fat old man if wielded by Zhongli Dapan.
"There's another Forbidden Person who hasn't left the Sword Prison yet!" Yan Qiling inhaled deeply, pointing at the statue facing the group. He addressed the master of the place, "You must know him, right? You've drawn the Sword Prison into the Everlands and used your power to summon Yu Yuan here to aid their escape. Surely you didn't do it to see them die?"
Upon hearing those words, everyone's expressions shifted dramatically.
Loong Jie, Zhongli Dapan, Xi Quan, and the others were particularly unsettled by Yan Qiling's remarks, to the point where they began to question the master's intentions.
"What do you know?" Zhongli Dapan's fist, which had slightly relaxed, now tightened once more.
Crack!
The space around Yan Qiling began to compress wildly, distorting his body, face, and even his soul.
Above the Sword Prison, the master who had previously answered all questions and maintained control over the situation, now fell into a sudden silence.
His snow-white robe continued to flutter in the air, as if the soul that once inhabited it had momentarily departed.
The fat old man, clad in the worn garments of the Skyreach Consortium and wielding a horsetail whisk, looked at his disciple with confusion. "What's happening? Is he in the Godsblight Marsh?"
"I truly have no idea," the disciple responded.
"Qi Hongyi! What are you doing?"
Yu Yuan, observing Qi Hongyi, watched as the woman with a tragic past plucked the strings of her lute with force.
The music from the lute escalated into a rapid crescendo.
Qi Hongyi's gaze, filled with loathing, fell upon the gaunt man shrouded in death aura.
With a low chuckle, the man responded to Qi Hongyi with an air of indifference, "It doesn't make sense. We all left together; how can you be so certain that it was I who killed your master? But whether you know or not is irrelevant. I've killed your master, and what's to stop me from killing you?"
Whoosh!
He transformed into a stream of white smoke, stealthily drifting towards Qi Hongyi. "Ignorance would have been bliss, but now that you know, you can't be left alive. You'd only be a lingering threat, a nuisance."
"Don't go behind the Sword Prison!" Yan Qiling shrieked.
But the man paid him no heed.
