Tidal Bay, inside the Black Moon Grand Array.

The Ten Thousand Souls Banner sealed off all external auras and, together with the Black Moon Grand Array, created a bizarre space.

Jiang Zhi unleashed his Sword Domain [Killing], each strike earth-shattering, yet the outside world was none the wiser.

And for now, he was also unable to sense anything happening outside.

“This Evil Banner and this grand array are truly strange.” His eyes narrowed, the baleful aura and killing intent radiating from him growing heavier.

The Black Moon Sect Leader had brazenly admitted that he was only stalling for time.

So, he must have other aims.

Clearly, something else must be happening outside!

Jiang Zhi changed his approach, trying first to break open this space and return to Tidal Bay.

But his thoughts were, of course, immediately seen through by the bronze-masked man.

The playful glint in the Black Moon Sect Leader’s eyes grew stronger.

“Jiang Zhi, if I hadn’t prepared thoroughly, why would I have come to stop you?”

“This Ten Thousand Souls Banner is one of the three supreme treasures of the Kunlun Sect, nurtured by a Venerable Divinity Transformation for a thousand years.”

“You should know, without the suppression of Power of Origin, a Divinity Transformation Powerhouse is an existence transcending your Profound Yellow Nine Realms!”

“With a Divinity Transformation Immortal Treasure in hand, coupled with this Black Moon Grand Array, it’s no trouble to trap you for half an hour.”

“In your Daoist Sect, aside from you, little Junior Martial Uncle, the strongest are just Eighth Realm.”

“These Eighth Realm folks don’t have your terrifying combat power.”

“And they don’t possess the Power of Origin, either.”

“I’ve already sent the Vice Sect Leader with the Six Paths Banner Spirit—pairing the Ten Thousand Souls Banner’s Child Banners, whether it’s your Sect Leader or any Elder, none of them can stop him.”

Jiang Zhi’s killing intent surged even higher at these words.

He had a rough measure of those juniors’ power in his heart.

If those at Eighth Realm were to go down the mountain, he didn’t believe Six Paths Banner Spirit could threaten their lives.

Even if they were outmatched, they could still ensure their own safety.

But if it was those Seventh Realms, or even someone like Chu Yinyin at Sixth Realm…

“Only Shen Man is capable of self-preservation, the rest are dead for sure!” Jiang Zhi made a split-second judgment in his heart.

And this Black Moon Sect Leader—was he attacking his mind, or did he have some other goal?

He directly described the outside situation to the oblivious Jiang Zhi.

“Oh? It’s started over there.”

“Turns out your Law Enforcement Elder, Great Cultivator Lu Pan of the Eighth Realm, is the one who’s come.” The eyes visible outside the mask still carried a trace of a smile.

But the Jiang Zhi standing opposite him suddenly ceased his attempt to break the space and instead slashed once more at him.

The Black Moon Sect Leader immediately fended off the blow with a Banner Spirit.

“Hm? You don’t seem concerned about Lu Pan?”

A sneer appeared on Jiang Zhi’s face: “Our Daoist Sect’s Eighth Realm elders are not creatures you evil cultivators can fathom! Those pitiful Six Paths Banner Spirits and whatever damn Child Banners you throw at him, they can’t hold him!”

As long as Lu Pan wished to leave, it would be no hard feat.

But the Black Moon Sect Leader’s next words made this Daoist Junior Martial Uncle’s heart clench in an instant.

“But what if I told you… Chu Huaixu is there too?”

“You and I both know, at our Eighth Realm level, that brat in his paltry Third Realm cultivation—his life or death is decided with a single thought.”

“Slightest movement, and he perishes, just like that.”

“And, with him are two more Daoist Sect direct disciples at Third Realm.”

“Lu Pan can definitely protect himself, but what does he have to shield all three?”

“If even a sliver of power slips past his grasp, if just a hint escapes the fingers, those three will turn to dust, vanish utterly.”

“Banner Spirits are different from you cultivators. They’re far deadlier, far more unpredictable!”

“Why don’t we make a bet—what choice will Lu Pan make?”

“Will he first spirit away the juniors before taking on an Eighth Realm enemy and six Peak Eighth Realm plus Nascent Soul Stage Perfection Banner Spirits alone, or will he risk everything to escape with all three?”

“Oh, and by the way—I forgot to mention: there’s also a Yin Vein there. It’s a huge boon to Banner Spirits.”

Each word Jiang Zhi heard sank his heart lower.

He knew: where the Yin Vein lay was likely Guanghan Cliff.

That was already some distance from the Daoist Sect.

But with the speed of Xiang Yan and the others, reinforcement could arrive within half a stick of incense.

But Jiang Zhi didn’t take the opposition for fools.

They were plotting with full forethought, definitely with meticulous planning and arrangements.

If he could be isolated in this freakish space, then any means of communication on Lu Pan’s end would definitely be disrupted.

Guanghan Cliff was hundreds of li from the Daoist Sect; not even divine sense could reach or cover that far.

With a bit of cover, the sect wouldn’t sense any disturbance from so far away.

Most crucially, Jiang Zhi just knew Lu Pan too well.

“He would never let Chu Huaixu and the others bear even a sliver of risk.”

“He would always choose, for their sake, the safest route.”

The three of them—too special. Two, the prophesied saviors from the Daoist Ancestor’s Proverbs; one, everyone’s only hope of reversing doom.

So special Lu Pan would never think, just because he’s Eighth Realm, that his life outweighs theirs.

With his disposition, he’d have made a decision in the blink of an eye, wouldn’t he?

As expected.

The Black Moon Sect Leader continued: “Oh? He chose to send the three juniors away, moving them clear of the Yin Vein’s range, and now blocks the way alone.”

“I really don’t understand why he would choose the most meaningless path.”

“Could it be… Because the Vice Sect Leader only summoned three Banner Spirits, so he thought he still had a fighting chance?”

“But there are six Banner Spirits, and each one’s Realm surpasses his.”

“The difference in strength is overwhelming, and with the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in their hands—”

“This way, he won’t last thirty breaths.”

“After thirty breaths, Chu Huaixu and the others will still have no way out in the heavens or the earth!”

“Why bother?”

Jiang Zhi’s expression grew colder and colder.

But his heart… only quieted further and further.

So quiet it was like falling into a dead, deathly silence!

“You’re saying you gave him six Banner Spirits?” He suddenly spoke.

“Of course. I do have to face you, after all—if I sent off too many, I wouldn’t be able to stall you.”

“So, just six Banner Spirits for him.” Jiang Zhi said again, but now there was something different in his words’ subtext and implication.

It actually made the eyes behind that bronze mask freeze over.

Jiang Zhi spoke out: “Then you may not have time to clean up your Vice Sect Leader’s body.”

As for Lu Pan….

As his Junior Martial Uncle, Jiang Zhi could already guess his fate.

Jiang Zhi’s temples began to throb in agony, his head pounding sharper and sharper.

Again! It’s happening again!!!

The next instant, his gaze turned a bloodshot red.

An overwhelming Evil Qi erupted about his whole body.

Within the Sword Domain [Killing], the resentful spirits behind him—those who’d tried dragging him into human purgatory—yanked him right in.

Or rather, he went in willingly.

The bronze-masked man instantly spoke up: “Fallen into Demon?”

“Fallen into Demon!”

“Hahaha! The dignified Junior Martial Uncle of one of the Four Great Orthodox Sects, and you degrade yourself, falling into the Demon Dao! Ha—hahahahaha!”

The Black Moon Sect Leader laughed delightedly.

But his hands didn’t pause for a second—in a hurry, he summoned every single Banner Spirit from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in one breath.

Suddenly, a cacophony of ghostly wails burst forth in the space.

Banner Spirits were endlessly cut down, while Jiang Zhi seemed utterly consumed by madness and demonization.

Then, a few breaths later, the bronze-masked man, though unscathed, suddenly spat a mouthful of dark, blood-red blood that sizzled with sinister black smoke as it hit the ground, corroding the floor.

“The Child Banner is destroyed!” His face showed utter disbelief.

“Impossible, impossible!”

“Unless there’s Power of Origin, even a Peak Eighth Realm should have died!”

And all of this happened almost too fast.

That Lu Pan—how could he have made such a self-sacrificing decision so quickly!

“To hold his own life in such contempt!!”

“It’s outrageous!”

…

…

In the dense forest a hundred li from Guanghan Cliff, Chu Huaixu gazed at the floating Jade Scroll and a Token inscribed with the Law Character, his face sinking darker and darker.

“Why?”

“Why??”

Everything happened too fast, everything was too abrupt.

On Earth, he’d often seen one particular advertisement—something like: ‘You never know which comes first, tomorrow or accident.’

He’d also often read the news; some great figure passing away suddenly, even inexplicably, and shooting to the top of the trending topics.

But Lu Pan was Eighth Realm.

A titan standing at the very peak of the Cultivation Realm’s pyramid.

He just couldn’t understand—how could Lu Pan, in such a short time, settle on a life-for-life exchange?

“What was it for?”

Chu Huaixu wasn’t even… particularly close to this master.

Among the Daoist Sect upper echelon, Lu Pan was the one he’d dealt with least.

Yet inside, his emotions tangled, his face black, his breathing heavy.

He couldn’t grasp it.

It all made Lu Pan’s fall seem so senseless, so unreasonable.

“Is it just that I can’t judge the situation over there? Is it worse than I could ever imagine?”

“Or is there something else?”

The difference in Realm was so great, he had no way to know what the Vice Sect Leader’s power was, or the Banner Spirits’ Realm.

It made no sense, just no sense at all!

From a player’s perspective, even he couldn’t accept such a sudden, trash-tier plot twist death.

What the hell is this shit?!

And he hadn’t thought of this as a mere game for a long time now.

What left him even more lost: “Lu Pan shouldn’t have died here.”

Before Chu Huaixu transmigrated, that Law Enforcement Elder was still alive and well in Borrowed Sword.

Among the Daoist upper echelon, the only one who’d died in the plot he’d experienced was his First Master, Shen Man!

As the Profound Yellow Realm’s greatest “Variable,” Chu Huaixu suddenly began to grasp…what it meant to be a variable!

When destiny’s tracks shift, some things change for the better, and some, perhaps, for the worse.

He suddenly recalled back up the mountain—Jiang Zhi’s relentless pressure and the meaning hinted at in his words.

——”Can you bear these karmic consequences?”

…..

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep