The barrier across the door was already showing signs of imminent collapse.
Even though Gu Luolin’s spiritual power stabilized it, and even though she’d condensed the Dao Heart of Wind, she had a hard time sustaining the barrier in the face of two imperial lord’s relentless series of attacks.
“I can’t go. If I leave, they’ll come inside.” Gu Luolin scrunched up her lips and faced away from the tunnel. “Take this opportunity, while I can still hold them off, to hurry inside. I’m not at all interested in transcendence. Once you’re inside, even if they get in, I’ll just tell them who my parents are. There’s no way they’ll dare touch me.”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Outside, Yuchi Kong and Huangfu Youming’s attacks showed no signs of weakening. In just the past few breaths of time, their attacks seemed to grow even more vicious.
Gu Luolin bitterly maintained the barrier, but her attempts already weren’t having much effect. The barrier would give soon.
“Hurry inside!”
“You’re going to tell them about your parents? Aren’t you afraid to die?” Ye ZIchen roared. “Did you forget what I told you earlier? Do you really think bringing up your seniors at a time like this will help you?”
“If nothing else, I’m your senior!” Gu Luolin suddenly raised her head and laughed. “You’re my nephew. It’s my job to protect you, hee hee…. I’m right this time, aren’t I?”
Then, she turned away and poured all her strength into maintaining the barrier against the imperial lords.
On Gu Luolin’s face, that pure smile was utterly radiant. For a moment, the look in her eyes left Ye Zichen stunned.
He didn’t say anything, and since Gu Luolin wasn’t paying attention to what was happening behind her, she thought he’d already left.
“I’m finally acting as a senior ought to!” Gu Luolin thought to herself, until suddenly, she took a chop to the back of the neck. She turned around just in time to see Ye Zichen smile.
“You…”
“Little girl, I, Ye Zichen, haven’t fallen so far as to leave you behind. Besides, you’re your family’s little princess. If anything goes wrong, aren’t your parents sure to crush my Upheaval Alliance.
Ye Zichen bent at the waist and picked Gu Luolin up, then walked up to the tunnel.
Gou Monan was severely injured, but he still held onto a thread of consciousness. When Ye Zichen carried Gu Luolin over, he struggled to clear a path.
“Here’s some healing medicine.” Ye Zichen placed Gu Luolin into the tunnel, then set several bottles onto the stairs.
“Brother Ye, you…”
“I’m not going down. The tunnel won’t close on its own for at least another hour, but if someone uses the Dao of the Five Elements from the outside, they can close it in an instant. If I don’t stay behind to close the door for you, even if we go down, Yuchi Kong and Huangfu Youming will just follow us.” Ye Zichen suddenly stopped, then glnaced at Gou Monan, his eyes carrying a hint of profound meaning. “The barrier is about to break. I’ll entrust Gu Luolin to your care. Brother Monan, you ought to understand what I’m getting at when I say that, right?”
“Brother Ye….”
“Take good care of her! You know her background!” Ye Zichen suddenly turned around, then pressed his palm against the scroll once more.
Without an infusion of spiritual power to sustain it, the cracks on the barrier were even more obvious. The power of the five elements activated in Ye Zichen’s fist, and, just like he said, the secret tunnel closed at a pace visible even to the naked eye.
Boom!
The barrier protecting the door finally couldn’t hold out any longer. It shattered in the face of the two imperial lords’ joint attack.
They rushed in like frenzied demons just in time to see the door to the secret passage close.
“A secret tunnel!” Yuchi Kong and Huangfu Youming stepped up to the tunnel in a flash, only to watch, eyes reddening, as it closed completely.
“You’re one step too late!” Ye Zichen chuckled. After seeing Gu Luolin into the tunnel, his heart finally relaxed.
Now that she was inside…
She ought to be safe!
Ye Zichen leaned against the wall, then squatted against the ground, taking in the red-eyed elders. Repeatedly calling upon the Dao of the Five Elements had drained Ye Zichen quite a bit even though he hadn’t released their power.
Ye Zichen just leaned there, as if he couldn’t see the two elders, and took spiritual recovery medicines.
“Kid, you know how to open the secret passage. If you don’t want to die…”
“I don’t want to die.” Ye Zichen smiled and looked at the two of them. “Who would be so bored as to want to die? Besides, I’ve got pretty wives waiting for me back home, and all that property to my name. Of course I don’t want to die!”
“Then tell us how to open the secret passage!” Huangfu Youming roared frantically.
“Even if I tell you, you can’t open it. What’s the point?” Ye Zichen pursed his lips.
“It seems you’ve chosen death!” Huangfu Youming was just about to smack Ye Zichen when Yuchi Kong held him back.
“You’ve really got gall. A petty little ruler like you dares talk to the two of us like that? You ought to be that Alliance Head Ye Zhou Wu’s been gnashing his teeth over.”
“To think the two of you had heard my humble name! That’s right! I’m Ye Zichen.” Ye Zichen didn’t hide it. He looked at the pair of them, then said, “If I’m not mistaken, you’re Yuchi Kong and Huangfu Youming, Zhou Wu’s loyal dogs who bite whoever he tells them to bite. But it’s strange: why aren’t such loyal hounds at their master’s side? I heard that he isn’t fated to transcend and couldn’t enter the mausoleum. Does that mean he let you go in without him?”
“Brat, it seems you really don’t know the meaning of the word ‘death’!” Huangfu Youming roared in fury.
“Brother Huangfu, calm down.” Yuchi Kong, who’d been so covetous just seconds before, actually calmed down. He held back the explosive Huangfu Youming, then looked at Ye Zichen in delight. “Alliance Head Ye, you perhaps don’t know this, but we’re no longer Zhou Wu’s subordinates!”
“Is that so? Zhou Wu sure is pitiful. He spared no expense cultivating four subordinate factions, but the Bai Family’s been exterminated, while you two turned against him. It seems only the Shen Family remains,” said Ye Zichen. “But then, that’s not surprising. One look at you and its clear you’re the untrustworthy type. I know Zhou Wu isn’t fated to transcend, yet here you are. It would be stranger if you had remained loyal to him!”
“Yuchi, out of my way!” Huangfu Youming’s aura instantly burst forth, his explosive presence creating several currents of spiritual energy in the somewhat cramped room.
Crouching in the corner, Ye Zichen’s expression went solemn. If he weren’t mistaken, this Huangfu Youming was a bit stronger than even Xuan Ji.
This was just his spiritual pressure, but Ye Zichen already found it hard to take.
But Ye Zichen wasn’t the least bit scared. He was completely certain that the two of them dared not kill him, or at least, they couldn’t bear to!
Only he knew the way to open the secret passage, so the imperial lords were still hoping to use him to get inside.
“Brother Huangfu, don’t be impulsive!” Yuchi Kong sent his companion a divine sense transmission. “This kid knows how to open the secret passage. If we kill him, even if we can solve the riddle, it’ll take quite a bit of time. We caused quite the commotion just now, and others should be here any minute now. We don’t have time to waste solving this puzzle ourselves.”
“So what? If others show up, we can just kill them!” Huangfu Youming snorted, his eyes red with fury.
Although he, Huangfu Youming, had never occupied his own Divine Mountain, he was a true blue imperial lord, in no way inferior to the masters of the Holy Lands. Even the great emperors of the Divine Mountains had to be polite to him. Why should he let some pipsqueak who’d only just barely become a ruler insult him like this?
All he wanted to do now was kill Ye Zichen and vent his fury. As for solving the formation…
When they came in, they saw the location of the secret tunnel. Taking a look at the room’s layout, it was obvious that the key was the blank scroll.
He’d lived a long, long time, and had been to his share of hidden lands.
He’d long since grown accustomed to these sorts of hidden doors. Given a little time, he dared guarantee he could solve this riddle too.
As for the others who’d entered the palace…
Imperial kings were beneath his notice, and even if Xue Yang and the others came, if he joined forces with Yuchi Kong, they could hold their own.
The way he saw it, the only one who could cause them any real trouble was the Divine Arbiter, who was proficient in the Grand Dao of Space.
“Brother Huangfu, don’t forget: the Demon Emperor is here too.” When Yuchi Kong transmitted this, Huangfu Youming’s expression froze. They’d yet to encounter the Demon Emperor, so he’d almost overlooked his presence here.
If the Demon Emperor showed up, he and Yuchi Kong really would struggle to fight him off.
“Then you ask him. But let me say this first: if that pipsqueak says anything else offensive, I’ll obliterate him even if you try and stop me!” Huangfu Youming snorted, swung his arms, and walked up to the blank painting to contemplate its mysteries.
It was always best to have a backup plan; he’d always done things this way.
The pressure in the room dispersed, and Ye Zichen finally took a few deep breaths. The full brunt of the pressure hadn’t lasted long, but Ye Zichen was already drenched in sweat.
Imperial lords were imperial lords. Even though Ye Zichen had interacted with imperial lords on numerous occasions, that didn’t mean his cultivation was any match for them!
It was a pity, though; Ye Zichen had already used up all of his diviine-grade recovery medicine, so he only had ordinary spiritual recovery pills left. Unfortunately, their effects weren’t great, so despite all the pills he’d taken, he’d recovered less than thirty percent of his energy.
Yuchi Kong and Huangfu Ming saw him taking the pills, but they chose to ignore it.
The way they saw it, even if Ye Zichen returned to his peak condition, if they wanted to squish him to death, it would be as easy as turning over their hands.
“Alliance Head Ye!”
“Clan Head Yuchi, have you any advice for me?” Ye Zichen smiled.
“You ought to know full well that you can’t possibly escape from us. If we wanted to kill you, it would be as easy as could be,” said Yuchi Kong, staring coldly at Ye Zichen. “So what need was there to provoke us?”
“That’s not necessarily the case?”
“Is the Yao-Sealing Pagoda the source of your confidence?” Yuchi Kong chuckled. “It’s true that the Yao-Sealing Pagoda’s defenses are rather decent, but against me and Old Brother Huangfu, it won’t necessarily hold up!”
“That so?”
“Alliance Head Ye, there’s no need for doubt. You cannot imagine the abilities of an imperial lord!”
“Then what would you have me do?”
“Tell us how to open the secret passage. Once we go inside, close the door after us. I know you know how to open and close it; just now, we both saw you.” Yuchi Kong laughed. “If you persist, you’ll die. I can hold back Brother Huangfu’s temper once more time, but I can’t hold him back forever. I trust you know what’s good for you.”
“Not necessarily?” Ye Zichen suddenly grinned, and in a flash, a massive bow appeared. “Stay were you are and don’t move. Hands above your heads and crouch down against the wall!”
