Chapter 21: The Lock Immortal Array

Gu Chang’an moved almost instantaneously.

Yet, Shen Zhaoqing seemed to stumble over an unseen stone, or perhaps like one who had drunk too much, her body unexpectedly lurched to the left, tilting entirely sideways.

“Holy crap!”

“Whoosh—!”

The deadly Violet Luan Silk, narrowly missing her back, shot past harmlessly and buried itself into the distant ground without stirring a single speck of dust.

The entire sequence was both incredibly swift and utterly bizarre.

To any observer, it would have appeared as if Shen Zhaoqing had simply lost her footing and stumbled, coincidentally evading a catastrophic strike.

Only Li Ruan’yan, however, knew the truth: it was no coincidence.

The instant the Violet Luan Silk approached within three feet of Shen Zhaoqing, a faint, almost imperceptible mist, carrying a subtle scent of wine, materialized. With a gentle swirl, it caused her Violet Luan Silk to lose its precise lock.

‘Drunken Concealment Art’!

Shen Zhaoqing was drenched in a cold sweat at that moment.

In that split second, without a thought, she had instinctively activated the only life-saving cultivation technique she knew. She hadn’t understood what was happening, only feeling her body lighten as she ‘floated’ away.

The smile on Li Ruan’yan’s face froze completely.

‘How is this possible?!’

‘How could a Qi Condensation stage disciple dodge her Violet Luan Silk?!’

‘What was that wine mist…?’

It wasn’t just her; Gu Chang’an and Li Wuxia, who were closest to Shen Zhaoqing, also sensed the fleeting, strange fluctuation.

A sharp glint appeared in Gu Chang’an’s almond eyes, and her gaze towards Li Ruan’yan lost all trace of courtesy.

Ning Jihe’s brows furrowed deeply. She, too, had felt it; that power didn’t seem to belong to any orthodox cultivation method she knew, yet… it wasn’t a demonic art either.

‘How many secrets does this Shen Zhaoqing truly hide?!’

“Madam Li,” Gu Chang’an’s voice was so cold it seemed to drop shards of ice, “You had best explain what that was just now.”

Li Ruan’yan’s heart jolted, but her face instantly regained its composed smile.

“Immortal Gu must be joking,” she replied. “Ruan’yan merely wished to apprehend her own rebellious child. Perhaps Junior Sister Shen was simply too nervous and slipped.”

“So you’re the only one who can twist facts, huh?”

Shen Zhaoqing grumbled from behind. Although she still didn’t understand how she had dodged the attack, recalling it now filled her with lingering fear.

The last vestige of pretense finally vanished from Li Ruan’yan’s eyes.

‘Since the sneak attack failed, then… a direct seizure?’

She cast a sharp glance towards a hidden direction outside the valley, signaling with her eyes.

****

The next second—

“Hahahaha! Madam Li, your efficiency leaves much to be desired!”

A boisterous, arrogant, and bandit-like laugh, like a clap of thunder, echoed through the valley.

Immediately after, dozens of figures, like predatory wolves bursting from the woods, emerged from the dense forest on all sides, completely blocking the exit of the Myriad Beasts Valley.

The leader, with disheveled hair like an owl, a face covered in scars, and a blood-stained saber with a ghost-head hilt resting on his shoulder, was none other than Qu Hanpo, the Great Chieftain of Black Wind Fortress!

“Black Wind Fortress!” The Qingyun Sect disciples present instantly erupted into chaos, while the elders’ faces turned ashen.

It was one thing for Ling Shuangjue to have stealthily sabotaged the sect’s defense system last time, but no one had anticipated that the elite forces of the Li family and the hardened bandits of Black Wind Fortress would appear simultaneously on Qingyun Sect territory!

And by the looks of it… they were clearly working together.

Ning Jihe’s face instantly turned livid.

Even if she were a fool, she now understood she had been used as a pawn.

The Qinghe Li family was colluding with demonic cultivators, intending to commit nefarious acts on the day of the Qingyun Sect Grand Competition!

“Li Ruan’yan!” Ning Jihe’s voice was laced with towering fury. “How dare you!!”

Hearing this, Li Ruan’yan merely covered her lips with a light laugh, all traces of her previous deference gone. “Chief Ning, you speak incorrectly. A wise bird chooses its tree to nest in. It’s time for the Qingyun Sect, this great tree, to find a new master.”

Her true colors revealed, she finally shed all pretense.

“Chieftain Qu,” she said indifferently to Qu Hanpo, not even sparing Ning Jihe another glance, “The person is right there. Capture her, and our previously agreed-upon terms will be doubled.”

“Alright!”

Qu Hanpo sneered, his greedy gaze, like a venomous snake, locked onto Shen Zhaoqing amidst the crowd.

“Little disciple, we meet again!” He licked his chapped lips. “Last time, you were lucky and managed to escape, but today…” Qu Hanpo surveyed the surrounding people.

In this moment, the situation completely reversed. The internal conflict between Gu Chang’an and Ning Jihe instantly transformed into the Qingyun Sect’s confrontation with an external enemy.

But it was too late.

Since Li Ruan’yan and Qu Hanpo dared to make their move today, how could they not have made thorough preparations?

“Immortal Gu, Chief Ning, you are both mighty cultivators of the Void Refinement Realm. We are naturally no match for you,” Li Ruan’yan said with a smiling face, though her eyes were filled with cold calculation. “Therefore, for the sake of fairness, we must ask you two… to rest for a while.”

The moment her words fell, Qu Hanpo abruptly pulled a palm-sized, ancient formation disk, riddled with cracks, from his bosom and smashed it onto the ground.

“A treasure of the Great Yan Dynasty, rise for me!”

“Ohm—!!!!” An incredibly deep hum resonated throughout heaven and earth.

Centered around that shattered formation disk, black light screens, visible to the naked eye and composed of countless profound runes, shot skyward. They converged at their apex, forming a colossal, inverted bowl that completely enveloped the entire Myriad Beasts Valley.

The Lock Immortal Array!

A replica!

The instant the grand array activated, a suffocating, heavy pressure descended from the sky.

Every cultivator present felt the invisible connection between themselves and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth being ruthlessly severed, as if by a pair of scissors, with a sharp “snip!”

‘Spiritual energy, gone?’

No, not gone, but ‘locked away’!

It was still there, yet they simply couldn’t sense it, couldn’t mobilize it, couldn’t draw even a trace.

“Pfft!”

A weaker inner sect disciple immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, their face ashen like paper. Their true essence instantly ran wild, then rapidly depleted.

“My true essence… my true essence is disappearing!”

“What’s happening?! I can’t use my spells!”

Panic spread among the Qingyun Sect disciples like a plague.

And the first to bear the brunt were Gu Chang’an and Ning Jihe!

“Boom!”

Gu Chang’an’s vast Skyfrost Sword Domain, the moment the Lock Immortal Array activated, was like a punctured balloon. It let out a mournful wail, shattering inch by inch, transforming into countless specks of light that vanished into nothingness.

Her face paled, and the hand gripping her Frostbright Sword couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

Upon the high platform, Ning Jihe’s situation was even worse.

The Pure Discipline Heart Lock was built upon the spiritual ley lines of the entire Myriad Beasts Valley. With the Lock Immortal Array activated, her energy supply was directly severed.

The towering giant sword, formed from disciplinary runes, let out a mournful cry and disintegrated with a crash.

Ning Jihe was struck as if by lightning, her body convulsing violently, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.

‘The Lock Immortal Array!’

‘A legendary forbidden military array, developed by the Great Yan Dynasty, who poured all their national resources into it to combat cultivators!’

‘Once this array is deployed, all magic is silenced, and even immortals and gods cannot escape.’

‘The Qinghe Li family actually managed to acquire something like this?!’

“Hahahaha! Immortal maidens, how do you feel now? Without spiritual energy, how will you fight me?”

Qu Hanpo looked at the immortal sect disciples, who usually held their heads high, now all ashen-faced. He couldn’t help but let out a hearty, joyful laugh. With his ghost-head saber on his shoulder, he slowly advanced into the arena.

Behind him, the hardened bandits of Black Wind Fortress and the elite cultivators of the Li family also revealed sinister smiles, slowly closing in like a pack of wolves.

Shen Zhaoqing felt herself on the verge of suffocation.

The pressure felt as if it would crush her bones.

Strangely, however, compared to the complete ‘disconnection’ from the world that Gu Chang’an and the others experienced, she felt more of a discomfort. It was like a fish accustomed to swimming in water suddenly being thrown into thick syrup: movement was difficult, breathing was obstructed, but it wasn’t immediately fatal.

Although the spiritual energy within her was almost entirely suppressed and unable to circulate, it still emitted a faint spark of vitality, protecting her heart meridians.

Yet, this could not change her impending fate of becoming ‘a turtle in a jar.’

Li Ruan’yan, with graceful steps, walked before her and looked down at her. “Miss Shen, now, are you willing to come with me?”