Chapter 1667: Backstab

“Hahaha... do you think we would carry out a heist without an escape plan?”

The thieves weren’t afraid in the slightest, however. Every single one of them summoned a crimson gold feather into their hand and waved at the cloudy air in front of them.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

A bird-headed, deer-bodied Stranger with a pair of crimson gold wings burst into existence behind each thief’s back. Then, the Stranger flapped their wings and summoned a powerful gust of wind that dispelled the Heaven Deceiving Art Sealing Cloud Qi.

“The feather of a Fei Lian?!”

The owner paled greatly when he saw this.

Fei Lian was an ancient wind deity of legends. It had a bird’s head and a deer’s body. Its voice sounded like the clang of metal or jade. When it flapped its wings, it could summon a gust of divine wind that could topple a mountain, dry a river, or scatter the clouds.

It was the perfect counter to the Heaven Deceiving Art Sealing Cloud Qi.

However, the Fei Lian had gone extinct a long time ago. Where on earth did they manage to procure its feathers? It wasn’t just one feather either.

One thing for certain, this was definitely a premeditated robbery. First, they managed to steal the treasures of the Celestial Market On A Cloud without triggering its restrictions. It would have branded them and expelled them from the market immediately. Now, they used the feather of a Fei Lian to dispel the Heaven Deceiving Art Sealing Cloud Qi. It was clear that they were extremely familiar with the security mechanisms of the Celestial Market On A Cloud and had planned this for a very long time.

This was not the time to be thinking about this, however. The thieves were going to escape at any moment. Truly angered, the owner summoned the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp above his head.

Boom!

The next moment, he channeled its full power and filled the entire sky with clear light. Demon Burning Divine Flame immediately spread throughout heaven and earth.

“Argh!”

The escaping thieves burst into flames, and bloodcurdling screams broke out of their lips.

If they were ordinary warriors, the flame might have burned their body and mind into dust in an instant.

However, everyone here was on the Sage-stage. These thieves in particular were no ordinary Sages either. They were able to resist its power with their respective techniques.

It wasn’t easy though. The Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp was exceedingly terrifying. The owner was channeling his full power as well. Forget extinguishing the fire, they could just barely resist it. The clear light was sealing the surrounding space and preventing them from leaving as well.

“Argh! I surrender!”

In just a few breaths, two weaker Sages had already burned into ash. Not even a wisp of consciousness was able to escape.

The owner paid no heed to the thieves’ pleading. Although he preferred harmony over violence, now wasn’t the time to be making compromises or expounding kindness. Now was the time to set an example.

If he did not kill these thieves in dominant fashion and set an example for everyone to see, the fame they had accumulated across the years might be ruined right here and now. It would be impossible to ensure that no one else would emulate these thieves and try to rob the Celestial Market On A Cloud. They might not be able to do any business anymore.

So, the Demon Burning Divine Flame grew even stronger.

The four thieves were already at a disadvantage to begin with, and now they were on the brink of annihilation.

“As expected of the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp. What power.”

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

On the ground, Ye Qing watched as the owner threatened to kill four Sages in a row with the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp. He could not help but sigh in admiration.

He hadn’t seen the owner using the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp to repel the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heavenly Demon earlier, so he did not know how powerful it was. Now, he could tell that it was truly terrifying. With just the power of one Strange Artifact, the owner was six Sages at the same time. In fact, he had killed two of them.

Of course, it was mostly because the six Sages were trash despite their cultivation level.

STill, in terms of potency alone, the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp was on the same level as the Heavens’ Mirror, the Natural Five Phases Flags, the Clear Sky Mirror, the Xuanyuan Sword and more.

But of course, those Strange Artifacts didn’t just boast offensive power. They could protect a state and safeguard the Will of the Empire as well. This was something the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp could not do.

Ye Qing did not compare the Earthly Sovereign Bell to the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp because he knew that the Earthly Sovereign Bell was inferior—at least in its current state. Although it was now an Ancient-class Strange Artifact, it still hadn’t retrieved its origin power. Naturally, it was no match for the other top-ranked Ancient-class Strange Artifacts on the Strange Artifact Register.

“Huh? Is he...”

It was at this moment Ye Qing noticed an old man.

The old man was a guest warrior of the Celestial Market On The Cloud. He was working with the others to suppress the old corpse.

This wasn’t important though. What was important was that he was exuding malice and killing intent.

Malice and killing intent seemed appropriate in this situation, but they were directed at the owner. That was obviously inappropriate.

To be fair to the old man, he hid his malice and killing intent very well. On the surface, it did not look like anything was wrong. Practically no one besides him had sensed the old man’s true thoughts. In fact, he probably would not have discovered anything amiss had he not completed the “Paranirmitavaśavartin Heavenly Demon Treasure Edict”, created the Profound Yellow Heaven of Freedom, and dramatically improved his yang god and demonic thought. His demonic thought was most adept at sensing and controlling a person’s emotions. That was why he could sense their heartfelt hatred, defiance and bloodthirst toward the owner.

I see. It was an inside job!

Ye Qing immediately figured out the truth. It made sense. If there wasn’t a traitor, then there was no way these thieves would be so familiar with the Celestial Market On A Cloud’s mechanisms and well prepared against it.

Meanwhile, the old man was slowly moving closer to the owner while obfuscating his movements using the corpse. It was as clear as day that he was planning to backstab the owner.

Ye Qing did not warn the owner though. Their drama had nothing to do with him.

As expected, the old man abruptly summoned a rusted iron nail and thrust it toward the owner when he was about thirty or forty meters away from him.

The owner was fully focused on taking out the four thieves right now. He did not want to give them even a sliver of a chance to escape. He wasn’t expecting someone to ambush him either, much less a betrayal.

So, the nail slammed into his back before he could react.

Boom!

The moment the owner took the hit, the Demon Burning Divine Flame exploded and caught the old man by surprise. His entire arm immediately turned char black.

Clearly, the old man was planning to fight the owner to his death. He backed off three hundred meters while a muffled grunt escaped his throat.

After unleashing the counterattack, the owner seemingly scraped the bottom of the barrel and abruptly became much weaker than before. His yang god crumbled in an instant, and the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp abruptly grew way dimmer. Its deadly power was gone just like that.

Naturally, the four thieves who were almost killed by the Blue Lotus Demon Burning Treasure Lamp seized the opportunity to escape their bindings and escaped with a mad laugh.

“Owner! Are you alright?”

It was only then the others realized what just happened. One woman abandoned the corpse immediately and flew over to the owner in concern.

“What did you do, Qi Yue?”

Another two Sages set their sights on the old man named Qi Yue.