Chapter 684: A Wager with the Mighty Power, A Contradictory Matter

Under the black curtain outside the grand array.

Streams of light relentlessly struck the black barrier one after another. In an attempt to break through it, they focused their attacks on a single point. The tens of thousands of immortals unleashed their treasured artifacts and secret techniques all at once, merging their power.

The cultivators trapped around the desolate planet had already joined hands, casting aside their grudges and prejudices. They devoted every bit of their strength to destroying the restriction and escaping.

They couldn't have imagined that the masked man, whose strength they couldn't determine, would be able to capture all of them in one move and put them in such a dire situation. Not even the thirteen Taiyi Golden Immortals in the area could understand how such a mighty being could exist.

The thirteen all came from extraordinary backgrounds and served as the pillar and soul of their respective factions. Since they had been advancing toward the Grand Dao Golden Immortal Realm, they were far mightier and more skilled than most beings in the endless space.

Nevertheless, they couldn't understand how such a being could manipulate heaven and earth so easily in his palm, much less why he had lured them to this desolate planet and then captured them. They couldn't even guess his objective or plan.

Is he just doing this for his strange amusement?

They couldn't come up with any other explanation. Many powerful beings were extremely eccentric.

Regardless of his reason, he had trapped over a hundred Golden Immortals, tens of thousands of Heavenly Immortals and True Immortals, and more than a dozen Taiyi Golden Immortals in the black curtain.

They had already tried countless methods in the past several days. Nevertheless, not even the combined power of all the immortals in the area could destroy the barrier.

Their connection with the outside world had also been severed. Since soul lamps were extremely rare artifacts in the endless space, only a few of them had left one behind with their family or their sect.

The sudden disappearance of so many powerful cultivators would inevitably cause a far greater disturbance around Qiling. Not even all of their deaths could greatly alter the balance of power between the various factions of the vast Eastern Sky Region, though.

The endless space, parts of which the network of primal qi passages connected, was simply too vast.

A white-haired elderly Daoist raised his head and sighed deeply. "I never expected my journey to end this way. Not only have I been cultivating for a million years, but I also witnessed the destruction of the Heavenly Court with my own eyes. I've seen countless powerful beings fight chaotic battles. All that just for me to die here filled with resentment."

"Who exactly is that mighty expert? There have to be some clues to his identity."

"He is most likely connected to Emperor Qinghua. There's an eighty to ninety percent chance that he is either an old god of the Heavenly Court or one of the ruthless figures who overthrew it."

A female immortal smiled bitterly. "What should we do? We can't just wait to die here. Considering he spent considerable effort to lure us from all corners of the endless space to Qiling and then create such a massive trap, he has to be seeking something."

A middle-aged scholar seemingly fell into deep thought. "I'm more focused on the guardian spirit that killed my young disciple right now. I wonder what connection it has with this mighty expert and how they are related to Emperor Qinghua. It's mostly clear now, though. The guardian spirit of the divine tree is a Heavenly Immortal who intercepts anyone who enters the divine tree's array. "

He laughed bitterly.

"Did our captor trap us here to remove future threats to that spirit?"

Realization dawned on many of the immortals, causing the atmosphere to grow even heavier.

A gray-haired elderly woman in court robes sighed. "In the end, nothing good ever comes from being connected to the Heavenly Court."

The nearby experts nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Wang Shang's emotionless voice reverberated from all around them.

"I will give you a chance to live."

The experts who had been hesitating immediately scattered in every direction. Countless streams of immortal perception swept across the surroundings.

Soon, they all raised their heads and looked up. Their captor was still in the same outfit, but a powerful pressure now radiated from him. None of the immortals could even resist it in the slightest.

Holding a sword, a female immortal took two steps forward. Her brow furrowed as she loudly replied, "Our cultivation is far inferior to yours, Senior, but we won't just let you humiliate us however you want. If you intend to slaughter us, we won't question you. We will simply fight with all our strength. Even if we die, we won't have any regrets!"

Wang Shan nodded slightly. He raised a hand and pointed at the female Golden Immortal, causing her to tremble. Her eyes filled with astonishment as she looked down at her own hands.

She stopped abruptly, collapsed, and turned into a pile of colored sand. Her Dao Body and Daoist robe broke apart simultaneously.

Most of the immortals looked at Wang Shan in fear. Only a small number felt pure anger.

Wang Shan added, "You may hate me as much as you wish. As a mere wandering soul drifting through ruins, such things no longer matter to me. The chance of survival that I offer you is a wager with me. Those who refuse may step forward now."

His remarks once again echoed from various directions beyond the desolate planet.

At that moment, a Taiyi Golden Immortal unleashed a golden lotus from his hand. A fiery phoenix then manifested around him as he charged straight at Wang Shan.

Wang Shan opened his left hand and greeted him with a palm strike. As the area's fabric of space trembled slightly, the phoenix strangely and unnaturally froze in midair.

He screamed, but it was abruptly cut. The phoenix was torn apart, and the cultivator within it exploded into a rain of blood. Even his vast immortal power and powerful Great Dao of Fire completely vanished from existence.

Right after, a sky of flames burst forth beyond the black curtain. Through their immortal perceptions, the immortals witnessed a Great Dao, which had been on the verge of taking shape, quietly fade away.

He obliterated a Taiyi Golden Immortal so easily...

Wang Shan calmly asked, "Anyone else?"

Several Taiyi Golden Immortals who had been itching for a fight immediately looked away, while the Golden Immortals did not even dare breathe too loudly. The Heavenly Immortals and True Immortals had frozen in place the moment Wang Shan's pressure bore down on them, preventing them from moving even an inch.

This was what it truly meant to be powerful—to be an ancient god of the Heavenly Court and the leader of the Five Hundred Divine Guardians!

An old man sighed deeply. "Senior, what do you want us to do?"

Still sounding as dry and rough as brittle firewood, he replied, "The wager is very simple and has nothing to do with your cultivation realm."

Not a single person dared miss a word.

"Within the grand array of this desolate planet resides the true guardian spirit of the divine tree. You are all to go and kill him, but the Taiyi Golden Immortals are only allowed to watch. If even one of you can take his life, you will all be allowed to leave this place."

Confused, the immortals looked at each other.

As Wang Shan slowly dispersed into a wisp of black smoke, his final words echoed in the ears of every immortal present.

"If you cannot kill him, your souls will be scattered and vanish."

His voice gradually faded.

Silence fell outside the desolate planet. The more they thought about it, the less they understood. Wang Shan's actions and words seemed deeply contradictory.

He had lured them here, trapped them, and required them to kill the true guardian spirit in the array below. However, he also forbade the Taiyi Golden Immortals from joining them.

"Does he want that person dead or not?"

A female immortal smiled bitterly. "I feel like we have become tools for him to train his disciple. Beings as strong as him probably treat even their own disciple so ruthlessly that they would even arrange a trial like this."

"If we want to live, we have no choice but to use whatever means necessary to kill that person."

"Since the Taiyi Golden Immortals cannot help us, we should carefully plan this out. Did disaster already strike the group that entered the array earlier?"

The experts discussed how to proceed with the wager. At that moment, a series of rumbles spread across the desolate planet.

They saw the black curtain surrounding the outer edge of the star's atmosphere slowly split open, revealing a massive crack. Inside, the grand array shrouded in gray mist opened once again.

From within the array stumbled out the Golden Immortal whom Wang Sheng had deliberately spared earlier. He was drenched in blood, his aura was weak and chaotic, and his Daoist realm fluctuated unsteadily.

Someone shouted, "Elder Qi!"

Several streaks of light rushed straight through the crack in the black curtain, reached the edge of the array, and swiftly pulled the injured man back. Right after, streaks of light converged from every direction, surrounding the severely wounded immortal so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through them.

Fortunately, three Taiyi Golden Immortals personally treated the dying Golden Immortal. It did not take long for his condition to stabilize. However, when they examined his wounds, the expressions of many darkened.

He had hundreds of injuries all over him. Each was different and had a completely distinct residual aura. Dozens of other auras also lingered in his flesh.

The immortals exchanged uneasy glances. They looked at the wide-open gate of the array, yet no one else emerged.

"What happened in there?"

One of the cultivators asked another, "Why does Martial Uncle Qi have wounds caused by your sect's treasured artifact?!"

"What exactly went down in the array?!"

The immortals had just endured the threat of an extremely powerful being. Now, a new shadow loomed over them.

The Golden Immortal murmured, "They went mad... all of them..."

The disturbance that had begun to rise around him was immediately silenced. Everyone leaned closer to listen.

Fear and lingering dread filled his widened eyes. Trembling, he added, "They all went mad. A fiendish devil that bewilders the mind is in there. There was no warning at all. My mind was seized, and nothing but the urge to kill filled my heart!"

"A fiendish devil?"

The immortals fell silent again. Around the desolate planet, the stillness had become almost frightening.

***

"Has the array opened?"

Wang Sheng stopped cultivating the moment he sensed the disturbance spreading through the world inside the array. Turned into a streak of lightning, he shot down from the sky, returning to the rocky crevice within the volcanic crater. He also completely concealed his aura.

Beside him, Ling Sheng had already closed her eyes. She softly reported, "Master, the array gate has opened, but no one has entered."

"Be ready to act at any moment," Wang Sheng said. "I wonder if the man we released can scare them away."

In a corner, Hu Chang's eyes rolled. He chuckled slyly and asked, "Old Big Brother Wang, your lightning technique has already reached minor culmination. You might be able to take down a Golden Immortal head-on now. Why don't we work together and pull off something big?"

Wang Sheng gave him a look that seemed capable of seeing straight through Hu Chang's schemes.

"No need," Wang Sheng replied. "I studied the lightning technique only as a precaution. Let Ling Sheng handle this for now."

"What can a little girl like her even do?"

"Several dozen beings have entered the array," Ling Sheng reported as she slowly floated upward.

Emerald green vines coiled around her, swaying gently. An indescribable Dao Rhythm then quietly spread outward and vanished around the three.

Hu Chang stood with his mouth hanging open, tongue partly out, nostrils flared wide. He stared at Ling Sheng as he watched the faces appearing on the vine leaves. A low growl escaped his throat.

"Forefathers above... A G-Ghost Heart Vine?!"

Wang Sheng glanced at him and scolded, "Don't act so surprised."