Chapter 1762: The Light in the Eyes

The pillar of white light illuminated the pitch-black abyss, making it brilliant and dazzling. Fortunately, this area was remote, and most Huangqi Valley disciples were focused on the Inheritance Ancient Hall. For the time being, no one found their way here.

Shortly after, a black light split from the white pillar. The moment these two lights shone into the void, the spiritual energy of the Metal and Wood attributes began to surge toward them.

“Everyone, please help me mobilize the power of the five elements! I cannot sustain this artifact for long. With my ability alone, I can only gather two types of spiritual energy, but we must unite all five. Pour your magical power directly into the base of the bowl! I will channel the convergence. It should take about thirty breaths. At that time, we can borrow the power of the natural laws to strike with our strongest blow!”

Yan Qingchen spoke urgently. As he spoke, the veins on his forehead bulged, showing the immense strain of controlling the dark-gold alms bowl.

The four had been watching the bowl closely. When it began to gather the two types of energy, they sensed a powerful vibration in the natural laws. This caused the power within their own bodies to surge uncontrollably. Witnessing the artifact’s power firsthand, they felt more inclined to believe Yan Qingchen’s words.

‘What a terrifying artifact. With one strike, it truly might break the array!’ they thought.

Yan Qingchen didn’t give them time to think further. In his apparent struggle, he shouted for them to hurry.

Thus, the four raised their hands and each struck the dark-gold bowl with a stream of magical power. Aside from Liu Siyu, who used almost her full strength from the start, the other three were testing the waters. Their power was being emitted in a way that could be withdrawn at any moment.

The moment their power touched the bowl, it began to hum loudly, and the vibrations in the local laws grew even stronger. The two pillars of light seemed on the verge of splitting into more colors.

Under the bowl’s continuous trembling, the white and black pillars blurred, but they failed to separate into further beams.

“Fellow Daoists, please use your full strength as agreed! Do not hold back, or we will never gather the celestial power of the five elements!” Yan Qingchen roared, his voice filled with such anxiety that he forgot to address them as seniors.

The two pillars remained in a blurred state, just a hair’s breadth away from splitting into the remaining three, but they simply couldn’t make the jump.

Except for Liu Siyu, the other three not only had their protective barriers at full strength, but their Divine Senses never stopped scanning the bowl. Based on their late-stage Spirit Transformation strength, they were using only about sixty percent of their power.

As Yan Qingchen shouted, the veins on his forehead throbbed violently. He seemed entirely consumed by the effort of controlling the treasure.

The three exchanged quick glances, their eyes flickering with uncertainty. In a collaboration like this, losing one’s ability to protect oneself was far too dangerous, especially when exploring an unknown region. What “sibling bond” could there be? They belonged to the same sect, but they were far from the point where they would entrust their lives to one another. If they hadn’t been so wary, they wouldn’t have been planning to kill any fellow disciples who stumbled upon them.

“Brothers, do you truly want all our efforts to go to waste?” Liu Siyu shouted.

As she cried out, the black and white pillars from the bowl above seemed to stabilize and regain their clarity.

“If anyone is still holding back, I will withdraw my support in three breaths and see who is not giving their all!” Zheng said coldly, his magical power beginning to churn rapidly.

He had initially thought that gathering the power of the five elements would be enough, but it seemed they couldn’t reach that threshold even with sixty percent of their power. He decided to use ninety percent. He spoke grandly of using “full strength,” but since ninety percent and one hundred percent were hard to distinguish unless someone knew his foundations perfectly, he felt safe. However, if he was going to commit that much, he wasn’t going to let the others slide. If he saw anyone slacking in the next moment, he would settle the score with them.

Zheng had already been injured trying to break the array earlier, which only made him more desperate to get inside. He had been performing a final observation; he wasn’t about to let a feast slip away when he was already wounded.

The moment Zheng finished speaking, the other two sensed his surge in power. They no longer hesitated, their own power erupting like a flood.

In an instant, the dark-gold bowl above vibrated violently under the massive influx of power. The white and black pillars blurred again. Soon, a green beam began to manifest within the white pillar.

Seeing this, the group felt a surge of joy, and they poured their power out even more relentlessly.

A few breaths later, a red beam emerged from the black pillar. This meant that four of the five natural laws were nearly gathered.

However, ten more seconds passed, and the two main pillars continued to tremble. The fifth color failed to appear, and even the green and red beams remained trapped within the primary white and black pillars, unable to separate.

“Brother Yan, it’s been twenty-five breaths! What is happening?” Zheng asked, a sudden sense of dread washing over him.

He couldn’t help but ask. Theoretically, after twenty seconds, even if the five elements weren’t complete, they should have at least seen three or four. Yet despite their efforts, only Metal and Wood were gathering; the other three were nowhere to be seen.

“Almost there!” Yan Qingchen’s voice came immediately. This time, he answered quickly, but his voice was suddenly devoid of any anxiety.

The four were so focused on their frantic output of power that they didn’t immediately notice the shift in his tone.

Just as he finished speaking, the dark-gold alms bowl in the air suddenly flipped. Its previously upward-facing mouth now tilted toward them. The white and black pillars also flipped, enveloping the four cultivators.

The white light completely covered Liu Siyu and Qian, while the black light shrouded the other two.

“You… what are you doing?”

“What is the meaning of this, Brother Yan?”

“My essence blood! Argh!”

As the pillars of light enveloped them, cries of shock and fury erupted. The range of the beams had expanded the moment they flipped down.

Though the four had been vigilant, they were still caught off guard by the bowl’s sudden shift. In their shock, they instinctively tried to pull away. But the moment the bowl flipped, the power they had been striking its base with felt as though it were being gripped by a massive suction force.

This caused a momentary delay in their attempt to cut off their power. They couldn’t dodge in time and were pinned by the two pillars of light.

The moment the light hit them, their protective barriers felt like nothing, pierced effortlessly by the glow. The four were horrified to discover that their essence blood was no longer under their control, no matter how desperately they tried to suppress it.

Their blood turned into fine red threads, bursting from their bodies and flowing along the pillars of light into the dark-gold bowl above. In their terror and fury, they began to shout. At this point, even a fool would realize what was happening.

Except for Liu Siyu, they had all been calculating and cautious, yet they had fallen into a trap because of Yan Qingchen’s calm demeanor and the layers of temptation he had offered.

Hearing their screams, Yan Qingchen’s handsome face wore a gentle smile. The veins that had been bulging on his forehead had vanished instantly. Once their power made contact with the bowl and they were bathed in the light, none of them had the strength to escape.

Yan Qingchen continued to control the artifact, his voice turning incredibly soft.

“Fellow Daoists, I thank you for your help. But I am still a little short on power, so I must ask you to suffer a little.”

His words were like a gentle breeze, containing not a hint of killing intent, as if he were still working in harmony with them. But as he spoke, the four within the light had turned as pale as paper.

The veins on their foreheads were now bulging, just as Yan Qingchen’s had been, looking as if they might burst through the skin. Not only was their essence blood vanishing, but the magical power in their dantians was also pouring out like a broken dam into the bowl. No matter how they tried to form hand seals to escape, they couldn’t. Even their Divine Sense had lost its function under the light, leaving them unable to even access their storage spaces.

“B-Brother… Yan… don’t… don’t joke. If we… lose our strength… how can we… help you later?”

The man who had entered the elite ranks with Yan Qingchen had eyes that were starting to bulge out. His voice was frantic, yet he seemed to lack the strength to continue. He tried to force a smile, begging for mercy, but the expression was already a grotesque mask of agony.

Yan Qingchen didn’t even acknowledge him. His hand seals moved even faster; he needed to end the disturbance quickly to avoid any unwanted complications.

“You dare… dare to kill within the sect? If we… meet with an accident… many people saw us leave together. Have you… have you considered the consequences?”

“Brother Yan… I don’t want those things anymore. My treasures… all of them are yours. How… how about it? Look at us… even if you release us… we have no power to harm you. If you… if you are worried, you can place a restriction on us!”

Zheng and Qian both spoke up. Although Zheng’s words held a hint of a threat, he too was essentially begging for their release.

“Hehe… I invited you here and spent quite a bit on you. You’ve taken so many benefits from me over the years. Now that you’ve had your fill, to use a mortal saying: you can’t just take the money and not do the work!”

“And what does your death have to do with me? The Inheritance Ancient Hall allows disciples to perish. Besides, you four left together. It seems no one noticed me. Why would this fall on my head?”

Yan Qingchen’s voice remained soft. Within the pillars of light, the once-black hair of the four had begun to turn gray. Some of their faces were already showing signs of aging.

“You… you plot against your own sect! You will die a wretched death!”

“Yan Qingchen, you… you are a beast in human skin! I will… even in the cycle of reincarnation… I will kill you!”

“You will surely face retribution… you will go to the Shura Hell!”

Hearing their curses, Yan Qingchen’s hand seals only moved faster. Their blood and power vanished even more rapidly. They knew that no matter how they begged, he wouldn’t let them go. Their faces twisted in rage as they screamed their curses.

But those curses soon became incredibly weak before vanishing altogether. Each of them felt the unbearable agony of being drained dry, yet they lacked even the strength to groan.

Yan Qingchen’s calm face suddenly shifted, his brow twitching as he looked toward one person in the light—Liu Siyu. She must have practiced some form of appearance-preserving technique; her face was pale, but she was biting her lip hard. Her long black hair had turned white, but she only appeared to have aged to her thirties, which only made her look more tragically beautiful.

From the moment she realized she had fallen into a trap, she hadn’t said a single word. She just bit her lip until it bled. But her beautiful eyes were fixed on Yan Qingchen’s face, as if trying to etch his appearance into her soul. Even though her consciousness was blurring from the loss of blood and she was growing extremely weak, she stared at him with stubborn intensity.

Yan Qingchen had been avoiding her gaze. He had been hesitating, unable to reach a final decision. He had planned this long ago, and she had effectively walked into his net, but she had always helped him with genuine sincerity.

So, he hadn’t looked at her. He had been waiting for her to discover the trap and erupt in hysterical curses and endless resentment. At that point, he would have severed the final trace of his humanity.

But amidst the screams and curses filling his ears, she remained silent. She wouldn’t even beg for mercy.

Just as he felt they were reaching the final moment, he couldn’t help himself and glanced at her. Her eyes had grown dim, yet they were still fixed in one direction. Looking at her, Yan Qingchen couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

His hand seals suddenly shifted. Within the white light, Liu Siyu’s body was suddenly ejected, landing instantly before him. Yan Qingchen raised a hand, his spirit-storage ring flashing as her figure turned into a streak of green light and was pulled inside.

The moment she was free from the bowl’s light, Liu Siyu’s mind cleared significantly. Seeing that she alone had been saved and sensing the rich spiritual energy surrounding her, her gaze toward Yan Qingchen suddenly held a trace of relief and a faint smile. Then, her strength failed her, and she fell into a deep coma…