The roar above the vast sky was even more intense than the trembling of iron.
It was the sound of wind being torn by a fist.
This was Song Ci’s punch with all his might, whereby he mobilized all his spirit, will, and muscles.
A punch could penetrate steel.
Of course, it could also penetrate flesh.
Tie Wu did not open his eyes until the very end... The "Soul-locking Bell" really worked, as it truly was an A-grade seal artifact treasured by the flower standard, not a counterfeit. Apart from a few very special circumstances, it would not fail.
There was no scene of blood splattering.
Song Ci’s full-powered punch, grazed past Tie Wu’s chest. The punch’s force was so strong that it even tore the surrounding coat, but always lacked a bit to hit... His pupils contracted, disbelieving what he saw. In the final moment of delivering his punch, the distance between himself and that Iron Throne seemed to have subtly changed.
His fist moved forward by a millimeter, the Iron Throne retracted by a millimeter.
This brief, nearly negligible millimeter was a fatally wide gap.
Seconds later, Tie Wu opened his eyes in pain, veins on his forehead protruding, his complexion pale. He lowered his head, looking at his chest.
The coat on his chest had been torn by the horrific penetrative force, exposing a bloodstained and crimson skin.
He felt a twisting pain coming from his chest.
What had just happened was quite clear, he was ambushed by a "despicable plot" from two Eastern Continent Transcendents.
If it weren’t for the help of the "Xumi" domain.
He... might have been pierced through.
"There will be no next time for something ," said Old Qin’s voice in his mind. Due to the fact that the "Soul-locking Bell" almost shattered his Spirit Sea just now, this voice sounded particularly grating.
Tie Wu stared at the woman amidst the dust of the old residence, his gaze filled with rancor.
Liu Yi met that gaze, and couldn’t help feeling a chill on her back... The joy that had just sprung up in her heart turned into fear and confusion after the punch missed.
The "Soul-locking Bell" had taken effect!
But why... Why didn’t Song Ci hit his mark?
Without giving her more time to think, the iron beads that splattered on the walls of the old house instantly rebounded, forming a blade in the air that pierced through her back, impaling Liu Yi against the opposite wall.
The speed was too fast... The manipulation of these iron elements, as well as the speed of the killing formation, had far surpassed Liu Yi’s reaction time. Even though her spiritual power was sharp enough and she realized the danger immediately, her body could not react in time.
She coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood, feeling the loss of warmth throughout her body, and the dispersion of her consciousness.
The "Spiritual Eyes" could no longer be maintained.
The floating Spiritual Body slowly dissipated in the air.
The Soul-locking Bell also fell to the ground.
Tie Wu coldly watched the scene unfold.
The woman who had plotted against him was nailed to the wall of the alley.
There was still one more guy left.
He calmly gazed at Song Ci and softly said, "Your speed is very fast."
Song Ci looked troubled. He glanced in the direction where Liu Yi had fallen, where much blood had flowed out, forming a pool... It was unknown how long she could hold on.
He only glanced for a moment before pulling back his gaze.
In this situation, he couldn’t afford to be distracted.
"The power is also great,"
Tie Wu said softly, "You remind me of a person Lord Divine often mentions... I just wonder if you, like him, possess such a strong physique."
In the moment those words fell, Song Ci felt like his scalp was going to explode.
An unprecedented sense of crisis erupted in his heart.
It was a feeling... a premonition of death.
The strong intuition in his heart drove him to flee, perhaps if he had followed his instincts at the moment the thought arose and chosen to run with all his might, he might have had a slim chance of survival.
But Song Ci hesitated.
Behind him were his Madame, Nan Jin, and Gu Shen.
Tie Wu took out a purple, dim badge from the inner pocket of his trench coat, bearing the image of a grape.
A plain and unremarkable grape badge.
Until, a glow lit up from above the badge.
Tie Wu’s pupils seemed to change color, it was the true color of a divine arrival, vastly different from the grandeur of the scene that had emerged earlier. After using the token, the Lord Divine, who wielded the ember, had his gifted thread of spiritual power completely take over this mortal body.
A syllable obscure and indecipherable, like a divine language, exploded in Song Ci’s mind like a bomb.
Song Ci raised his head.
He saw a magnificent meteor explode, countless iron threads like a meteor shower piercing towards him alone. The immense spiritual power exploded in his mind, preventing him from resisting or fleeing, forcing him to watch as the magnificent iron rain descended upon him.
"Rumble, rumble, rumble—"
The ground above rattled with continuous thunderous roars, deep impacts.
The two people who were desperately moving forward through the underground secret tunnel heard the trembling sound of an earthquake coming from behind them, and their expressions became ugly.
The lady clenched her teeth tightly.
They had been traveling for quite a while, and even being underground, they could hear such shocking sounds, one could imagine how fierce the battle at Lion Alley was.
"No one has caught up, which means Song Ci is still holding on."
Upon hearing the thuds, Gu Shen was shaken.
He didn’t look back, but instead, gritting his teeth, he hurriedly helped his senior sister along. The map of the vast underground network beneath the old city district was etched firmly in his mind. It was impossible to leave the territory in a straight line, as the map of the underground passages was winding and didn’t provide a "direct line" out of the old city area. However, this was within reason.
Old Lu could never have imagined that such a situation would happen today.
The Angel Envoy wouldn’t give them enough time.
The teacher and [Shuang Chuan] were on their way. The closer they got to the border of the territory... the easier it would be to wait for rescue.
Following the loud noises, the entire underground secret tunnel once again fell into silence. Lu Nanzhi, holding the bronze box, felt a growing unease in her heart.
"Have we been here before?"
She suddenly spoke up.
Gu Shen stopped in his tracks.
"Since the network connection is interrupted, I cannot sense the specific location of the underground secret tunnel..." Chu Ling said, "But from the first-person view of the Spiritual Link, you have not taken a wrong turn. The current path is very simple, and we haven’t reached the turning point yet; we just need to keep going straight ahead."
"However... the next turning point should be coming up soon."
Gu Shen continued to walk forward.
In the route map... there should be a four-way junction here, but... there was none.
His heart skipped a beat.
"There’s... light ahead?"
The lady’s voice was hesitant, "I remember there being a four-way junction up front, it shouldn’t have any light."
Continuing to walk a little further... they indeed saw the light scattering intricately down.
Above was a well opening leading to the surface.
This light was coming from above the well cover.
"Have we... returned to where we started?" Lu Nanzhi rubbed her temples forcefully, recalling the previous route to ensure that no mistakes had been made.
All this time, they had been moving in a straight line... a perfectly straight line.
Yet now, they had ended up back at the beginning?
Gu Shen unnoticeably stepped back, retreating from directly beneath the light source, to a position in front of the lady.
He slightly lowered his body, offering a shoulder, and handed his senior sister to the lady’s care, ensuring he was completely in front of the lady.
In the distance, a silhouette in a thin black trench coat gradually took form out of the dim light.
The person emerged from the darkness.
The trench coat was blacker than ink.
(PS: 1. For readers not using Qidian: This Chapter corrects the name of Old Qin’s territory to [Xumi]; previously, it was mistakenly written as [Xuyu]. 2. I hope everyone can support the subscription more, and I also ask for monthly tickets. This Chapter is an extra release for reaching 1000 monthly tickets, with an additional Chapter for every extra 500 collected.)