Chapter 562: Collusion |
"Nonsense!"
Lu Song wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and shouted in fury, "He Chong! You people are framing your sect fellows and deserve to die!"
He turned sharply to look at Wang Bai, screaming, "Martial Brother Wang! The two of us together! Kill them!"
But Wang Bai's expression shifted through shades of uncertainty, and the force of his attacks had slowed.
He had originally stood on Jiang Shangui's side. But at this moment, his heart had begun to waver.
Xie Mingyan had allied with the court, and had actually produced what appeared to be evidence.
And more importantly...
He had recently noticed a faint trace of something unusual.
The way Jiang Shangui had handled certain matters connected to the Demon Sect was far too ambiguous.
At the time, he had thought it was an illusion. But recalling it now...
That was absolutely not an illusion!
With that thought, Wang Bai gritted his teeth. "Colluding with the Demon Sect... I had no knowledge of it! But I did genuinely sense demonic energy near Elder Jiang's residence on one occasion!"
Boom!
With those words from Wang Bai, this matter was as good as confirmed!
In an instant, the atmosphere changed completely!
The several Upper Sect high experts who had been watching from the sidelines, their eyes all flashed with a sharp gleam!
Chen Qing's eyes suddenly sharpened.
Wang Bai was Jiang Shangui's trusted confidant, one of the people standing on his side!
Even he was saying something like this. Then the matter of Jiang Shangui colluding with the Demon Sect...
Fuxia's expression also changed drastically. He snapped his head to look at Jiang Shangui, and his expression became immediately unfavorable!
If this was true, then today could not end without resolution!
"Nonsense!"
Lu Song's face turned red, his voice raw with rage. "Wang Bai! What are you saying!? Have you gone mad!?"
He Chong's heart surged with delight. He quickly said, "Martial Brother Wang! It is not too late to turn back now!"
Wang Bai gritted his teeth and stood back, withdrawing to one side.
Though he had not directly accused Jiang Shangui, his words made his stance clear. He knew Jiang Shangui had a problem, and that he himself had not participated.
Fuxia could no longer remain still.
He stepped forward and said gravely, "Jiang Shangui! Is this matter true!?"
Jiang Shangui struck a palm to force Xie Mingyan back and said without changing his expression, "Martial Uncle! Wang Bai is cowardly and afraid of death. He has been threatened by Xie Mingyan! How can his words be trusted!?"
"Do you still deny it!?"
Xie Mingyan let out a cold snort, her sword pointing at Jiang Shangui. "Martial Uncle Fuxia! If you continue to be obstinate, you will only lead to our Cloudwater Upper Sect's destruction!"
"Colluding with the Demon Sect is making an enemy of the entire Yan Kingdom's martial world! If this person is not dealt with today, our Cloudwater Upper Sect's thousand-year foundation will be destroyed in a single day!"
Fuxia's expression darkened.
He looked at Xie Mingyan, then at Jiang Shangui, then finally swept his gaze across the entire assembly.
The court's people were watching like predators. The Six Great Upper Sects' people watched with cold eyes. The Buddhist Kingdom and Western Regions nations wore expressions of various kinds...
He understood that this matter could no longer be suppressed.
Colluding with the Demon Sect was a great taboo of the Yan Kingdom.
And beyond that, with Xie Mingyan today allied with the court, evidence laid before everyone, and Wang Bai defecting at the critical moment, Jiang Shangui had a hundred mouths and could not defend himself.
If he forcibly suppressed this, forget the court not accepting it. Even the other five Upper Sects would not stand idly by.
If he dared to shield Jiang Shangui, the next target would be the entire Cloudwater Upper Sect!
Fuxia drew a deep breath and closed his eyes.
A moment later, he snapped his eyes open. A flash of decisiveness crossed them!
"Everyone!"
He said in a grave voice, the sound like a thunderclap.
"Effective immediately, Jiang Shangui is to be escorted to the Ancestral Hall for investigation! If there is resistance..."
He paused, saying one word at a time, "Eliminate without mercy!"
With Fuxia's words, the fundamental tone of this matter was irreversibly set.
The Cloudwater Upper Sect's assembled members looked at one another. Then the disciples and elders who had originally stood on Jiang Shangui's side all changed their expressions.
"What are you standing there for!?"
He Chong called out sharply, "Seize Lu Song! Await the Ancestral Hall's judgment!"
Before those words had even finished, more than a dozen figures had lunged toward Lu Song.
Lu Song's throat trembled. His face turned white as paper. A chill surged from the soles of his feet all the way to the crown of his head.
It was over.
All over.
He turned in a frenzy toward the direction of Jiang Shangui, transmitting urgently, "Martial Brother Jiang! Martial Brother Jiang! What do we do now!? What do we do!?"
But Jiang Shangui did not respond.
Jiang Shangui stood on the jade platform, his expression dark as water, his eyes staring dead at Fuxia, at Xie Mingyan, at those Cloudwater senior elders who had once pledged their loyalty to him, at the cold and indifferent gazes filling the plaza.
Just moments ago, everyone was offering congratulations and competing to flatter him.
Now, everyone was calling for his blood, avoiding him like a venomous snake.
Yan Jin at that moment said coolly, "I had not expected Jiang Shangui to be such a contemptible person."
Their tone was saturated with disappointment, as though they had never had any connection with this person whatsoever.
Lu Song felt as though he had plunged into an icy abyss.
Yan Jin... was cutting all ties completely!
After all, murdering a sect's head and colluding with the Demon Sect was more than the Heavenly Star Alliance could bear to be associated with.
"One should never have colluded with the Demon Sect."
Feng Shuofang said coldly. His long spear in hand swept horizontally, spear intent shooting into the sky, aimed directly at Jiang Shangui.
Though he did not move, his attitude was already unmistakably clear.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
At that very moment, an earth-shaking peal of mad laughter suddenly erupted!
Every gaze turned toward the source at once. Jiang Shangui threw his head back in laughter, tilting forward and backward, laughing until tears nearly streamed down his face.
That laughter was filled with madness, with desolation, with towering, all-consuming hatred!
"Excellent! Excellent, Cloudwater Upper Sect! Excellent, Ancestral Hall! Excellent, Xie Mingyan!"
He snapped the laughter shut. His gaze was like a blade, fixed dead on Fuxia. He said one word at a time, "You old dog, you forced this on me!"
Fuxia's brows locked tightly. The True Origin throughout his body erupted outward, the pressure of an Eighth Revolution Grandmaster blanketing the entire plaza like a great mountain.
He said gravely, "Shangui, accept the investigation. If you are innocent, this old man will give you your innocence."
Though he spoke words of comfort, the True Origin throughout his body was fully charged, ready at any moment to move and restrain him.
"Innocence?"
Jiang Shangui let out a cold snort. A flash of madness crossed the depths of his eyes. "Very well. Then let me give you your innocence!"
His right hand lifted gently. In the center of his palm, a palm-sized black token lay quietly.
That token was entirely jet-black. Its surface was inscribed with dense, sinister markings, with dark red light dimly flowing within them, emanating an aura that made the heart tremble with chill.
The instant Chen Qing's gaze landed on that token, his pupils contracted sharply!
That aura...
It was the Night Clan!
"This is bad!"
Chen Qing rose abruptly and shouted in a fierce voice, "Everyone fall back! Quickly!"
Before those words had even finished, Jiang Shangui's five fingers suddenly clenched!
Crack!
The black token shattered!
The instant the fragments exploded, a thick black malevolent qi like breached floodwaters surged wildly outward from within the fragments!
The density of that malevolent qi far surpassed any Night Clan high expert Chen Qing had ever encountered. In almost an instant, it enveloped the entire plaza!
"This is..."
Shi Xiangyang's brows contracted, his expression changing drastically. "This is a formation! It has the aura of the sect's protective grand formation! But... this aura is wrong! Something is wrong with it!"
"Terrible!"
Li Yujun drew a sharp breath, calling out sharply, "That token is the formation's eye! Jiang Shangui has altered the sect's protective grand formation!"
Everyone understood in an instant.
The Cloudwater Upper Sect's protective grand formation was a supremely powerful formation for guarding the mountain gates. Its might was tremendous, sufficient to cost an Eighth Revolution Grandmaster dearly in a frontal assault.
But now, that formation had been reversed by Jiang Shangui using the Night Clan token as the medium!
The formation was still running, yet it was no longer gathering the elemental energy of heaven and earth. It was gathering thick, ink-black Night Clan malevolent qi!
That malevolent qi, like an invisible cage, enveloped the entire plaza in an instant, pressing every person's breathing to difficulty. Even the circulation of True Origin became sluggish.
And Night Clan high experts within it would see their strength surge by at least fifty percent!
"Insolent!"
Fuxia's face turned iron grey. He struck out with a palm, the dense palm force transforming into a zhang-tall great palm that carried a world-destroying might, aimed straight at Jiang Shangui!
"Die!"
Xie Mingyan moved almost simultaneously. Her long sword trembled. A rainbow of sword radiance combined with Fuxia's palm force in a flanking strike, intent on ending this traitor on the spot!
Two Grandmasters attacking together, their might was world-shaking!
But just at that moment—
Whoosh!
A supremely bone-piercing aura shot from the distant sky!
That aura, icy and sharp, like an arrow summoning death, crossed several hundred zhang in a single instant and crashed directly into Fuxia's palm force!
Boom!
A world-shaking explosion!
Fuxia's palm, sufficient to shatter a mountain, was directly shattered by that aura!
The violent True Origin scattered outward in surging waves, shaking the entire plaza into violent trembling. Countless bluestone tiles exploded into powder!
"Who is there!?"
Fuxia's expression changed drastically. He shouted in a fierce voice.
Everyone turned together to follow, and saw a figure descending from the sky, landing steadily on the jade platform.
That was a man in a wide black robe. His face was covered in sinister and twisted black markings, and thick malevolent qi churned around his entire body.
He stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the entire scene from above, the corner of his mouth curved into a cold smile.
"The Night Clan!?"
The high experts present were all deeply alarmed. Sharp intakes of breath rose one after another!
Wasn't Jiang Shangui supposed to have colluded with the Demon Sect?
How did the Night Clan show up, even more troublesome than the Demon Sect!?
Lu Song was also frozen in place, his eyes filled with confusion and shock.
He had only known that Jiang Shangui colluded with the Demon Sect. He could never have anticipated that this martial brother had concealed yet another card up his sleeve!
Chen Qing's right hand turned over, and the Jingzhe Spear was already in his grip. Cold radiance flowed along the shaft, and the sharp spear intent was wound and ready.
His gaze was locked dead on that black-robed figure. A strong alarm rang out in his heart.
This person's aura...
Was more powerful than any Night Clan high expert he had ever seen!
And within that malevolent qi, there was also a trace of something indescribably sinister.
"Sect Master Jiang, I said this would be your final trump card."
The black-robed figure turned to look at Jiang Shangui, their voice sinister.
Jiang Shangui's expression did not change.
The black-robed figure then turned around, sweeping their gaze across the entire assembly, eyes finally resting on Fuxia. The smile on their face grew even more intense. "The Night Clan, Jincha."
"An Eighth Revolution Night Sovereign!"
Li Yujun drew a sharp breath, even her voice slightly trembling.
An Eighth Revolution Night Sovereign!
A Night Clan high expert of this level was already an extremely formidable existence.
And behind Jincha, several figures slowly emerged from every direction.
Every figure had dense malevolent qi churning around them, and every single one was at the Night Sovereign level!
Four at the Seventh Revolution, four at the Sixth Revolution!
Beyond these, there were more than ten Patrol Envoys, with cultivation levels ranging from Third Revolution to Fifth Revolution, surrounding the entire plaza without the slightest gap!
"If everyone in this plaza were to die, no one would know what happened here today."
Jincha spoke quietly, their tone saturated with dark amusement.
Jiang Shangui's eyes were bloodshot, like a cornered beast. His voice was hoarse and frenzied. "Xie Mingyan colluded with the Heavenly Star Alliance and the Night Clan to slaughter the Cloudwater Upper Sect! Everyone here killed! I, Jiang Shangui, fought desperately to escape! Afterward, I rebuild the sect. Who would dare say a single word against it!?"
Uproar!
With those words, the entire plaza erupted!
Everyone understood Jiang Shangui's intent.
He was using the Night Clan's hands to silence every single person present!
The Six Great Upper Sects' observing high experts, the court's Eunuch Liu, Eunuch Hua, and Tang Taixuan, the Buddhist Kingdom, the representatives of the Western Regions nations...
These people were the Yan Kingdom's core strength!
If all of them died here, the Yan Kingdom's martial world would suffer a devastating blow to its vital foundation, and could even directly shake the nation's roots!
"Then it all depends on whether you have the ability to pull it off!"
Feng Shuofang let out a cold snort. His long spear shook, and spear intent shot into the sky, piercing the clouds!
The sharpness and domineering force of that spear intent still made countless hearts tremble in the plaza!
"This old man wants to see what an Eighth Revolution Night Sovereign is capable of!"
Gu Xinghe slowly rose to his feet. Thunder roared around his body, and arcs of purple electricity leaped around him.
"This one has certainly opened their eyes today."
Eunuch Hua let out a sinister chuckle and swept their sleeve. A yielding yet deep True Origin slowly spread outward.
Eunuch Liu and Tang Taixuan at their side were also wound tight and ready, True Origin surging around both of them, killing intent filling the air.
Zhao Yanlie, Shi Xiangyang, Chang Xin, and the others all rose to their feet. True Origin shot toward the sky!
Fuxia drew a deep breath, a flash of decisiveness crossing the depths of his eyes.
He snapped his head around toward the void behind him. "Martial brothers, come out!"
Before those words had even finished, two aged figures broke through the air from the direction of the rear mountain!
One was powerfully built, with a tangled beard and hair, the aura around them as dense and immovable as a mountain. Unmistakably a Seventh Revolution Grandmaster!
The other was lean and hale, with eyes that blazed with sharp light at every opening and closing. This was a peak Sixth Revolution!
The moment the two appeared, they moved to descend into the plaza.
But at the instant they entered the plaza's range—
Hum!
The malevolent qi enveloping the entire plaza suddenly intensified!
Both figures came to an abrupt halt, as though mired in invisible swamp. The circulation of their True Origin immediately slowed by three parts!
"Something is wrong!"
The powerfully built elder's expression changed drastically, shouting in a fierce voice, "This formation is strange!"
Before those words had even finished, two Night Clan figures flew at them like ghosts!
One Seventh Revolution Night Sovereign, one Sixth Revolution Night Sovereign, taking advantage of the two being suppressed by the malevolent qi, launched a combined killing strike!
Boom!
A world-shaking explosion burst out. The four figures were instantly locked in combat!
But those two Cloudwater Upper Sect Ancestral Hall senior elders, already at the end of their lifespan with their blood and qi declining, and now suppressed by the malevolent qi, were nowhere near a match for same-level Night Clan high experts.
In no more than a dozen exchanges, they were already in desperate peril, on the verge of collapse!
"Contemptible!"
Fuxia's face turned iron grey, and he moved to go to their aid.
But Jincha's figure flashed, landing directly in his path.
"Elder Fuxia, your opponent is me."
Jincha gave a quiet smile. Their right hand turned over, and a jet-black long saber materialized from thin air. Across the saber's body, countless sinister markings flowed ceaselessly, emanating a bone-chilling malevolent qi.
Fuxia's expression darkened. Not daring to be careless, his right hand closed around the air, and a water-blue long sword materialized in an instant. This was his weapon!
The two Eighth Revolution high experts met each other's eyes, and in the next instant, clashed with a boom!
Sword radiance and saber edge collided. In an instant, the violent True Origin scattered outward. The entire jade platform shuddered violently, and countless cracks spread like spiderwebs across it!
"You handle the others! The three old ones of the Cloudwater Upper Sect are mine!"
Jincha said mildly. Within the formation's malevolent qi boost, they were confident they could handle the Ancestral Hall's three Grandmasters.
The two Night Clan high experts heard this and swept toward the nearby combatants.
At the same time, the other battlegrounds erupted in full!
Feng Shuofang's long spear shook, and spear intent transformed into a sky full of spear shadows, enveloping one of the Seventh Revolution Night Sovereigns!
That Seventh Revolution Night Sovereign let out a cold snort, the malevolent qi around them surging, transforming into a black blade dozens of zhang in length, slashing down viciously against the spear shadows!
Boom!
The thunderous crash shook the sky! Where the shockwaves passed, the bluestone ground cracked apart, and countless observing disciples were sent flying with screams!
Gu Xinghe had thunder roaring around his body. Streaks of purple thunder like divine punishment crashed downward, locked in combat with another Seventh Revolution Night Sovereign!
The scene instantly descended into a melee!
And the people from the Western Regions nations and the Buddhist Kingdom had already huddled in a corner of the plaza, defending with full force, not daring to participate in a battle of this level.
They wanted to flee, yet they found the malevolent qi was like a cage, trapping them dead in place. There was no way to break through!
"Alliance Master, what do we do!?" Su Wenyi's face was white as a sheet, transmitting in a frenzied panic.
Yan Jin stood in a corner, their expression shifting through shades of light and dark, staring dead at the scene.
They did not move to act. They only said gravely, "Don't be hasty. Watch a little longer."
Watch a little longer.
Those three words settled Su Wenyi's heart slightly.
But the situation in the plaza was growing more and more critical.
The Night Clan high experts, empowered by the malevolent qi, had their strength surge by fifty percent. The Yan Kingdom's high experts, meanwhile, were suppressed by the malevolent qi. With one side gaining and the other losing, they were gradually falling to a disadvantage!
Especially those two Cloudwater Upper Sect Ancestral Hall senior elders, now bathed in blood, their aura withering. They were on the verge of collapse!
"Wretched creature! How dare you bring wolves into the house and alter the sect's grand formation!"
Fuxia struck one sword to force Jincha back and turned to look at Jiang Shangui. His eyes were filled with towering killing intent. "Jiang Shangui! Do you know what you are doing!? You are destroying our Cloudwater Upper Sect!"
Jiang Shangui stood at the edge of the jade platform, his expression frenzied, throwing his head back in loud laughter. "So what if it is destroyed!? Since you won't let me live, then let all of us die together!"
"You!"
Fuxia was so furious his entire body shook, yet had no time to say more, because Jincha's saber was already coming down again!
"Chen Qing must die."
Jincha exchanged a strike with Fuxia, their gaze sweeping like lightning toward the Tianbao Upper Sect's direction.
"This person is on our Night Clan's kill list. Today, we absolutely cannot allow them to leave alive."
They paused, saying coldly, "Who will go and kill them?"
"I'll take this one!"
A savage laugh rang out. A Sixth Revolution Night Clan Grandmaster snapped their head around, locking their gaze dead on Chen Qing.
Before those words had even finished, their figure flashed. They transformed into a streak of black light, erupting toward the Tianbao Upper Sect's direction!
Everywhere they passed, the thick malevolent qi churned like a tide, and the air was torn with streaks of white lines!
"Fall back! Everyone fall back!"
Li Yujun's expression changed drastically, and she called out in a sharp voice.
Her right hand turned over, her longsword cleared its sheath, and a rainbow of sword radiance shot directly to meet that Sixth Revolution Night Sovereign!
But just then, two figures lunged from the side. They were unmistakably two Patrol Envoys.
"Kill!"
The two Patrol Envoys barked coldly, launching a combined attack on Li Yujun!
Li Yujun's expression darkened. She had no choice but to turn and engage them. Sword radiance and malevolent qi collided, locked in combat in an instant!
And that Sixth Revolution Night Sovereign had already closed in. They were now only thirty zhang from Chen Qing!
A spear intent of incomparable sharpness locked dead onto Chen Qing!
Within that aura, cold killing intent filled every inch, like a death summons from the nine underworlds!
Ji Yunliang and the others turned white as sheets. Their instinct was to retreat, but they found their legs as heavy as lead, completely unable to move.
The pressure of a Sixth Revolution Night Sovereign was far too terrifying for True Origin realm cultivators like them!
Only Nan Zhuoran could manage to barely hold himself up.
Chen Qing stood in place. His expression did not change.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the rapidly approaching black figure. In his eyes, there was not a fraction of fear.
"You want to kill me?"
Chen Qing's right hand shook, and the Jingzhe Spear let out a low, deep resonance. At the spear tip, eighteen strands of spear intent blazed to life, crisscrossing in every direction.
"Then come and try!"
With those words, he tapped his foot against the ground. His figure transformed into a streak of golden light and charged toward that Sixth Revolution Night Sovereign!
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