Fang Yuan flew straight towards the heart of the Lin estate, toward the patriarch hall.
When he had spread his divine sense in search of Fang Lian, he had also registered two qi signatures towards the Lin Patriarch hall.
He knew where the Lin Patriarch was waiting.
But as he stepped into the chamber carrying Fang Lian in his arms, he instantly paused.
There were two more presences than he had sensed.
Their qi had been cloaked, masked with alarming precision, being hidden even from soone at his level.
His gaze flicked across the room.
Still, no fear crossed his face. Just a quiet observation.
Lin Pe, the brother of Lin Zhaoyue. A Peak Golden Core cultivator, standing.
Beside him was Lin Xukong, Zhaoyue’s father, an Initial Nascent Soul, fists trembling at his sides.
And then the unexpected guests.
Gu Jian, the current Patriarch of the Gu family. Mid-stage Nascent, posture tense, conflicted.
He couldn’t even et Fang Yuan’s gaze.
And seated next to him, with a porcelain cup of tea poised elegantly in one withered hand, was Gu Lanyue, his father.
Initial Nascent Soul, old, grinning like a vulture with at in its beak.
"Guess who decided to join the party," Gu Lanyue drawled, taking a slow sip.
His tone was sharp with mockery, like rusted iron scraping porcelain.
Gu Jian shifted but said nothing.
Just then, Fang Yuan’s gaze flicked downward, his sharp senses catching a faint shimr beneath his feet.
A formation.
Explosive formation, he realized.
Fang Yuan didn’t waste breath on words.
His arm lifted, and in one fluid motion, his sword flashed into existence.
"Divine Line."
The slash ca down in an instant.
A thin, silver line carved through, splitting the air.
The room instantly detonated as stone cracked and furnitures splintered.
Debris flew in every direction.
Fang Yuan didn’t delay as well, he was already airborne, cradling Fang Lian as he exited the blast, cloak billowing, boots gliding over the fractured tiles.
Gu Lanyue, still chuckling, stroked his beard as if the near-death mont amused him. "Hoho... sharp eyes for a junior. But also foolish. You walked straight into the trap."
Fang Yuan felt it just then, a flicker, a shift in the air.
The shimr of a containnt barrier locking into place.
So the explosive formation was just a distraction, he thought coldly. A diversion to raise the walls.
Still, no panic touched his expression. He stood within the glowing seal, unmoved.
Gu Lanyue straightened slightly, voice rising with theatrical venom. "Did you think you would be alive after kidnapping the fiancée of Crown Prince Qin Hai? Truly, you’ve grown audacious."
Lin Xukong stepped forward, his voice ragged with emotion, eyes glistening. "Where is my daughter?! You monster!"
"My sister’s life lamp... it went out!" Lin Pe snarled, spiritual energy flaring wildly. "You killed her! Bring her back!"
Fang Yuan didn’t blink.
He looked at them, no, through them as if watching clowns perform a skit in the street.
Because he knew.
He had checked with the system the mont he heard the news of Fang Ruì and Fang Lian’s kidnapping.
At the ti, the retrieval quest for the Seven-Ring Lotus was still active—marked as only half-complete.
Du Juan and Lin Zhaoyue were still listed as alive within the system’s readout.
Just as it had shown Fang Ruì and Fang Lian alive when the news of them "being kidnapped" reached his ears.
That alone had stopped him from turning the Lin estate into a crater the mont he arrived.
Information changes everything.
It had shaped his entire approach.
He didn’t waste strength on dramatics. He didn’t lash out in blind rage.
Because if there was even the slightest chance they were still breathing, he would find them. He had to.
His first priority had shifted instantly—rescue.
Just then, Gu Lanyue raised a crystal transmitter to his lips.
"He’s trapped here with us. Take care of the task on your side. Don’t worry, we’ll hold him here."
The words were quiet but not quiet enough.
Fang Yuan’s eyes glead.
Without a single warning, he raised his sword.
The air bent.
"Tyrant Light Sword — Second Form: Star Form."
A tremor shuddered through the chamber as the heavens answered.
From above, a burning star descended, a star, not taphor but substance, its golden core blazing with killing intent.
It scread toward Gu Lanyue like divine judgnt.
But Fang Yuan wasn’t done.
A second star, identical, split from his blade and hurled itself at Gu Jian, who barely had ti to register the attack before reacting.
Then a third.
A fourth.
Lin Pe and Lin Xukong stared, stunned, as searing orbs of celestial energy bore down upon them from above.
Four stars. Manifested at once.
Each one a world of its own.
Fang Yuan hovered, sword still drawn, robes untouched by the wind of their descent.
His qi surged like an ocean held at bay, the system points beneath his skin thrumming, limitless and waiting.
He had qi to waste.
Gu Lanyue’s eyes glittered with malice as he never hesitated.
In a single, fluid motion, his fingers snapped, poisonous silk spat forth like a swarm of spectral vipers.
Thousands of filants, thin as spider threads yet glinting with toxic sheen, wove themselves into a living barrier around him.
The air reeked faintly of bitter alkaloids as the silken wall rippled with anticipation, ready to slice and dissolve any incoming assault.
At the sa mont, Gu Jian moved with disciplined precision.
He lunged forward, seizing Lin Pe and Lin Xukong by the arms and hauling them behind his father’s poisoned bastion.
The two Lin cultivators stumbled, their furious protests cut short as Gu Jian’s grip tightened.
"Lin Xukong!" Gu Jian barked, his voice sharp as drawn steel.
"Transfer your qi—into him!" He jabbed a gauntleted thumb at Gu Lanyue’s chest.
Lin Xukong’s eyes widened, terror and duty warring in his gaze.
With a strangled cry, he thrust his palms forward, channeling his nascent-soul qi into the old patriarch’s waiting form.
Gu Jian closed the circuit: a pulse of energy surged from his core into his father’s barrier, flickering through the poison silk and infusing it with an even more potent, regenerative strength.
The threads shimred brighter, the barrier solidifying into an impregnable do of lethal, pulsating toxin.
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