"Yes, Elder!"
The subordinates turned, imdiately leaving to carry out the order.
His footsteps echoed sharply against the stone floor as he strode toward the massive iron doors at the end of the chamber.
The doors were thick-engraved with blazing sun patterns and reinforced with multiple protective formations.
His hand had just reached toward the door-
BOOM!!!
The entire chamber trembled violently.
The iron doors exploded inward.
A single surge of overwhelming force tore through the defensive formations as if they were nothing more than paper.
Fragnts of reinforced black iron scattered across the chamber like shrapnel.
A subordinate was sent flying backward, crashing against the wall before sliding down in a daze.
Dust and smoke filled the air.
The golden array flickered erratically.
The cages rattled violently.
And through the settling debris-
A figure stepped forward.
Calm and unhurried.
Bai Zihan!
The Elder froze with confusion and then disbelief.
Then-
A flicker of fear.
Qi around the Elder flared instinctively.
"Do you know what you are doing?"
His voice sharpened, attempting to regain authority.
"This is a highly restricted area of the Azure Sun Holy Sect."
His gaze hardened.
"Surrender yourself, or you will answer to the Azure Sun Holy Sect!"
The children in the cages trembled.
So in fear, others with hope.
The subordinate struggled to rise.
Bai Zihan looked around slowly.
His gaze passed over the charred corpses.
The blood-stained formation.
The iron cages.
The trembling hands gripping the bars.
His expression did not change.
"Looks like we got the correct room."
Bai Zihan spoke as another man followed behind him.
It was Jin Yuanzhan, who was sweating from keeping up with Bai Zihan.
They had already determined that the Sky Pirate Leader was soone connected to the Azure Sun Holy Sect.
Bai Zihan made the decision to invade them-especially the place where the experints were being carried out.
Since he had Jin Yuanzhan with him, finding the way to the location was easy- as long as they hadn't changed it.
It was unlikely to have changed since changing the location would be difficult, considering everything involved: relocating the equipnt and reconstructing the protective formations.
So there was a high chance the place hadn't changed which didn't.
***
Anyways, invading Azure Sun Holy Sect by himself would be quite difficult. So, Bai Zihan needed to convincedhis father and get the support from the clan.
At first, Bai Tianheng intended to demand the identity of the Sky Pirate Leader from the Azure Sun Holy Sect and did not want Bai Zihan to get personally involved-especially since he had lost his cultivation.
But Bai Zihan revealed that he had recovered, circulating Qi freely and even breaking through to the Void Refinent Realm.
Bai Tianheng had stared at his son for several breaths, unable to speak.
"You... recovered?"
There had been disbelief in his voice.
Bai Zihan nodded calmly.
"Xi Yu gave a Grade-8 Healing Pill."
He did not elaborate further.
A Grade-8 Healing Pill!
It wasn't sothing just anyone could even see in their lifeti.
Bai Tianheng's eyes reddened faintly.
Relief washed over him in a tide so strong he nearly lost his composure.
For months, he had carried the silent weight of guilt, believing he should have
stopped Bai Zihan.
And now-
Recovered.
Not rely restored.
But stronger.
Void Refinent Realm!
Bai Tianheng had laughed then-loud and clear, a rare sound within the solemn
grand hall.
"Good! Good!"
The hesitation he had shown earlier-his reluctance to let Bai Zihan personally go to the Azure Sun Holy Sect-vanished.
This was the sa Bai Zihan who had once slain Great Ascension Realm
cultivators.
Now even stronger.
Still-
The Azure Sun Holy Sect was not an ordinary faction.
It was a Top Sect.
A force with Immortal Realm experts hidden within its depths.
Even if Bai Zihan could suppress Great Ascension Realm cultivators, Immortals
were another matter entirely.
Bai Tianheng had not been careless.
Two Grand Elders were dispatched alongside him.
Bai Ren and Bai Ruhong.
If the Azure Sun Holy Sect dared immobilize their Grand Elders-
Then the Bai Clan would respond in kind.
***
Anyway, it was quite an invasion.
With a powerful flying ship, the Bai Clan easily broke through the Azure Sun
Holy Sect's formation and entered its territory.
Of course, the guards appeared, but it didn't take much ti to deal with them.
Bai Zihan didn't even needed to get involve since other Bai Clan mber easily
took care of them.
With Jin Yuanzhan leading them, he guided them to the place where the experints were conducted.
Although only Bai Zihan and Jin Yuanzhan entered the underground chamber, the others remained outside to block anyone who attempted to interfere.
Now, back in the underground chamber.
The Elder's gaze flicked between Bai Zihan and Jin Yuanzhan.
Recognition sparked faintly when his eyes landed on Jin Yuanzhan.
"You...!"
His voice trembled.
Jin Yuanzhan's face darkened as he looked at the cages.
At the corpses.
At the formation array he knew all too well.
The familiar patterns carved into the stone. The resonance frequency of the Sun Dao fragnts.
There was no doubt.
This was the place.
His hands clenched at his sides.
"They didn't move it..."
Jin Yuanzhan's voice was low, almost hoarse.
The formation lines carved into the floor.
The faint scorch marks along the walls.
The iron rings bolted into stone where chains once held struggling bodies in
place.
Every detail was the sa.
The air itself felt the sa.
Reeking faintly of burnt flesh and dicinal reagents.
For a mont-
The present blurred.
He rembered the day they dragged him here.
Rembered the weight of the chains. How he was tortured endlessly just so
he could fuse with the Sun Dao Fragnt.
The feeling of sothing foreign being forced into his dantian-
A burning sun pressed into mortal flesh.
He had scread.
He had begged.
He had cursed.
No one had listened.
Days.
Weeks.
He no longer rembered how long he endured.
There had been no distinction between night and day underground.
Only pain.
Only experints.
Only cold voices discussing "compatibility ratios" while his ridians tore themselves apart.
And standing above him-
Always watching.
Always observing.
That man.
The Elder's eyes widened slightly as recognition fully dawned.
"Jin... Yuanzhan."
His expression twisted.
"Traitor!" His voice sharpened with fury. "How dare you bring an outsider here?!"
His Qi flared, though faintly unstable under the pressure filling the chamber.
The Elder rembered Jin because he was a successful specin-one of the highest synchronization rates with the Sun Dao Fragnt he had ever achieved.
Jin Yuanzhan had even managed to beco a disciple of the Azure Sun Holy
Sect because of that.
His tone was both accusatory and possessive.
"You betrayed the Sect that fed you!"
Jin Yuanzhan slowly raised his head.
His eyes were cold.
"It was you all," he said quietly, "who abandoned first."
The Elder's expression darkened.
Suddenly-
His Qi surged.
Spirit Severing Realm!
Though far inferior to Bai Zihan's Void Refinent pressure.
Golden flas burst from his body as he thrust both palms forward.
He didn't aim carefully.
He didn't hesitate. He attacked.
A surprise strike.
If he could injure one- Create chaos-
Then escape-
But before he could even cross half the distance-
He froze.
The flas flickered-
Then collapsed.
As if grasped by an invisible hand.
Bai Zihan hadn't even moved.
He simply stood there.
A faint ripple of Qi emanated from him.
That was all.
The oppressive force pressed downward like the weight of a mountain.
The Elder's body locked in place.
His knees buckled.
He crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
The flas around him extinguished instantly.
"What-?!"
His voice broke.
He tried to rise.
He couldn't.
He tried to circulate Qi.
It refused to obey.
The suppression was absolute.
Bai Zihan glanced down at him, mildly bored.
"You thought a Spirit Severing Realm sneak attack would surprise ?"
His tone carried faint amusent.
It was ironic-when he was in the Spirit Severing Realm, he used to kill Void
Refinent cultivators like insects.
The Elder's pupils trembled. Void Refinent!
The pressure-
It wasn't sothing he could resist.
Not even close.
Jin Yuanzhan stared.
Even though he had witnessed Bai Zihan's strength before-
Seeing a Spirit Severing Realm expert reduced to nothing so effortlessly still
sent a shock through him.
Bai Zihan turned slightly.
"Do whatever you want."
His voice was calm.
"But don't kill him yet."
He looked down at the suppressed Elder.
"I still need him."
Jin Yuanzhan's gaze darkened. He did not hesitate.
This opportunity- He would not let it slip.
He stepped forward. Each footstep echoed slowly.
The Elder struggled weakly against the invisible pressure pinning him down.
"You-ungrateful-!"
His voice cracked.
Jin Yuanzhan crouched in front of him.
Their eyes t.
"You rember," Jin Yuanzhan said quietly, "the third trial?"
The Elder froze.
"You said that my body was compatible and increased the fragnts to be
integrated. My ridians ruptured. My dantian nearly shattered."
His voice did not rise with emotion.
"That day... you said my screams were proof that the fragnt was integrating."
The Elder's breathing grew ragged.
Jin Yuanzhan reached forward. Placed his palm gently against the Elder's dantian.
Qi seeped inward.
The Elder's body jerked.
His ridians began to heat from within.
A familiar sensation.
Burning uncontrollable just like when he felt when integrating with Sun Dao
Fragnts.
"You wanted to observe structural adaptation under pressure."
Jin Yuanzhan tilted his head slightly. "Let's observe yours!"
"ARGH! STOP! ARGHHHH!"
The Elder scread as soon as it began.
As loudly as the children had.
As desperately as the failed specins.
Jin Yuanzhan watched without blinking. For the first ti- He was the one standing.
And the Elder-
Was the one screaming.
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