Long Chen clenched his fists, his chest tight as he faced his master. “Master… please be careful.”
Qian Jinglei smiled faintly, adjusting his collar like she had when he was still her young disciple. “Foolish child. I’m the one staying in the safe zone. It’s you who needs to be careful.”
With a final bow, Long Chen turned away, his jaw set. The group moved toward the exit, leaving Qian Jinglei standing before the glowing map, her figure bathed in its golden light.
The moment Yun Lintian and his companions stepped into the corridor, the walls screamed in protest.
“Left twenty paces!” Qian Jinglei’s voice came crisp through the transmission jade. “The right path is collapsing!”
BOOM!
Yun Lintian moved instantly, the group rushing left just as the right corridor imploded in on itself, swallowing space in a vortex of distorted time.
“Next junction—stop!”
They skidded to a halt as the floor before them liquefied, revealing a churning pool of temporal energy that would have aged them to dust.
“New path forming… upper right corridor now!”
Yun Lintian’s eyes narrowed. The palace was fighting back, changing faster than before.
SCREECH!
From the ceiling, three Temporal Phantoms materialized, their claws dripping black corruption.
Yun Lintian didn’t even turn. The Heaven Sunderer flashed—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three heads rolled before the phantoms could fully form.
“Move!”
They sprinted forward, the walls breathing around them, expanding and contracting like living flesh.
“Next turn—no, wait!” Qian Jinglei’s voice turned urgent. “It shifted again! Back three steps!”
They retreated just as the ceiling slammed down like a guillotine, missing Xiong Ba’s nose by a hair’s breadth.
“Damn this place!” Xiong Yu spat.
“Straight ahead now!” Qian Jinglei guided. “But beware—”
The warning came too late.
Long Chen’s foot touched a nearly invisible pressure plate—
BOOM!
Temporal chains erupted from the walls, wrapping around the group with lightning speed. The moment they made contact, aging began—
Linlin’s white fur started graying.
Qingqing’s robe wrinkled.
Even Yun Lintian felt his muscles weakening—
“REVERSE!”
Silver light detonated from Yun Lintian’s body, unraveling the chains. But the damage was done—they’d lost precious seconds.
“Run! Now!” Qian Jinglei shouted through the jade.
They charged forward as the corridor behind them folded into nothingness.
The path opened into a circular chamber—walls lined with endless mirrors, each reflecting their group from different angles.
“Dead end?” Xiong Ba panted.
Yun Lintian’s Eyes of Heaven flared. “Illusions within illusions.”
“Master?” Long Chen called into the jade.
Silence.
Then—static.
“…ing…terfer…nce…” Qian Jinglei’s voice broke apart.
The transmission was failing.
“Master?” Long Chen tried to contact his master again and again but failed to connect.
Nie Tong’s frost energy spiked. “We’re on our own.”
Buzz—
Suddenly, the mirrors moved, rearranging themselves with a sound like grinding bones.
From within the glass, doppelgangers stepped out—perfect copies of their group, but with blackened eyes and twisted smiles.
“Kill the originals,” Mirror-Yun Lintian hissed, drawing a corrupted version of the Heaven Sunderer.
Yun Lintian’s eyes turned cold as the doppelgangers emerged. Without hesitation, he raised the Heaven Sunderer—
“Annihilate.”
A blinding silver arc erupted from the greatsword, slicing through every mirror in the chamber.
Buzz—
The doppelgangers barely had time to scream before they disintegrated, their corrupted forms unraveling like torn parchment.
The sheer force of the strike purged all temporal energy in the vicinity, leaving the air crystal clear.
Long Chen and the others stood frozen, their eyes wide. Even after witnessing Yun Lintian’s might before, the raw power on display was beyond comprehension.
Xiong Ba’s lips trembled. “He… he just erased an entire illusion formation with one strike…”
Nie Tong’s frost energy flickered erratically, a rare sign of her shock.
Yun Lintian ignored their reactions. He activated the transmission jade.
“Report.”
To their surprise, her voice came through immediately—clear and steady. “What happened? Your signal cut off abruptly.”
Long Chen let out a breath of relief. “Master! We encountered mirror doppelgangers, but Senior Yun handled it. The path ahead—”
“Let’s talk about it later. Now, turn left at the next intersection,” Qian Jinglei interrupted. “There’s a hidden passage that will lead you directly to the inner palace.”
Yun Lintian’s brow furrowed slightly as he led the group forward.
They followed the instructions, turning left into a narrow corridor lined with pulsating veins of black corruption.
Halfway through, Yun Lintian suddenly stopped.
“Something’s wrong.”
At that moment, Qian Jinglei’s voice changed—morphing from calm guidance into a mocking laugh.
“Too late now, fools.”
The transmission jade shattered in Yun Lintian’s hand.
The walls around them convulsed, sealing shut as the corridor transformed into a sealed prison.
Long Chen’s face paled. “That wasn’t Master!”
He desperately grabbed another transmission jade, shouting into it. “Master! Master, answer me!”
Only silence replied.
***
**
*
Meanwhile, in the reception chamber…
Qian Jinglei’s hands trembled as she tried to reestablish contact. “Chen’er? Senior Yun? Do you hear me?!”
Silence.
The map before her flickered violently, its pathways rearranging at breakneck speed.
Then—
Creak.
The chamber door opened.
Qian Jinglei whirled around, her sword materializing in hand—
And froze.
Her eyes widened in shock, then horror.
“You… how…?”
Before she could react, a black mist enveloped her. Her body went limp, collapsing to the floor like a broken puppet.
The last thing she saw before unconsciousness took her was a familiar silhouette stepping into the chamber…
***
**
*
In the sealed corridor, the air grew thick with the stench of decaying time.
BANG! BANG!
Xiong Yu slammed his axe against the walls, but the blackened stone absorbed the blows without a scratch. “Damn it! We’re trapped!”
Long Chen’s fists clenched. “Master… something must have happened to her.”
Yun Lintian remained eerily calm. He placed a hand against the wall, his Eyes of Heaven piercing through the corruption.
“This isn’t just a trap,” he said coldly. “It’s a digestive chamber.”
Linlin’s fur stood on end. “Digestive…?”
As if answering her, the walls began oozing black liquid—the same substance that had birthed the Temporal Phantoms.
But this time, it wasn’t forming enemies.
It was dissolving the very space around them.
“Ah!” Qingqing shrieked as the floor beneath her feet began melting. Yun Lintian grabbed her mid-air, his expression darkening.
“The palace is trying to erase us from existence.”
Nie Tong’s frost energy surged, forming a protective dome. But the black liquid ate through it like acid.
“We can’t defend against this!” Ling Xuan shouted.
“Husband?” Long Qingxuan looked at her man curiously.
Yun Lintian frowned slightly and said. “It seems force is still the only way.”
He raised the greatsword high—
And the world exploded in silver light…
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter