Chapter 128: Drawing a Circle as a Prison

At Liang Yan's words, every gaze in the hall shifted toward Zhao Xunzhen.

She appeared slightly startled, but quickly regained her composure. With a faint nod to Liang Yan, she turned and walked toward Yun Xuzi.

"Clever boy, it seems you had this planned all along!" Yun Xuzi narrowed his eyes, staring at her as she approached, his thoughts unreadable.

After a long silence, he let out a soft sigh. "Very well! I shall grant your wish. But if you dare to break your word, I have a hundred ways to make you wish for death but find no release!"

As he spoke, Yun Xuzi produced a red vial from his robes, poured out a pill, and prepared to hand it to Zhao Xunzhen.

At that very moment, a beam of black radiance shot out from afar, aiming directly for the pill in Yun Xuzi's hand.

His expression shifted slightly. With a flick of his long sleeve, a flash of green light manifested into a crystalline wall in mid-air. The black light slammed into the barrier, unable to penetrate it, before whistling away and crashing into the floor with a thunderous boom.

"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Qin?" Yun Xuzi asked, his face darkening as he shot a cold glance at Qin Yuan.

"The meaning? Hmph!" Qin Yuan snorted. "The two of you, old and young, are putting on quite a performance. Do you think the rest of us are invisible?"

Having just forced the statue of the sword-wielding woman to retreat with a single strike, he had followed Yun Xuzi's lead and leaped ten yards back. True to form, the statue ceased its assault and returned to its position around the golden dais, reverting into a mere stone figure.

Li Zheng and Meng Qi, having realized by now that the statues would not attack unless someone approached the golden dais, also withdrew. Their respective eagle-headed and tiger-headed statues immediately abandoned the pursuit and returned to their posts.

The four Foundation Establishment cultivators now stood at the corners of the stone platform, while the four golden statues remained still, returning an eerie silence to the hall.

"The boy is already my man. It is only natural that he hands the Galaxy Sand to me. What is the problem with that?" Yun Xuzi glanced at the other three and spoke abruptly.

"Hehe! You may be poisoned by Yun Xuzi, but if you hand over the Galaxy Sand for the antidote now, you are still walking to your death!" Meng Qi giggled, not at Yun Xuzi, but directly at Liang Yan.

"Setting aside whether this antidote is genuine or fake, even if it were real, it could only save you for a moment. Once you hand over the Galaxy Sand, you lose your only leverage. How will you withstand the wrath of the other three sect masters then?"

"Hehe, you thought yourself clever, but you’ve only woven a cocoon to trap yourself in a dead end!" the sickly scholar Li Zheng chimed in with a grin, looking on as if enjoying a spectacle.

To everyone's surprise, Liang Yan showed no fear. Instead, he smiled faintly. "My life is of no concern to you, seniors. Once I obtain the antidote, I shall remain on this stone platform and go nowhere. If you want my life, you will have to ask these four statues if they agree."

The group paused, suddenly remembering that these four statues were guardians of the treasures on the dais, meant to prevent anyone from approaching.

Somehow, Liang Yan had managed to mask his aura. As these statues were mere puppets, they relied on aura to identify intruders; not only would they not attack him, but they had effectively become his bodyguards.

"Do you intend to wall yourself in and rot here?" Meng Qi asked, seemingly annoyed as she collected her thoughts.

"Hehe! Isn't everyone here already walled in? Tell me, seniors, since entering this tomb, have any of you seen a way back?" Liang Yan chuckled, then continued, "Now that we are inside this golden palace, there is not a single exit or teleportation array in sight. We are all prisoners; you are simply in a larger cell, while I am in a smaller one."

At these words, the cultivators exchanged uneasy glances, their expressions shifting. Even the Qi Condensation disciples looked around frantically, searching for a way out.

Suddenly, Qin Yuan let out a roar: "Hmph, nonsense! I will slaughter you first!"

He formed a hand seal, and a small black blade shot through the air toward Liang Yan on the golden steps. Qin Yuan had already calculated that if he killed the one causing the disruption, the Galaxy Sand would once again become ownerless, resetting the situation. Even if the boy was protected by puppets, he had plenty of long-range methods to finish him.

However, things did not go as planned. The moment the black blade neared the platform, the sword-wielding female statue moved, slashing her blade through the air to intercept it.

*Clang!*

A crisp sound of metal striking metal echoed. The black blade flew backward, the demonic energy upon it flickering and dissipating as if it had suffered a heavy blow.

"It is useless!" Liang Yan shook his head. "Since these four statues guard the treasures on this platform, they naturally prevent anyone from damaging them. I am but a lowly Qi Condensation cultivator with nothing to my name. Instead of picking a fight with me, you would be better off figuring out how to escape this place alive!"

He turned his gaze back to Yun Xuzi. "Well, senior? Have you decided? This Galaxy Sand is a hot potato for a cultivator of my level. Bring the antidote, and I will hand it over with both hands."

This time, Yun Xuzi nodded without hesitation. "Take it!"

He flicked his hand, and a red pill flew from his palm, landing right before Zhao Xunzhen.

She instinctively caught the pill. After a careful inspection and a quick sniff, she nodded slightly at Liang Yan.

Liang Yan smiled. "If you do not deceive me, I shall not break my word. Xunzhen, throw the antidote over."

As Zhao Xunzhen reached back to toss the pill to Liang Yan, Qin Yuan roared, "A mere Qi Condensation brat, daring to fish in troubled waters! Do you think I, Qin, do not exist?"

He slapped his storage pouch, and a primitive purple square seal flew out, hovering above his head and radiating a scorching violet light. Then, he gripped his blade by the hilt and drove it directly into his own chest, chanting an arcane incantation.

As he chanted, a formidable wave of demonic energy surged outward. The three Foundation Establishment cultivators were so overwhelmed by the pressure that they could not even lift their feet. The Qi Condensation cultivators fared even worse, collapsing to the ground in terror.

"Gathering Qi and returning to the Origin—the Realm of Yuan-Gathering!" someone cried out, and a cold shiver ran through everyone present.