Firmament Sword

"Senior Brother!"

"Let my junior brother go!"

"Hurry up and lead this thing away!"

"Agh, no... It's too strong, I can't hold on... Ahh!" Another bloodcurdling scream rang out.

"Everyone, attack together! Lead it into the Array we've set up!" Wanghai's voice carried from afar, tinged with a faint excitement. He shouted, "Brothers, as long as we get through this... our future will be limitless, with nothing left to stand in our way!"

"Senior Brother is right! Once we pass this trial, we'll all be set for life! With such a terrifying defense, the inheritance inside can't possibly be anything less than incredible!" A handsome young man beside Wanghai also shouted.

BOOM!

Another deafening explosion. Someone had clearly unleashed a devastatingly powerful technique.

"Senior Brother... *sob*... Senior Brother self-destructed!"

"Stop crying. The Young Lord will handle the funeral arrangements for the dead... His family will be looked after by the Young Lord in the future!"

"That's right, it's time for us to lay down our lives for the Young Lord!"

"Give it our all!"

"Give it our all!"

A group of people roared and bellowed madly, charging at an immense black monster shrouded in mist.

The black monster let out a furious roar. Every step it took shook the heavens and the earth, a testament to its unimaginably immense power.

Every breath it exhaled was terribly corrosive. The slightest touch would cause skin to rot away.

In just a few moments, several Heavenly Brilliance Outer Disciples were touched by the gas exhaled by the black monster, and they let out terrified screams.

But at this point, no one could escape. They could only fight desperately to stay alive and lure the monster toward the pre-arranged Array.

In the blink of an eye, a few more screams echoed out as several more Heavenly Brilliance Disciples were devoured whole by the indistinct black monster.

Although Xu Luo couldn't see the entire scene, he was secretly terrified. 'If I were in there,' he thought, 'I doubt I could face such a horrifying monster either.'

Wanghai shouted, "Just a little more! Brothers... push a little harder!"

Wanghai's voice was distorted with fear and excitement. This Direct Disciple of a Celestial Brilliance Inner Sect Elder was, for the first time in his life... experiencing such an intense emotional upheaval!

"How terrifying," Master Mao mumbled under his breath.

Xiaojin also shrank back, saying fearfully, "That black monster... it looks like a Qiongqi..."

"What?" Xu Luo raised an eyebrow.

"It looks like a Qiongqi..." Xiaojin repeated. "A legendary vicious beast, incredibly fearsome! Speaking of which... it seems to have some distant kinship with my own race."

"Heh heh, who cares what it is. In any case, those guys are in for some serious bad luck!" Master Mao said, gloating.

Xu Luo took a deep breath and said, "Let's go!"

Master Mao and Xiaojin both nodded. Fortune favors the bold—a principle understood by all intelligent beings.

Now that the protective array had been broken and the Guardian Beast lured away, if they didn't seize this chance to enter, they might not get another one.

Then, Xu Luo shot forward, using the Shaking Light Step to race into the deep valley.

...

...

"Closer!"

"Even closer!"

"Just a little more!"

Wanghai's body trembled slightly with excitement. He roared himself hoarse, simultaneously unleashing every technique he had in a frantic assault on the black beast shrouded in dense mist.

Countless Talismans, Magical Artifacts of all kinds, Spirit-Connected Magical Artifacts, Top-Grade Magical Artifacts... all were thrown out as if they were free. If not for this barrage, the beast could have slapped them to death at any moment!

The Array, which was not far away, now seemed incredibly distant in the eyes of Wanghai and his men. They struggled immensely over the short distance of just a few miles.

Finally... only a few dozen yards to go!

Wanghai looked again. Of the people by his side, only six remained!

There had been sixteen of them originally!

Of those sixteen, the weakest was at the Early-stage Saint Realm.

ROAR!

The black beast in the mist went berserk again, swallowing two more people at once. They didn't even have time to scream.

Only four were left!

Including Wanghai, there were only five people in total!

This was something none of them had anticipated.

The handsome young man beside Wanghai shouted, "The rest of you... when this is over, Senior Brother and I guarantee you'll get into the Inner Sect and become an Elder's Direct Disciple!"

Before, his words would have driven the group into a frenzy. But now, the faces of the remaining three were deathly pale. They were defending with all their might and had no energy left to reply.

"Fifteen yards left!" the handsome youth beside Wanghai roared.

"Ah!" Another person was devoured by the black beast in the mist!

"Ten yards left!"

"I don't want to die..." Another was devoured.

Finally, with only three yards to go and success in sight, the last Outer Sect Disciple could hold on no longer and was swallowed whole by the black beast.

But in doing so, the black beast stepped into the Array Wanghai and his men had prepared. The Grand Array activated instantly, trapping the beast inside!

AWOOOO!

The black beast let out a world-shaking roar and tried to break free, but it failed, suppressed by the Grand Array.

The handsome youth collapsed onto the ground, soaked in a cold sweat. He asked dazedly, "Did we... succeed?"

Wanghai also collapsed to the ground, muttering, "We succeeded! We finally succeeded!"

"This is great... *sob*, Senior Brother, we finally succeeded! I just... I just didn't expect so many people would die!" The handsome youth's face was streaked with tears, overcome with emotion.

His body even trembled slightly as he stammered, "But... this inheritance... we've finally got our hands on it!"

PFFT!

The sword in Wanghai's hand plunged directly into the handsome youth's chest. It entered from the front and emerged from the back, its sharp tip glinting with a cold light.

"Wh-why... did you kill me?" The handsome youth's eyes were filled with utter disbelief. He stared at Wanghai, so shocked he even forgot the pain.

"For this day... I have prepared for a full ten years!"

"I scoured ancient texts and searched through scriptures just to confirm this location, spending tens of millions of Top-level Immortal Spirit Stones in the process!"

"Once I pinpointed the exact location, I spent even more Top-level Immortal Spirit Stones to buy divine materials and set up the Array. Ten whole years... I barely cultivated at all, wasting all my time on this!"

Wanghai's face was savage and twisted, his eyes bloodshot with excitement. He gritted his teeth and said, "As long as I obtain this inheritance... my power will soar to the heavens! From this day forward, I, Wanghai, will no longer be some mere Celestial Brilliance Advanced Disciple... but a true dragon among men, a true Chosen of Heaven!"

"I will become... the Sect Leader's Direct Disciple! When that time comes... all the other Direct Disciples who were once my peers will have to respectfully call me... Senior Brother Wanghai!"

"I know... I know all of that. But I just want to know... why did you kill me, Senior Brother?" Blood trickled from the handsome youth's mouth. Wanghai's sword strike had been precise, piercing straight through his heart. There was no way he could survive.

"Why did I kill you? HAHAHAHA... This inheritance was always meant for one person! Only one person can inherit it! With you here... how would I split it? And if I didn't... would your heart grow cold? Would you come to resent me for it? Even if you wouldn't... for things like this, the fewer people who know, the safer it is!"

"Originally... I hadn't planned on killing you. I also never expected that obtaining this inheritance would come at such a terrible price, that everyone around us... would end up dead!"

"Since that's the case, what reason is there to keep you alive? Once you're dead, no one in this world will know that I, Wanghai, obtained this inheritance! From now on... the vast sea is for the fish to leap in, the high sky for the birds to fly. The future of Celestial Brilliance... belongs to me, Wanghai!"

The handsome youth gave a wretched smile, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. "Senior Brother... you know I would never betray you. I always listened to you, how could I possibly... fight you over anything? If... if you really wanted me dead, you only needed to say the word, and I would have killed myself... Why did you... have to do it yourself?"

"Ask you to die, and you would just die? HAHAHAHA... Do you take me for a three-year-old child?" Wanghai laughed maniacally at the sky. He said coldly, "You might not be jealous of me now, but one day you would be. You would think, 'We were both Inner Sect Disciples, and I sacrificed just as much for this inheritance, so why... why is he the one who got it?' I bet... if I didn't kill you, the moment I received the inheritance, you would have attacked me yourself!"

"Don't deny it... I don't believe it for a second! I don't trust anyone!"

Wanghai's expression was utterly demonic. He grinned and said, "Rest assured, after you die, I will give you a proper burial. And in the future... I will definitely take good care of your family. I won't let them suffer the slightest grievance!"

"Especially... your fiancée. She's a good girl. I won't let her suffer the pain of losing her husband. I will take *very* good care of her!"

The handsome youth's eyes snapped wide open, glaring furiously. A flush crept over his face, which was pale from blood loss. He raged, "Wanghai! You venomous bastard! I must have been blind... to believe in someone like you, to follow you so devotedly! I can't believe you're so shameless! You won't even spare my future wife?"

"Look, look!" Wanghai's face was all smiles as he looked at the handsome youth and sneered, "Finally showing your true colors, are you? You're jealous of me, you hate me. I actually knew it all along!"

"What do you mean 'shameless'? What do you mean 'won't even spare'? Is she my sister-in-law? No... once you're dead, she'll just be an unmarried maiden who's lost her fiancé!"

Wanghai chuckled. "I'm confident that within three months, I can make her forget you completely..."

"You... shameless!" The handsome youth's eyes looked ready to split from their sockets, mad with hatred. He spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm at Wanghai.

Wanghai dodged the bloody phlegm, then raised a finger and shot out a powerful burst of energy, piercing straight through the handsome youth's forehead.

The handsome youth fell to the ground. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at Cangqiong. Deep within his pupils was a faint trace of mockery, as if mocking Cangqiong itself for being blind.

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