Chapter 183: A Long Premeditated Scheme

Just as the two of them pondered alternative routes, they suddenly heard loud rumbling noises from inside! Soon afterward, they sensed a violent spiritual aura fluctuation.

Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang looked at each other. Such a violent spiritual aura fluctuation… What was happening?

A split second later, the breath that filled the entire divine dragon hall suddenly became turbulent and rushed towards the back as if it possessed consciousness. This phenomenon started slowly; at first, they only felt the divine dragon’s breath slowly flowing towards the divine dragon statue, but later, it flowed quicker and quicker as if there was something absorbing it!

The surprise they felt grew increasingly bigger. They were sure something was happening, but they were completely at a loss as to what to do.

The end of the long stone passage was a main temple where the divine dragon statue was enshrined, and there were no other passages—whatever happened must be happening at the back of the divine dragon hall. But the pressure of the divine dragon’s breath was too strong, so they couldn’t spread their divine sense and had to personally go into the depths of the temple to see what was happening. Nevertheless, considering the current situation, they might encounter some danger if they went.

Before they could think any deeper, they suddenly heard heavy rumbling noises which sounded like a stone door opening coming from the depths of the temple. Soon after, noises of messy footsteps mixed with anxious shouting rang out. “Quick! Let’s quickly go!”

This voice…

The two of them looked towards the source of the noises just in time to see several people running out of the hall anxiously.

“Junior Martial Brother Tang!”

“Senior Martial Brother Jiang!”

Jiang Shanghang’s and Tang Fang’s eyes met; both were stunned. A split second later, Tang Fang ran over, pulled Jiang Shanghang’s hand then continued to run towards the exit. “Senior Martial Brother Jiang, run quickly!”

Mo Tiange swept her gaze over the people in front of her. These Zhengfa Sect cultivators were running out of the depths of the divine dragon hall, but there were only four of them: Tang Fang, Yu Xiaoran, Qiu Zhiming, and Xia Houyuan.

The four looked completely pale and flustered, and Yu Xiaoran was even injured! As for the four others, they were nowhere to be seen.

As soon as the four of them came out, Tang Fang immediately pulled Jiang Shanghang and ran to the exit with his all, so Mo Tiange had to follow them. These Zhengfa Sect cultivators were extremely fast when they used the Fleeing Water Technique; even though Mo Tiange was wearing her Cloud-Treading Boots, it was still quite hard to keep up with them.

“Junior Martial Brother Tang, what’s wrong? What about Senior Martial Brother Ren and the others? Why are we running—did something happen?” Jiang Shanghang asked as he ran.

Tang Fang said while panting, “Senior Martial Brother Ren… Senior Martial Brother Ren…”

Before Tang Fang could say anything else, Qiu Zhiming shouted furiously, “What’re you still calling him ‘Senior Martial Brother Ren’ for!? He’s been plotting against us from the beginning!”

Jiang Shanghang was shocked. “What happened? Did Senior Martial Brother Ren also…to you…”

Qiu Zhiming, who was supporting the injured Yu Xiaoran, pointed at the wound on Yu Xiaoran’s chest. “This is what Senior Martial Brother Ren did. There’s no treasure whatsoever here—he was using us to get into this underground palace so he could inherit the divine dragon’s breath then he planned on killing us to keep this matter secret!”

“What?” Jiang Shanghang was dumbstruck. Although they long guessed something of that nature, he thought there was no possibility of it actually happening! He really never expected Senior Martial Brother Ren would’ve really harbored those intentions! “Does he want to die? Even our Nascent Soul grandmasters wouldn’t dare to mess with that divine dragon’s breath, yet he actually—”

The one who interrupted him was Xia Houyuan. She said with extreme indignation, “In fact, last time he got a secret technique here. That technique allows him to utilize the breath of divine beasts from the ancient era to transform his body into one that possesses a divine beast’s inheritances. After obtaining that secret technique, he made proper preparations then used us to enter this underground palace with the intention of silencing us when the matter was over!”

Mo Tiange wasn’t at all shocked to hear what she said. She and Jiang Shanghang already discussed this earlier; Ren Yufeng must’ve obtained some kind of secret technique so he dared to covet the divine dragon’s breath. What Xia Houyuan said just validated their guess.

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“Then what about Senior Martial Brother Lu and the others?”

Grief emerged on Tang Fang’s face. “Senior Martial Brother Lu’s and Senior Martial Brother Xiang’s spiritual aura were depleted, and they were also injured by the Water Carp Beast when they were in charge of the formation—they couldn’t escape at all, so they were the first to be killed by Senior Martial Brother Ren. Senior Martial Sister Ai was also… Senior Martial Sister Ai was always close to Senior Martial Brother Ren, yet he actually killed her too…”

“Then what’s the situation like now?” Once Jiang Shanghang heard all of that, he nervously looked back to see whether or not Ren Yufeng was chasing after them. “Senior Martial Brother Ren’s already in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm, and he also still has more than a hundred years left in his lifespan—he obviously has prospects of forming his Gold Core. Why did he want to do this kind of thing!?”

“Who knows?” Qiu Zhiming said coldly, “I was baffled from the very beginning; why didn’t he ask late stage Foundation Building cultivators he was on good terms with to help him out? Why did he ask us to come instead? I originally thought he simply wanted to be the most powerful one in the group, so I never realized he actually had this kind of plan!”

The difference between the late stage and the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm was quite big. Back during the demonic beast riot, conflicts rose between Xuanqing School disciples and Gujian Sect disciples on Qianmen Ridge of Mount Tianhuo. It was only because Kuang Zhu, a late stage Foundation Building cultivator, was there that the Gujian Sect disciples didn’t dare to act rashly. Later, Wan Hongan had ill intentions and incited others to prepare their sword formations, resulting in both parties coming to blows. Nevertheless, once Kuang Zhu interfered, everything went smoothly, and victory was practically in their grasp.

Ren Yufeng was in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. Aside from him, Lu, Xiang, and Mo Tiange were in the middle stage of the Foundation Building realm while the remaining six others were all in the early stage of the Foundation Building realm. Three middle stage Foundation Building cultivators could still potentially beat a late stage Foundation Building cultivator if they teamed up. Six early stage Foundation Building cultivators, on the other hand, had absolutely no chance of defeating a late stage Foundation Building cultivator.

Judging by their current situation, Ren Yufeng had apparently planned everything well. For the three middle stage Foundation Building cultivators, he first made Lu Rongsheng and Xiang Zhiyang take charge of the formation, thus crippling the two of them. When they had to open the restriction around the divine dragon monument, he also schemed against Mo Tiange—consequently, the three middle stage Foundation Building cultivators had no strength to oppose him. The remaining six early stage Foundation Building cultivators couldn’t defeat him, so when they entered the divine dragon monument’s underground palace, he could have the final say!

Mo Tiange sneered from the bottom of her heart. She didn’t have the slightest sympathy for this group of Zhengfa Sect cultivators, because back when Ren Yufeng was plotting against her, all of them watched with folded arms. Nonetheless, they also had a falling out with Ren Yufeng now, so she could cooperate with them.

“Senior Martial Brother Jiang,” Mo Tiange secretly transmitted her voice to Jiang Shanghang, “Ask them about the current situation; how’s Ren Yufeng now?”

Jiang Shanghang made an imperceptible nod as a response and proceeded to ask the others: “Then how’s Senior Martial Brother Ren now? Did he really obtain the divine dragon’s breath? Can we escape?”

“We don’t know.” The one who answered this time was Qiu Zhiming again. “We followed him all the way into this underground palace then into the divine dragon hall until we finally reached a dragon bone altar where we saw a dragon skeleton. At that point, Ren Yufeng suddenly started to laugh like crazy. He said he finally saw dragon bones, wanted to obtain the divine dragon’s breath and turn into a divine dragon’s child. Right afterward—I don’t know what secret technique he used—the divine dragon’s breath on the dragon bones suddenly rushed towards him. Senior Martial Brother Lu was shocked, so he asked him what was going on. Ren Yufeng proudly said that when he entered this underground palace by himself last time, he obtained a stone tablet outside the divine dragon hall. On that tablet, he found drawings about inheriting the divine dragon’s breath, so he was tempted by it. These past several months, he finally comprehended the drawings, so he made us come to help him enter the divine dragon hall again so he could carry out the divine dragon secret technique!”

Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang glanced at each other. In fact, they already made some rough guesses about this matter, but they never thought Ren Yufeng’s actions would reach this extent. He brought them inside simply because he wanted to silence all of them!

But that being the case, did it mean the supposed divine dragon’s breath was really divine dragon’s breath? There were even dragon bones inside—could it be that dragons really existed? The king of spiritual beasts in the legends… The race whose existence was closest to the Gods… The breath they left behind was already this powerful, so how strong would a real dragon have been? Furthermore, what was this sacrificial temple all about? Was this maybe an ancient dragon burial site?

Qiu Zhiming continued on: “Senior Martial Brother Lu reproachfully questioned him if he was using us, but Ren Yufeng immediately lost his temper. He said he’d inherited the divine dragon’s breath; he said he was no longer human now and he was about to become the descendant of divine beasts, so he was angry Senior Martial Brother Lu actually dared to talk to him like that. After that… After that, he killed Senior Martial Brother Lu…” At that point, fury emerged in Qiu Zhiming’s eyes. “We were extremely shocked when he killed Senior Martial Brother Lu. Junior Martial Sister Ai questioned him, and Senior Martial Brother Xiang also asked him why he wanted to harm his fellow disciples. He… He directly killed both Junior Martial Sister Ai and Senior Martial Brother Xiang!”

After listening up till this point, both Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang exchanged meaningful looks. Apparently, this Ren Yufeng had simply lost his mind already—he actually acted so mercilessly even towards his own fellow disciples!

Although cultivators were always self-interested, they were, after all, people of the Righteous Path—disciples from a Dao school. In their school, they had the school rules governing them—they mustn’t harm their fellow disciples. Nevertheless, Ren Yufeng actually disregarded the school rules! Could it be that after obtaining the divine dragon’s breath, he wasn’t planning on staying in Zhengfa Sect anymore? Or was he simply certain they couldn’t escape from him?

Thinking about that possibility sent a chill down Mo Tiange’s spine.

If it was the previous Ren Yufeng, she was still somewhat certain she wouldn’t have a problem defeating him, a late stage Foundation Building cultivator, with all the treasures she had. However, how strong would Ren Yufeng, who reportedly obtained the divine dragon’s breath, be now? She had no answer for that.

The next question Jiang Shanghang asked was precisely the thing Mo Tiange wanted to know. “Is Senior Martial Brother Ren very strong now?”

Qiu Zhiming was silent. This time, Tang Fang answered, “Senior Martial Brother Ren’s very terrifying now. After he killed Senior Martial Brother Lu, Senior Martial Brother Xiang, and Senior Martial Sister Ai, we realized the situation was far from good because he was stronger than before, so we fled immediately. Senior Martial Brother Ren seemed like he wanted to chase after us, but he hadn’t succeeded ingesting the divine dragon’s breath, so he stopped. We don’t know how strong he is now, but considering how formidable the divine dragon’s breath was, he certainly won’t be weak!”

What Tang Fang said made Mo Tiange feel that their current situation was indeed bad. Ren Yufeng really had a method of absorbing the divine dragon’s breath, but none of them knew how strong that divine dragon’s breath was; if Ren Yufeng indeed survived the side-effects of this formidable force, how strong would he be? Even if advancing directly to the Nascent Soul realm was impossible, it was very possible for Ren Yufeng, who was initially in the late stage of the Foundation Building realm, to instantly advance to the Core Formation realm after obtaining the divine dragon’s breath!

Mo Tiange believed she could deal with a fifth rank demonic beast, and if worse came to worst, she could even escape into her Virtual Sky World. However, she definitely couldn’t contend with a Core Formation cultivator! Humans possessed intelligence which demonic beasts didn’t; in a fight where both parties possessed equal intelligence, pure strength was already enough to decide the outcome—no matter how many treasures she had, they were all useless, and faced with a powerful enough foe, any kind of tricks would also be useless.

The gears in her brain were turning at full speed; she was already planning on escaping from this matter. The easiest way would be to enter the Virtual Sky World, but how could she do that without being discovered by these people? Besides, although she didn’t care about the others, she at least still wanted to save Jiang Shanghang.