Chapter 246: Deep In Danger
From a distant mountain, Wang Xuan watched the blood-red lightning and torrential rain towards Yuan Chi Mountain, wondering if it was related to the superhuman forces. Could the immortals be seeking revenge so soon?
That night, various organizations were slightly tense, finding nothing unusual at the destroyed Yuan Chi Mountain. The Sun family, feigning ignorance, joined the exploration teams and quickly retreated.
The next day, while the outside world reported and discussed the event, no one knew the truth. The Sun family had effectively disassociated themselves from the incident. They observed quietly, waiting to see if any abnormalities would occur after the event.
Wang Xuan didn't return to the city but roamed the mountains, avoiding surveillance as he moved eastward. He took out a light brain from a fragment of a blessed land, a secure device given to him by Zhong Cheng, and browsed the news. There were no significant events related to the destruction of Yuan Chi Mountain.
In the afternoon, Grant from the Argon Consortium became anxious. His granddaughter, Clarice, and the superhuman warrior Hans Solo had been missing for over a day.
"Clarice left a secret message saying she was attending a superhuman gathering, but she's been gone for over a day and a night. Could something have happened?" Grant asked for help from the eastern consortiums.
The Sun family was momentarily stunned upon hearing this. Could their strategic partner's granddaughter have been killed by them? They were relieved that no information had leaked, or Grant would have confronted them.
"Were they involved in an accident?" Grant wondered, naturally connecting it to Yuan Chi Mountain. Why was it attacked?
"Oh God, what happened there?" Grant was shocked, fearing that an eastern consortium might have attacked the superhuman gathering.
"Sun, do you know about the Yuan Chi Mountain incident?" He immediately contacted Sun Rongsheng.
Sun Rongsheng's heart sank, lamenting Grant's sensitivity. "I heard it was attacked and destroyed, but I don't know the specifics," he replied calmly.
Grant ended the call, his eyes glinting coldly. He instructed his subordinates to investigate the Yuan Chi Mountain incident. "The Sun family and the eastern superhumans have a feud. Could they have learned about the gathering and struck, accidentally harming Clarice?"
Grant's heart sank with this realization, struggling to accept the fact. He ordered his men to find Wang Xuan and determine his whereabouts.
Grant quickly received a report that Wang Xuan had also disappeared. Overwhelmed, he exclaimed, "Oh God!" fearing his suspicions might be true. The Sun family might have succeeded in eliminating Wang Xuan, inadvertently killing his granddaughter as well.
Grant then personally contacted the higher-ups of some eastern consortiums. Soon, the Qin and Song families provided him with some clues; their detectors found small fragments of special alloys and a piece of unusual crystal at the scene. Recognizing them as remnants of Hans Solo's war spear and his granddaughter's mirror, Grant trembled with anger and sorrow. The near-divine artifacts were melted and shattered, darkening his vision.
In the evening, an enraged and grieving Grant confronted Sun Rongsheng, demanding an explanation, though he had no evidence, he suspected the Sun family was responsible for Clarice's demise.
"Old friend, please don't get agitated," Sun Rongsheng replied with a frown, troubled by the coincidence and reluctant to admit any involvement in the matter.
......
In the evening, Wang Xuan was grilling meat in the mountains, preparing his dinner. This kind of dining under the open sky, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, was tranquil and simple. Suddenly, he looked up at the night sky as someone, or more precisely, a spiritual entity, descended. It was the woman in the dark red metal armor.
She appeared somewhat pitiful, her figure blurred, with her armor shattered and largely missing. Her condition was not good. Wang Xuan was alert, realizing that even astral projections could be heavily damaged by battleship strikes. Since spiritual entities contain super-material, naturally existing in the physical world, they were affected.
"Why didn't you attend the gathering?" the woman asked sternly, her expression harsh. Although she roughly knew the situation, her mood was foul, and she displaced her anger on Wang Xuan.
"My invitation was stolen," Wang Xuan explained calmly and patiently, showing her the nearly dissipated fake invitation.
"Who do you think attacked Yuan Chi Mountain?" the woman asked coldly.
Her commanding presence in the sky, both cold and dominant, irked Wang Xuan, making him think, 'Am I her subordinate, owing her something?' However, he did not want to confront her directly, considering the likely backing of Celestials behind her.
At this point, Wang Xuan had set the stage for the Sun family and the Celestials to perform, letting them size each other up before he made a decision.
"Currently, only the Sun family is most hostile towards superhumans. I have been attacked by them multiple times and now have to hide in the mountains. Of course, I have no evidence and cannot be certain whether it was them who acted this time."
"Go to the Sun family and investigate, now!" the woman commanded from the sky, her voice filled with killing intent and arrogance.
Wang Xuan really wanted to defy her, resenting being treated like a servant at her beck and call. If not for the fear of the Celestials behind her, he wouldn't be indulging her.
He preferred to stay in the background for now, to personally witness if the Celestials could intervene in the current world. Seeing the woman in such a weakened state, her spiritual body almost dispersed, yet still acting so imperiously?
"If my real body appears in the city, it will be immediately noticed by the Sun family. It's not suitable for me to investigate. Appearing now would make me a sitting duck," Wang Xuan shook his head.
He added, "Even if I hide in the forest now, it won't last long. The New World is filled with surveillance everywhere, even in uninhabited dense forests."
"You're useless!" the woman coldly remarked, her mood extremely sour and lacking any courtesy.
Wang Xuan remained calm, not taking offense. He deduced much from this interaction: the Celestials had suffered a great loss at Yuan Chi Mountain.
"I have a divine seal here that can bestow upon you some power," the woman spoke, descending closer to Wang Xuan.
"Oh, are you giving it to me?" Wang Xuan asked, smiling as he looked at the bright red seal in her hand.
The woman's face remained expressionless. "This is not something you can control. I will imprint it on you and grant you a portion of power."
Wang Xuan stepped back, interpreting her intention as wanting to "stamp" him with the seal. "You're unwilling?" she asked coldly.
Wang Xuan considered confronting her. Having Celestials at her back didn't make her invincible, especially since they had nearly been wiped out by the Sun family. He hadn't suffered any losses in his dealings with the Sun family.
This woman's organization had suffered a severe loss at their first clash with a financial powerhouse, and now she wanted to vent her frustration on him? Wang Xuan moved back a few steps, remaining silent.
The woman, still recovering from the defeat at Yuan Chi Mountain and feeling weakened, took a deep breath and restrained herself. "Approach the Sun family as soon as possible, within two days. Be ready to coordinate with our attack," she instructed, her eyes sharp.
"No problem," Wang Xuan nodded, not in compliance, but eager to witness the unfolding drama and ready to seize any opportunity.
He was determined to eliminate her when the chance arose. For now, he couldn't afford to draw the Celestials' ire onto himself.
The woman vanished into the night sky. Wang Xuan watched her leave, noting her previous strength and current weakness. Her ability to travel without a physical body likely stemmed from her red armor, a valuable artifact now damaged by battleship strikes.
"Armor cast for the spirit? Is that a soul armor, a spirit-shield armor?" Wang Xuan mused, envious. He then coldly chuckled, severing a strand of runes from his body, left by the woman without his knowledge. Aware of it all along, he had intentionally kept it, waiting for her to come to him.
Now, having gathered vital information from the woman about the Celestials' imminent move against the Sun family within two days, Wang Xuan acted. He summoned an ancient lamp, from which a flame emerged to completely erase the rune mark left by the woman, making it faint and then disappear entirely. "You think too highly of yourself. In my eyes, you're just a tool," Wang Xuan muttered under his breath, deciding to no longer keep the mark, eliminating the risk of remaining connected to her.
With a swish, he vanished from the woods, distancing himself from the area. However, he indeed headed towards Kangning City, where the Sun family resided, traversing through dense forests and mountainous terrains. Since the bombardment of Yuan Chi Mountain, he had been on the move, covering a considerable distance into the night. With two days still at hand, he had ample time.
On his journey, Wang Xuan continued to study the talisman papers, eager to fully understand their functions. "Is this an escape talisman?" he exclaimed in surprise when activating one of the talismans momentarily propelled him forward rapidly. He quickly subdued its power to prevent further unintended movement.
By dawn, he deciphered another talisman – an invisibility charm. These talismans were truly exceptional finds, sparking excitement in his eyes. Wang Xuan moved like a ghost through the forest, his travel at this level of cultivation causing no fatigue. Any rest he took was solely to further his understanding of the talismans.
He was more cautious during the day, not just to avoid detection devices but also to steer clear of travelers and adventurers venturing into the mountains. By evening, following the mountain range and moving through the dense woods, he arrived at the wetlands just outside Kangning City, a few miles from the metropolis.
Wang Xuan marveled at the environment of Xingxing, with its forests, lakes, and wetlands, which provided ample cover from surveillance. However, even in these wetlands and along the riverbanks, detectors were present. He employed the invisibility charm and swiftly headed towards Kangning City, not wanting to waste the precious talisman.
He wasted no time and, upon reaching the city, quickly entered a major hotel near the Sun family's location, choosing an unoccupied room to "check into." Upon deactivating the invisibility charm, he noticed it had dimmed and even developed a fine crack.
Shaking his head, Wang Xuan realized he still had much to learn. When would he be able to craft his talismans, or master such arcane skills without relying on talismans? Arriving a day ahead of schedule, he settled in to watch the impending clash between the Celestials and the Sun family.
That very night, trouble found its way to the Sun family.
A bell tolled, its resonant sound capable of intimidating the spirit of a supernatural being. Wang Xuan, surprised, quickly projected his spirit but remained within the room, peering out the window towards the Sun family's compound to observe the commotion.
He was deeply moved by what he saw. The Sun family's stronghold was extraordinary, harboring a terrifying relic within its buildings. Sacred runes interweaved, emitting silver waves that illuminated the night sky. These phenomena, visible only to supernatural beings, were immensely frightening. The silver ripples expanded, striking and sweeping away the soul and spirit of a purple-haired elder.
This elder, in spirit form, had made a nocturnal incursion into the Sun family's domain and was now caught in the relic's grip. Wang Xuan realized with a shiver that the ancestral home of a superfamily like the Suns housed relics capable of autonomously reviving and entrapping invading spirits.
Then, he saw the woman in the red armor, floating high above the Sun family's residence, her gaze icy. The staggered elder flew towards her and was absorbed into a red divine seal, stabilizing his spirit form temporarily.
"The families of this world deserve to be strangled," the woman frowned, "for plundering the Celestial's cave dwellings and acquiring top-grade relics from ancient times!" This bell, a heart-wrenching gift from a peerless powerhouse to future generations for protecting their sanctuary and lineage, had now fallen into the hands of a worldly family, used against followers of the Celestials.
"You, go and possess a body to infiltrate the Sun family," she commanded, releasing the elder's spirit once more.
Moments later, a young man outside the Sun family's gates was possessed, his consciousness instantly muddled as he walked towards the interior of the Sun residence. The bell tolled again, and the elder screamed, bursting out of the young man's body and hastily returning, having lost yet another soul fragment.
In his high-rise hotel room, Wang Xuan was alarmed. He was relieved for not acting rashly. The Sun family's headquarters was extremely dangerous; had he recklessly projected his spirit into it, disaster might have struck.
Recalling Mr. Ghost's words from their encounter in Jingyue City, he now found them quite credible. The Sun family's relic was astonishing, capable of imprisoning souls and spirits.
The woman retreated, muttering to herself, "Autonomously activated, without anyone's control? Could it be that some entity has taken residence within the Sun family?"
Doubtful yet undeterred, she activated the divine seal again, releasing another spirit form, this time an old monk.
His physical body was destroyed at Yuan Chi Mountain, leaving only his spirit form, which resided within the divine seal. "I'll try to distract the big bell. You enter the Sun family from the back," the woman in the red armor said.
The old monk nodded and floated out. The woman activated the divine seal, emitting a deep red light towards the divine bell. Simultaneously, the old monk drifted into the Sun family from another direction.
The bell tolled again. Its silver ripples expanded and struck the red divine seal, causing it to dim and a small crack to appear. The woman exclaimed in shock and pain.
Wang Xuan was deeply affected. That bell was terrifying. What stroke of luck did the Sun family have to unearth such a thing? The woman, visibly shaken, quickly retreated. She felt horrified, as if someone was manipulating the bell.
Then, something even more frightening happened. Although the old monk initially evaded the silver ripples of the bell and entered the Sun family, he still met with an accident.
Deep within the Sun family compound, a small golden flag, no larger than a palm, fluttered gently. Dark waves interweaved from it. With a 'puff', the golden patterns instantly shredded the old monk's spirit form, extinguishing it completely.
Wang Xuan's scalp tingled as he watched, spellbound. These scenes were only visible to supernatural beings and went unnoticed by ordinary people.
"How is this possible?" the woman murmured in shock, "Wasn't this thing lost in ancient times? How can it appear in this era?"
She seriously suspected whether the Sun family was harboring some powerful entity. Had this territory already found its master? For a worldly family's headquarters to be this terrifying was simply unbelievable, a veritable dragon's den and tiger's lair!
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