155: A divine eye? A blind man? (Forty)

The blood-colored light curtain was like a beating heart; with every pulse, it extracted a massive amount of Divine Bird power from You Chen's body.

"Ugh... ah..."

A pained groan escaped You Chen's throat.

His body trembled violently, and the veins beneath his skin bulged and writhed.

The You Que Divine Body was wailing.

The Blue Luan Origin was withering.

This was not guidance, nor was it resonance; it was the most barbaric and greedy form of plunder.

"Don't..."

Not far away, Zi Yuan struggled to crawl up from the ground.

She didn't even have time to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, her beautiful face filled with remorse and confusion.

She rushed toward the Altar once again.

This time, she did not use any spiritual power, but instead used the most primitive method, using her own hands to fiercely claw at that blood-colored barrier.

*Sizzle—*

The light curtain was searing hot, making a sound like roasting meat.

Her ten fingers were instantly mangled and bloody.

But she couldn't feel the pain.

Or rather, the sharp pain in her fingertips was far less than the agony of her heart being twisted by a knife.

"You Chen! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"I didn't know it would end up like this..."

Tears blurred her vision as she pulled and pounded on the light curtain with all her might, letting out desperate cries.

She was supposed to be his guide, yet she had personally pushed him into the abyss of eternal damnation.

In the distance, the group of Prodigies from the Ancient Saint Clan stood with their arms crossed, watching the scene coldly.

It was as if they were enjoying a brilliant theatrical performance.

"Hmph, how truly touching."

"A lowly Lower Realm Bloodline actually dared to disturb our clan's ancestor's slumber; this is the price."

"Cousin Sister Zi Yuan was also muddled, actually bringing such a thing here to defile the Holy Land."

"It's fine now; using his body of mixed Divine Bird power as a sacrifice is just right to purify the Altar and pave the way for the true successor."

Sarcasm, mockery, and schadenfreude.

Those cold words entered Zi Yuan's ears without missing a single syllable.

Sacrifice... purifying the Altar... paving the way for the true successor... Zi Yuan's pounding motions suddenly stopped.

She sat kneeling on the ground blankly, her soul seemingly lost.

She remembered the Seventh Elder's eerie smile.

She understood.

Everything became clear.

From beginning to end, this was a scam.

You Chen was the 'key' and also the sacrifice.

And she was the foolish sinner who had personally sent the 'key' to the Altar.

*Pfft—*

Spewing out a mouthful of heart's blood, Zi Yuan's aura instantly withered.

However, just at this moment.

An unexpected change occurred upon the Altar.

The majestic Divine Bird power extracted from You Chen's body was violent and mixed, clashing wildly within the light curtain.

They did not completely merge into the depths of the Altar as the Ancient Saint Clan Elders had expected.

A portion of the power sank into the Altar, while another portion—the purer portion—seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force.

It began to slowly converge toward Zi Yuan's direction.

Hum!

An ancient, vast, and extremely pure Legacy aura diffused from the deepest part of the Altar.

It bypassed You Chen on the Altar and precisely locked onto Zi Yuan.

The next moment, a pillar of light invisible to the naked eye descended from the void, enveloping Zi Yuan.

Countless profound runes began to frantically pour into her body.

Her body was actually resonating with that Ancient Ancestor power.

Unexpectedly, she had become the new target of the Legacy.

Within the blood-colored light curtain.

You Chen's consciousness was on the brink of dissipating.

The physical pain was gradually becoming numb, leaving only the dead ash in his heart still emitting a bone-chilling coldness.

Just a moment before he was about to completely sink into darkness.

A flicker of clarity, a brief moment of lucidity before the end.

"I don't believe it... I don't believe Sister Zi Yuan would harm me..."

He used his last bit of strength to laboriously lift his eyelids, his vision already blurred and indistinct.

In the haze, he saw it.

That Legacy power that was supposed to belong to him, the power extracted from his body, was turning into streaks of light and surging toward the figure not far away.

Surging toward Zi Yuan.

So... that's how it was.

So everything before was just to prepare her bridal veil.

Using his Divine Body, his Origin, and his life to pave her path to becoming a Venerable or a Saint.

What an Ancient Saint Clan.

What a... Sister Zi Yuan.

You Chen's heart completely died.

Endless sorrow, despair, and the poisonous resentment of being betrayed by the person he trusted most caused him to instantly lose consciousness.

All of this happened extremely quickly.

From the anomaly to the shift in the Legacy, and then to You Chen's misunderstanding.

It all happened in a flash.

The Prodigies of the Ancient Saint Clan were stunned.

Zi Yuan was also stunned; she felt the strange power pouring into her body and was completely at a loss.

Only one corner.

From beginning to end, it remained absolutely quiet.

Jun Yun stood there, motionless.

But those Double Pupils, revealed from behind the black cloth, saw everything clearly.

The blood-colored Sacrificial Formation hidden beneath the Altar.

The ugly faces of the Ancient Saint Clan Prodigies.

Zi Yuan's despair and bewilderment.

The bizarre flow of the Legacy power.

And You Chen's final gaze, filled with dead silence and disappointment.

A carefully planned scam.

A deceptive switch under the guise of truth.

Within Jun Yun's Double Pupils, there was no anger, only a cold indifference.

Deep within his pupils, countless intricate runes were rapidly circulating and analyzing.

Every node of the entire sacrificial grand array and every trajectory of energy flow was being decomposed and understood in his eyes.

Soon, he found the core hub of the Formation.

He also found the way to break the situation.

Jun Yun curled his lips in disdain.

Want to harvest his 'leek'?

Even wanting to eat the fish two ways, and incidentally transfer the leek's nutrients to their own people?

A nice thought.

I just don't know if your teeth are hard enough.

He snorted coldly in his heart.

"Did you ask if I, Jun Yun, agreed?"

The next second.

The Azure Heaven Pagoda Record within his body began to operate silently.

A domineering power awakened within his limbs and bones.

Deep within his Double Pupils, those countless circulating runes suddenly lit up.

Like two black suns about to burn away all falsehoods in the world.

He was gathering momentum.

Waiting for the perfect moment.

One strike to settle the universe.

On the Altar.

You Chen's consciousness had completely fallen into a dark vortex.

But in that last moment of total sinking.

Relying on some instinct, his remaining will tried its best to search for something in the crowd.

He was looking for Jun Yun.

That Big Brother Jun, who had traveled with him, was quiet, yet always brought him a sense of peace in inadvertent moments.

"Perhaps only Big Brother Jun treated me sincerely..."

His gaze finally passed over those faces, some shocked and some gloating, and landed on that quiet corner.

His vision was a complete blur.

He couldn't see Jun Yun's expression clearly.

He only vaguely saw those eyes of Big Brother Jun.

It seemed... different from before.

Within the pupils, there seemed to be double images flickering.

What was that?

Was it an illusion?

With his final doubt and confusion, You Chen's head slumped down heavily.

He fell completely unconscious.