558: Chapter 558

In mid-air, the Venerable had already raised his hand and swept it across.

Qin Yun, along with the surrounding Spiritual Qi, was taken away in one fell swoop.

There was no negotiation.

No one even had time to speak.

The people from the Yuntian Sect had just looked up when only a receding shadow remained in their sight.

The Venerable took a step forward, and the mountains and rivers receded beneath his feet.

With another step, the previous battlefield was already out of sight.

Qin Yun stood by his side; there was no solid ground beneath his feet, and the surrounding scenery was being pulled back layer by layer, as if someone were directly peeling this world apart to both sides.

He appeared to be treated as a guest traveling alongside him.

In reality, from beginning to end, he was enveloped within the other's Qi mechanism.

As long as that Venerable wished, he could fix him in mid-air with a wave of his hand.

Along the way, the other party hardly spoke.

After a long time, he finally dropped a sentence.

"For someone like you, staying here is too much of a waste."

The ancient bead in the Venerable's sleeve had been heating up the entire way.

Every time the Qi mechanism drew near him, the fluctuations would grow a bit stronger.

The way the Venerable looked at him didn't have the slightest hint of a Senior looking at a junior; it was more like staring at a piece of fine material that had just been unearthed.

Inside the ring, the old man suddenly spoke.

"This old fellow's eyes aren't right."

"It doesn't look like he wants to nurture a Prodigy."

"It's more like he's afraid a good thing will be snatched away by someone else."

Qin Yun still didn't say anything.

Half a day later.

A range of ancient mountains appeared ahead.

The mountain range was vast, with peaks pressing upon peaks, and in the depths stood a large expanse of palaces and ancient platforms.

The mountain gate was towering, the road was paved with Divine Stones, and ancient trees reached straight into the firmament.

Looking from afar, it indeed had the heritage of an eternal great clan.

But the further they went inside, the heavier that coldness became.

It wasn't that the mountain wind was cold.

It was that someone had suppressed the Life Qi of the entire ancestral land.

An ancient stele stood before the mountain gate.

Beichen Ancient Clan.

This was the ancient clan that controlled the order of the Tianlan Region.

Usually, they did not show their faces.

Once they did, they could change the direction of an entire domain.

The Venerable led him inside, where dozens of young people were already standing in the ancestral land.

Some carried fire-patterned halberds on their backs, their blood energy leaning toward fierce; they hailed from great sects.

Some were dressed plainly and stood toward the back, yet they carried a thick scent of rising fortune; most were likely dark horse Loose Cultivators who had emerged in recent years.

There was also a direct descendant of an Imperial Dynasty, with faint dragon patterns between his brows; his fate was not bad.

On the other side stood a young girl whose Qi mechanism was light and ethereal; her spiritual senses were very strong, and nothing in the surrounding area could be hidden from her.

In a more forward position, there was a Disciple of an ancient sect who already had the embryonic form of a Peerless Divine Body within him, and the aura around him was very firm.

If these people were placed in the outside world, they would all be among the most prominent group in recent years.

At this moment, however, they were all gathered here.

The Venerable walked to the front of the crowd, his voice suppressing the entire scene.

"The Great Strife is about to begin."

"This generation of the Tianlan Region is too weak, not worth looking at."

"The Beichen Ancient Clan is willing to open our ancestral land to give you an Opportunity to supplement your Foundation."

"Whoever can withstand the blessing of the ancestral land will be qualified to move further forward."

As soon as these words fell, there was an immediate stir in the crowd.

Some people's eyes lit up.

Some had somber faces and did not immediately express their stance.

Others had doubts in their hearts, looking up to scan the surroundings, but swallowed their words under the pressure of the ancient clan.

Qin Yun stood in the crowd, not sticking his head out.

He just watched.

The Heart Heavy Pupils were quietly operating within his sleeve.

Soon, abnormalities emerged.

These formation patterns in the ancestral land were not purely for gathering Qi.

Deep within the formation patterns, there was an extremely faint guiding fluctuation hidden.

What it was guiding was not Spiritual Qi.

It was the Luck within the unseen.

Looking further in.

Qin Yun's gaze shifted again.

The ancient artifacts placed around, which appeared to be ancestral artifacts on the surface, were actually all imbued with methods for suppression and transportation, linked to each other to form a closed circuit.

Luck-Suppressing Artifacts.

Just then, a Prodigy who had arrived earlier not far away cursed in a low voice.

"This place isn't right."

"When I've been Cultivating these past two days, my mind has been constantly uneasy, and the effects are greatly diminished."

His voice was very low.

The expressions of the several people nearby weren't looking too good either.

On the other side, the spiritual birds raised in the ancestral land were huddled in the ancient trees, their feathers ruffled, letting out uneasy cries.

The ancient bead in the Venerable's sleeve lit up once more.

It would light up when near the Disciple with the embryonic Peerless Divine Body.

It would also light up when near the direct descendant of the Imperial Dynasty.

But when it was near Qin Yun, it shone the most obviously.

Qin Yun's gaze darkened.

"Borrowing Luck?"

He remained calm, but instead took half a step back in his positioning.

At this time, the Venerable raised his hand to arrange for everyone to rest temporarily.

Qin Yun took this Opportunity to start looking for other clues.

Ancient clan Disciples were patrolling the outskirts of the ancestral land.

Using his Heart Heavy Pupils, Qin Yun employed the Myriad Manifestations Divine Ability of the Heavenly Eye to simulate an illusion.

That person simply couldn't resist it.

With a few casual prompts from Qin Yun, he let the truth slip.

"If the Young Lord still misses that final step this time, the clan will truly be out of options."

"The Old Ancestor went to great lengths to gather this batch of people; there can't be any more slip-ups."

...After gathering the information and returning to the depths of the ancestral land, Qin Yun went to look at the murals and the remnants of the sacrificial texts.

What was depicted on the murals was not a celebration or a blessing, but a group of people surrounding a sacrificial altar, sending strands of Luck Patterns toward the center.

The sacrificial text was not a prayer either.

It was more like remnant sentences of an ancient method for transferring Luck.

The direction of the formation patterns, the placement of the sacrificial vessels, plus that slip of the tongue from the ancient clan Disciple.

The truth was being pieced together bit by bit.

In this generation of the ancient clan, a Saint Body Prodigy had been born.

His potential was very strong.

But he was always missing that final bit of Heavenly Luck.

It wasn't that his Foundation was poor.

It was that his fate was insufficient.

Without a sufficiently great Luck to support him, no matter how strong he was, he was just a vessel that had been forcibly propped up; once he entered a true Great Strife, he would soon run out of steam.

And this ancient clan had most likely obtained a fragmented ancient method.

One that could extract the Luck fate-patterns of those with great Luck.

Then, by using the ancestral land's sacrificial altar and Luck-Suppressing Artifacts, they would pour those things into their own Saint Body.

The so-called blessing.

The so-called support.

It was all just to trick people onto the sacrificial altar.

Qin Yun stood in the shadow of an ancient tree, his expression unmoved.

Now he finally understood completely.

In that old thing's eyes, he wasn't a Prodigy.

He was the most crucial piece of Materials.

But he still didn't expose it.

The ancestral land had already become a trap.

The Venerable's strength was too great.

Turning hostile now would only lead to himself being suppressed and killed first.

Therefore, he could only wait for an Opportunity.

Soon, the so-called blessing began.

The ceremony was set up very formally.

The formation opened.

People were invited to ascend the platform.

Ancient light descended.

The surrounding Luck-Suppressing Artifacts chimed in unison.

The Venerable stood before the platform, chanting the sacrificial text.

The first to go up was that fire-path Genius.

To outsiders, it looked as if the ancestral land's ancient light were performing a baptism for him; some even showed envy in their eyes.

But in Qin Yun's Heavy Pupil perspective, it was not the same thing at all.

The other party didn't have the slightest bit of actual gain on the surface of his body.

Instead, strands of Luck Patterns were being pulled out from the depths of his fate, guided into the Luck-Suppressing Artifacts through the base of the sacrificial altar, and then sent all the way into the deeper parts of the ancestral land.

When the fire-path Genius stepped down, his aura hadn't dropped much.

But his spirit was emptied.

He also swayed for a moment.

Even the rhythm of his breathing had become a layer weaker.

Someone noticed something was wrong and asked in a low voice.

The Venerable replied indifferently.

"The flushing of the ancestral land's Opportunity was too intense; he just needs to rest for a moment."

This explanation was too perfunctory.

Unease immediately began to spread through the crowd.

The young girl with strong spiritual senses took two steps back.

The direct descendant of the Imperial Dynasty also darkened his face.

Those who were more timid already wanted to leave.

That dark horse Loose Cultivator finally couldn't help but speak up.

"Senior, I don't want to continue."

"I'm going out now."

The Venerable didn't even look at him.

"You may."

That person turned and left.

As a result, just as he reached the edge of the ancestral land, his whole body came to a halt.

The path he came in by was gone.

A layer of invisible formation screen had risen around the perimeter, and the mountain gate had also silently sealed shut; the entire ancestral land was completely locked down.

At this, the crowd fell into complete chaos.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Why is the gate closed?"

"Senior, this is different from what you said."

The Venerable looked up.

His expression was calm.

He didn't even bother to feign a smile.

The next moment, the ancestral land's grand array was fully activated.

The exit was sealed tight.

The Luck-Suppressing Artifacts chimed in unison.

The central sacrificial altar suddenly lit up, and the coldness that had been suppressed throughout the ancestral land instantly descended.

Only then did the Venerable finally speak.

"That you were chosen is because your Luck was originally flourishing enough."

"Mediocre people cannot withstand such Luck."

"Only when the strong bear it can it be considered not a waste."

"To be able to become the stepping stones for the rise of a Saint Body is your good fortune."

"Your Luck will not disappear for nothing."

"It will continue to live on within the person who truly deserves to win."

These few sentences did not show any signs of madness.

Yet they made people's hearts turn cold.

Because he spoke so smoothly.

It was too much like it was a matter of course.

It was as if he treated human lives and fates as mere firewood.

Having finished speaking, a figure slowly walked out from the deeper parts of the sacrificial altar.

That was the Beichen Ancient Clan's Saint Body seed.