Chapter 329: Wanted Fugitive of the Reincarnation Palace
As soon as the man with the silver mustache appeared, the expressions of everyone on the white jade platform instantly changed drastically, with the exception of the 10 dao lords.
As for all of the elders and disciples situated on the plaza and the surrounding stone steps, all of them were rather dazed and confused, clearly having no idea of what this group of white-robed figures were going to do.
Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and his mind was racing.
He didn't know who these people were, but he could tell that the man with the silver mustache was definitely no ordinary cultivator, and his powers most likely weren't inferior to Baili Yan's.
As for why the 10 dao lords had suddenly decided to betray Baili Yan, that most likely had everything to do with this man, but he couldn't figure out what the motive of Ouyang Kuishan and the others was.
Even though Baili Yan was the Blaze Dragon Dao's first dao lord and its most powerful cultivator, he was constantly in seclusion and barely oversaw any matters in the Blaze Dragon Dao at all, so those who actually controlled the sect and benefited most from its resources were the other dao lords. There was no conflict of interest between the parties, and in fact, the dao lords benefited from the protection that Baili Yan provided to the sect.
While it appeared that he had been trapped for now, he hadn't been injured at all, so given sufficient time, there was a very good chance that he would be able to break free from hid bindings, and once that happened, even the 10 dao lords combined definitely wouldn't have been a match for him.
However, the situation had taken a complete turn with the arrival of these white-robed figures, and Han Li could detect the minute changes in the expressions of Ouyang Kuishan and the others.
However, ultimately, none of this had anything to do with him, and he certainly didn't want to be swept up in this mess.
Having said that, he couldn't afford to act reckless given the current circumstances, so he would have to wait and see.
As these thoughts were flashing through his mind, he was sweeping his gaze across the people in the sky, trying to see if he could gather any more visual information about them.
However, right as his gaze fell upon a young man holding a folding fan standing among the people behind the man with the silver mustache, his mind was suddenly struck by a burst of sharp pain.
He couldn't help lower his head while massaging his own temples to try and alleviate the pain.
The young man was very handsome and was wearing a tight-fitting silver robe with intricate designs of flora and fauna embroidered upon it.
He was holding a white jade folding fan with an amicable smile on his face. He casually looked down from above, sweeping his gaze over the crowd down below before directing his gaze to the white jade platform.
After massaging his own temples for a while, Han Li seemed to have regained his composure somewhat, but there was a look of bewilderment in his eyes.
Right at this moment, Xue Ying suddenly extended a respectful curtsey toward the man with the silver mustache as she greeted, "Xue Ying pays her respects to the palace master."
Everyone erupted into chatter upon hearing this.
Xue Ying was the deputy palace master of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region, so the man that she was referring to as palace master naturally had to have been Xiao Jinhan, the current palace master of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region.
Xiao Jinhan gave her a slight nod, then turned his attention to the golden cage down below, where his gaze just so happened to Baili Yan's.
A mocking sneer appeared on his face, while a cold look flashed through Baili Yan's eyes.
On the platform, Yu Yangzi and Layman Mo exchanged a glance, and both of them could see their own apprehension mirrored in one another's eyes. Both of them slowly began to move away from the center of the platform for fear of getting swept up in whatever was about to come.
Everyone else at the center of the platform also followed suit to vacate the entire area.
"Prior to this, I saw it as inappropriate for me to get involved in this matter as I thought it was an internal affair of the Blaze Dragon Dao, but it seems like the Northern Glacial Immortal Region is now getting involved. I believe you owe everyone an explanation for this, Palace Master Xiao," Luo Qinghai declared.
"Baili Yan is a wanted fugitive of the Reincarnation Palace being hunted by the Heavenly Court, and I've been ordered to apprehend him. Is that enough of an explanation for you, Fellow Daoist Luo?" Xiao Jinhan replied in a cold voice.
He swept a hand through the air as he spoke, and a streak of golden light that contained a golden scroll flew through the air.
The scroll then unfurled itself in a flash to reveal a passage of golden text, and sure enough, it was a wanted notice directed at Baili Yan.
All of the True Immortals of the Blaze Dragon Dao were rather befuddled by the mention of the Reincarnation Palace, clearly having no idea of what that was supposed to have been. Eevn Yu Yangzi was rather puzzled by what he was hearing, while only Layman Mo and Luo Qinghai seemed to have been aware of what was being discussed.
The former apologized to Daoist Hu Yan through voice transmission, then flew out of the white jade platform.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon that giant inkstone before flying away atop the treasure, unwilling to stay for even a moment longer.
As for Luo Qinghai, his brows furrowed even tighter upon seeing this, and he took a long glance at Baili Yan as he fell completely silent, but didn't appear to have had any plans of leaving right away.
Yu Yangzi and the others certainly weren't fools, either, and they immediately fled into the distance, knowing that this wasn't something that was wise for them to get involved in.
Only a few of them were unable to suppress their curiosity and only flew several hundred kilometers before stopping and turning around again to observe the unfolding situation from afar, and none of the cultivators from the Northern Glacial Immortal Region raised any objections to this.
Baili Yan withdrew his gaze, then turned to the dao lords who had trapped him as he asked, "Are all of you going to betray me?"
Crimson flames were surging over his body, releasing waves of astonishing heat that were constantly scorching the golden chains, but the chains remained completely still and weren't showing any signs of melting.
However, it was clearly not an easy task for Ouyang Kuishan and the others to keep the chains in place, as evidenced by the sheens of sweat that had appeared on their foreheads. None of them dared to relax in the slightest as they maintained their hand seals, doing everything in their power to stabilize the golden chains.
"Fellow Daoist Baili, our Blaze Dragon Dao is indeed quite a formidable sect, but we can't contend against the Immortal Palace. They have the backing of the Heavenly Court! What do we have? We can't just stand by and watch as the entire Blaze Dragon Dao is destroyed with you," Ouyang Kuishan sighed.
"What about all of you? Do you share the same opinion?" Baili Yan asked as he turned to the 36 deputy dao lords behind him, all of which immediately lowered their heads, unwilling to meet his gaze.
Meanwhile, all of the people on the stone staircase around the platform had been placed in a very awkward situation.
No matter how oblivious they were to the nature of the situation, at this point, it was clear that something was very wrong here.
Many of the people present were considering leaving the White Jade Peak. After all, they certainly didn't want to get swept up in a battle between Golden Immortals. As for the cultivators of the Immortal Palace, they appeared to have been quite calm and collected, but they were constantly watching the people down below with alert looks in their eyes.
Han Li was looking up at the cultivators of the Immortal Palace, just like many of the people around him, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
At this point, Qi Liang had also fallen silent. It was clear that this was not a situation that a True Immortal Stage elder like him could play any meaningful role in.
All of a sudden, the entire platform had become completely silent, and the atmosphere had become extremely tense.
"Ouyang Kuishan, what are you waiting for?" Xiao Jinhan suddenly urged in an authoritative voice.
Ouyang Kuishan and the others offered no response, but all of them immediately sprang into action, making a string of hand seals with one hand while holding onto golden chains with the other.
A burst of formidable energy fluctuations erupted out of their bodies, spreading through the entire surrounding space in a radius of dozens of kilometers. All of the space within this area was visibly rippling, causing the sceney to become rather blurry and unclear.
Within the rippling space, the surface of the golden cage was flashing incessantly with golden light. At the same time, thin golden threads were emerging from the cage, piercing toward Baili Yan like a mass of countless feelers.
Right at this moment, a huge snow lotus flower projection abruptly appeared amid a flash of white light behind one of the chain-wielding dao lords.
Ouyang Kuishan spotted this out of the corner of his eye, and he immediately yelled out in alarm, "Yun Ni, stop!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a pristine white hand that was as translucent as jade abruptly extended out of the lotus flower projection before striking the dao lord on the back.
There was a translucent bead situated at the center of the palm, and in the instant that it came into contact with the dao lord's back, it abruptly exploded, releasing a burst of dazzling white light alongside gusts of ferocious wind.
The dao lord in question was focusing most of his attention on the chain in his hand, and everyone else was primarily keeping an eye on Daoist Hu Yan, so no one had anticipated that Yun Ni would suddenly strike.
Thus, the dao lord was caught completely off guard, and he didn't have time to summon any treasures, so he could only release a layer of protective spiritual light before the palm struck him on the back.
A loud thump rang out as the spiritual light around the dao lord's body was dispelled, and he immediately threw up a mouthful of blood as he was launched forward like a kite with a snapped string, crashing into the golden cage around Baili Yan.
He was still gripping tightly onto the golden chain with one hand, but the hand seal he was making with his other hand had already unraveled.
In the next instant, the surface of the golden cage shuddered, and Baili Yan erupted into raucous laughter as two beams of crimson light erupted out of his eyes.
At the same time, his aura also swelled drastically.
High up in the sky, Xiao Jinhan gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a shimmering golden rune, which flew directly toward the golden cage like an arrow while giving off bursts of law fluctuations.
Daoist Hu Yan immediately sprang into action as well upon seeing this, raising a hand to release an azure ball that was riddled with runes. At the same time, he bit through the tip of his own tongue before spitting out a mouthful of blood essence.
Almost at the exact same moment, the dao lord standing in his way raised both hands up into the air, releasing a golden wheel that erupted into the heavens, hurtling directly toward the azure ball, while other dao lord outside of the eight that were maintaining the golden cage flew toward Yun Ni.
Daoist Hu Yan quickly made a hand seal, and fuelled by his blood essence, a series of golden veins instantly lit up on the azure ball.
Immediately thereafter, it vanished into thin air in a flash, leaving the golden wheel far behind.
In the next instant, the azure ball reappeared near the golden rune, and at the same time, the golden veins on its surface reached the peak of their brightness, following which the azure ball exploded, releasing a vast cloud of azure mist that swept through the air in all directions with tremendous force.
Before the cloud of azure mist had a chance to disperse, a streak of golden light suddenly flashed past beneath it, and the golden rune continued to fly toward the cave, completely unscathed.
Right as it was about to land upon the golden cage, a streak of transparent swordlight that was invisible to the naked eye struck the golden rune with unerring accuracy like a stream of water.
The streak of swordlight dissipated upon making contact with the golden rune, but it was able to knock the rune off its original path.
It was still descending from above, but its trajectory was no longer one that could allow it to land on the cage.
All of this sounded like a long process, but in reality, it had all taken place in the blink of an eye.
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