Chapter 466: Chapter 453: The Mastermind?
When Shen Lang’s voice transmission uttered the three words "Elemental Power Fragment," the expressions of He Zongdao and the other three changed drastically!
For such a critical matter to be known by others... He Zongdao knew there was no longer any room for negotiation. He immediately rallied Old Monster Han and the others, intending to unleash their full power and break the Array by force!
Although these men had seemed hard-pressed on the defensive, they had yet to reveal their true trump cards.
Now, their auras surged and a vicious might filled the air. They were posturing for a desperate, all-out struggle.
The punch from He Zongdao’s Cyan Demon Hand far surpassed any of his previous counterattacks.
As the punch shot out, the enormous, ferocious Fist Gang tore a long rift through the air, as if it had shattered space itself. The sight was utterly astonishing.
Shen Lang’s gaze sharpened as he made three hand signs.
Under the control of the Elder Ancestors, the boundless lightning immediately converged, forming a giant palm several times larger than the Cyan Demon Hand’s Fist Gang.
Like the hand of a Celestial God reaching down from the heavens, the giant palm suddenly clenched, crushing the Cyan Demon Hand’s Fist Gang to smithereens!
"BOOM!"
Amidst the deafening roar, He Zongdao’s desperate strike was effortlessly neutralized.
Below, the four men whose auras were wildly surging couldn’t help but turn pale, the fear in their eyes intensifying.
Unlike Zhu Feng, these four couldn’t see who was controlling the Grand Array from the outside, what their Cultivation was, or even how many people there were.
They had assumed it was only people from the Profound Dao Sect.
’If it were only the Profound Dao Sect, with the First and Second Ancestors standing behind Shen Lang, that would leave only the Third and Fourth Ancestors to control the Grand Array.’
’Those two had weaker Cultivation than the First and Second Ancestors.’
’Even if this Grand Array was powerful, if only those two were controlling it, they wouldn’t be without a fighting chance.’
Unfortunately, this Ancient Array was itself an incomparably powerful Killing Array.
Moreover, it was a layered Array within Array!
And now, aside from Jiang Haitian and Feng Buping, a full twelve other King Martial Realm experts were presiding over it!
Shen Lang, hovering in the air, snorted coldly. "Commendable courage, but your perspective is too narrow. Even if you unleash your full power, in my eyes, you’ll still die without a grave."
He raised his hand and made another sign.
Before the four men below could react, their vision blurred. Just like Zhu Feng and Tang Hao, they had been separated one by one!
’Trying to combine the power of four to break the Array?’
’I won’t even give you that chance!’
Shen Lang always planned before he acted. He either didn’t strike, or when he did, it was with the force of a thunderbolt, giving his opponents no opportunities.
Now that he was done with his questions, how could he possibly give these people a chance to band together and cause trouble?
Under Shen Lang’s control, the wonders of this Grand Array reached a supernaturally unpredictable level.
In a single instant, he had completely separated the four men.
At this moment, Jiang Haitian, standing behind him, asked in a low voice, "Xiaolang, what do we do now? Kill them directly?"
Shen Lang shook his head. "Killing them is too easy, and also too wasteful."
"Wasteful..." Jiang Haitian didn’t understand.
Shen Lang smiled. "They have King Martial Realm Cultivation, after all. We’ve expended so much manpower and resources, we should at least get some interest back... Eliminate the evil completely, make use of the waste. Destroy their physical bodies and seize their Nascent Souls. That’s what I mean."
"..." Jiang Haitian and Feng Buping stiffened, a cold sweat beading on their foreheads.
Shen Lang had said it so casually, but to their ears, his words struck like a clap of thunder!
If those below were Demon Beasts instead of four humans, they wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
Seizing a Nascent Soul was an incredibly tempting prospect, but to speak of it as casually and matter-of-factly as Shen Lang was no easy feat.
To Jiang Haitian and the others, they held a grudge against the people of the Holy Light Sect. Therefore, killing He Zongdao and scattering his Nascent Soul was, in their minds, already the ultimate punishment.
But to actually seize the Nascent Soul, then perform Refinement on it or even swallow it directly...
That wasn’t something an ordinary person could do.
For Demonic Cultivators, it seemed to be a commonplace affair, nothing special.
However, for those of the Righteous Dao, who had to worry about all sorts of repercussions, if they were to do such a thing, they would always do it in secret, never daring to do so openly.
Who would be like Shen Lang, speaking of it so bluntly and without any reservation?
Without even turning around, Shen Lang knew exactly what the two behind him were thinking.
"You two Elder Ancestors must not feel any pity for these people. As enemies, it is often a matter of kill or be killed; there is no other choice. If the Five Sects hadn’t formed an alliance, and I hadn’t acted, and the Profound Dao Sect was ultimately wiped out by them... what would have happened to the Profound Dao Sect? How would they have treated your people? And what would have been the fate of the four of you Elder Ancestors?"
"While you are pitying your enemies, they are thinking of how to eat your flesh and drink your blood."
"I am not a cruel and bloodthirsty person, nor do I walk the path of the Demon Dao. I even have the Star Moon Bodhi Prayer Beads from the Ruyi Buddha Sect within my body. But for He Zongdao and his ilk, I feel not a shred of pity."
"What is good and what is evil? If these people had attacked the Profound Dao Sect, given the nature of their two sects, the Profound Dao Sect would surely have become a Hell in the Mortal World! Are their people human, but ours are not?"
"If you fell into their hands, do you think you could escape the fate of having your Nascent Soul seized and your Soul Scattering?"
Shen Lang’s few sentences immediately caused the two Elder Ancestors to break out in a cold sweat.
They were old monsters who had lived for over a thousand years; they understood this logic without Shen Lang having to spell it out.
They were just momentarily shaken by the idea of seizing a Nascent Soul.
The situation now seemed excellent, but the scenarios Shen Lang described were indeed very likely to have happened.
If not for Shen Lang’s existence, the Profound Dao Sect would have likely...
This world is always like this: good people sigh at home while villains perform on stage.
Mercy towards an enemy is often cruelty towards your own people.
"Senior Brother, Xiaolang is right. Sometimes, we are just a bit too merciful... We even mistake our own weakness for mercy and act self-righteously," Feng Buping said quietly. "These people deserve to die, and our own strength is still too weak. We need things like this to enhance our power!"
"If we continue to hesitate over such things, I’m afraid it will dishearten our own people!"
Jiang Haitian nodded, unable to stop himself from wiping away another bead of sweat.
He understood the people of the Holy Light Sect quite well, having dealt with them for so many years. He knew exactly what kind of scene would unfold if the Holy Light Sect truly breached the Profound Dao Sect’s defenses.
Thinking of that maddening scene, Jiang Haitian felt that merely seizing the Nascent Souls of He Zongdao and the others was letting them off easy!
"Xiaolang, give the orders. We’ll listen to you!" Jiang Haitian’s tone became much more resolute.
Shen Lang gave a slight nod, then pointed downward with two fingers. "First up, He Zongdao."
The Grand Array began to operate at full speed. Jiang Haitian and Feng Buping returned to their positions, and the entire Array’s offensive power turned toward He Zongdao of the Holy Light Sect.
He Zongdao had realized things were bad the moment he was separated from the others. A moment later, his body suddenly felt heavy, as if the Power of Heaven and Earth itself was pressing down on him!
"Shen Lang, if I don’t die today, I swear I’ll make you suffer a fate worse than death!"
He Zongdao roared at the sky like a madman.
His only answer was a sky full of lightning and endless Celestial Fire.
Shen Lang watched He Zongdao within the Array, his expression indifferent and impassive.
With multiple King Martial Realm experts controlling it, the Grand Array operating at full speed, and channeling the Power of Heaven and Earth, killing someone at the Third and Fourth Heaven of the King Martial Realm was simply too easy.
Although He Zongdao used all his trump cards, bringing out one powerful Magical Treasure after another, he only managed to last for ten minutes.
And those ten minutes were only afforded to him because Shen Lang wanted his Nascent Soul and didn’t want it to be instantly destroyed by the lightning and other attacks.
When a massive Thunder Ball smashed down upon He Zongdao’s head, his body could no longer hold out and abruptly shattered.
WHOOSH! A foot-long Nascent Soul, like a streak of light, vanished in a flash.
A Nascent Soul’s speed is incredibly fast. In the outside world, capturing one is extremely difficult.
Even Hong Yu, who had reached the King Martial Realm Fourth Heaven and possessed the Feather Flower Purple Copper Mirror, had allowed Shui Tianji’s Nascent Soul to escape with ease outside Celestial Phoenix City.
Unfortunately for him, this was inside a meticulously arranged Killing Array.
He Zongdao’s powerful physical body had been torn to shreds by the boundless lightning. Within the Grand Array, filled with rampant lightning and endless Celestial Fire, how could his fragile Nascent Soul possibly have a chance to escape?
Without needing Shen Lang’s command, the Elder Ancestors controlling the Grand Array immediately activated the Array.
The world-ending lightning and Celestial Fire vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced by a dense, star-like web of electricity that filled the sky!
As the electric web compressed inward, He Zongdao’s Nascent Soul was immediately forced out into the open.
The layered, crisscrossing electric web instantly confined He Zongdao’s Nascent Soul to a tiny space, rendering it immobile.
"Shen Lang! There was originally no enmity between us! Even if we wanted to deal with the Profound Dao Sect, it was only in the planning stages! We haven’t caused your sect any actual losses! Why must you be so relentless!"
"If you can spare my life, I’m willing to hand over two-thirds of the Holy Light Sect’s wealth! As long as you let me go, I can swear an oath to never oppose you or be an enemy of the Profound Dao Sect for all eternity!"
He Zongdao’s attitude had done a complete one-eighty as he began to beg Shen Lang for mercy.
"That’s not what I want, and you should know that very well. Think carefully. These next few seconds are your last chance."
What Shen Lang wanted was the person or faction that had sent them here to find the Elemental Power Fragment.
Compared to that, what did the Holy Light Sect’s wealth amount to?
In Shen Lang’s memories, the Elemental Power Fragment was something the War Emperor had placed in the Profound Dao Sect.
Although many of his memories regarding these items were under a Seal, Shen Lang didn’t even know why the War Emperor had placed the Elemental Power Fragment in the Profound Dao Sect, nor did he know its specific location.
But he was certain that very few people could possibly know about this matter.
Even if someone did know, it should have been someone from the War God Hall.
If it really was someone from the War God Hall, then so be it.
But whenever he thought about this, Shen Lang always had an ominous feeling.
’This matter is probably not that simple.’
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