“Master, your disciple is only helping you accomplish what you wanted to do,” Xin Han replied with a cold look in his eyes. He looked like Zi Chen like he was looking at a dead man.

　　“What do you mean?” ZI Chen paled.

　　Xin Han tutted, filled with the intent to kill. “Don’t think I didn’t know that this array was meant to concentrate everybody’s cultivation level into one place. In other words, even if the divine realm gates opened, only one person would make it to become a divine being. Master was planning to kill me after everything was accomplished so that you alone could make it to the divine realm.”

　　“You…” Zi Chen’s expression was a mask of panic. Then, a thought flickered in his mind.

　　“Xin Han!” Hui Ling, who was standing by the side, shouted anxiously. “I did not know his plan. Why are you treating me this way? I trusted you!”

　　“Little Xuan…” For the first time, Xin Han’s looked pained. Yet, he did not undo the array underneath Hui Ling’s feet. “I still love you, but why are you his daughter? Rather than have you hate me in the future, why not-”

　　“I’m not his daughter,” Hui Ling interrupted, panicked. She completely lost her look of innocence from before. “I’ve already reincarnated. Whatever happened in my past life has nothing to do with me now.”

　　“All of this doesn’t matter anymore. Don’t worry, when I become a divine being, I will find a way to resurrect you.”

　　“I don’t want it!”

　　Xin Han ignored her cry and turned to face the group of bodies that were on their way back and Shen Ying. His panic now turned into excitement as he announced, “Thank you for sending these additions to the array back here so that I could set up the array all over again. These people are going to lose their cultivations once the realm gates open!”

　　With both his hands, he activated the array and laughed maniacally. He would have had a victorious look about him if… he was not bare-legged.

　　-_-|||

　　“How does it feel to be trapped in this ancient divine array?” Xin Han mocked. “No matter how strong you are, you won’t be able to-”

　　Before he could finish, Shen Ying looked down at her feet. She felt nothing. Then… she stepped out.

　　Xin Han: “…”

　　The father and daughter: “…”

　　Everyone: “…”

　　“How… how is this possible!” Xin Han shook his head, trying to shake away this illusion. “This is a divine array! How could you… This is impossible!”

　　“I’m great, aren’t I?” Shen Ying tilted her head. She looked slightly confused as she said, “Let me try.” She squatted down and clenched her fists. Then, she punched the ground.

　　There were a series of cracks. A long, wide crack appeared. The next moment, the entire Emperor Ascension Stage began to crack open. It looked like falling domino tiles. Cracks began to spread all around the stage, with Shen Ying in the center of it all. The next moment, it looked like a spider web had been laid out on top of the Emperor Ascension Stage – it was completely covered with cracks.

　　The red array fell apart.. There was a burst of red light and the people who had lost control of their bodies before fell to the ground. There was a loud ring and the red pillar of light disappeared as well. What remained were red sparks in the air.

　　“Its quality isn’t that great!” Shen Ying shook her head.

　　Everyone: “…”

　　“No!” Xin Han looked at where the pillar of light was, looking like he was about to break down. “The Heavenly Pillar… Realm Gate!” No way! He was so close to accomplishing his plan – just a little bit more to go and he would have become a divine being.

　　“Master, are you alright?” Once the array disappeared, Yi Qing was the first to fly onto the stage. The moment he landed, he surveyed the cracks and pulled Shen Ying onto his flying sword.

　　“Yes,” Shen Ying replied, dusting her hands.

　　Biao Ting carried the group of radishes and flew onto the stage as well.

　　“Why did you take so long this time?” Lonemoon pulled himself onto Yi Qing’s sword and glared at Shen Ying. Wasn’t she used to getting things settled within a minute or two? She took five minutes this time!

　　“You dare to destroy this divine array!” Xin Han’s eyes were red with anger. He looked deranged as he glared at Shen Ying. “You deserve to- Pu…”

　　He could not finish his threat before he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking down, he saw a fist punch right through his chest. That fist was Zi Chen’s.

　　“Ah!” Hui Ling screamed as she too was taken aback by the punch. The colour drained from her face, but she did not go over to support Xin Han.

　　“You…”

　　“Good disciple, I forgot to tell you that the Emperor Ascension Stage really is a heavenly pillar, but it cannot open the divine realm gates!” Zi Chen grinned as he watched Xin Han’s panicked expression. “Because there is no array around the Emperor Ascension Stage at all – it was just a seal!”

　　Zi Chen retracted his fist, dragging Xin Han’s primordial spirit out from inside his body. The immortal Qi that surrounded Zi Chen’s body immediately changed into black demonic Qi.

　　“You are…” Those were Xin Han’s last two words before he drew his final breath. He collapsed onto the ground, the look of shock etched on his lifeless face.

　　“That’s… demonic Qi!” Biao Ting exclaimed. He watched the man who suddenly transformed. Zi Chen was a demon. How could that be?

　　“You’re a Skyfiend!” Lan Hua’s eyes widened. Only Skyfiends could disguise their demonic Qi as immortal Qi.

　　The demonic Qi around Zi Chen’s body exploded. He turned to address the group. “I need to thank you all for destroying the Emperor Ascension Stage for me so that I could break the seal!”

　　He raised his palm and dealt a blow on the stage underneath his feet, extinguishing the last bit of red light that remained in the air. The Emperor Ascension Stage was now in smithereens. The next moment, a huge amount of demonic Qi surged through the air.

　　Within moments, the entire Heavens beyond Heaven was filled with demonic Qi. Everything looked dimmer.

　　“We have to leave!” Lan Hua shouted. He led the group of people who had found their bodies away from the Emperor Ascension Stage.

　　But the demonic Qi was moving way faster than them. The radishes scanned the demonic Qi around them in shock. There was too much of it! They had never seen so much demonic Qi in one place before. It felt just like they were in the demonic realm. Everything around them was dark and they could hear Zi Chen’s maniacal laughter by their ears.

　　“Hahaha… I’ve waited for tens of thousands of years and I’ve finally broken the seal!” He shouted.

　　“What’s that?” Someone cried.

　　They looked back. Where the Emperor Ascension Stage was, a large amount of demonic Qi had condensed, building up to the sky. It looked like it was going to form something. The next second, something huge appeared, which seemed to connect the heavens to the earth. It looked… quite familiar!

　　Lonemoon’s heart had risen up to his throat, but it dropped back down immediately. He pursed his lips and nudged the person beside him.

　　“Yi Qing, I’m not seeing things, am I? That’s-”

　　“Yes, that is.”

　　“I want to go back and eat all of a sudden.”

　　“…”

　　The rest of them only realised what it was when the demonic Qi solidified.

　　“It’s a gate?”

　　“The gates of the demonic realm! It’s the gates of the demonic realm!”

　　“So this was what the Emperor Ascension Stage was sealing..”

　　“He trapped us here not to become a divine being but to break open the gates of the demonic realm.”

　　All the radishes became pale when they realised what was happening.

　　“Hahaha…” Zi Chen laughed once again. “The seal is broken. It’s time for the demonic realm to be joined to the three realms!”

　　There was a loud crash. Two huge black gates appeared, slightly opened. More demonic Qi escaped those gates and continued to fill the air around them. A voice from hell sounded, echoing throughout all of the Heavens beyond Heaven.

　　“Who has summoned the gate?”

　　Zi Chen could hardly contain his excitement. He knelt before the half-opened gates. “Greetings, my king!”

　　“Could it be…” The observers’ faces were drained of all colour. They did not even dare to utter their guess.

　　The gates opened even further, so that two people would have been able to fit through it. A black and big figure appeared behind them. No one recognised him, but they all felt a bone-chilling aura emanating from the figure. It froze their primordial spirits so that they could not even move to defend themselves. If not for their high cultivation levels, they might have even been very seriously injured already.

　　Until…

　　The figure’s gaze landed on Shen Ying.

　　“Hey! Little Black!” She waved.

　　The figure inside paused, and the demonic Qi suddenly stopped surging.

　　Everybody fell silent for two whole seconds.

　　The next moment, there was another loud crash. The demonic gates that had already opened more than halfway were sealed once again.

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　Zi Chen: “…”

　　The radishes who did not yet understand what was going on: “…”

　　What’s… happening?

　　Σ(°△°|||)

　　The three men from Invincible Sect and Chen Ge: Ah, it’s time to go back for dinner.