Chapter 254: Took you long enough!

After dressing up Song Yan and checking out his system stats, he deactivated the Heaven-Sealing Guardian Talisman, and the blue barrier instantly faded.

He opened the doors of the chamber and stepped out.

The three Black Moon disciples were still waiting outside. The moment the doors opened they lowered their heads, but none of them immediately moved.

"Lead me to your main group," Gu Fan said, but hearing his demand, the disciples hesitated.

"Senior... we were separated from the others during the spatial drop. We don’t know exactly where they set camp." One of them told Gu Fan.

Gu Fan however looked at her like she had just insulted his intelligence.

"You were separated. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a way to regroup," Gu Fan crossed his arm in front of his chest, "Assassination sects don’t walk into a sealed ruin without a fallback plan. You already knew more about this place before you entered. I know that for a fact."

The three women exchanged a quick glance.

"That map and compass weren’t just for treasure," Gu Fan continued. "They were for finding your people. Don’t waste my time pretending otherwise."

Silence stretched for a few seconds. Then the lead disciple exhaled and bowed again.

"...Yes, Senior. There is a secondary gathering point. If the main group survived, they will be there."

"Then take me there," Gu Fan did not dilly dally, "I need to have a chat with a certain someone. And I can dump you all on them."

"As you command." The three of them nodded in unison.

~~~~~

Time inside the ruin was difficult to track. There was no sun, no moon, only the same eerie green glow and the distant weeping that came and went without pattern. By the time they arrived at a larger stone plaza, Gu Fan estimated that close to a day had already passed.

The main Black Moon Palace force was already arranged there in a disciplined formation.

Gu Fan walked straight toward the veiled woman at the center.

He didn’t get far.

A Black Moon disciple stepped into his path, one hand already on her blade. Her aura pressed out at the Peak of the Spirit Realm, sharp and openly hostile.

"That’s close enough," she said, "You think you can walk up to Peak Master like some stray dog just because you helped three injured juniors? Stay where you are."

Gu Fan stopped and looked at her with mild interest.

"Move."

The disciple sneered.

"Or what? You will throw around a little tantrum and hope that’s enough? You don’t even have the right to speak in front of..."

Song Yan’s Peak Spirit Realm aura flared before the woman could finish.

The temperature around them dropped. Song Yan stepped forward, eyes cold, fingers already resting on the hilt of her flexible sword.

"Say one more word," she said quietly, "And I will cut your tongue out."

The plaza went still.

Several Black Moon disciples reached for their weapons. The woman in front of Gu Fan stiffened, caught between anger and sudden caution.

"Enough." The veiled Peak Master spoke, her voice was not loud, but it cut through the tension immediately, "Let him pass."

The disciple who had blocked them clenched her jaw, then stepped aside with obvious reluctance.

Gu Fan glanced at Song Yan once, faintly amused, and continued walking toward the leader as if nothing had happened.

"You people seem far too comfortable inside a 300-year-old Murong poison farm," he said bluntly. "Tell me what you know about this dungeon. And tell me if you have seen a woman in a blue dress and a young master with a silver fan."

The veiled leader did not pause. She answered as if the question barely deserved her attention.

"The arrays choose everyone’s path. I have seen neither."

"You sure that’s all you know?" Gu Fan took another step toward her, "Why do I feel like you are hiding something from me?!"

"That is enough," The Peak master frowned as she spoke.

And her words were enough to make the Black Moon disciples draw their blades in unison, steel flashing under the green glow. The air tightened with killing intent.

Song Yan’s sword was out a heartbeat later.

The veiled leader did not stop her subordinates.

Gu Fan said nothing either.

The Black Moon disciples took the silence as permission and smirked, and the next moment they were already atacking Song Yan.

The first three came in from the front, fast and coordinated, aiming to pin her before she could fully set her stance.

Song Yan stepped aside instead of retreating. Her flexible spiritual sword snapped out in a tight arc, slapping the first blade wide and hooking the second at the wrist.

She twisted.

The woman stumbled past her, off-balance. Song Yan’s free hand struck her in the chest and sent her sliding across the stone.

The third disciple slashed for her throat. Song Yan ducked under it, spun, and kicked the woman’s knee out from under her.

The blade clattered away.

Before the fallen assassin could rise, Song Yan’s sword tip was already resting against the side of her neck. She had lost.

But it did not stop others. More came.

Two from the left. One from behind.

Song Yan moved through them like she had been waiting for this. Her newly stabilized Peak Spirit Realm aura pressed down in controlled bursts, never wild, never wasted.

She parried one strike, redirected another into a third disciple’s shoulder, then swept her blade low and knocked two more off their feet.

Every motion was clean. Every hit was precise.

A veiled junior tried to catch her from the side with a poisoned short blade. Song Yan caught the girl’s wrist, twisted until the weapon dropped, and slammed her into the ground hard enough to knock the air from her lungs.

Within moments six Black Moon disciples were down.

None of them were dead.

One clutched a broken wrist. Another was gasping on her back. A third had a thin line of blood on her cheek where Song Yan’s sword had stopped a finger’s width from her eye.

The rest were scattered across the plaza, weapons knocked away, pride cut far deeper than their skin.

Song Yan stood in the center of it, white robes still spotless, sword lowered but ready.

The remaining disciples hesitated, then started to close in again.

That was when Gu Fan raised his hand.

Purple Nether-Ghost Fire bloomed across his palm, violent and unmistakable. The violet flames twisted upward, releasing a dense, toxic heat that made several nearby assassins instinctively step back.

The plaza froze.

Only then did the Peak Master speak, "Stop!"

Her people halted at once.

The fire kept burning in Gu Fan’s hand as he looked at her, waiting to see whether the next words would be another deflection, or something worth his time.

"Took you long enough!"

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[A/N: Do Vote with Power Stones, Golden Tickets and Send Me BIG Gifts. Hahaha! But on a serious note. I hope you are enjoying the story.]