Chapter 328: Something’s Not Right

As Chen Yuan and Zhang Xuanzhong’s group worked together to break the array, an unexpected harmony settled between the two sides.

Even Zhang Xuanzhong had to admit that the depths of Chen Yuan’s power were truly formidable.

Although he had been lucky enough to find a Half Array Map and understood arrays well enough to deduce their nodes, if his power had been insufficient, he would never have been able to escape—not even with Fang Zhibai and the others burning their Qi Blood. The final result would have been depleting his elixirs, exhausting his vitality, and starving to death inside this Militan Temple.

After continuously breaking through seven nodes, the group ran into Ying Yuanzhen of the Heaven-Encompassing Daoist Sect.

However, once Ying Yuanzhen joined them, the atmosphere in the group instantly turned strange again.

Originally, the two sides had been relatively equal in strength and had needed each other, so their cooperation had gone rather well.

But now, with the addition of Ying Yuanzhen, Zhang Xuanzhong’s side held the advantage. He found himself sizing up Chen Yuan from time to time.

Despite this, Zhang Xuanzhong didn’t make a move.

Ying Yuanzhen’s strength wasn’t considered particularly great. The Heaven-Encompassing Daoist Sect had many astonishingly talented figures, but its younger generation truly had no one noteworthy.

Even with Ying Yuanzhen on his side, Zhang Xuanzhong still wasn’t confident.

Most importantly, the nodes hadn’t all been destroyed yet. Without Chen Yuan, his group wouldn’t be able to shatter the remaining nodes, even with Ying Yuanzhen’s help.

Therefore, Zhang Xuanzhong held back for the time being. He would only consider turning on them if they found Shen Wugui.

But by the time they reached the final node, Zhang Xuanzhong still hadn’t found any trace of Shen Wugui, which he found strange.

The Vajra Divine Statue they had encountered in the previous trial was indeed powerful, but they each had trump cards and had managed to pass through, even obtaining a Buddhist Sect Body Refining Technique.

It was normal that those Independent Martial Artists didn’t make it, as their strength was limited and they had few trump cards.

But with Shen Wugui’s strength, it made no sense for him to fall at the first trial. ‘Could there be other dangers lurking in these halls?’

It never even occurred to Zhang Xuanzhong that Shen Wugui could have died so easily at Chen Yuan’s hands.

In his mind, Shen Wugui was, after all, the number one expert of the Nine Nether Sect’s younger generation. Most importantly, he possessed the Nine Nether Demon Sword, a Divine Artifact Incarnation. Even if he were to die, it shouldn’t have been without so much as a whisper, right?

Zhang Xuanzhong pondered for a moment but came up with nothing. In the current situation, he couldn’t just waste time looking for Shen Wugui.

Arriving at the final node, Zhang Xuanzhong said in a low voice, “This should be the last node of the array. Let’s destroy it with all our strength. Beyond it lies the true core of Militan Temple.”

Chen Yuan nodded. An endless Blood Fiend surged from his Blood Sea Listening Tide as he abruptly slashed at the array node.

Zhang Xuanzhong and the others attacked at the same time. Pooling their power, they finally shattered the node.

This time, what appeared before them was not another dense, seemingly endless network of passageways, but a deep and gloomy grand hall.

This hall was likely the main hall of Militan Temple. The structure was incredibly lofty, flanked by statues of various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Bright Kings, and Arhat Vajras. Each statue was hundreds of feet tall, creating a majestic and imposing sight.

And at this moment, from the deepest part of the main hall, waves of a sinister, strange, and evil aura emanated.

The group moved cautiously toward the depths of the main hall. They saw that on the lotus pedestal where the main hall’s Buddha statue should have been enshrined, the statue itself lay toppled and shattered.

Three old monks in red and white robes sat upright on the lotus pedestal, tangled together.

To be precise, it wasn’t three old monks, but two old monks and a monster wearing a monk’s robe.

The left side of the central figure was covered in cyan-gray scales, like some kind of armored beast.

Its right side was a mass of writhing flesh, as if its skin had been peeled off. Its face was also half scales and half flesh, creating an utterly bizarre sight.

The old monk on the left was powerfully built, with a stern and imposing face. Both of his hands were plunged into the body of the monster in the center.

The old monk on the right was withered and thin, his earlobes drooping to his shoulders. He seemed to be grappling with the monster’s arms; even his own arms were wrapped in layers of flesh that resembled intestines.

The corpses in the previous halls had not decomposed, but they had completely lost all vitality, crumbling to dust at the slightest touch.

But these two old monks and the monster before them still emanated a faint trace of vitality, and along with it, waves of a sinister and bizarre power.

“What in the world is that?”

Fang Zhibai was horrified; the existence of this thing was clearly beyond his imagination.

Zhang Xuanzhong, however, was not so easily shocked.

The foundations of the Lifting Heaven Sword Pavilion were too shallow—it wasn’t even a thousand years old—so it naturally had few records of such things.

But the Shenxiao Sect originated from the Ancient Daoist Sect, and its ancient texts recorded things even more evil and strange than this.

“It’s likely some kind of evil demon or monstrous entity. The fact that so many monks from Militan Temple slaughtered each other at its peak must be related to this thing.”

The moment Zhang Xuanzhong’s words fell, a sudden change occurred.

A surge of vitality suddenly erupted from the three figures—who should have been corpses for ten thousand years.

Dust fell from their bodies as they began to tremble. In an instant, Buddha Light and an evil aura intertwined, clashing with explosive sounds.

“To think that after ten thousand years, outsiders would break the restrictions and enter this place.”

The withered old monk spoke slowly, his voice like grinding metal—hoarse and grating. The words sounded like Sanskrit, and though the group couldn’t understand the language, the meaning was somehow transmitted directly into their minds as they heard it.

“My Militan Temple was invaded by an Outer Celestial Demon. Our disciples were bewitched into slaughtering one another until nearly all were dead. Only my junior brother and I remained clear-headed enough to join forces and restrain our Abbot, who had been completely possessed by the Outer Celestial Demon.

“For you juniors to break through the array and enter the temple after ten thousand years… it must be fate, a karmic connection.

“I implore you, help this humble monk slay the demon, so that my brother and I can finally be liberated and cross over to the shore of reincarnation.”

The powerfully built old monk on the left also spoke, his voice booming like a great bell.

“Although you juniors are somewhat weak, ten thousand years have passed. The Outer Celestial Demon’s power has been worn down to less than a ten-thousandth of its original strength. If you attack with all your might, you can defeat it.

“Though you are not of our Buddhist Sect, fate and karma have brought you here. After you slay this Outer Celestial Demon, we will naturally gift you the cultivation techniques and treasures of Militan Temple to fulfill the karmic debt of this day.”

With that, the robes of the two old monks shifted, and they tossed out two wooden caskets. The caskets bounced on the ground and sprang open, revealing their contents.

There were Spiritual Jades containing cultivation techniques, a Buddha Seal, a Ring, and other items. A brilliant light radiated from them; they were clearly all rare Secret Treasures.

Seeing this, the eyes of Fang Zhibai and the others lit up.

Finally, they saw some real prizes. A fortunate encounter and treasures were right before them!

Chen Yuan and Zhang Xuanzhong, however, both frowned at the same time, feeling that something was wrong.

Chen Yuan felt something was wrong because he had experienced this kind of situation before.

The incident with the Three Extremes Evil Venerable was not an isolated case. When dealing with beings sealed for one reason or another, you must never take their word for it. Often, what they say is the complete opposite of the truth.

Zhang Xuanzhong felt something was wrong because everything seemed too easy, too coincidental.

‘Could I really get so many benefits just by passing through a gate with a Vajra Aspect and breaking this array?’

The Shenxiao Sect had many records concerning the Heaven-Reaching Tower. Generally, the simpler the ruin and the more accessible the Secret Treasure, the more danger it contained.

So Zhang Xuanzhong subconsciously began to analyze the situation, trying to figure out what was wrong with their story, where the flaws were.

Just then, the monster being suppressed by the two old monks suddenly let out a roar and began to tremble violently.

The two old monks shouted, “Act now! We have been sealed for ten thousand years, and our bodies are on the verge of collapse! We can’t hold it back much longer!”

A thought struck Zhang Xuanzhong. He’d found what was wrong.

The array!

The array inside Militan Temple was abnormal. No one would place such a strange array inside their own sect.

Therefore, the maze-like array that trapped everything inside Militan Temple must have been a space-distorting array laid down by someone in a moment of crisis. They wanted to seal everything within the temple, preventing whatever was inside from escaping, trapping it for all eternity.

And the stone gates with the divine statues outside Militan Temple were also abnormal.

What normal sect would set up an array like that at its main gate? If outsiders could obtain Militan Temple’s cultivation techniques just by defeating some statues, wouldn’t their techniques be common knowledge all over the streets by now?

The prototype for that array was probably an internal trial ground for the temple’s own disciples, which is why defeating the statues yielded the cultivation techniques stored within.

But in that moment of crisis, the people inside Militan Temple had no time to create a new array. They could only move this trial array to the entrance to block anyone who tried to get in.

So, all the arrays in Militan Temple actually had only one purpose: to trap the being within and, at the same time, prevent outsiders from entering.

And yet now, these two old monks were delighted to see them, claiming their ability to break the array was due to karma. This completely contradicted the original intention of the person who set up the arrays.

Zhang Xuanzhong was certain: these two old monks were definitely not the ones who had originally laid down the arrays within Militan Temple!

At this moment, Gu Lichuan and Yue Ling’Er also looked toward Chen Yuan. With a grave expression, Chen Yuan shook his head.

‘The more desperate those two act, the more cautious we need to be.’

‘They could suppress it for ten thousand years, but suddenly they can’t hold on the moment we arrive? Such a coincidence?’

But while Zhang Xuanzhong could sense something was wrong through his analysis of the arrays, and Chen Yuan could remain calm and collected, someone else could not hold back.

A golden glow flashed around Feng Tiande of the Divine Feather Sect. Like a bolt of golden lightning, he shot straight toward the monster in the center.

Countless golden Divine Feathers bombarded the monster as he stared at the treasure caskets in front of the old monks, his eyes filled with greed.

“Stop!”

“Hold on!”

The expressions of Chen Yuan and Zhang Xuanzhong changed, and they both cursed Feng Tiande inwardly.