Chapter 295 - 294: No Way Back

Chapter 295: Chapter 294: No Way Back

It turned out that simply restricting a Summoner’s freedom was useless. As long as he could move, he could summon an entire army in minutes.

"Didn’t you say Huo Yunjing specialized in long-range attacks? When did he join the Summoning System?" Tuoba Yan growled, grinding his teeth as he glared at Elder Miao. "Where the hell did you get your intel?"

Elder Miao was speechless. It wasn’t something he had heard from someone else; he had seen it with his own eyes! Although he’d seen Huo Yunjing summon ghost souls before... they were just lone, wandering spirits, nothing to be feared. He hadn’t paid them any mind at all!

’Who knew that what Huo Yunjing had revealed was just a sliver of his summoning ability! That bastard was playing his cards way too close to his chest!’

Elder Miao took a deep breath and offered a specious argument. "Isn’t this even better? The stronger the Ghost Cultivator, the more potent the elixirs refined from him will be. Your cultivation will increase even more after you take them."

Tuoba Yan’s eye twitched. "Do you take me for an idiot? I can see you’re just selling me a pipe dream. You’re not wrong, but that’s all dependent on us capturing Huo Yunjing first!"

Elder Miao pressed his lips together. "If we summon a few more Heavenly Masters, we’ll definitely succeed!"

Tuoba Yan closed his eyes. ’I must have been out of my mind, letting my judgment get so clouded as to be tempted by such a ridiculous proposal! But what’s done is done. It’s too late for regrets; I can only see this through to the bitter end.’

Taking a deep breath, Tuoba Yan pulled out his phone, intending to call for backup. But when he looked at the screen, there was no signal.

It dawned on him. He looked up at the pitch-black sky, then turned to look at Gu Qingyin, who was standing behind the army of skeletons with eyes spitting fire.

Gu Qingyin’s words were instantly confrontational, her tone outrageously arrogant. "Stop staring at your daddy! A measly Trapping Array? Anyone can do that. Unless I give the word, none of you are leaving today!"

Her voice wasn’t loud, but she had used her Spiritual Power to broadcast the words, so everyone heard her clearly.

For a moment, everyone was a little dazed. ’Isn’t she a woman? Why is she calling herself ’daddy’? Whose daddy does she want to be?’

Tuoba Yan’s face was ashen. Though he had never gotten the upper hand in his past few run-ins with Gu Qingyin, those had all been private affairs. This was the first time he had ever been humiliated in front of so many people.

Huo Yunjing’s expression was complicated. ’I don’t really want a ’son’ like that,’ he thought. ’He’s a far cry from my own son.’

Seeing this, Gu Qingyin grinned, then leaped nimbly across the sea of densely packed skeletons, charging straight for Tuoba Yan. "Son!" she bellowed. "Papa’s here to teach you some manners!"

Everyone: "..."

"You’ve gone too far!" Tuoba Yan roared, drawing his sword and surging forward. But just as he built up his momentum, Elder Miao grabbed him.

"President, don’t fall for it!" Elder Miao urged hastily, struggling to hold him back. "She’s provoking you on purpose! It may look like she’s walking on those skeletons as if it’s solid ground, but the moment you step on them, they’ll drag you down!"

At these words, Tuoba Yan’s gaze met the eye sockets of a nearby skeleton. Looking closer, he saw that all the surrounding skeletons were standing quietly, but their heads were subtly angled toward him, their dark, empty sockets staring as if in anticipation of his arrival.

As if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head, Tuoba Yan sobered up considerably. He shook off Elder Miao’s hand and stared at Gu Qingyin.

Gu Qingyin stood on the shoulders of the tallest skeleton, looking down on him with an expression of pure disdain. "Pathetic!"

"ARGH!" Tuoba Yan couldn’t take it anymore. He shot forward and charged.

Elder Miao, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, was caught completely off guard. He was too slow to stop him! All he could do was stand there and stomp his foot in regret. ’I let my guard down!’

Gu Qingyin didn’t move an inch. She just watched coldly as Tuoba Yan charged. And, just as expected, he only managed two steps before he stumbled and nearly fell—a skeleton had grabbed his foot.

"Idiot." Gu Qingyin scoffed, then flew over and knocked him down with a single kick.

Just as Tuoba Yan tried to get up, skeletal hands from below pinned down his arms, legs, waist, and head almost simultaneously. There was no telling where these skeletons had come from, but they were unbelievably strong and even had the ability to suppress Spiritual Power.

Once pinned, it was basically impossible to get up.

Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow and shouted, "Stop what you’re doing if you don’t want Tuoba Yan to die!"

The Heavenly Masters were startled by her words and all looked over, only to see the immobilized Tuoba Yan.

Everyone: "..." ’Besides dragging us down, what good are you? Dammit, we never should have come!’

Gu Qingyin pressed her staff against Tuoba Yan’s neck and said in a low voice, "Dispel the Array!"

"Impossible!" Tuoba Yan remained defiant. ’They’re this formidable even while trapped,’ he thought. ’If I dispel it, we won’t stand a single chance.’

"You really want to die?" Gu Qingyin pressed her staff down harder. Tuoba Yan immediately found it difficult to breathe, and his face quickly turned red from the lack of air.

"Master Gu, please, spare him!" Elder Miao quickly cried out. "If you kill the President of the Mystic Association, you’ll be making an enemy of the entire Mystical World!"

Gu Qingyin sneered, applying even more pressure. "And how would that be any different from right now?"

"Of course it’s different!" Elder Miao argued rapidly. "You’re young, beautiful, and powerful. What kind of man couldn’t you have? Why must you tie yourself to a Ghost Cultivator? Aren’t you afraid future generations will revile you for it?"

Gu Qingyin couldn’t fathom their logic. "Me being with the person I love is none of posterity’s damn business! And it’s sure as hell none of your damn business! Why are you all so nosy? You got nothing better to do?" She rolled her eyes. "Besides, you know better than I do what today’s whole fiasco is really about!"

As she spoke, Tuoba Yan’s lips were already turning purple, and the whites of his eyes were beginning to show involuntarily.

"The President is really dying!"

Gu Qingyin glanced down, then moved her staff away, allowing Tuoba Yan to breathe.

Tuoba Yan choked a few times and gasped for air, his eyes filled with the relief of someone who had just cheated death. When he looked at Gu Qingyin again, he couldn’t help but show a flicker of fear.

He wasn’t very old. Although he had been pushed into the position of President of the Mystic Association, his power was insufficient to command true respect, and he had never undertaken any truly dangerous missions. He didn’t want to be a puppet for the rest of his life, so naturally, he had to find a way to increase his strength.

Huo Yunjing was the solution he had devised. By using a Ghost Cultivator for Alchemy, he could create an elixir that would not only greatly increase his Soul Power but, if he was lucky, even improve his physical constitution.

But Tuoba Yan had never imagined the process would be this perilous.

He regretted it.

"You..." Tuoba Yan’s voice was hoarse. He swallowed, moistening his stinging throat, before speaking again. "Dispel the Trapping Array."

Everyone was stunned. ’Giving up just like that? Isn’t this all a bit of a joke?’

No one moved.

Tuoba Yan waited for two seconds before shouting impatiently, "Elder Miao!"

Elder Miao was silent for a moment, then his expression hardened with resolve. "We cannot."

"Why?!" Tuoba Yan was incredulous. He couldn’t see the man, so he could only glare at the dark sky, sensing that things were spiraling out of his control.

"President Tuoba, an opportunity like this is rare," Elder Miao said gravely. "With so many Heavenly Masters gathered here, how can we simply give up? We no longer have a path of retreat."

A jolt went through the crowd, and their expressions hardened into grim determination.

That’s right. If they gave up now, only two fates awaited them: death, or a fate worse than death.