Hearing that things on that end were progressing smoothly, everyone's suspended hearts lowered slightly. Even the veteran Heavenly Masters secretly let out a sigh of relief, a hint of lightness appearing in their eyes.
But just at this moment, a sudden change occurred.
From the other end of the communication device, Ou Li's sudden exclamation rang out, filled with panic and astonishment.
“Oh no! He's going to destroy the evidence!”
He? Who?
Bai Ci was stunned for a moment, but through a process of elimination, she quickly realized who “he” was.
It was the malevolent spirit.
This was truly bizarre. Just a second ago, the words it uttered were filled with absolute, raw hatred. How could it suddenly, so methodically, choose to destroy the evidence?
Unless...
A bad premonition rose in Bai Ci's heart. In the next second, a stranger's voice coming from the communication device validated her fears.
Meanwhile, in the core area of the array.
The malevolent spirit, which had been burning with sky-high hatred and willing to testify, lost the shred of sanity maintained by the Moon card.
That faint glimmer of rationality was instantly devoured by pitch-black malevolence. Its eyes turned hollow and lifeless, and the chains wrapped around its body began to shake and tighten frantically.
With a wave of its hand, thick black mist surged forth, occasionally mixed with wails of resentment, instantly engulfing all the paper evidence.
In just a breath, the heavy stack of core evidence that Zheng Gang had spent days compiling was ignited as if by a flame. It crumbled inch by inch within the black mist, turning into ashes and completely dispersing.
As the malevolent spirit completely lost control, the surrounding temperature plummeted to a freezing point.
“Temperance.” Mi Ke's first reaction was that the malevolent spirit had lost control. She quickly played a new Tarot card, choosing to help the spirit balance and restrain this power.
In any case, they had backups of that evidence, and even backups of the backups.
The contingency plan originally meant to guard against Ou Li doing something foolish had now played a wonderful role in an unexpected situation.
The Temperance card flew out, which should have turned into a lock and integrated into the malevolent spirit's power to help it regain control.
Unexpectedly, before the card could even get close to the spirit, it collided with another force and was deflected away.
“Ugh...” With the card attacked, Mi Ke inevitably suffered a degree of backlash.
“Who's there! Show yourself!” Wu Suowei's gaze locked onto the shadows, where a pitch-black figure had appeared unnoticed.
As the figure moved, the shadow that was originally thought to be cast by dense foliage became noticeably lighter.
A deep, indifferent, and mocking voice suddenly rang out.
Through the communication device, it also clearly reached the ears of Bai Ci and the white-bearded elders waiting on the other side.
“A pack of ants, yet you dare to dream of overturning this seat's chessboard?”
The void rippled gently. Starting from the core area, thick black energy rapidly spread, weighing down on the entire mountain forest.
Even Bai Ci couldn't help but feel a psychological shudder. The white-bearded elders around her were breaking out in cold sweat, let alone the ordinary Heavenly Master disciples stationed at the various nodes of the array.
The evil Ghost Immortal behind the scenes, who had been hidden for a thousand years and had never shown his face, finally appeared in his true form.
Clad in a black robe, his figure was illusory, surrounded by an indissoluble aura of deathly silence and malice. His presence was deep and vast, far surpassing that of an ordinary Ghost Immortal.
The oppressive pressure accumulated over a thousand years made everyone present gasp, their minds trembling.
“This seat knows you have investigated the Zhao family genealogy book.”
The evil Ghost Immortal's tone was indifferent, filled with absolute condescension and disdain, as if he were merely speaking of a trivial matter.
“To my surprise, you unexpected interlopers actually managed to trace the genealogy book and uncover this seat's roots.”
“This seat has orchestrated this layout for a thousand years. While I believed it to be seamless, I have never underestimated the world and naturally left a contingency plan to guard against variables.”
Having lain in wait for a thousand years to set up this scheme, even if he was confident that his layout was flawless, he had never completely let his guard down. He had long since buried a restriction deep within the malevolent spirit's divine soul.
Whenever he wished, he could erase the malevolent spirit's sole remaining shred of sanity and forcibly control its actions.
Today, this contingency plan had ultimately come in handy.
However, doing this meant the malevolent spirit was completely ruined. From now on, it could only exist as a mindless malevolent spirit and could no longer serve as a chess piece to replace the Li family's position in the scheme.
If things hadn't reached this point, he truly wouldn't have been willing to destroy it.
With the Li family gone and the Zhao family surviving alone, the balance was lost. This meant the chess game was essentially ruined, and he would have to collect usable chess pieces all over again, undergoing another thousand years of refinement.
At this thought, and considering the lost time and energy, his hatred for these ants who had messed up his chessboard grew even stronger. He wished he could skin them alive and pull out their tendons.
The evil Ghost Immortal's gaze swept across the area, his dark eyes cold and merciless, filled with chilling killing intent. “The evidence is destroyed. And you ants who know the truth have no need to exist any longer.”
“Remember, this will be your last look at this world.”
Today, in this place, not a single person who knew the truth would survive.
Not only their bodies, but even their souls would be wiped out without a single speck remaining.
In this way, his thousand-year chess game could remain secure and eternal, with no more hidden dangers to threaten him.
As the evil Ghost Immortal's killing intent surged, a sense of crisis instantly enveloped the entire area, and a suffocating pressure swept over everyone.
Even Ming Yi, who was also a Ghost Immortal, only managed to maintain his form thanks to his several hundred years of cultivation.
Without any external influence, the chasm created by the difference in their years of cultivation was not something that could be easily bridged.
“You're way too confident. Don't look down on my array...” Wu Suowei's voice was trembling.
Leaning his back against a tree trunk, he used it for support to keep himself from collapsing to the ground under the suffocating pressure like Ou Li and Wu Daoqing beside him.
Mi Ke also leaned against a tree. She—and not just her, but everyone in the core area—had never given up on the idea of fighting the evil Ghost Immortal, desperately racking their brains for a way to break the deadlock.
“Heh, laughable. The struggles of ants are always so endlessly entertaining.” The evil Ghost Immortal raised his hand casually, and Wu Suowei was lifted into the air, choked by an invisible hand.
“I admit your array is indeed exquisite and ingenious. If it were truly activated, it would indeed take me some effort to deal with.”
“But now, relying on those things groveling on the ground like dogs at the array nodes? Wanting to activate the array is pure fantasy.”
“Dumbass!” Wu Suowei squeezed out a curse with great difficulty.
What did he think he was questioning? Questioning his array, or questioning the Heavenly Masters of the Heavenly Master Association?
You're dead wrong, you idiot!
You are questioning the authority of a class skill granted by the system.
He had placed people at the array nodes only to conceal the skill's actual effect. Simply put, they were merely serving as camouflage and decoration.
“Mi Ke! Do it!”
Wu Suowei shouted at the top of his lungs, reminding Mi Ke to take the backup directly and start petitioning Heaven.
Even without a witness, having that evidence would be more than enough to give this bastard a run for his money. It was just that the Heavenly Dao's reaction time would inevitably be a bit slower, potentially leaving him time to escape.
But his array was more than enough to compensate for a large part of that flaw.
Rate on N.U.
