Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 535 Selfishness
As the ancient sage repaired his arm, he said coldly, "Chen Chong, I never expected you to dare defy the prohibition of your Lingguan Holy Land and leave Yinfeng Valley without permission. What a deep bond between master and disciple."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chong felt a chill run down his spine. This ancient clan saint even knew that he was confined to Yinfeng Valley, which was enough to prove that there was indeed a traitor within the Lingguan Holy Land.

He said, "You, as a sage, have come to bully the weak and suppress my disciples. Isn't that a bit too shameless?"

The ancient sage laughed loudly: "Propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame are things we talk about in times of peace when we are equal to you, but they are not applicable in war. War has only one purpose, which is to pursue victory, and I will stop at nothing to achieve that result."

Chen Chong said, "It seems we haven't officially started a war yet, have we?"

The ancient sage said, "I have long heard that Chen Chong of the Lingguan Holy Land is a pedantic person, and seeing him today, I can confirm it. The war began long ago and has never ended. It's just that we have remained underground all these years, mainly focusing on assassination, division, and infiltration."

"Do you know that the Holy Son of the Crimson Cloud Sect died under mysterious circumstances? Do you know that the internal factional strife within the Cangyuan Holy Land spiraled out of control, leading to a bloody battle that ultimately resulted in the deaths of several elders? Do you know that the Liyang Holy Land is at war with the Flowing Cloud Sect and the Kunling Sect?"

"All of this is our doing, and it is the prelude to the all-out war that is about to break out."

“Yesterday, your Lingxu Quasi-Emperor of the Lingguan Holy Land passed away. Our clans have already mobilized a large army and are ready to launch a full-scale invasion at any time. Chen Chong, a full-scale war is about to begin.”

"In this war, either our races will exterminate and enslave all of humanity, becoming the new masters of Ziwei Star, or your human race will annihilate us all to prepare for the next wave of attacks."

"It's laughable that you're talking to me about propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame. Aren't you being a bit too naive?"

Chen Chong and Chang Sheng were both greatly shocked upon hearing this. They had greatly underestimated the determination of these ancient clans to exterminate the Ziwei Star human race, as well as their accumulation of resources on Ziwei Star over the years.

Without the presence of the Quasi-Emperor Lingxu, how can the human race defend Ziwei Star, or even turn defeat into victory?

Both master and disciple were somewhat uneasy, sensing a bloody, cruel, and dark future ahead.

At this moment, the ancient sage said, "Chen Chong, you are not only naive and pedantic, but also foolish and slow-witted. I am saying all this to wait for my people and comrades to come. What are you waiting for?"

"Don't think we don't know. There aren't many people in this world who can make that old fox Yun Xian reveal his weaknesses. You, Chen Chong, are the most obvious one."

"He is a terrifying person. He has also inherited the position of Quasi-Emperor of the Spirit Void and has mastered the Ziwei Star Guardian Array. If he fully masters this array, he will be difficult to deal with."

"But we're lucky to have met you today. If we can capture you alive, Chen Chong, then we'll have Yun Xian's weakness. I want to see if he can still be so ruthless as to not even care about his junior brother."

As soon as he finished speaking, several more auras of saints appeared, quickly converging and subtly surrounding Chen Chong and Changsheng.

Chen Chong said, "You want to capture me to deal with my senior brother? Since he deliberately let me come, he wouldn't be afraid of such a thing happening. Besides, you can't capture me. You ask what I'm waiting for? Of course, I'm waiting for my good disciple to activate the array patterns I prepared in advance."

The jade platform, which had been hindered from functioning and thus rendered ineffective before the attainment of immortality, suddenly lit up with divine light. Meanwhile, countless array patterns engraved in the void began to appear in all directions of this world, echoing the jade platform and quickly connecting with it.

A dimensional gate appeared, and Changsheng and Chen Chong entered it safely, escaping through the void, leaving behind only one sentence: "You lot should enjoy this Void Refining God Array that I specially prepared." A massive array pattern that reached the heavens and the earth appeared, sealing all the ancient clan saints within it. Strands of true void fire began to emerge, and this array was like a huge furnace of heaven and earth, about to refine everything within it into dust.

After his cultivation level became virtually impossible to break through to the Saint King realm due to damage to his origin, Chen Chong did not give up completely. Instead, he turned to studying the Dao of Array Patterns.

He was once among the top five geniuses in the competition for the Holy Son of the Lingguan Holy Master Yun Xian. Apart from the Lingguan Holy Master Yun Xian and the senior brother who was personally killed by Yun Xian, none of the other fellow disciples could be said to be stronger than Chen Chong, and the most comparable to him were none.

Therefore, Chen Chong, with his talent, had made considerable progress in the study of array patterns, though he hadn't revealed it much. The array patterns on the jade platforms of Changsheng were precisely one type of array pattern that Chen Chong had studied in depth.

This time, he sensed the final landing point of Changsheng's jade platform before it was even activated, and set up this Void Refining God Array in advance under the cover of the Deceiving Heaven Array Pattern.

The ancient sage and his companions had focused their energy on Chen Chong, thus overlooking the "ant" Changsheng, whom they could crush with a single finger. As a result, Changsheng found an opportunity to activate the great formation.

Thanks to the fact that the array patterns engraved on the jade platform of immortality and the great array share the same origin, they were able to open the domain gate and leave directly, trapping those ancient clan saints in the great array.

After escaping the encirclement, Chen Chong quickly said, "They are powerful. If we don't care about the cost, we can probably escape quickly and come back to pursue us again. Quickly take out the remaining jade platforms. I'll adjust the coordinates so you can return directly to the Spirit Temple Holy Land."

"No, no, you can't go back!"

Chen Chong suddenly had a flash of insight and understood everything at once.

The claim that they used immortality as bait to lure the people behind the scenes and then used the opportunity to purge their own ranks is a complete lie!
This plan is certainly feasible, but the problem is that the Lingxu Quasi-Emperor will soon pass away, and the Ziwei Star Guardian Array is about to be handed over. At this critical moment of life and death, the Lingguan Saint Master and the Lingxu Quasi-Emperor simply do not have time to take the time to wait for Changsheng to slowly activate the people behind him and then eliminate them one by one.

Therefore, this whole affair was a scheme orchestrated by Lingguan Holy Master Yunxian from the very beginning to deliberately lead the master and disciple away from the Lingguan Holy Land.

No wonder no one or array patterns stopped him when he left Yinfeng Valley. It was clear that the Holy Master of Lingguan had calculated that Chen Chong would not allow his disciple to be hunted down, so he would definitely break the rules to leave and go to protect him.

Chen Chong was distracted by his concern for his disciple Changsheng and his slight resentment towards his senior brother Lingguan Shengzhu for his unscrupulous methods, which clouded his reason. Therefore, he only realized this now.

Once Chen Chong regained his senses, he quickly realized that the moment when the Quasi-Emperor Lingxu passed away and the highest power of the Lingguan Holy Land and even the Ziwei Star was transferred was the most vulnerable moment for the Lingguan Holy Land and even the Ziwei Star.

Judging from the words of those ancient tribes, they have recruited traitors within the sacred Lingguan site, and they are about to launch a full-scale war.

Taken together, it's clear that with the help of an inside traitor, they intend to launch a coordinated attack on the Lingguan Holy Land, completely destroying this most crucial core holy land of Ziwei Star, and dismantling or halting the Ziwei Star's protective array, thereby truly achieving a full-scale invasion!
In this way, from the moment the Quasi-Emperor Lingxu passed away, the Lingguan Holy Land would become the center of the storm and the most dangerous place on Ziwei Star.

Clearly, the Holy Master of Lingguan was acting out of selfish motives, deliberately setting up this scheme to keep the master and his disciples away from the most dangerous place and protect themselves.

(End of this chapter)