Chapter 288: The Heavenly Punishment Descends

"Is this your backup plan?!"

The Vice Prefecture Master's face darkened as he looked at the aging Ye Jinyuan across from him.

But a moment later, he caught a flicker of astonishment in Ye Jinyuan's eyes.

He quickly realized Ye Jinyuan had not expected this either.

"Haha, it seems Heaven is on my side!!!"

Ye Jinyuan burst into laughter.

The heavenly punishment could only smite one target at a time in such a short window.

With someone else opening a passage at this exact moment, his chances of drawing the heavenly punishment dropped significantly.

Of course, he understood the other person's intent: they wanted to use his crossing to lower their own risk of facing the heavenly punishment.

Unfortunately... they were scheming against the wrong person.

"Didn't you want to know where those three are? Go on, they're in these three locations!"

He tossed out a map, an item he had looted from a Minhu map cultivator he had killed.

Three points of light glowed on its surface.

"All three have swallowed my Death Pill. Only a Seventh Rank can dissolve it. If you hurry, you can still make it in time. Let me calculate—they should have about two shichen left."

"You know your own people's methods. You can sense their life force, so you know I'm not lying."

Looking at the three men who wore ugly expressions but made no move to leave, he smiled.

"What's wrong, Vice Prefecture Master? Aren't you going to look for those three 'young masters'?"

"Planning to wait here until I die? Aren't you afraid the Prefecture Master will hold you accountable? I've heard his methods aren't exactly gentle."

"..."

The Vice Prefecture Master remained silent; that was exactly what he was thinking.

The Prefecture Master's descendants were not his own, after all. But if he let Ye Jinyuan escape right in front of him, that would be worse than eating shit.

As for word of this getting out...

His eyes flickered. He certainly couldn't let that happen.

A few seconds passed.

Ultimately, he didn't make a move.

It wasn't just out of wariness toward the Old Man and the bearded man beside him, but also because he had long since noticed Ye Jinyuan's final ability.

The power of the Trigram Disc.

Right now, every single movement here was being projected as an illusion by the Trigram Disc, vividly displayed in Paima County for all to see.

Smoke curled from the Vice Prefecture Master's fingertips; he had gleaned this information from the dust drifting over from Paima County.

"Heh."

The Vice Prefecture Master looked across at Ye Jinyuan and smiled.

"Have you never considered that the human might betray you?"

"..."

Those words made Ye Jinyuan's heart sink.

But he quickly regained his composure.

He had drawn a slip to divine his own Fate.

It had pointed to a good outcome.

"I'm not like you," he said, forcefully suppressing the doubt in his heart.

This time, it was the Vice Prefecture Master's turn to laugh.

"Indeed, we aren't!"

He saw right through Ye Jinyuan's forced calm. "I would never be crazy enough to place my Fate in someone else's hands."

"That is why you lost."

Ye Jinyuan's mouth twitched.

"Heh."

The Vice Prefecture Master didn't continue the verbal sparring.

Ye Jinyuan only had a few dozen years left in his lifespan. As for who won and who lost, everyone had their own conclusions.

Glancing at the Old Man and the bearded man beside him, he said, "Let's go. We should rescue that man's three young masters."

He said this not just for the two of them, but for the people of Paima County to hear.

Soon, all three turned and left.

Even after confirming their departure, Ye Jinyuan remained cautious. He merely withdrew the Red Feather's defense and waited quietly in place.

The giant eye in the sky seemed perfectly aware of the current situation.

Not yet fully open, it silently watched everything on the ground with its terrifyingly massive pupil.

Soon, a blood-red gate slowly opened in Huang Family Village behind him.

Sensing this, Ye Jinyuan flew toward the gate with wild joy.

Just as he expected, the distant yellow pillar of light erupted with intense brilliance, surging with weird energy.

This meant someone else was also about to cross realms.

"Heh, competing with me in luck?"

Ye Jinyuan pulled out a red fortune slip and pressed it to his chest.

This was the second ability he gained from his contract with that Ritual: the power to draw a blessing slip and keep it.

Preparations complete, he walked toward the gate that had opened beside the water well.

Inside the gate, a thin, blood-red membrane slowly rotated. Anyone who looked at it would feel drawn in, spinning along with it until they were sucked into oblivion.

By now, Yan Jing was nowhere to be seen by the well. Unidentified bloodstains dotted the ground.

But Ye Jinyuan didn't really care.

A highly talented little guy had done him a favor—that was enough.

Once out, he would ask around. If the boy was still alive, he would lend him a hand; if he was dead, he would pay out some money to console his family.

After all, the boy had made a contribution to the Federation.

Expecting him to develop any genuine affection for a kid he had barely exchanged words with was pure nonsense.

As for an appreciation for talent, he had some, but not much.

He himself was the greatest talent of all.

"Come then. Let's see who luck chooses."

He placed his hand on the gate.

An extreme radiance erupted.

Up in the sky, it was time for the eye to make a choice.

It was in no rush. No matter who it chose, that person could never escape. Even if they crossed into another Domain, its power would follow them and deliver the punishment.

It looked at the golden pillar of light on the far right. Originally, a rather foolish-looking, cowardly Tiger had been there—its initially chosen target for punishment.

But now, the man seemed to have vanished from its sight. He must have used some ability to graft his Fate onto someone else, making it impossible to target him.

Left with no choice, it shifted its gaze to the blood-red pillar of light on the left.

This person...

It had seen him many years ago!

This was the man who had let that phoenix go!!!

That phoenix had been its favorite toy in years!

With that thought, it seemed to make up its mind. Its massive body slowly drifted toward the blood-red pillar.

But suddenly, its pupil narrowed. It sensed something wrong.

It was an instinctual, deep-seated wrongness, and soon, that instinct evolved into a logical suspicion.

That Tiger had grafted his Fate onto someone else, but why couldn't it see where that person was?

This ability instantly reminded it of the phoenix.

The phoenix had possessed methods to blind its sight.

It was the phoenix!

The phoenix was trying to escape!!!

However, it had locked onto the phoenix long ago. Any escape attempt by the phoenix would directly stir its suspicions.

Heh, trying to run?

As it thought this, its enormous body quivered. Waves of weird energy surged, finally tearing through the layer of clouds before it, revealing a small spatial "rift" on a mountain peak beside the massive golden pillar.

Right now, a motorcycle was there. A man sat on it, speeding away into the distance through the rift.

But... where was the phoenix?

It still couldn't figure it out. Its intuition insisted the phoenix was right beside the man, yet it couldn't see it.

Then, it suddenly understood.

It was that technique again!

Not just Tiger, but even the phoenix had been subjected to that technique, grafting both of their Fates simultaneously onto that man!

Then it couldn't be blamed.

Now, it had no choice but to kill that man!

...

...

Watching the giant eye slowly move away from him, Ye Jinyuan felt wild ecstasy.

He knew it. In a contest of luck, he was bound to win.

Goodbye!

With that thought, the point where his hand met the gate grew increasingly radiant.

But suddenly!!!

A figure darted out from behind him. The howling wind of a punch made his heart skip a beat instinctively, and he dodged to the side!

Surging weird energy brushed past the corner of his Daoist robe, instantly destroying half of the extraordinary garment.

He stared in disbelief at the Old Man, who had returned:

"Are you crazy?!"

"You came back just because the Vice Prefecture Master told you to?"

"Do you have any idea that if you don't save the Prefecture Master's sons, that guy will use this as an excuse to completely crush you once this is over?!"

He didn't understand. He had clearly divined this: the Old Man before him was not the type to sacrifice everything for a greater cause.

The Old Man's greatest love was supposed to be the martial dao.

And once suppressed, his beloved martial dao would never have a chance to rise again.

"He didn't send me."

The Old Man spoke softly, "During his seclusion, my disciple actually forced his way out for a moment, just to specifically instruct me to kill you."

"There's no other way. For him to cultivate in peace, you have to die."

The Old Man naturally knew the consequences of his actions, but in the end, he chose the path he believed was right for the martial dao.

"Motherfucker!"

Ye Jinyuan swore in a fit of rage.

This was the first time he had been so angry since arriving in Minhu.

In the past, he had always maintained the demeanor of someone in complete control of everything.

Left with no choice, he was forced to use his final trump card.

It was the trump card he had originally prepared to defend against the heavenly punishment.

"Even if the King of Heaven himself shows up, I'm still going in!!!"

He pulled out a dazzling crystal and crushed it fiercely!!!

Terrifying weird energy instantly wrapped around him, spreading out like a raging tide!

Taking advantage of the moment the Old Man dodged the tide, he leaped straight into the blood-red gate!!!

...

...

"Boom!!!"

Pitch-black light erupted from the giant eye, transforming into a beam several times larger than a mountain as it shot straight toward Yan Jing!!!

This was the heavenly punishment; no one could dodge it!!!

Unless one's Tier was higher than the eye itself, they could only endure it head-on!

Behind Yan Jing, ripples of golden light spread out, forming a massive hemispherical barrier that shielded him.

The next instant, like a crashing planet, the pitch-black pillar of light slammed into the golden barrier. The shockwaves rippled outward, and a blinding flare like the midday sun swallowed the surrounding forests whole. In a flash, the entire mountain peak was reduced to nothingness.

Behind the barrier, Yan Jing felt as if his entire body had been battered by heavy blows. It was as though a giant hammer were striking him, cracking every single bone.

He coughed up mouthfuls of blood, and the skin all over his body began to fracture like porcelain. No matter how frantically Fei Yu, who was sitting in front of him, tried to heal him with her origin power, the cracks would quickly reappear.

This scene lasted for several whole minutes.

Eventually, the pitch-black beam gradually faded away. Yan Jing's body swayed, but in the end, he had withstood it.

His eyes were bright. Staring at the space ahead that looked like pure Chaos, he twisted the throttle to the maximum.

The finish line was right in front of him.

...

...

At this moment.

Atop the tallest building in the Ninth Lake Prefecture.

This was a structure with an architectural style completely different from the vast majority of Minhu's buildings.

Glazed tiles were tightly arranged on the roof like the scales of an azure dragon. Vermilion eaves stretched to the edges, curving upward in a masterfully designed arc. Roof beasts stood upon the ridges, raising their heads as if standing in formation, while a grand, majestic golden plaque bearing nine dragons hung high above the lintel.

This was a grand palace hall!

The very last grand palace hall in all of Minhu!

Two figures were currently sitting on the eaves.

Watching the black pillar of light gradually disappear, Li Qinghe looked at Wanyu beside him, who was performing a divination, and asked urgently, "How is it? Is it him? Is he dead?"

"..."

Wanyu's brows were tightly knit. Finally, she spoke.

"...It's him! But..."

"But what?"

Li Qinghe looked incredibly anxious.

Ever since the world-altering anomaly of the two light pillars had occurred, he had asked Wanyu to perform a divination. Wanyu had coughed up blood several times before finally calculating the gist of this phenomenon.

"But he didn't die."

Wanyu shook her head. She was about to say something else, but to her surprise, Li Qinghe's eyes instantly turned red.

"He didn't die?! Under the heavenly punishment, how could he not die?!"

Wanyu's heart skipped a beat, a faint, ominous premonition creeping into her mind.