Chapter 274

Chapter 274

The more I thought about it, the more frightened I became.

This path was simply too difficult.

I couldn’t bear to imagine whether Liu Junyan would be able to reach its end.

Would there come a day when he, too, became trapped at some stage along the way…?

“Ah Yan.”

Unable to hold back any longer, I threw myself into his arms and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Liu Junyan held me, gently stroking my back with one broad hand.

He didn’t answer my question immediately, which meant he wasn’t certain either.

He was thinking. Sensing.

Abbot Kongji had said that Liu Junyan would be able to sense it when the Calamity truly arrived.

After a long silence, Liu Junyan finally gave me an answer with absolute certainty. “Xiao Jiu, it isn’t time yet.”

The moment he said that, I cried even harder.

That reassurance allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief, yet it also made me even more afraid.

Could a catastrophe of this magnitude truly not be the Fated Tribulation Abbot Kongji had spoken of?

Just how devastating would Liu Junyan’s Calamity be when it finally came?

People were always like this. Before the moment arrived, they could keep their emotions perfectly under control.

It was only when they actually reached that point that they realized how fragile they truly were.

Liu Junyan said nothing more. He simply held me tighter and let me vent everything I was feeling.

I allowed myself a good cry, but it didn’t last long.

Time waited for no one.

I couldn’t afford to spend too long indulging in my emotions.

I wiped away my tears and did my best to calm myself.

Liu Junyan cupped my face in his hands and made me a solemn promise. “Xiao Jiu, trust me. No matter what situation I find myself in or where I go, I’ll leave traces behind so you’ll know I’m there. I’ll always be there.”

I hooked my pinky around his and made a promise of my own. “Ah Yan, you have to trust me too. No matter what traces you leave behind, no matter where you are or what situation you’re in, I will find you.”

We hooked pinkies and pressed our thumbs together to seal the promise.

With the most childish of gestures, we made the most solemn of vows.

After eating only a few bites of breakfast, we went down the mountain to meet Fang Chuanzong and Hui Moqiong.

Fang Chuanzong had kept his word. He had sent Elder Mo and the others away overnight and established a cordon covering a half-kilometer radius around the foot of the mountain.

By the time the sun was fully up, everyone they had sent to track the Corpse Fiend had returned.

They had found nothing.

Even Hui Moqiong looked dispirited. “This is too strange. The trackers I sent after the Corpse Fiend are among the best and almost never fail. But this time, they got lost about two and a half kilometers southwest of the far side of the mountain. They wandered in circles and nearly couldn’t find their way back.

“I went there myself afterward and discovered that the yin energy in the area was incredibly dense. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to approach it at all. It felt like… How should I put it? It was like standing at the border between the Yin-Yang realms. This side was the Realm of the Living, while the other side was the Underworld — the Eighteen Layers of Hell!”

I had to admit, Hui Moqiong’s description was remarkably apt.

The Ancient Battlefield over there was comparable to the Eighteen Layers of Hell.

The group of us gathered inside Fang Chuanzong’s RV. I told them everything I had extracted from Hui Cong during the interrogation, including the connection to Niuhu Mountain, while Liu Junyan filled in the details from time to time.

Of course, we tacitly kept the matter of the Worldly Pilgrimage to ourselves.

That concerned the future, and it was also a private matter between us.

Fang Chuanzong was only working with us. He wasn’t one of us yet.

After we finished, Fang Chuanzong fell into thought for a long time, narrowing his eyes as though searching through his memories.

None of us disturbed him. Even Hui Moqiong lowered his voice as he said with lingering fear, “In that case, my team was lucky this morning. They barely made it back alive?”

The battle last night had already run into the early hours of the morning.

By the time they set off in pursuit, it was most likely past three a.m.
If this had happened any earlier… we might truly have had only the slimmest chance of surviving.

We had thought this job involving Qiu Fengnian wouldn’t be difficult. None of us expected so many complications to follow.

This already counted as the third time our side had clashed with them, yet each confrontation was proving harder than the last.

Liu Junyan’s decision to forcibly place the Seal over the burial pit back then had truly been a wise one.

Hui Moqiong was seething inside. He glanced at Fang Chuanzong and complained, “We did have a chance…”

But even he sounded noticeably guilty.

Had he said that last night, it would have sounded bold enough.

But looking at the situation now, if not for that unexpected complication involving Elder Mo and the others, the instant we took down the Corpse Fiend, we would inevitably have found ourselves in a brutal battle.

Now we were caught between advancing and retreating.

After a long silence, Fang Chuanzong finally spoke. “We can’t retreat. If we do, it will only embolden them.”

“Easy for you to say. If you’re so capable, you do it! Don’t just stand there talking when it’s no skin off your back,” Hui Moqiong said, pouring out all his pent-up resentment. “Do you know how many of my brothers I’ve lost these past few days? For the sake of those four characters-‘all life under heaven’-nearly every one of them charged forward using their own bodies as shields! Elder Fang, Chang City falls under your jurisdiction too, doesn’t it? Matters concerning the occult world are your responsibility! You’re the official responsible for us! I’m making myself clear: don’t even think about using my brothers as sacrificial pawns again. I refuse to be the sucker anymore.”

Liu Junyan cast him a sidelong glance but said nothing.

The two of them understood each other far too well. The moment Hui Moqiong opened his mouth, Liu Junyan knew exactly what game he was playing.

Hui Moqiong might usually be glib and irreverent, but when it came to getting things done, he always knew exactly where to draw the line.

He appeared to be making a scene, but in reality, he was using his words to provoke Fang Chuanzong.

He was taking on the role of the tactless brute, keeping Liu Junyan firmly out of the line of fire while holding Fang Chuanzong’s feet to it.

The corner of Fang Chuanzong’s eye twitched. He instinctively reached for a cigarette, but after slipping his hand into his pocket, he withdrew it again.

He was clearly under tremendous pressure.

Hui Moqiong’s references to “your responsibility” and “the official responsible for us” had truly put him on the spot.

If the ticking time bomb beneath Chang City’s Ancient Battlefield went off and he failed to contain the fallout, the responsibility he would have to bear might be beyond anything we could imagine.

He looked at Liu Junyan and asked, “Seventh Master Liu, what do you think?”

My heart immediately tightened with anxiety.

Hui Moqiong kept signaling Liu Junyan with his eyes.

Liu Junyan merely smiled. “Me? Of course I have no problem on my end. The question is, once I’ve won the opening battle, will Elder Fang be able to take over from there? If you don’t have the confidence…”

Fang Chuanzong shot to his feet, his voice tinged with agitation. “Give me a moment. I need to make a few phone calls.”

With that, he gripped his phone and walked off to the side, dialing one number after another.

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was loud enough for us to hear.

It seemed he had no intention of hiding anything from us.

Hui Moqiong edged closer to Liu Junyan and teased, “Seventh Master, you really don’t know how to fish. You’re holding such a huge piece of bait. Are you still worried the fish won’t bite?”

Liu Junyan replied helplessly, “But he isn’t a fish, and the countless ordinary people depending on him can’t afford any more turmoil. I believe that if we show him fifty percent sincerity, he’ll repay us with one hundred percent, even a thousand percent. Moqiong, let’s quit while we’re ahead. After all, we truly do need Elder Fang’s help with this operation.”

Hui Moqiong nodded thoughtfully, then turned his gaze toward Fang Chuanzong.

We watched as Fang Chuanzong, his expression grave, said almost the exact same thing to different people on the phone:

“Tonight at seven, no matter how many people White Cloud Temple can mobilize, have them assemble in Chang City on time.”

“Tonight at seven, no matter how many people Kundao Institute can mobilize, have them assemble in Chang City on time.”

“Tonight at seven, Tiantai Sect…”

“Tonight at seven, Qiyun Mountain…”

…