Ziyuan finally understood what was happening on the field. She composed herself and spoke quickly, "The Six Harmonies Sword excels in mass combat because it can manifest into countless copies. However, it has a fatal flaw: if one of the manifested swords is subdued by an opponent, all the others instantly vanish, and the subdued sword reverts to the true body of the Six Harmonies Sword."

Li Yundong realized with a flash of insight, "So, any of those swords could potentially be the true Six Harmonies Sword?"

Ziyuan nodded. "Exactly! They've all noticed us now. We must leave immediately, or if they discover us, we’ll be instantly besieged by the entire crowd—utter ruin is guaranteed!"

Li Yundong waved the long sword in his hand, forcing a wry smile. "How do we leave? We're still bound!"

Without hesitation, Ziyuan stated, "You take command. We need to move into the inner room; there's a secret chamber there. If we can find it, that might be our escape. Otherwise, once they realize we're here and rush in, we'll become the target of everyone’s attack."

Li Yundong turned to Su Chan. "Chan'er, go inside and look for the secret chamber. Call out when you find it!"

Su Chan chirped in affirmation, turned, and moved toward the inner room, but Li Yundong called out another instruction: "Be careful when you find the chamber; watch out for anyone lying in ambush inside."

Su Chan, having just witnessed Li Yundong and Ziyuan standing so close their bodies nearly touched—an intimacy of skin on skin—had felt a faint twinge of jealousy. But hearing Li Yundong's warning now filled her heart with sweetness. She gave a crisp acknowledgment and darted into the inner room like a frightened little bird.

Ziyuan turned to Li Yundong. "You command, and I will support you. This Immortal Binding Rope is tightening; if we move too aggressively, it will cinch even further."

Li Yundong paused in thought for a moment. He spoke, "No, I just thought of a way to get rid of this Immortal Binding Rope."

Ziyuan gasped, overjoyed. "What way?"

Li Yundong let out a low chuckle. "It's simple: lure Heavenly Thunder!"

Ziyuan’s face drained of color. "What? Are you serious? What if the strike hits one of us? That rope is so thin! To have the Heavenly Thunder strike only the rope without harming ourselves—that requires absolute precision in controlling the lightning! Your Five Thunders Orthodox Art is still unrefined. Drawing the Heavenly Thunder to strike the Immortal Binding Rope—isn't that courting death?"

Li Yundong replied helplessly, "Then what choice do we have? Bound like this, those fellows will find us sooner or later. Invisibility won't work either. We might as well risk it all. Besides, if we die, we die together. Dying while embracing a fairy sister—that’s not such a bad way to ascend, is it? As the saying goes, to die beneath a peony’s blossom—even as a ghost, one is romantic! Haha."

Ziyuan’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she spat out softly, "Hmph, who wants to die with you?"

Before she could finish, Su Chan burst out from the inner room, threw her arms around Li Yundong, and cried out, "Master, this girl will die with you! I forbid you from dying with anyone else!"

Li Yundong couldn't help but laugh heartily. "Silly girl, why didn't you say, 'Master, I forbid you from dying'? You make it sound like my demise is a certainty. Do you have so little faith in your master?"

As he laughed and shifted his weight, combined with Su Chan clinging to him, the Immortal Binding Rope sensed the added tension and slowly tightened another fraction. Li Yundong’s laughter choked off abruptly; he sucked in a sharp breath. "Let go quickly! Stop hugging me! This rope is squeezing me so hard my ribs might crack!"

Su Chan released him, looking up at him through tear-filled eyes, pleading earnestly, "Do you really have a way?"

Li Yundong soothed her. "Of course, your master is omnipotent, naturally, I have a way. You must believe in him. Hurry now, be a good girl, go back inside and find that chamber. I assure you, I will be fine soon enough."

Su Chan clung to Li Yundong's hand, sobbing reluctantly. "If you die, then... then I won't live either. I'll die with you."

Li Yundong felt a pang of emotion, but he scolded her with a smile, "Bah, bah, bah! That’s bad luck. Your master is supposed to live a hundred years and travel the mountains and rivers with you later! How could I die so easily! Quickly, quickly, don't delay. If they rush in while you’re dawdling, even if your master wants to live, he won’t be able to!"

Only then did Su Chan obey. She wiped her tears and retreated into the inner room, looking back three steps at a time.

Li Yundong shook his head helplessly and chuckled, "That girl."

Ziyuan stared intently at Su Chan in the inner room, then suddenly sighed mournfully. "To have someone in this world love you enough to give you everything—that truly is a blessing..."

A gentle smile touched Li Yundong's face. "Yes."

The emotion vanished swiftly. Li Yundong quickly continued, "I need to start gathering energy to draw down the Heavenly Thunder. You should circulate your own energy to protect your body too. It won't be pleasant if even a stray edge of the thunder grazes you."

Although Ziyuan had no idea how Li Yundong planned to summon the Heavenly Thunder, nor how he would ensure it avoided them while striking the Immortal Binding Rope with perfect accuracy, she trusted him on instinct. She offered no argument, instead cloaking herself entirely in the true essence of the Orthodox Sect’s internal energy, watching Li Yundong with apprehension.

Li Yundong took a deep breath, mobilized his vital energy, and secretly began enacting the Five Thunders Orthodox Art. Before long, white mist began to billow from his head as he drew upon the primordial energy between heaven and earth, causing the skies overhead to churn with increasingly dense, roiling storm clouds.

The cultivators gathered in the field began to sense that something was amiss. Zhang Ling distinctly felt as if a pair of severe, judging eyes had suddenly fixed upon her spine from the heavens, sending a deep chill through her.

Zhang Ling snapped her head up and shouted into the air, "Who is performing a ritual to summon Heavenly Thunder! Do you wish to die? Aren't you afraid of striking yourselves?"

Wan Zhenyuan’s expression turned grim, and he sneered, "Which Daoist friend possesses such spirit, wishing to drag us all into oblivion with them?"

With that, he eyed every cultivator present with suspicion, ready to unleash a thunderous attack the moment he identified who was summoning the lightning.

Seeing Zhang Ling and Wan Zhenyuan suddenly coordinate, the assembled cultivators were struck with terror and quickly yelled denials: "Not me! Not me!"

Zhang Ling’s gaze sharpened, beams of light shooting from her eyes like razor blades, sweeping over everyone as if trying to root out the culprit. Zou Ping, standing next to her, suddenly exclaimed loudly, "Master, could it be that dragon-zapper, uh, could it be that person from tonight?"

Zhang Ling’s expression hardened, and she decisively stated, "Highly possible!" She spun sharply toward Wan Zhenyuan and barked, "Sect Master Wan, did you truly never set foot on Dragon Tiger Mountain tonight?"

Wan Zhenyuan sneered back, "Nonsense! I haven't left the Ancestral Court a single step all night!"

Zhang Ling thought inwardly: Damn it, I got it wrong! But her stubborn nature and thin skin made her unwilling to admit her error, so she snapped back angrily, "Then why didn't you admit it just now?"

Wan Zhenyuan rolled his eyes and replied haughtily, "I am the Sect Master of the Gezao Sect. My status is higher than yours, Zhang Ling. My seniority is greater, and I am older than you! You immediately start bossing and questioning me. If I conceded now, and this story got out, where would Wan Zhenyuan show his face afterwards?"

Zhang Ling snorted, thinking to herself: That time you were killed and fled the Ancestral Court in disgrace, and they even stole your Human Essence Golden Core—you’ve already suffered such a loss of face, what face is left that you can’t afford to lose? However, she remained wary of Wan Zhenyuan and kept the retort unspoken.

She searched for a moment and found no one actively performing a summoning, yet the storm clouds above grew denser. Zhang Ling huffed, descended from the air, lest the first bolt of Heavenly Thunder strike the highest-flying cultivator.

But as she landed, reflecting on the events of the night, anger boiled within her. First, her subsidiary hall was struck; the formation meant to refine the Sword Spirit was ruined, causing the perfect Three Ultimate Grand Array to fail. Then, after finally tracking the enemy, she chased the wrong target, resulting in a confused brawl on the field. Now, the threat of Heavenly Thunder forced her to the ground, too afraid to even fly.

Zhang Ling mused: I have been cultivating the Dao since before I left my mother’s womb. When have I ever endured such humiliating treatment?

The more Zhang Ling seethed, the more visible her fury became. Zou Ping, noticing her master's mood, suggested, "Master, do you think perhaps Li Yundong is behind this mischief?"

Zhang Ling paused. "Li Yundong?" She pondered for a moment, her face etched with confusion. "Can he summon Heavenly Thunder?"

Zou Ping snorted coldly. "With that little tramp Ziyuan helping him, what is impossible?"

Zhang Ling erupted in rage. "Ziyuan, that traitorous, rotten bastard! When I catch her, I will lock her in the Heavenly Prison for a full hundred years!"

Zou Ping was secretly delighted and further fanned the flames, saying, "Master, capture Li Yundong first! Once we have him, Ziyuan will lose her support!"

Zhang Ling stated firmly, "Neither of those two will escape!"

As she spoke, a massive boom suddenly echoed from the sky. The night sky, once clear with countless stars, was now churning with heavy storm clouds, crisscrossed by savage lightning—a display of terrifying heavenly might!

The cultivators in the area looked up, their faces etched with dread. Their instinct was to scatter, but most of the people present were cultivators of status and prestige. They feared that if they fled and the lightning didn't strike them, they would become the laughingstock of the cultivation world, unable to hold up their heads again.

Considering this, despite their fear, the cultivators could only stiffen their necks, watching the sky anxiously, secretly praying the thunder bolt wouldn't aim directly for them.

Dang Qiang of the Penglai Sect, however, had no such reservations. Seeing the sky poised to unleash thunder, he let out a pathetic wail, spun around, and leaped outside the red walls. He yelled, "Run! Are you just going to stand here waiting to be struck?"

The moment his words faded, with a deafening BOOM, a bolt of Heavenly Thunder tore through the sky, plunging directly toward the Gezao Sect’s subsidiary hall.

Inside the hall, Li Yundong, who was drawing the thunder, suddenly flung the Six Harmonies Sword into the air the instant the bolt was about to hit. The sword tumbled and spun, its snowy white edge illuminating Li Yundong’s sweat-soaked forehead, and reflecting the sudden, intense contraction of Ziyuan’s pupils with tension.

"RUMBLE!!!"

The bolt of Heavenly Thunder slammed down toward the subsidiary hall, viciously aimed at Li Yundong and Ziyuan. But halfway down, the sword’s hilt met the raging thunder, guiding the surging lightning from the hilt to the tip. The tip of the Six Harmonies Sword then performed a precise flip, landing directly upon the Immortal Binding Rope, mere half-a-centimeter from their skin. Any closer by half a centimeter, and they would have been incinerated!

Struck by the thunder, the Immortal Binding Rope instantly fell to the ground. The Six Harmonies Sword, meanwhile, was violently spun by the strike, transforming into a spinning wheel of light that shot toward the statue of Guan Di in the hall's shrine. With a sharp crack, the statue’s head was instantly sheared off.

Before Li Yundong and Ziyuan could react, Guan Di’s severed head tumbled to the floor, rolling several times. Immediately following, a single, round, golden pill rolled out from inside the hollowed head. An instant later, the hall was filled with a heavenly fragrance, and the pill shone with a brilliant golden light. The radiance pierced through the hole blasted in the roof by the thunder and shot straight up into the heavens, dense and unwavering!

Li Yundong and Ziyuan exclaimed in unison, "Human Essence Golden Core!"

Simultaneously, the cultivators gathered outside the hall cried out in shock, "The Golden Core has appeared!!"

In that instant, every single person’s breathing grew ragged. No cultivator could remain composed in the face of the Human Essence Golden Core. Even the great cultivator Zhang Ling’s pupils shrank instantly, and a fierce shade of avarice crossed her face.

"Snatch it!!!"

Though not a single cultivator spoke the word aloud, it flashed simultaneously in the mind of every person present. They moved as one, driven mad, surging toward the subsidiary hall!

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