*Whoosh, whoosh—*
A sound like bellows being pumped erupted from Lian Que's body.
He launched himself at Zhao Fangyuan like a spark blown from a furnace, his right hand spinning overhead into a blazing crimson, veins and sinew standing out like a giant swinging a hammer.
The temperature inside the hall spiked.
"Lian Que, you really do have a problem!" The woman cultivator in the northeast corner shouted, but her feet retreated a step — she had no intention of directly engaging the suddenly explosive Lian Que.
Zhao Fangyuan, facing the attack head-on, twisted aside to dodge the hammer blow, his feet crossing in rapid steps until he had retreated to the hall entrance, leaving a trail of afterimages.
Meanwhile, he bellowed: "Everyone, kill this man first! If we don't kill him, how can we feel safe competing for the opportunity?"
Jiang Chen's hand rested on his sword hilt, but rather than advancing, he withdrew to the side entrance.
Something felt wrong.
Even if Lian Que truly was the killer, with exposure imminent and the threat of being surrounded and killed by everyone present, his first choice should have been to flee. Did he really believe he could single-handedly kill every cultivator here?
That was absurd. Anyone who had entered the Celestial Secret Realm to compete for an opportunity was no weakling.
And even if he did have the determination and confidence to kill everyone, his first target should have been Ji Xiu — the one nearest to him, who was examining the corpse and had little guard against him. Zhao Fangyuan, on the other hand, had been wary ever since his hostility was exposed.
When outnumbered, who would bypass the near to attack the far, choosing the harder target first?
So Jiang Chen decided to observe for a while, preserving himself — much like the woman cultivator.
Only the figure shrouded in a long cowl moved forward, seemingly intending to intervene and kill Lian Que.
But halfway there, the cowled man's footsteps halted. He froze, utterly motionless.
Then something even stranger happened.
Zhao Fangyuan, who had been retreating, suddenly reversed course and crashed headlong into Lian Que.
The two exchanged devastating secret arts in a single explosive collision, then separated instantly.
Zhao Fangyuan stumbled back, blood spraying from his mouth — he had clearly taken a beating. But he ignored everything and charged at Lian Que once more.
This was completely unlike Zhao Fangyuan's style. He was not the type for head-on collisions.
He had consistently demonstrated considerable intelligence — why would he now play to his weaknesses against his opponent's strengths?
But from this angle, Jiang Chen could clearly see Zhao Fangyuan's face. His eyes were threaded with blood, and the redness was spreading. His killing intent was overwhelming.
This was not normal.
There was something wrong with this hall!
Jiang Chen's vital blood surged, washing through his meridians again and again. The Star-Binding Spirit Serpent coiled through his Celestial Palace, probing for abnormalities.
His gaze swept like lightning across the hall's corners.
Where was the problem?
"Everyone, watch out!" Ji Xiu, still crouched beside Tian Yong's corpse, abandoned his examination and stood to warn: "You must suppress your killing intent! If we all attack Lian Que, we've fallen into a trap. Someone has tampered with this place. Once killing intent surpasses a certain threshold, you'll be consumed by it."
Consumed by killing intent?
Looking at Lian Que and Zhao Fangyuan, they indeed no longer seemed rational.
The two were clashing head-on with wild abandon. Though both erupted with formidable power and their combat instincts retained some semblance of order, there was no strategy whatsoever.
It was as if their only objective was to kill the other.
Lian Que hated Zhao Fangyuan to the bone, and Zhao Fangyuan had displayed killing intent from the start. Both fit the criteria for being consumed.
The woman cultivator in the northeast corner immediately steadied her breathing, suppressing her own killing intent.
So whose scheme was this?
The remaining cultivators' gazes darted between each other, each wary of the rest.
Lian Que and Zhao Fangyuan continued their frenzied battle, both sustaining serious injuries.
"Regardless of who's behind this, we need to stop them and prevent deaths." Jiang Chen decisively formed a seal.
"Whoever set this trap wants us to slaughter each other. We must not let them succeed! Otherwise there may be further changes, and that benefits none of us!"
Vine serpents erupted from the ground in dense profusion, intertwining to form a living barrier between Lian Que and Zhao Fangyuan.
Vine Serpent Wall!
This was a defensive dao art, but Jiang Chen used it to separate the combatants.
*Boom!*
Under the pair's savage attacks, the Vine Serpent Wall disintegrated instantly.
But by then Ji Xiu and the woman cultivator had reacted, each deploying their own arts. Jiang Chen's reasoning was sound.
No matter who the hidden manipulator was, denying them their goal was the right move.
Walls of water surged skyward between Zhao Fangyuan and Lian Que, reaching from floor to ceiling.
Consumed by killing intent, the two had eyes only for each other. When their targets suddenly vanished, both faltered for an instant.
Ji Xiu's hands flashed with two streaks of white light, touching Zhao Fangyuan and Lian Que respectively before withdrawing.
The white light turned blood-red the moment it touched them. When it returned to Ji Xiu's hands, Jiang Chen could see clearly — they were two small snakes.
They should have been snow-white, but were now entirely crimson.
Both Zhao Fangyuan and Lian Que paused, their eyes clearing.
"Stay calm! Suppress your killing intent!"
Ji Xiu tucked the snakes back into his sleeve and shouted: "You were both just affected. I've temporarily absorbed your killing intent. But you must not let it flare again!"
The water walls dissipated. Zhao Fangyuan and Lian Que exchanged a glance. Though hatred still lingered in their eyes, both showed the fear of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
Zhao Fangyuan in particular — forced into an unfavorable fighting style, he had already been beaten badly by Lian Que. Had it continued, he would have been beaten to death.
"Then who was behind this, manipulating us into fighting each other?" The woman cultivator dismissed her water wall, her gaze falling on the cowled man. "We were all trying to stop the slaughter, all searching for the source of the anomaly. Why did you just stand there motionless?"
The cowled cultivator seemed to snap back to awareness, rolling his shoulders before speaking in a cold tone: "My killing intent is extremely difficult to suppress. It took considerable effort."
The explanation was alarming, though not entirely unreasonable.
"Quite the difficulty," the woman sneered. "Who are you so desperate to kill that you can barely contain yourself?"
"Are you not?" The cowled man swept his gaze around the hall. "Every person here — who among you wouldn't kill all the rest to claim the opportunity for themselves?"
The woman fell silent.
"Enough," Ji Xiu of the Eastern King Valley cut in. "Before we identify the one pulling strings in the shadows, let's not start more conflicts. We'd only be fishing in troubled waters."
"A venomous woman stirring up trouble, always trying to get someone killed first. I'd say she's plenty suspicious!" Lian Que's hostility toward the only woman in the Dragon Palace was just as fierce.
It was she and Zhao Fangyuan who had nearly driven him out from the very beginning.
"If I hadn't intervened, you might already be dead. And now you're so eager to point fingers at me — could this all be an elaborate act of self-sacrifice?" The woman counterattacked immediately.
Zhao Fangyuan, meanwhile, tended to his injuries while cautiously guarding against everyone. He was the most badly wounded and the most likely target.
The cultivators in this Dragon Palace had come to compete for an opportunity. In a place like the Celestial Secret Realm where no rules applied, there was no trust between any of them.
Mutual suspicion and hostility — they could never truly cooperate.
Perhaps this was exactly why the hidden manipulator had chosen to weaponize killing intent.
A true master of understanding human nature.
Jiang Chen hesitated, uncertain how to handle the situation.
If Ling Chuan were here, things would be far simpler — even his enemies trusted him. He could investigate one by one, and no one who knew him would object.
If it were Zhao Yan, he would probably identify the culprit at a glance.
And if Du Yehu were present, it would be even simpler. He wouldn't consider anything at all — whoever tried to kill him, he'd kill right back. Simple and brutal.
But Jiang Chen was alone. He couldn't be as reckless as Du Yehu, yet he couldn't think of a good solution either.
He couldn't just delay, either — who knew if the hidden manipulator had more moves waiting?
And when the opportunity appeared, the situation would spiral out of control immediately.
Leaving this danger unresolved could become a death sentence.
Jiang Chen's face betrayed nothing, but his mind raced.
Then he felt it — a stir from the Nether Candle inside his Celestial Palace.
Focusing his attention, he saw several wisps of gray energy being drawn from the void, their traces revealed.
The gray energy, threadlike, was entirely absorbed by the Nether Candle.
Jiang Chen recognized it.
Death aura!
Why would death aura attempt to infiltrate his Celestial Palace? And whose scheme was this?