Chen Nanfeng roughly pushed Chen Jingrou into the room.
Hua Mingqiu's eyes widened. "Family Head Chen, what are you doing?"
Seeing the door shut, Chen Nanfeng finally smiled. "Weren't you all so eager to negotiate with the Red Ghost Sect? I'm giving you that chance."
As his voice fell, Chen Nanfeng crushed a piece of jade at his waist. A clear breeze rustled through. Cyan runes began to appear on the ground beneath their feet, and at the same time, the surrounding yuan qi started to gather at an astonishing speed.
"What's going on?" Xu Qing, who was attacking the barrier, immediately looked at Huang She beside him. "Could it be that Chen Nanfeng has other tricks up his sleeve?"
Huang She's voice was grave. "This Family Head Chen is a man of deep thoughts. It's not impossible that he has other methods."
Damn it, don't let this old bastard succeed!
Huang She snorted in anger, the whip coiling around his wrist. With all his might, he smashed it against the barrier.
At this moment, Chen Nanfeng was dispelling the barrier's power. He looked up at the sky and muttered, "You must... succeed!"
"Chen Nanfeng, what are you doing?" The cultivators present realized something was wrong, but it was already too late. The surrounding barrier dissipated, and the formation on the ground took shape. Someone with knowledge immediately recognized it as a powerful teleportation array. Who would have thought that the Chen family possessed a teleportation array of this scale?
Unfortunately, the array had a limited capacity and required an immense amount of energy to support it.
The moment the barrier was destroyed, Xu Qing and Huang She charged in. However, their combined attack couldn't even break through Chen Nanfeng's defense.
"Old man, trying to move your things?"
Failing on the first strike, the two continued their assault. More and more Red Ghost Sect disciples poured in. The cultivators who had been defending all knelt on the ground, begging for mercy. But the Red Ghost Sect paid them no mind. The moment they dropped their weapons, they were executed by the Red Ghost Sect disciples.
Soon, the entire courtyard was drenched in blood.
Chen Nanfeng was protected within the formation, his entire body's power being used to gather the surrounding yuan qi to maintain the teleportation array's operation.
On the other side, Lin Yun, who had known this outcome all along, held Chen Jingrou's small hand. At this moment, the young miss of the Chen family was crying a river of tears. She struggled, wanting to go out.
"Father... Father..."
"Miss Chen, if you go out now, everything your father has done will be in vain." Lin Yun's heart was heavy. In his injured state, all he could do now was hide here.
The runes on the ground grew brighter, and Lin Yun could even feel his body begin to float. At the same time, the room shattered. They were now inside a huge pillar of light shooting toward the sky, surrounded by a transparent energy barrier.
Chen Jingrou threw herself against it, beating it with her fists, but the barrier was extremely strong, not moving an inch under her attacks.
"They're leaving." Xu Qing looked at Lin Yun and Chen Jingrou with vicious eyes.
Chen Nanfeng was currently holding back their combined assault with his own strength. "It seems the higher-ups of the Red Ghost Sect have also been held up. Otherwise, our Chen family wouldn't have been able to last this long," he said with a proud smile.
Xu Qing was furious, but there was nothing he could do. Only Huang She remained focused, smashing his fist against the barrier again and again.
Lin Yun and Chen Jingrou's bodies began to rise.
Crack.
A crack appeared in the barrier protecting Chen Nanfeng.
Chen Jingrou's eyes widened, and she screamed, "Father!"
Chen Nanfeng looked at her, the corners of his mouth turned up. Even at this moment, his face still wore a father's gentle smile. "Rou'er, you must live on, be strong."
As the cracks in the barrier grew larger, Chen Nanfeng's condition also deteriorated.
BOOM!
Like a shattering shell, the barrier protecting Chen Nanfeng scattered to the ground. Xu Qing's knuckle dusters plunged directly into half of Chen Nanfeng's body.
"Stop the formation!"
Blood trickled from the corner of Chen Nanfeng's mouth. "The Red Ghost Sect has sacrificed so many people for today. I... I will not submit."
Xu Qing grabbed Chen Nanfeng's hair with one hand, looking at the slowly ascending Lin Yun and Chen Jingrou. "If you leave, I will kill him in the most torturous way possible."
Chen Jingrou collapsed, sobbing. Lin Yun held her in his arms, preventing her from escaping. "It is my failure as a Senior Brother that I could not save your father. But I will not forget our feud with the Red Ghost Sect." Lin Yun gritted his teeth.
Just then, Huang She pushed Xu Qing aside. "Lin Yun, stop. I know you have a way. As long as you hand over the Jade Hornless Dragon Lamp, I can spare Chen Nanfeng and leave them a descendant. Do you want Miss Chen to hate you for the rest of her life?"
Chen Jingrou pleaded, "Senior Brother Lin, I beg you, please save my father."
Lin Yun's body was trembling.
At that moment, Huang She suddenly grabbed Chen Nanfeng's hair and kicked him in the back of the knees, forcing him to the ground. He then took out a small knife. "Miss Chen, beg your Senior Brother Lin nicely. Or do you want to watch your own father die a miserable death right in front of you?"
Chen Nanfeng looked at his crying daughter and, with the last of his strength, roared, "Rou'er, don't stop! Go, quickly! Don't believe these animals!"
Huang She swung the small knife, brutally carving a piece of flesh from Chen Nanfeng's body. The intense pain couldn't even make this kind father cry out.
He smiled. "Rou'er, go... Father is fine."
Another slash.
Chen Jingrou completely lost her mind. "Lin Yun, you coward... If you don't dare to save my father, then let me go! I'll go!"
Seeing Chen Jingrou in such a state, Lin Yun was helpless. He struck the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.
Seeing this, the man on the ground, Chen Nanfeng, closed his eyes in satisfaction. "You two animals, just kill me!"
With a final roar, the formation's operation sped up.
RUMBLE!
With a violent explosion, the white pillar of light shot into the clouds, disappearing between heaven and earth in the blink of an eye. The Red Ghost Sect's barrier was torn open with a large hole.
Just then, Huang She suddenly summoned a sword.
"Are you crazy? This will expose us!" Xu Qing was greatly shocked.
Huang She threw out a single sentence. "There's no time. I'll leave things here to you. I'm going to get that thing back."
With that, he sped away on his sword.
Outside Chen Family Fort, reinforcements from the Flowing Cloud Sect were arriving one after another, led by none other than Shangguan Wan.
"The Ancestor is really something else. That kid is so cunning, how could he possibly die so easily in a place like this?"
Under the Flowing Cloud Sect's assault, the Red Ghost Sect began to retreat steadily. Just then, Shangguan Wan saw a large hole being torn in the Red Ghost Sect's barrier from the inside, followed by a fleeting flash of white light. Immediately after, another person chased out from within on a sword, moving at an incredible speed.
Just as Shangguan Wan was about to give chase, a skull formed from black mist flew towards her, and she was forced to hastily meet the attack. But a sense of worry lingered in her heart...