Meanwhile, as Jiang Man was investigating the surroundings, he suddenly felt a change in the curse on his body. Black mist surged beneath his skin as if it had come alive. Then, a massive pulling force dragged him into a Teleportation Array.
It was the main hall from before. Jiang Man did not resist, allowing himself to be pulled in. Soon, he appeared in the hall. Beneath his feet were cold stone bricks, and the surrounding walls were engraved with dim runes.
THUD!
The heavy sound of objects hitting the ground suddenly echoed. He looked over and was surprised to see Shen Yao and the others lying unconscious. The three of them lay sprawled haphazardly on the floor, their faces pale and brows tightly furrowed. They had fallen deep into their Heart Spirits. It seemed they had failed to withstand the erosion of the mountain mist.
With a casual wave of his hand, Jiang Man spread his Primordial Spirit Power, awakening the three.
Shen Yao was the first to wake up. She struggled to open her eyes, her vision blurring for a moment before finally focusing. When she noticed Jiang Man standing nearby, she froze, then exclaimed in panic, "You robbed my Spiritual Source in reality, and now you want to rob my Spiritual Source in my Heart Spirit too? Having high Talent doesn’t mean you can bully people like this!"
Jiang Man remained silent for a moment, feeling as if he were the villain here. She was clearly the one who had offended him first.
Zhao Li and the other disciple also woke up at this time. Zhao Li frowned, propping himself up from the ground, and asked, "Junior Brother, did you save us?"
Chen Jinmu was also surprised. He rubbed his Taiyang acupoints and said, "I thought I was already eliminated."
"You haven’t been eliminated, but we have definitely been captured," Jiang Man said softly as he surveyed their surroundings.
Only then did Shen Yao realize she had escaped the vortex of her Heart Spirit. However, she still didn’t understand how they had been captured.
Just as she was about to ask, the sound of applause echoed from outside. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. The rhythm was unhurried and deliberate.
Elder Chu led a group of people inside. He looked at Jiang Man, who was lowering his hand, and sighed with emotion, "Immortals are truly extraordinary. You understood your situation so quickly. You probably don’t understand everything, though, or you wouldn’t be wearing that expression."
Jiang Man paid no mind to his words, instead asking, "Is the matter regarding Qiao Yu true or false?"
"There is indeed such a person, but she is safe at home," a beautiful woman in her early thirties spoke up, a faint smile on her lips.
Hearing this, Jiang Man nodded. "In that case, can I consider my mission complete?"
The crowd fell silent. They couldn’t quite grasp what the person before them meant. Why would he care about whether his mission was complete at a time like this?
Elder Chu brushed the comment aside and replied, "Yes, the mission is complete. However, we still have some matters that require your help."
"What matters?" Shen Yao asked warily.
Jiang Man interjected, "Junior Sister Shen, do not speak for the rest of the time."
Shen Yao was furious. "So what if his Talent is high? He won’t even let people speak. The day I surpass him, my first words will be telling him to shut up. He’d better not fall into my hands back at the Immortal Sect in the future," she thought furiously.
Taking a step forward, Jiang Man looked at the crowd and said, "Actually, we don’t have much time. It’s been half a month since we entered. This place isn’t safe for us, so we have to leave today."
Hearing this, a smile touched the corners of Elder Chu and the others’ lips.
A man spoke up softly, "That won’t do. We have quite a few things here that require your help."
Elder Chu chimed in, "Indeed. We are very hospitable here. I imagine you Immortals are kind-hearted people who wouldn’t just leave like this."
As his voice fell, the surrounding Array activated. Patterns of light illuminated from the crevices between the floor tiles—it was a containment Array.
Shen Yao and the others’ expressions changed drastically. The "help" these people spoke of was a lie; they intended to imprison them!
"This is our first time seeing what Immortals are like. We sense that your power is somewhat different from ours. We are a group of seekers of the Dao, and we want to study the power within your bodies," the man from before smiled. "You don’t mind being sliced open, do you?"
"I don’t mind," Jiang Man immediately shook his head.
The crowd was stunned once again. Shen Yao felt that there was something wrong with his head.
However, Jiang Man looked at Elder Chu and the rest, adding, "I don’t mind being sliced open, so I presume you all wouldn’t mind it either, right?"
Elder Chu and the others were taken aback before the man chuckled, "Right, we don’t mind. It just depends on whether you have the—"
BAM!
Before he could finish his sentence, Jiang Man had abruptly appeared right in front of him. With a swift thrust, his sword pierced straight through the man’s body.
Feeling the agonizing pain, the man roared furiously and raised his hand to unleash a killing strike. "You’re courting death!"
But the moment his arm went up, Jiang Man’s fist smashed directly into his face.
BAM!
The punch completely obliterated the man’s head. Blood sprayed out, and his hand hung limply in midair.
Blood splashed onto the faces of the surrounding people. The smile remained frozen on Elder Chu’s lips as the warm blood dripped from his face and hit the floor.