Chapter 685: Chapter 115: Punishment and Tempering
The setting sun is infinitely good, but it’s nearing dusk.
The resplendent sunset cast a gloom over Zhou Yan’s heart.
This heavy dusk was like the information provided by the man in the golden battle armor, equally weighty.
A lifeline cut short, a True Void Forbidden Land.
Does that mean this world is still not real? Was Mu Qingyan’s behavior all along deceitful? Were the methods and countermeasures she provided for discerning and dealing with the True Illusion Realm also false?
Even if it were all false, could the other party know that he, Zhou Yan, was aware of his situation?
The other party mustn’t know, because that man in the golden battle armor deep in his soul, no one could detect.
Therefore, Zhou Yan still had a chance to win.
Zhou Yan composed his mind, facing the splendid yet blood-red sunset breeze, he took a deep breath, and his entire being exuded a defiant air.
He no longer faced a more dangerous and difficult environment, so no matter the outcome, it wouldn’t be too bad. Perhaps only someone with his temperament could let go and view it so indifferently.
Zhou Yan stood calmly in the Void, unchanging as myriad changes arose.
Just then, suddenly, from the distant Void, surged waves of energy, followed immediately by the appearance of the Netherworld Goddess Mu Qingyan above the Void.
As soon as she appeared, the Heaven and Earth behind her seemed to twist suddenly. From the distorted space, a white light emerged, scattering in all directions. Within the white light, innumerable tiny dots instantly appeared.
These tiny dots quickly grew larger, and in the blink of an eye, a dense crowd materialized.
It was at this moment that Mu Qingyan lightly waved her hand, causing the distorted whiteness and the bright light to completely vanish.
At the same time, she turned around, her gaze fixed on Zhou Yan, and said indifferently, "Young Master Zhou, I’ve fulfilled your demands. Now, it’s up to you, Young Master Zhou Yan."
Zhou Yan looked at Mu Qingyan and nodded slightly.
Behind Mu Qingyan, there were many female cultivators from the Beixue Heavenly Palace, each one selected with at least the strength of the Sword Tribulation Realm.
These female cultivators had originally solemn expressions, but upon seeing Zhou Yan, some of their faces visibly changed, their expressions becoming somewhat unnatural.
Before this, they could never have imagined that the Master whom even the Goddess respected would be the very same person who had saved countless disciples of the Heavenly Palace, and the one cursed in their hearts for flying over the Forbidden Land of Beixue Heavenly Palace...
At this moment, the expressions of many female cultivators became quite interesting, their hearts feeling somewhat uneasy.
"Increase the energy by twenty percent!"
"How can you be so slow? You useless thing, you have reached the Fourth Sword Tribulation Refinement, yet you have no momentum at all. Without momentum, how can the Ancient Array have stability?"
"Right, don’t stop, just like that, channel your life potential into the Ancient Array, transforming it into the foundation strength of the array!"
"Are you brain-dead? Don’t you understand?! I asked you to refine the Holy Artifact into energy. If you can’t refine it, just break it apart, refine what you can and discard what you can’t; what’s the use of keeping it?"
"With your ability, you are a complete waste. How can you act as a protector like this? It seems your Palace Master is blind too, picking such a good-for-nothing. You’ve only been channeling Essence Qi for half an hour, and you’re already about to be drained... Look at yourself, you used to be somewhat attractive, but once life is depleted, you look like an old witch in her eighties. With such a state, you still call yourself ’Shui Xin’? Are you here to disgust me?"
Zhou Yan occasionally made all sorts of strange demands, causing many cultivators of the Beixue Heavenly Palace to be extremely miserable.
Qian He was busy on the side as well, but very relaxed; the pleasure in his heart was almost bursting out.
Wonderful, it was so delightful! It was incredibly satisfying!
With just a few words, Zhou Yan managed to exhaust the haughty female cultivators from the lofty Beixue Heavenly Palace until they were as submissive as grandsons. Their former pride had fallen into their stomachs, each and every Fairy looking as if they were in dire straits, covered in dust and looking wretched.
Even individuals like Song Xiaoxiao and Beixue Palace Master Song Qianxue were drenched with sweat, their gauzy skirts clinging to their bodies.
But Zhou Yan kept them busy without pause, treating them like a master reprimands or chides his servants.
One after another, Zhou Yan compellingly assigned the haughtiest female fairies to do the coarsest, heaviest, dirtiest work, forbidding them from cleansing themselves or resting to recover even for a moment.
Qian He couldn’t express how comfortable he felt; venting his grievances made him feel light-headed.
Although Yilan did not revel as much as Qian He, she also felt relief from the past oppression. Yilan had no desire to oppress others, but the Heavenly Palace was constantly stepping on her head, and she was not as unconcerned as she appeared. This time, seeing her Master Zhou Yan ordering the others around, even deliberately making things difficult for them, she too had a truly liberating feeling, and her mood was greatly lifted.
Zhou Yan’s series of commanding orders were overwhelming the female cultivators of the Beixue Heavenly Palace.
Fortunately, due to the Goddess’s constant attention, and because Lilith was always amassing strength, any disobedient cultivator would be struck dead on the spot in an instant, so no one dared to misbehave. They could only swallow their teeth and blood and silently endure.
In their hearts, they had come to see the status of Zhou Yan and the Goddess as one and the same, so even though they were being ordered around like this, there was not much resentment. They wouldn’t dare to think that Zhou Yan was settling personal vendettas; rather, they tried harder to cooperate.
They were haughty and dismissive toward their inferiors, but towards their superiors, they groveled and fawned.
However, Zhou Yan ignored these female cultivators’ pleas and begging eyes, continuing to issue cold and merciless orders.
The reconstruction of the Ancient Array was no easy task, and Zhou Yan had a bit of an urge to torment these people. Thus, with each step, he would repeatedly check, using these people as cannon fodder to experience the changes in the Ancient Array. This inevitably meant entering the incomplete Ancient Array and being thrashed, crushed, or bombarded with suppressive forces—a process too horrific for words.
From within the half-finished Ancient Array, cries of agony and the sounds of unbearable weeping from the female cultivators could be heard from time to time.
After several stages of the incomplete Ancient Arrays were established, more than half of the female disciples from the Beixue Heavenly Palace had nearly collapsed mentally.
Although Zhou Yan also deliberately made things difficult for these naive women, he was indeed earnestly constructing the Array. It’s just that he repeatedly tested some of the Ancient Arrays that didn’t need to be checked.
He didn’t elucidate this point, but the Goddess and others all thought he was highly focused and meticulous in establishing the Ancient Array, and thus any burgeoning doubts gradually faded away.
"Song Xiaoxiao, Song Qianxue, you two enter the Netherworld Extinguishing Void Ancient Array and experience its power. Do not resist and see if the effects of the Ancient Array have been achieved. Rest assured, with the Goddess here, you won’t die."
Zhou Yan issued his cold command.
"Ah—"
Song Xiaoxiao was startled; it was finally her turn. Her good days had come to an end.
Song Qianxue, on the other hand, received the order respectfully and immediately flew toward the Netherworld Extinguishing Ancient Array.
"Hmm? You’re not going? Do you want to defy orders?"
Zhou Yan snapped, causing Song Xiaoxiao to jump in fear. Instinctively, she immediately flew toward the Netherworld Extinguishing Ancient Array.
Because Song Xiaoxiao sensed that if she did not act in that moment, she would be instantly slain by a ray of Divine Light from the Goddess Lilith!
The Goddess Lilith would not give her a chance to hesitate, for the Goddess had long stated that Master Zhou’s orders must be followed without any hesitation, to avoid delaying "important matters."
As Song Xiaoxiao flew into the Netherworld Extinguishing Ancient Array, she immediately felt an immense impact on her spirit and soul, as if life and death were interchanging. She almost instinctively resisted the onslaught, but Song Qianxue suddenly said, "Don’t, absolutely don’t do it, otherwise we’re finished! It doesn’t matter if we die, but if we ruin the construction of the grand Array, that would truly be terrible!"
Song Qianxue’s words caused Song Xiaoxiao’s complexion to change.
She then looked somewhat despondent, clenched her teeth, and silently endured the assaults and torments from all directions of various ancient energies—a painful ordeal as if a myriad of worms were gnawing at her bones, which was extremely hard to bear. Even with Song Xiaoxiao and Song Qianxue’s perseverance, they found it difficult to withstand the pain.
...
As the Ancient Array gradually perfected, revealing its grand and immense outline, even people like Mu Qingyan were somewhat shocked.
Such a project, even in high levels like the Hell Plane or the Divine Plane, was rare to witness.
It was extraordinary to see it in this lower world, and it was truly astonishing.
It was for this reason they held deep-seated confidence in Zhou Yan’s completion of the entire Ancient Array.
"Master..."
Seeing the fairy-like girls such as Song Xiaoxiao becoming exhausted, Yilan could hardly bear it and so quietly approached Zhou Yan, hesitating before softly calling out.
"It’s okay, don’t worry, I’m just lending them a hand, and it’s not true abuse. Their spirits are too willful and need to be tempered. After this, they will have a profound experience and benefit greatly."
Zhou Yan explained through a spiritual message.
Yilan was taken aback; she had not expected her master to... not truly be bullying them.
Although Yilan was aware of some factors, fundamentally, with the Master’s status, the Master truly had no need to bother with those cultivators whose status was not at all equal to his.
With the Master’s disposition, how would he engage in such petty actions?
After some thought, Yilan felt that the Master’s words were the real reason.
Yilan didn’t know that Zhou Yan hadn’t lied, mainly because these female cultivators looked too much like his friends. Even if this was a ’replicated’ world or the so-called ’True Void Forbidden Land,’ Zhou Yan might have initially thought of revenging or punishing them, but soon that feeling dissipated.
Now, his persistence was indeed to temper their spirits, allowing them to make greater progress.