Chapter 0104

Chapter 104: You Ye Lan Gets Jealous: Why is she so favored!

You Ye Lan watched him with sharp caution and asked: “What do you mean by that?” [Something bad is coming.]

Zhou Tong smiled lightly and said: “Nothing much, I only want to fulfill your old wish.” He paced around her as spiritual power and mental power burst from him, carving lines into the ground. When she looked closely, she saw he was etching an impossibly complex set of Array Arts, and her hair stood on end because the pattern felt familiar.

She forced her voice steady and demanded: “What are you doing!”

He answered with a lazy tone: “Isn’t it obvious? I plan to transfer the offering qualification from the little demoness to you. That way you can make a fine contribution to the Celestial Masters Clan. Don’t you feel honored?”

At those words, You Ye Lan felt as if thunder struck her. She shook her head hard and cried: “You are lying. That is impossible. No one can do that!”

Zhou Tong shrugged and said: “You don’t have to believe me. You only need to watch.”

She panted, trying to hold her ground, and snapped: “You are fearmongering. You do not even know what an offering really is, yet you brag so loudly!”

He snorted and said: “Isn’t it just a sacrifice used for Tribulation?”

Her pupils tightened. On the Talisman path the stronger you are, the heavier the pressure from the Heavenly Dao. To reach higher realms, you must survive the terrifying three disasters and four tribulations. For example, going from a level six Talisman Master to level seven is a massive hurdle. The more gifted the master, the harsher the tribulation and the easier it is to die. It is no exaggeration to say that out of one hundred geniuses trying to reach level seven, only two or three finally make it. The death rate is terrifying. To cover this weakness, the role of the sacrifice was created, also called the offering. Children chosen as offerings are put through rites from a young age and treated according to grade. Low-grade offerings suffer trials, loneliness, and pain. High-grade offerings enjoy a life of privilege and stand above others. Yet all their endings are the same. They are offered to the Heavenly Dao. With their own blood, they light the path of their peers and help those peers reach higher realms safely. The method is cruel, but the effect is clear. With an offering’s sacrifice, the chance of a successful breakthrough rises to thirty percent, which is more than ten times higher. In the brutal cultivation world, that is nothing unusual. Even Zhou Tong kept a guarded view of such rites. He neither praised nor condemned them. But if anyone dared to sacrifice the little demoness, he would strike first and offer up that person’s entire clan.

He clapped and said: “The array is set.” Two complicated formations overlapped and bloomed under their feet. You Ye Lan turned pale. The aura was dreadful. This was no fake construct.

She swallowed and asked: “What array is this?”

He said with satisfaction: “You should have heard of them. The Yin-Yang Separation Array and the Fusion Array. Joined together, they can extract the offering constitution from the little demoness and graft it onto you.”

She thrashed and cried: “No. You cannot do this. I cannot become an offering!”

He glanced at her coldly and said: “At this point, do you think you can still back out? You clearly agreed before.” Then he guided the little demoness into the array and had her stand at the core, in the separation position. As for You Ye Lan, she stood at the fusion position.

He gave a low shout: “Begin.” His brow split open as a Heavenly Eye appeared, and a dense tide of mental power poured into the arrays.

With a rumble, both formations activated. Everything went smoothly at first, just as planned. The little demoness shivered as three strands of starlight flew from her chest toward You Ye Lan. That was the essence of the offering.

But at the final moment, a sudden change burst forth. You Ye Lan started trembling violently as a blinding light flared in her chest, and a powerful repulsive force surged out. Under that push, the three strands of starlight could not descend no matter what.

Zhou Tong narrowed his eyes and growled: “I do not believe it.” He forced more power down, and You Ye Lan screamed: “It hurts. Something is tearing me apart. Please, spare me!”

He remained unmoved and kept pressing. Whether she lived or died meant nothing to him. Yet the arrays reached their limit first. With a deep hum, both formations slipped out of place, shattered in the air, and dissolved into pure aura that drifted away. The starlight returned to the little demoness’s body.

You Ye Lan gulped air and then gasped with sudden joy as she felt the shackles around her collapse: “I am free.”

She looked at the stunned Zhou Tong and could not help laughing as she said: “You failed.”

Zhou Tong only stared for a heartbeat, then looked at her and burst into laughter.

Her smile faltered as she asked: “What are you laughing at?”

He looked at her with pity and a hint of mockery and said: “I laugh because you are so pitiful.”

You Ye Lan’s heart chilled. Without another word she lunged straight for the little demoness. She had seen it clearly: to escape, she needed a hostage.

Zhou Tong snorted. This pet wanted to sit at the table. Time to put a chain on. Just as he reached for the tether, the little demoness moved first and called out: “Talisman Sixty-Six, Five Element Light Prison!”

A snap-cast talisman burst into five barriers that squeezed around You Ye Lan and pinned her in place.

She stared at the little demoness and Zhou Tong like she had seen a ghost and blurted: “You can use that Talisman too?”

Her face twisted with shock as she shouted: “He actually taught you this heaven-defying art. What right do you have? This is a peerless treasure!”

Jealousy bit deep. Zhou Tong’s Talisman Arts were unmatched. Even if the Celestial Masters Clan got them, they would lock them away. Only the patriarch could practice them, not even the young lord. Yet Zhou Tong had taught them to the little demoness without hesitation. That kind of trust and favor was more than what most wives or daughters could dream of.

Then a greater thought hit her. The little demoness’s Talisman cultivation had risen with her break into the Heaven-Slaying Realm, stepping into level seven Talisman Master, and she had not suffered the three disasters and four tribulations. That sounded like a myth. A spark flashed in You Ye Lan’s mind, and she shook all over as she cried: “The little demoness’s Talisman Arts can ignore a Talisman Master’s bottleneck!”