"Chu Feng, you damn fool! If you want to die, fine, but don't drag this queen down with you!" Seeing Chu Feng so determined to seek death, Dan Dan roared in a frenzy.
Hearing Dan Dan's cry, Chu Feng felt deeply conflicted. He couldn't bear to part with Su Rou and Su Mei, nor did he want Dan Dan to be harmed because of his actions.
"Not good, these two pearls are actually still alive. I was truly careless."
Suddenly, an ancient voice spoke. Chu Feng looked up and was overjoyed—it was the Dragon Daoist.
The Dragon Daoist stood upon a green dragon, his Daoist robes billowing without wind. Seeing Su Rou and Su Mei's condition, he was surprised but not overly panicked, bearing the composure of a top-tier expert.
"Chu Feng, step aside." The Dragon Daoist called out loudly. Not daring to delay, Chu Feng quickly released the sisters from his embrace.
"Hum." At that moment, with a wave of his wide sleeve, the Dragon Daoist condensed a layer of blue barrier. It was etched with strange patterns, and it enveloped Su Rou and Su Mei separately.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." Following that, the Dragon Daoist wrote the character for "Seal" twice in the void with his finger. The characters, formed from runes, hovered in the air as if alive. Pointing at Su Rou and Su Mei, he softly commanded, "Seal!"
The two "Seal" characters landed on the barriers around the sisters. Instantly, their pained expressions eased, as if the terrifying pearls within them had been brought under control.
"Not bad. Chu Feng, the barrier technique of your sect's founder is quite impressive. I'd wager that if he were alive, he wouldn't be a mere Blue-Robed Spirit World Master. He would have been infinitely close to the Purple-Robed level." Dan Dan offered rare praise.
Chu Feng was also stunned by the Dragon Daoist's display. As a fellow Spirit World Master, when faced with Su Rou and Su Mei's plight earlier, his only choice had been to die with them, because beyond that, he had been utterly powerless.
Yet the Dragon Daoist, who now possessed no physical body and existed only as a spiritual consciousness, had used his Spirit World arts to temporarily suppress the pearls within them. There was truly a vast gap in their strength.
"Fortunately, these two pearls are far weaker than they were in the past, even though they haven't been destroyed. But even so, they are beyond my ability to suppress. To truly control them, we must rely on *that* pearl."
As he spoke, the Dragon Daoist waved his sleeve again. A gust of wind rose from beneath Chu Feng's feet, lifting all three of them into the air and depositing them onto the back of the massive green dragon.
"ROAR—"
With a dragon's roar, the scenery around Chu Feng blurred. In a mere moment, they had returned to where everyone was resting, before the crystal coffin holding the Dragon Daoist's remains.
*Bang!* With a palm strike, the Dragon Daoist shattered the crystal coffin that had preserved his remains. At the same time, the pearl on his corpse flared with a dazzling brilliance.
"Founder, what are you doing?" Seeing the Dragon Daoist destroy his own coffin with his first move, Chu Feng was filled with confusion.
But soon, he understood what the Dragon Daoist intended. After shattering the coffin, the Dragon Daoist began arranging a barrier formation with practiced hands. This was no simple barrier; it was a Sealing Barrier Formation.
An extraordinarily advanced formation, one so advanced Chu Feng could recognize what it was but could never hope to touch, let alone replicate, even if he knew the method.
Once the Sealing Barrier Formation was complete, the Dragon Daoist placed Su Rou and Su Mei on either side of his remains. He then activated the formation. The brilliant light from the pearl solidified, forming a massive crystalline interface that enveloped both sisters and the Dragon Daoist's remains within it.
"Chu Feng, although those two pearls' power isn't as formidable as before, my current self still cannot completely suppress them, let alone extract them from Su Rou and Su Mei's bodies."
"Sealing them is the only way to save them right now. However, with my strength, I can only temporarily lock the vitality within their bodies. I can guarantee they will survive inside this sealed formation for two years."
"That is to say, if I release the seal now, they will likely die immediately. But if the seal is held for two years, they will also die then. Give me a straightforward answer now: do you choose for them to die now, or to give them two years?" The Dragon Daoist asked gravely.
"No! I don't want them to die!" Chu Feng was alarmed by the Dragon Daoist's words.
"I am asking you to choose. Now, or in two years. Speak quickly. If you don't, I will release the seal right now and destroy them along with those two pearls." The Dragon Daoist's tone became stern.
"No, don't! Seal them! Preserve their lives for now!" Seeing this, Chu Feng panicked completely and immediately pleaded.
"Good. That is the right choice." Only then did the Dragon Daoist nod in satisfaction. He then spread his arms and brought them together again. Several thick, transparent chains emerged from his body. These were not ordinary chains, but chains condensed from barrier energy, clanking as they wound around the crystalline interface until they were wrapped so densely they nearly obscured it, leaving only glimpses of Su Rou and Su Mei within.
"Seal!" Finally, the Dragon Daoist carved another massive "Seal" character onto the vast formation, completely sealing it shut.
At this moment, nearly everyone had gathered around, watching the Dragon Daoist's actions tensely. Su Hen and Su Long, in particular, looked stricken. Everyone knew something had happened, but no one dared step forward to ask. They simply watched in silence.
"Chu Feng, you are still young. Remember, a true man must remain calm in the face of any crisis."
"In truth, I had no confidence I could destroy those two pearls. So even if you hadn't chosen the seal, I would have sealed them together with the pearls anyway."
"But I asked you that question to give you this unforgettable experience—of choosing the life or death of your loved ones. That way, when you face such a situation next time, it will be a little easier."
The Dragon Daoist spoke to Chu Feng as if giving him a lesson, seemingly unconcerned with the life or death of Su Rou and Su Mei.
"Founder, is there any way to save them?" For Chu Feng, however, his foremost concern was how to rescue the sisters.
"Almost impossible now. The pearls will remain sealed, but these two, without food or drink... with my ability, I can only guarantee them two years of life. Within two years, they will surely die. Unless..."