Another hour passed, and the barrier of light on the high platform had grown so thin it seemed it could shatter at any moment. With that, the cooperative atmosphere from before evaporated. The lesser Open Heaven Realm cultivators' eyes darted about, sizing each other up—every last one of them now saw every other as a rival. Some had already begun quietly shifting their positions, ready to strike the instant they could.
"Don't lose focus — this is the final blow!" At that critical moment, the proprietress suddenly called out sharply. Her hands wove through a series of seals, and the Five Directions Formation roared to life. Dozens of Open Heaven Realm powerhouses channeled their strikes in unison, hammering the translucent barrier from five directions.
A tremendous boom rang out, followed by a cascade of crackling sounds as fracture after fracture spider-webbed across the barrier.
"It's breaking!" Elder Hong's expression turned sharp, his eyes blazing with intensity.
Amid the continued crackling, the barrier began to crumble apart, and every gaze locked onto the veins of Sun Star True Gold scattered across the platform. Yang Kai's own heart burned with desire — but now was not the time. Setting aside the fact that he hadn't yet reached the Open Heaven Realm, even if he had, he wouldn't have been able to get there in time. To stay hidden, he'd kept his distance, and now the platform was still far away.
Just then, Yang Kai's brow furrowed. He turned to look at the Golden Crow's corpse on the platform — in that brief instant, he thought he'd seen its eye move.
He'd assumed it was a trick of the light, but when he looked more carefully, he caught a glint of unmistakable mockery in those ancient eyes.
This thing isn't dead!
Yang Kai's face drained of color. Without a second thought, he shot backward at full speed. Before fleeing, he managed to squeeze out a hurried voice transmission to Wei Que.
And in that same instant, the barrier on the high platform shattered completely. From every direction, dozens of Open Heaven Realm cultivators surged forward simultaneously, each lunging for the target they'd already marked.
Wei Que had been poised to spring as well — but at the very moment he was about to move, Yang Kai's voice transmission reached his ears. His expression shifted, and he grabbed Tao Rongfang by the arm, dragging her backward.
Tao Rongfang stared at him in bewilderment. "Senior Brother?"
She had no idea why Wei Que would retreat at this decisive moment. If he'd wanted to leave, he should have done so before. The barrier was broken — this was their chance to seize the Sun Star True Gold. Pulling out now meant everything they'd done up to this point would be for nothing.
Wei Que had no time to explain. After all, he'd only heard Yang Kai's message and was acting on the principle that it was better to trust it than ignore it. He couldn't tell whether Yang Kai's warning was true, but when his eyes fixed on the Golden Crow and the next instant a chill shot through his hair, he knew.
The Golden Crow's eye had moved. It really wasn't dead!
"Go! Now!" Wei Que barked, hauling Tao Rongfang back the way they'd come.
On the high platform, Yuan Xiaoman and the others all lunged toward the same vein of Sun Star True Gold — the very one the proprietress had been subtly eyeing earlier. Meanwhile, the proprietress herself dove for an entirely different vein.
When Yuan Xiaoman and the others realized what had happened, they nearly coughed up blood. How could they not see that they'd all been played? The proprietress had been glancing at that particular vein all along, making them assume it was the finest, and naturally they'd all rushed to claim it — only for it to have been a deliberate misdirection.
Now that the barrier was gone, the quality of each vein was laid bare. In a brief moment of leisure, they glanced toward the proprietress's target and saw that it was, as expected, a seventh-grade Sun Star True Gold. Meanwhile, the one they were fighting over was only sixth-grade!
They reacted quickly, pivoting toward new targets the instant they realized the deception — but there was no way they could compete with the proprietress now. Her strength had always been the highest among them, and with a simple ruse she'd redirected everyone's attention. The seventh-grade Sun Star True Gold was already in her grasp.
"Out of my way!" Elder Hong's body surged with power, scattering a cluster of lesser Open Heaven cultivators like bowling pins. He arrived at a vein of Sun Star True Gold, snatched it up without a second glance, and stuffed it straight into his spatial ring.
On another side, Yuan Xiaoman likewise relied on her speed to effortlessly claim a vein of her own.
Zhang Qi was shrouded in a chilling killing intent. He held the corpse of an Open Heaven cultivator in one hand, stripped the Sun Star True Gold and the spatial ring from the body, and casually tossed the corpse aside.
The last of the middle-grade Open Heaven Realm experts, Ji Tianxing, had also locked onto his target. The lesser Open Heaven cultivator who'd managed to grab the vein saw Ji Tianxing bearing down on him and nearly wept. Gritting his teeth, he hurled the Sun Star True Gold straight at Ji Tianxing. "Take it!"
Ji Tianxing caught it and halted, looking down at what he held — only to find it was a sixth-grade vein. His brow furrowed again.
But an agreement had been struck beforehand, and the proprietress had invoked the name of the First Inn as her guarantee: the middle-grade Open Heaven experts would each take only one vein of Sun Star True Gold and would not meddle with the remaining three. So even though his heart churned with unwillingness, he didn't dare make another move — doing so would force the proprietress to turn on him.
A mere three breaths after the platform's barrier had fallen, five veins of Sun Star True Gold had found their owners. The remaining three whirled back and forth among dozens of lesser Open Heaven cultivators, and no one could secure one without drawing an avalanche of attacks. In the blink of an eye, several Open Heaven cultivators had fallen on the spot. The battle inside the grand hall was ferocious beyond measure.
"Lan-jiejie, you're a liar!" Yuan Xiaoman stood not far from the proprietress, stamping her foot and puffing out her cheeks.
The proprietress chuckled softly and was about to reply when she suddenly turned her head toward the Golden Crow's corpse. The next instant, the color drained from her face.
Wings trembling ever so slightly, a pair of razor-sharp eyes filled with derision — the adult Golden Crow that should have been dead was rolling its eyes and stirring back to life.