Huang'er fell silent. She knew that Elder Xi's words were no idle threat. If someone else from the Yan family had come, they might very well have moved against Jiang Chen directly.
If it had been someone from the Xiahou clan, they would have surely gone on a killing spree through Glazed Royal City!
The most terrifying thing was that if the Xiahou clan decided to massacre the city, Glazed Royal City would have no way to resist. Even a genius as powerful as Brother Chen might not survive.
Huang'er had grown up on Myriad Abyss Island. She knew full just how powerful the island was — it truly was vastly, incomparably stronger than the human territories.
The Xiahou clan in particular was an utterly ruthless family. Otherwise, why would they have placed a curse on her, or intended to use her as a cultivation furnace for their people?
Elder Xi seemed to harbor a natural contempt for those of the human territories. His gaze was laced with mockery as he glanced at Jiang Chen. "Boy, if you're half as clever as you think you are, you should hear these words and know your place. At the very least, you should release your filthy hands from Miss Huang'er."
"No need to glare. Your fury, in my eyes, is nothing more than the squealing of an ant. Remember — do not dare invoke the name of Myriad Abyss Island again. Myriad Abyss Island is heaven, the embodiment of the supreme Heavenly Dao. It is not something that an ant wallowing in the dust like you can freely blaspheme!"
Elder Xi's eyes held a faint sneer. He gestured casually toward the void around them. "This space has already been sealed by me. I can release it at any time, and you may summon every helper you can reach. If you refuse to accept this, I will be happy to give you a lesson — to show you the true gulf between heaven and earth..."
Jiang Chen's fists clenched tight.
He could feel the old man's malice, and he could sense the old man's terrifying power. He could even vaguely perceive that this elder was deliberately trying to provoke him, seeking justification for a slaughter.
But that was not what Jiang Chen despised most.
What he despised most was this old man's brazen arrogance — standing before him and pontificating about the Heavenly Dao, as though he himself were heaven.
"Brother Chen, promise me. Don't do anything rash — promise me!" Huang'er clung desperately to Jiang Chen's arm, her beautiful eyes filled with sorrow and pleading.
All the fury in Jiang Chen's chest ultimately dissolved into a quiet sigh. He gently drew Huang'er into his embrace, and the anger in his eyes gradually subsided. How could he not understand that Huang'er was doing this to protect him — to protect Peacock Sacred Mountain?
But Jiang Chen was not the kind of man who could be pushed around.
He fixed Elder Xi with a cold, detached stare. "Even if you are Huang'er's elder, I can tell you this plainly. You! Do not represent heaven! The Heavenly Dao is boundless — what could you possibly understand of it? And yet you dare prattle on about the Heavenly Dao? Today you blaspheme heaven. One day, heaven will collect its due. Remember — there will come a day when I will show you just how ignorant and laughable your so-called heaven truly is!"
Jiang Chen spoke each word with crisp precision, his voice as cold as a blade.
Elder Xi was a man of supreme status. Hearing such defiant words, he was not alarmed — but he was irritated. He let out a cold snort, and a wave of pressure lanced straight toward Jiang Chen.
"Brat, spouting empty nonsense." Elder Xi did not take Jiang Chen's words the slightest bit seriously.
He had promised Huang'er that he would not kill, but that did not mean he could not use his pressure to wound. This wave of spiritual pressure was devastatingly powerful — if it struck a mountain, the mountain would collapse; if it hit the ground, the earth would split!
The divine sense moved faster than lightning. In the blink of an eye, it was upon Jiang Chen.
"No!" Huang'er cried out in alarm, her face draining of color as she lunged forward to intercept.
But it was already too late. The divine sense was formless, yet more terrifying than any blade. It pierced straight into Jiang Chen's sea of consciousness.
Its intent was clear — to shred his sea of consciousness on the spot. Even if it did not kill him, it would leave him a drooling vegetable for life!
A jolt of unprecedented crisis surged through Jiang Chen's mind. By the time he reacted, that terrifying divine sense had already swept into his sea of consciousness like a foul wind blowing up from the depths of hell.
Not good!
Instinctively, Jiang Chen resisted.
"Hmph… overestimating yourself." When Elder Xi saw Jiang Chen attempting to fight back, he scoffed inwardly. Clearly, he had no doubt the boy was utterly incapable of withstanding it.
A Heavenly-realm expert's divine sense attack carried destructive force far beyond any physical pressure. This single strike would be enough to destroy the boy even if he were ten times stronger.
Jiang Chen's sea of consciousness erupted with a deafening roar, as though it might rupture at any moment.
And in that very instant — that dormant seal lurking deep within his consciousness, the chain-like seal wrapped around nine droplet-shaped nodes — Shuddered with a violent tremor.
The next moment, the seal began spinning at tremendous speed, transforming into a nebula vortex as deep and vast as an ancient galaxy. It lunged forward and swallowed that invading divine sense whole — like a starving man slurping down noodles, quick and clean, gulping every last shred of it down without leaving a trace.
Moments later, the chain-like seal settled back to its original state.
"Not again…" A thought flashed through Jiang Chen's mind as the chain-like seal hovered clearly in his sea of consciousness, swirling like a luminous nebula.
This was not the first time Jiang Chen had sensed this seal's existence. Ancient, mysterious, powerful, profound — harboring limitless possibilities.
Back during his breakthrough at the Treasure Tree Sect, this seal had triggered a tremendous celestial phenomenon, rivaling the signs that accompanied an emperor-level cultivator's advancement.
Later, when he had been studying the nine Glazed Steles inside the Glazed Royal Pagoda, it was this seal once again that had saved his then-collapsing sea of consciousness.