"Their eyes are wrong! This man is definitely not Brother Han — when his divine sense swept over us just now, it was clearly more powerful than Brother Han's!" A flicker of alarm passed through Pan Yuan's mind.
The Divine Path cultivator who had been dispatched to Pingsha Island was already supposed to be a cut above them. And now this person seemed even stronger than the one who had been sent there.
That meant this enemy was no pushover. They had been on guard every step of the way, and yet they had still been deceived.
"Charge inside — get back to the formation!" Pan Yuan transmitted to his companion with divine sense.
Just then, An Jie let out a hearty laugh. His hands seized the air, and with the trident now in his grip, he pointed from a distance — a powerful torrent of offensive energy swept across toward them.
"This is bad! This man is An Jie!" Pan Yuan's own strength might not have been particularly outstanding, but among these Divine Path cultivators, his knowledge and experience were truly exceptional. He had studied all manner of powerful Divine Path experts in depth. With even the slightest clue, he could identify them.
The moment he laid eyes on that trident, the name An Jie sprang immediately to his mind.
As soon as those words surfaced, both he and Yu Xian felt a bone-deep chill. An Jie — this was a man who did not defer even to Lord Guangdu. A man who would challenge Lord Guangdu to a fight for no reason at all. Someone of that caliber could take on the two of them together without breaking a sweat.
And the person beside him, while not as formidable as An Jie, was clearly no weakling either. Definitely another Divine Path cultivator.
Which meant the opponents they faced were far more powerful than they had anticipated. And the passage back to the formation had already been blocked by An Jie and his group.
The two of them were filled with regret. Just moments ago, they had been blinded by greed, letting these two walk ahead of them. Hadn't they just cut off their own retreat?
"Fight them head-on!" Yu Xian gritted his teeth and was about to charge forward.
"Don't be rash — we retreat first! Regroup with Lord Guangdu. An Jie is not someone we can contend with." Pan Yuan was shaken but had not lost his composure entirely.
However, in the time it took them to speak, the trident's attack had already locked onto them, leaving them no choice but to meet it head-on.
Neither dared to slack off. They struck simultaneously, barely managing to hold back the trident's onslaught. Meanwhile, Yu Gong joined the fray as well.
Yu Gong's combat strength was roughly on par with Pan Yuan's and Yu Xian's. But with An Jie keeping the two of them occupied, Yu Gong's attacks suddenly became devastatingly sharp.
On one side they had to deal with An Jie's powerful offensive, and on the other they had to guard against Yu Gong's killing moves.
After just a few exchanges, both men found themselves trapped in a stalemate — completely on the losing end.
"Brother Yu Xian, we can't overpower them. Fall back!" Pan Yuan was seething with frustration, and after realizing they had been duped, his regret was immense.
Both of them knew that if the fight continued, they would certainly be defeated.
Yu Xian was well aware of An Jie's fearsome reputation. The two of them poured their strength into a simultaneous strike, blocking An Jie's fierce attack, then flickered and tried to flee toward the perimeter.
But every move had been calculated in advance. The moment they attempted to escape, heaven and earth had already been sealed into an inescapable net, cutting off every route of retreat.
Overhead, a vast crimson cloud descended, locking down half the sky.
Below, the Xuanwu divine beast's immense gravitational force had severed all spatial connections in the surroundings, rendering their escape arts completely useless.
And Jiang Chen? He unleashed the golden bell, hurling it with devastating force directly at the two Divine Lords.
Jiang Chen's offensive power was now something that even Divine Path cultivators could not afford to ignore — and that was before factoring in the golden bell's formidable amplification.
In that instant, Pan Yuan and Yu Xian realized with horror that they had been thoroughly surrounded.