Chapter 257: Unwilling

Chapter 257: Unwilling

Confusion welled up from within the links, along with panic. Hui reached out, doing his best to reassure everyone. Youre safe. Stay quiet. Dont fight it. A little longer, and theyll all leave. Trust me. Ill keep you safe!

The Peak Lords probed the link back. Hui trembled, his body deteriorating further. One by one, they made contact with him. One by one, they backed off. None of them chose to forcibly break the link, or force their way out of playing dead.

Hui let out a quiet breath. Thank goodness. Even with the compass and Chen Wuyas help, I couldnt stop a determined Peak Lord from breaking out of playing dead. If one of them leaped up, it would have completely ruined the illusion! Im glad they all made the right decision. Hopefully now everyone understands: playing dead is always the right choice!

A bolt of light shot through the air, and Gui Delun stood there, hovering before him. He looked down at Hui, face as stiff as ever.

Choosing to use that spell array to slay your entire sect before the extermination spell kills them in body and soul? A bold decision. I wonder if theyll understand, in the cycle of reincarnation, that you acted for their sake? Or if theyll simply curse your name, slayer of your own sect.

Hui laid there, still dead.

Gui Delun raised a hand over the compass, threatening to smash it.

Hui continued to lay there. Do whatever you want, Senior! Just leave me alone!

Mmm if you value your sectmates, dont let him smash the compass. Without the compass, no one can control the spell formation. Once it goes out of control, even I dont know what will happen to the people connected to it. At best nothing. At worst Chen Wuya paused. Complete soul extermination?

I cant allow that. Hui gasped a breath. He stopped playing dead himself, but refused to stop the spell for anyone else. Sis Mei pushed against him, panicking. Xixing watched on from a distance, tense but silent.

He climbed to his feet and stared down Gui Delun, defiant. Thats right. I did. What else would you expect from a filthy, heretic, demonic cultivator like myself?

Internally, Hui quavered, trembling from fear. Dont kill me, dont kill me, dont kill me. That extermination power hurt, I dont want to feel any more! Please, Senior, move on. This small cultivator isnt worth your time!

Gui Delun looked down on him, impassive. He exerted a little of his pressure, and Huis body creaked.

He fell to his knee, already exhausted simply by maintaining the formula, unable to hold himself up. A second later, he dropped into a full kowtow. Eh, whatever. As long as Im already on my knees, might as well show Senior some respect.

Senior Gui Delun, do whatever you want to this small cultivator. I have already made my move. I am unworthy of your direct judgement, but I ask of you to hand it down anyways. A wormlike existence like myself cannot help but await the judgement of one as enlightened and mighty as yourself. Even if you deem me worth of soul eradication and bodily death, I will accept it as my fate!

Absolutely not! If he tries any of that, this small Hui will resist with all his might! Senior, do what you want with me, but killing and soul eradication are completely out of the question! Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

Well, I cant say that, though. I dont want him to notice that the spell formation is still active. As long as he takes out his anger on me and not the compass, I can probably survive, but I dont have any techniques to fake the death of a magical item.

An intense sensation of danger jerked Hui back to the present. Instinctively, he calculated the angle of Gui Deluns falling hand and threw himself out of the path of its blow.

Gui Deluns hand strike slammed into the mountain. The mountain shuddered. Dust flew up, along with pebbles, dirt, boulders, trees, and everything else.

Hui whirled and fled into the dust, throwing up fire and ice talismans behind him to add to the smokescreen. Dammit! Dammit! Gui Delun GUI DELUN! Why? Why!

No. This isnt the end. I wont let it end this way. This wont be the end of the sect! I wont let it be!

Ill escape. Ill escape, and Ill figure out a way to bring everyone back. Whether theyre stuck in a state of playing dead, whether the backlash of the compass shattering killed them, it doesnt matter! Ill bring them all back. Every last one! Even the ones who teased me. Even Li Xiangs creepy fans. I dont care. Theyre all Starbound Sect cultivators. They all deserve better than getting smashed on a whim by Gui Delun!

His hands danced, drawing out a flurry of items. Hui flew through the dust at top speed without looking back, almost too fast to see, ignoring as the dust drew long scratches on his already-broken flesh.

A hand closed on a ponytail-wearing mans shoulder shoulder. He turned. Gui Delun looked at him, still emotionless. Enough.

Hui looked at Gui Deluns hand, then hauled back and bit it. His skin cracked, revealing gray skin beneath.

Gui Deluns face crinkled. A hint of a scowl pulled at his upper lip. He tensed his hand, sending a pulse of life qi into the ghoul. The creature screeched as light seared through it, breaking through dried skin in pulses of sharp gold, and died in a burst of sun-colored light.

Xiao Hui. Come out, and you can die quickly, like your compatriots. Draw it out Gui Delun let his threat hang on the air.

No one emerged from within the dust storm. He furrowed his brows and waved his hand. Despite his best efforts, the dust refused to shift aside, as if the mountain itself, the very foundation of Starbound Sect, resisted his passage.

Far away, hidden within the debris, a white-robed form darted along. Hui glanced back and bit his lip. A ghoul down already? Thats faster than Id like. I only have ten left ah, nine now.

Chen Wuyas voice whispered in Huis ear. Hed already have you, but I set a trap on the sixth mountain long ago. This is my masterpiece, after all. Id be an idiot not to set a trap or two around it. If anyone tries to destroy my peak, or destroys my spell formation, the mountains energy will block their divine sense to prevent them from easily locating the formations foundations. That foolish Gui Delun activated the trap with his own hand, twice over. Hes restricted to no more than a fifth no, fourth stage cultivator, when it comes to sensing things with his mental energy alone.

After a second, he clicked his tongue and continued, It should have blocked his five senses and dealt a heavy blow to his cultivation base as well, but its already been activated a few times. A pity.

Are there any other traps hidden around here? Hui asked, suddenly hopeful. Chen Wuya is our Patriarch, after all! If anyone knows the sects secret defenses, its him.

Chen Wuya paused. None you can activate. If youre lucky, that fool might activate them by chance, but

Dammit. I guess Im on my own. Hui bit his lip, then furrowed his brows in intense focus. If anyone can get out of this situation, its me! And I will. No one can stop me. I refuse! Im going to escape. Escape, then come back. I dont care if theyre dead. I dont care if theyre trapped in the soul transferal array. No matter what, until I bring back all of Starbound Sect, until I bring back Xixing and Sis Mei, I wont die, even if Im killed!