Chapter 98 The Gate Of Sacrifice

After the display that just occurred, everyone was left in shock at Fu Mei's true power. Her plan had aligned with Xuan's—if they couldn't destroy the mech itself, all they had to do was send it somewhere else so that it wasn't in their way. As for the power she just displayed, that was her real strength—her Demon form. She could only last a few minutes in it within Asphodel, however, since the World Qi here is so thin and poor—but that brief amount of time is more than enough to do this.

Such was the difference between humans and demons. She had the right to look down upon the inferior race, given the amount of destructive power she could pull off. As for Xuan, he was quite impressed—even for a Demon, this level of power was frightening for someone of her cultivation level. As expected from someone born out of the Demon Queen's Soul fragment, she inherited her mother's talent and strength.

'Given that, it's safe to assume that she also inherited her bloodline…' Xuan pondered as a side thought. 'Which would mean she can only fall for one man…'

Regardless, that wasn't important right now. With the Gatekeeper out of the way, it was time to move forward. The phoenix should be returning soon, so it was best to get a move on. After witnessing that display of strength, the Eight Great Family people were going to think twice before crossing Fu Mei again.

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Carefully, the group descended back down towards the stone gate, making sure to avoid the massive hole in the ground. The door was lined with pulsing blue energy, with a lotus-shaped design in the middle that seemed to be the key to opening it. However, as all of them knew, things were never as simple as they seemed in this world, especially not in a secret gate like this. There was bound to be a trap somewhere—and someone had to take the blow.

Naturally, no one wanted to volunteer. The High Elf senior didn't want to either since he didn't know the risks involved, but since he'd taken on the role of leader up until now, everyone was looking towards him with eyes of expectation. In other words, he had dug his own grave—that is, if this trap was anything fatal. Personally, Xuan doubted it would be, but that was just speaking form his own instincts—which, more often than not, were correct.

With a sigh too soft to be audible, the High Elf senior stepped forward, and slowly lifted his arm.

"Stay back. This could be dangerous."

Hesitation was dripping in his tone, but he knew that if he didn't step forward here, everyone present would lose faith in him. He didn't know what lay inside there—chances are, he would still need to use the Eight Great Families until the very end. Deciding to follow the instructions given to him by the Elven Queen, the High Elf took a deep breath.

'… Worst comes to worst, I still have that…'

Given that fair warning, the rest of the group all took several steps backwards. Once they were a good distance away, the senior gently rested his palm upon the engraving in the door—and at that moment, a terrifying spark of energy blasted from the stone gate.

"Ngh—!"

The old senior let out a cry of pain and tried to remove his arm, but it would not budge. The lotus-shaped design on the door had now activated, and was sucking him in. A dense Qi atmosphere erupted around him as he used all of his strength to try and pull away, but it was no use. The Qi he invoked was only absorbed into the lotus, and like a black hole, the senior's body was slowly pulled in.

"No…! NO…! Help me, dammit…!"

He cried and yelled for help, but no one came to his aid. The smart decision, given that there was no telling what would happen if someone tried to help him. They might be pulled in as well through collateral damage, and so no one even dared to step closer to the poor High Elf senior, instead looking on with frightened eyes of shock. Xuan, however, smiled subconsciously.

'… Well. Looks like my instincts were wrong, this time around. I suppose it's alright, though—this saves me the trouble of getting rid of him myself.'

Upon noticing that Zi Xiruo was looking at him, however, his smile immediately dissipated, and he went back to his usual neutral expression. While all this was going on, though, nobody noticed that a certain 'thing' had risen once more, and was slowly levitating up its cage behind the group—until it was too late.

That is, the Gatekeeper.

Xuan and Fu Mei were the first to see it. Since this thing had no 'life', it had no presence either. No matter how strong the two's Divine Senses were, they couldn't detect the Qi of something that didn't have it in the first place.

"Tch… how annoying!"

Fu Mei, immediately unsheathing her scythe, fired off a blast of demonic silver flames at the unwanted intruder, but the mech activated its electrostatic shield with its left hand and absorbed the fire. In a sense, it was similar to Xuan's Assimilating Qi ability—if he could have an ally like this by his side, that would be incredible.

By now, the other members of the Eight Great Families had noticed the Gatekeeper as well, and worked together to form a barrier. Of course, it wouldn't last very long, but… by the looks of it, it didn't need to—for while all of this was happening, the High Elf senior was nearly completely absorbed, and all that was left of him was the last of his dangling feet. The lotus was, by now, almost fully charged, and it looked like the door would be opening at any moment now.

"Ngh… this barrier… won't last much longer…!" Yang Tze yelled through grit teeth, as the mech relentless bombarded the Qi shield with a mixture of rockets and fist smashes. It was true; the barrier looked fractured. It was going to break anytime now. The Eight Great Family heirs were strong, but this mech was on a whole different level.

"Door is open! Quick, everyone!" The Chen family heir shouted at that moment, before being the first to dash into the unknown gate. Whatever lay in there, it couldn't be worse than waiting for death here.

The others quickly followed, with Xuan being last—but before leaving, just as the Qi barrier fell apart, he whispered to Fu Mei a set of instructions. She was confused at first, but given the lack of time, she obeyed without hesitation.

Together, the two dashed through the open gate, awaiting what lay beyond.