"Uh... so what do you want?" Shawn Young sensed the ruthless, decisive glare from Daniel Feathercloud, and an ominous feeling surged in his heart.
"I want... to kill him!" Daniel Feathercloud roared, his voice full of desperate sorrow. Then, with a flick of his left hand...
"Whoosh..." A streak of red light flashed through the air, striking directly at Daniel Nagumo's chest.
"Splurt!" Daniel Nagumo's whole body shuddered. He stared wide-eyed at Daniel Feathercloud, his face full of disbelief. He managed to gasp, "Father... you..." before slowly collapsing to the ground, dark red blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. He was dead!
Shawn Young, Jade Swann, and Fiona Nangong were all stunned by the scene. At the same time, Daniel Feathercloud's ruthlessness sent chills down their spines. The ancient saying "even a tiger won't eat its cubs"—Daniel Feathercloud had just shattered it!
"You're not just my son, you're also a member of the Nine Chrysanthemums Society. Everything about you—your soul and your flesh—belongs to me. I won't let your death be in vain..." Daniel Feathercloud muttered to Daniel Nagumo's corpse. With another wave of his left hand, a red light shot out.
The red light enveloped Daniel Nagumo's corpse, spinning around it. As Daniel Feathercloud pulled back his hand with a "whoosh!", Daniel Nagumo's body trembled, suddenly standing upright on the ground. His pupils rolled back, his mouth gaped open, and a cloud of white mist quickly drifted out. Then, the corpse collapsed again.
The white mist followed the red light back into Daniel Feathercloud's hand. As the glow faded, Daniel Feathercloud grabbed Fiona Nangong with his right hand and sneered at the cautious Shawn Young and Jade Swann: "Heh... since you've chased me all the way from China, it would be rude not to give you a proper welcome! I'm taking this woman with me—she'll make excellent medicine..."
With that, Daniel Feathercloud placed his left hand on Fiona Nangong's shoulder, gave a flick of the red thread in his right hand, and the two of them instantly rose into the air, disappearing into the depths of Moonlight Valley.
"Uh... what did that old villain just say? He wants to use Sister Fiona as 'medicine'... What does that mean?" Jade Swann asked nervously.
"That 'medicine' probably means he's planning to use some kind of dark magic, with Fiona Nangong as the medium..." Shawn Young speculated.
"Ah... No way! We absolutely can't let that old demon hurt Sister Fiona. Let's hurry and save her!" Jade Swann said, already leaping into the valley. Shawn Young immediately followed.
As soon as they entered the valley, the two were stunned by the scenery. The valley was filled with maple trees, and below were clusters of ancient buildings—wooden towers, stone niches, houses, even temple halls—everything radiated Tang Dynasty elegance. With fiery red maple leaves everywhere, it was breathtakingly beautiful!
But Shawn Young noticed something unusual: in the center, there was a plaza with a towering black tower. Bathed in sunlight, it gleamed with a mysterious black luster, like a slumbering giant beast!
"Looks like this is the thousand-year stronghold of the Nine Chrysanthemums Society in Moonlight Valley. No wonder it's such a deep-rooted sect!" Jade Swann sighed at the entrance.
"Huh? I can't sense their presence! They must've used some kind of magical barrier..." As soon as he entered, Shawn Young used his "Celestial Eye" to scan, but couldn't pick up Daniel Feathercloud or Fiona Nangong.
"Hmph! No matter how he hides, he's definitely somewhere in this valley. Let's head down first..." Jade Swann said, leading the way.
Shawn Young hurried after her. As soon as they entered the cluster of buildings in Moonlight Valley, they started searching ahead, but quickly sensed something was wrong. In such a huge place, not a single person could be seen. Clearly, the Nine Chrysanthemums Society members were hiding somewhere, watching and waiting to strike...
Just as the two hesitated, a white mist suddenly spread out, quickly enveloping all of Moonlight Valley. At first, the ancient buildings became hazy in the fog, but soon they vanished altogether, leaving only endless, blinding white mist before their eyes...
"Careful... this is probably one of the Nine Chrysanthemums Society's tricks..." Shawn Young warned Jade Swann, grabbing her hand. The two moved forward cautiously, back-to-back.
"Shawn, kid... This is the Mist Concealment Technique. They've activated the Soul-Summoning Array. You two need to be careful." Suddenly, Annabelle Hung's voice sounded in Shawn Young's ear.
"Oh! I'll be careful, Senior Hung. Where are you guys now?" Shawn Young quickly asked with his mind.
"We're to the east, heading toward the Grand Obsidian Pagoda in the plaza. But we're also trapped by this Soul-Summoning Array. Let's focus on breaking the formation first. Watch your step—try walking the Seven-Star Ritual Step and see if you can find the control mechanism for the formation." Annabelle Hung advised.
"Got it..." Shawn Young replied, stepping in the seven-star pattern and examining the floor for the 'formation core.'
Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way with a strange 'swish' sound. The white mist disappeared, and Shawn Young and Jade Swann looked around—somehow, they had ended up in a dark, chilly cavern. Ahead was pitch black and vast, with no clear exit to the outside.
They moved ahead cautiously. Suddenly, a patch of ground ahead glowed with a strange blue light, startling both Shawn Young and Jade Swann. They could vaguely see a hexagonal fissure that hadn't closed yet.
The two approached. Weird blue light shimmered from the fissure, but no matter how Shawn Young tried to peer through with his Celestial Eye, he couldn't see past it. Clearly, some kind of magical barrier had been set up.
"Maybe Sister Fiona is trapped down there. Let me try brute-forcing it!" Jade Swann said, gathering her core energy. With a shout, she summoned Palm Thunder in her hands and slammed it down on the fissure.
"Ah... Jade, don't! Be careful of the barrier's backlash!" Shawn Young realized what she was doing and quickly warned her.
Unfortunately, his warning came too late. Jade Swann's Palm Thunder struck the fissure with the force of a thousand bolts of lightning.
Boom! With a deafening crash, the fissure burst with blinding blue light. Jade Swann felt a massive force rebound into her arms, and she was flung backward by the shock.
Thud! Shawn Young quickly leapt up and caught her, and the two tumbled to the ground together.
Jade Swann scrambled up, shook her dizzy head, and tried to shake the numbness from her hands. She was secretly shocked—the rebound spell was so strong! Her powerful strike could split mountains, but the mysterious force sent her flying. If Shawn Young hadn't intervened, she would've been seriously injured.
"So weird... What the heck is this thing?" Jade Swann muttered, rubbing her numb arms, and walked back to the fissure to investigate further.
But as soon as she lifted her foot, she suddenly felt something trip her. Then came a strange 'crack'—like metal snapping.
--..