Deceit

"Senior, such a..." Several injured cultivators began, brows furrowed with concern.

The array pulsed, unleashing a surge of Qi that struck the speaking cultivator, silencing him forever. "...Anyone else?" Senior Luo's gaze swept across Ming Ren's troupe.

Tu He and Ye Huian, teeth gritted, prepared to speak, but Ming Ren's voice whispered in their minds, 'Yield and depart, yet remain close. The rest falls to me.'

"As Senior commands," Ming Ren bowed, his respect a facade. He then darted forth, a blur of motion.

"Fast!" Disbelief clouded the minds of onlookers.

This time, Ming Ren didn't hold back, using his movement art to cross the cave and reach the Spirit stones. With grace and precision, he navigated the cave's perils, plucking the stones as easily as one might gather wildflowers from a meadow.

"Aren't you going?" Senior Luo's threat hung heavy.

The others obeyed, those forewarned by Ming Ren lingering near the cave's entrance.

Ming Ren reached a well-guarded tree, its branches adorned with shimmering fruit. He danced through the guardian beasts' attacks, finally arriving before a seemingly ordinary fruit, yet one pulsating with immense Qi.

As he plucked the fruit, two thunderous roars echoed through the caverns. These majestic beasts, their forms radiating power, stood as paragons of the Spirit Gate realm. Their scales shimmered like polished jade, their eyes burning with primal fury. The King and Queen, awakened from their slumber, rose like mountains given life. 

Their bodies, colossal formations of metal-infused living rock, pulsed with the raw power of the Spirit Gate realm. Each slab of their rocky hide, the size of millstones, gleamed with an emerald sheen, polished smooth by the passage of ages and reflecting the dim luminescence of the cavern. Jagged outcroppings of iron ore, like petrified lightning strikes, protruded from their backs, while veins of shimmering copper snaked across their bodies, carrying the lifeblood of the earth within. Within their deep-set sockets, molten gold swirled, burning with a primal fury that promised swift annihilation to any who dared oppose them. Their very presence resonated with power, causing tremors that shook the cavern and sent loose stones tumbling into the abyss. With each ponderous step, the cave floor groaned, threatening to split open beneath their immense weight. The air crackled with the energy they emanated, a tangible aura of might that pressed down upon all within their presence.

Ming Ren, his gaze lingering but a moment on the beasts, sprinted back to the Killing Array. A wave of bloodlust washed over the remaining beasts, trapping in a frenzy those who had ventured too far to make it back in time.

Ming Ren's allies, heeding his warning, found refuge within the array. His speed a shield, Ming Ren evaded the frenzied beasts and slipped back inside. Senior Luo's eyes gleamed with avarice as he beheld the Spirit Fruit in Ming Ren's grasp.

The King and Queen, their fury unbound, slammed against the unyielding Complete Array.

"Senior Luo, can the array kill them?" The Young Lord of the Brave Clan inquired, a tremor in his voice.

"The array doesn't have that much power left. If I use it to kill them, we won't be able to go out," Senior Luo answered.

The relentless assault of the beasts weakened the array further.

"Quickly, give me the spirit fruits and stones you collected, and we will depart," Senior Luo demanded.

Reluctance etched upon their faces, the cultivators yielded their treasures. Ming Ren, with feigned obedience, offered his Spirit Fruits. Senior Luo's gaze fixated upon the last fruit, his eyes trembling with desire.

'A High-Grade Spirit Gate Metal Fruit!' Senior Luo's eyes trembled. At that moment, his plans changed. That fruit was much more valuable than whatever treasure a Ninth Layer Body Tempering Real junior could have.

Senior Luo understood the array's limitations. Against Spirit Sea Realm cultivators and lesser beasts, it was formidable, but the King and Queen, with their Spirit Gate Realm power, would eventually breach its defenses. Even unleashing the Killing Array's full might offered no guarantee of survival, and would leave them stranded. The risk of staying was too great. He would evacuate the others, then find a way to deal with Ming Ren and take his treasure later.

"Prepare to depart!" As the beasts battered the array, Senior Luo activated its teleportation function. Those caught outside already met their demise.

The secondary teleportation array bathed the cave in blinding light, scattering its occupants across the mountain's exterior. Ye Huian, Old Lai, Tu He and his followers, and everyone else not related to the Brave Clan teleported out. Yet, when the light faded, Ming Ren, Senior Luo, and the others from the Brave Clan remained trapped within.

A smirk twisted the Young Lord's lips as he addressed Ming Ren, "It seems fortune has abandoned you, wretch. Trash like you dares to stand against me? Surrender your treasures, and perhaps I shall grant you a swift death."

To the Young Lord, everything was part of Senior Luo's plan. 

Ming Ren chuckled, "Is that so? Why don't you look at your Senior's face first?"

The Young Lord turned to Senior Luo, whose face was etched with confusion. "What is the matter, Senior?"

'How could this be?' Senior Luo's plan had gone awry. He wanted to send everyone out, but somehow, they ended up staying behind. The array would run out of power any moment now. His eyes darted around, finally settling on Ming Ren's composed expression. "Y-you?"

"Surprised?" Ming Ren's voice dripped with amusement.

"Y-you! What trickery is this? Impossible!" Senior Luo realized he had never truly controlled the array. How Ming Ren achieved this feat, he could not fathom. "What kind of treasure can do this?!"

"S-Senior, what's going on?" The Young Lord's voice trembled, fear creeping into his heart.

"Silence, fool! We are doomed!" Senior Luo's composure shattered as he pointed an accusing finger at Ming Ren. "Have you lost your mind? This array will run out of power soon! Do you believe those beasts will show you mercy?!"

"Mercy? I never feared those beasts," Ming Ren shrugged, his voice deceptively calm, belying the inferno raging within. "Nor did I intend to let any of you Brave Clan scum escape."

Beneath the surface, his suppressed fury, ignited by the countless injustices inflicted upon the Bright Clan by the Brave Clan, threatened to erupt. His eyes, usually pools of serenity, now glinted with a cold fire, reflecting the simmering rage he had held in check since his first encounter with the clan. 

Each word, though spoken evenly, carried the weight of a storm barely contained, a promise of the devastating tempest that would soon be unleashed. The muscles in his jaw twitched, barely restrained by his iron will, and a faint tremor ran through his hands, betraying the barely contained torrent of emotions threatening to break free. His gaze, fixed upon the Brave Clan cultivators, bore the intensity of a predator finally cornering its prey, leaving no doubt of the reckoning that was to come

The Brave Clan cultivators erupted in a torrent of insults.

"You dare insult the Brave Clan! I shall end you!" The Young Master roared.

The Killing Array pulsed with malevolent light.

"Really?" Ming Ren's smile held a chilling edge.

"Y-you!"

"Silence!" Senior Luo unleashed a wave of spiritual energy, silencing the Young Lord. "Junior, I am not of the Brave Clan. Your grievances with them do not concern me. Employ the array's remaining power against us, and we all perish. It will be impossible for you to leave as well. How about we talk this out? I am willing to give you my spatial ring if you send me out."

The Young Lord trembled, understanding the gravity of their situation. "We too offer our rings and renounce our grievances, if you but grant us passage."

"Renounce your grievances?" Ming Ren's calm facade cracked, revealing a glimpse of his profound anger. "The day the Brave Clan is turned to dust is the day my grievances with your clan will end. As for your treasures… dead men hold no possessions!"

The Killing Array flared one final time, its remaining power directed at the Brave Clan and Senior Luo.

"NO! NOOO!" The Young Master and his kin perished instantly.

Senior Luo, in a desperate bid for survival, summoned a defensive formation plate. The array's power shattered the artifact, the remaining energy tearing through his body, rupturing his organs.

"...B-rat… May those beasts feast upon your flesh…" 

"Feast upon me?"

The King and Queen, freed from the confines of the array, charged forward. Ming Ren met their gaze, and a fragment of his soul surged forth. The beasts faltered, bowing before him in abject terror, as if in the presence of a divine being. 

"As I said, I never feared them."

Senior Luo's eyes widened in disbelief as he succumbed to his injuries and the shock of the revelation. He died right then from the injuries and the shock!