Chapter 14: Terror at the Altar

The mysterious man's compass blazed with violet light, and the newly summoned monsters were several times larger than before. Bone-like blades jutted from their backs, and each step they took left behind deep, smoldering craters in the ground.

Zhang Chengying wiped the blood from his arm and jammed the last Thunderwood USB stick into the headlight of his electric bike.

"Time to drop the big one. Let's see how you monsters like a taste of science and mysticism!"

Chen Jiuzhang gently laid Shen Qingluan behind a massive rock and used a cloth strip to bandage her wounds.Her fingers trembled slightly as she clutched his sleeve.

"Jiuzhang… watch out for that compass. I can feel it… disturbing the dragon veins."

Chen nodded solemnly. The Serpent-Slaying Blade twirled in his palm, its rune-inscribed surface blazing with red-hot light.

Su Nian struggled to her feet. The bronze bell was now completely veined with cracks.She bit her tongue, spat blood onto the bell, and its nine chains transformed into a whip of blood-red flame.

"Cousin, I'll hold off the monsters. You go—get to the altar!"

Before she finished speaking, a monster's bone-spike scraped her cheek and gouged a trench in the ground beside her.

Old Wu rolled up The Prophecy Scroll and tapped his smoking pipe against his boot.

"I'll cover the rear with the girl. Jiuzhang, take the Jade Seal fragment—it's the key to breaking the array!"

With that, he hurled his pipe, which morphed into a flaming dragon that roared toward the horde.

Chen Jiuzhang didn't hesitate. He stepped into the Seven-Star Footwork, dashing up the mountain.

On his way, he encountered a barrier formed from monster bones, writhing as though alive.The Serpent-Slaying Blade clashed with the bones, ringing like clashing steel.With the Celestial Master Token fragment surging power into the blade, he finally cleaved open a path.

At last, he reached the altar.

The sight made his pupils shrink—

In the altar's center was an enormous Yin-Yang Taiji diagram.The Yin side was a pool of boiling blood. The Yang side: a black stone tablet carved with twisted runes.At the top of the stone slab was embedded the other half of the Celestial Master Token, the one that would make his fragment whole.

Just as he stepped toward it, the mysterious man appeared on the altar's edge.

"Chen family descendant... you didn't disappoint me."

The man pulled off his hood, revealing a face covered entirely in spell tattoos.

"I am Mo Qianji, traitor of the Xuan Sect. I've waited twenty years for this moment!"

Mo Qianji spun his compass, and black flames surged from the ground, trapping Chen Jiuzhang in the center of the altar.

"Hand over your half of the Celestial Master Token—and I'll let you die whole."

Chen Jiuzhang gripped his blade, thoughts racing.

He could feel the fading strength of his companions below the mountain.There was no time.

"You want the Token? Then come and get it!"

He charged forward. The Serpent-Slaying Blade clashed with Mo Qianji's compass, sending shockwaves that rocked the entire altar.

Meanwhile, the battle below reached its climax:

Shen Qingluan forced the Jade Seal fragment to activate, her golden barrier flickering violently.

Su Nian's bronze bell let out one last cry… then shattered to pieces.

Zhang Chengying rode his bike into the monster horde, where it exploded in a flash of fire.

Old Wu's Prophecy Scroll transformed into a sky of paper butterflies, scattering like falling stars.

At the summit, Chen Jiuzhang knew: there was no way back.

This battle wasn't just about him—it was about all their lives.

He had only one choice now:

Victory — or death.