Volume One: Youthful Encounter in Humble Times Chapter One Hundred and Sixty: The Path of Feigned Death 15

Everyone carries a dark side within their heart, one usually kept in check purely by reason. However, once someone provides them with a justification, that justification transforms into a key, releasing all the darkness locked deep within, amplifying it thousands of times over until they commit acts that leave most people utterly astounded.

After consuming the spiritual pills provided by the members of the Li family, the elders of the Six Great Sects gradually recovered their cultivation levels. At that moment, they were merely waiting for the command from the Li family. Once the eighty-one gaps on the outside were simultaneously breached, they would be able to locate the Gates of Life and Death. Then, upon delivering their collective, full-strength strike, the grand array would collapse of its own accord.

However, could things truly be resolved so easily?

At the very same instant, the individuals stationed at all eighty-one gaps received the order transmitted by Li Zhonghong via the Spirit-Control Gu. Simultaneously, they unleashed the entirety of their cultivation, directing their attacks straight toward their respective gaps.

In the blink of an eye, the operation of the eighty-one great arrays abruptly froze, revealing the true visage of this massive formation. This moment also presented those eighty-one individuals with a golden opportunity to make their escape.

Therefore, the exact moment the grand array froze, just as Li Zhonghong and his companions caught sight of Li Yu and Shen Tang deep within the formation, the unexpected occurred.

Before either side had the chance to utter a word or make a move, the grand array instantly initiated its second transformation.

The moment the formation froze, those individuals began sprinting outward. Just as Li Yu had stated, once the entire grand array came to a complete halt, it actually became quite easy to breach.

They were merely dealing with barriers between two layers of space; given their level of cultivation, shattering them effortlessly was a remarkably simple task.

Their physical locations had never shifted; they had remained right there at Shen Tang's estate the entire time. It was only when Li Yu pulled them into the grand array that they were dragged through successive layers of space.

At that moment, the members of the Li family were trapped within the third layer of space. Once someone entered the third layer, escaping was no longer such a straightforward matter.

Naturally, they could perceive this sudden shift. Consequently, Li Zhonghong was consumed by intense fury. Glaring at Li Yu, he demanded, "Did you do this? Was it you who made them turn and charge out the moment the array froze?"

Li Yu smiled and replied, "Indeed. I merely informed them that the moment the array halted and then resumed operation, the entire formation would instantly collapse, dragging all of you down to die within it. The moment the mother gu perishes, the daughter gu perishes instantly as well. The restrictions you planted upon them will vanish into nothingness in the span of a heartbeat."

"How could you possibly know about the gu of our Li family residing within them?" Li Zhonghong questioned.

Faced with this question, Li Yu looked at him as if he were an absolute idiot. He simply could not stand the Li family members putting on airs and pretending to be ignorant. Since they clearly already knew who he, Li Yu, was, why bother playing the fool now? "How do I know? Can you truly claim you have no idea? Do you dare assert that you were completely oblivious when the Spirit-Control Gu was implanted into my body all those years ago?"

His words undoubtedly exposed a harsh truth: Li Yu had once suffered the torment of the Spirit-Control Gu as well. But why? And why did he claim that Li Zhonghong was also aware of it?

"Elder Li, surely you have not forgotten that two- or three-year-old child struggling to survive in the Li family back then? The child with grey eyes—could you genuinely forget such a thing?"

Li Zhonghong knew that Li Yu was Li Xiyu, yet he truly never imagined that back when Li Xiyu was in the Li family, he had actually been subjected to the implantation of the Spirit-Control Gu.

When Li Yu lived in the Li family, he was merely a toddler of three years old. Implanting a Spirit-Control Gu into a child that young must have been an excruciating ordeal. Although he had never experienced it himself, he had witnessed the pathetic fates of those who had; even to the naked eye, it was a profound and unimaginable agony.

What other trials had Li Yu endured in the Li family all those years ago that left him entirely devoid of affection for the clan, ultimately driving him to trap them within this formation with clear intent to kill?

"Your grandfather's death grieved me deeply as well, but I dare swear that whatever happened between you and your grandfather had nothing to do with me. I was not even aware that a Spirit-Control Gu had been planted in you during your time in the Li family." Though Li Yu might refuse to believe it, he still felt compelled to offer an explanation.

Upon hearing this, Li Yu neither showed signs of belief nor disbelief. In truth, his previous remarks were merely a probing test; while he could ascertain the likely identities of the masterminds, he had no way of knowing the exact number of participants involved.

He continued, "Then tell me, who exactly participated in the events of those years? And why on earth did your clan grow so suspicious of my grandfather?"

Li Zhonghong cast a glance at the people around him. The others did not dare meet his gaze, well aware in their hearts that they had just stumbled upon deeply guarded secrets of the Li family. They knew full well that knowing too many secrets ultimately brought nothing more than mortal peril; ignorance, at times, was its own form of protection and a means of survival.

He thought to himself, *That matter cannot be spoken of aloud in front of everyone. The resulting impact and consequences are beyond my ability to evaluate.* Turning back to Li Yu, he said, "I do not know."

Realizing he could extract nothing further, Li Yu had no desire to waste any more time. He addressed Li Zhonghong, "Since that is the case, then all of you shall die."

With those words, the grand array began to operate at full capacity. Tendrils of black miasma surged from all directions, sweeping inward to launch their assault. They had already witnessed the terrifying properties of this black gas—a force capable of ignoring all divine arts and magical techniques, a power entirely capable of devouring them whole.

Previously, the black miasma had merely felt like a gentle breeze, but now they could feel its savage fury. They were the prey of this black miasma, and it seemed unwilling to cease until it had hunted them down completely. They racked their brains for ways to halt the advance of the black gas, sparing no variety of magical treasures in the process. Yet they discovered that while the black miasma could easily bypass magical arts, it could not instantly pierce through magical treasures. Under these circumstances, they realized the black gas behaved almost like an intelligent creature; not only did it ignore their spells, but it also consciously adopted a strategy of attrition, locating the microscopic flaws in their defensive artifacts and concentrating all its force upon those vulnerable points.

At that moment, could they still remain unaware that Li Yu was intentionally controlling all of this? Li Zhonghong's eyes now clearly betrayed a toxic malice. He had never expected that, despite all his careful calculations, he would still capsize in the gutter over this young man. Facing this black miasma with no current countermeasures, his only option was to attempt to shatter Li Yu's state of mind, hoping to carve out a sliver of survival for them all. He called out to Li Yu, "I am still alive, which means what you told those people was not entirely the truth. Just where do you place their lives and deaths?"

Li Yu remained standing in his spot with a faint smile. "Their lives and deaths have never been something within my control. Is the mother gu not in your possession? Their fates have always rested in your hands. I merely amplified the dissatisfaction already festering in their hearts. The choices they made and the consequences of those choices are entirely of their own making—what does that have to do with me? If your methods back then had been a bit more moderate, rather than using despicable things like the Spirit-Control Gu to coerce them, resentment would never have taken root in their hearts, and you certainly wouldn't have left an opening for me to exploit!"

Li Yu's logic was airtight. In his view, as far as the final outcome was concerned, he was merely a catalyst. Had they not handed him the opportunity to locate those vulnerable flaws, everyone would never have fallen into such a helpless, trapped predicament.

Observing the extremely unsightly expression on Li Zhonghong's face, he deliberately provoked him further, asking, "Are you looking to vent your anger? Yet there is nothing you can do to me. The only thing left in your power is to trigger the Spirit-Control Gu and have all those people die by your hand. That way, even in death, you will have companions to drag down with you. The road to the Yellow Springs won't be too lonely after all!"

At that moment, the fury raging in Li Zhonghong's heart was like a tempestuous sea, threatening to swallow every person and thing in existence.

Turning toward Guo Yunming among the surrounding crowd, he shouted in a harsh, booming voice, "Do you have any way to break this array?!"

At that juncture, how could Guo Yunming still remain clueless? The gaps he had laid eyes on were clearly engineered deliberately by Li Yu. What methods could he possibly have left? A formation of this caliber far surpassed his own mastery of arraycraft; in the realm of arrays, Li Yu had evidently advanced far ahead of him.

With a despairing shake of his head, he stammered, "No... no..."

Hearing this, the last shred of hope in Li Zhonghong's heart vanished entirely. "Since that is the case, then you shall die!" he declared.

Without the slightest hesitation or delay, he obliterated Guo Yunming using his most ruthless methods.

Watching their actions, Li Yu felt not a single ripple of emotion in his heart. He experienced no sense of vengeful elation; to him, he was merely recovering what was rightfully owed to Tianmen Town.

As for his own personal vendetta, its targets were not among these men!

Li Zhonghong turned his gaze toward Li Xiyan and demanded loudly, "Can you capture that brat?"

At that moment, Li Xiyan was also struggling to fend off the encroaching black miasma. Although his strength was the highest among them all, dealing with it remained an arduous task; in fact, the operation of their defensive treasures relied almost entirely on the continuous sustenance of his cultivation.

Shaking his head, he replied, "I can only manage to keep our magical treasures from being breached right now; I cannot do anything else."

Li Zhonghong then looked toward Li Yan. "Then you go. Go capture that brat and bring him back. Kill him if necessary!"

Li Yan had no desire to go, but he had little choice in the matter. Deep down, however, he reasoned, *Surely Li Yu won't deal a fatal blow to me! Otherwise, wouldn't our prior cooperation have been for nothing?* Resting his hopes on this thought, he regained a measure of confidence.

Shen Tang asked, "Do you truly not care whether those people live or die? In truth, they are rather innocent in all this."

Li Yu shook his head. "They will not die. It isn't that I think their deaths would be unmerited, but rather that keeping them alive serves my interests far better!"

Indeed, Li Zhonghong had resolved to vent his overflowing fury upon those very people.