Chapter 1068: A Hidden Crisis

Suddenly, the water-attributed energy in the room began to pulse violently. Even the droplets of water that floated about like fairies lost their ability to levitate, falling out of the air and splattering on the floor.

The water-attributed energy in the world suddenly became extremely unstable.

Huang Luan slowly opened her eyes. She glanced past the water droplets with her bewitching eyes as she furrowed her brows.

“Odd. Why do I suddenly feel like I have far less control over the water-attributed energy and that I feel like I’m losing control inside?” Huang Luan murmured. She pondered and seemed to realize something very quickly. An idea flashed through her head as she mumbled to herself, “Is it because of the cultivation method? Did that old bastard not give me the true Scripture of the Aquatic Sunflower?”

The more Huang Luan thought, the more she believed that to be the case. She gradually became solemn as a result, but she soon recovered her cool. She calmed down once more and said, “It doesn’t matter anymore whether that old bastard has given me the true thing or not. I’ve reached Saint Ruler now, and I’m countless times more powerful than a Heaven Saint Master. Once that old bastard comes, I’ll put up a desperate fight. Even if I have to lose my life as the price, I won’t let him have it easy. As long as the news of what happened here makes it out, the clan will definitely find a way to save great-grandfather.”

Determination flowed in Huang Luan’s eyes. She had already made up her mind about her death. She no longer yearned for a free life like before, because she knew that it was probably impossible.

Suddenly, a rumble began to ring out. The heavy door began to slowly open.

Huang Luan immediately dismissed her thoughts and her eyes narrowed at that moment. Dense killing intent flickered in her eyes. She knew the ancestor of the Huanggu clan had come. If she wanted to heavily injure someone more powerful than her, she needed to attack with everything she had when he was unaware, catching him off-guard. Otherwise, she would definitely fall to a disadvantage in an open battle.

The dense and pure energy in the room began to surge. A blue sword, two fingers wide, had already appeared in Huang Luan’s hand. It glowed with a bright blue light, and through the light, the surface of the sword rippled unceasingly.

At this moment, the door of the room had opened by a portion. It was pitch-black outside, so all that could be seen was a black figure standing silently outside. His appearance was unclear.

Over the past years, only one person ever walked through that doorway, and that person was the ancestor of the Huanggu clan. As a result, Huang Luan treated the figure as the ancestor, so before the door had completely opened, she stabbed out.

The strike was Huang Luan’s most powerful attack after charging up. It was everything she had, pushing her strength of the First Heavenly Layer past the limits.

The sword shot through the air and immediately began to shine brightly, becoming as dazzling as the sun. It dyed the dim room blue as powerful ripples of energy pulsed from the sword. It caused the surrounding space to distort as black cracks immediately appeared. They were cracks in space.

Huang Luan discovered that the water-attributed Saint Force within her began to pulse in an unstable manner as she stabbed out, vaguely feeling like she had lost control. However, she could no longer bother with that feeling anymore. She devoted all of her attention to the attack, trying to deal a heavy blow by catching the ancestor off-guard. She only wished to injure him and had no hopes of killing him.

The black figure in the doorway did not panic, nor did he dodge or block. He remained where he was, in the same position. Not even energy leaked from him.

Huang Luan’s strike was like a lightning bolt, arriving before him instantly. She mercilessly thrust it toward the chest of the figure, and the exact moment the sword come in contact with the figure, Huang Luan discovered through the dazzling blue light that the clothes and stature of the person before her did not seem to match the Huanggu clan ancestor’s. However, she had no more time to think about that.

Boom!

Huang Luan’s full-powered thrust viciously struck the chest of the figure. Pure water-attributed energy immediately erupted, and with a deep sound, the residual energy slammed into the surrounding walls as a terrifying wave. It caused the entire room to violently tremble. The room probably would have collapsed if it were not for its toughness.

Huang Luan immediately rejoiced when she saw how her attack had landed precisely on his body. However, her joy quickly disappeared. She could feel that her sword had failed to pierce him in the way she had imagined. Instead, she seemed to have struck a steel board, and the powerful reaction force numbed her hand.

Huang Luan’s heart sank. She thought that the ancestor had probably come prepared, so her full-powered attack was unable to cause any harm to him.

“Luan’er!”

At this moment, Huang Luan heard a gentle voice. She immediately jolted in a violent fashion. She was just too familiar with this voice. It would even appear in her memories quite often.

Huang Luan stared at the figure in shock. She finally saw the person’s appearance through the dazzling blue light of the sword.

It was an extremely familiar face. Although it had changed slightly from several years ago, the face was still the same one burned deeply into Huang Luan’s mind, the one she could not forget even after an eternity.

Huang Luan became stunned as she stared at the person she thought of the most. She could not come back to her senses even after a very long while. Her heart beat furiously as her body trembled uncontrollably. Two clear streaks of tears slowly ran down her cheeks from her bright eyes.

“J- J- Jian Chen,” she said with a trembling voice. She struggled to believe that the person before her right now was Jian Chen, who she missed most, and not the ancestor of the Huanggu clan.

At that moment, she felt like everything was a dream, and she no longer experiencing reality.

“Luan’er, it’s been hard for you during these past few years,” Jian Chen softly replied. His voice was extremely gentle as his heart ached.

The sword remained pressed against Jian Chen’s chest. Huang Luan’s attack from before had obliterated Jian Chen’s clothes, but it failed to harm him at all.

“Jian Chen, is it really you?” Huang Luan asked again with a trembling voice. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, flowing faster and faster. The sword in her hand also fell as it trembled.

“Luan’er, it’s me. I’ve come to save you. You’re safe now. No one will ever be able to harm you again in the future.” Jian Chen stepped forward and tightly embraced Huang Luan. He felt like his heart was being stabbed inside.

He dared not to imagine exactly what Huang Luan had gone through, exactly what burden she felt, or exactly what suffering she had endured after being trapped for all these years.

There were countless people who faced horrible fates on the Tian Yuan Continent with many more people who suffered even worse than Huang Luan. However, Huang Luan bore an extremely important status in Jian Chen’s heart. He would not allow her to suffer any harm.

The sword in Huang Luan’s hand slowly disappeared, and the coldness on her face gradually vanished, replaced by a gentleness that had not been seen for several years. Even her icy gaze began to thaw. She then cried out Jian Chen’s name before lunging into his bosom, breaking into tears. She seemed to be releasing all the pressure and grievances she had suffered over the years.

Jian Chen embraced Huang Luan tightly. He could feel his clothes dampen from Huang Luan’s tears. His heart ached from what Huang Luan had gone through, but at the same time, he felt some joy. He was happy that Huang Luan had now become a Saint Ruler.

Suddenly, Jian Chen’s face froze. He gently furrowed his brows. He could feel that the energy within Huang Luan was surging violently, as if it was not under her control at all. It rampaged about before surging out of her body into the room in the form of a bright, blue light.

Huang Luan was encased by the light of the leaking energy, becoming extremely blinding.

“Luan’er, what is happening?” Jian Chen asked in concern. He felt an ill omen about what was unfolding before him.

Huang Luan gradually calmed down and raised her head from Jian Chen’s chest. Her eyes were no longer cold, now filled with gentleness as she looked at Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, it’s probably because the Scripture of the Aquatic Sunflower from that old bastard has problems. It’s very hard for me to control the power within me now. I feel like all the energy is about to leave my body and break free from my control.” With that, Huang Luan placed her head against Jian Chen’s chest once more. Her face was filled with satisfaction and happiness, as if she did not care about the leaking of her energy at all.

She had made up her mind about her death long ago. She no longer had any attachments in the world except to Jian Chen and Huang Tianba. Since her great-grandfather had been saved now and the person who she missed the most was with her, she felt very satisfied.

She did not care about being a Saint Ruler at all. All she needed was Jian Chen, and she felt like she had the world. She did not care about anything else.

“I’ll definitely make that old bastard wish he was better off dead for treating you like this.” Jian Chen’s face was pale-white. He was panicking since he was unable to stop the energy from leaking out of Huang Luan.

Suddenly, a golden streak of light shot out from the center of Jian Chen’s eyebrows. The saint artifact had emerged from his sea of consciousness, levitating in the room in the form of a fist-sized golden tower as it spun slowly.

“Luan’er, I’ll send you into the artifact space. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be able to find the method to deal with this from that old bastard,” Jian Chen comforted. He intended on entering the artifact space with Huang Lua

“劍塵。”

“Jian Chen.”

Just as he was about to enter the artifact space, a woman’s voice rang through the room. It was extremely pleasant and seemed to be filled with unlimited charm. It was bewitching

A gleam of light flashed through Jian Chen’s eyes, and he suddenly raised his head. Before him, the illusionary figure of the sea goddess had silently appeared at some point unbeknownst to him.