Hearing Feng Qing'er's admission, Chu Chen's heart shook violently.

"You... you actually knew?"

"Why? Why did you hide this from me?"

At this moment, Chu Chen's gaze burned with a trace of deep irritation.

"I-I didn't mean to keep it from you," Feng Qing'er said, rubbing her tear-filled eyes. "I only found out a short while ago myself."

"What do you mean?"

"Did someone tell you?"

The more Chu Chen listened, the more confused he became.

"Yes, my big brother told me. He has been secretly investigating your identity from the shadows."

"He knew how much I liked you. For my safety, he said he had to uncover exactly who you were."

"After all, a newly initiated disciple could not possibly break through to the Great Saint Realm in such a short period of time."

Feng Qing'er bared everything she knew to Chu Chen.

"If your brother discovered my true identity, why didn't he try to kill me?" Chu Chen asked, utterly bewildered.

What exactly was Feng Tianxiang plotting behind the scenes?

What kind of conspiracy was he weaving?

No matter what, Chu Chen had to unravel the truth.

"My... my big brother, he... he has already launched an attack on the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace."

"He lured you into this secret realm for the sole purpose of pinning you down."

"I..."

Feng Qing'er's tears flowed endlessly, choking her words. Soon, she was sobbing too hard to speak.

"You... how could you!" Chu Chen flew into a towering rage.

"Then right now, your brother has already led an army to besiege the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace?"

A whorl of spiritual power pulsed fiercely in his palm.

At this moment, Chu Chen harbored true killing intent.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just didn't want you to leave!"

"I wanted you to forget Lin Shuwang. I wanted you to stay by my side!"

"I want to be with you... If you want to strike, then strike! Kill me!"

"If I die, I will never have to suffer this pain again."

Feng Qing'er's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at Chu Chen with a mixture of grief and profound apology.

Yet, remembering how well Feng Qing'er had treated him, how could Chu Chen simply disregard it?

His soaring fury slowly receded.

"How do I leave this secret realm?" Chu Chen demanded, staring at her.

"You can only wait until the trial ends. There are still a few days left."

Feng Qing'er looked back at him. She had foolishly believed that this deception would allow her to keep Chu Chen forever.

But right now, Chu Chen only wanted to escape this place as fast as possible. Feng Tianxiang had deployed nearly all the disciples of God Phoenix Valley to attack the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace, which perfectly explained why the valley itself was so empty.

"Lord Tun, can you break me out of this secret realm?" Chu Chen called out to his inner consciousness.

"I can."

"Allow me to perform a secret technique. Once I forcibly tear open the spatial boundary of this realm and forge a path, we can fight our way out."

Lord Tun always had a solution, and his assurance allowed Chu Chen's heart to ease slightly.

Still, he had no idea if Lin Shuwang could hold out.

"Shuwang, wait for me. I am coming back to aid you immediately," Chu Chen muttered anxiously.

Zzzzzz!

A massive bolt of lightning crackled violently above Chu Chen's head.

It tore through the sky, forcibly rending a spatial rift within the secret realm.

Seeing this transpire, Feng Qing'er gasped in sheer terror. She could not believe the sight unfolding before her eyes.

"This... what kind of power is this?!" Feng Qing'er's expression turned incredibly grave.

Right then, Chu Chen leapt up, throwing himself directly into the spatial rift.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, his figure vanished into thin air.

Feng Qing'er watched helplessly as Chu Chen disappeared right before her eyes.

She knew that he would likely never return. Her love had slipped through her fingers.

Though she had exhausted all her schemes and efforts to make him stay, she had still failed in the end.

An immense sorrow filled her heart, but beneath it lay an even deeper sense of sheer helplessness.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cascades of spiritual energy clashed violently across the massive plaza spanning the front of the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace.

The two sects had locked themselves in a brutal slaughter.

Before long, blood washed the ground.

Both God Phoenix Valley and the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace were suffering devastating casualties.

However, God Phoenix Valley had come prepared for this campaign, and they quickly seized the absolute initiative.

Swoosh!

Feng Tianxiang flickered across the battlefield, positioning himself directly across from Lin Shuwang.

"It is still not too late to change your mind."

"Surrender now and return with me to God Phoenix Valley to be my wife."

"Refuse, and the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace will be reduced to ashes this very day."

Even as he spoke, Feng Tianxiang thrust his palm forward.

With a deafening boom, a colossal print of spiritual power descended from the highest reaches of the sky, pressing down on Lin Shuwang like an impending mountain.

Faced with the terrifying weight of the incoming strike, Lin Shuwang countered with a palm of her own.

The two forces collided, and the resulting mountain-shaking, sea-splitting spiritual pressure instantly shattered the earth beneath them.

Both were apex experts who had stepped into the Great Saint Realm long ago. At this moment, they unleashed the full, terrifying might of their cultivation.

Spiritual power whipped around their bodies like a raging tempest.

As palm strikes repeatedly clashed in midair, Lin Shuwang and Feng Tianxiang proved to be evenly matched.

Seeing no immediate advantage, Feng Tianxiang summoned a Saint King Artifact.

It was a set of black armor. With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the armor into the sky.

Swoosh!

The black armor expanded rapidly against the wind. Mysterious, runic patterns pulsed across its surface, reflecting glints of spiritual light. Within breaths, the artifact swelled to several hundred zhang in size, blotting out a third of the massive palace plaza.

"Slay!" Feng Tianxiang barked coldly.

A devastating wave of destructive energy erupted from the colossal armor, hurtling straight toward Lin Shuwang.

Yet, witnessing this, Lin Shuwang merely offered a calm, indifferent smile.

"What? Do you truly believe you are the only one who possesses a Saint King Artifact?"

Lin Shuwang, too, had such treasures at her disposal.

Her ultimate weapon was naturally the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, the Divine Flame Nine Heavens Palace. However, the situation had not yet degraded to the point where she needed to reveal her ultimate trump card.

Instead, Lin Shuwang reached into her storage ring and withdrew a different Saint King Artifact-a pristine white longsword. The blade gleamed with points of absolute, frigid light, and nine hundred ninety-nine frosty frost-runes were etched along its spine.

This was an item of absolute frost: the Chi-Dragon Sword. Sealed within the blade was the Divine Soul of a Cold Chi-Dragon, an ancient divine beast that once dwelled in the deepest trenches of the primordial sea.

Since Feng Tianxiang had manifested his black armor, Lin Shuwang would answer with her Chi-Dragon Sword.

She executed a light, sweeping slash. A torrent of sub-zero chill erupted, instantly condensing into towering walls of ice that completely froze the entire trajectory of the black armor's assault.

Seeing his attack neutralized so easily, Feng Tianxiang grew increasingly anxious.

He had brought nearly the entire martial strength of God Phoenix Valley for this grand expedition. If they failed to subjugate the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace today, he would become the laughingstock of the cultivation world.

Furthermore, Chu Chen was currently trapped by his machinations within the Falling Phoenix Slope Secret Realm. Even if that brat possessed heaven-defying capabilities, it would be impossible for him to break out anytime soon.

The advantage was still firmly in his grasp; he had to break the Sacred Flame Imperial Palace now.

"If you continue to deny my proposal, the entire Sacred Flame Imperial Palace will be buried alongside you!"

"Even your precious lover, Chu Chen, will share that grave!"

Driven to the brink of madness by his unrequited obsession, Feng Tianxiang's threats grew unhinged, even if this total devastation wasn't his original goal.

"Chu Chen? What did you do to him?" Lin Shuwang demanded.

"Where is he?!"

Hearing Chu Chen's name, Lin Shuwang's focus wavered slightly, and the icy momentum of the Chi-Dragon Sword in her hand faltered.

"Ha! So you do care," Feng Tianxiang sneered, a wild, arrogant light dancing in his eyes. "Do not worry, he is perfectly fine-merely sealed away in a secret realm from which he can never escape!"

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