Chapter 100

Ding Qi watched the direction in which the two people left, and he couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile at his decision.

Then, Ding Qi surveyed the nearby maze passages and walked towards the next area.

...

Just as Ding Qi began to explore the maze again, the people of the Qingyun Sect, who had relatively more manpower, had already found a way through other passages in the mechanism, unknowingly circling around to the front of the maze.

They had already delved deeper into the maze than where Ding Qi was exploring.

There, Sha Yi, with a cold expression, stared at Zuo Yang across from him.

After a series of pursuits and twists, Sha Yi finally met Zuo Yang deep within the maze.

"Senior Elder Sha, what are you doing, why are you blocking the way ahead?" An elder accompanying Zuo Yang frowned and said to the elder blocking the front of the maze.

Another protector beside Zuo Yang looked at Sha Yi in surprise: "It's truly a cause for celebration that Senior Elder Sha can appear here, emerging from the perilous mechanism passages. Our sect has lost too many experts on this trip to the underground palace. Senior Elder Sha's safe return means the sect has preserved some of its strength. However... I wonder if the few who accompanied Senior Elder Sha are also...?"

Although the protector said this, he, like the others, was surprised by Sha Yi's appearance here. Since the seven groups left the meeting hall, they hadn't seen any other members of the Qingyun Sect. This made most of them lose hope that other members of the Qingyun Sect might have survived in the mechanism passages and hadn't yet rejoined them.

Most of the Qingyun Sect members believed that the remaining people had probably all perished in the mechanism passages, including Deputy Sect Leader Sha.

They didn't expect Deputy Sect Leader Sha to suddenly appear here.

Before Sha Yi could respond, the Qingyun Sect protector looked at him with a strange expression and said, "Since Senior Elder Sha has safely emerged from the mechanism passages and we've met here, it seems you intend to explore the maze together. But... why are you blocking the way ahead?"

Sha Yi clearly had no interest in answering the protector's question. Since meeting Zuo Yang, he had been staring at him with a cold expression and blocking the path of Zuo Yang and his companions for quite some time. Now, a sinister smile appeared on Sha Yi's face as he looked at Zuo Yang.

The two high-ranking members of the Qingyun Sect accompanying Zuo Yang also sensed Sha Yi's obvious ill intentions.

However, they were not at all worried.

Everyone in the Qingyun Sect knew about the grudge between Sha Yi and Zuo Yang. Since losing the struggle for the position of sect leader seven years ago, Sha Yi had often shown hatred towards Zuo Yang and his companions.

They were already used to this situation.

Zuo Yang looked at Sha Yi with a cold voice, ignoring the strange expression on his face: "Senior Elder Sha, have you had enough of this nonsense? Are you trying to obstruct the sect's exploration of the maze? Quickly clear the way ahead. After all these years, it's time to let go of our past."

"This time, as you said, it is indeed time to settle our grudges once and for all," Sha Yi's face, which had been hostile, gradually turned calm as he spoke.

This was the first time Sha Yi had spoken since meeting Zuo Yang.

"Seven years ago, in the final struggle, you damaged my meridians, preventing me from advancing in my cultivation. I will never forget that. But now, I, Sha Yi, am about to embark on the path of immortality, and you will die here. Such matters are no longer of concern to me," Sha Yi said with a faint, mysterious smile.

Initially, when Zuo Yang heard that Sha Yi wanted to settle their past grudges, he thought Sha Yi had finally admitted his defeat and would no longer be his enemy.

However, after hearing Sha Yi's next words, Zuo Yang's expression changed.

Although Zuo Yang didn't understand everything Sha Yi said, he was clear that Sha Yi had no intention of letting go of their past grudges. Instead, he was planning to fight him here and kill him.

Zuo Yang looked at Sha Yi in shock and then with a mocking expression: "Sha Yi, are you out of your mind?"

Zuo Yang now looked at Sha Yi as if he were a madman.

Sha Yi, though a rare expert in the martial world, was far inferior to Zuo Yang, a once-in-a-century talent. Moreover, Zuo Yang had two other experts with him. If they were to fight, Sha Yi clearly had no chance.

At the same time, the protector in front of Zuo Yang also looked at Sha Yi with caution: "Senior Elder Sha, don't do anything foolish!"

"Foolish?" Sha Yi's face turned cold as he said.

Then, Sha Yi waved his sleeve, and a small flying insect emerged from his sleeve, making a whistling sound as it cut through the air.

Before Zuo Yang and the others could identify the insect, it had already transformed into a streak of light and circled the protector several times under Sha Yi's mental command.

Then, with a 'bang,' the protector's body was severed into several pieces, falling to the ground, and blood splattered everywhere.

The protector didn't know what had killed him until the moment of his death.

"Senior Elder Sha, what... what is this thing!" The other protector, seeing the insect, looked at the severed body of the protector on the ground with fear and horror.

He couldn't understand why the protector beside him had died so tragically from the small insect.

Sha Yi looked at the elder with a sinister smile: "What is this thing... you'll soon find out."

As Sha Yi spoke, the insect darted towards the elder like a streak of light, circling him once, and the elder lost consciousness and was severed into several pieces, falling to the ground.

From the beginning to the end of the attack, it took only a very short time, and even a master like Zuo Yang couldn't react in time.

When the insect reappeared, Zuo Yang drew a sharp breath, looking at the small, translucent insect with horror and caution.

"The ones who killed Elder Zhao and Hall Master Zhou... it was you," Zuo Yang said with a pale face.

Seeing the severed bodies of the elder and the protector, Zuo Yang instantly recalled the two bodies he had seen in the small hall not long ago and realized how they had died.

A three-foot-thick layer of Qi, which had never before appeared on Zuo Yang, burst forth from his body, forming a protective aura.

Zuo Yang was acutely aware of the terror of the insect controlled by Sha Yi and immediately used the technique of Qi protection, a skill that no one had mastered in over a hundred years, and it seemed he had pushed it to its limits to protect himself.

Only then did Zuo Yang slightly relax and look at the opposite side with a grim expression: "Sha Yi, what is this insect, and where did you get it?"

"Three-foot Qi, I didn't expect you to have already reached the great completion stage of the Qi protection technique," Sha Yi said, looking at Zuo Yang with surprise.

However, he then looked at Zuo Yang with a mocking smile: "Hmph, no matter how miraculous the Qi protection is, it's just a martial world technique. Do you really think it can withstand the power of immortality?"

As he spoke, the insect flew towards Zuo Yang.