The Eternal Sin-Chapter 27: Honored Guests, Please Stay.

Heavenly Tiger Fist!

Golden light surged like a raging tide. It coiled around the Buddha masked cultivator’s arms like living creatures, tiger phantoms roaring soundlessly as waves of pressure spread outward.

He stood tall and straight as a spear, his gaze locked onto Jiang Chen, killing intent overflowing without restraint.

"Explain yourself, number twenty."

Jiang Chen stood a few steps away. Behind the silver mask, his expression darkened. Thoughts flashed through his mind as he rapidly searched for a way out of the predicament.

In no more than three breaths, he glanced once at the headless corpse on the ground and let out a light laugh.

"What’s there to explain?" Jiang Chen said indifferently. "That person harbored evil motives. He wanted to kill me, so I killed him first."

The Buddha masked cultivator’s eyes narrowed sharply.

"Lies," he said flatly. "You think such clumsy words can deceive me? Killing a fellow teammate during an important mission and blaming it on fabricated treachery. You are clearly trying to escape responsibility."

Jiang Chen showed no trace of panic. He said confidently, "Lying..? If senior brother does not believe me, I have proof."

"Proof?" The Buddha masked cultivator sneered. "What proof could you possibly have?"

"Wait a moment." Jiang Chen smiled faintly beneath the mask and reached into the folds of his robes.

The shift in the air was instantaneous and violent.

Golden tiger phantoms flared brighter than ever as the Buddha masked cultivator’s killing intent exploded like a flood breaking its banks.

"What are you doing!?" he roared, his muscles tensing. "Do you want to die?!"

Jiang Chen’s movement halted midway, his hand still within his robes. He did not rush, nor did he withdraw. Instead, he let out a low chuckle, as if amused by the reaction.

"Team Leader is too cautious. I am only a sixth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator. What threat could I possibly pose to you? I am merely taking out a recording disc."

The Buddha masked cultivator froze for a fraction of a breath.

Then he laughed coldly.

"That is true," he admitted. "If you dared to pull tricks, you would be courting death. Very well. Show me your so-called proof. But remember this: if what you present is unsatisfactory, I will kill you where you stand."

Jiang Chen stared at him for a brief moment. Then he withdrew his hand.

A pale blue recording disc rested in his palm, its surface shimmering with a dull, oceanic light. He stepped forward and offered it with a respectful two-handed gesture.

The Buddha masked cultivator snorted and took it without hesitation, pressing it directly to his forehead as spiritual essence poured into it.

Nothing happened.

His brows knit together beneath the mask. "It’s not working."

Jiang Chen’s eyes curved faintly.

"It is working," he said gently. "It may have been damaged during the earlier fight. Senior should try pouring in more essence."

The Buddha masked cultivator glanced down and noticed a tiny crack along the edge of the disc. His expression eased slightly. Without much thought, he poured in more essence.

Still no reaction.

The frown on his face deepened. His patience thinned as killing intent began to leak once more.

Jiang Chen leaned forward slightly, his voice earnest. "Oh no, how can this be? Senior brother, just a little more. My life rests on this. Please, do not abandon the truth now!"

"I will try once more," the Buddha masked cultivator said coldly. "If it still fails, do not blame me for being ruthless."

"I am most grateful," Jiang Chen said as he cupped his hands and bowed halfway.

The Buddha masked cultivator gave a dismissive grunt, his attention fixed entirely on the recording disc as he began to pump massive amounts of spiritual essence into it. Within his mind, he had already begun weighing whether to kill Jiang Chen on the spot or capture him and deliver him to Senior Brother Sun for punishment.

Jiang Chen’s pitch-black eyes, which had been locked on the Buddha masked cultivator, suddenly wandered.

They settled on the recording disc.

On its back side, hidden beneath the Buddha masked cultivator’s palm, a talisman clung inconspicuously to its surface.

As more and more spiritual essence was injected, it began to glow ominously crimson. At its center, a single ancient character was carved.

INCINERATE!!!

...

Far away, at the core of the Jade Heart Plantation, the night was dyed red with blood.

A band of odd-numbered masked cultivators clashed fiercely with more than thirty desperate defenders. Techniques erupted without pause, lighting the darkness in chaotic flashes. Fire, water, wind, and metal qi collided endlessly, accompanied by anguished screams that never had time to fade.

Bodies fell one after another.

Suddenly, a shout of triumph pierced the battlefield. A silver masked cultivator marked fifteen pointed toward an area. "Finally found it! There! This is the fifth node. The final one!"

The Golden Demon masked cultivator laughed loudly. His heavy blade moved, turning into a streak of silver light that cut through the air with a shrill cry. A defender barely had time to raise his weapon before his head was severed cleanly, blood spraying like rain.

"Excellent!" he said heartily. "Number fifteen, your understanding of formations is impressive."

He raised his blood-slicked sword and shouted, "Brothers! Destroy the nodes! Once the barrier falls, everything here belongs to us!"

The masked cultivators roared in response.

Their momentum surged visibly. The defenders panicked like chickens. Despite their numerical advantage, the defenders began to buckle under the superior battle power of the masked attackers. At the center of it all, the Golden Demon-masked cultivator was an unstoppable force.

He was savage and ruthless, like a butcher among sheep. Wherever his blade passed, lives fell.

The silver masked cultivators paid a heavy price as well. One was pierced through the chest. Another lost half his body to a desperate counterattack. Still, one silver masked figure managed to break through the defenders, unleashing his technique against a formation node.

The node was broken.

A wave of cheers erupted from the masked cultivators. Hope flared brightly in their hearts, while despair spread among the defenders.

The entire formation trembled, its defensive light flickering erratically, but it did not collapse.

The battle continued fiercely, but the destruction of the first node became the catalyst. One by one, like dominoes collapsing in sequence, all five nodes were soon destroyed.

Cracks spread across the defensive formation. The defensive light broke apart into a shower of harmless sparks that dissolved into the darkness of the night.

The masked cultivators rushed forward, driven by greed as they charged into the exposed core area. The Jade Heart Plantation cultivators pursued immediately, and fighting erupted once more amid the buildings and storehouses.

Amid the bloody chaos, the Golden Demon masked cultivator ignored everything else and rushed straight into the storage residence. He was a whirlwind of steel, cutting down any guard foolish enough to stand between him and his prize.

Minutes later, he emerged from the wreckage of the vault doors. He raised a hand high. A purple-colored storage ring gleamed under the moonlight.

"We have succeeded! Full retreat now!" he announced loudly.

The masked cultivators obeyed immediately, though many cursed inwardly. They seethed that such massive loot had been taken by one person. But none voiced their dissatisfaction as survival came first.

As they began their retreat, the ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled.

"Honored guests..." a deep, menacing voice rang out.

The retreating cultivators halted instinctively.

From the shadows stepped a fat-bellied man dressed in luxurious robes. Jade pendants hung from his waist, and every one of his thick, fleshy fingers was adorned with a heavy golden ring.

His expression was peaceful, but his eyes were cruel. He swept his gaze across the masked cultivators, lingering particularly on the purple ring in the Golden Demon’s hand.

A thin, unpleasant smile slowly spread across his face. "Since you’ve come all this way, why not stay."