The villainess sneered coldly: “Let me personally shatter this piece of scrap metal and send those old fools’ pipe dreams straight to hell!”
A flash of extremely dangerous madness flickered in her eyes, and the corner of her mouth curled into a standard yet terrifying cold smile.
Meanwhile, outside the barrier.
The sudden and shocking upheaval inside the furnace brought with it terrifying consequences. The raging mana backlash surged along the magic array, striking the elders who were maintaining it.
Several elders of weaker strength spat out a mouthful of black blood on the spot and collapsed to the ground.
The one closest to the gate, San Zhanglao, had completely lost the lofty hypocrisy and benevolence she usually wore in daily life.
Her hair disheveled, her eyes bloodshot, she recklessly threw herself at the dark crimson seal barrier, frantically pounding the barrier with both hands.
San Zhanglao let out a shrill, madwoman-like shriek: “Quick! Break the seal! Break the seal now! Nana cannot be harmed!”
As one of the very few old fossils in the family who valued “pure blood supremacy” above all else, Annabell’s pristine and flawless silver-haired bloodline was a hundred times more precious in her eyes than any holy artifact.
An elder clutching his chest spoke with difficulty: “San Zhanglao! After the Grand Duke’s barrier was forcibly torn open by the young lady earlier, the magic array has now been reinforced. The current seal strength is ten times stronger than before!”
“Not only that! With just the few of us who are battered and weary, we are simply not enough to break the seal again!”
“San Zhanglao, I don’t care!”
San Zhanglao’s face twisted like a vengeful ghost from extreme anxiety: “Nana is our Trandy Family’s only, most perfect Heir! If anything happens to her, no amount of deaths will absolve you of blame!”
“Even if that abyssal holy artifact is destroyed, even if the furnace explodes, you must protect her safety no matter what!”
The other elders were equally anxious, but they also knew that San Zhanglao was blinded by her concern.
“San Zhanglao, calm down! Forcefully attacking the seal right now will only cause an even greater backlash from the holy artifact inside!”
“Yes, the core of the family’s great plan is the young lady. We understand her importance better than you do. But this seal, we truly cannot break it!”
An elder in charge of communications wiped off his cold sweat and said hurriedly: “I will rush to the main hall immediately to report this to the Grand Duke, and ask Lady Camilla to personally intervene and save the young lady!”
San Zhanglao fell into deep thought.
She knew that lofty female Grand Duke all too well.
Camilla always acted with nothing but the maximization of interests in mind, cold and ruthless to the extreme.
Now that the holy artifact was rampaging, if the Grand Duke judged that forcefully opening the seal would affect the entire castle…
“Go! Go with the utmost speed!” San Zhanglao waved her hand helplessly, a glimmer of desperate pleading flashing in her eyes.
She hoped that Camilla would intervene to save her, if only because Annabell was her own biological daughter and of pure blood!
From within the Forbidden Area, an even more earth-shaking impact erupted once more.
Through the translucent light screen, one could vaguely see a terrifying polar storm locked in a life-or-death struggle with the black flame!
“Someone is fighting the holy artifact inside! The situation has become even more critical!”
Yet, in the very next second after her words fell.
Every Trandy clansman present felt their hearts skip a beat violently.
Involuntarily, and even with a hint of fear, everyone raised their heads to look at the sky above the Forbidden Area.
A terrifying mana, one that towered above all living beings and was enough to force souls to their knees in submission, descended without warning over the entire forbidden plaza.
The originally gray and heavy cloud layers now seemed to be split open from the middle by a blade.
A pale, enormous hand—formed entirely from extremely compressed dark magic, its nails painted with a seductive crimson oath—extended from the rift in the clouds like the hand of a god, descending from the heavens with an aura of world-destroying force!
It blotted out the sky and covered the sun, awe-inspiring and utterly bone-chilling!
“This… this is the Grand Duke’s magic!”
San Zhanglao raised her head, staring at the giant hand pressing down like a small mountain, murmuring to herself.
The giant hand slammed heavily onto the seal barrier of the abyss furnace.
The earth trembled violently, kicking up vast clouds of dust and waves of air.
The giant hand did not tear open the seal to rescue anyone. Instead, it transformed into a dark purple Five Finger Mountain, reinforcing and suppressing the original seal with an extremely overbearing and domineering stance!
An ethereal, languid, yet authoritative and unquestionable mature female voice exploded in everyone’s ears like thunder from the void.
“Withdraw.”
As that single word fell, the expulsion magic array at the outer perimeter of the Forbidden Area began spinning wildly on its own.
Including San Zhanglao, all the elders and elite guards gathered at the entrance of the Forbidden Area were involuntarily kicked out of the forbidden plaza by an irresistible repulsive force, landing over a hundred meters away!
The gate slammed shut, and no one could set foot inside again.
“No!!”
San Zhanglao scrambled up from the ground, screaming without regard for her dignity: “Grand Duke! The young lady is still inside!”
“The seal is reinforced!”
“But what about the young lady?!”
The elders exchanged looks, faces full of horror.
San Zhanglao, as if thinking of some terrifying possibility, her originally anxious expression instantly turned uncertain, even revealing a trace of resentment.
Er Zhanglao let out a long sigh from the side: “The demon sword has not acknowledged its master. If we let it fully awaken and charge out of the furnace, with its soul-devouring destructive power, our Trandy Family will face a catastrophe of annihilation…”
The other elders also nodded one after another, murmuring in agreement: “Yes, let us temporarily retreat to the Elder Council, then go to the main hall to petition the Grand Duke… Perhaps the Grand Duke has her own wise decision regarding the young lady’s safety…”
“A wise decision my ass!!!”
San Zhanglao completely lost her mind. She was so furious that she couldn’t even maintain her disguise magic, revealing her withered and terrifying true face.
“Nana’s bloodline is a return to origin unseen in a thousand years—the supreme bloodline closest to our ancestor, the First Magus King! That cold-blooded woman Camilla, by forcefully sealing the Forbidden Area this time, is clearly putting Nana to death!”
San Zhanglao roared like an enraged lioness: “Even if the demon sword truly emerges, even if we have to sacrifice every worthless branch-family waste, we must protect her safety!”
The elders fell silent, not daring to touch that topic.
Grand Duke Camilla only ever made the coldest, most rational choices of interest.
In the hearts of these elders who had experienced power reshuffles, rather than risking everything to save an heir whose fate was unknown, completing the seal and preventing the demon sword from rampaging and slaughtering the city was the correct approach!
Seeing everyone remain silent, the resentment in San Zhanglao’s eyes deepened. She even went so far as to loudly voice the speculation that everyone tacitly understood but no one dared to speak:
“I think that Camilla is simply coveting the supreme bloodline inside Nana! She wants to use this opportunity to kill with a borrowed blade. Once Nana dies inside, she can rightfully devour her own daughter’s flesh and blood to break through to the Half-God Rank—”
“San Zhanglao! Watch your words!”
“Have you lost your mind?! How dare you recklessly slander the Grand Duke!”
“Shut up! Do you want us to lose our heads along with you?!”
Several elders were scared out of their wits and rushed to cover San Zhanglao’s mouth, terrified that these treasonous words would reach the main hall.
Even while being held back, San Zhanglao was still burning with rage.
She suddenly shook off the crowd, her bloodshot eyes scanning the area nearby.
“Where’s that bastard Blood Sacrifice who was thrown out?!”
San Zhanglao roared furiously: “Since she managed to escape from the seal, she must have seen what’s going on inside! Enforcement Guard, hear my order! Immediately go arrest that mongrel and interrogate her under torture!”
“As for us, we’re going to the main hall immediately! I want to ask Camilla to her face what the hell she’s really scheming!”
The elders dared not defy this enraged leader and could only sigh in resignation.
On the other side of the plaza’s outer edge.
Xue Lei sat dazed on the cold stone floor, seemingly having lost all perception of the shocking upheaval around her and San Zhanglao’s roaring.
She was like an empty shell whose soul had been drained, staring blankly at the Forbidden Area gate that had been completely sealed shut.
In her palm, she tightly clutched the water jade pendant that still carried the lingering warmth of Annabell’s body temperature.
The pendant’s touch was cool, but Xue Lei’s heart was squeezed so tightly it felt like it would split open. The suffocating agony of being unable to breathe nearly choked her.
She wanted so badly to reach out and grab that figure who had pushed her away and walked alone into the sea of fire. She wanted so badly to hold tightly onto the thread of hope that had just been rekindled in her heart…
But it was already too late.
It was as if the most important and warmest thing in this world for her had left forever.
The extreme agony of rising from hell to heaven, only to be kicked back into the Abyss, plunged Xue Lei into an endless pit of despair.
Her mind went completely blank, and even her tears had run dry.
“By order of the elder! Immediately apprehend the traitorous Blood Sacrifice Xue Lei!”