The Trap That Bound Us

Niu Ren’s grandmother shouted, “Everyone must board the ship via the rainbow bridge. Do not attempt to fly across—whether by sea or air, the Sealing Divinity’s power fills the void. Without the protection of the divine ship’s multicolored light, you will be shattered to dust in an instant.”

No one dared to gamble with their lives. The crowd filed onto the divine ship in an orderly fashion. Meanwhile, the eleven young Companion Dragon Kings and the savage dragons had finally completed their farewells. With a chorus of mournful roars, they charged toward the divine ship. As the infant dragon kings set foot on the deck, the enormous vessel, blazing with seven-colored light, began to tremble—it was about to set sail.

“No more delays! Everyone, move faster!” someone on the ship shouted.

Xiao Chen turned to Liu Mu, Yizhen, and the others. “Let’s go. It’s time for us to board.”

At that moment, a sudden, ill omen seized Xiao Chen. It felt as if a vast, deep abyss was about to swallow him. He dodged instinctively, but it was too late. Before he could even see his enemy—for there was no one behind him anymore—an enormous painting scroll had unfurled, enveloping him, Yan Qingcheng, and the three skeletons. A massive rift tore open in the air, consuming them.

“Damn it!” Xiao Chen cursed. He had been trapped, yet he did not know who the enemy was. Behind him, there was no one; ahead, the boarding crowd was in chaos.

An inexplicable, immense force dragged Xiao Chen and Yan Qingcheng, whisking them toward an unknown destination. The shattered rift behind them was about to close. Xiao Chen strained with all his might to break free, but he could not succeed.

Keke was at his side. The little snow-white beast let out an angry growl, its tiny paws waving furiously. Several light barriers shot outward. With a series of soft whooshes, they seemed to pull in a few silhouettes.

A flash of light, then utter darkness. In the dead silence of the void, time itself seemed to halt. Xiao Chen understood—they were traversing space.

On the beach, Liu Mu and the others cried out in shock, then in fury.

“If I’m not mistaken, someone used a Space Scroll to trap them. This is utterly despicable! At the critical moment, they’ve been teleported away, clearly meant to trap them on Dragon Island forever, never to leave.”

Time waited for no one. Though Liu Mu and Yizhen were furious, they searched the beach but found no trace of Xiao Chen. The divine ship was about to depart. They had no choice but to board.

After a strange sensation that felt almost like time had stopped, Xiao Chen saw light before him. They had passed through the dead silence of space and emerged into the real world.

Before them stretched endless primordial forests, and in their ears echoed the roars of wild beasts.

Xiao Chen found himself with Yan Qingcheng and the three skeletons—and three old men with white hair and beards. Keke was angrily pointing a tiny paw at them.

“Keke, was it them who ambushed us?” Xiao Chen asked. Keke nodded emphatically. Xiao Chen nearly flew into a rage. He did not even know these people. To be so maliciously framed was infuriating beyond measure.

The three old men were also shocked and furious. One of them shouted, “How could this be? How did we end up here? A ten-li teleport—we’re at least ten li from the coast. We’ll never make it in time to board!”

“Uncle, why are you trying to kill me?” Yan Qingcheng cried out in alarm and anger.

The old man Yan Qingcheng had called uncle snarled, “You and this brat have brought shame upon us. What face do you have to go on living? Leaving you both trapped on Dragon Island is already a lenient sentence. But I never imagined—such a simple matter—how did it drag us in as well?”

He had thought it would be easy, a clean kill to erase the stain on the Undying Sect. Never had he expected this outcome. He roared at the other two, “Both of you are Spellmasters. Don’t you understand scrolls? What kind of broken scroll was that?!”

“Enough, let’s go. We might still make it.” The other two had already taken flight, racing toward the seaside.

Yan Qingcheng’s uncle shot forward like a phantom, abandoning all thought of killing Xiao Chen and Yan Qingcheng.

“Ya-ya!” Keke waved its tiny paws furiously. A dazzling light barrier swept down, trapping all three, then yanked them back to the ground.

“Keke, leave them. Let’s go!” Xiao Chen shouted and dashed toward the seaside. Yan Qingcheng and the three skeletons followed close behind. The three old men watched them leave in shock and fury, never expecting that the little beast had turned their own trap against them. Only after Keke and the others had vanished did they regain their freedom, and they immediately charged after them.

In the end, Xiao Chen missed the divine ship. Ten li was not too far for a master like him, even through dense forest. He reached the coast quickly, dodging the savage dragons blocking his path, only to see the divine ship slowly setting sail, pulling away from the shore.

It was only seven or eight meters away, but the rainbow bridge connecting it to the land had already been withdrawn. He had missed his chance, for he could not cross that terrible forbidden domain.

Keke seemed to sense Xiao Chen’s despair. The little snow-white beast desperately used its Binding Art, trying to seal both itself and Xiao Chen across the distance. But Xiao Chen stopped it. He knew the little creature’s abilities were not yet strong enough for such a feat.

“Xiao Chen!”

From the divine ship shrouded in seven-colored radiance came the regretful shouts of Liu Mu, Yizhen, and others. Lan Nuo, Liu Ruyan, the chubby Niu Ren, and many more wore expressions of profound pity.

“How could this be? Who are those bastards?!” Liu Mu roared in fury.

“Brother Xiao, I will never forget you,” little Niu Ren called out.

“Xiao Chen…” Even Yizhen the monk was helpless in the face of this situation.

Once the eleven Companion Dragon Kings had boarded, the Ancestral Dragon Ship set sail of its own accord, beyond any mortal power to reverse.

“Live well. If I ever have the power, I will come to rescue you,” Lan Nuo said with a gentle wave.

To others, such a promise might have sounded like empty words, but Xiao Chen knew that Lan Nuo truly had the right to make it. He shouted back at the ship, “Farewell! Farewell, everyone! I will always remember you!”

Someone also called out Yan Qingcheng’s name, but what could she do? She could only wave wordlessly.

Many whom they knew and did not know stood at the stern, waving toward the shore—including Liu Mu, Yizhen, Liu Ruyan, Lan Nuo, Niu Ren, Rand, and even Zhao Lin’er and the genius illusionist Kailo.

At that moment, Yan Qingcheng’s uncle and the two Spellmasters finally burst out onto the beach. They looked up at the sky, howling in grief and fury: “How could this be? How could this be?!”

“Uncle Wang Hao, you’ve brought this on yourself! You’ve harmed others and yourself!” Yan Qingcheng could not hide her fury. The only chance to leave this primordial Dragon Island had been destroyed by this very hand.

Wang Hao had only meant to casually eliminate two people. He had never expected such a result. Regret consumed him. If he had known, he would never have acted so rashly. The two old Spellmasters beside him beat their chests in anguish. Finally, they turned their vicious gazes toward Xiao Chen and Yan Qingcheng.

The great ship was slowly sailing away, but the crowd could still see everything. From afar came Liu Mu’s shouts of worry for Xiao Chen and curses against the three old men.

Lonely Sword Demon’s voice rang out, thick with regret: “Xiao Chen, what a pity. I thought in a few years you would make a worthy opponent. What a waste! What a tragedy!”

Xiao Chen said to Keke, “Bind them.”

The little snow-white beast was already fuming. Without the slightest hesitation, a seven-colored light barrier instantly enveloped the three men, giving them no chance. Although all three were experts of the Spirit-Treasury realm, they could not break free from Keke’s Binding Art.

“Keke, can you let my power enter the light barrier to kill them?” Xiao Chen asked hopefully. If he could not personally cripple these three, he would never vent the frustration choking his chest.

The little snow-white beast nodded, indicating it was possible.

Xiao Chen shouted toward the distant ship, “Lonely Sword Demon, there’s nothing to regret! Even now, I can show you my divine art.” He gripped the pitch-black broken blade in his hand and slashed upward. Though it was only a single cut, it seemed to unleash a thousand sword-lights that soared into the sky. Keke channeled them all into the light barrier.

“Ahhh…” Screams rang out. All the flesh from Wang Hao’s and the two Spellmasters’ right arms was sliced clean off, leaving only bare bone.

From afar, Lonely Sword Demon saw it clearly. That was no mere blast of sword-light stripping flesh—it was a delicate force, thousands of brilliant small blades carving one cut at a time. He was shaken. “Excellent technique! Does that strike have a name?”

“Slay God!” Xiao Chen shouted.

The divine ship grew ever more distant. The voices of those on board could no longer be heard, nor could their figures be seen. The seven-colored ship gradually vanished into the golden ocean.

Wang Hao and the other two were cast into the Forbidden Sea. Even Keke’s light barrier could not withstand that annihilating force; in an instant, they were pulverized.

This was the outcome—a wordless conclusion. Xiao Chen looked at Yan Qingcheng. Both were silent for a long time.

“On a desolate island, the most frightening thing is not having enemies, but being left utterly alone. Yan Qingcheng, do you still want to kill me now?” Xiao Chen asked the inheritor of the Undying Sect.

“Precisely because we are the only two left, I find it all the more terrifying,” Yan Qingcheng said bluntly.

Xiao Chen fell silent. Their minds truly worked differently. He let out a dry chuckle. “It seems I was too much of a gentleman before. If I had treated you like a slave from the start, maybe you wouldn’t find it so frightening now. Fine, fine. For now, I am just a man, and you are just a woman. Let’s talk about the matters between a man and a woman.”

“You… don’t do anything rash, or I will kill myself immediately.” Yan Qingcheng’s voice trembled.

Xiao Chen laughed softly. “If you want to die, go ahead. I won’t stop you.”

“You…” Yan Qingcheng’s graceful figure retreated step by step.

Forced to remain on Dragon Island, Xiao Chen had been truly depressed at first, but he had already steadied his emotions. He knew there was another “Sovereign Ship” that could take him away, so he was in the mood to tease Yan Qingcheng. “Woman, what are you thinking? Am I that frightening?”

The three skeletons exchanged glances. They stayed close to Xiao Chen.

Realizing that Xiao Chen was only mocking her, Yan Qingcheng turned her face away in anger. Xiao Chen, leading Keke, walked forward and said, “Little fierce beast, it looks like we’ll be living on Dragon Island for a while longer, until you get your Little Sacred Tree back.”

At the words “Little Sacred Tree,” Keke immediately perked up with delight, completely ignoring the “little fierce beast” part. It bounded about cheerfully, then followed Xiao Chen toward the snowy mountains.

Yan Qingcheng followed closely behind.

“Hey, woman, why are you always following me? Aren’t you afraid something bad might happen? You’d better stay far away, or you’ll be in danger.”

“You’ve sealed most of my power. If I don’t follow you, what am I supposed to do? Wait to be fed to the beasts?” Yan Qingcheng replied with irritation.

“You want to kill me, and I’m not a cruel enough person to kill you, so I can only seal your power. How about this: you should just kill yourself. That way, neither of us will be troubled.”

Yan Qingcheng was speechless. She felt this man was utterly insufferable—clearly using her to lighten his own mood, venting his frustration.

For now, Xiao Chen could not kill Yan Qingcheng. The devil had said he would need about a year to shed all his death energy—meaning he would have to stay on Dragon Island for a year to retrieve Keke’s Sacred Tree. If he were alone, he would go mad with loneliness. Keeping Yan Qingcheng, even as an enemy, at least meant he would not be so solitary.

“Xiao Chen, I warn you: don’t you dare get any ideas.”

Xiao Chen snorted. “Do you think your warning means anything? Or is it more like an invitation? Don’t worry—over this long, lonely island night, we’ll find plenty to talk about. I won’t disappoint you.”

This ambiguous reply left Yan Qingcheng both apprehensive and mortified, but mostly furious and humiliated.