Forced to Be a Villain: Starting With My Brain Extraction System Chapter 154: End of Secret Realm Exploration (2)

Shocked, Elder Tie Shan and Hua Yuelian hurried over to them, swiftly stabilizing their wounds.

Their feeble condition showed they had just escaped the jaws of death.

"What occurred? Was the secret realm so perilous? Where are the rest?"

A terrifying foreboding surged in their hearts.

Elder Jianhong’s expression had frozen like ice.

"E-Elder... the Black Lotus Sect struck. Those bastards... they devised a way to form a Gold Core cultivator inside and butchered everyone. They aimed to harvest our blood essence."

Mingxuan of Hundred Flowers Valley struggled to speak, jabbing a finger at Elder Lu Sheng.

Fury blazed across her stunning face.

She had truly thought death was inevitable.

Not only her, but the top talents following her as well.

They owed their lives to the protective amulet from their Peak Elder and the Blood Palace’s sudden arrival that drew away the Gold Core cultivator.

Otherwise...

Mingxuan quickly recounted the events in the secret realm and how most companions perished there.

"Blood essence?"

As the two elders pieced together the situation, the air chilled abruptly with a piercing sword cry booming through the valley.

Elder Jianhong gripped his sword firmly.

"Lu Sheng, the Black Lotus Sect has gone too far."

Jianhong bellowed in rage as Tie Shan and Hua Yuelian gradually unleashed their Gold Core auras, eyes filled with lethal intent.

Their losses this round were massive.

So heavy that punishment back at their sects loomed inescapably.

A mere scouting task devolved into disaster, with elites dying successively due to these demonic sect villains.

"Heh. Too far? Jianhong, don’t make me laugh. All is fair in strife. But don’t you think this suspicious?"

Lu Sheng sensed the oppressive auras from the three elders but soon regained his composure.

"If a false Gold Core cultivator from my sect really showed up, why are they alive? Where is he? Who eliminated him?"

He snapped sharply, then gestured at Mo Tianyu and Mei Xuan.

"This seems like a Divine Cauldron Sect plot to me. Why else no Foundation Establishment survivors from my sect, while yours remain whole?"

Lu Sheng was cunning.

He understood battling three elders guaranteed defeat.

Thus, he dragged things out, gaining time in hopes his sect mates would emerge.

He needed results to deliver. Plan failed or not, some profit was vital, or the sect master wouldn’t forgive him.

"Hmph. No tricks needed. We all see your game. Do you think we can’t spot ally from enemy?"

Jianhong’s anger nearly made him lash out right there.

Disciples still streamed from the portal, so he couldn’t leave it.

"Tch... fine, where’s that False Gold Core cultivator? Don’t claim he tripped and died. Or do you boast a genius who could slay him?"

Lu Sheng snarled back, puzzled himself. If a Gold Core truly formed inside, why hadn’t he surfaced?

This very doubt prevented the three elders from rash assault. A hidden false core would threaten gravely.

While the three elders glanced doubtfully at one another, a gentle voice pierced the hush.

"Your false core cultivator won’t come out, since I killed him already."

Lian Yue owned that voice, her haughty silhouette positioned just beyond the portal. The crescent petal on her brow shone more vividly now.

She had advanced to peak Foundation Realm, worthy of the Divine Cauldron Sect Leader’s daughter.

"Lian Yue?"

All recognized her at once, as Lu Sheng’s face darkened steadily.

He hadn’t expected the key mission mark to emerge unscathed and pristine.

Now certain chaos unfolded within—their scheme collapsed terribly.

"Elder Lu Sheng, isn’t it? True, us Foundation Realm cultivators can’t kill Gold Core ones. But Father placed an imprint on me before I entered."

"That fool was totally surprised and slain instantly. Tch... tch..."

As Nascent Soul powerhouse’s daughter, Lian Yue disdained Lu Sheng, gloating openly.

"Regrettably, he’d already slain several disciples before me. Even Elder Hua..."

She bowed her head, Divine Cauldron Sect’s casualties too vast. Besides her, just Mei Xuan and Tianyu returned at Foundation Realm.

Another survived, though unnamed to her. He instructed her to claim the Gold Core kill.

Lian Yue scanned about for the familiar face from Blood Palace, but saw none.

"Lu Sheng... what say you now?"

Jianhong roared afresh, his sword rising into the air independently.

He burned with genuine fury, poised for battle. The other elders readied similarly.

"Tch... such misfortune. You brat... I’ll remember you."

Lu Sheng’s face turned pitch black.

With Lian Yue revealing her father’s imprint felled his subordinate, rebuttal failed.

Fury boiled solely from Yan Yue’s erroneous intel.

Uncontainable rage flared; he yearned to strangle Yan Yue himself.

In despair, Lu Sheng halted energy to the array and suddenly abandoned his spot.

"Lu Sheng, what’s that?"

His withdrawal made the portal tremble violently, on the verge of shutting.

More disciples trickled out, his own included. Yet he forsook them callously.

"Welp... I’m not dumb enough to linger, right? You slaughtered my elites—who’s left to await? But this ends not here. Revenge awaits surely."

Lu Sheng uttered coldly, as if he suffered the betrayal.

He struck the other elders’ array nodes, worsening the portal’s instability, then fled rapidly with his disciples.

To pursue, they’d sacrifice their lingering disciples inside.

Would they?

"Elder..."

Mei Xuan cried out urgently, watching the portal near collapse from Elder Lu Sheng’s sabotage.

Should it seal, reopening impossible without his key share. Sadly, Zhiran hadn’t appeared yet.

"Damn it... Lu Sheng, you ruthless bastard."