"Chen Jie, run! Don't mind me, they won't let you go!" Wang Xiaoyan suddenly shouted.
"Trying to escape? Close the doors! Today, not a single one of you will get away!" Deng Zhou immediately bellowed upon hearing that.
Two of his subordinates immediately rushed to the main gate and locked it shut.
"This..."
Hechuan's expression changed drastically.
He had initially thought Wang Xiaoyan's capture was a minor issue and hadn't brought many people.
Otherwise, with prior preparation, he could have leveraged Wang Feiyang's past influence to gather some support and negotiate with the Sorcery Association.
However, it was now too late.
"Chen Jie, Miss Wang..." Hechuan looked at Chen Jie and said.
Chen Jie reassured him, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to Xiaoyan."
He took a deep breath and looked at Deng Zhou, "Let Xiaoyan go!"
"Let her go? Hahaha... Chen Jie, you're too naive! You actually said something so idiotic, as if you have the intelligence of someone with a disability. Do you think we went through all this trouble to capture Wang Xiaoyan for nothing!"
A voice rang out.
Fang Tai appeared before Wang Xiaoyan, holding a knife to her throat.
"Fang Tai!" Chen Jie narrowed his eyes.
He was beginning to understand why the Sorcery Association was making such a fuss over Cao Hanzi.
Even Chen Jie found the situation somewhat troublesome.
He could sense that the people before him were not weak.
Most of them were at the Celestial rank, and some were even Grandmasters.
There were only a limited number of Earth rank cultivators.
If he rashly moved to rescue Wang Xiaoyan, success was not guaranteed.
In such a scenario, he might even endanger Wang Xiaoyan further.
"Heh heh, the day you killed my son, you should have foreseen this consequence! Chen Jie, Chen Jie, you are arrogant! Arrogantly incurable! But just as the heavens can rage with storms, so can men bring about disaster through their arrogance! You are destined to regret your hubris!"
"Cough, cough..."
A broadcast voice sounded.
It came from the loudspeakers in Yin Qiuran's villa.
"Esteemed sirs, I too have something to say. My beloved son also died by Chen Jie's hand! After Chen Jie perishes today, can you leave his corpse to me? I wish to hang it outside my villa in memory of my deceased Chu Ji!"
"Chen Jie, heh heh, you'd best not fall into my hands alive, or I will make you experience a fate worse than death!" Yin Qiuran's resentful voice echoed from the loudspeaker again.
So, Yin Qiuran was also involved.
Whoosh!
Fang Tai raised his knife, threatening to slice Wang Xiaoyan's throat.
"Stop!"
Chen Jie roared in anger.
Fang Tai's knife, however, stopped upon touching Wang Xiaoyan's skin.
Fang Tai grinned sinisterly and said, "Chen Jie, it seems you care deeply for your girlfriend! How about this: one life for another? You take your own life in front of us, and we'll let Wang Xiaoyan go!"
Chen Jie's heart was in turmoil.
But outwardly, he radiated a murderous aura, "You're mistaken, I won't be foolish enough to sacrifice my life! But I can guarantee this: if you dare to lay a hand on her, I will make you watch, with your own eyes, the gruesome end of all your blood relatives!"
"Every single one of you, no exceptions!"
Fang Tai's heart skipped a beat.
If Chen Jie managed to escape today, his threat might indeed come to pass.
"Attack! Let's see who dares!"
Chen Jie's tone was imperious.
Simultaneously, he gestured, and a ball of spiritual energy shot out.
Bang!
Instantly, a Celestial rank expert was struck, exploding into a mist of blood.
"What?"
Everyone's faces contorted in shock.
Such power.
It was terrifying!
One strike to instantly kill a Celestial rank expert!
The onlookers were even more stunned.
For none of them could comprehend what method Chen Jie had used.
It was neither a martial art technique nor anything resembling a sorcerer's art.
Even Deng Zhou was utterly astonished.
Chen Jie's apparent disregard for Wang Xiaoyan's life was a deliberate ploy.
"What?"
Hechuan looked at Chen Jie in disbelief.
The last time he saw Chen Jie, he was merely an Earth rank cultivator in his eyes.
How had so little time passed for Chen Jie to be able to kill a Celestial rank expert in a single move?
He felt a pang of regret for his earlier words to Chen Jie.
A master like Chen Jie was indeed more than qualified to be with Wang Xiaoyan.
Chen Jie, while appearing reckless, was in fact very calm.
Wang Xiaoyan was currently his weakness. If these people realized she could be used to threaten him, the situation would become dire.
He needed to project a certain attitude to ensure their leniency towards Wang Xiaoyan.
"Good! Very good, you don't care about this woman's life, do you? Honestly, if I were you, I wouldn't care either! Then I'll kill her right before your eyes! Today, it's either you die or I live! Hahaha..."
Fang Tai's face contorted with madness. He raised his knife, poised to end Wang Xiaoyan's life.
"Stop! How dare you!" Chen Jie's face turned ashen.
Wang Xiaoyan looked at Chen Jie with a mournful expression, a sweet smile on her face.
Spiritual energy surged wildly within her, ready to strike.
"President Fang, no need to act! Even a fool could tell that he wouldn't sacrifice himself for a woman's life!"
Deng Zhou said calmly.
"President Deng, this..."
Fang Tai lowered his knife and spoke.
Chen Jie breathed a sigh of relief.
Deng Zhou looked at Chen Jie and said, "We all know your strength is no simple matter. How about we play a game?"
"What game?" Chen Jie asked.
"We know we can't force you to comply by using a woman. That's something out of a TV show. We all understand that."
"Therefore, we propose a compromise. How about you stab yourself, in exchange for this woman's life?" Deng Zhou suggested.
"Chen Jie, don't!" Wang Xiaoyan cried frantically. "Don't do it, please don't agree to them!"
"This..."
Hechuan also had his own agenda.
The young lady and these people didn't have any deep grudges.
It wasn't guaranteed that these people would kill her after they were done with her.
If this could save Wang Xiaoyan's life, Hechuan felt it wouldn't matter if Chen Jie took a stab.
However, anyone could see that a stab wound would surely lead to severe injury.
With the numerous experts from the Sorcery Association gathered, Chen Jie, if heavily injured, would be facing an uncertain fate.
He secretly hoped Chen Jie would agree.
In his eyes, the young lady's life was far more important than Chen Jie's.
"Alright, I agree!"
Chen Jie took a deep breath and said.
He was a cultivator. As long as it wasn't the final moment, even severe injuries were not insurmountable.
Furthermore, he still had some divine elixirs in his storage ring.
Wang Xiaoyan screamed "no" at the top of her lungs, large tears streaming down her face.
But Chen Jie did not respond.
He apologized inwardly repeatedly, "Chen Jie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been jealous. I'll never be jealous of you again. You can be with whomever you want! I'll agree to everything you want! Please don't get hurt..."
"Use this knife!" Deng Zhou drew a short blade from his waist and threw it at Chen Jie's feet.