Ye Zhongming hadn’t used this ability in a long time—not because he didn’t want to, but because his equipment’s limitations and ever-increasing power meant activating it now required an exorbitant amount of mental energy.
He still wouldn’t have used it if he were still wearing his old gauntlets. Depleting his mental reserves while already blinded would’ve been suicidal.
With unknown dangers lurking ahead, recklessly exhausting his mental strength was far from wise.
But now it was different.
The gauntlets on his hands were no longer the blue-grade trash of the past.
He now wore the Dread Gauntlets—a genuine purple-grade piece of equipment.
Against these foes, Ye Zhongming poured a quarter of his mental energy into this single Cloud Slice.
A quarter of his reserves likely surpassed forty times the total mental capacity of most evolved.
The resulting death rays sliced through everything in their path.
Her hammers had been inches from crushing Ye Zhongming’s skull. She’d even roared in triumph mid-swing.
Then—light consumed her vision.
Though reckless, Sister Bo possessed savage combat instincts. She instantly realized that the Cloud Peak King had fought back and rather, and that this was a trap.
But at this point, it was too late to dodge. She could only resist.
Instead of retreating, she doubled down, slamming her hammers forward with even greater force. Black mist erupted from them as her body visibly withered—a desperate sacrificial technique.
Ah Xiu felt fortunate that she had hesitated, which gave her an instant to react.
Her crimson sleeves interwove at blinding speed, forming a scarlet cocoon around her just as the rays struck.
Saint Green Serpent was filled with regret.
He didn’t kill that hell lifeform. When he saw everyone had left, he broke free. That monster was strong, but it was slow and it couldn’t keep up to him. Now that Ye Zhongming’s bloodline disappeared, the lifeform had despawned.
He wanted to sneak over for free loot using his special Stealth Pearl. Not only did he fail to get any loot, but he also faced such a strong attack.
Now, he faced a nightmare.
He did not have monstrous defense like Sister Bo. No divine-grade sleeves like Ah Xiu. His Molting Life skill had already been spent.
Facing an attack that caused even his soul to shake, Saint Green Snake screamed and then shoved his own battle pet before himself.
The rays then engulfed him.
Of the four people, Deputy Yang was in the best situation.
His early retreat spared him the worst. He stopped his attack and started to retreat. When the Cloud Slice attacks arrived, he was already far away.
Cloud Slice’s attack range was close, and Deputy Yang’s sharp senses picked up on that point. Although they were quick and instantly caught up with him, he dealt with them calmly. Two giant guns covered in gold appeared in his hands, and he fired them toward Ye Zhongming.
Though the rays were near-instantaneous, their range was limited.
These two guns weren’t of a high level and were only white grade. Yang kept them purely for aesthetics. But he was firing them not because he wanted to kill him still, he was using the recoil to propel himself backwards.
This recoil wouldn’t be big, but he just needed a little. He could use his “premonition” advantage to break free from Cloud Slice’s range.
The full power of Cloud Slice erupted at this moment.
“Ah Xiu!”
Cheng Ou, who had noticed the sudden change from afar, roared in grief and rage as he rushed over.
Plop, plop. Thud, thud!
Four sounds rang out in succession as the four figures landed on the ground in various states.
The two plops came from Sister Bo and Ah Xiu.
Sister Bo was in terrible shape—worse than when Ye Zhongming’s earlier gunshot had blown away half her abdomen.
Now, there was almost no intact part of her body left. It wasn’t the kind of damage covered in wounds, but rather as if a layer of skin and flesh had been shaved off her entire body.
Even Ye Zhongming, who had unleashed Cloud Slice, probably wouldn’t understand how his attack had caused such an effect.
Beyond that, Sister Bo’s left arm and her twin hammers had been completely pulverized.
She lay on her back, her chest barely rising, her eyes lifelessly fixed on the sky. It was impossible to tell when she had breathed her last.
Ah Xiu was in slightly better shape than Sister Bo, but was now a bloodied mess. All her equipment had been destroyed, and even so, her body was covered in horrifying gashes.
The only reason she hadn’t died instantly was thanks to the God Halll’s director, who had doted on Ah Xiu and given her many high-quality treasures. These had allowed her to survive the skill attack unleashed by Ye Zhongming through a purple-grade item.
Ah Xiu’s mouth hung open, silently forming the shape of a scream. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.
She felt despair, felt life slipping away from her. Her mind flashed images of her ecstatic joy when she first obtained the red sleeves, of her first meetings with the director and Cheng Ou.
She closed her eyes, suddenly weary of everything, feeling as though nothing was left in this world worth clinging to.
The two thuds came from Vice Chairman Yang and Saint Green Snake hitting the ground.
Saint Green Snake had used his battle pet as a shield, blocking most of the attack, but some rays had still reached him. Even after employing other methods to mitigate the damage, he was still injured—especially by a gash on his forehead that had nearly split his skull open.
As blood poured down, he pressed his hands to the wound, only to realize as his left hand passed before his eyes that four of his fingers (all except the thumb) had been severed at some point.
He didn’t scream, merely clutched his wound and began backing away.
No matter the final outcome, he had already decided to withdraw from this chase.
The one in the best condition was undoubtedly Vice Chairman Yang. He had only been grazed by the aftermath, and even that had been blocked by his armor. Seeing the near-zero durability of his gear, the Soul Merchant vice chairman felt immensely grateful for his decision.
Just a little more, and I’d have lost my life again.
Vice Chairman Yang knew he had to run—otherwise, Ye Zhongming would come to finish him off.
But before he could flee, this ever-escaping Yang discovered something unexpected:
The King of Cloud Peak… was running away first!