"Senior Qi, what do you think about their hidden card?" Ji Muchen asked Qi Ximing via sound transmission.
Qi Ximing pondered for a while before he replied with confidence, "No matter what it is, I am certain, it can only be used once."
Ji Muchen's brows raised slightly, and he immediately understood Qi Ximing's underlying message. He basically wanted to use Huo Han and his people as a cannon-fodder. This made anger appeared in Ji Muchen's heart, but he could do nothing back.
He glanced at several elders who were busy attacking the barrier for a while and gritted his teeth, resisted the urge to call them back. In the end, he decided to sacrifice them. Sorry, Elders. This Ji Muchen swears upon my name. I will use the divine sword to bring glory to our sect. He vowed in his heart. His mind spun rapidly, figuring how to deal with Qi Ximing.
Qi Ximing seemed to see through Ji Muchen's thoughts. He smiled coldly and thought this Ji Muchen was too naïve. How could he let go of such a divine sword?
A combination of the Sacred Flame Sect and the Profound Sword Sect's forces could barely make several cracks appear on the barrier. They could not go further than that. As time passed by, Huo Han became impatient with the result, and he felt something was amiss deep down in his heart, but he couldn't point it out.
Huo Han glanced at Qi Ximing and said, "I would like to ask Senior Qi to give a hand."
Qi Ximing frowned with dissatisfaction and say nothing.
Huo Han said further unhurriedly, "Senior Qi, I have an agreement with Your Majesty. Don't you think you should honor it?"
Qi Ximing snorted coldly when he heard this. He looked at the barrier for a second and began to gather profound energy in his right hand. A powerful gust of wind immediately formed around his hand before he slammed toward the barrier.
Boom!—
The impact instantly caused a large hole to appear on the blue translucent barrier. The expressions on the Misty Cloud Sect's disciples turned heavy when they saw this scene, but there was no fear in their eyes. Each one of them grabbed their weapon firmly, ready to engage in the battle at any time.
"It's time." Yun Ruanyu said to Yun Qianxue after she received a signal from Yun Lingwei who was sent away to do a secret job.
Yun Qianxue had already waited for this word for a long time. She rushed into the air with hazy mist trailing behind her, along with the twelve Elders.
"Fall back, all of you are not her opponent." Huo Han shouted as his figure flashed, arriving before Yun Qianxue.
"Get lost!" Yun Qianxue flicked her wrist slightly and several ice pikes appeared in the air, rushing at Huo Han.
"Hmph!" Huo Han snorted and burst out a scorching crimson flame to cover his body. The moment the ice pikes touched the flame, they were instantly melting and evaporating into ice fog.
In the next moment, Huo Han saw the tip of the divine sword appeared before him, aiming at his forehead. Within a split second, a long crimson-colored sword emerged in his hand and he instinctively swung at the divine sword.
Clang!
Their swords collided with each other, making a loud, piercing noise. The impact forced Huo Han to fly away several meters before he could stabilize himself midair.
Huo Han glanced at his sword and his brows involuntarily creased together upon seeing it became chipped. This confirmed the conjecture in his heart further. The divine sword in Yun Qianxue's hand must be the one that Huo Yan looking for.
Yun Qianxue waved her sword into a beautiful arc. Suddenly, countless ice swords that resembled the divine sword's appearance appeared in the air. With another flick of her wrist, all of them madly shot toward Huo Han, becoming a rain of swords.
"Ha!" Huo Han let out a loud cry. Crimson flame burst out from his body, forming into a giant ring of fire before he sent it toward the incoming ice swords.
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
The ice swords passed through the ring of fire effortlessly and went straight to Huo Han and several of his subordinates nearby.
Puff!
The ice swords pierced into the heads of three men nearby, reaping their life instantly. Meanwhile, Huo Han was having a hard time avoiding the rain of ice swords.
Qi Ximing, who observed the battle for all this time, noticed these ice swords' abnormal. He clearly saw the three dead men completed their protective barrier in time, but somehow the ice swords passed through them as if the barrier didn't exist.
His eyes fixated on the divine sword, and the greed in his eyes intensified further. A gust of wind slowly gathered around his body as he uttered, "Gale."
Qi Ximing waved his hand, sending countless blazing wind blades at Yun Qianxue and others.
"Leave it to me." Yun Ruanyu spoke calmly as a beautiful white Guqin appeared before her. She closed her eyes and her slender fingers began to dance on the white Guqin's strings.
Clang!
Gentle melody rang out continuously, slowing all the blazing wind blades down and eliminating them before reaching her position.
Qi Ximing's brows raised slightly as he was surprised by Yun Ruanyu's strong music sorcery. He said, "I once heard about you before. Originally, it was you who was selected by the previous Sect Master Yun to succeed in her position, but you rejected her… Your Majesty had often praised you back then and even said you were the most talented person in the Heavenly Fortune Nation. Today, I've seen it clearly by myself. You're indeed heaven chosen one as Your Majesty claimed."
Yun Ruanyu paid no heed to Qi Ximing's words. Her fingers continued to dance elegantly on the Guqin. Each string trembled, producing a gentle yet hypnotic melody that spread into everyone's ears, pulling the enemy's minds into the artistic concept world.
"Kill!" Yun Qingrou, who had always maintained her gentle appearance, was now shrouded with boundless killing intent. She shot several arrows at Sacred Flame Sect's Elders' heads, finishing them off effortlessly as they were still in a trance by Yun Ruanyu's music spell.
Meanwhile, the Misty Cloud Sect's twelve Elders had also managed to kill at least fifteen opponents during this time frame.
"Qi Ximing! Ji Muchen! What are you two waiting for!?" Huo Han roared in a furious when he saw his subordinates died one by one. He couldn't do anything to help them as he was entangled by Yun Qianxue.
Ji Muchen turned a deaf ear, appeared unperturbed, even though some of his subordinates were also dying. He had already determined to sacrifice them, as such, he didn't bother to help them. His eyes were fixated on Yun Qianxue, more precisely, on the divine sword in her hands, patiently waiting for the right time to take action.
Qi Ximing's face turned cold, filling with a murderous aura when he heard Huo Han called his name directly. However, he knew this wasn't the right time to start an internal conflict. He spread his right palm and a gust of wind instantly gathered on it, gradually forming into a small tornado.
"Tempest!" Qi Ximing spoke coldly as he threw the small tornado in his palm toward Yun Ruanyu.
The small tornado kept enlarging its size while traveling through the air toward Yun Ruanyu. The twelve Elders speedily intercepted the tornado's path by teaming up to create several protective barrier layers in front of Yun Ruanyu.
Riip—
The tornado tore the protective barrier layer after layer, pushing the twelve Elders away and forcing its way to Yun Ruanyu.
Yun Ruanyu's fingers sped up. The previous gentle melody abruptly changed into a fast and strong one. If the melody earlier was akin to a lullaby, coaxing people to sleep, the current melody was a thousand blades that could kill anyone on its path.
Qi Ximing's tornado tackled into an invisible barrier ten meters away from Yun Ruanyu, unable to proceed further, and continued to grind on it furiously.
At this time, Qi Ximing's expression grew solemn. He didn't expect Yun Ruanyu to be this powerful. "Sure enough. You've already reached Half-step Ruler Profound Realm."
"How about this? Tempest Domain!" Qi Ximing clapped his hands together, and the surrounding space became chaotic as a raging wind constantly surging wildly.
Yun Qianxue successfully sent Huo Han away, leaving a fatal wound on his body. She turned around to Qi Ximing and saw the raging wind around him gradually expanded toward everyone.
"A pure wind elemental domain?" Yun Qianxue's brows raised, but there was no agitation in her eyes.
If profound practitioners wanted to break through the Heaven Profound Realm and stepped into the Ruler Profound Realm, they needed to completely master at least one element or a profound intent such as sword intent and spear intent.
After that, they could attempt to create a domain by integrating their power and insights into it. The more elements or intents they integrated into, the more powerful their domain could become, but the risk also increased. If they failed to create a domain in the end, their foundations would be affected too, and their next attempt would be twice harder than the last.
Only when they successfully created their domains would they step into the Ruler Profound Realm and become a ruler of their own domain.
The divine sword in Yun Qianxue's hand shone in deep blue light as she raised it high above her head. The droplet symbol on her glabella had also glowed together as ice particles slowly shrouding her entire being, turning her into the Ice Goddess.
Scree!—
The moment Yun Qianxue swung the divine sword down, an illusory Ice Phoenix's image emerged behind her before it flapping its wings toward Qi Ximing's direction with a loud cry.