BOOM!
A thunderous shockwave erupted as Chu Ziyan’s sword clashed against Li Xuan’s spear, sparks flying across the battlefield.
Her blade vibrated with thunder-aspect spiritual Qi, arcs of lightning dancing along the edge as she pressed forward, refusing to back down.
“You’ve improved,” Li Xuan admitted with a smirk, blocking her next slash.
“But you’re still not enough!”
“…”
Chu Ziyan didn’t say anything and just focused on fighting with Li Xuan.
A few meters away, Bai Xueqing moved like a ghost through the chaos—cold, sharp, and merciless.
Her mastery of Nine Shadows Flowing Light Sword Technique was almost on par with Bai Zihan.
Zhao Yue’s fan fluttered, unleashing blades of wind. But Xueqing’s icy sword cut through them like paper, her movements precise and flawless.
“This again?”
Zhao Yue snapped, blood trickling from her cheek.
“Bai Xueqing, don’t think your tricks will work again.”
“You lost last time,” Bai Xueqing replied flatly. “You’ll lose again!”
“Arrogant!”
CLANG!
Their weapons clashed again, shaking the ground beneath them.
Meanwhile, Bai Xinyue stood at the front—alone.
Five Soul Formation experts surrounded her, circling like wolves.
However, Bai Xinyue wasn’t going to back down. Rather, she felt quite invincible with her Dao Bone returning.
“You think you can stop all five of us?”
One of them scoffed.
She didn’t even glance at him.
“Try me!”
In an instant, she vanished.
BOOM!
Bai Xinyue’s palm strike landed like a divine thunderbolt, her golden Qi roaring as it slammed into one of the Soul Formation cultivators—
But to her surprise, the man didn’t fly back.
His barrier cracked—but didn’t break. He staggered, coughed blood, yet remained standing.
“What…?”
Her eyes narrowed.
The others quickly repositioned, forming a loose circle around her.
Then she saw it.
The subtle flow of Qi between them.
They were linked.
Some kind of formation—one that allowed them to share spiritual Qi and distribute the impact of her attacks.
Bai Xinyue attacked again—this time faster and stronger.
CRACK!
Her strike landed—but again, the damage was absorbed.
Moreover, despite the opportunity being there, none of them attacked and were just focused on their defense.
They weren’t here to win.
They were here to stall her.
And while the three girls unleashed overwhelming pressure, tearing through elites and holding back waves of enemies—it still wasn’t enough.
Because no matter how strong they were…
The Li and Zhao Clans had brought many people to capture Bai Zihan.
And their strategy was clear: hold back the people trying to protect Bai Zihan, and send wave after wave searching for an opening.
An opening to reach Bai Zihan.
Surprisingly, Li Feng, who was more than eager to capture Bai Zihan, didn’t make any move—possibly waiting for his chance.
Whoosh!
A whisper of movement.
A shadow moved through the smoke—so small, so fast, no one noticed until it was too late.
A dagger-wielding assassin, wrapped in a stealth artifact, slipped from beneath, just meters from Bai Zihan.
He raised his blade, aiming for the back of Zihan’s neck.
“No one will notice!”
The assassin thought smugly.
But—
CRACK!
A sword beam exploded through the assassin’s chest before he could even blink.
Chu Ziyan’s voice rang out like thunder:
“Did you think I wasn’t watching?”
She flickered across the battlefield, forcing Li Xuan back with a burst of power and making it in time to stop the assassin.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The battlefield raged on.
Chu Ziyan was locked in intense exchange with Li Xuan and the assassin, her breath ragged, arms trembling from the relentless assault.
Bai Xueqing’s once-pristine robes were torn, streaked with blood as she fended off Zhao Yue’s unyielding storm of wind blades.
Even Bai Xinyue, whose return of the Dao Bone had made her feel invincible, now found herself slowed.
It wasn’t like they could defeat her—but it wasn’t their intention.
Their goal was to stall Bai Xinyue—and it was working very well.
Little by little.
Minute by minute.
And that was all the time he needed.
Li Feng finally moved.
He vanished from his spot like a ghost, leaving behind only a swirling imprint of blood-red Qi.
In the blink of an eye, he was already halfway across the battlefield—his twisted smile returning, eyes locked onto Bai Zihan like a predator about to end the hunt.
Bai Zihan was still where he had always been.
Slumped.
Breathing weakly.
Head lowered.
Unmoving.
A perfect target.
“Bai Zihan, you are mine!”
Li Feng muttered as he felt that finally he was going to have his revenge.
“Nooooo!!”
Bai Xinyue’s scream tore through the battlefield, raw and instinctive.
She didn’t even know why she screamed.
Why her heart clenched.
Why her body moved before her mind could catch up.
After all, Bai Zihan was her enemy.
The one who had stolen everything from her.
The one whose name she had vowed to bury.
But none of that mattered in that moment.
All she knew was—if she didn’t move now, he was going to die.
And she couldn’t allow that.
Not like this.
Her eyes locked onto Li Feng as he vanished across the battlefield, closing in on the vulnerable Bai Zihan like a blade of fate.
Her Qi erupted.
BOOM!
Golden light surged around her, shaking the battlefield.
The five Soul Formation cultivators surrounding her faltered, expressions darkening.
“She’s trying to break through!”
“Stop her!”
“Don’t let her go!”
But they were too weak compared to her.
Bai Xinyue’s power spiked violently, her Qi blazing like a second sun.
The pressure alone sent cracks through the air itself—space warping around her like reality couldn’t contain her presence anymore.
And then—
She moved.
Her hand slashed through the air, and with it came a golden arc of Qi—like a divine phoenix—a technique that seemed to burn with power.
It wasn’t something they’d seen before.
Not from the Bai Clan.
Not even from the Desolate Heaven Empire’s countless clans and sects.
A legacy of the Immortal Emperor.
Or perhaps…
A technique she comprehended herself within the Second Trial.
The technique roared outward like a divine decree.
CRACK!!!
The formation shattered.
Their defenses ripped apart like brittle glass under a hammer.
Two of the cultivators were sent flying.
Another dropped to one knee, blood leaking from his mouth.
“She broke the formation—! Impossible!”
But Bai Xinyue didn’t spare them a second glance.
Her golden figure shot across the field like a comet—blazing, unstoppable, divine.
She didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t question herself.
She didn’t know what this feeling was—or why she was so desperate to save someone she swore she hated.
But—
She was too late.
Bai Zihan was already within Li Feng’s grasp.
Chu Ziyan and Bai Xueqing both sensed it too—but they were equally stuck, locked in deadly clashes with opponents that refused to let them breathe.
It was happening.
They were going to fail.
Li Feng grinned.
“This is the end, Bai Zihan!”
He appeared behind the weakened youth, his blade already mid-swing toward the back of Bai Zihan’s neck.
There was no defense.
No resistance.
No one in his way.
Except—
Right at that moment…
Bai Zihan moved.
Just slightly.
Just enough.
And the look he gave Li Feng—
That smirk!
That shit-eating, trap-has-sprung smirk.
It made Li Feng hesitate.
Just for a second though.
(I’m going to turn that smirk into a scream.)
Li Feng thought, his eyes burning with killing intent as he accelerated toward Bai Zihan.
“Let’s see if you’re still smiling after I tear your limbs off.”
SHHHKKK!!
Just then when it seem like Li Feng would succeed—
SPLAT!
Li Feng’s head flew clean off his shoulders, spinning in the air as blood arced like a fountain.
His body stood there—frozen—before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.
When everyone thought that Bai Zihan was done for, what they saw instead was Li Feng’s head beheaded on the ground followed by his body.
The battlefield fell into dead silence for one brief moment.
Even the fighting halted as eyes turned toward the unthinkable.
And then—
Bai Zihan stood up and cracked his neck with a smirk, Eternal Spirit Sword in his hand.
The previous image of helplessness and weakness was gone. Instead, it was replaced by the same arrogance and powerful presence he always had.
“Whew~ That was close.”
He said, casually wiping blood off his sleeve.
“Almost thought I’d have to do some acting.”
His voice wasn’t weak.
His breathing wasn’t ragged.
And that wound on his chest?
Mostly superficial.
The crowd collectively stiffened.
“What…?”
“I thought his cultivation was crippled?”
“Didn’t he… extract his Dao Bone!?”
Then—
Bai Zihan’s aura surged.
What crippled?
Bai Zihan was in the Soul Formation Realm!
“Impossible!”
“His cultivation was gone! He—he should be crippled!”
Bai Zihan tilted his head with a lazy grin.
“What can I say? I’m a fast healer.”
Then he looked down at Li Feng’s corpse and scoffed.
“Again being the one to fall for my trap… just how much bad luck can one man have?”
The battlefield erupted into chaos again—but the energy had shifted.
Drastically!
Who thought that Bai Zihan was easy?
Taking him hostage?
Almost impossible unless elders take action.
Bai Xinyue landed beside him, eyes wide.
“You… You were acting?”
He nodded once.
“Of course. I might not have a Dao Bone anymore—but I’m not some helpless weakling.”
Bai Zihan replied like it was the most obvious thing.
“You bastard… You tricked me!”
Bai Zihan just grinned.
“Well, not your first time. Don’t get too upset!”