In a single breath, they pierced through him from every direction. When the light faded, his body was nothing but a ragged shell, riddled with holes. It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
Blood poured from his mouth. He stared at them with venomous hatred—yet he didn’t fall.
Then his corpse split open. A palm-sized figure clad in tiny armor burst out from his chest and shot into the air.
“Insignificant ants!” the miniature man screeched, voice shrill but brimming with rage. He slapped his armored chest, metal ringing sharply. “You think you can kill me?”
He laughed madly. “With your pathetic cultivation, how could you possibly shatter my Immortal Soul?”
His gaze shifted toward the Thunder Sect disciples gathered behind the Mountain Protection Array. There were quite a few promising bodies there. He would take his time. Pick one with excellent talent.
Gerald’s face drained of color. “Shit—watch out!”
The armored soul shot straight toward the formation. If it reached the disciples—
Before he could close the distance, a massive black dragon suddenly materialized in midair. The little armored soul barely had time to turn pale before he was swallowed whole.
Crunch. Silence.
Gerald collapsed to his knees, sweat soaking his robes. “Thank heavens…”
If that thing had gotten into the crowd…
The disciples inside the array erupted into cheers. Above them, however, the wind howled and clouds churned violently. The black maw in the sky pulsed again.
Lauren didn’t celebrate. She gave Gerald a pointed look.
More were coming. Gerald wiped the cold sweat from his brow and looked up at the dark sky.
“Give me a moment,” he muttered. They retreated back within the protection of the array.
It didn’t take long. Another figure descended. This time—a young woman.
Beautiful. Elegant. And far more contemptuous than the last.
Her gaze swept across them as if examining insects about to be crushed beneath her heel.
In her eyes, they weren’t opponents. They were an anthill.
She had simply come to stir it up. Her smile lingered for only a few seconds. Then it vanished.
“Where are they?” she asked coldly.
No one answered. Her divine sense expanded.
She saw the shattered fragments of her companion’s artifact. The bloodstains still soaking into the earth.
Dead? Not even a wisp of soul left behind. Of course not.
The body had been devoured by Briar. The armored Nascent Soul had been eaten by Edmund.
The woman’s expression darkened. “Hmph. Ants. Cannibal ants at that.”
She raised her hand. “Die.”
Azure ribbons coiled around her like living serpents and shot toward the Mountain Protection Array.
Clang—!
The seemingly soft fabric struck the array and rang like metal crashing against iron.
The entire formation trembled. Inside, tension snapped tight. Gerald cursed under his breath and drew his sword, ready to charge.
“Sect Leader,” Logan said sharply, grabbing his arm. “Her weapon counters you. Let me handle this.”
“What are you going to do?” Gerald snapped back. “You and Jade hold the formation. I’ll deal with her.”
Without waiting for another word, he rushed out.
The Thunder Sect’s primary offensive force came from Starfell Summit and Cloud Peak. Logan and Jade were needed to stabilize the Mountain Protection Array.
As Gerald soared upward, a bitter thought struck him.
For thousands of years, under Drake’s leadership, the sect had grown comfortable.
Too comfortable. There were barely any true fighters left.
If Drake ascended—or something happened—
He alone would have to carry everything.
After this disaster, he swore, training would no longer be optional.
Golden light exploded across the sky.
The woman flicked her azure ribbons with effortless grace, weaving them into a shifting net that blocked Gerald’s relentless sword strikes.
Metal techniques were known for overwhelming force. Her ribbons were flexible, elusive, unpredictable.
Just as Logan had warned—she was his natural counter. Even with the power of three thousand disciples flowing into him, Gerald found himself gradually suppressed.
Below, Lauren watched for a minute, jaw tightening.
At this rate, Gerald would be worn down. She transmitted her thoughts to Edmund and Briar.
“If this keeps up, even the Sect Leader will be exhausted to death. We need to help.”
Briar responded immediately. “She won’t land. I can’t stab her ankles.”
Lauren almost rolled her eyes. “Stop obsessing over ankles. She’s alive. She has a brain. Use your vines to harass her from below—try to entangle the artifact in her hand. Create an opening.”
“…Got it.” Briar slipped into the crowd, then quietly moved toward the edge of the formation.
In the sky, the woman lazily toyed with Gerald, twirling her ribbons as if amused. Then—
The earth below her turned lush and verdant.
Vines burst upward in a violent surge. They wrapped around the azure ribbons, binding them midair. The woman tugged. They didn’t budge.
Her composure cracked for the first time. “What the hell are you?” she demanded, staring at the strange red plant below.
Briar bristled. Hah. She must not have been ascended long. Doesn’t even recognize me. More vines shot upward, twisting around her limbs.
The woman’s expression shifted again. The vines weren’t just restraining her—
They carried a hallucinogenic toxin. Her vision blurred slightly. She had to divert spiritual power to suppress it, which meant she couldn’t fully focus on breaking free.
Above, Gerald finally tore himself loose from the ribbons’ suppression. He seized the opportunity instantly. “Disciples!”
Three thousand cultivators below responded as one, channeling their power upward. Golden light gathered into a colossal sword that seemed capable of splitting heaven itself. It fell.
Boom—!
The blade crashed into a massive golden bell that materialized around the woman.
Clang—!
The shockwave rippled outward. Her defensive artifact. Her face turned pale.
She chanted rapidly, trying to retrieve her treasure, severing vine after vine in the process.
Below, the ground was littered with Briar’s broken branches. Its tiny face flushed crimson from strain. Yet it refused to let go.
Every time a cluster of vines was sliced apart, new ones immediately coiled upward to replace them.
If it hadn’t been severely injured before… if its cultivation weren’t suppressed by this world’s laws…
It wouldn’t be struggling like this. Frustration burned through it.
“Lauren!” Gerald’s voice cracked through the chaos.
His massive golden sword hung suspended midair—but he couldn’t bring it down.
If he missed this opening, killing her would become ten times harder. He was so close he could taste it. One breath. One inch. But he and the three thousand disciples feeding him power were running on fumes.
Lauren hadn’t been standing around. The moment Briar entangled the woman and Gerald broke free, she’d already slapped an Escape Talisman onto herself and flashed behind the woman in a blur.
Armor-Breaking Talismans—high-grade ones she’d been hoarding—were already in her hand. She slammed them straight onto the golden bell.
Crack!
The sound was crisp. Clean. Like ice splitting in winter. The defensive artifact shattered into four pieces, fragments scattering through the air.
Gerald didn’t hesitate. With a deafening roar, the colossal golden sword came crashing down and cleaved the woman straight through the skull.
Her body split cleanly in two.
Silence. Then everything collapsed at once.
Gerald and the three thousand disciples behind him lost their connection simultaneously. It was like someone had cut the strings holding up a puppet army. They dropped. All of them.
Gerald fell from the sky, face first— Only to be caught midair by a web of red vines.
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