Long Zhizheng’s face was frozen in shock.
What was that?
The Law power erupting from her strike was actually more condensed and pure than his own!
Was this some kind of joke?
How could a mere ant of the Body Integration Realm like Tai Lingxuan trigger Laws of the world on such a scale?
Long Zhizheng’s face instantly turned ashen, and his palms snapped into a hand seal.
There were no words, and no room for hesitation.
Since the fight had begun, he would give it his all.
This was a battle to the death!
In an instant, two purple-red giant hands erupted from the ground.
They crushed the earth on the left and right, closing in to crush Tai Lingxuan between them.
Tai Lingxuan’s gaze was sharp as her peripheral vision swept over the girl beside her, who was shivering with fear.
With Lingxi here, it was difficult to use her full strength.
‘Right! The Extreme Disk!’
A flash of inspiration struck Tai Lingxuan’s mind.
There was a small pocket dimension within the Extreme Disk.
“Lingxi, do not move or be nervous. Leave everything to your Master.”
As Tai Lingxuan spoke, she poured spiritual power into the Extreme Disk and drew Lingxi entirely inside.
Without Lingxi to protect, Tai Lingxuan felt the pressure on her shoulders lighten significantly.
Immediately after, her Stellar Billowing Ribbon flew out from her sleeves like a living creature, surrounding the woman with brilliant starlight.
Layers of Extreme Yin spiritual power rippled out from the edges of the ribbon.
[HEHUAN ART — THOUSAND FROST CHILL!]
Tai Lingxuan’s red lips parted slightly as her spiritual power surged, fueling the Extreme Yin essence within her body.
In an heartbeat, everything within a 100-yard radius was frozen, covered in a thick layer of frost.
The giant hands closing in from both sides slowed down as they touched the space shrouded in extreme cold.
In the sky, Long Zhizheng also felt a wave of resistance, but veins soon bulged across the back of his hands.
“A death struggle!”
With a low shout, Long Zhizheng exerted a fierce force through his arms.
The giant hands tore through the frozen space and continued their advance toward Tai Lingxuan.
However, their speed remained slightly delayed.
Tai Lingxuan tapped her toes against the frosted ground, using the recoil to propel herself high into the air.
The Stellar Billowing Ribbon unfurled behind her, interweaving with ice shards formed from the Extreme Yin power to create fan-like wings.
They propelled her like an arrow toward Long Zhizheng in the high sky.
“Hoh, instead of running away, you’re approaching me?”
Floating high in the air, Long Zhizheng watched Tai Lingxuan’s rapid approach.
A contemptuous sneer curled his lips.
“You court death!”
Before his voice finished echoing, Long Zhizheng reached out with his right hand and grasped at the air.
[QIANKUN ART — ONE HAND GRASPING HEAVEN AND EARTH!]
In the void, a purple-red giant hand condensed entirely from spiritual power appeared out of thin air.
This hand was more solid than any of the previous ones.
Its five fingers were already closing, bringing down a terrifying, irresistible force upon Tai Lingxuan’s head.
If Long Zhizheng hadn’t wanted to keep Tai Lingxuan’s corpse intact — or even capture her alive — he could have unleashed an even more powerful and domineering killing move!
The giant hand closed rapidly, seemingly about to lock Tai Lingxuan firmly in its palm!
Right at that moment, the Stellar Billowing Ribbon around Tai Lingxuan’s body suddenly exploded with a brilliant rainbow light!
The light flashed and vanished silently.
In the next instant, Tai Lingxuan’s figure appeared behind Long Zhizheng like a ghost.
“What?!”
Long Zhizheng’s expression changed.
Instant movement?
Most importantly, Tai Lingxuan’s teleportation hadn’t caused any spatial fluctuations!
Was it because of that ribbon on her body?
Long Zhizheng didn’t have time to overthink.
Tai Lingxuan raised her right hand and threw out a set of eight small golden flags.
The moment the eight flags left Tai Lingxuan’s palm, they expanded rapidly, transforming into eight giant banners several yards high in the blink of an eye.
The surfaces of the flags were covered in dense golden runes, emitting a domineering and powerful aura.
The eight flag shadows fanned out, instantly establishing a massive formation around Long Zhizheng and trapping him inside.
Tai Lingxuan narrowed her eyes and frantically poured spiritual power into the array.
As she moved, the golden runes on the eight flags lit up.
They wove and tangled together, quickly forming a massive golden barrier that sealed off the space within the formation.
[NIRVANA ANNIHILATION ARRAY — TOTAL SLAUGHTER!]
The moment the formation activated, Long Zhizheng’s face paled drastically.
He could clearly feel an unprecedented aura of death emanating from the array.
Within the formation, vast chains of worldly Laws interwove.
They not only severed his connection to the natural spiritual power but also wove themselves into the shapes of blades.
Fueled by Tai Lingxuan’s spiritual power, they began to slash at him from all directions!
Even as a Great Ascension cultivator with a powerful physical body and his own Laws to defend himself, Long Zhizheng was covered in several wounds in just a few moments.
“Damn it!” Long Zhizheng gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Where did Tai Lingxuan get such a murderous formation?
Even though Tai Lingxuan was a peak Body Integration cultivator, this array was actually capable of trapping and killing him, a Great Ascension Realm master.
The Laws contained within it were so condensed, so domineering, and so full of killing intent.
Long Zhizheng gritted his teeth, a flicker of madness flashing in his eyes.
Although he couldn’t communicate with external spiritual power, he still had his own reserves.
Furthermore, his soul could still function!
[THOUSAND SOULS, HUNDRED REFINEMENTS — DIVINE PUPPETS, MANIFEST!]
He chanted silently in his heart.
In the next moment, purple threads radiated from Long Zhizheng as the center, spreading out like a spider web.
Every thread was connected to a shadowy, ethereal female figure with a graceful silhouette.
Outside the array, Tai Lingxuan was focusing all her strength on controlling the formation.
She was still marveling in her heart at the incredible power of the flags Chen Yuyang had given her.
But when she saw the figures suddenly appearing within the formation, her brows furrowed tightly.
A nameless sense of foreboding surged in her heart.
However, rather than a bad feeling, the aura emanating from those figures felt familiar.
It was a familiarity that was extremely unpleasant.
Soon, one of the figures closest to Long Zhizheng solidified, her face finally becoming clear.
When she saw that face, Tai Lingxuan felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
Her entire body froze in place, and her pupils constricted sharply.
“Se — Second Senior Sister…”
Tai Lingxuan’s voice trembled, raspy and filled with an unbelievable quiver.
Following that, a second, then a third…
More and more figures solidified, their faces becoming clear one by one.
“Eldest Senior Sister…”
“Junior Sister…”
“Master…”
“Elder Zhang… Elder Li…”
“…”
One familiar face after another appeared.
At this moment, however, their eyes were dull.
They were being pulled like marionettes by those purple threads, standing in front of Long Zhizheng to block the Law attacks of the Nirvana Annihilation Array.
In this moment, Tai Lingxuan felt a chill rush to her head.
The blood in her body seemed to freeze.
Her beautiful body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Those people were the very teachers and sisters of the Hehuan Sect who had disappeared without a trace after leaving the sect.
Tai Lingxuan had always thought they might be dead, having perished in some place she didn’t know about.
But she never expected that they would appear in Long Zhizheng’s hands in such a form!
Tai Lingxuan felt as if a hand were violently squeezing her heart.
It was an unspeakable pain.
With this surge of emotion, the spiritual power Tai Lingxuan was feeding into the array naturally decreased, and the offensive power within the formation weakened significantly.
“Long Zhizheng!”
Tai Lingxuan snapped her head up.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and her voice became shrill and piercing due to her uncontrollable rage.
“What did you do to them!”
Long Zhizheng felt the pressure from the formation weaken instantly.
Seeing the change in Tai Lingxuan’s expression and her near-total loss of emotional control, he realized this might be his chance to break her spirit.
As long as she lost control, he would have the chance to kill her.
Once she was dead, the formation would break on its own.
Long Zhizheng smiled arrogantly.
“What did I do to them?”
“Don’t get it wrong, Tai Lingxuan. They were the ones who begged me to turn them into this.”
“And all of this was because of you.”
“Back then, your Hehuan Sect should have been completely wiped out. But to make us spare you and a few ordinary disciples, they personally came to beg me.”
“So, I made a deal with them.”
“They volunteered to become my Divine Puppets. In exchange, I intervened to save you and a few disciples, allowing the Hehuan Sect to keep a bit of its legacy alive.”
Listening to Long Zhizheng’s words, Tai Lingxuan was stunned.
A stormy sea of emotions erupted in her heart.
So — so this was the truth?
This was what her Master and the others had done after leaving the sect to protect her.
Looking at those lifeless expressions and familiar faces, Tai Lingxuan felt something within her heart shattering.
Long Zhizheng felt her hesitation and his lips curled into a triumphant smile.
The spiritual power in his body began to circulate.
Although Long Zhizheng could only do so much using just the spiritual power within his body…
This was his chance!
Long Zhizheng’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
While Tai Lingxuan was still lost in her shock, he violently reached out to grab her.
A giant hand emerged.
At such close range, Tai Lingxuan had no time or space to dodge.
But…
Just then.
A golden talisman appeared out of thin air.
After it shattered, it transformed into a golden flow of light, weaving into a golden sphere that shielded Tai Lingxuan.
The giant hand crushed down but was instead shattered by the shield.
Tai Lingxuan snapped back to her senses, looking in shock at the shield that was also beginning to crack, and the True Dragon Scale that was slowly dissipating.
Was it an illusion?
Why did this scale give her such a familiar feeling?
‘Yuyang…’
‘Is it him?’
‘No, he can’t possibly be here.’
But…
Tai Lingxuan felt as if he were there with her.
Scenes from the past surfaced in the depths of Tai Lingxuan’s heart.
The familiar faces before her eyes began to fade and shatter alongside her memories.
And amidst those countless fragments, one person stood there clearly — a black-haired, black-eyed youth.
The youth turned his head and looked at her with a smile.
Vaguely, Tai Lingxuan seemed to see his lips move, as if saying something to her.
Long Zhizheng was stunned.
He never expected a talisman would automatically appear under those circumstances to block his strike.
Did that talisman have a spirit of its own and protect its master automatically?
What a joke.
Long Zhizheng’s face became extremely unsightly.
Without being able to communicate with the world’s spiritual power, the attacks he could launch with his own power were extremely limited.
Just as Long Zhizheng was wondering what to do, a strong sense of unease suddenly surged in his heart.
Looking up, he saw Tai Lingxuan staring at him.
That beautiful face was now as terrifying as an asura or a demon.
Her eyes had turned blood-red, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
Her teeth were clenched so hard that blood seeped from her lips.
Then, a terrifying aura exploded from within Tai Lingxuan.
The Laws of heaven and earth transformed into golden chains, descending from the sky.
Vast spiritual power gathered, using Tai Lingxuan as the center, pushing her aura to climb higher and higher.
At the same time, above the heavens…
Pitch-black clouds rolled in, forming a massive vortex.
Within it, brilliant golden lightning flickered.
Tai Lingxuan had broken through!