“First target, demon wolf on the left flank; it is distracted by the blood aura, strike its right foreleg four inches down.”
“Understood!”
The moment Yun Heng issued the command and the giant bell was lifted, Jiang Keke’s figure had already darted out of the concealment zone.
This time, she had switched her weapons for two short blades, her movements swifter and more devious.
Across the 51 consecutive live-combat drills in a short period—though she had only won 4 when counting the earlier monster kills—thanks to Yun Heng’s “causality transfer” and her diligent study of his tactical reviews whenever they had spare time, Jiang Keke had already become a fledgling “weapon master.”
She was invincible below the foundation establishment stage, and a one-for-one trade against anything below the golden core stage!
The demon wolf, as Yun Heng had anticipated, was distracted by the increasingly pungent flood dragon aura in the air during its pounce, causing it to tilt its head. When its right foreleg touched the ground, there was a faint, imperceptible instability.
In this fleeting window, Jiang Keke’s short blades pierced exactly into the gap of that old wound, and her spiritual energy spiraled and erupted along the blades’ edges!
“Gate of injury.”
“Awoooo—!”
The demon wolf howled in agony as its entire foreleg was instantly mangled, causing it to lose balance and roll.
42 seconds remaining.
“Second target, poison scorpion to the front right. Xun Zi, micro-thunder.”
A spark of electricity, so fine it was nearly invisible, struck first, arriving just as the poison scorpion’s tail stinger reached its apex and the joint of its old wound bore the maximum tension, gently “licking” against the hairline fracture.
Crack.
A subtle sound of splintering. The speed at which the poison scorpion’s tail stinger was raised suddenly stiffened, its movement distorted.
Jiang Keke landed, rolled, and rose to her feet. Without her noticing, she had swapped her blades for a heavy bow; the string held not a physical arrow, but highly condensed spiritual energy.
She was currently at level 8 of qi refining, her physical strength nearing the limit of a mortal, pulling a full-moon draw was no challenge at all.
Twang—!
“Xun Zi, thousand winds turn to blades.”
The spiritual energy arrow left the string. It did not fly in a straight line; instead, guided by a flicker of Yun Heng’s intent, it traced an unconventional arc, bypassing the scorpion’s exposed side flank caused by the sluggish tail stinger, and drilled into the visual blind spot of its compound eyes!
“Hiss—!”
The poison scorpion shrieked in pain as a small patch of its flank armor burst open. More importantly, an eerie air-current shackle invaded the wound, causing its massive body to slow down further.
35 seconds remaining.
“Third target…”
Yun Heng’s voice was that of the calmest conductor, and Jiang Keke was the sharpest string in his hands.
Under the ultimate prediction of the “Gate of opening: starry eye survey,” the continuous restoration of the “Gate of rest: endless life,” and the occasional environmental interventions such as vines summoned from the “Gate of life,” the intensified pain of the “Gate of injury,” and the precision of the “Xun Zi,” “Zhen Zi,” and “Kun Zi,” Jiang Keke transformed into the most efficient reaper on the battlefield.
She did not need to consider the grand strategy; she only needed to perfectly execute every “optimal solution” command.
Each movement and every strike appeared exactly at the moment when the monster was weakest, most off-balance, and unable to react.
This was not a battle; it was more like a meticulously choreographed execution dance.
The rock-splitting giant ape finally reacted. Roaring, it gave up on finding the true source of concealment and slammed both fists into the ground, activating a wide-range earth spike technique in an attempt to flush everyone out.
“Gen Zi, Dui Zi—Earth vein heaven rail.”
Yun Heng forcefully exerted his spiritual energy to reverse the earth veins in a small area beneath their feet, suppressing the rising spikes and forcing them back to impale the nascent soul giant ape instead.
“Lady Wang, take out that scorching fire talisman I gave you before we entered this place. Infuse it with spiritual energy, then throw it directly in front of you. Don’t be afraid, just throw it.”
Because he was connected directly to their consciousness through the Qimen, the time it took for the three women to process Yun Heng’s information was less than half a second.
Wang Hongqiao scrambled to pull out the talisman, infused it with a wisp of spiritual energy as instructed, and threw it forward with all her might.
In Yun Heng’s starry eye survey, the trajectory of the flying talisman perfectly intersected with the patch of skin behind the giant ape’s right ear—which lacked rock cover due to its head tilt—the paths of two other monsters flanking them, and the flow of the blood mist currently in the air…
“Li Zi, burning heaven boiling sea.”
Yun Heng whispered.
That scorching fire talisman was not meant for a direct attack; it was a fuse.
The moment the talisman spontaneously ignited in mid-air at the designated location, what Yun Heng ignited with the law of the “Li Zi” was not the air itself, but the fire poison and the lingering resentment and baleful qi within the blood mist.
Whoosh—!
A sheet of ghostly blue, silently burning “Li fire” suddenly erupted behind the giant ape and along the charging paths of the two flanking monsters.
The flames had no high temperature, yet they caused everything they touched—spiritual structures to become unstable, demon qi to turn chaotic, and protective runes to blur.
The giant ape roared in pain; behind its ear came the eerie agony of its demon power being incinerated. The two flanking monsters realized with terror that the demon power shields on their bodies were dissolving rapidly.
14 seconds remaining.
“Keke, giant ape, three inches below the Baihui point on top of its head.”
Jiang Keke had already leaped into the air. Her weapon had finally transformed into that initial meteor hammer. It did not swing down; instead, driven by her full power, it descended like a falling star.
Before the hammer arrived, the wind pressure had already caused the ghostly blue flames to roll backward.
The giant ape looked up, raising its rocky fists in an attempt to block, but the momentary lag in the operation of its demon power made its defense slower by 1/100th of a second.
That one-hundredth of a second was all it took.
The meteor hammer struck the exact point Yun Heng had indicated.
Crack—Boom!!!
The rock armor did not shatter from brute force; rather, beginning from the core veins, it propagated like a spiderweb and disintegrated.
“Gate of injury, Gate of closing, Gate of fear… Touch of extinction.”
It was as if the hands of Black and White Impermanence had reached out from the gates of hell, grasping the demon core from beneath the Baihui point and crushing it with a single squeeze!
The giant ape’s massive body shook violently, demon blood seeping from its seven orifices as its knees buckled and it crashed to the ground.
It could not understand: the human girl before it was clearly only in the qi refining stage, so how could she wield a hammer to inflict such a state upon a nascent soul stage monster like itself? How could this be possible for her?!
Regrettably, it would never have the chance to understand.
As the vicious glare in the ape’s eyes rapidly dimmed, this fiercest nascent soul stage monster finally drew a close to its life.
7 seconds remaining.
The remaining monsters, seeing the strongest nascent soul giant ape fall and being intimidated by the supernatural, predictive attacks and the eerie flames, had their ferocity finally overcome by fear. They let out a series of uneasy growls and began to retreat slowly.
They wanted to flee.
Even though “food” that had initially been at only the foundation establishment stage was within their reach, they wanted to run.
However—
“When you look at me, you are already in the formation.”
“The moment you harbor intent against me, you suffer the backlash.”
“All things are chess pieces; there is no regret once the piece is played.”
Yun Heng bit the tip of his tongue and swallowed the eighth nine-pattern pill he had been holding in his mouth. His cultivation surged again, breaking through to the nascent soul stage.
He then raised his right hand, extending his index finger followed by his middle finger, as if holding a brush, or perhaps a trivial chess piece.
There was no dazzling brilliance at his fingertips, only a touch of pure “gray” that seemed to devour all colors.
Then, he pointed gently at the area, his voice calm and majestic, as if proclaiming the advent of a rule:
“End!”
“Death gate.”
“All things silent.”
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no brilliant display of magical light.
There was only an invisible domain of “ending,” spreading silently from Yun Heng as the center, enveloping the rock-splitting giant ape and the space several yards around it.
The monsters discovered with horror that they were “dying”—not destroyed by external force, but from their very existence itself, moving toward a destined decay.
Howls filled with confusion and terror squeezed from their throats. They truly wanted—longed—to escape this hell, but their legs felt as if they had taken root, and every move seemed to accelerate their own disintegration.
5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds…
The monster flesh dissipated, the 50-second countdown reached zero, the light of the formation flags dimmed… Everything happened almost simultaneously.
The battle ended.
With absolute crowd control, precise dismemberment, and the crushing of rules, it drew to a close.
In the forest floor, filled with permeating blood mist, silence fell abruptly.
Yun Heng retracted the concealment, his figure clearly visible.
His face was as pale as paper, his aura instantly dropping back to the early foundation establishment stage, even showing signs of regressing further.
His spiritual qi was utterly chaotic, blood had not yet dried from his seven orifices, and as his figure swayed, he was steadied by Jiang Keke, who rushed over.
“Young Master!”
Jiang Keke’s voice trembled as she hurriedly took out a great restoration pill.
“I am fine… just exhaustion.”
Yun Heng took the pill and swallowed it, regulating his breathing for a moment before looking at the battlefield, his gaze calm.
“Clean up. Take the usable demon core materials I taught you about. We don’t have much time; the blood mist will attract other trouble soon.”
‘As expected, only by reaching the nascent soul stage or higher can one barely utilize even a star-and-a-half of the power of laws… It seems I must find a way to raise my cultivation as quickly as possible.’
Casting those distracting thoughts from his mind, Yun Heng looked at Wang Hongqiao, who was still in a daze, and offered a forced smile. “Lady Wang, lead the way. We will have to rely on you for the fire poison barrier in the third stage.”
Wang Hongqiao looked at the mangled mess of monster corpses on the ground, then at the young master who, with the body of a foundation establishment cultivator, had orchestrated this overwhelming victory, eventually letting her gaze fall upon her own slightly trembling hands.
She suddenly remembered Yun Heng’s words: “If I give you a sword and a shield, do you think you could kill a monster cultivator of at least the deity transformation stage and a powerhouse at the peak of the integration stage?”
Perhaps… that was not entirely delusional comfort.
Wang Hongqiao’s worldview had been completely reshaped at this moment.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the crashing waves of shock in her heart, nodded firmly, and pointed toward a faint, narrow path deep within the blood mist: “Young Master, please follow me.”