Seizing a fleeting gap in Wangchuan’s defense, Li Fuxi struck. Her spirit sword dissolved into a streak of biting frost, aiming straight for his heart. But Wang Pan’s support arrived in the blink of an eye; a heavy, earthen-yellow barrier of light instantly condensed before Wangchuan to intercept the blow.

The spirit sword slammed into the barrier, sending shards of ice exploding outward. The shield shuddered violently, a web of fractures instantly spreading across its surface. A cold, ruthless light erupted in Li Fuxi’s eyes. She held nothing back, pouring every ounce of her spiritual power into the blade until the tip shone with a blinding, piercing radiance.

CRACK!

Unable to withstand the pressure, the barrier shattered into motes of light.

The Wangchuan puppet raised his sword-fingers to block Li Fuxi’s lethal strike. On that stiff, artificial face, the corners of the mouth twitched, pulled upward with visible difficulty. A rough, distorted voice rasped from its throat, mimicking a tone from the past:

“You’ve done really well, Xi’er.”

“You’ve worked hard all these years.”

The voice carried a trace of warmth—a sickeningly perfect imitation of the real Wangchuan.

Li Fuxi’s hand trembled violently. But deep within her icy pupils, there was no hesitation, only a surge of profaned fury.

She did not withdraw. Instead, she drove the sword forward, channeling the full weight of her body and soul into the thrust.

The air around the blade instantly froze, crystallizing into countless shards of diamond-hard ice. More terrifying was the resonance between her chaotic emotions and her Dual Heavenly Spirit Roots. Above the plaza, the lead-gray clouds churned as if stirred by an invisible hand, and without warning, wisps of freezing rain began to drift down.

A phenomenon born of pure spiritual resonance!

Meanwhile, deep within the ruins of the Imperial Tomb at the far end of the Secret Realm.

The two Nascent Soul elders of the Lingxu Sword Sect, Qingshi and Long Zhi, combined their strength to blast open the final restriction. As the dust settled, they saw a figure clad in black robes, a pitch-black mask covering his face, sitting calmly beside a broken stone table.

He sat upright, motionless, as if he had been waiting for them for an eternity.

“You’ve come.” His voice filtered through the mask—calm, even, yet carrying a chill that made the heart palpitate.

Far away in the center of the battlefield, Xia Xuanyin frowned the moment his gaze landed on the figure. He sensed a faint, almost imperceptible trace of Imperial Qi leaking from the man. Though it was buried under thick layers of demonic corruption, Xia Xuanyin—an Emperor himself—was acutely sensitive to the aura of a ruler.

“It’s him!” Xia Xuanyin understood instantly. This was the mad tyrant the Xuan Zhou team had encountered in the past—the Old Emperor who had not hesitated to sacrifice his entire dynasty for power.

Daoist Qingshi, sensing the dense, suffocating evil radiating from the man, felt his anger spike. “Evil creature! Was it you who slaughtered every living being in this realm?”

The black-robed figure slowly stood up, letting out a sinister, rattling chuckle. “Slaughter? Hmph! They were my subjects. To offer their Life Essence for my grand ascension is their supreme glory!”

Xia Xuanyin’s voice cut through space like a blade of ice. “If I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t just this Secret Realm. The great world outside… that was once your kingdom too, wasn’t it?”

“For this wretched power—neither human nor ghost—you sacrificed your entire nation. Hundreds of millions of subjects. Within that imperial city were countless descendants of your own bloodline! Do you possess even a shred of humanity?”

“Humanity?” The Black Venerable laughed as if he had heard the world’s greatest absurdity. His voice rose to a shriek, trembling with insane obsession. “Emperor of Great Xia, you disappoint me! You hold the throne, yet you possess the bleeding heart of a woman!”

“If I had been given a few hundred more years… once I ruled the world, the entire five domains of the cultivation world would have prostrated at my feet! Mere mortal ants—if they die, they die. Their sacrifice is nothing but dust on the road to supreme hegemony!”

Long Zhi had no interest in debating a monster. She raised a jade-like hand and uttered a single, clear command. “Fall.”

BOOM!

A bolt of purple lightning, thick as a water barrel, tore through the gloomy sky and crashed directly onto the black-robed figure’s head.

The Black Venerable did not dodge. His right hand shot up, palm churning with black mist, and he grabbed the lightning bolt mid-air. A piercing screech of tearing energy erupted as the black mist and violet thunder clashed violently.

The next second, the Black Venerable’s fingers clenched.

SNAP!

He crushed the violent thunderbolt with brute force, scattering the sparks into the wind.

Long Zhi’s eyes remained cold and clear. She exchanged a glance with Qingshi, and the two charged forward in unison. Their stance was clear: no more words. Only a fight to the death.

Xia Xuanyin and Lin Xiaozhu did not immediately join the fray. The Emperor’s gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield. The enemy’s numbers were far greater than anticipated.

Beyond Daoist Qianji’s puppets, there were scores of cultivators like Jianchen—traitors corrupted by [Desire] who had actively defected. Among them were notorious Old Demons at the peak of the Golden Core realm. These were the true backbone of the Demon Nest.

He saw Lin Yinyin wielding a spirit sword that flowed with liquid light, fiercely battling an Old Demon skilled in poison. Her swordsmanship was agile and remarkably resilient. He saw Daoist Wangya, his sword momentum like a rainbow, suppressing several evil cultivators shrouded in blood-light. He saw Yun Wanqing surrounded by defensive artifacts, waving a crimson feather fan that scattered a sky full of burning plumes, holding her ground against two late-stage Golden Core enemies.

All thanks to Zhang Xian, Xia Xuanyin thought grimly. Without Zhang Xian pinpointing the Demon Nest’s location and bankrolling the alliance with massive resources, this battle would have been a catastrophe. The Demon Nest’s expansion speed was far beyond their worst nightmares.

But just as he surveyed the field, the situation shifted.

An insidious streak of dark blue sword light shot abruptly from the void behind Yun Wanqing. It was silent, swift, and aimed ruthlessly at her heart.

“Careful!” Xia Xuanyin reacted instantly.

The might of the Emperor erupted! Without moving his body, he pointed a finger into the air. A beam of condensed golden sword qi—arriving late but striking first—slashed precisely into the dark blue ambusher. The blue light shattered with a crisp ring.

Xia Xuanyin didn’t stop. His left hand opened, fingers splayed, and he clawed at the empty air. “Get out here!”

It was as if an invisible mirror had been crushed. Space distorted violently, and a figure wearing a white mask was forcibly squeezed out of the void.

It was the White Venerable.

Yun Wanqing spun around, startled. When she saw the figure, and the familiar lingering intent of the Cloud Mist Sword Scripture, her body froze as if struck by lightning. Her eyes filled with disbelief and a deep, crushing despair.

Was it really Xuan Zhou? Zhen’er’s father… he… he actually tried to kill me?

The White Venerable’s sneak attack had failed. The eyes beneath the mask were icy and annoyed. He ignored Yun Wanqing entirely, his figure flickering as he prepared to melt back into the shadows. As he moved, his hands flicked rapidly—several more sinister blue sword lights shot out like arrows, this time targeting Lin Yinyin in the distance.

“Despicable!” Daoist Wangya roared. He parried his own opponent with a heavy blow, then released his grip. His longsword flew out, transforming into a shocking rainbow that intercepted and annihilated the sword lights aimed at Lin Yinyin.

“Fellow Daoist Lin, I leave this area to you!” Xia Xuanyin’s voice trembled with suppressed rage. All three Nascent Soul demons had revealed themselves; he no longer had any reason to hold back.

He took a single step forward and vanished.

When he reappeared, he was already standing at the edge of the shadows where the White Venerable had faded. His terrified Divine Sense swept the void like a tsunami, instantly locking onto a faint ripple in space.

With a wave of his sleeve, Xia Xuanyin tore a jagged rift in reality and stepped into the void without hesitation, giving chase.