Just as the dual breath of ice and fire threatened to tear the formation apart, a figure clad in ink-black robes stepped into the void, treading upon ripples of golden spiritual light.

Shen Xing raised a hand. The faint golden glow at his fingertip swelled violently, exploding into nine “Heavenly Punishment Swords” wrapped in searing Pure Yang energy.

“Fate has decreed your end,” Shen Xing murmured, his voice cool and detached, flowing across the battlefield like a spring breeze. “Why struggle?”

The nine golden swords hummed, arranging themselves mid-air into the pattern of the [Ancient Demon-Slaying Array Diagram].

Before the blades even struck, the Mystic Nether Demon Flood Dragon’s scales began to groan, emitting the screeching sound of metal under unbearable strain.

On the trembling ground below, Qiu Ruoli’s pupils contracted.

She recognized the trajectory of the swords. They were aligning with the secrets of the cosmos—the [Constellations of the Heavenly Cycle].

This was unmistakably the Divine Wood Sect’s Sect-Guarding Ultimate Technique, the [Heavenly Cycle Star Sword Art]. Ordinary disciples could meditate for a century and never glimpse its gateway, yet Shen Xing wielded it as effortlessly as breathing.

Truly worthy of being the Azure Province’s number one prodigy.

“Condense.”

Shen Xing tapped the air. The nine swords instantly fractured, multiplying into thousands of radiant blades.

The dragon’s terrifying breath attack was shredded into nothingness by the storm of sword light. The residual energy swept outward, scouring the earth and erasing the corrupted demonic patterns within a hundred zhang radius.

A scion from a prominent family gulped, his voice trembling. “Is this… the might of the Innate Dao Body?”

High above, Shen Xing’s robes fluttered in the gale. The jade pendant at his waist suddenly erupted with a clear, resonant light.

Below, the thirty cultivators felt a jolt run through their meridians. The fracturing formation patterns automatically knit themselves back together, fueled by an external force.

Lei Yingjie’s grip on his formation banner tightened, his hand shaking. This man… he’s using his Lifebound Dharma Treasure to reverse-feed and empower thirty Golden Core cultivators simultaneously!

“A pity,” Shen Xing whispered, looking down at the thrashing beast. “It is still a hair short.”

The golden light at his fingertips shifted again, transforming into massive chains that shot down and wrapped around the dragon’s vital points.

The Mystic Nether Demon Flood Dragon let out a heaven-shaking roar. It summoned lightning to defend itself, but the electricity was swallowed by the golden chains like rivers returning to the sea.

To suppress a Rank 7 Demon Beast with only half-step Nascent Soul cultivation—even with the aid of the formation—was a feat that defied logic.

Shen Xian stared up at the figure dominating the sky, his eyes flickering with thought.

My ‘elder brother’ is even stronger than I anticipated.

However, a Rank 7 beast was not so easily conquered. Instead of submitting, the dragon erupted with a terrifying surge of power.

It threw its head back and howled at the heavens. Every purple crystal scale on its body stood on end, and a tide of violent, bloody baleful energy exploded outward.

The space within a hundred zhang distorted. The ground beneath the formation cracked open, revealing bottomless fissures.

“Not good! It’s burning its potential!” Lei Yingjie’s expression twisted in horror. Snap! The formation banner in his hand broke in two.

In the air, Shen Xing frowned. He flickered backward, retreating several zhang.

The nine golden chains binding the beast shattered inch by inch, dissolving into specks of fading light under the dragon’s brute force.

ROAR—!

The Mystic Nether Demon Flood Dragon went completely berserk. Its bone wings spread wide, blotting out the sky and covering the sun in a shadow of death.

Its crimson vertical pupils locked onto Shen Xing. Deep within its throat, a breath of ice and fire—magnitudes stronger than before—began to glow.

“Form the array! Quickly!” Lei Yingjie screamed.

The panicked cultivators scrambled to reorganize.

Shen Xian’s gaze sharpened. He summoned the [Burning Heaven Cauldron] once more, erecting a wall of crimson-gold fire at the front of the formation. He could sense the world-destroying aura radiating from the beast; holding back now would mean death.

Hummm—

The grand formation groaned into life, weaving a net of purple lightning. It was weaker than before, but it barely managed to stabilize the situation.

Shen Xing stood at the eye of the formation, pouring golden Spiritual Power into the array. His expression remained composed, but a shadow of gravity passed through his eyes.

“This beast… actually has strength in reserve.”

The dragon hammered the formation, each impact sending tremors through the spiritual barrier. The terror of a Rank 7 Demon Beast was now fully on display.

“Hold! It can’t maintain this state for long!” Lei Yingjie shouted through gritted teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

But words were cheap. The waves of crushing pressure crashing over them made knees buckle and hearts falter.

The Mystic Nether Demon Flood Dragon roared again, blinding bloody light erupting from its scales.

Its bone wings snapped forward.

Tens of thousands of blood-colored feathers shot out like a torrential rain of arrows, each one carrying enough force to tear through space itself.

Pfft—

Three cultivators stationed at the Earthly Position nodes didn’t even have time to scream. Their protective spiritual light was pierced like wet paper.

The first cultivator stared down at his chest, pierced by three feathers. In the horror-struck eyes of his companions, his body cracked like fragile glass before detonating into a mist of blood.

The second tried to raise a shield. The feathers nailed him and the shield to the cliff face. Purple-black necrotic light spread from the wounds, burning him to charred ash in the blink of an eye.

The third, a female cultivator, suffered the grisliest fate. She summoned a ribbon Dharma Treasure, but it was shredded instantly.

Everyone saw a flash of purple light. Her beautiful face froze in shock as a red mark appeared on her forehead. A split second later, her entire head exploded like a ripe watermelon.

Blood rained down.

A flicker of cruel pleasure passed through the dragon’s vertical pupils. The blood patterns on its crystal body glowed brighter, vibrating with the ambient Spiritual Qi.

The surviving cultivators turned deathly pale. Clangs rang out as trembling hands dropped Magical Artifacts to the ground. Even with the formation, the gap was too wide. They were ants fighting a god.

“Hold nothing back!” Lei Yingjie roared, desperation cracking his voice. “If the formation breaks, we all die! There is no second chance!”

He took the lead, summoning a purple-gold gourd. The artifact swelled to the size of a house, spewing a torrent of divine lightning that slammed into the beast.

Shen Xing and Qiu Ruoli attacked in unison.

Zhou Fengxing, the white-robed Talisman Master, gritted his teeth and burned a complete set of high-tier Talismans, unleashing a volley of power rivaling a Nascent Soul True Lord.

Shen Xian didn’t idle. He pushed the [Burning Heaven Cauldron] to its limit, while secretly activating the [Blood God Scripture].

The sky was drowned in a chaotic flood of destruction.

But the Rank 7 beast’s ferocity was boundless. The blood patterns on its scales flared with a blinding crimson light, and it tanked the bombardment head-on.

“It’s burning its essence blood to survive!” Lei Yingjie’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. Cracks appeared on his precious gourd.

He bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the artifact to sustain the lightning. “Everyone! Today, either it dies, or we perish!”

Shen Xing’s expression remained stoic, but the sword seal in his hand turned sharp and lethal.

The nine golden swords in the sky merged, fusing into a single, colossal blade that seemed to bridge heaven and earth.

“Slash.”

A single, quiet word that caused the air within a hundred zhang to stagnate.

Qiu Ruoli moved with desperate urgency. Seven white lotuses bloomed at her feet, turning into streaks of light that drilled into the dragon’s open wounds.

Zhou Fengxing, face devoid of blood, ignited his final trump card. Nine fire dragons roared from his burning talismans, binding the joints of the dragon’s bone wings.

“Break!” he screamed, capillaries bursting in his eyes.

Shen Xian saw the opening.

He pushed the [Blood God Scripture] to its absolute peak. Invisible blood threads snaked out, drilling into the dragon’s body through its myriad wounds.

ROAR—!

The Demon Flood Dragon let out a howl of unprecedented agony. Its massive body writhed, smashing the surrounding ground flat.

Its violet scales exploded outward, exposing raw, squirming flesh.

It went mad. It prepared to self-destruct, to take these insects with it to the grave.

But then, the dragon’s expression twisted in confusion. The terrifying energy gathering in its core suddenly faltered.

Its essence blood was vanishing—devoured from the inside out!

“Now!”

Shen Xing sensed the sudden weakness. He roared, bringing his hand down.

The giant golden sword fell.

Simultaneously, Lei Yingjie’s lightning, Qiu Ruoli’s lotus strikes, Zhou Fengxing’s fire dragons, and the desperate attacks of every surviving cultivator slammed into the beast.

BOOM—!!!

An earth-shattering explosion engulfed the Spirit Medicine Garden.

When the blinding light faded, the thirty-zhang-long body of the Mystic Nether Demon Flood Dragon crashed to the earth, silent at last.