Zhi Xuan snorted, wiping blood that was not his own from his fist. His head throbbed, but he had gained justification; his body foundation, forged with the Heavenly Calamity and the Heavenly-Blood Body Law, was capable of withstanding the soul backlash, even if it was only the first soul.

  Without pause, Zhi Xuan shot forward again, targeting the cultivator with the scorched shoulder. The man, who had just witnessed the brutal death of his leader, was paralyzed by terror. He began to flee, channeling all the spiritual essence he possessed into his feet. However, he could not outrun the speed of the Heavenly-Blood Body Law.

  Zhi Xuan overtook him in the blink of an eye. This time, he channeled a hint of the Thunder Law into his knee. The knee strike, enveloped in thunder, slammed into the man's back, shattering his spine and his Divine Wheel.

  The second blood and spiritual essence were quickly pulled out and absorbed by the Heavenly-Blood Body Law. The second Slaughter Seal glowed brighter in Zhi Xuan's meridians, his physical foundation strengthened, and his Devil aura felt increasingly dense and cruel.

  The second soul, with a wail louder than the first, darted into the Soul Lantern. The second Soul Backlash was far more powerful. The whispers of thousands of souls in Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness turned into hysterical roars, demanding vengeance and liberation. Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness churned violently, forcing him to step heavily on the water to stabilize himself. A sharp, burning pain spread throughout his body, as if his soul were being torn apart.

  Zhi Xuan clenched his teeth. He focused his cold will. The Heavenly Samsara Wheel spun at maximum speed, creating a pure vortex that swallowed the mental waves. The Devil Life Tree emitted a deep green essence, isolating his Primary Soul from the mental poison. He managed to suppress the backlash within breaths, but he felt his lips crack and the corners of his eyes leak a small amount of blood.

  "A powerful mental attack," Zhi Xuan murmured, his tone cold, his eyes now radiating a burning determination. He knew he could only withstand a few more backlashes before his Divine Wheel was threatened.

  The final target was the gray-robed old man who was still protected by the ancient bronze shield. The old man, who had watched two of his comrades be brutally killed in seconds, was now trembling with fear. He knew the ancient shield could only withstand the attack of the Devil Blood Swords, but it could not stop the physical strike of a cultivator who moved as fast as a devil. Zhi Xuan lunged for the third time. He did not waste time looking for a weak point in the shield.

  Zhi Xuan struck with his left hand, shrouded in the essence of the Heavenly-Blood Law. The blow was not aimed at the shield, but at the old man himself. His left hand pierced the air, and he channeled the Law of Withered Winter, which slows and harvests essence slowly, into his punch—a Law that attacks internal vibrations and foundations.

  The ancient bronze shield vibrated violently, but it did not break. However, inside the shield, the old man felt the attack penetrate his spiritual defense, causing a wave of internal vibrations that damaged his Divine Wheel. He staggered back, vomiting blood, and the Bronze Talisman in his hand crumbled into dust. The old man was now naked without protection. He stared at Zhi Xuan with eyes full of despair and horror.

  Zhi Xuan gave him no time to plead. He manifested the Will-Crushing Fist, striking the old man's forehead with a fist coated in the Thick Blood Law. The punch left no physical wound, but it completely destroyed the old man's Sea of Consciousness and Divine Wheel.

  The third blood and spiritual essence were absorbed by the Heavenly-Blood Body Law. The third Slaughter Seal formed clearly, and Zhi Xuan felt his physical foundation surge. His tempered body now felt like heated steel.

  The third soul shot into the Soul Lantern. The third Soul Backlash was the most brutal. Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness felt as if the entire sky were collapsing. The whispers of thousands of souls now turned into a collective roar of accusation and curses. The Devil Will inside him surged wildly, and the Devil Thought screamed with joy, nearly taking over. Zhi Xuan felt his vision blur for a moment.

  Zhi Xuan released a Primordial roar in his Sea of Consciousness, a force from the Kun Peng Fetus that was now vibrating at the base. The Heavenly Samsara Wheel spun like a mad top, reversing the mental fluctuations. The backlash was too strong for him to dampen alone, but Zhi Xuan stood tall on the water, letting cold blood flow from his nose.

  "Great Saint!" Zhi Xuan hissed coldly, his breath coming in sharp gasps. He needed Ruo Xianxue's help to stop the roar from the soul wails.

  Ruo Xianxue, who was still leaning against the Ancient Devil Monument in Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness, snorted coldly. Although her tone was indifferent, a soft silvery light—the Primordial essence—was emitted from her double pupils and flowed into Zhi Xuan's Devil Life Tree, helping to dampen the wave of soul wails that struck. The Life Tree immediately calmed its spiritual swaying, absorbing the shock of the vile energy.

  Zhi Xuan gritted his teeth, the throbbing in his head subsiding. He gazed at the three remaining Shi Clan cultivators—two badly wounded in the water, and one still standing stiff but filled with fear. They were now facing a pure madness that defied logic.

  "Three souls are already mine," Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice now containing a cruel satisfaction. He stepped forward, his feet not sinking into the lake surface, but gliding with a speed amplified by the growing Slaughter Seals.

  He shot toward the two cultivators reeling in the water, their bodies still enveloped in the dark purple aura left by the Blood Thunder explosion. They were burdens that had to be removed immediately.

  "Soul-Stopping Water!" roared one of the two cultivators. He channeled all his remaining spiritual essence, trying to freeze the water around Zhi Xuan, trapping him in spiritual ice.

  Zhi Xuan only laughed cynically, a laugh that sounded like the scraping of cold blades. Before the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron residing in his hand, the Frozen Winter Law was a joke. He did not flee; he punched the air in front of him.

  The strike released the Law of Rising Spring and Burning Summer simultaneously. Two opposing laws exploded on the water's surface. The spiritual ice immediately melted into boiling water. The two cultivators, trapped in the midst of the boiling and exploding water, shrieked in pain as their spiritual essence evaporated.

  Zhi Xuan shot through the mist of steam, his cold and hard hand grabbing the first cultivator's neck. He did not kill quickly; he harvested. The Law of Decaying Autumn seeped into the cultivator's throat, rotting his spiritual essence from within. His soul, filled with immense pain, was pulled into the Soul Lantern.

  The fourth and fifth soul backlashes came together—two waves of wails sharper than before. Zhi Xuan's head throbbed violently, and he had to use his full strength to withstand the turmoil that threatened to shatter his Sea of Consciousness.

  "Hurry! Kill the rest, Zhi Xuan!" Ruo Xianxue hissed in the Sea of Consciousness. "The longer you harvest, the stronger the attack. Do not play with Wandering Souls!"

  In the air, the battle between the Ancient Insect and the Peak Five Elements Elder reached its climax. Shi Yue, who had launched the Lethal Water Poison, was now overcome with despair. His poison, which should have paralyzed the enemy, was merely absorbed by Xiao Die's rainbow silk threads. The giant moth circled in the air happily, each turn releasing Soft Rainbow Powder that acted as a poison to Shi Yue's Poison Law.

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  "Thousand Feathered Moth, you shall not touch my Dao!" Shi Yue roared. Realizing his poison and Water Law were ineffective, he brought out a high-level Spirit Artifact, the Seven Water Snake Poison Needles. Thousands of silver needles coated in spiritual poison shot toward Xiao Die, trying to pierce her feather defense.

  Xiao Die, now spinning faster, released more Soft Rainbow Powder from her wings. The powder created an unexpected Spiritual Shield. The Seven Water Snake Poison Needles, upon touching the powder, immediately reacted back. The poison coating the needles turned into pure spiritual essence and was absorbed by Xiao Die's silk threads, which now became thicker and denser.

  "Impossible! A reverse Devour technique?!" Shi Yue shrieked. He was a master of Water and Poison Laws. Such a reverse poison attack was a madness that could only be performed by an Ancient Insect.

  Xiao Die did not answer. She only flapped her wings harder, the rainbow silk threads that had now absorbed the spiritual poison darting quickly toward Shi Yue. Shi Yue, seeing his spiritual defense crumble, had no choice. He pointed his Spiritual Water Sword downward.

  "Sky-Reversing Water Seal!" He called upon the entire lake water beneath him, creating a giant whirlpool trying to pull Xiao Die into it. However, Xiao Die's silk threads were faster. They wrapped around the whirlpool, binding and absorbing its Water Law.

  A strongest silk thread pierced Shi Yue's shoulder. The pain was lethal, but more terrifying was the sensation of his spiritual essence being forcibly pulled out of his Divine Wheel. Shi Yue staggered, spiritual blood flowing from his shoulder.

  "I will kill you, damned insect!" Shi Yue roared. He ignored the pain and shot upward, avoiding the Rainbow Powder, trying to reach the Heavenly Moth for a physical attack.

  Below, Zhi Xuan had finished harvesting the fifth cultivator and was now moving to the last one. This final cultivator, who had earlier led the Soul-Stopping Water attack, could now only crawl backward with eyes filled with pure horror. Zhi Xuan, with five souls now residing in the Soul Lantern, felt strong agitation in his Sea of Consciousness. But he could not stop. He needed this last cultivator.

  He shot forward and stepped on the cultivator's back. With a cold hiss, Zhi Xuan channeled the Autumn Law into his heel. The cultivator's spine cracked, and his spiritual essence was pulled out through an invisible harvesting path. His soul, which did not even have time to scream, was sucked into the Soul Lantern.

  The sixth backlash was a sledgehammer. Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness shook violently. The pain surpassed a physical blow; it was a genuine instability of the Dao. The Devil Thought at the base of the consciousness sea trembled, and its dark purple grin widened. Zhi Xuan ignored it, taking a long breath and holding the pain with his pure will.

  He channeled essence into the Heavenly Cauldron, letting the artifact absorb the excess spiritual energy he had just harvested. He stood tall; the six Shi Clan Consciousness Transformation cultivators had fallen and been harvested. Zhi Xuan looked up. In the air, Shi Yue had managed to ward off Xiao Die by releasing the Most Lethal Water Poison attack over a wide area, forcing Xiao Die to dodge. But Shi Yue's skin was now covered in small rainbow rashes—the effect of Xiao Die's Rainbow Powder that had seeped in.

  "You dare to disturb the Black Dragon Tomb!" Shi Yue roared. He saw Zhi Xuan, standing on the water, alone, surrounded by the corpses of his comrades. He saw Zhi Xuan's Consciousness Transformation aura, but he knew the Ancient Insect was controlled by him.

  "I have come to take the Destiny that you stole," Zhi Xuan replied coldly. He stepped forward, letting the Heavenly Cauldron return to his Sea of Consciousness. He stared at Shi Yue. "You will be good fertilizer for my Dao."

  "Arrogant! A mere Consciousness Transformation!" Shi Yue was overcome with overflowing rage. He felt belittled by a lower-realm cultivator. He gathered all his spiritual essence in his hands, forming the Greatest Poison Water Snake Projection—a giant water snake made of pure spiritual essence and lethal poison. The snake shot downward, targeting Zhi Xuan.

  Suddenly Shi Yue's body froze as a blade as white as snow pierced him. He choked and looked down to see the sword that had impaled his chest. The giant water snake immediately dissolved into water, and Shi Yue writhed before falling to the lake's surface.

  Zhi Xuan was surprised and had not expected such a sudden attack. He immediately looked around and sharpened his divine sense to see who had suddenly attacked Shi Yue. Xiao Die, finished with Shi Yue, shrank back into a small moth and floated cheerfully to Zhi Xuan's side. There was silence for a moment; nothing happened except for Zhi Xuan trembling slightly from the soul backlash.

  "Senior!" Ao Sheng suddenly shouted near the willow tree. He was there with a young woman wearing the robes of a female cultivator. "Sister Zhao Xue helped us!"

  Zhi Xuan turned toward the source of the voice. He saw Ao Sheng and a young woman standing among the trees. The woman had clean white cultivator robes decorated with spiritual ice patterns and held a long sword with a blade as white as snow—the same sword that had just pierced Shi Yue.

  Zhao Xue. The name spun in Zhi Xuan's mind. He had never heard the name, not remembering it in detail except for the Zhao that might be the ruling lineage of the Zhao State. What was certain was that the aura this woman radiated was cold and pure, like untouched snow, and her strength, capable of crippling a Peak Five Elements expert with a single sword strike, clearly surpassed Zhi Xuan's current realm.

  Zhi Xuan calmed the turmoil in his Sea of Consciousness, hiding the foulness of the Soul Lantern. He immediately realized that someone had intervened, and this intervention carried the weight of a major sect. He ignored Shi Yue, who now fell into the lake, his body frozen and his soul gone. The snow blade had not only pierced his body; it had frozen his Divine Wheel and harvested the soul in a clean manner.

  Ao Sheng and Zhao Xue shot forward with a movement that brought them close to Zhi Xuan in an instant. Zhao Xue immediately pointed her sword at Zhi Xuan, her eyes radiating a sharpness filled with suspicion despite her action of seemingly slaughtering the Shi Clan guards.

  "Who are you?" Zhao Xue asked sharply, her voice as cold as frozen ice that could freeze even a soul. Her eyes stared at Zhi Xuan with a strong killing intent. "Tell me, what is your relationship with Lin Mu?"

  Zhi Xuan, with his body still plagued by the subtle Soul Backlash and a burning pain in his Sea of Consciousness, only smiled coldly. His smile was like a Devil Lotus blooming in the snow—cold and full of danger.

  He took a long breath, readjusting his Consciousness Transformation aura, which now felt denser and calmer despite the slaughter he had just unleashed. He waved Xiao Die away with a subtle hand gesture, signaling her to return to his Sea of Consciousness.

  "Lin Mu is but a name from the past," Zhi Xuan replied, his voice cold and indifferent. He stared at the snow sword pointed at his chest without blinking. "The youth behind you is now named Ao Sheng, and I am his Senior, helping him reclaim his Destiny."

  "His Senior?" Zhao Xue repeated, her tone filled with suspicion. She did not lower her sword. She was a cultivator forged by strict sect discipline, and she would not easily believe him. Her sword, which radiated the aura of the True Ice Law, was only inches away from Zhi Xuan's chest, testing his outermost Spiritual Shield.

  "You slaughtered six Shi Clan Consciousness Transformation cultivators and destroyed their pavilion with a Devil Cauldron," Zhao Xue continued, her sharp eyes staring at the silence around Zhi Xuan, which was now enveloped in a soft, vile aura. "Your crimes exceed ordinary sect conflicts. You have drawn their souls. You are a Devil Daoist."

  Zhao Xue knew well that the soul harvesting technique, which left soulless corpses and absorbed spiritual blood, was a characteristic not possessed by the orthodox Dao. Her face was undaunted and threatening; she considered the man before her to be someone walking a heterodox path.

  "I am merely a Wanderer," he tilted his gaze up from the sword extended at his chest, staring back at Zhao Xue sharply. "And if you have a relationship with Ao Sheng, you should not point a sword at his ally."

  Ao Sheng, standing behind Zhao Xue, immediately placed his hand on the woman's shoulder. Deep concern radiated from his eyes; his fear was not for Zhi Xuan, but for the possibility of Zhao Xue offending the Senior who had given him dignity and a spirit-awakening promise.

  "Senior, this is Sister Zhao Xue," he said softly, trying to lower the tension by introducing Zhao Xue to avoid any misunderstanding. "Sister Zhao Xue is a cultivator guarding the border of the Xing Luo Plains; previously, she was on a mission sent by the Zhao State. Now she has returned and found me by that willow tree. She has considered me her younger brother since childhood!"

  Zhao Xue, feeling her shoulder gently squeezed with a pleading tone, as if Ao Sheng feared she might offend Zhi Xuan, was confused by this realization. She did not lower her sword; she tilted her head for a moment to scrutinize Zhi Xuan's face. Her eyes narrowed to see the familiar Snow Phoenix Jade in her sight. She looked back at Zhi Xuan's face, this time even more sharply.

  "Did you steal the Snow Phoenix Jade?" Zhao Xue asked sharply, almost piercing Zhi Xuan's chest with her sword. Her tone was steady and firm. "That belongs to the Holy Fairy Zhu Qinglan."