Alright then, you may die here.

Liu Yishou did not respond.

The low, oppressive thunderclouds spoke on his behalf.

Like hyenas catching the scent of blood, they greedily encroached from all directions, bit by bit, seeping into the dissipating, crimson-dark domain.

The wind and snow seemed to intensify.

“Kid, I’ll thank you now,” Liu Yishou’s voice rumbled lowly through the air.

“To think you could fight to this extent, enough to kill a prodigy of your caliber… it truly delights me.”

Gradually, the thunderclouds howled as they rose.

He hovered in midair, a silver blade in his hand, its surface gleaming with a bone-chilling coldness as lightning flashed.

“As a token of gratitude, let me share some life experience with you,” Liu Yishou said, his tone as if lecturing an ignorant junior.

“Learn to stop playing the hero, got it?”

The moment the words left his lips—

Su Ji’s dark red pupils sharply contracted.

He didn’t even have time to think. His body’s instincts reacted before his mind could, with the most direct response!

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet exploded, sending him vanishing from the spot in an almost teleportation-like motion, appearing a hundred zhang away in an instant!

And at that same moment—

Where he had just stood, a silver blade wreathed in purple electric light silently pierced deep into the earth.

Then—

“Zzzt—!!!”

Countless arcs of wild, electric light exploded outward from the silver blade as its center!

The ground, unable to withstand the terrifying surge of current, shattered like a mirror struck by a hammer, splitting and curling upward, exposing blackened, scorched furrows of immeasurable depth!

The destructive force kept spreading violently in all directions!

“So you dodged it?”

Liu Yishou’s figure appeared ghostlike beside the embedded blade, pulling it free, his face carrying a hint of surprise.

“Been ambushed like this before, have you?”

With his mocking murmur, the thunderclouds shrouding Kongxuan Mountain grew ever deeper.

Purple lightning wildly shuttled and converged within the dense clouds, crackling with piercing, thunderous snaps.

The range of those thunderclouds expanded at a terrifying speed.

One kilometer.

Five kilometers.

Tens of kilometers!

A crushing presence, as if the sky itself were collapsing, pressed down fiercely upon the region.

Massive, gloomy thunderclouds.

From here to the far horizon.

Stretching for tens of li!

Blocking out the very heavens.

Darkness… had fully descended.

Only the occasional flash of lightning illuminated the faces of the two men.

...

At that same moment, in the Lanyue Pavilion.

That exquisite tower perched atop Kongxuan Mountain’s peak had long since lost its former serenity.

Shattered beams, scorched ground everywhere.

Elder Yao’s hair and beard bristled. His wrinkled, aged face was twisted in extreme fury, his old eyes bloodshot and terrifyingly red!

His alchemist’s robe had been torn to shreds by the blade’s aura in the earlier clash, revealing his wiry body beneath—one that still held explosive power.

“Boom!”

A mass of alchemical flame the size of a human head shot from Elder Yao’s palm, carrying the heat to scorch mountains and boil seas—straight for the face of the Black-robed Man not far away!

This was his lifebound alchemical flame, the very essence of his lifelong mastery of the Dao of alchemy.

Yet, facing this strike, which could melt metal and stone, the Black-robed Man simply raised his left hand, spread his fingers, and—facing the incoming flame—lightly clenched his fist.

“Bang!”

A dull thud.

That wild ball of flame, as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, was brutally crushed without a chance to resist, bursting into countless sparks scattering in all directions.

“Is that all you’ve got?” The Black-robed Man sneered, brimming with disdain.

“Go back to tinkering with your little bottles and jars. Fighting isn’t your line of work.”

“Old man will kill you!” Elder Yao bellowed, his hands crashing together before his chest in a complex mudra seal.

Yun Xi also formed hand seals, chanting softly under her breath.

“Yin-Yang reversal, illusions born from the heart!”

“Hum—”

An invisible wave spread outward, centered on her.

The Black-robed Man felt his surroundings blur for a moment.

The wind-and-snow-swept Lanyue Pavilion vanished instantly.

Replacing it was a peach grove, full of birdsong and blossoms.

The sunlight was perfect; a gentle breeze caressed the air.

A girl in a light yellow dress sat beneath a peach tree, smiling radiantly, waving at him.

The core illusion technique of the Thousand Illusions Sect: drawing out the deepest obsession within the target’s heart to craft a hallucination real enough to deceive reality.

The Black-robed Man hesitated, for just a moment.

He had not seen such bright sunlight in a very, very long time.

Ever since he severed all worldly desires and embarked on the ruthless path of the blade, his world had been reduced to nothing but black and white.

But—

“A cheap trick!”

The Black-robed Man wrenched himself free from that gentle paradise instantly.

A flash of murderous brutality sparked in his eyes, and with a single raising of his hand, a slash flew!

“Ssshhh—”

The blade-light swept through, and the blossoming peach grove shattered like a burst soap bubble.

Yun Xi let out a stifled groan, as if struck hard, flying backward with a streak of blood trickling from the corner of her lips.

Her illusion had been broken.

And at the very moment her illusion shattered—

Elder Yao’s long-accumulated technique also reached its peak, crashing down upon the Black-robed Man with world-destroying might!

“Boom—!!!”

A terrifying shockwave, like a tsunami, swept through the land in all directions!

The entire Lanyue Pavilion, under that torrential force, was reduced to nothing but dust.

Smoke and debris billowed, obscuring everything.

Had they won?

“Cough… cough…”

From within the smoke came heavy coughing.

A figure staggered out from the ruins.

It was the Black-robed Man.

Even he now looked somewhat disheveled.

His black garb was tattered, exposing bronze skin covered, with a few blackened scorch marks where the pill flame had grazed him.

But he had suffered no severe wound.

That desperate strike from Elder Yao, in the end, had failed to subdue him.

The Black-robed Man spat out a mouthful of bloodied sputum, his gaze sweeping viciously across his surroundings.

Elder Yao lay in a nearby crater, his chest sunken by a large indentation.

The Black-robed Man rolled his slightly numb shoulder, an impatient expression crossing his face.

He had originally thought dealing with these beaten remnants would be child’s play.

He had not expected these ants to even dare to resist—and even come close to wounding him.

That bruised his pride.

Blade in hand, step by step, he made his way toward Yun Xi.

However—

Just as he reached them both, ready to deliver the killing blow—

His movement, without warning, Ground to a sudden halt.

For the first time, his face, always wearing that cruel smile, revealed a stunned expression.

He snapped his head upward, his gaze piercing through the thick clouds and raging wind and snow, far into the rear mountain.

That direction…

That was where his junior brother, Liu Yishou, was.

What was going on?

That aura…

He had been pushed to the point of having to use that move?!

But…

On that Empty Suspension Mountain, aside from Yun Xi, whose old injury had flared up again, and a few incompetent elders and disciples, who else was there?

Who could push Liu Yishou, a cultivator at the Refining Void realm, to such a desperate state?!

Could it be that the Yin-Yang Sect was hiding some unknown expert?

Or perhaps…

Countless possibilities flashed through the Black-robed Man’s mind, only to be dismissed one by one.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

…

With just a single glance, Su Ji understood.

This would be Liu Yishou’s most powerful strike.

Releasing the full force of his lightning, it gathered into a Heaven-Piercing Thunderblade that tore through the heavens and earth.

Su Ji gazed at the apocalyptic scene above his head. The sinister, dark red armor covering his face flickered in and out of visibility under the glare of the lightning.

He slowly raised his head. His blood-red eyes pierced through the raging blizzard and wind, locking onto the divine, demonic figure suspended in mid-air.

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

Su Ji’s voice was not loud, but it cut through the howling storm and thunder with startling clarity.

“Maybe your attack just isn’t strong enough.”

He refused to back down, launching his own counterattack.

Even so…

Su Ji was fully aware in his heart.

The advantage he currently held was already beginning to wane.

This imposing suit of armor he wore, and the inexhaustible power flowing through him—none of it came from nothing.

And in the end, he was not a true spell cultivator.

Though his mastery of spell techniques was also at the peak of perfection, the [Fiery Flow Art] was still too low-tier.

Furthermore, this type of combat, which summoned natural anomalies, consumed him heavily and was unfamiliar to him.

On the other hand, Liu Yishou.

He seemed to have merged into one with the sky’s blinding snow and the rampaging thunder.

With these shifting tides, it was only a matter of time before Su Ji was defeated.

Su Ji’s gaze swept across the distant darkness.

When it came down to it, the massacre that was about to befall the Yin-Yang Sect tonight had nothing to do with him.

Whether it was Liu Yishou or the so-called “master” behind him, their target from beginning to end had been Yun Xi—the remnants of the Thousand Illusion Sect.

Su Ji himself was merely an unlucky fool who had stumbled into the middle of it.

Even if he turned and fled right now, with his current speed, Liu Yishou might not be able to stop him.

Though the destruction of a sect was far too ruthless, at the end of the day, Liu Yishou was just following orders.

But Liu Yishou’s methods were still too cruel.

A man like that, even if left alive, would only be a menace.

Su Ji’s gaze turned cold, little by little.

He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Fine.

At least it would save him from looking back on tonight with an ache in his heart—a regret he wouldn’t be able to shake.

“Very well. Save me the trouble of weighing things further.”

Su Ji hesitated for a brief moment, then raised his eyes to meet Liu Yishou’s gaze.

“Tonight.”

“You die here.”