At the critical instant, just as Granny Hua's sharp claws were about to tear into Ling Chuan's throat, an extremely faint black phantom silently surfaced behind her. A streak of black baleful qi, thin and lethal as a needle, shot out with terrifying precision, aimed straight at her temple.
The timing was flawless, the angle vicious enough to make the air itself hiss. It made one's scalp prickle just watching the cold efficiency of the strike.
Granny Hua was horrified. A deadly sense of danger exploded through her like a freezing wave, making every hair on her body stand on end as her survival instincts screamed.
She realized she was being ambushed from her blind spot, but her body was already gravely injured, and she was fully committed to her forward lunge, her momentum carrying her toward the disciple's sword. There was no time left for an effective dodge or a proper defense. If that strike landed, she was going to die right here in the muck.
Driven purely by combat instinct honed over centuries, she violently jerked her head to the side, the muscles in her neck straining. At the same time, she abandoned the attack on Ling Chuan's throat and forcefully pulled her hand back, sweeping it across her body to block the incoming baleful qi with her forearm.
"Chi!"
The black baleful qi grazed past her temple, spraying a streak of dark blood into the air that vanished into the fog.
Even though she avoided the fatal point, the baleful qi still carved a bone-deep gash into her temple, the edges of the wound turning instantly black. Threads of baleful qi instantly invaded her already fragile sea of consciousness, causing searing pain in her Primordial Soul that felt like molten lead. Her vision darkened for a heartbeat, and her movements stalled again, her balance wavering.
"Now!" Ling Chuan's eyes flashed with icy light. This was the moment he had been waiting for since the elder first moved.
Ignoring the surging qi and blood inside his body that threatened to burst his own meridians, the Frostmark Sword erupted with chilling brilliance once more. He thrust forward, the blade stabbing straight at the opening in Granny Hua's chest that appeared when she pulled back to defend.
He was going to strike while she was weak and take her life with a single, decisive blow.
"Don't even think about it!" Granny Hua was still a Nascent Soul old monster who had survived countless tribulations. At the brink of death, she burst out with shocking potential, her eyes turning bloodshot.
She let out a furious shout that shook the nearby miasma and slapped her waist. A palm-sized bronze mirror shot out from her storage pouch and instantly expanded into a hazy green shield in front of her, the surface engraved with ancient runes.
It was one of her final protective treasures, reserved for the direst circumstances.
Bang—!
The Frostmark Sword slammed into the bronze mirror, producing a heavy, muffled boom that vibrated through the ground.
The mirror's spiritual light flickered wildly, the green glow dimming as the ice qi tried to penetrate it, but it ultimately blocked the fatal strike.
At the same time, she used the rebound force and struck the back of the mirror with her palm, her face contorted with effort.
"Get lost!" A violent shockwave burst through the mirror, sending Ling Chuan flying backward with both man and sword for dozens of meters. He spat out another mouthful of blood mid-air, his white robes stained with crimson.
Whoosh—!
As for the owner of that black baleful qi, after missing the strike, she didn't hesitate at all. She instantly withdrew the baleful qi and vanished back into the dense fog, moving like a ghost. It was as if that deadly attack had been nothing more than a casual probe to test the elder's remaining strength.
"Huff… huff…" Granny Hua panted heavily, her face pale as paper. Black blood seeped from the wound at her temple, dripping down her cheek, and the baleful qi raging through her sea of consciousness made her head feel like it was splitting apart.
She stared fiercely at Ling Chuan, who had just stabilized himself and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Then she warily swept her gaze through the fog behind her, her eyes filled with shock, fury, and lingering fear.
"You… you're really working together…" Her voice was hoarse, saturated with hatred and disbelief. "The Northern Ice Palace… actually colluding with these sneaky demonic rats… cough, cough…"
"Kill."
Xie Zhaolin's cold voice rang out from the gray expanse, without a shred of wasted words.
She exchanged a glance with Ling Chuan, who had just steadied himself on his feet. Their eyes met briefly, then separated as understanding formed instantly between them, a silent pact forged in the heat of battle.
Xie Zhaolin charged first, her long whip appearing in her hand like a striking cobra, sealing off Granny Hua's paths of retreat to the left and right with sharp, cracking strikes.
Ling Chuan was even faster. The Frostmark Sword let out a clear sword cry, and ice-blue sword light filled the sky once more. Together with the whipping shadows, it formed an inescapable net meant to completely trap and slaughter the elder.
The moment they moved, both went all out, their auras flaring to their limits. Their coordination was shockingly smooth, as if they had practiced together for years. Ice and baleful qi, hard and soft, frontal assault and flanking harassment. They pressed the heavily injured and weakened Granny Hua back again and again until she could only defend, her jade hairpin dancing frantically to parry the blows, with no chance to counter at all.
"Damn it! Damn it!" She cursed inwardly, shocked and furious, but more than that, suffocated by disbelief.
She was a dignified mid stage Nascent Soul elder, yet she was being suppressed by two Golden Core juniors who should have been nothing more than ants to her.
What frightened her even more was the black-robed woman's attack patterns and grasp of timing. They were ruthlessly precise, terrifyingly accurate. Worse still, the opponent seemed extremely familiar with her cultivation habits and certain life-saving methods, always predicting her moves and making her feel bound hand and foot.
How was that even possible? It was as if the girl knew her every secret.
She didn't have time to think, because the assault only grew more ferocious, the sword light and whip strikes raining down without pause.
Just as the elder was being driven into chaos by the joint attack, the air itself seemed to ripple.
"Weng—!"
The space beside Xie Zhaolin blurred, and a towering humanoid puppet radiating a cold metallic luster suddenly appeared. Its surface was a dull, dark gold that seemed to absorb the dim light.
It was the growth-type puppet, the An Jin Martial Guard, its joints clicking into place.
After being nourished by Xie Zhaolin's baleful qi over time, its aura had clearly reached late stage Golden Core, its presence heavy and oppressive.
"What?!" Granny Hua's pupils shrank sharply. Another late Golden Core combatant, and this one was a puppet that didn't know no pain.
"You're actually a puppet master too?!" The shock in her heart peaked. Just how many trump cards did this black-robed woman's still have hidden in her sleeves?
"Kill," Xie Zhaolin ordered coldly, her voice cutting through the sound of the wind.
The An Jin Martial Guard moved instantly, its heavy feet cracking the frozen ground.
There were no fancy techniques or wasted flourishes, only the most direct assault designed for maximum destruction.
One punch blasted out, the dark gold fist tearing through the air with a shrill roar as it smashed toward the elder's back. Its other hand turned into a blade-like chop, sweeping across her waist and abdomen with the weight of a falling mountain.
Fearless, with no defense, it offered only relentless attack.
What Granny Hua was facing now was the siege of three late Golden Core combat forces, perfectly coordinated and brutally aggressive in their pursuit of her life. The spiritual power she could still muster was almost gone, sputtering in her meridians, and her injuries were only worsening with every breath.
"Bullying me too far!" She let out a hoarse roar and slapped her storage pouch with a trembling hand.
One artifact after another, talismans thrown out like they cost nothing, were used to block the trio's assault and carve out a slim chance of survival.
Bang, bang, bang!
The An Jin Martial Guard used its reinforced body to forcibly block several flying needles and silk ribbons. White marks appeared across its armor where the attacks struck, yet its movements didn't slow at all as it clung tightly to the elder, its fists never ceasing.
The prolonged fight dragged on without resolution, and anxiety flooded the woman's heart.
Her spiritual power was draining like floodwaters through a broken dam, leaving her meridians dry. The source of her Nascent Soul was already dim, flickering like a candle, and the baleful qi in her sea of consciousness kept gnawing at her spirit.
She didn't even care about killing and looting anymore, let alone that fragment of star core origin essence lying in the mud. Right now, she only wanted a chance to escape this death trap.
Yet the coordination between the two cultivators grew even tighter, giving her no room to breathe and no opening to flee into the fog.
"We can't drag this out," Xie Zhaolin transmitted to Ling Chuan. She could tell that although Granny Hua was on the verge of collapse, a Nascent Soul cultivator's vitality was terrifying. A desperate counterattack at death's door would be equally terrifying.
On top of that, the disturbance here wasn't small. Delaying any longer could invite unforeseen changes from other cultivators nearby.
Ling Chuan's gaze sharpened, his eyes reflecting the blue light of his blade. He didn't speak, but he understood the urgency. He flipped his palm, and a small ice-blue rhombus-shaped crystal appeared instantly, hovering just above his skin.
Inside the crystal, countless tiny runes seemed to flow like a river of stars, releasing a bone-chilling cold that made one's heart tremble.
"The core of the Mystic Ice Sealing Annihilation Array…" Granny Hua's pupils contracted violently as she recognized the object.
She recognized it from the records of the great sects.
This was the famed core of the Northern Ice Palace's Mystic Ice Sealing Annihilation Array, a treasure of their sect. Once activated, it could form a powerful ice-sealing barrier in a short time, cutting off the inside from the outside and trapping strong enemies to their deaths.
Even if the disciple's cultivation meant the array's power would be limited, against her current state of severe injury and impending death, it was more than enough to seal her fate. More importantly, with this array in place, the fluctuations of battle could be isolated, preventing anyone else from spying on them or sensing their presence.
How did something like this end up in Ling Chuan's hands?