The six cultivators’ spells and artifacts moved with blinding speed, multicolored spiritual light covering the sky and earth, each strike carrying considerable power.
Upon seeing this, the North Star Island Lord broke out in a cold sweat. He glanced toward the churning, thick cyan mist where Canfeng was and steeled himself, quickly tossing out a defensive artifact to block the assault.
But in mere moments, the artifact shattered completely, and he himself was sent flying backward, slamming violently into a towering, grotesque rock formation with blood gushing from his mouth.
Yet the attacks didn’t lose any of their force. One spell after another, like a torrential downpour, poured into the dense cyan mist like a rainstorm.
It was then that a strange, raspy laugh echoed from within the mist.
The instant the attacks plunged into the cyan haze, a flash of deep cyan light flickered, and all the attacks vanished without a trace, as if a stone had sunk into the ocean, leaving not a single ripple.
Unable to hold back, a Golden Core Cultivator beside Canhuo spoke urgently.
“What is this? Fellow Daoist Can, this… this isn’t what you told us!”
His voice was already shaking noticeably.
At this moment, Canhuo’s heart was filled with deep regret. He retreated several steps, his eyes locked onto that thick cyan mist, his body beginning to tremble slightly.
“It’s him… he’s here.”
“What? Who?”
Before the words had even faded, another voice emerged from the thick mist.
“My disciple, my good disciple. You kept your master in the dark for so many years. This old man has been thinking of you all this time.”
The voice was hoarse and low, laced with a hint of mockery, yet it sent a chill down the spines of every Golden Core Cultivator present.
Canhuo gritted his teeth, his voice filled with rage and venom.
“Hmph! You old fiend! Back then, if I hadn’t escaped quickly, you’d have refined me into a Soul Wraith Puppet, just like those two late Golden Core elders! And today, with just this one avatar of yours, you think you can keep me here?”
Before he could finish speaking, dozens of beams of spiritual light streaked toward them from behind, all belonging to Foundation Establishment cultivators. As for the original disciples of North Star Island, they were likely already dead or wounded.
“It seems that today, your master needs to teach his disciple a proper lesson, hahaha.”
Jiuyou’s laughter came from within the thick mist, unhurried and relaxed, like a cat toying with a mouse.
As his laughter trailed off, the thick mist suddenly churned violently.
A withered, pale hand reached out from the mist, lifting slightly.
In an instant, a bone-chilling cold swept through the area!
That hand suddenly clenched into a fist, and the Nascent Soul stage’s mana fluctuations layered upon one another like towering waves, crushing everything in all directions.
Wherever the mana passed, the six Golden Core Cultivators had no choice but to erect protective barriers and desperately resist. Veins bulged on their foreheads as their bodies wobbled precariously in the air.
As for those weaker Foundation Establishment cultivators, they simply screamed in agony as they plummeted from the sky. Their minds went dizzy, their mana went haywire, and they collapsed to their knees, trembling violently, as if an invisible mountain were pressing down on their backs, leaving them without even the strength to lift their heads.
It was then that the sky suddenly changed.
Dark clouds converged from every direction, blotting out the sun. Flakes of snow drifted silently downward as a chilling aura spread.
And between the snowflakes, one ball of deep cyan flames after another ignited out of thin air, coexisting with the ice and snow in a scene so eerie it was almost unnatural.
In an instant, the surrounding temperature dropped to the freezing point. The piercing cold burrowed into people’s flesh, blood, and marrow like venomous snakes.
Even the six leading Golden Core Cultivators had to pour out every bit of their mana to resist. But they could clearly feel their mana circulation slowing down, as if their blood were about to congeal.
“Nether Capital’s Frozen Domain!”
Canhuo’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as he cried out in shock, his face pale as paper.
“You old freak… you actually managed to cultivate the Nether Capital’s Frozen Domain! How is that possible?”
He had no more will to fight. Without even bothering to care about the companions beside him, he turned and fled frantically into the distance.
If Jiuyou hadn’t yet mastered this technique, facing this avatar, they might have stood a chance. But with the Nether Capital’s Frozen Domain unleashed, unless they wanted to be frozen until their souls withered away, never to be reborn, the only option was to run!
Seeing this, the other five Golden Core Cultivators also sensed disaster. The intense, corrosive power of the cold had already turned the lips of two early-stage cultivators purple, and their mana was nearly frozen solid.
“Run!”
Someone shouted, and all five turned simultaneously, scattering in different directions.
But it was already too late.
From within the burning cyan flames all around, one skull after another emerged. Their jaws opened and closed, their eye sockets filled with leaping cyan fire, producing a bone-grinding, clicking sound.
In the next moment, countless skulls surged forth like a tidal wave, chasing after the five Golden Core Cultivators.
Screams rang out one after another.
The three early Golden Core Cultivators used every defensive measure they had—shields, artifacts, talismans, everything at their disposal.
But before the skulls, those defenses were nothing but paper.
In the blink of an eye, the three were consumed and incinerated by the flames on the skulls. Not even their souls remained; they were utterly annihilated, body and spirit.
The two mid-Golden Core Cultivators lasted a little longer.
But only a little.
They watched helplessly as their companions fell, utter despair filling their hearts. They fought back with everything they had, spells and artifacts blasting against the skulls, only managing to shatter a few before more swarmed in.
A second later, they too were devoured by the skulls, cyan flames burning their bodies, their souls completely destroyed.
From start to finish, barely half a cup of tea had passed.
Five Golden Core Cultivators, not a single one spared. Their souls were frozen and shattered within the Frozen Domain, then absorbed entirely by the Nether Capital’s Frozen Domain, becoming Jiuyou’s nourishment.
The North Star Island Lord slumped beside the grotesque rock, watching this scene unfold as his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Five Golden Cores! Gone just like that?
As easily as killing chickens?
Instinctively, he looked toward the thick mist, his eyes filled with both fear and reverence.
“Good disciple, now it’s just you left, hahaha.”
Within the thick mist, Jiuyou’s figure slowly materialized.
He was still wearing that wide black robe, a faint, barely perceptible smile on his gaunt face. Yet a glint of light flashed through his murky old eyes.
That look was like watching a prey that could never escape.
“Good disciple, where do you think you’re going?”
Jiuyou let out a sinister chuckle, then flicked his finger.
A cyan chain shot out through the air, wreathed in deep cyan flames. It moved like a nimble serpent, twisting gracefully through the air as it chased after that desperately fleeing red figure.
Canhuo glanced back and felt his soul nearly flee his body.
The chain closed in tighter and tighter, moving far faster than he could. With a determined grimace, he tossed out a mirror artifact.
The mirror grew larger in the wind, its surface blazing with brilliant light. In an instant, it erected three spiritual light barriers behind Canhuo.
Crack—!
The cyan chain tore through the first barrier like paper, effortlessly shattering it.
Crack! Crack!
The second and third barriers shattered in quick succession.
The mirror artifact shattered on the spot. Since the artifact was spiritually connected to Canhuo’s heart, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
But he also used the recoil force to pull away some distance again.
Ignoring his injuries, Canhuo pulled a jade pendant from his bosom and hurled it viciously toward the group of Foundation Establishment cultivators below.
Jiuyou’s gaze shifted slightly. He flicked his finger, and a streak of flame precisely struck the jade pendant, shattering it mid-air.
But the moment the pendant broke, a crisp chirp echoed across the sky.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators, who had been dazed by the overwhelming pressure, snapped back to their senses as if awakened by that sound. They looked up in terror at the sky, then, without a second word, mounted their flying artifacts and tried to flee.
“A Clear-Sight Pendant?”
Jiuyou squinted his eyes, a note of amusement creeping into his tone.
“Good disciple, you’ve got quite the collection of treasures. It seems you’ve been living well in the Heaven and Earth Alliance all these years.”
The moment he finished speaking, he waved his sleeve.
From within the thick mist, several Golden Core-level Soul Wraith Puppets surged out, their wailing cries filling the air as they pursued those Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Screams rang out one after another.
In an instant, over a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators died on the spot, their corpses plummeting from the sky, blood spattering through the air.
Canhuo didn’t spare a thought for his subordinates. He pushed his escape light to the absolute limit, madly flying toward the edge of the island.
He was just about to fly out of the island’s range.
Hum!
A flash of spiritual light flickered at the island’s edge, and a barrier like an inverted giant bowl enveloped the entire island in a protective seal.
Canhuo slammed headfirst into the barrier and was knocked back. His pupils shrank as he whipped his head around.
There, the North Star Island Lord, who had just been smashed into the grotesque rock formation, slowly climbed to his feet. He was holding a hand seal, his face pale but his gaze firm.
It was he who had activated the island’s protective grand formation.
“You!”
Canhuo roared, his eyes bloodshot.
The North Star Island Lord paid no attention to his howling. Instead, he walked directly toward Jiuyou and made a deep bow, his voice filled with the utmost respect.
“This junior, the North Star Island Lord, pays respects to Grand Ancestor Jiuyou. I was previously fighting alongside the young island lord, but my strength was truly insufficient. I hope the elder will not blame me.”
“Hahaha, the North Star Island Lord?” Jiuyou’s laughter came from within the thick mist, laced with satisfaction.
“Good, very well done!”
As his voice trailed off, he casually waved his hand. Several more chains shot out from the thick mist, charging straight at Canhuo.
Despair finally crept onto Canhuo’s face.
He poured all his mana into desperately attacking that barrier, trying to blast a path to survival.
But the chains were faster.
In the blink of an eye, several cyan chains wrapped around him, binding him tightly. No matter how he struggled or how he channeled his mana, it was all useless.
As for the Foundation Establishment cultivators he had brought, they had already been slaughtered to the last man by the Soul Wraith Puppets.
Now, the only person left alive on the entire North Star Island was the North Star Island Lord himself.
The North Star Island Lord looked at the corpses littering the ground, then at the spot where the five Golden Core Cultivators had vanished without a trace, and his heart pounded with terror.
Suddenly, he felt a gaze land on him.
He looked up and met Jiuyou’s murky old eyes.
That gaze was terrifyingly calm, as if annihilating six Golden Cores and dozens, even hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators was nothing more than a trivial matter.
The North Star Island Lord swallowed hard, his demeanor growing even more reverent, bending even lower.
Jiuyou’s expression didn’t change. He walked slowly to his side, reached out, and gently patted his shoulder.
With every pat, the North Star Island Lord flinched.
“Not bad. This old man will remember you.”
Jiuyou spoke hoarsely, his tone flat but carrying an undeniable pressure.
“Leave the matters behind to you.”
With that, his entire form dissolved back into a mass of thick cyan mist, disappearing without a trace. All that remained was Canfeng’s figure, faintly visible within the mist, his face somewhat pale.
The North Star Island Lord stood rooted to the spot.
A cold sweat beaded on his forehead. A flicker of relief at having survived by the skin of his teeth flashed in his eyes as he bowed repeatedly in the direction where the thick mist had vanished.
“Yes… y-yes, yes. This junior obeys. I bid you farewell, Grand Ancestor!”