In just a single strike!
Master Yunhe—the most renowned figure across the Six Eastern Domains for three hundred years, whose fame had only been slightly overshadowed by Han Zhan in the past century—perished on the spot!
Even his Nascent Soul had found no chance to break free.
Such terrifying might shook the onlookers to the core of their being.
Aboard the Wind-Thunder Abbey, thirty Golden Core cultivators witnessed the scene, their minds momentarily stolen by sheer shock.
Yet none of them were ordinary fools!
In a split second, they surged their magic power, intent on scattering in every direction.
Right at that moment, the cold woman cast a fleeting glance at the Wind-Thunder Abbey and swept the wide sleeve of her water-green dress.
With just a single sweep, the Wind-Thunder Abbey—which had carried itself with overweening arrogance moments before—was utterly quelled.
The Golden Core cultivators hoping to flee felt a horrifying suction pull from within the broad sleeve, and their bodies flew toward her against their will.
Luo Chen was among their number.
In truth, his performance far surpassed most others.
Years of cultivating the Micromote Origin Art allowed him to sever stray thoughts far faster than ordinary men; thus, he had been among the very first batch to flee.
Moon-Breaking Wings! Heavenly Roc True Form! Ninety Thousand Li!
In a mere instant, his Heavenly Roc True Form, spreading its wings ten zhang wide, hurtled away from the Wind-Thunder Abbey cloaked in raging flames.
Yet!
When that water-green sleeve billowed, no matter how he drove the Moon-Breaking Wings, he felt like a bird trapped in a cage, entirely helpless.
A bizarre power dragged his massive form backward.
As he plunged into that murky, eerie pocket of space, only a single rumored divine ability surfaced in his mind.
Universe in the Sleeve!
Before absolute might, any marvelous technique or extraordinary art was nothing more than an ant attempting to shake a giant tree.
Two strikes: slaying Yunhe, capturing the Golden Cores.
Such dominance commanded the awe and reverence of countless beasts across the Great Snow Mountain, while draining the wits of the fleeing Han Zhan and his companions in sheer terror.
There was no mistake!
Their instincts had not deceived them. This woman who had appeared out of nowhere was unquestionably a late Tier 4 Great Demon Emperor!
By the standards of human cultivation, she was a grand master of at least the seventh layer of the Nascent Soul realm or higher!
How could they possibly match such a presence?
Near the White Bone Dao Palace, the White Bone Mysterious Snake spoke up cautiously: "Milady, what of those others?"
The woman cast him a cool glance, answering flatly, "They cannot escape."
The instant the words fell, she took a step forward.
In the next breath, she had crossed miles of distance to appear behind Han Zhan, and she slowly threw out a fair, porcelain fist.
Feeling the eerie gale closing in from behind, Han Zhan bared his teeth, his eyes nearly tearing at the corners.
Regardless of cost, he drove his already utterly exhausted Nascent Soul and spun around sharply.
"Strike!"
Another divine soul attack.
Yet when the blow struck, the woman was completely unaffected.
Instead, the black crow perched on her shoulder let out a caw.
"Caw!"
A clash of souls seemed to erupt between the two.
And this time, Han Zhan—who had always prevailed without fail—instantly turned as pale as gold foil, his eyes glazing over in confusion.
In that fleeting instant of stupor, that dainty fist traversed space and slammed into his physical flesh.
Bang!
Beneath the punch, his body shattered into pieces, exposing a dazed, helpless three-inch-tall miniature figure.
The small figure's features bore a seventy-to-eighty-percent resemblance to Han Zhan's own. Opposite him sat another small black figure whose features were obscure; each held out a hand, together supporting a nine-story miniature pagoda.
It was none other than the fruit of Han Zhan's nearly five hundred years of bitter cultivation, the crystallization of all his attainment—his Nascent Soul!
With a sweep of her sleeve, the woman drew it straight inside.
Then she glanced in three separate directions.
"Youquan, go fetch Heqingzi."
On her shoulder, the black crow cawed and flew off in the direction where the white crane had fled.
Its initial speed was modest, but after the woman tapped a finger forward, it vanished abruptly into the void.
When it reappeared in the next breath, it was already not far from Heqingzi.
Only then did the aloof woman withdraw her gaze and look in the direction where Tianyezi and Perfected Jade Cauldron had fled.
"Since you broke the pact, you must be prepared to pay the price."
After a quiet murmur, she stepped forward. The space before her rippled like undulating water.
Then, with a flash of cyan light, she stepped naturally right into the spatial ripples.
In the distance...
Tianyezi turned his head to see this scene, his eyes widening in horror!
***
Boom!
Wind and lightning converged amidst a haze of cyan light.
A hammer that expanded over a hundred zhang across crashed down savagely upon the woman.
Yet the giant hammer achieved none of its anticipated effect.
Instead, under a single punch, it rebounded with a thundering roar.
Tianyezi spat a mouthful of blood. In that instant, his connection to his natal treasure, the Wind-Thunder Hammer, was abruptly severed.
Though he reestablished the link shortly after, that brief window was all the woman needed to close in, gently pressing a palm against his chest.
The palm strike appeared utterly unremarkable.
Yet as it landed, sharp crackling pops burst from Tianyezi's body.
He stared in disbelief at the cold woman right in front of him. "How can this be? You are only at the late Nascent Soul stage—how could you have comprehended spatial laws?!"
The woman's expression remained indifferent. Only as she drew back her palm did her eyes flutter slightly.
It seemed an acknowledgment that Tianyezi's physical body was forged rather decently.
Yet...
That was all it amounted to.
With a flip of her sleeve, Tianyezi vanished from where he stood, along with the Wind-Thunder Hammer resting upon the earth.
Afterward, her gaze drifted toward a distant horizon, and she fell silent for a brief moment.
With a soft sigh, she stepped forward once more and melted into space.
***
"Activate the immortal city's grand defensive formation!"
"Maximum power! Highest alert!"
"Everyone act together to repel the invading foe!"
Above Broken Moon Immortal City, a streak of rainbow light came to an abrupt halt.
The vast might of a Nascent Soul unfolded between heaven and earth.
In ordinary times, such a display would have earned the boundless reverence of the cultivators below, but the panic in Perfected Jade Cauldron's voice left everyone bewildered.
Even so...
Any enemy capable of driving a Nascent Soul master into such disarray had to be terrifyingly strong.
No matter who the adversary was, raising the grand defensive formation was an absolute necessity.
Inside Broken Moon Immortal City, Meng Changshou of the Medicine King Sect and Huyan Zhuo of Tianfan City activated the formation while asking Perfected Jade Cauldron in confusion what had caused such panic.
"Master, what has happened?"
"Could the frontline at Tiangu Plains have fallen, and the Ao Xiao Wolf Court is counterattacking Broken Moon?"
Perfected Jade Cauldron offered no explanation. Veiled in sword light, he vanished toward the horizon at incredible speed.
And only at that moment did Broken Moon Immortal City's Tier 4 defensive formation finally blossom with radiance.
A few breaths later...
A figure materialized where Perfected Jade Cauldron had paused moments before.
The moment she appeared, a colossal beam of white light shot out from Broken Moon Immortal City, aiming straight for her.
The woman frowned and threw an ordinary-looking punch.
Just one punch!
The white light beam vanished into the void.
Not only that, the immense rebound of force crashed directly onto the light curtain enshrouding Broken Moon Immortal City.
Boom!
The light barrier shattered in an instant. The several Golden Core cultivators sustaining the formation suffered severe backlash, spewing blood violently as though struck by a sledgehammer.
Then...
The earth shook, mountains trembled, and the immortal city collapsed!
The woman cast an indifferent glance at the ruins below, paying them no heed as she prepared to blend into the void once more.
However, because the earth veins were disturbed and the ambient spiritual qi had grown thoroughly chaotic, her attempt to slip into the void failed this time.
Seeing this, she did not panic. Cloaked in cyan light, she gave chase in the direction of Perfected Jade Cauldron's flight.
Judging by her physical flight speed, she was not the least bit slower than Perfected Jade Cauldron's rainbow-light escape art!
In fact, she was even faster!
***
Two streaks of light, one pursuing the other, stirred up boundless winds and clouds across the three territories of the Great Snow Mountain, the Howling Moon Mountain Range, and the Jade Cauldron Domain.
Wherever they passed, numerous immortal cities, large and small, were brought to ruin.
Broken Moon Immortal City, Qianye Immortal City, Tianlan Immortal City, Qingdan Immortal City, and eight smaller immortal cities harboring Tier 2 spiritual veins were all reduced to rubble beneath that cyan-robed woman's hand.
Eventually, the distance between them shrank to within a few hundred li.
Refusing to wait for death, Perfected Jade Cauldron repeatedly unleashed the life-saving measures he had amassed over centuries.
Sword qi taking form, surging sword intent, the Ten Thousand Swords Killing Formation, and even his ultimate trump card—the Resonance of Sword and Cauldron.
Every last one of them, before that woman's simple, natural punches, proved as futile as an ant attempting to fell a tree, vastly overestimating its own strength.
Finally!
Supporting a great golden cauldron in one hand, the cyan-robed woman barged beneath Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks.
Ahead of her, the wretchedly battered Perfected Jade Cauldron let out a shrill, desperate cry.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, save me!"
As if having long sensed the hostile approach, all nine peaks of Mount Thunder Accumulation rumbled simultaneously.
In a spectacle beyond ordinary mortal imagination, the nine towering mountains that had stood for millennia suddenly tore free from the earth and rose aloft.
The sky above, which had been clear and cloudless for myriad li, was instantly blanketed in boundless black clouds as the nine mountains shuddered.
Within those dense, pitch-black cloud layers, the roar of a thunder dragon faintly echoed.
"Demon fellow daoist, you cross the line!"
The thunder dragon thrust out its head, with dark clouds serving as its scales and lightning as its whiskers.
Looking down upon the world, its maw parted to utter the voice of a remarkably young man.
Facing this sight, the woman remained completely unmoved.
With one hand supporting the great golden cauldron, she relied purely on her physical body to endure the terrifying suppressive weight of this sect-guarding True Artifact of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect.
With the other hand, she slowly clenched a fist. Ripples spread through the void, radiating a terrifying slicing intent.
"It is you who broke the pact!"
Her voice was soft, and then her fist punched out.
As that punch drove forward, the void blasted open, and hairline fractures of pitch-black spatial fissures tore through the air.
High above, the thunder dragon let out a low roar: "How dare you!"
Yet the fist had already landed.
Crossing time and space, it slammed directly into the back of Perfected Jade Cauldron, who had already set half a foot past the threshold of the White Night Cave Abode.
With great difficulty, Perfected Jade Cauldron lowered his head and glanced down at his chest.
A fist protruding from within was startlingly clear.
He gave a wretched laugh, and then... Bang!
A century of profound cultivation revealed today, undone in a single strike by a demon.
The moment his body exploded into a haze of cyan light, the thunder dragon in the heavens was enraged.
Thrashing its head and tail, it prepared to dive down.
Yet!
The moment it met the woman's chilling, murderous eyes, its downward charge ground to an abrupt halt.
"It ends here."
"If you wish to fight, I do not mind dismantling this place where you comprehend your lightning laws."
The thunder dragon fell silent.
Seeing the woman turn to leave while supporting the shrunken golden cauldron, it spoke in a heavy voice: "You cannot bear the wrath of my Mingyuan Sect."
The cyan-robed woman paused, but she did not look back.
"Direct your wrath at Ancient Demon Di Tian. I merely honored a promise to take action once on someone's behalf."
Hearing the name Ancient Demon Di Tian, the thunder dragon's massive eyes shrank.
Before it could say anything more, the woman cleared the boundary of Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks and vanished into the void.
Witnessing this, the thunder dragon shuddered violently.
The dense black clouds slowly dissipated, and the nine great peaks settled solemnly back onto the Quicksand Wasteland.
Deep within the White Night Cave Abode, a handsome, stalwart black-robed man with a nose straight as a hanging gall and lips pressed into a firm line slowly opened his eyes.
"Ancient Demon Di Tian!"
He silently murmured the name, then rose to his feet with sudden force.
As he stood, all four directions trembled, and wisps of white lightning gathered toward him.
Once he stood fully upright, his back was erect and his shoulders broad, his build extraordinarily robust. With mere steps, arcs of white lightning coiled around his frame. From afar, he looked like an immortal descending to the mortal realm, a thunder god walking the earth.
He walked out from the depths of the cave abode step by step until he reached the entrance.
He reached out and grasped!
The shattered flesh and blood scattered before the gates converged at once.
Yet right at the moment they were about to knit together, they detonated violently.
Wisps of black thread slowly dispersed.
Seeing this, the young Daoist's pupils contracted. As though encountering a viper or scorpion, he jerked his hand back violently.
Sparks of lightning crackled at his fingertips until he finally managed to purge every trace of the lingering black threads.
"When did such a pinnacle powerhouse emerge from the depths of the Million Mountains?"
"She is clearly only in the late Nascent Soul stage, yet she has comprehended the power of laws that only Soul Formation grand masters can touch—and the spatial law, the hardest to grasp among them all!"
"I, Zhang Che, consider myself an exceptional talent among the younger generation of the Mingyuan Sect, yet compared to her, I still fall short by three parts."
"No, this matter must be reported to the grand masters of the sect!"
***
On this day, countless cultivators were thrown into panic!
Five great masters had slain Wolf Emperor Ao Xiao at the Tiangu Plains, securing their hold over the Howling Moon Mountain Range.
It should have been a day of celebration, yet blinded by greed and ambition, they had rushed into the Great Snow Mountain and provoked an unknowable entity.
That being...
The moment she entered the world, she rushed eighty thousand li and crushed twelve cities, completely unstoppable, before executing Perfected Jade Cauldron—the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's sole Nascent Soul powerhouse—beneath Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks.
Once the news spread...
The Howling Moon Mountain Range, the Jade Cauldron Domain, and even the Six Eastern Domains were completely shaken.
Gradually, the entire cultivation world of the Eastern Desolation learned of the news.
The Mingyuan Sect, the Soul Formation sacred ground standing beside the Mingyuan Abyss, threw open its mountain gates and extended broad invitations to the numerous Nascent Soul powerhouses across the thirty-six domains of the Eastern Desolation to confer on the matter.
Everyone understood that the opening war, which had once seemed an assured conquest, had been declared a failure the moment that cyan-robed woman appeared.
What would follow? Would the human cultivators strike back like thunder, or would the demon race from the primeval Million Mountains launch a ferocious counterattack?
Everything weighed upon every heart like a massive boulder.
***
At the Great Snow Mountain, outside the White Bone Dao Palace.
Three figures waited with bated breath.
One wore white bone Daoist robes with a reverent expression, one was a black crow perched on the upturned eaves of the palace roof, and the third was a woman kneeling on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
Suddenly...
Above the Dao palace, the void trembled as ripples spread out.
A woman of peerless beauty, fair as frost and pure as snow, stepped slowly out from the distortion.
"White Bone congratulates Milady on her victorious return!"
The cyan-robed woman glanced at him, then shifted her gaze to the kneeling woman.
Because she was kneeling, the curves of her waist and abdomen were fully accentuated, her ample hips remarkably prominent.
"Little Sister Qingshuang, I was wrong..."
A trace of disgust showed on Qingshuang's face. Without waiting for her to finish, she swept her wide sleeve.
Heqingzi vanished into her robe.
Seeing this, a flash of dread crossed the White Bone Mysterious Snake's face.
He hastily spoke: "Milady, you have swept away the five great Nascent Soul powerhouses. The Howling Moon Mountain Range and the Jade Cauldron Domain are completely undefended. Should I seize the opportunity to reclaim these two demon territories?"
"Go ask Di Tian at the Demon Court. My mission is complete."
Qingshuang replied flatly. With a beckoning gesture, the black crow perched on the eaves fluttered down onto her shoulder.
Then, without looking back, she stepped into the White Bone Dao Palace.
When the fluctuations of a formation echoed from deep within the palace, no trace of the woman's aura remained in this place.
Seeing this, the White Bone Mysterious Snake finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He straightened his back and looked out at the vast, pure scenery of the Great Snow Mountain. How truly spotless it was!
It seemed as if nothing had ever happened.
Yet everyone knew that what had to happen had already come to pass.
From this day forward, the demon territories bordering the human lands would never know peace again.
He let out a sigh, turned, and flew toward the depths of the wild barrens.
Chapter 509