The divine incantation imbued with golden light shattered ten thousand malevolent forces.

Lang Jiuchuan channeled her divine incantation as resonance into the Dizhong and unleashed it — and the evil Seven Fiends Banner encountered its supreme nemesis. The moment the golden light appeared, the killing energy within the banner was dissolved into nothingness. The wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves vanished in an instant, scattering into specks of nothing.

Ever since Lingxu Zhenren had forged this banner, he had used it to slay no small number of malevolent spirits and even certain fellow cultivators who had stood against him. The banner had absorbed the blood essence of countless resentful souls and had been unstoppable in all its past encounters.

Yet against Lang Jiuchuan, he had struck with the same absolute certainty of a kill he always brought to his battles — and had never for a moment imagined that this woman would be so difficult to kill.

Lingxu Zhenren had not underestimated Lang Jiuchuan’s strength. But that a wandering spirit occupying a broken and ruined body could prove so formidable and troublesome — and could even cause the attack to rebound against him — was something he had never once anticipated.

This was a provocation against a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Lingxu Zhenren’s fury blazed. His hands flew through hand seals with rapid precision, channeling a surge of overwhelming Daoist intent into the Seven Fiends Banner and launching it at Lang Jiuchuan once more.

With Daoist intent infused within, the dissipated yin malevolent energy re-condensed — yet now it was both ferocious and upright in nature. Seven streams of upright killing energy surged like dragons, lunging at Lang Jiuchuan, snapping and tearing at her.

The killing energy burned like fire.

Lang Jiuchuan had just expended tremendous spiritual power to drive the Dizhong, and a dull ache smoldered in her chest; her complexion had gone pale, and her fingertips trembled faintly. Watching those killing-energy dragons and serpents bear down on her, her entire body felt as though it were being licked by flames, and her soul thrummed with searing pain.

Even with half its evil nature already destroyed, the Seven Fiends Banner could still transform into an upright banner of killing force. This — this was the true power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

What a pity that one of the righteous path would stoop to the ways of a wicked teacher.

Lang Jiuchuan quietly gathered her strength.

And just as those seven killing-energy dragons were about to tear Lang Jiuchuan apart — at that most critical instant — a massive white shape carrying an overwhelming surge of fierce killing energy burst from behind her.

Roar!

A tiger’s cry that shook the heavens — like thunderclap from a clear sky — sent every living creature in the area fleeing in terror.

The ferocity of that roar was savage; its sound waves transformed into white surges of force that slammed viciously into those seven killing-energy dragons. The dominant and overbearing ferocity of the king of the forest was awe-inspiring; three of the seven dragon streams were scattered by the impact, while the rest dimmed and flickered, as though on the verge of complete collapse.

Two forces faced each other in deadlock.

Lingxu Zhenren’s gaze sharpened. “A spirit tiger — you’ve actually formed a bond with a spirit tiger!”

Spirit companions were not particularly rare in Daoist circles; some fellow cultivators even kept spiritual creatures and immortal beings in their service, while others who walked unconventional paths kept great demons as allies and sources of strength.

But with Heaven and Earth’s spiritual energy so thin, it was no easy matter for spiritual creatures to develop sentience. Those with true spiritual awareness concealed themselves with great care, refusing to let themselves be found — for human hearts were unpredictable, and unable to contend against human cunning, they preferred to cultivate in seclusion deep within the mountains or in hidden places away from the world.

Thus, the moment Jiangche appeared, Lingxu Zhenren was more astonished than he had been even upon seeing the Dizhong. And beyond his shock, he felt far more greed.

The Dizhong, a spirit tiger — whichever one he might claim, both set his eyes burning with envy and covetous desire, and he was resolved to have them both.

The greed and calculation in Lingxu Zhenren’s eyes had migrated so plainly to his face that they had made his features several degrees more mercenary and ugly. Jiangche and Lang Jiuchuan both read his intentions clearly, and their expressions simultaneously darkened.

“That decrepit old wretch deserves death!” Jiangche let out another wild roar, its massive body lunging forward as it pounced toward Lingxu Zhenren. Its enormous tiger jaws gaped wide, baring icy fangs, intent on swallowing him whole.

Lingxu Zhenren’s expression turned grave. He formed a hand seal aimed at Jiangche and began: “Heaven and Earth’s spiritual energy, all arts obey the mind, by this seal I call upon the True Lord to descend — spirit beast, here and now, submit in haste—”

But before he could finish, Jiangche — which should have been lunging straight for him — performed a sudden reversal. The tiger’s body spun, and it leaped to Lang Jiuchuan’s side instead, its great head twisting back. Two blazing golden-red rays like narrow threads, as sharp as needles, shot from its pair of gold-fire eyes straight toward Lingxu Zhenren’s spiritual altar.

Lingxu Zhenren hastily broke off his technique, barely managing to dodge to the side. The golden light grazed half his ear.

“Ahh!”

Lingxu Zhenren let out a pained scream and spat out another mouthful of black blood — the backlash of an incomplete incantation.

Curse them!

All who oppose him shall perish!

His face darkened. With one hand forming seals to stanch the wound on his ear and the other hand forming seals to attack Jiangche, he muttered rapidly under his breath, swift as lightning.

Boom.

A bolt of heavenly thunder as thick as a man’s wrist was drawn down by him and struck toward Jiangche.

Lang Jiuchuan swept Jiangche — whose spiritual power had been drained by more than half — behind her, raised the Dizhong, and redirected the already-fallen heavenly thunder back toward Lingxu Zhenren.

“Cheap tricks.” Furious and incensed, Lingxu Zhenren’s hand seals rained down ceaselessly upon the Seven Fiends Banner. At the same time, he bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of Supreme Yang essence blood onto the banner’s surface.

The banner’s surface writhed and twisted in an instant. Like a vast curtain unfurling, it opened and fell from above, pressing down heavily upon Lang Jiuchuan and the others.

The suppressive force was like a mountain.

Pfft. Pfft.

Lang Jiuchuan felt a violent pain in her chest as she coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.

Her vision darkened. Her soul felt as though it were being torn apart — the pain made her entire body tremble, and even her incomplete soul seemed on the verge of being pressed clean out of her body.

“Ha ha ha!” Seeing Lang Jiuchuan’s spine appear to bend beneath the weight, Lingxu Zhenren broke into triumphant laughter. “You presumptuous little wretch — recklessly overestimating yourself! How dare you contend against this master? Die!“

Upon hearing those words, a surge of fierce and burning indignation welled up in Lang Jiuchuan’s chest. Wrath sharpened into blades, wrapping around her entire being.

Why?

Why were people like him permitted to tyrannize the weak however they pleased simply because they had a body of cultivation — to torture and slaughter as the mood struck them?

Why did people like him, who had no reverence whatsoever for life, still progress to higher realms and become mighty cultivators?

Why was Heaven blind?

She refused to accept it!

Lang Jiuchuan’s head snapped upward. Her indignation transformed into savage fury and erupted skyward. Her hands flew through a rapid and complex series of hand seals, forming the Five Thunders Supreme Command incantation — like a thunderous hammer — and she sent it slamming with full force into the vast curtain of malevolent banner fabric.

This mere evil artifact — she would shatter it!

“By the Heavenly Emperor’s decree, I summon in totality the Thunder Deities; above connecting to the Infinite, below suppressing the Underworld; magnificent and deadly in power, the thunder and lightning shocks all into awe… the fiery wheel divine general, allow no delay; wherever the talisman command reaches, fulfill it with urgency. In haste, as the law commands — Break!“

BOOM.

Crack.

A terrifying bolt of purple-gold lightning, thick as a barrel, detonated with a thunderous roar that shook the mountain to its foundations. The white lightning flash, sharp as a pair of scissors, sliced the Seven Fiends Banner cleanly apart and shattered it — the resentful ghost energy on its surface vanishing with a hiss into ash and nothingness.

“Mm-pfft—”

With the destruction of the Seven Fiends Banner — upon which he had layered Supreme Yang essence blood — Lingxu Zhenren suffered the most violent backlash of the entire battle in an instant. His soul shook with a tremendous jolt, and a torrent of blood essence erupted from his chest. Both his eyes had turned crimson. He stared at Lang Jiuchuan, his gaze laden with venomous hatred and sheer terror.

She had actually crippled the Seven Fiends Banner. She had even made him — a Foundation Establishment cultivator — suffer backlash, his cultivation dropping back. No matter how powerful her soul was, this body would only hold her back and prevent her from drawing upon her full strength; it would weigh her down. And yet she had been able to make him suffer backlash again and again, completely regardless of whether her spiritual power would run dry.

So what would happen if she threw all caution to the wind?

In a full-force clash, it would only cause his own cultivation to regress further and further, with nothing to gain. Lingxu Zhenren’s resolve wavered — he had no desire to die as Zhengyang Zi had died: soundlessly and without meaning.

This woman was brutal and prone to drifting toward the demonic. If left to grow, she would become a catastrophe. She could not be left alive. He needed to go and get reinforcements, to eradicate the threat while it was still in the cradle!

He would let her cling to a few more days for now.

Lingxu Zhenren tore open the void intending to flee — but Jiangche instantly teleported to block his path, and its massive paw came down in a crushing strike that sent him flying. “Thinking of running? Have you asked our permission first?”