“Pat.”

That was the sound of Zhao Yunbin’s footsteps hitting the ground.

In the clean mountain cave, the entire floor was spotless – not even half a piece of rubble could be found.

Even if there had been any, it would have been completely devoured the instant the fierce winds swept through. Those too hard to be destroyed by the black wind would be carried outside the cave, accumulating at the bottom of the cliff.

Zhao Yunbin walked in front, barely managing to sustain the entire formation.

Only fifty chi…

A mere fifty chi, yet with her strength alone, she could only walk this far.

The moment she took her second step, Zhao Yunbin felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

Her slightly plump junior sister could barely keep up, her figure swaying in the fierce wind.

Zhao Yunbin pretended not to hear anything. She gritted her teeth and finally took another step forward.

No…

She couldn’t hold on anymore.

She moved her hand seals, about to summon the magical artifact on her body to assist her. But just as she raised her finger, she seemed to hear a crisp sound…

Pop.

Like a fish underwater releasing a bubble, like a bubble rising to the surface, like the bubble instantly bursting the moment it touches the surface!

Zhao Yunbin immediately felt alarmed: “Not good!”

However…

It was already too late.

The person who had set this formation was the fish, and Zhao Yunbin was the one who had burst the bubble!

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!

One after another, spirit stones embedded throughout the cave walls lit up in succession. In the blink of an eye, they had already connected into a network, like stars scattered across the vast night sky.

They lit up, and Zhao Yunbin’s heart went cold.

There was no time to react – from touching the formation to its activation took less than half a breath!

“Crack!”

A thunderous sound!

Between the glowing formation lines, spiritual power immediately gathered.

In the entire dark space, a snake-like blue electric light appeared menacingly!

The darkness, thick as substance, seemed to submit to this magnificent electric light in this moment.

The surrounding stone walls suddenly became bright.

Those positions where “stars” had lit up were indentations one after another, with traces of shattered stone walls around them – a formation that had just been set up!

That bolt of lightning, driven by the formation, unhesitatingly struck down toward Zhao Yunbin standing at the front!

“Senior Sister!”

Behind her, the slightly plump Jianzhu Sect disciple was already scared out of her wits and couldn’t help but cry out.

Zhao Yunbin gritted her teeth, knowing she had nowhere to hide. She struggled to raise both hands, and a brilliant blue light was immediately spread flat above her head, firmly protecting her within.

The moment the light barrier formed, lightning from above struck down menacingly!

A thunderous crash!

The electric light collided with the light barrier, and the fragile barrier was instantly pierced by the lightning!

Crack!

Rolling air waves violently spread outward.

The plump female cultivator standing behind Zhao Yunbin had no time to defend herself and was knocked to the ground by the exploding air waves!

The fierce wind in Black Wind Cave swept up, and this Jianzhu Sect female cultivator screamed as she was blown away.

Feeling the lightning strike, Zhao Yunbin felt half her body go numb. She spat out a mouthful of fresh blood with a “puff,” immediately staining her clothes red.

Her left hand had turned charred black, severely injured.

Only her right hand could still be raised.

After the lightning dissipated, the fierce wind in Black Wind Cave immediately surged back up. Zhao Yunbin couldn’t stand steadily and was about to be blown away!

In that instant, blue light flashed from her sleeve!

“Ring—”

The sound of a sword’s cry immediately echoed!

A blue sword appeared in her right hand, which she fiercely thrust into the hard cave wall!

“Clang!”

The sword tip struck and immediately pierced into the cave wall.

Zhao Yunbin’s body was thrown backward, but her palm gripped the sword hilt tightly, finally stabilizing her form.

The chaotic electric light finally gradually dimmed.

The light around the entire formation also dimmed accordingly.

In the instant before Black Wind Cave plunged back into darkness, Zhao Yunbin finally saw it!

Not far ahead, there were exactly five figures!

Her vision darkened.

Darkness returned.

Zhao Yunbin’s eyes stared wide in the darkness.

It was them…

Actually them!

It seemed she had been careless after all. After judging that the others had deceived her, she had mistakenly thought they wouldn’t guess her judgment and had entered Black Wind Cave without any defenses!

So they had been prepared all along!

That gentle and elegant face that had stood before Black Wind Cave suddenly appeared in Zhao Yunbin’s mind.

She couldn’t help but grit her teeth, filled with towering hatred.

It was that female cultivator, with her nonchalant expression, who had informed her of Shang Liefan’s disappearance, spinning a monstrous lie.

It must have been she who designed this formation, too!

What vicious intent, what meticulous planning!

For the first time, Zhao Yunbin realized that besides Xu Lan’er, there was such a ruthless woman in this world!

Even worse than Xu Lan’er!

Only now did the place struck by lightning begin to gradually regain feeling.

The spiritual power in Zhao Yunbin’s body also began flowing again. Though not as smooth as before, it started automatically repairing her injuries. She finally managed to land back on the ground and looked back to find that the junior sister who had followed her was nowhere to be seen.

Fighting alone.

It carried an indescribable sense of tragedy…

“Hahaha…”

Zhao Yunbin didn’t know what had come over her as she suddenly burst into loud laughter.

This world had truly changed – any random unaffiliated minor cultivator dared to step on Jianzhu Sect’s head. Was it fearless confidence or deep hatred?

None of that mattered anymore!

A trace of blood appeared in Zhao Yunbin’s eyes.

This trip had been so unlucky, completely beyond her expectations. With her current physical condition, completing the task Senior Sister Xu Lan’er had assigned would probably be difficult.

If that was the case, why not make those people pay for their actions?

In just an instant, Zhao Yunbin made her decision.

Her laughter stopped abruptly. The long sword embedded in the stone wall had all its light extinguished. The sky-blue sword body was semi-transparent and extremely beautiful.

Zhao Yunbin slowly closed her eyes, her lips moving as she began chanting silently.

Murmurs emerged from her lips one after another. On the long sword, one rune suddenly lit up, then dimmed, followed by another that lit up and dimmed…

One rune after another lit up and extinguished in succession, flickering across the entire sword in the blink of an eye.

All the restrained light blazed forth again!

Zhao Yunbin slowly gripped the sword hilt tightly. In this moment, she seemed to suddenly possess infinite divine power. The azure light illuminated her entire face, but couldn’t illuminate the heavy darkness around her.

“Ring…”

She drew the long sword out again.

As the final syllable left her lips, Zhao Yunbin held the sword with both hands and struck down thunderously!

Bang!

Like a sword plunging into a vast lake, a terrifying wave suddenly transmitted from the hard rock beneath her feet…

Rumble, rumble…

At ninety-eight chi.

Qian Que was already gasping for breath, almost ready to collapse on the ground. He barely supported his body moving forward. Sweat had just emerged when it was immediately carried away by the black wind blowing from Black Wind Cave.

Pei Qian had become the one outputting the most and strongest spiritual power among everyone.

He glanced at everyone and suddenly wanted to suggest taking over for a while so the others could rest in turns.

Unexpectedly, Qian Que gritted his teeth and said: “Only three chi left! I’m about to see the Wind-Swallowing Stones!”

Black Wind Cave was barren throughout. What could remain were the good things.

Wind-Swallowing Stones were one such type, able to remain because they could “swallow wind.”

One hundred chi was a measuring standard – Wind-Swallowing Stones only existed a few steps beyond the hundred chi mark.

As long as they could walk past one hundred chi and take two more steps, they could see Wind-Swallowing Stones. However, these final few steps were unimaginably difficult.

Among everyone, perhaps only Jian Chou was relatively relaxed.

She blinked, calmly supporting the formation above her head. She felt the surrounding spiritual energy seemed thinner than outside, with vague traces of something else beginning to spread, different from spiritual energy yet seemingly similar.

The spiritual energy in her body replenished quite quickly.

Her body had undergone tempering and fundamentally had no meridians. Her original capacity was already large, and her absorption speed was even more astonishing – even Pei Qian beside her couldn’t match her.

Everyone felt that all the spiritual energy seemed to vaguely flow toward Jian Chou’s direction. After supporting for so long, only Jian Chou and Pei Qian’s spiritual power output had never weakened.

They were all at the Foundation Establishment stage – how could the difference be so great?

Qin Lang and Zhou Qingyun weren’t doing much better than Qian Que now, constantly gasping heavily.

While moving forward step by step, Jian Chou said, “Just a few more steps to go. If we stop now, we might get swept away by the wind. Better to grit our teeth and walk two more steps. I see Fellow Daoist Pei still has considerable strength left. When we see Wind-Swallowing Stones, perhaps Fellow Daoist Pei could act – wouldn’t that be perfectly suitable?”

Pei Qian was startled, hearing Jian Chou’s smooth and peaceful voice with a strange feeling in his heart.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one with strength to spare.

Upon hearing this, Qian Que nodded vigorously: “Exactly right! Later— What?!”

Halfway through his words, he suddenly looked back in surprise!

“The formation…”

Someone had triggered the formation!

Everyone saw Qian Que’s reaction and was about to ask.

The next moment, a blazing electric light ignited in the pitch-black Black Wind Cave!

“Crack!”

Lightning!

Under that dazzling light, the vague silhouette of a woman raising her hands in defense was revealed.

However…

The outcome was tragic.

In just an instant, the protective light barrier was broken, and that female cultivator was thrown away. At the crucial moment, she used a sword to pierce the stone wall and stabilize herself.

Subsequently, the blazing blue electric light dissipated, and the world returned to darkness. What remained in everyone’s minds were only those hate-filled eyes!

It was Zhao Yunbin!

Less than fifty chi apart – how far could that be?

In an instant, everyone became alert.

The moment Jian Chou saw Zhao Yunbin’s gaze, she immediately sensed danger.

“Be careful!”

She couldn’t help but shout.

Everyone had previously thought Zhao Yunbin seemed exhausted and severely injured, so there shouldn’t be any more danger.

Jian Chou’s sudden loud shout startled everyone.

Before they could ask, a suddenly approaching rumbling sound immediately drowned out the wind sounds in Black Wind Cave.

The ground began trembling violently!

Rumble!

Jian Chou felt the ground beneath her feet seemed to come alive, with something vaguely surging magnificently from where Zhao Yunbin had been standing!

Nearly fifty chi apart – just a blink’s distance!

The moment she focused her gaze, that huge crack madly spread from where they had come.

The target was clear – exactly where the five of them stood!

At this moment, Jian Chou and the other four had almost exhausted all their strength, hands supporting the formation above their heads, injecting spiritual power together.

Watching that deep crack approaching, not one person dared release their hands to resist it.

Pei Qian’s eyes blazed with fury. His expression turned fierce as an aura completely different from his previous masculine energy spread from his body.

His right hand, supporting above, seemed about to withdraw from the formation.

Unexpectedly, in that instant, someone was even faster than him!

At this moment, even with Pei Qian’s astonishing Golden Core stage eyesight, he could only see an afterimage!

“Wuchou,” who had been happily deceiving people, stood right beside him.

That crack, like a beast opening its huge maw, madly devoured everything as it approached. Seeing it about to reach the five of them, Qin Lang and Zhou Qingyun couldn’t help but turn pale with fright.

Only Jian Chou…

Her eyes flickered slightly, and her face suddenly carried endless coldness.

Both hands remained motionless, supporting above her head, but below, a taut, slender leg extended out—

Then came the afterimage that Pei Qian saw!

So fast it was impossible to track!

What Pei Qian could feel was only suffocation.

Suffocation caused by a lack of spiritual energy.

All the spiritual energy in Black Wind Cave gathered toward his side in this instant, toward Jian Chou’s leg that had become an afterimage!

Hum…

Pei Qian only heard a sound in his ear as a vast, ancient aura spread from Jian Chou’s leg, immediately enveloping him.

That…

Seemed to be a phantom.

The phantom of a leg.

A nearly straight leg that, as the crack approached with its gaping bloody maw, struck out!

“Boom!”

One Leg Overturning Heaven Seal!

Hard as metal and iron!

This flesh and blood leg shattered the stone wall that had remained intact after years of black wind-like smashing tofu blocks, instantly scattering broken stones!

Jian Chou’s leg was mostly buried in that pile of rubble.

She gritted her teeth, her face showing cold, almost cruel composure as she fiercely lifted her leg and swept forward!

Like someone standing in rolling river currents, one leg sweeping out countless giant waves.

With Jian Chou’s leg sweep, she brought up a menacing dragon of broken stones!

Boom boom boom!

With Jian Chou’s leg as the center, the dragon head raised and immediately pounced toward that crack!

Puff!

Like a layer of paper, the moment it was struck by the stone dragon, the huge crack thunderously repelled and filled.

Following the crack’s path, the stone dragon roared upward. After smashing the largest crack, its momentum remained unabated!

Roar!

In Black Wind Cave, terrifying howls could vaguely be heard.

Standing at fifty chi, after seeing that crack flash like lightning toward the dark depths, Zhao Yunbin’s face showed a confident smile.

I want you all to perish here!

She gripped forcefully, her body empty, only wanting to lift this long sword—

“Boom!”

A tremendous sound filling the entire Black Wind Cave instantly appeared!

Zhao Yunbin’s eardrums were about to shatter.

The fierce wind in Black Wind Cave never ceased. The stone dragon came from above, riding the wind, appearing even more terrifying.

Unstoppable!

Section after section of cracks were destroyed by the dragon in moments!

Before Zhao Yunbin could widen her eyes, she felt countless boulders striking her chest!

Bang!

Tremendous force struck!

She could no longer stand, struck by the dragon and slammed against the cave wall, spitting a long stream of blood.

The fierce black wind swept out, carrying Zhao Yunbin’s body like tattered cloth. In an instant, it crossed the short fifty chi distance and violently threw this once high and mighty Fairy Zhao Yunbin to the ground!

Another tremendous crash.

Outside the cave, everyone was stunned.

This person was…

“Senior Sister Zhao!”

A cry of alarm came from nowhere. The Jianzhu Sect female cultivator who had been blown out earlier saw Zhao Yunbin covered in blood and unconscious on the ground. She could hardly believe her eyes and rushed forward, shouting.

This shout undoubtedly revealed the identity of this wretched person.

Many people waiting outside Black Wind Cave couldn’t help but look at each other.

This…

It was too tragic, wasn’t it?

Inside the cave, at ninety-seven chi, not having moved an inch.

Everything had calmed down.

On the originally flat ground, countless broken stones had exploded, leaving a scene of devastation in the cave.

Everyone was like having their throats gripped, unable to say a word.

Jian Chou showed no expression as she pulled her completely undamaged leg from that crater of broken stones. She lifted her eyelids and said flatly: “Resolved.”