That hundred-meter blood-earth giant, before this force possessing dual attributes of vitality and destruction, was as fragile as snow under the scorching sun.
No room for resistance whatsoever.
Its massive body rapidly melted and collapsed under the thunder plasma's wash, large chunks of blood mud peeling from the sky, completely evaporated by dense electric arcs before hitting ground. The foul bloody Qi that had filled the entire space was forcibly purified in this moment, the air even beginning to fill with a nauseating burnt smell.
"Ahhhhh—!"
The withered old man let out a piercing scream in the lightning.
His proud protective demonic Qi was stripped away layer by layer like onion skin, revealing his withered-as-firewood true body beneath. His originally arrogant red robe was now tattered, his skin covered with charred cracks from lightning strikes.
Defeat was certain.
Before a Golden Core orthodox sword cultivator's full-power strike, these demonic methods relying on external forces for forced advancement were ultimately just castles in the air.
"Liu Yun! Will you leave no survivors?!"
Seeing his last protective blood shield about to shatter, decisive ruthlessness flashed through the withered old man's eyes.
"Want to kill this old man? Not so easy! Since you won't give me a way to live, then let this city full of ants accompany me in death!"
He suddenly opened his mouth, spraying a mouthful of pitch-black life essence blood onto the already cracked [ Blood River Banner ].
"Explode!"
The demonic banner, already dim under sword intent suppression, suddenly expanded violently after absorbing this essence blood, like a dying flash of light. It emitted an extremely unstable, suffocating dark-red glow, like a blood-colored sun about to collapse.
Simultaneously, a sinister fluctuation instantly spread through the earth veins across all of Qingmu Town.
"Squeak squeak squeak—!"
Those Spirit-Devouring Rats not yet killed suddenly all stopped moving. Their bodies began violently convulsing, abdomens bulging high, glowing with dangerous red light, as if about to become blood-flesh bombs at any moment.
This was chain detonation.
The withered old man wanted to detonate all the demonic creatures here, dragging the entire Qingmu Town to hell together!
"Not good!"
White-robed disciple Luo Yu, responsible for perimeter defense, face changed drastically. The sword screen shield he'd raised actually began cracking under this resonance wave erupting from within.
"Master! The demonic Qi resonance is too strong, this disciple can't hold it!"
If this old demon succeeded, everything within a hundred miles would instantly become deadland, and Azure Cloud Sect's reputation would be utterly lost.
However, facing this suicidal madness, Elder Liu Yun floating in mid-air merely snorted coldly, lips curling in a disdainful arc.
"Playing self-detonation before this old man? Naive."
He didn't even recall the divine thunder currently cleansing the ground.
He lightly bit his tongue tip, a drop of golden essence blood flying out, landing on the Qingming Sword spanning heaven and earth.
Divine Ability: [ Heavenly Sword · Sky Prohibition ]
There was no earth-shattering sound, no dazzling light and shadow.
That thousand-foot giant sword, upon absorbing the essence blood, suddenly vanished into thin air. In its place, a transparent ripple impossible to look at directly, seemingly able to distort even light itself, instantly swept across the entire battlefield with Liu Yun as center.
Where the ripple passed, the world seemed to hit pause.
Rolling blood Qi stagnated, collapsing houses froze in mid-air.
Most bizarre was that Blood River Banner about to explode. Its surface, expanded to the limit and about to release destructive energy, was forcibly "fixed" in a half-exploded state.
Like an insect sealed in amber—no matter how turbulent the internal energy, it couldn't break through that invisible spatial barrier.
"This... this is spatial law?!"
The withered old man's maniacal laughter stopped abruptly, madness in his eyes instantly transforming into extreme terror.
He hadn't expected Liu Yun's sword intent comprehension had already touched the threshold of space!
Just as everyone's attention was drawn to that forcibly imprisoned demonic banner, all marveling at this sword's supernatural power.
No one noticed that the withered old man's already desiccated body suddenly deflated like a punctured human skin drained of air.
Golden cicada shedding its shell.
An extremely subtle, finger-thick dark-red blood thread, taking advantage of the explosion's suppression and that instant when heaven and earth spiritual Qi stagnated, silently burrowed underground.
Following the earth vein gap previously blasted open by the blood giant, like a slippery loach, it frantically fled outward.
So the supposed mutual destruction, the supposed magic treasure self-detonation, were all decoys!
This old demon never intended to fight to the death from the start—he'd even sacrificed his life-bound magic treasure refined for a hundred years and his physical body, all for this thread of survival.
Sacrifice the chariot to save the king!
But this could fool Luo Yu and Mo Fan, yet couldn't fool Liu Yun.
"Hmph."
With Liu Yun's cultivation level, his Divine Sense had already locked onto a hundred miles. The instant that trace of origin blood Qi escaped, he'd already detected it.
He wasn't angry, instead like watching a monkey trying to leap from his palm, lips curling in a contemptuous cold smile.
"Abandoning your life-bound magic treasure to escape? Quite the ruthless character."
"But this hundred-mile radius has already been sealed by my sword intent—where can you flee?"
Liu Yun didn't even glance at the devastation below. For him, Qingmu Town's safety was already entrusted to his disciple—his task had only one goal: eliminate the threat completely.
He beckoned with his hand.
"Return."
That ripple fixing space instantly converged, transforming back into the three-inch small sword falling into his palm.
The next second, Liu Yun's entire form became an even more astonishing azure rainbow, instantly tearing through the sky with ear-piercing sonic booms, chasing in the direction the blood thread fled.
"Luo Yu, clean up the aftermath. Your master will return shortly."
The authoritative voice echoed in the sky, but the figure had already disappeared into the horizon.
As that terrifying spiritual pressure departed, the imprisoned space finally resumed flowing.
That Blood River Banner, having lost its master's control and forcibly interrupted in its self-detonation, fell like a tattered rag, losing all luster with a thud into the dust.
The wind stopped. The thunder dispersed.
The originally clamorous battlefield fell into deathly silence at this moment.
Leaving only devastated ruins everywhere, a group of confused mortals surviving the calamity, and a white-robed disciple wiping his cold sword.
And a certain "ant" just poking his head out from behind a ruined wall, face covered in blood and dirt, heart still palpitating.