"Alright, Junior Sister, you go ahead." Li Zhuohua was the first to respond. "I'll guard this place even if it costs me my life!"
Yin Xuan said nothing, merely tilting his head slightly and smiling gently in silent approval.
"Be careful." Xie Ziyin stepped forward, handing Wen Shuangbai some medicinal pills. His eyes were deep, filled with unspoken words, but in the end, they condensed into just six: "We all must survive."
Wen Shuangbai curved her lips into a smile, accepting the pills while giving his fingertips a firm squeeze. Softly, she repeated, "Yes, we all must survive."
After a few brief instructions, Wen Shuangbai turned decisively and strode toward the Sacred Banner, seating herself cross-legged before its base.
The base was a massive slab of bronze-jade, its surface intricately carved with lifelike depictions of ancient divine beasts.
Placing her palm against the bronze base, Wen Shuangbai immediately sensed the immense power of the formation contained within.
Closing her eyes, she focused her spiritual awareness, summoning the Sacred Tower's blueprint in her mind.
According to the records, the formation within the bronze base was linked to the Mystic Heaven Mirror Sphere Formation on the fortieth floor of the White Jade Tower through the Moonstone Crystal beneath it.
The White Jade Tower had eighty-one floors, and the Mystic Heaven Mirror Sphere Formation was positioned almost at its center, interconnected with every level.
The Sacred Stones earned in each round of their trials had been recorded within this formation.
Once the Sacred Banner was pulled, the formation in the bronze base would detect it, transmit the result to the fortieth floor, and the sphere formation would calculate the winner of the Mystic Heaven Grand Competition. The result would then be announced on the Mystic Heaven Mirror, and the ownership of the Mystic Heaven Token would be transferred.
This was the original formation—the correct one.
But now, it had been silently altered.
Wen Shuangbai could sense that the bronze formation no longer transmitted to the sphere formation on the fortieth floor. Instead, its endpoint was the Flame Demon Formation present on every floor up to the eightieth.
The Flame Demon Formation was an immensely destructive explosive array, designed centuries ago by a predecessor to annihilate demonic forces.
Ironically, the Di Family had now repurposed it to destroy the Sacred Tower.
Over the past five hundred years, aside from the Divine Evolution Temple briefly obtaining the Sacred Tower once, it had remained in the hands of the Purple Flame Realm—under the Di Family's control.
The Di Family had ample time to secretly embed the Flame Demon Formation on every floor of the main tower.
Once the Sacred Banner was pulled, the bronze formation would activate, inevitably triggering the Flame Demon Formation.
The White Jade Tower would be obliterated, and the tens of thousands of malevolent spirits imprisoned within would be unleashed.
If the tower fell and the ghosts escaped, they would drown the Mystic Heaven in blood.
The situation was dire.
To avert disaster, Wen Shuangbai had to carefully retract the formation's spiritual threads from the Flame Demon Formation without alerting it, then redirect them to the correct Mystic Heaven Mirror Sphere Formation.
It was no easy task.
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to remain calm, sending a wisp of spiritual sense along one of the threads toward the Flame Demon Formation at its endpoint.
......
Meanwhile, behind her, Xie Ziyin and the others kept a wary eye on Di Qi's body.
No matter how they desecrated the corpse, they couldn’t stop Di Qi from regenerating under the protection of the Mystic Heaven Token.
Worse, his recovery was accelerating.
His shattered bones, crushed by Yin Xuan, had reformed. His spiritual veins had been reconstructed, now even more resilient than before.
He was on the verge of awakening.
"Oh no, I think he’s getting stronger," Yu Xiaoli whimpered, rubbing her furry ears. "What do we do? Just watch him wake up?"
"If we can’t kill him, we’ll trap him," Xie Ziyin suddenly declared. He glanced back at Wen Shuangbai before continuing, "We just need to hold him until Shuangbai fixes the formation. Then we can finish him."
Without hesitation, Xie Ziyin summoned his alchemy cauldron. He folded Di Qi’s body multiple times, bound it tightly with spiritual ropes, and stuffed it inside before sealing the lid. Activating the cauldron, he ordered, "Everyone, bring out your spatial artifacts."
The others immediately began rummaging through their storage rings—primarily the little spirits from Jade Rhinoceros Valley.
On the Qingling Mountain side, Li Zhuohua scoffed. "I don’t bother with such things. I don’t carry them."
Yin Xuan… his only weapon was the slender sword he’d wielded since childhood. Even now, with ample resources, he hadn’t replaced it, let alone collected spatial artifacts.
He shook his head. "I don’t have any either."
But it didn’t matter. The wealthy Jade Rhinoceros Valley had plenty.
In moments, a small mountain of high-grade artifacts—Demon-Sealing Pagodas, Spatial Orbs, and the like—piled up on the floor.
The Qingling Mountain trio: "......"
Li Zhuohua gave Jade Rhinoceros Valley a thumbs-up. "Impressive! Why didn’t you use these earlier?"
Yu Xiaoli scratched her head sheepishly. "You all moved so fast! We were afraid we’d trap you or Sister Wen instead of Di Qi."
Besides, they had their Little Turtle to shield them!
Li Zhuohua: "......"
Without another word, Xie Ziyin tossed the alchemy cauldron into the Demon-Sealing Pagoda, then the pagoda into a Spatial Orb… beginning a Russian nesting doll of containment.
As the others watched, the Jade Rhinoceros Valley spirits huddled together, whispering.
"Who knew you could do that?" Yu Qianli marveled. Then he added, "But honestly, the best spatial artifact is our Little Turtle."
True.
The turtle spirit’s shell was the ultimate defensive artifact—once sealed inside, only its father, the Turtle Elder, could open it.
It was how Jade Rhinoceros Valley had survived the Tian Family Village and Zhuoguang City incidents.
Realizing this, Xie Ziyin turned to the Little Turtle. His gaze flickered, and the short-legged, hunched-back youth yelped, ducking behind Yu Qianli in terror.
Yu Qianli hastily intervened, "Brother Xie, no, no! Our Little Turtle’s shell may trap anything, but the inside is soft—only meant for sheltering allies. If we lock Di Qi in there, he’ll kill our Little Turtle!"
By the time the Turtle Elder pried it open, all he’d find was a dead son-shaped shell.
"Understood." Xie Ziyin nodded and resumed his nested containment.
But suddenly, he frowned.
His alchemy cauldron had been destroyed.
Di Qi had revived.
Exchanging glances with Yin Xuan and Li Zhuohua, Xie Ziyin swiftly plastered all the talismans Wen Shuangbai had given him onto the spatial artifacts.
He’d considered tossing them down the tower to the first floor, but Lu Jiayao and the Thin Monk were still down there, fighting for their lives. If Di Qi encountered them, not even divine intervention could save them.
So instead, Xie Ziyin hurled the spatial artifacts into a far corner of the Sacred Hall, away from the Sacred Banner.
Li Zhuohua and Yin Xuan stepped forward, swords pointed at the spatial artifact. If Di Qi charged out, they would strike him down at the fastest speed possible!
If he couldn’t die, then they’d just kill him over and over—keeping him trapped in an endless cycle of resurrection would work just fine!
That was Li Zhuohua’s thought.
But things turned out far worse than they imagined.
Xie Ziyin’s layered traps only held Di Qi for less than half a cup of tea’s time.
Bang, bang, bang—the overlapping talismans detonated one after another.
Clad in black robes, Di Qi walked within the shadow of a colossal black dragon, emerging unscathed from the fiery explosions.
The little spirits of Jade Rhinoceros Valley shielded Wen Shuangbai, watching from afar as an endless dread rose in their hearts at the sight of that black dragon.
Di Qi had advanced.
"Thank you," he said with a refined smile. "You’ve helped me step into the true Saint Realm."
His father had transferred all his cultivation to him, but that power wasn’t truly his own—he had only been half-step into the Saint Realm, always missing that final push.
Yet, as misfortune often turned into blessing, after his rebirth through nirvana, the missing piece was filled by the sacred will within the Profound Heaven Mark.
Xie Ziyin, Yin Xuan, and Li Zhuohua had no patience for his words.
The three moved in perfect sync.
Xie Ziyin stood at the rear, unleashing his Stellar Domain.
Yin Xuan and Li Zhuohua charged ahead, their silver and crimson sword lights intertwining as they slashed toward Di Qi!
Though none of them had reached the Saint Realm, their foundations were solid, their convictions unshaken. Combined, even Di Qi dared not underestimate them.
Under the pressure of the Stellar Domain and the two sword auras already imbued with sacred will, the black dragon shrank, its form growing dimmer.
Then, with a resounding crash, the black dragon shattered completely, dissolving into a mist that spread in all directions.
Di Qi’s body collapsed with a heavy thud.
Li Zhuohua stared in disbelief. "What? He’s dead just like that?!"
Xie Ziyin and Yin Xuan also found it suspiciously smooth.
Suddenly, Xie Ziyin’s heart lurched. He whirled around—
The black mist drifted as if aimless, floating toward the sacred banner… toward Wen Shuangbai.
Di Qi’s target wasn’t the three of them.
It was Shuangbai!
The mist coalesced midair.
The body that had fallen moments earlier vanished, reappearing where the black mist gathered.
Di Qi raised his palm, aiming a death strike at Wen Shuangbai’s head as she sat with closed eyes, unraveling the Demon-Burning Array. "You—die."
He wasn’t foolish.
Eliminate Wen Shuangbai, seize the Profound Heaven Order, and what could the others possibly do to him?
The little spirits of Jade Rhinoceros Valley, trembling with fear just moments ago, didn’t flee into the Little Turtle’s shell.
Instead, they surged forward.
One, two, three, four, five—transforming into their full spiritual forms, they expanded their bodies to the limit, pressing their heads together to shield the seemingly small Wen Shuangbai and the unconscious Fat Buddha Son beneath their wings, foolishly believing they could block Di Qi’s strike!
They had promised Little Wen they would protect her!
Di Qi sneered.
Fine. He would grant their wish.
He prepared to summon a drop of his heart’s blood, intending to annihilate them all—spirits and Wen Shuangbai alike.
But at that very moment, the Little Turtle—usually slow-moving, easily startled, afraid of everything—moved faster than ever.
It lunged at Di Qi, wrapping itself around him, dragging him into its shell’s inner space.
This time, it wasn’t to protect him.
It was to trap him.
"Little Turtle Senior Brother!" Tears spilled from the spirits’ bright, lively eyes, dampening Wen Shuangbai’s raven-black hair.
Without hesitation, every spirit of Jade Rhinoceros Valley followed, charging into the shell’s space to hold Di Qi back. They couldn’t just watch their Little Turtle die.
In the nick of time, Li Zhuohua’s voice rang out: "Little Turtle, wait for us!"
Realizing the danger, Xie Ziyin, Li Zhuohua, and Yin Xuan dashed forward without pause—one, two, three—plunging into the shell’s space after them.
Keeping Di Qi trapped inside was the greatest protection they could offer Wen Shuangbai, the sacred tower, and the Profound Heaven itself.
Even if it meant separation—perhaps even the separation of life and death.
As the shell sealed shut, Xie Ziyin cast one last deep glance at Wen Shuangbai.
And in that same instant, a small snow-white fox was "abandoned" by its companions—kicked out of the shell’s space with a forceful shove.
Just as Xie Ziyin and the others sought to protect Wen Shuangbai, the little spirits wanted to protect Jade Rhinoceros Valley’s little fox.
In a mere blink, the once blood-soaked, perilous sacred hall fell into serene silence.
Of the once-crowded disciples from the three great sects, only Wen Shuangbai, the Fat Buddha Son, and the little fox remained.
Meanwhile, within the shell’s space, hell unfolded.
Di Qi raged uncontrollably, slaughtering without restraint.
Though Qingling Mountain and Jade Rhinoceros Valley had numbers, Di Qi’s undying body overwhelmed them. Soon, everyone was wounded.
Crimson blood dripped onto the soft shell floor, pooling into rivulets until the metallic scent hung thick in the air.
Before the Profound Heaven Mirror, the watching cultivators stood in solemn silence, hearts stirred to the point of speechless tears.
