The fog-hidden wraith that Ye Liuyun and his clone had blasted with black light shrieked again and again, retreating into the mist.

“It’s still alive!”

Ye Liuyun hadn’t expected the creature’s soul-force to be so tenacious

Their black-light strike must have missed the core of its soul, only whittling away part of it.

With the help of Life-Spring water, Ye Liuyun and his two avatars sat up quickly. Their wounds weren’t fully closed, yet they immediately summoned Golden-Crow Sacred Flames, scorching the fog so the other cultivators could spot any hidden wraiths.

The powerhouses pressed their own advantages—spatial arts, heaven-and-earth energy—hammering the roiling mist in unison.

Several wraiths were forced into the open, howling as the group obliterated them.

Now only five large fog-masses remained inside the cavern; the rest had already thinned out, too weak to conceal any truly powerful entities.

Still half-crippled, Ye Liuyun’s party dared not strike rashly. They slammed down array plates to block ambushes, then slipped into the clone’s inner world to cultivate at accelerated speed.

He considered releasing a fire-powered war chariot—but feared its blast would bring the entire mountain down.

Instead he released only Purple Kylin Snake, Devil Lion, Vermilion Bird, and Little Blue Ice to cooperate with the cultivators inside the array plate.

Vermilion Bird ignited one fog-mass; Devil Lion paired spatial slashes with her flames. The cornered wraith charged them in desperation.

Little Blue Ice froze it in place with Soul-Fixation Bead while everyone else combined soul attacks. Vermilion fire, Devil Lion’s spatial blades, and a dozen other strikes erased the creature instantly.

Before that fog dispersed, an explosion ripped from another direction—blasting several top experts apart in a spray of blood and flesh.

Everyone instantly counter-attacked toward that new threat.

Yet while they focused, a far larger fog-mass darted in and devoured the remnants of their freshly killed wraith. When they turned to blast it, a smaller cloud whipped forward and absorbed their barrage for its bigger kin. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Little Blue Ice triggered Soul-Fixation Bead again—pinning only the smaller scout while the giant mass recoiled beyond her range.

Another salvo thundered from yet another quarter; more cultivators died on their feet.

Even “small” wraiths now struck with late-Return-to-One Ninth-Heaven force—nothing these warriors could survive.

They finished off pinned scout; Vermilion Bird incinerated its last wisps until nothing remained.

Only two masses were left: one huge, one tiny—and both began racing toward each other even as titanic blast erupted from within larger cloud smashing straight at beast-defended array plate

Purple Kylin Snake froze time itself spat bolt violet qilin-fire meant incinerate lesser fiend first then gang up greater horror

But time stood still colossal fiend still loosed guttural roar soul so mighty it moved within frozen seconds

Kylin had no gauge depth foe’s spirit roared back sonic boom soul-quake wave lash enemy mind

Instantly twin souls burst thing’s sea consciousness shot straight him one grievously wounded second intact

“Two souls!”

Shock jolted qilin knew himself outmatched tried reverse flow found useless gap too vast released hold restored normal flow lest allies frozen helpless

Boom earlier launched blast landed shattered defensive array twin incoming souls stormed through

One of his intact divine-speres shot straight into the Purple Kylin Snake’s sea of consciousness; the other, cracked soul lunged at Little Blue-Ice who was holding the Soul-Fixing Pearl.

The moment Vermilion Bird saw it, she too released her own divine-sphere and plunged into the Kylin’s mind to save him. The broken soul that had pounced on Little Blue-Ice was pinned outside her sea of consciousness by the pearl.

Demon Lion and Little Blue-Ice instantly sent out their own souls to devour the stray spirit-energy.

Inside the Purple Kylin Snake’s mental sea, violet qilin-fire filled every corner, and his soul unleashed a shock-wave. The Mist-Hidden Fiend’s soul ignited at once; fissures ripped open across its body under the blast.

Yet it charged the Kylin regardless, ramming head-on. With no choice, the Kylin let one of his souls collide with it.

Bang!—the Kylin’s soul exploded on impact. The fiend’s soul split as well; several huge fragments dropped away and were burned to nothing by the violet flames.

Still it did not pause; it hurled itself at the Kylin’s remaining soul.

Only now did Vermilion Bird’s sphere burst into the sea. The purple fire here was fierce; wrapping himself in his own flame-shield he raced toward the fiend.

He arrived just in time to watch both souls smash together and shatter completely.

He hovered close, but there was nothing he could do—Vermilion Bird blazed from head to foot; a single step nearer would only incinerate what little remained of the Kylin’s spirit.

Forced back out, he summoned Ye Liuyun at once.

Ye Liuyun had never imagined that Purple Kylin Snake—the one he’d thought safest—would be killed. Ignoring his wounds he rushed out to look.

By the time he entered that sea of consciousness every trace of qilin-soul had been erased; even its violet flames were dying down.

Immediately Ye Liuyun called forth Gate of Hades and told Zhuge Feiyu to sweep up what still lingered with a Soul Banner, guiding it into Nether Hell so that later it could aid Zhuge in managing that realm—but without a body Purple-Kylin could no longer wield power over time itself elsewhere another smaller Mist-Hidden Fiend kept slaughtering warriors Ye Liuyun flung out his spirit-blade splitting its soul then ordered Vermilion Bird to burn every last wisp away