Yunxi met his stare with an icy gaze. She knew exactly what the evil cultivator intended. He had stepped into her domain on purpose. Inside, the Dao's suppression on his cultivation would ease, and if he could tear her domain apart, he could gravely injure her. That backward step had been calculated.
It looked like she had forced him into the Wind and Snow Domain. In truth, he had planned it. Since she understood, Yunxi went with the flow and sealed him fully inside. Once in, getting out would not be so easy.
Her Mystic Frost Needle had carried a little something extra. Zi Yan clung to one of the needles. Shielded by everyone's combined assault, it seared through the evil cultivator's armor and entered his body. Zi Yan was now burning away his baleful qi from within. That was why hatred blazed in his eyes when he fixed them on Yunxi.
Yunxi gave a short, cold laugh. "Stare at this Zūnzhě again and I will dig out your eyes."
He sneered, pale lips peeling back to show white teeth, unsettling to look at. His voice was hoarse. "You do not think there is only one way into Weiyu Realm, do you?"
Yunxi rubbed her fingers together, voice steady. "And what of it? You mean there is more than one high-rank evil cultivator in Weiyu Realm? That you will certainly find the seal on the Evil God's body? That you will surely break it and welcome the Evil God's return?"
Her three quick questions made him realize Yunxi knew more than he had expected. His mission was to suppress his realm and enter Weiyu Realm to locate the Evil God's sealed body. He had not foreseen four Out-of-Body cultivators appearing, and wrecking the advantage they had painstakingly built.
So he had chosen to strike when the four were drained, to cripple them and leave Weiyu Realm without its pillars, making his later plans easier.
After crossing blows, he had confirmed it. This woman was the lower-realm cultivator whose thunder still lashed his soul. That thread of soul thunder, like maggots gnawing bone, was lethal to one who cultivated evil arts. His urge to kill her spiked. He had feigned weakness and only began to exert himself after entering her domain.
Unfortunately, she had seen through him, leaving him on the back foot.
He opened his mouth to retort, when that all-too-familiar pain raked his soul. Blood surged up his throat and he spat it out. His aura withered.
Yunxi watched his twisted face, doubt flickering in her eyes. Along the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff, the Yaoguang star began to glimmer again, as if reminding her that it had a hand in this.
A heartbeat later she understood. Before anyone else could react, she flashed forward staff in hand. Wrapped in violet thunder, the staff crashed down and met the tri-edged sword once more with a ringing clang.
This time, Yunxi spoke through clenched teeth. "So it is you, you long-armed rat. Because of you I lost three life-saving treasures. I have yet to settle that debt, and you came down yourself. Since you like reaching from the shadows, this Zūnzhě will indulge you. How about a taste of ambushing this Zūnzhě? Try ambushing. Try ambushing."
Her blows fell like driving rain, each landing at a different, vicious angle. At first, the Out-of-Body evil cultivator managed to block. But with soul thunder and Zi Yan ravaging soul and flesh together, all he could do was take the beating. Pitiful, really.
Hearing Yunxi's words, Han Lian, Yun Chen, and Xun Kun needed no further explanation. This was the same giant hand that had reached for Weiyu Realm twice before.
The first time, he had failed to seize Long Ya. The second time, his sneak attack on the four had also failed. Judging from today, after those back-to-back failures he had come down in person to clean up the mess, only to run into Ran Xi again.
Old hatred and new enmity piled together. Watching Ran Xi whirl her staff in a blur, the three humans and three beasts made no move to stop her.
Yunxi struck harder the longer she fought. Before, she had lacked the cultivation to ascend. Now she had reached the threshold, but with Weiyu Realm in crisis she could not look away. As the saying went, "The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility." The weight on her shoulders was not light.
With the Evil God's body sealed in Weiyu Realm, assaults from Upper Realm evil cultivators would keep coming. She had been holding back a long breath of anger. Now that she had a target, she let it out. Five afterimages split from her body and joined the fray. Fists and feet flew. She ran through the advanced interstellar body-tempering forms on him from start to finish.
Bang, bang, bang.
Flesh met fist. Clang, clang, clang. Staff and sword rang out. Surrounded by six pale figures, the evil cultivator could not even cry out smoothly.
"If you dare try self-detonation, go ahead. I borrowed the Soul-Seizing Mirror from Lord Yama. I will force your soul into it and make you wish for death without finding it, forever without peace."
Her cold shout made him abandon the thought.
He had not wanted to die. He had only wanted to bluff her. He had not expected such ruthless resolve. One wave of her hand and a mirror hovered in the air, aimed straight at him. The underworld chill leaking from it told him Yunxi was not bluffing. His moment of hesitation brought a fiercer barrage.
Listening to the thud-thud-thud, Bai Feng finally flopped onto the ground and covered his eyes with his paws. His instincts had always been good. The first time he saw this woman, he had not dared provoke her. He was glad he had chosen wisely.
Xue Li flicked an ear and blocked Xue Ying from view. Better not let his mate learn such things. Xue Ying batted Xue Li aside with a paw, watching with great interest.
The Wind and Snow Domain was full of Yunxi's muttered imprecations and ever-heavier blows, punctuated by the evil cultivator's muffled grunts.
When Yunxi had vented the last of the anger in her chest, she rotated her wrist, recalled the afterimages, and set the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff against the evil cultivator's dantian. Her voice was frigid. "What happened in the Spirit Realm that made you suppress your cultivation to come to Weiyu Realm?"
Feeling as if every bone in his body had shattered, the evil cultivator rolled his eyes up to show mostly whites. "'Wuwang Ruins' opened a passage straight to the Spirit Realm's ancient battlefield. The Spirit Realm is at war with us now."
Yunxi pushed the staff forward again. "What happened to Huaxian Gate in the Upper Realm?"
"Heh. We took Huaxian Gate. They tucked their tails and ran, and— ugh, ah—"
Before he could finish, her staff punched through his dantian. Thunder danced along the wound. In the next instant, Yunxi's palm clamped down on the crown of his head. She moved to search his soul.
"You will not."
He had not expected her to be so decisive, giving him no chance to feed false information. From the moment he stepped into her domain, he had lost the initiative. In the end, he clenched his teeth and self-detonated his soul.