"Annihilation Ray!" Elder Zhou's voice trembled with both fury and fear as he stared at the fading crimson beam that had just pierced the air. A chill crawled down his spine — it was as though death itself had brushed past him.
Though grief for Elder Mo burned in his heart, he could not help but feel a surge of relief. Thank heavens that beam wasn't aimed at me.
"You've got a good eye," Jing Hongchen said with a proud smile. "To recognize my Annihilation Ray — not bad at all."
He looked very pleased with himself. The Annihilation Ray fixed-mounted Soul Cannon was his greatest masterpiece — his ultimate creation. Its destructive power could instantly kill a Titled Douluo. Even among Level 9 Soul Tools, it ranked near the very top.
It was this invention that secured his position as Hall Master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall.
But such overwhelming power came at a price. Each shot required more than three months of charging, a drawback that rendered it unsuitable for continuous combat.
Elder Zhou drew in a deep, shaky breath. His fear subsided, replaced by a bloodshot fury. "Jing Hongchen, Hall Master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall — you killed my brother! I'll tear you to pieces today!"
He knew the Ray's weakness. It couldn't fire again anytime soon, and that knowledge steadied his trembling heart.
With a snarl, he summoned his own ultimate weapon — a Soul Tool shaped like a massive crossbow.
Its design resembled a military heavy arbalest, but it gleamed with far superior craftsmanship. The trigger was replaced with a thick cylindrical chamber — a charging core, where Zhou inserted his arm.
As his Soul Power poured in, the black crossbow began to glow with metallic radiance. The very air thickened with pressure.
A Level 9 Soul Tool — his own magnum opus, forged to match his power and martial attributes.
"Fire coverage!" Zhou roared, pulling the trigger.
Hundreds upon hundreds of energy shells erupted at once, streaking through the sky toward Jing Hongchen like a torrential storm.
The terrified Level 8 Soul Engineer who had frozen at the sight of the Annihilation Ray finally snapped back to action, trembling as he joined in, launching long-range bombardments with his best Soul Tool.
The other wounded Level 8 Soul Engineer, half-buried in the snow, struggled to his feet and began setting up more fixed-mounted Soul Cannons, trying to prepare the last four Level 8 shells for launch.
Jing Hongchen's eyes narrowed as he watched Zhou's weapon charge. The oppressive energy it emitted was unmistakable — this was no ordinary tool.
"A custom-built Level 9 Soul Tool… impressive," he murmured, though there was no panic in his tone.
He clenched his jaw, and his own Soul Power erupted. "Fine then. Let's see whose craftsmanship reigns supreme!"
Zhou's crossbow shuddered violently, greedily devouring his power. His face grew pale, veins bulging as he poured not just Soul Power, but lifeforce and spiritual force into it.
Madness twisted his features. He no longer cared about his own life — revenge, and the safety of his family, were all that remained in his heart.
If Jing Hongchen and Wei Xuan lived, his family would die. To protect them, he had no choice but to gamble everything.
The black crossbow pulsed with a sinister aura as a white-and-blood-red energy bolt took form, its tip razor-sharp, distorting the very space around it.
Dark clouds rolled overhead. The sky itself dimmed.
"You lunatic…" Jing Hongchen spat, suddenly alarmed. The power radiating from that arrow was terrifying. He turned his cannons toward Zhou, aiming to interrupt the charge before it could fire.
But Zhou only sneered, darting aside. The nearest Level 8 Soul Engineer leapt in front of him, activating every defensive tool he had, his body wreathed in flame and barriers, intercepting Jing Hongchen's assault.
Against a Level 9 master like Jing Hongchen, the man had no hope of victory — but stalling for a few moments was possible.
"You really think I can't deal with you?" Jing Hongchen growled, furious.
A massive thirty-centimeter cannon materialized on his shoulder, its barrel glowing ominously.
"I wasn't going to use this, but you've forced my hand!" he roared, channeling energy into it.
He could have hidden inside the Silver Moon Flowing Light Shield, which would easily have withstood Zhou's final strike. But rage overpowered reason — he refused to retreat.
He would crush them here and now.
The cannon — a Level 9 Soul Tool known as the Homing Convergence Cannon — fused spiritual power with energy, allowing its projectile to track a target through mental lock.
But the drain was immense. Even for him, each shot nearly emptied his reserves.
Still, driven by fury, Jing Hongchen continued charging the cannon while simultaneously returning fire — two streams of thought working in tandem.
"Die, Jing Hongchen!" Zhou howled, his face ghostly pale yet exultant. "Soul-seeking Deathbolt — launch!"
He never got the last word out.
A tearing pain ripped through his mind — a mysterious force shattered his spiritual core.
"Pfft!" Blood burst from his mouth. Crimson poured from his eyes, ears, and nose as his body went limp midair. His gaze dimmed.
He died instantly.
The blood-red and white arrow, now without its master's control, went berserk. Energy flared violently along its shaft, unstable and chaotic.
"Elder Zhou?" the Level 8 Soul Engineer shielding him turned, confused — then froze in horror.
The arrow's glow intensified, pulsing wildly.
No…!
The thought barely formed before the explosion hit.
A blinding red-white flash consumed the heavens. There was no fire, no mushroom cloud — only raw annihilation. The destructive energy was equivalent to a dozen Level 8 Soul Cannons detonating simultaneously.
Zhou and the nearby Soul Engineer were vaporized instantly. The shockwave rolled out like a tidal wave, shattering the snowfields for miles around.
Avalanches thundered across distant peaks. The very air boiled and howled.
Jing Hongchen stared blankly at the sky, the energy he was channeling faltering mid-flow.
"What… just happened?"
A Level 9 Soul Engineer… killed by his own weapon?
He blinked in disbelief — it felt absurd, unreal.
Then, after a brief pause, he chuckled. "Truly… ridiculous. Every year there's something strange, but this one takes the prize."
He shook his head in amusement, the tension melting away.
Meanwhile, the last surviving Level 8 Soul Engineer — the one still setting up the cannons — collapsed to his knees, staring blankly at the distant devastation.
"This… this isn't possible…" he murmured over and over, shaking uncontrollably.
"What's impossible?" Jing Hongchen's cold voice cut through the air.
The man froze. Before he could react, a heavy kick sent him tumbling dozens of meters, rolling across the snow before coming to a stop.
"You still want to run? You'll talk, or I'll make you wish for death." Jing Hongchen appeared beside him in an instant, grabbed him by the collar like a child's toy, and slapped him twice across the face.
The sheer terror — combined with the blows — made the man faint instantly.
"Tch. Pathetic." Jing Hongchen sneered, dragging the unconscious engineer along as he walked back toward Wei Xuan's position.
He casually gathered the remaining cannons, humming to himself, satisfaction returning to his face.
But just as he was about to deactivate the Silver Moon Flowing Light Shield, he suddenly froze.
A chill swept through him.
His expression darkened. Slowly, he turned his gaze toward the depths of the Extreme North.
"…This is bad."
In one smooth motion, he tossed the unconscious man inside the shield, then summoned a Level 9 flight propulsion unit.
Soul Power surged from his body, pouring into the shield. The once half-spherical Silver Moon Flowing Light Shield expanded, stretching into a full sphere.
The thrusters roared to life. Jing Hongchen shot across the sky at supersonic speed, the massive silver sphere trailing close behind.
Even with all his arrogance, fear now gripped his heart. His body trembled slightly from the intensity of it.
Within seconds, he vanished beyond the horizon.
Moments later — less than thirty seconds after his escape — three figures appeared where he had stood.
At their feet lay a seven-meter-wide crater of solid ice.
"Damn it! He escaped!" hissed a voice — a crystalline, beautiful scorpion about one and a half meters long. Her icy carapace shimmered like glass, flawless and deadly. The surrounding temperature plummeted with her fury.
"I'll go after him!"
"I'm coming too!" boomed a towering ice giant over a hundred meters tall, his humanoid form wreathed in frost. "To think a human dares wreak havoc in our Extreme North — I'll crush him myself!"
Between them hovered a woman of unearthly beauty, appearing entirely human. She floated a meter above the ground, snowflakes swirling gently around her. It was as though the entire frozen world revolved around her presence.
"It's too late," she said softly, her icy blue eyes narrowing. "That human's already left the Extreme North, using some kind of advanced metallic contraption."
The scorpion and the giant halted midstep, their expressions sour.
"We're just going to let them go? Look what they've done to our land!" the scorpion spat, glaring at the ravaged battlefield.
The destruction was catastrophic — miles of ice shattered, snow melted, countless soul beasts slain, the air thick with lingering energy.
The beautiful woman remained silent. She raised one slender hand.
A surge of ice-blue energy shot skyward — and suddenly, it began to snow.
Thick flakes blanketed the scarred land, neutralizing the residual energy in the air. The temperature plummeted, restoring the frozen wasteland to its former stillness.
Within a minute, the battlefield was buried under pristine snow once more — not a single scar remained.
To reshape the land itself with one's power — such ability was nothing short of divine.
Lowering her hand, the woman gazed into the distance, her voice cold and resolute.
"If they dare return to the Extreme North again," she whispered, "I will kill them myself."
Meanwhile, far beyond the icy frontier, Jing Hongchen continued his desperate flight.
Even after escaping, he didn't slow down. His nerves were stretched taut, every instinct screaming danger.
Never before had he fled so pitifully — yet there was no shame in it.
To face those beings… anyone would run.
Two minutes later, he landed in a secluded valley, collapsing to his knees.
His body trembled with exhaustion, sweat pouring down his face. He'd flown almost one hundred kilometers in barely two minutes. His Soul Power was almost completely drained.
"Haah… that was close," he panted, chest heaving. "If I'd hesitated even a moment longer, I'd have died there."
The oppressive auras he'd sensed still lingered in his mind.
They could only belong to the Three Monarchs of the Extreme North — beings so powerful that even at his peak, Jing Hongchen would never dare challenge them.
It was no wonder he ran without looking back.
He had survived — and that was all that mattered.