Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

A beam of azure light tore through the sky of the Northern Plains, and Qing Youzi paused slightly as he fled.

The wind was still biting, but there was something strange mixed in with it.

He twitched his nostrils slightly, catching a faint yet murky smell of blood, mixed with decay and chaos.

wrong.

He suddenly stopped in mid-air, unleashing his late-stage Nascent Soul divine sense without reservation, covering an area of ​​hundreds of miles.

"wrong!"

With a low shout, he moved his hands rapidly.

The left hand forms a mudra and presses down, while the right hand makes a gesture in the air.

Nine array flags flew out of the storage bag, and with a flash of spiritual light, the "Nine Locks Linked Array" was instantly formed, and an invisible force field spread out.

The Demon Dragon Shield simultaneously appeared on his chest, radiating a dark light. It multiplied into ninety-nine shields, forming eighty-one shields that resembled tightly packed fish scales, with dragon patterns moving across their surfaces.

Behind the fire curtain and straw hat, his gaze was as sharp as a hawk's.

Countless transparent threads slipped silently from the cuffs and hems of the robe, disappearing into the surrounding air, ground, and snowflakes, spreading and weaving into a delicate yet vast network of perception.

The feedback from the divine sense became increasingly clear.

Beyond the edge, something appeared.

Dozens or even hundreds of auras, including Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core auras, and three particularly striking Nascent Soul auras with a twisted and chaotic feel!

These scents were converging on his location from different directions, like a swarm of sharks smelling blood.

What made Qingyouzi even more uneasy was that all the auras seemed to carry a strange "commonality".

A twisted feeling, tainted and manipulated by a cold, chaotic, and malicious will.

Focus your consciousness.

He saw it clearly.

Those were cultivators from the Northern Plains, dressed in various styles, some in tattered clothes.

They either rode the wind or wielded magical artifacts, their movements still displaying the agility of cultivators, but their eyes... were empty and lifeless, a thick, dark void, like an abyss. Their faces were either blank or distorted, devoid of any human spirit.

The walking dead. A manipulated puppet.

This scene instantly overlapped with a scene from the depths of his memory: on the boundless sea, the Red Pine Taoist, possessed by an ancient demon, was frantically chasing him!

"Ancient demons! Could it be that they really broke the seal?! A bunch of damned bastards!"

Qingyouzi's breathing quickened slightly, a chill gathered in his eyes, and a murderous intent flashed forth.

The first to rush into the hundred-mile radius were dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators and several early Golden Core cultivators. They were completely irrational and charged straight in.

Qingyouzi remained unmoved.

Raise your right hand and hold it up to the empty space.

"Buzz—!"

A "sun" several meters in diameter, dark blue and cold, exuding an aura of annihilation, suddenly condensed and appeared high above his head!

This round of "Demon Sun" is extremely condensed, with its light restrained, but the extreme cold and life-devouring intent it exudes are even more pure and terrifying.

A soft blue light shone down.

Silently.

The dozen or so Foundation Establishment cultivators at the forefront froze abruptly, their bodies instantly covered in solid blue ice. Then, their bodies visibly shrivel and charred within the ice, without uttering a single scream.

The Golden Core cultivator who followed later had his protective aura flicker violently. He managed to hold on for a few more breaths, advancing several dozen feet, but ultimately could not withstand the all-pervasive, annihilating cold. His aura shattered, frost covered his body, and he followed in their footsteps.

Within a hundred miles, wherever the blue light reached, low-level puppets were extinguished in swathes, like patches of straw.

Qingyouzi's right eyelid twitched violently!

Almost instinctively, his body shifted ten feet to the left without warning!

"laugh--!"

A ghastly white beam of light, as thick as a bucket and mixed with pitch-black demonic energy, tore through the air from his original spot and shot towards the distant horizon! Wherever it passed, the space rippled and emitted destructive waves.

The attack came from ten miles away.

Qingyouzi looked over with cold eyes.

A Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stages, dressed in a tattered leather robe and with eyes as black as ink, hovered in mid-air, pointing upwards.

His magical power fluctuated chaotically yet powerfully, and he was surrounded by demonic energy, making his aura far more violent than that of an ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

Being controlled by an ancient demon will deplete one's potential, unleashing destructive power beyond one's level.

"court death."

The voice was icy cold.

Qingyouzi made a hand seal with his left hand and pointed at the dark blue demonic sun in the sky.

"Hey——!"

A clear yet icy phoenix cry suddenly rang out from the "Demon Sun"!

The next instant, the condensed blue sun exploded with a deafening roar!

There was no scorching heat wave, only a visible blue halo, a mixture of extreme cold and annihilation, that spread out from the point of explosion!

Within a hundred miles, the remaining low-level puppets were blown away and shattered like leaves in a whirlwind by the aftershocks of the aura.

At the epicenter of the explosion, the blue light rapidly converged and reformed!

A phoenix with a wingspan of over thirty zhang, its entire body composed of pure azure ice flames! Two deep blue flames flickered in its eyes, its posture elegant and noble, yet it exuded a terrifying chill that would make even Nascent Soul cultivators tremble.

The Ice Flame Phoenix locked onto the controlled early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator ten miles away, and flapped its wings!

Whoosh!

A streak of icy blue light streaked across the sky, moving so fast that it left only a blur as it hurtled straight toward its target!

The cultivator in the early stage of Nascent Soul emitted a low, inhuman growl from his throat and raised his hands sharply towards the sky!

A vast and chaotic mixture of magical power and demonic energy surged into the sky, rapidly condensing in mid-air to form a gigantic, pitch-black hand that blotted out the sun and covered an area of ​​over two hundred feet in diameter! Its texture was rough, its demonic energy was sinister, and it carried an overbearing aura that suppressed everything.

The giant hand slightly closed its five fingers, and one of its index fingers, like a mountain collapsing, pressed down hard on the rapidly rushing ice flame phoenix with immense force!

Compared to the towering demonic finger, the Ice Flame Phoenix with a wingspan of thirty feet is as insignificant as a moth flying towards a wheel.

A cold smile curled at the corners of Qingyouzi's lips.

He pointed his fingers like a sword, seemingly at the phoenix in mid-air, and uttered a single word:

"break."

The voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed to possess an unparalleled power.

As the Ice Flame Phoenix flew at breakneck speed, its body suddenly expanded, and the blue flames flowing across its surface suddenly became intensely bright and dazzling!

Without dodging or avoiding, it let out an even higher and sharper phoenix cry, and crashed head-on into the crushing, towering demonic finger!

There was no earth-shattering noise.

The only sounds were the teeth-grinding "crack" of ice rapidly spreading and freezing, and the "sizzling" of demonic energy being forcibly annihilated.

The moment the blue ice flames made contact with the pitch-black magic finger, the tip of the magic finger was instantly covered by a layer of indestructible azure ice!

The ice spread upwards along the fingers and palms at an alarming speed, and wherever it passed, the demonic energy dissipated and the strange structures collapsed!

That seemingly invincible giant finger quickly melted and disintegrated under this blow!

The Ice Flame Phoenix continued its momentum, piercing through the collapsing giant hand phantom, leaving a dazzling blue tail flame as it charged straight towards the early-stage cultivator!

"puff……"

Minor, such as a bubble bursting.

The early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator froze on the spot, his body quickly covered with a thick layer of blue ice, turning him into an ice sculpture.

Within the ice, the black energy in his eyes churned violently, as if trying to struggle, but his life force was instantly frozen, absorbed, and annihilated by the ice flames.

The ice sculpture hovered for a few breaths before shattering into countless ice crystals that drifted away in the wind.

Qingyouzi's face showed no joy, but instead grew even more solemn.

He glanced sideways.

The sound of something cutting through the air was deafening from both sides!

Two figures, exuding an even stronger and more chaotic aura, had formed a pincer movement, firmly locking him in the middle.

On the left is a Nascent Soul stage cultivator with dark eyes and a withered face.

Behind him, thousands upon thousands of gray-black flying swords, formed from magical power and demonic energy, floated densely, their tips emitting a cold light and a chilling buzzing sound.

On the right is a tall and strong cultivator with demonic markings covering almost his entire face in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm!

He roared to the sky in a voice that was not human, and his magical power and demonic energy surged wildly, which condensed behind him into a pitch-black Dharma image that was more than three hundred feet tall and stood upright between heaven and earth!

The Dharma image was indistinct, with only a pair of giant scarlet eyes radiating a violent and ferocious light, and its body was surrounded by demonic energy, like a demon god from the deepest hell.

With a single step, the void trembled, the frozen earth cracked, and a terrifying pressure, like a tangible mountain, crashed down on Qingyouzi!

A myriad of swords were unleashed simultaneously, their forms reaching for the heavens.

The murderous intent reached its peak in an instant!