The Hard Battle

Faced with their relentless assault, Lan Jinxi did nothing but evade. With the other three besides Dun too hesitant to strike, their bodies were steadily losing moisture, and the situation was growing increasingly dire.

Soon, Qian Dan began to waver, his lips fading to pale. The instant he halted, Lan Jinxi lunged forward and pressed her palms against him. In that moment, the blood within him was seized, tearing him apart from the inside. Then she slipped away again, leaving Qian Dan kneeling as the light slowly dimmed from his eyes. The other three were frozen in shock—none had expected Lan Jinxi to actually land a killing blow on a former disciple of their own sect.

With a roar, Dun charged at Lan Jinxi. From the moment she began drawing the moisture from their bodies, he had already started converting his blood into metallic mercury, forcibly altering its properties to sustain himself. Now, countless iron particles surged from the ground, cutting off her retreat. At the same time, part of the mercury within him shot forth, hurtling toward Lan Jinxi with lethal speed. But this was, after all, a forest—water was everywhere.

Drawing on a torrent of water drawn forth in haste, Lan Jinxi narrowly dodged the attack, though a single droplet of mercury clung to her robe. It transformed into a fine needle and pierced her thigh. She immediately sealed it off with the water within her body, suffering no serious injury.

Fan Cang snapped back into action and cast his spell. The gravity around Lan Jinxi surged violently, slamming her—still midair—hard into the ground. Iron sands closed in around her. She tried to condense water vapor into solid ice to block them, but her earlier exertion left her barely able to hold out. Yan shaped his qi into a bow. "Ancient Deity—Da Yi·Meteor Fall!" The blast completely shattered Lan Jinxi's defense.

Iron sands crept over her body, and the outcome seemed all but sealed. But in an instant, Fan Cang collapsed from exhaustion. Lan Jinxi shed her robe like a cicada slipping its shell, abandoning it as she darted behind the group.

They turned instinctively, but the discarded cloak exploded on the spot. Caught off guard, Fan Cang was gravely wounded. Yan and Dun managed to avoid the worst of the blast, but they were far from unscathed.

Yan looked up at Lan Jinxi's face. It bore no expression—only hollow pools of black where her eyes should be. Her joints seemed slightly distended. No blood seeped from where she’d been struck earlier, and the wounds had a strange, viscous quality. Something was deeply wrong.

There was no denying it: Lan Jinxi was almost certainly already dead. What stood before them now was little more than a puppet animated by a faint residue of will. Had someone else been controlling her, Yan would have noticed far sooner. Puppets created through certain esoteric methods were difficult to distinguish—so long as you avoided looking at the face. True, her speech had been uniformly flat the entire time, but it had been years since they last saw her. Given what she had endured, a drastic change in personality wasn't entirely implausible.

“Jin... Jinxi...” Yan stared at her, stunned, a blaze of fury kindling in his chest.

“So you figured it out after all.” A figure emerged from the cave. His mere presence bore such weight that even Yan and Dun struggled to stay upright. He stepped up behind Lan Jinxi. His eye sockets remained sunken, his body withered. He seized the crown of her skull. An immense force tore straight through her, and an involuntary scream pierced the ears of everyone present. Her soul was shattered, the last viscous remnants of her blood drained completely, until she dissolved into ash before their eyes. The man's body, by contrast, filled out and became whole—he had fully resurrected.

Yan’s pupils dilated. Beside him, Dun stood frozen in shock.

Yan forced himself to channel Heaven-Earth Mimicry, compressing it directly, and charged at Donghuang Taiyi. He threw a punch capable of shattering the void. But no matter how great his fury, he could now manage only a few such strikes—and against the former Heavenly Emperor, it was far from enough. With a casual sidestep and a kick, Donghuang Taiyi sent Yan flying backward. He crashed through several trees before slamming into one.

Seizing the moment Yan drew Donghuang Taiyi's attention, Dun rushed to Qian Dan and Fan Cang's side. He retrieved the Bloodline Crystals of Lan Jinxi they carried, swapped them with a piece of metal at a distant gathering point, and then sprang forward to aid Yan.

By then, Yan's pupils had nearly lost focus, and his heart had ceased to beat.

Donghuang Taiyi paid no heed to Dun's movements. Instead, he walked toward Yan with keen interest, yanked him from the tree trunk, lifted him by the arm, and held him suspended in midair.

Dun lunged in, kicking Donghuang Taiyi away. He then hurled Yan into the distance, drew a deep breath, and pulled the surrounding iron sand onto his body. He assumed a fighting stance, facing Donghuang Taiyi.

“In this state, you remind me a little of him,” Donghuang Taiyi said, rising from the dust and studying Dun with renewed interest.

Dun struck first. The iron sand around him surged in response as he manipulated the magnetic field, warping the very terrain. Behind Donghuang Taiyi, the field condensed into a razor-sharp blade. In the blink of an eye, such blades materialized from every direction.

Donghuang Taiyi didn't dodge. He took the attack head-on, his bare body instantly enveloped by the iron sand and the chaotic magnetic field, along with countless inward-pointing spikes. Yet, none seemed to pierce his defense.

Dun then produced several talismans, affixing one to each of several key points on the iron sand to form a seal. He swiftly retreated, reached Yan, hauled him up, and began running toward the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

"Are you sure you want to run?" A chilling voice echoed. Dun glanced back to see Donghuang Taiyi had already broken free of the seal, holding two crystals in his hand—clearly the ones Dun had just sent away, which contained the souls of Fan Cang and Qian Dan.

"You..." Dun stared fixedly at the two crystals. Suddenly, he felt a pulse from Yan's body and inwardly started, though his expression didn't change. He released Yan and charged directly at Donghuang Taiyi.

Ancient God - Gong Gong, Mountain-Breaker.

Donghuang Taiyi smiled, but suddenly felt a tight grip on his left side, sending him flying sideways. It was Yan. However, Yan's condition was strange: his eyes were blood-red, white steam billowed from his body, accompanied by dull *thumping* sounds.

Ancient God - Gan Qi, War Drum. Ancient God - Gan Qi, Frenzied Dance.

The two crystals were also knocked loose and caught by Dun.

"Let's go!" Dun grabbed Yan, trying to leave quickly. But Yan stood rooted, glaring fiercely at Donghuang Taiyi. He then broke free from Dun and charged at Donghuang Taiyi again. Simultaneously, countless false vacuum zones appeared around them, all contracting toward Donghuang Taiyi. Seeing this, Dun knew further argument was pointless. He immediately turned and fled with the crystals.

Donghuang Taiyi's pupils contracted, his expression excited. He blocked Yan with one hand, then used Yan's momentum to evade the vacuum zones, simultaneously shoving Yan toward their center.

But suddenly, the world seemed to spin. Their positions swapped. White smoke began pouring from Donghuang Taiyi's body, and the blood he had previously extracted from Lan Jinxi and the others grew agitated, gradually being drawn out.

Unhurried, Donghuang Taiyi pinched a wisp of void and slashed it toward Yan. The surrounding spells instantly dissipated—or rather, all the vacuum zones were transferred to converge above Yan's head.

Yan had no choice but to release the technique. Donghuang Taiyi then kicked him squarely in the stomach, churning and disordering all his internal organs.

Yan wasn't dead. With another furious roar, his aura surged violently once more. In his hands, he seemed to wield a massive object that resembled both a shield and a blade. He charged at Donghuang Taiyi. Simultaneously, a thin, silent film enveloped the area—[Lifeforms·No Difference]. Donghuang Taiyi formed a hand seal, but it elicited no response. He could only resort to close combat, grappling with Yan in melee.