Cao Yan and Xiao Chen were extraordinarily powerful. In roughly thirty minutes, they could help a sect suppress a single crack. But this suppression was only temporary. Strong as they were, they weren’t array masters, and the seals they could create would only last for a maximum of three days.

They couldn’t afford to worry about it. As long as they could help in the short term, that was enough.

Li Guanqi’s voice reached them both. “Second, Third Brother, be careful out there. Start pulling back.”

Xiao Chen gripped his black spear streaked with blood-red patterns as he fought several Abyssal Demons alone, his spearwork fluid and unhurried. Every thrust carried enough force to pierce the void. Lost in the exhilaration of battle, a satisfied grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

The moment he heard Li Guanqi’s voice, he pulled back several dozen zhang.

“Understood, Boss,” he said firmly. “I’ll finish off the Abyssal Demons in front of me and head back!”

Cao Yan was the same. Both his fists could split mountains and rivers. He had never felt so powerful. However, he still hadn't bonded with a spirit void artifact that suited him, which placed certain limits on his strength.

He smashed the Abyssal Demon in front of him with one fist. “Boss, why do you want us to come back?”

Li Guanqi answered in a low voice. “The ancient clans of the Six Territories have reentered the world. Other powerful cultivators will be helping with the suppression. For now, avoid conflict with them when possible. The situation is still unclear. Keep observing and hold back.”

Cao Yan nodded and planted his feet wide, his entire bearing like a volcano amassing its power to erupt.

The spirit-light phantoms of the Solitary Flame Gauntlets manifested on both his arms, and the space around him crumbled. Boundless deep-blue flames surged out from him, coiling around the gauntlets. He shifted his stance, twisted his waist, and unleashed a thundering punch.

Thud!

A dull, enormous boom rang out. A fist aura of flame, a full hundred zhang across, erupted outward.

Boom!

As the roar of the impact subsided, Cao Yan slowly turned. A fist-shaped flame appeared over the crack, annihilating every Abyssal Demon still inside.

As he exhaled slowly, his flames surged, pushing the demonic qi out of his body.

The powerful cultivators around Cao Yan looked at him, respect rising in their eyes. Cao Yan had always struck them as a refined, gentle scholar. The ferocious, untamed side of him in battle was something none of them had ever seen before. Having seen it now, not one of them would ever dare look down on him.

“Prepare yourselves,” Cao Yan said in a low voice. “We’re going back to the sect.”

A flicker of worry crossed his eyes. He murmured, “I wonder how Second Brother is doing.”

He glanced at those still busy below and furrowed his brow. After thinking for a moment, he gave the others instructions and left ahead of them. The rest could be handled without him. He was slightly worried about Ye Feng, so he went on ahead.

Cao Yan wasn’t the only one. Xiao Chen had the same impulse. When they sensed each other’s presence in the void, neither was the least bit surprised. They quickly set off back together toward the Daxia Sword Sect.

Along the way, they ran into several of the sect’s reinforcement teams and occasionally pitched in to help. The brief sealing effect of Xiao Chen’s Brilliant Sunset Flame was, after all, stronger than any array tray.

“Sigh, I wonder how Second Brother is holding up.”

Xiao Chen shattered an array tray with a spear thrust, then raised a hand to place a seal with his heavenly flame.

A glint of resolve flashed in Cao Yan’s eyes. “Second Brother will be fine. He may seem carefree, but Second Brother has the strongest heart and will among us.”

Meanwhile, at the Purple Spirit Paradise Realm, Li Guanqi looked at Ye Feng inside the two great arrays, worry plain in his eyes. Ye Feng appeared emaciated, his flesh and blood seemingly consumed to nothing, leaving him cross-legged on the ground like a pile of withered bones. Were it not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Li Guanqi would have thought him dead.

And the skin across Ye Feng’s desiccated frame kept splitting open, hideous wounds appearing one after another.

Li Guanqi raised a hand and shattered tens of thousands of spirit stones, guiding the dense spirit qi into Ye Feng.

Fine sweat beaded at Li Guanqi’s brow. He murmured, “Hold on!”

Li Guanqi could sense the turbulent shifts in Ye Feng’s soul, like an oil lamp battling a gusty wind, precariously close to flickering out. Even a slightly stronger breeze would snuff out the flickering flame. All Li Guanqi could do was keep adding oil to the lamp.

Even so, Ye Feng’s aura kept growing weaker. A metal spirit from the Immortal World wasn’t easy to absorb.

Sword Spirit slowly materialized, her brow faintly creased as she watched Ye Feng. Even she hadn’t expected Su Xuan to have prepared something this terrifying for him. Seeing the worry in Li Guanqi’s eyes, she sighed quietly.

Li Guanqi said in a low voice, “Sword Spirit, can we use Spirit Pardon to help him?”

Sword Spirit nodded, then immediately shook her head.

Li Guanqi frowned in confusion. “What does that mean?”

Sword Spirit answered slowly, her voice calm. “Spirit Pardon can save him. But the moment we use it, any possibility for his talent to grow further ends. In other words, this is an all-or-nothing gamble. If he holds on, he’ll one day shatter the nine heavens with his sword and ascend to the Immortal World, becoming a peerless prodigy second to none. If he can’t... Spirit Pardon will save his life, but the metal spirit will be wasted, and there will be no other path forward.”

Sword Spirit fixed her bright eyes on Li Guanqi. “What do you think Ye Feng would choose?”

Whether Sword Spirit had done it deliberately or not, Ye Feng seemed to have heard her. His face, which had been slowly drooping, suddenly twisted into something ferocious.

Boom!

Countless streaks of golden sword qi crisscrossed within a space of a zhang, then ten, a hundred, and finally, a thousand zhang.

A phantom sword emerged from Ye Feng’s brow. It was his spirit void weapon, stained with blood.

A phantom sword emerged from Ye Feng’s brow. It was his spirit void weapon, now stained with blood.

Sword Spirit couldn’t help but taunt the sword, saying, “Wrathful Slaughter, is this all you’ve got? That’s a mere metal spirit. Shall I lend you some origin power?”

She flicked a finger. A point of spirit light flew toward the Wrathful Slaughter phantom.

Buzz! Screech!

A disgruntled sword cry rang out. With a flash of sword light, Sword Spirit’s origin power was knocked straight back at her. A vast, ice-cold aura spread from Ye Feng.

Hum!

Boom!

A razor-sharp, terrifying intent surged up from the earth. The force shot straight to the heavens and tore open the entire Purple Spirit Paradise Realm. The countless streaks of golden sword qi gathered back into Ye Feng’s body.

Ye Feng’s aura rose like a bucket being endlessly filled with water, his frame recovering visibly, his aura continuously climbing.

Sword Spirit slowly turned around and smiled, winking at Li Guanqi. “All right. Ye Feng has likely cleared this hurdle.”

She glanced at Ye Feng’s brow and chuckled softly. “It got angry.”