Time passed slowly. The demonic qi within the demon god barrier had grown dense to the extreme. Perhaps because the concentration of demonic qi inside the demon god barrier had become nearly identical to that on the far side of the space-time rift, the surging tides of demonic qi gradually began to subside.

Under the frenzied slaughter of the gathered cultivators, the Annihilation Wraiths and yaos had been reduced to only a scattered few, barely clinging to life. Even the Wind of Annihilation stirred up by the collision and fusion of the two worlds began to weaken.

Buzz!

Suddenly, within the demon god barrier, the golden begging bowl, which had long hovered above the space-time rift, trembled and emitted a clear, resonant hum. Hearing that toll, vast and solemn as a great temple bell, Lin Zheyu felt as though his spirit and spiritual soul had been cleansed. A sense of serene clarity and boundless compassion rose within him unbidden.

"What is going on?" Lin Zheyu quickly came to his senses.

He abruptly raised his head and looked toward the source of the hum. At the location of the space-time node, the massive Buddha hand had vanished. In its place stood a colossal Buddha statue towering between heaven and earth. The golden begging bowl rested in the giant Buddha's palm, trembling gently as it released hum after hum that seemed to strike directly at the heart.

"As expected, the complete opening of this space-time node has been under control all along," Lin Zheyu murmured softly as he stared at the enormous Buddha phantom.

"Prepare yourselves. This space-time node is about to fully open. The instant it stabilizes completely is when Gu Jinghong and the others will strike," Ji Ziyang said gravely.

The others had prepared themselves the moment they heard the begging bowl's hum. This was far from their first time taking part in such an operation.

"Hmph, dare try to steal my opportunity, and I'll kill you!" Lei Yongtao snorted, glaring in Gu Jinghong's direction as he spat out the threat.

His left hand gripped a massive thunder battle axe, while his right held the imitation Nine Radiant Heaven-Slaying Spear, alive with crackling arcs of lightning. Tu Yuan's figure flickered and sank into the demon-tainted soil. Defense and offense beneath the formation were equally critical, especially for a large temporary formation like this, where it was difficult to account for every vulnerability.

Tu Yuan had been specifically invited to handle the formation's underground defense. Lin Zheyu stood where he was, driving his Perception Domain to its limit as he searched for hidden enemies in the surroundings. As events neared their climax, the weakening Wind of Annihilation and the disappearance of the demonic qi tides greatly reduced the interference affecting his Perception Domain.

"It's him! Just as Ji Zitong said, this guy is hiding in the shadows, waiting to launch a sneak attack. But is he alone, or are the others simply better at concealment and have slipped past my perception?"

Lin Zheyu casually glanced toward a small hill over nine hundred meters behind him to the left, then quickly looked away. There, a burly man lay hidden in silence, faint ghostly light flowing across his body.

Outside the formation, Gu Jinghong said with a faint smile, "Fellow Daoist Ziyang, have you made your decision? Open the formation and let me in, and I'll help you deal with them. How about it?"

"Kill them, and I guarantee I'll let you in," Ji Ziyang replied indifferently.

"So that means there's no deal?" Gu Jinghong chuckled, then turned to the others. "Move. End this quickly."

The moment he finished speaking, more than a dozen figures burst from the darkness and charged the formation from different directions at once. Ji Ziyang remained calm.

He lightly pressed his right hand against a point on the formation, and dense ghostly light flared in an instant, enveloping Lin Zheyu and the others. It was an inherent ability of the formation, allowing them to move within it as fish move through water. But the invading enemies, the instant they entered, felt as if they had fallen into a swamp, barely able to move an inch.

Suddenly, a familiar flirtatious laugh rang out. "Hehe, if Young Master agrees to come with me, I can help you fight them."

Several figures emerged from different directions, some pure and innocent, some seductive, some mature and commanding, some youthful and doll-like. They were all Hu Xuefei, yet each was a completely different incarnation.

"Sure!" Lin Zheyu grinned and agreed at once. He could agree first and deal with the rest later. It was not as if he intended to honor it anyway.

"Uh... Then it's settled!"

Hu Xuefei was momentarily stunned, then each of her incarnations cast Lin Zheyu a flirtatious glance.

"Young Master, I'm coming. I'm here to help you, so don't hit me!"

Her figure flickered, and together with the others, split into several images as they charged toward the area Lin Zheyu was guarding. Lin Zheyu swept them with a glance. Including Hu Xuefei, four people were rushing at him.

No, five. There is another hiding in the distance, waiting for an opening.

Lin Zheyu's figure blurred and vanished from where he stood.

"Not good! So fast!" The first man to step into the formation felt a violent gust bearing down on him, and his expression changed.

A blade flash streaked through the air, cleaving toward the man's head.

Metal rang against metal. Amid the fear in the man's eyes, a trace of triumph surfaced. A brass-colored lid suddenly appeared above his head and blocked Lin Zheyu's strike.

Shhh!

At the same instant, several attacks erupted from different directions around Lin Zheyu and blasted toward him.

"Heh!" A cold smile touched Lin Zheyu's lips. His Perception Domain was already powerful, and with the formation enhancing it, his senses had sharpened even further. He had long since noticed their little scheme.

Boom!

Lin Zheyu twisted sharply. Several attacks grazed his robes and slammed into the ground, erupting with deafening force.

With a swoosh sound, Lin Zheyu pushed off the ground and closed in again. Just as he seemed about to strike the first man, he suddenly twisted and slashed his long blade toward the rear right.

A figure appeared out of concealment, only for its head to fly into the air. His eyes were filled with shock and unwillingness.

"Die!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Seeing the attack had not fallen on him, the man reacted at once and thrust his sword at Lin Zheyu.

Lin Zheyu tapped lightly with his toe and retreated at speed. With his powerful perception and the formation aiding him, he moved like a fish in water. Even facing four powerful cultivators at once, he still felt completely at ease.

"Go!"

Not far away, the woman standing at the edge of the formation raised her right hand, and a giant toad half a man's height leaped from her sleeve. A grotesque ghost face grew on its back, making it look utterly sinister. At a slap from the woman's hand, the giant toad's throat swelled, and it let out a deafening bellow like a bull.

"Moo!"

The sound shook the mind like a demonic note boring straight into the sea of consciousness. Lin Zheyu only felt the vast golden energy gathered there surge briefly. His spirit and spiritual soul faltered for a moment, then recovered at once.

"What a strange attack. What kind of spirit beast is that?" Lin Zheyu looked toward the woman, his eyes heating with interest at the vicious beast capable of launching spiritual attacks. If he caught that thing and sold it, it should fetch quite a price.

Seeing Lin Zheyu seemed unaffected, the woman's gaze sharpened. She pressed her hand to the toad's head and frantically poured spirit power into its body. The moo sounds rang out one after another. Lin Zheyu had only felt the golden energy in his sea of consciousness stir at first. After that, he felt nothing at all. But he did not move at once. Instead, his eyes went vacant, as though he had truly fallen under the toad spirit beast's soul attack.

"Now!" Sali, hidden in the shadows, vanished in an instant. His burly body transformed at once. Dense spikes erupted across him, and his hands morphed into a pair of razor-sharp claws.

Sali slashed casually, black light flashing across his body as he tore open a gap in the formation. His figure blurred, shrouded in that dark glow, and he felt none of the formation's suppression or interference.

"Die!" Sali's face twisted savagely, a vicious grin spreading across his lips. The slight spatial power inherent in his totem pushed his speed to the extreme. With a single step, he was already at Lin Zheyu's side.

Sali's right claw raked toward Lin Zheyu's throat. Faint ripples of spatial law flowed over the vicious talons, making claws already sharp beyond reason even more terrifying, as though they could tear through any obstacle in the world.

The spray of blood and flying head he imagined never came. Sali felt his claw cut through empty air instead. A cold touch brushed his neck. The savage grin faded from his lips. The world spun upside down, and his eyes filled with shock and unwillingness.

"I've been waiting for you..." Lin Zheyu held his long blade and looked coldly at the fallen barbarian warrior.

With this little strength, he still dared try a sneak attack?

If Lin Zheyu had not wanted to conceal his power last time, this man would have died long ago.

"You're next." Lin Zheyu raised his head and looked at the woman controlling the giant toad, a cold smile touching his lips.

Lin Zheyu stepped forward with his right foot and vanished from where he stood, appearing before the woman in the blink of an eye.

"It didn't work!" The woman controlling the toad spirit beast turned pale. She slapped her right hand down, and the giant toad rapidly shrank before leaping back into her sleeve.

Just as the woman turned to flee, Lin Zheyu's icy voice sounded, "Since you came, don't think of leaving."

Before the words fully reached her, the cold blade was already at her neck. That chill made her feel death closing in.

The blade swept through, cutting into the woman's neck and carving diagonally down from the shoulder, splitting her in two.

With this little strength, she dares to fight others for opportunities. That's just courting death, Lin Zheyu thought, speechless.

The woman's spirit beast was indeed unusual, but her own strength was only at an ordinary peak Foundation Establishment realm. Compared to true geniuses, the gap was simply too vast.

"Not good!" Suddenly, Lin Zheyu spun around and looked back into the formation. At some point, Hu Xuefei had slipped inside. With a flick of her hand, more than a dozen formation flags stabbed into the ground.

"So fast! Those idiots are useless. They couldn't even buy me this little time!" Hearing the wind split as Lin Zheyu closed in, Hu Xuefei's expression changed. She had fought Lin Zheyu before and had not been his match then, much less now inside the formation.

"Young Master, I'm helping you," Hu Xuefei's seductive voice drifted over.

Her figure flickered, and more than a dozen vastly different incarnations condensed around her, swaying with graceful figures as they fled in different directions.

"If you want to help me, then stay!" Lin Zheyu shouted and surged even faster, catching Hu Xuefei, who was dressed like an innocent girl next door, in the blink of an eye.

The girl-next-door incarnation of Hu Xuefei clenched her teeth in frustration as she muttered, "Seen through again! What spirit divine ability did this guy awaken? How can he always pierce my innate divine ability?"

She gritted her teeth. A green jade slip appeared in her hand, and with a slight squeeze, it cracked into powder. The instant it shattered, a strange wave of energy spread out. Hu Xuefei's figure burst like a bubble and vanished into the darkness.

At the instant Hu Xuefei vanished, a fierce blade flash tore through the void, and more than a dozen drops of blood sprayed out from empty space.