"Do it," Bai Cheng said, her voice cold.

Before her voice had even faded, Zi Yuan's figure had already transformed into an arc of purple lightning, taking the lead as she sliced into the fog barrier!

Her saber intent flowed; the purple lightning was no longer mere thunder, but spread out like living water. Wherever it passed, the crimson fog barrier was forcibly pushed aside and purified, carving out a temporary passage.

Green Bird followed closely behind, the Thunder Spear leaving her hand to transform into nine lightning dragons that roared as they pounced on the roaming Mind-Eroding Demons.

Lightning light is the ultimate yang and ultimate hardness, the natural nemesis of these dark derivatives. The Mind-Eroding Demons let out sharp screeches and instinctively retreated, yet two were still caught by the lightning dragons, twisting and dissipating in the blinding electric light.

Bai Cheng, Lu Duo, and Yu Nian landed in the center of the village.

The islanders were like people grasping at a life-saving straw; ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) their cries and prayers surged forth, flowing into the statue and then impacting Bai Cheng's soul through threads of faith.

"Steady your minds, expand the shield!" Bai Cheng barked. Her palms pressed against the base of the statue, the spatial veins in her silver eyes surging simultaneously with the trickles of faith.

A dawn-like flame erupted from the statue's lamp, and a pale gold shield expanded outward violently, enveloping the entire village and forcibly pushing away the crimson fog and black droplets.

However, the spatial rift above suddenly began to writhe more intensely. More black droplets poured down like a torrential rain, while deeper within the fog, denser screeches echoed—more Mind-Eroding Demons were gathering.

"Lu Duo, purify the ground erosion; Yu Nian, grow pure heart vines to stabilize the islanders' minds; Ning Xue, calculate the stability parameters and closing plan for the spatial rift!" Bai Cheng spoke rapidly, sweat already appearing on her forehead.

Her origin had not fully recovered since the battle at the Annihilation Star Reef. Maintaining the shield, resisting the mental erosion of the Mind-Eroding Demons, and analyzing the battlefield simultaneously placed an immense burden on her.

Lu Duo's life barrier unfolded, its emerald radiance washing over the village like a tide. The dark red patterns on the ground rapidly faded and vanished as if meeting a natural enemy.

Yu Nian planted the pure heart vine seedling she held into the soil and began humming an ancient Emerald Sea requiem. The vines grew rapidly, silver-white buds blooming as a peaceful aura dispelled the spreading despair in the islanders' hearts.

Leng Ningxue's voice came through simultaneously: "The spatial rift was forcibly torn by external force, and its internal structure is extremely unstable. However, the core anchor point is fixed by a World-Purifying Talisman Nail, which must be removed first. The coordinates have been marked."

Bai Cheng raised her eyes and looked toward the center of the rift.

Sure enough, a palm-sized, dark red bone nail covered in annihilation runes was embedded there.

Just as she was about to move, the fog barrier suddenly surged violently, and an especially massive black shadow slowly emerged.

It was nearly five meters tall, shaped like a cross between a human and a spider. Its eight limbs were composed of solidified dark red laws, and where its head should be was a swirling vortex of ever-changing faces of agony, radiating a pressure close to that of a high-tier King-rank.

"A Mind-Eroding Demon General... an elite unit birthed from a massive amount of negative emotions and the origin of the World-Purifying Tide."

Leng Ningxue's voice tightened. "Its intelligence isn't low; it's deliberately inducing us to scatter our strength."

The Demon General's compound eyes locked onto Bai Cheng, and overlapping, malicious whispers drifted from the vortex of faces: "scion of the gate... your faith... is delicious... offer it... to the tide..."

Eight limbs stabbed out simultaneously, each strike carrying wailing ripples that could tear the soul. This was not a physical attack, but an erosion directly targeting faith and spirit!

Bai Cheng's silver eyes sharpened, and she was about to use a spatial shift to evade when Zi Yuan's figure blocked her path.

Her long saber slashed horizontally, the purple lightning arc condensing into a crescent moon. It wasn't a hard clash; she used the intent of flow to lead and deflect the attack.

The eight wailing ripples were swept up by the saber arc and actually collided in mid-air, mostly canceling each other out. Zi Yuan used her body as a shield to endure the remaining power head-on.

She let out a muffled groan, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. Purple lightning flickered erratically across her body, as she had clearly suffered a significant backlash from the laws, yet her gaze remained as calm as ice.

"Focus on pulling the nail," Zi Yuan said with her back to Bai Cheng, pointing her long saber at the Demon General. "Leave this one to me."

Green Bird's lightning dragons had already pounced from the flank, tangling with the Demon General as lightning and dark red laws constantly collided and exploded.

Bai Cheng gave Zi Yuan's back a deep look and no longer hesitated.

Power of Space enveloped her entire body, and with one step, she appeared at the edge of the spatial rift high in the sky.

At close range, the aura of annihilation radiating from the World-Purifying Talisman Nail was almost suffocating, and the black droplets surged toward her as if they were alive.

Stars rotated within Bai Cheng's silver eyes, and the trickles of faith condensed into a dawn-light blade in her palm.

She did not attempt to remove it by force.

That might trigger a sympathetic explosion—instead, she precisely cut the light blade into the junction nodes between the talisman nail and the rift. Using the defining characteristics of her Doorway Bloodline, she slowly but firmly peeled away its law anchors.

Below, the Demon General sensed her intent and let out a furious screech. Ignoring the biting of Green Bird's lightning dragons, it forced a breakthrough, one limb shooting toward Bai Cheng in the sky like a spear!

"Your opponent is me," Zi Yuan's voice was calm, yet her figure arrived first, intercepting the limb's trajectory.

Her long saber swept upward from below. The purple lightning no longer flowed but was condensed to the extreme, becoming a thin line of saber light that was blindingly bright.

"Tide Breaker."

The saber light collided with the limb.

There was no world-shaking explosion, only a faint sound, like the crisp ringing of breaking glass.

Starting from the tip, the dark red limb disintegrated inch by inch into the most primitive dust of laws.

The saber light's momentum did not diminish, sweeping through half of the Demon General's body.

The Demon General's massive body froze, and an unbelievable wave of thought drifted from the vortex of faces: "King-rank... second-tier saber intent... how is this possible..."

Before its voice finished, its body collapsed with a bang, turning into a sky full of dark red ash.

Zi Yuan landed back on the ground, leaning on her saber. Her breathing was heavy, and her newly changed clothes were soaked with cold sweat.

This 'Tide Breaker' strike had almost drained the foundation of her newly broken-through saber intent, but the effect was remarkable.

High above, Bai Cheng's peeling process had reached its final stage.

The World-Purifying Talisman Nail vibrated violently, attempting to self-destruct, but it was held firmly by the dawn-light blade.

"Release."

Bai Cheng gave a soft cry and flicked the light blade.

The talisman nail detached from the rift and was caught in her palm. The laws of annihilation counterattacked frantically but were wrapped and suppressed layer by layer by the trickles of faith.

Losing the fixation of the talisman nail, the spatial rift began to rapidly shrink and close, and the source of the black droplets was cut off.

However, at the very moment the rift was about to close completely, a grand, cold, and scrutinizing will suddenly swept through from the other side of the rift!

That will was like an invisible gaze, passing over Bai Cheng, the island below, and the people in the midst of battle, finally pausing for a brief moment on Zi Yuan.

There was no attack, no words, yet it made everyone's soul feel as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.

It was as if some existence beyond comprehension had cast an indifferent glance from across endless time and space.

The rift closed completely.

That will also receded like a tide, as if it had never appeared.

But the Stardust Imprint in Bai Cheng's palm transmitted a bone-chilling coldness.

She landed back on the ground and turned her silver eyes toward the north—the direction that will had come from was consistent with the source of the World-Purifying Tide.