In Yuhua City, all the cultivators who were still conscious looked up at the sky in unison, recalling the scene of the Golden Crows incinerating the Black Snake, and the extinguished flame of hope was once again ignited.

Under everyone's anticipation, the bodies of the four Golden Crows in the sky suddenly became blurry, transforming into the purest golden flames.

Each flame carried endless light and heat, illuminating both the sky and the earth, dispelling all darkness and subduing all bitter cold, warming the bodies and hearts of all present.

The clusters of golden flames spiraled in the heavens with increasing speed, showing signs of merging as the light they emitted grew ever more dazzling.

The twin gray moons appeared to sense a threat, and their pale moonlight instantly turned pitch-black, creating a dark surge in Yuhua City, like a tsunami churning, trying to swallow all the light and surging towards the golden flames.

However, the golden flames had already completely become brilliant suns, and as the dark surge rose like tidal waves crashing to the shore, it turned to dust the moment it drew close, with not a speck able to near the scorching sun.

More than that, from the sun erupted rings upon rings of golden fire, like hoops containing the berserk dark surge, ultimately shrinking it into oblivion.

Gradually, day broke, and all darkness melted away in the flames, the twin gray moons also became transparent, and finally, under the sun's relentless burning and shining, they completely exhausted their moonlight and dissipated into nothingness.

Sunlight touched every cultivator in Yuhua City, waking the slumbering ones with its warmth, who then opened their eyes anew, standing up bewildered as they bathed in the sunlight.

The Thunder Giant had also freed himself from the influence of the gray moons by this time, but whether time was up or not, its body began to deteriorate, with lightning arcs dissipating from the bottom up; yet the giant remained expressionless, only blankly looking up at the blazing sun overhead.

But in the final moment, just before the Giant completely vanished, Xi Ying saw through the blazing sun that the giant's lips moved slightly.

"Thank you." These were the Thunder Giant's last words left in the world, also the final parting words of the cultivator known as Tianyinzi as his soul dissipated.

Xi Ying did not respond. After ensuring that everyone in Yuhua City was awakened, he decisively ended his divine skill.

The blazing sun vanished abruptly, and Yuhua City once again fell into dimness, leaving the people somewhat disoriented by this sudden change. But then, the sky was again illuminated by a brilliant blue watery light.

Everyone looked at this scene in astonishment and then saw streams of resin-like water envelop them all, and before they could react, the scenery around them changed instantaneously, and they found themselves at the foot of Chang Chun Temple's mountain.

At the summit's main hall, Tian Jizi let out a sigh, retracted his spell from his hand, gave a nod to the few Chang Chun Temple Nascent Soul cultivators maintaining the Sect Protection Array, glanced once more at the Canghai Xuan Water Pearl positioned in the center as the array's core, and then turned and left the hall.

The Sect Protection Array of Chang Chun Temple, inherited for thousands of years, had effects beyond mere defense. The transference technique Tian Jizi had just used was only the tip of the iceberg, and this was precisely where his confidence lay in resisting the Wu Yue Sect's assault.

However, the saying goes that a protracted defense inevitably leads to failure, and even though he had absolute confidence in the Sect Protection Array, he could not place all his hopes on the Wu Yue Sect growing weary and retreating on their own.

Whether it was dispatching troops to harass or setting up defenses, he tried every means to weaken the Wu Yue Sect, to slow their advance, all for the hope of finding another possible winning strategy.

But now, everything came to naught.

Tian Jizi let out a deep sigh, then collected his emotions and continued orchestrating the various defenses, ready to face the Wu Yue Sect's final assault.

On the other side, within the army ranks of the Wu Yue Sect, Ni Mu and others witnessed the events that had just unfolded in Yuhua City. For a time, they were at a loss for words.

"Yuhua City is empty; there's no need to linger. Continue the advance on the gate of Chang Chun Temple. Also, the Soul Cultivator who took action in Yuhua City, you must bring him back along with everything on him. If necessary, the attack on Chang Chun Temple can be abandoned," the voice of the Wu Yue God suddenly sounded simultaneously in the ears of the three of them.

Ni Mu and the two others stiffened solemnly and immediately bowed in acknowledgment.

However, no one noticed that Xi Zheng's hand hidden under his sleeve was drenched in sweat.

...

At Black Witch Mountain, in the underground space.

Yuan Ming was currently in a secret chamber that stored Cultivation Technique Books. The varieties of classics here were vast, with seven or eight alone pertaining to Soul Cultivation Methods, not to mention Body Cultivation and Magic Cultivation Techniques, and countless secret techniques and forbidden arts. He did not have time to browse through them individually and thus collected them all in haste.

After sweeping the secret chamber clean of classics, Yuan Ming turned to leave.

He had just reached another spacious hall when eight shadows suddenly emerged from beneath the ground, encircling him in the center.

Out of the shadows came eight Black Armored Soldiers, each towering over ten feet tall, their entire bodies clad in Scale Armor, even their faces covered by visors, emanating a terrifying aura.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming did not dare to take it lightly and immediately called forth Vajra and Hua Zhi to stand with him against the enemy.

"Master, these guys look tough…" Hua Zhi remarked, feeling the fluctuations of the aura emanating from the individuals.

Vajra, however, had an eager look in his eyes, filled with a rising war intent.

"Master, let me test them out first." He spoke with a low shout and charged forward.

Based purely on their stature, none of those eight black-armored warriors could compare to him.

The moment Vajra charged over, two of the black-armored warriors promptly stepped forward to meet him. Each drew a black battle axe and a black warhammer from behind their backs and attacked Vajra from the left and right in a pincer movement.

The remaining six black-armored warriors stood their ground without moving, their eyes under the helmet lifelessly fixed on Yuan Ming and Hua Zhi as if they would not interfere unless those two made a move.

Yuan Ming knew Vajra was stimulated by his earlier battle with the Black Wind sandstorm and also wanted to improve his understanding of "Conception" through an exhilarating fight to the death, so he didn't intervene.

Hua Zhi was somewhat anxious, but seeing that his master said nothing, he too quietly waited at the side.

Vajra was suddenly shrouded in a layer of blood qi. A savage red light shone from his eyes, and his massive body proved to be unexpectedly agile as he easily dodged the battle axe from the warrior on the left with a slight shift in his stance.

Then he clenched his fist, which was charged with a great deal of strength, and a layer of dark light condensed around it as he took on the warhammer from his right, smashing towards it.

Yet, his control of the angle was so delicate that his fist was just slightly lower than the warhammer's head, striking precisely on the warhammer's handle.

A "bang" of a tremendous force was heard.

The black-armored warrior's warhammer shuddered violently, knocked back flying, dragging his body backward into a stumble.

Surprisingly, the warrior only took a step back, then stabilized his stance, still gripping the warhammer in his hand.

After his strike, Vajra did not pause but pursued the warhammer knight, dealing a punch straight to his chest.

His fist was gathered with Demonic Qi, and a dark light exploded into a small black cyclone blast, bursting the warhammer knight's chest, scattering his armor pieces, and slamming his body heavily onto the ground.

At the same time, the battle axe warrior rushed forth, his axe heading straight for Vajra's back.

A green light flashed over Vajra, and a set of bronze plated armor appeared at his chest and back, just in time to protect him, but was immediately hit by the axe blade, causing him to roll out of the way from the impact.

This life-for-life, injury-for-injury fighting style caused Hua Zhi to frown deeply while Yuan Ming's eyes inevitably narrowed slightly.

Vajra got up, and the bronze armored plates clanged as they broke and fell to the ground.

A streak of blood appeared on his back, but the injury was not serious.

However, when he turned his gaze to the warhammer knight, his eyes couldn't help but reveal a look of surprise.

He had just shattered the fellow's chest, thinking he could at least severely injure the opponent, yet the warhammer knight was already standing upright again, his chest wound healed as if he had never been injured.

"These two guys have strong physiques and the black armor on them is very strange, with a powerful regeneration ability. You must face them with all your strength," Yuan Ming's voice sounded in Vajra's ear at that moment.

Vajra was stunned for a moment and then nodded slightly.

He stood up straight, stretched his arms to loosen them, pressing on his back muscles to heal the wound on his spine rapidly.

Then the red light in his eyes suddenly intensified, and his hands moved in front of him into an embracing posture as he charged toward the two warriors.

After just two steps, a thick black stone pillar suddenly appeared in his embrace with a flash of dark light. Find thе trаnslаtiоn оn

It was precisely the same one that Yuan Ming had brought out from the underground palace of Snake King Valley.

Vajra, holding the black stone pillar, rushed in front of the two black-armored warriors and unleashed a sweeping strike, releasing dense Demonic Qi from the stone pillar that enveloped the two warriors like a solid killing aura.

Both warriors experienced a moment of hesitation in their movements; by the time they reacted and tried to dodge, it was already too late.

However, they appeared unfazed, simultaneously stepping back to stabilize their stance. A vague glow lit up on their black scale armor as they swung their weapons, striking towards the black stone pillar.

A "boom" resounded loudly.

The entire underground hall vibrated intensely as the feet of the two black-armored warriors plunged deep into the ground like a plow, withstanding Vajra's nearly full-force blow.

Just as they prepared to counter-attack, their view was suddenly blurred, and Vajra, along with the black stone pillar, vanished from before their eyes.

Just now, when the black stone pillar blocked their vision, Vajra, who was embracing the stone pillar, had his eyes glowing with thick blood light, and his blood boiled, almost igniting.

He had initiated his "Violent Blood" Conception, not as he was during the battle with Yuan Ming, but his first time unleashing it fully.