Zhi Xuan focused his entire inner concentration. The eclipse wings of his soul-form flapped slowly, releasing strands of gray essence that began to merge with the crimson light of the Mark of the Annihilator on his forehead. He had to trigger the curse intentionally, turning himself into the most dazzling lure in the thick of the mountain night.

  "Mark of the Annihilator, blaze your fire!" Zhi Xuan hissed internally.

  Instantly, a pillar of blood-red light exploded from the forehead of his Divine Soul, splitting the night sky and radiating a resonance of hatred so sharp that nocturnal birds fell dead from their branches. To the Soul Transformation practitioners below, that light was like a red sun rising in the darkness—an invitation to slaughter that was impossible to refuse.

  "This resonance! The Mark of the Annihilator!" roared the guard named Ming. His previously calm face turned feral, veins bulging on his brow under the manipulative influence of the mark. "That Devil! Gu Fengyan is above us!"

  "Kill him! Do not let him escape!" shouted another guard. The three peak-stage experts lost their composure in an instant. Ignoring the caravan’s defensive formation, they shot into the sky like three streaks of golden light carrying absolute killing intent.

  Zhi Xuan immediately pivoted, flapping his eclipse wings to soar away from the caravan. He moved at a speed that challenged the limits of a soul-body, baiting the three monsters deeper into the heart of the rugged mountains.

  Behind a thick bank of clouds, Zhi Xuan split his Divine Soul. He utilized the perilous Soul Partitioning technique, leaving behind a soul-avatar that carried the pure frequency of the Annihilator Mark to continue flying away.

  The avatar carrying the mark shot off like a dying red meteor, piercing the silence toward the highest mountain peak. Behind it, the three peak-stage experts pursued with overflowing fury, their Sword Intent and spiritual pressure tearing the surrounding clouds to shreds.

  Meanwhile, the primary form of Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul—now dimmed and nearly transparent from the loss of essence—folded its eclipse wings and fell in a silent dive back toward the caravan, which was now stripped of its strongest protectors.

  "One breath... I have only the time of one inner breath," Zhi Xuan murmured. "I can only use this technique once: crush that caravan and find the Heavenly Jade."

  Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul, now almost invisible to the naked eye, darted down like a drop of dew falling from a leaf in the dead of night. He could no longer radiate spiritual pressure; every ounce of essence was a life at stake. Below, the golden caravan still moved arrogantly, guarded by Five Element practitioners and other sect disciples, unaware that a true predator had breached their defenses.

  Zhi Xuan raised his hand, and a black hole appeared in his palm. It throbbed faintly, like a heart of darkness awakening from a long slumber. It emitted no light; instead, it swallowed every glimmer that dared approach it.

  "This is enough to crush that caravan, at least," Zhi Xuan hissed, intending to hurl the black hole to detonate the transport. "Go."

  The small black hole slid from Zhi Xuan’s transparent fingers, moving soundlessly through the freezing night air. There was no explosion of light, no roar of wind—only a void that expanded as it neared the roof of the royal carriage. To the Five Element guards, the attack looked like a spatial anomaly blurring their vision.

  "What is this aura?" A silver-armored guard frowned, hand reaching for his sword hilt, but before he could draw, the gravity around the carriage shifted violently.

  "An attack! Protect the jade box—!"

  Before the shout could finish, the black hole touched the caravan's protective energy dome.

  BUM!

  It wasn't the sound of gunpowder, but the sound of air being crushed. The black hole expanded instantly, sucking in air, light, and sound into a single focal point of destruction. The royal carriage, crafted from heavenly teak and reinforced with thousands of defensive runes, began to groan. The wood splintered, the wheels lifted from the path, and the four white dragon-horses neighed in terror as their hooves lost the stable earth.

  Zhi Xuan gnashed his soul-teeth. He felt a horrific backlash; every inch of that black hole was powered by the remnants of his purest soul essence. In the distant cave, his physical body began to shake violently, blood seeping out faster as the technique stabilized in his hand.

  "Crumble... crumble!" Zhi Xuan roared in the silence of his soul.

  The black hole exploded in a turbulence of gray energy. The shockwave slammed into the caravan with wild destructive power. The carriage was sent tumbling, rolling repeatedly over the mountain path, smashing into the cliff face until it was in pieces. The guards were tossed like dry leaves; their armor dented by the unstable pressure, forcing them to vomit fresh blood as their bodies hit the rocks.

  However, because Zhi Xuan's Divine Soul was only a fragment, the technique did not reach its perfect annihilating potential. The caravan was destroyed, but the Five Element guards were still breathing, though they lay with shattered meridians.

  "Ugh... b-bastard... who?!" A guard captain crawled from the wreckage, face covered in dust. "Quick... secure the glass box! Do not let the Heavenly Jade fall!"

  Zhi Xuan, now appearing as thin as smoke, darted toward the center of the ruins. There, among the splinters of wood and gold, he saw it—the transparent glass box had shattered, and the crescent fragment of Heavenly Jade was thrown atop a pile of burning silk. Its jade-green light still shone calmly, contrasting with the bloody chaos around it. Just as Zhi Xuan’s soul-fingers were about to touch the jade, a roar shook the heavens from a distance.

  "CUNNING THIEF! YOU DARE PLAY US?!"

  Ming’s voice boomed like ancient thunder. From the horizon, three lines of golden light returned at a speed that set the air on fire. They had destroyed Zhi Xuan’s fake soul-avatar and realized the Annihilator mark was but a hollow lure. Their rage had surpassed all limits; the shame of being tricked by a lowly rat made their killing intent burn the clouds.

  "Die!" Ming, leading the charge, swung his short sword from thousands of feet away. A razor-sharp slash of golden light shot out, aiming to split Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul before he could grasp the jade.

  Zhi Xuan felt the aura of death approaching. The pressure from three peak-stage practitioners nearly caused his Divine Soul to dissipate before the physical strike even arrived.

  "Just a little more..." Zhi Xuan’s mind growled.

  He ignored the incoming attack, focusing his remaining will. With a trembling soul-jerk, he snatched the Heavenly Jade.

  The moment his soul-skin touched the sacred jade, a purifying cold sensation exploded, providing instant nourishment to his nearly extinguished consciousness.

  TANG!

  Ming’s light slash struck where Zhi Xuan had stood a split second after he grabbed the jade. The ground exploded, creating a crater five meters deep. Zhi Xuan was hurled by the shockwave, his soul flickering like a candle flame in a storm.

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  "Get him! Do not let that cowardly soul escape!" shouted the second guard, a silver-haired woman whose hands were forming the Heavenly Prison Seal, attempting to lock the space around Zhi Xuan so he could not flee back to his body.

  Zhi Xuan stood shakily in the air, clutching the Heavenly Jade to his chest. He looked at the three figures who had now surrounded him from three directions. Their faces were the image of divine wrath; their eyes were red not from a curse, but from pure hatred for the humiliation they had suffered.

  "Gu Fengyan... you are truly a cunning Devil," Ming landed atop the caravan ruins, his sword pointing directly at Zhi Xuan’s soul-heart. "Stealing from the Kingdom of the Rising Sun is a sin that cannot be redeemed even by a thousand reincarnations. Hand over the jade, and I will let your Divine Spirit go toward a lighter torment."

  Zhi Xuan sneered—a terrifying sight on his transparent soul-face. "Kingdom of the Rising Sun? You are merely collectors of treasure who know not how to use it. This jade belongs to the Heavens, and now... the Heavens have chosen a new owner."

  "Impudent! Finish him!" The three charged simultaneously. But Zhi Xuan knew this was the moment to bet everything. He had no intention of fighting. With the Heavenly Jade in hand, he triggered his wings to flap, darting sharply toward the wrecked caravan to grab the other chests of jade worth thousands.

  Zhi Xuan did not let a single breath go to waste. As his nearly transparent soul-body glided toward the ruins, he could feel the air freeze from Ming’s Sword Intent chasing him. The Heavenly Jade in his embrace pulsed warmly, sending waves of pure energy that prevented his soul form from crumbling into essence dust.

  "Stop!" roared the silver-haired guard. She stomped her foot on the air, and instantly thousands of golden light chains appeared from the void, trying to entangle Zhi Xuan’s soul-limbs. "Heavenly Prison Seal: Spirit Lock!"

  Zhi Xuan twisted his body mid-air with a movement impossible for a mortal frame. His eclipse wings flapped once with the remaining strength squeezed from his soul core, releasing a gray mist that blurred his pursuers' perception of space for a single blink. In that gloom, he dove sharply toward the remnants of the royal carriage.

  His eyes, sharp as a mental hawk, caught the abundant jade-green glow from behind the shattered sandalwood chests. It wasn't just one or two pieces, but hundreds of pieces of Heavenly Jade—the tribute supply for the great faction in the capital. A treasure capable of raising a small sect to a ruler overnight.

  "Everything... shall be mine!" Zhi Xuan hissed. He stretched out his soul-hands, and the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron residing in his mind responded.

  A small vortex emerged from his palm. One by one, the pieces of Heavenly Jade flew toward him like a swarm of green fireflies returning home. TRANG! TRANG! TRANG! Attacks from the three peak-stage practitioners slammed into the earth just behind his soul-heels. Explosion after explosion created new craters, launching caravan debris into the sky.

  Zhi Xuan moved between the rain of wreckage and sword-slashes with the calmness of an executioner on a stage of death. Every time a slash nearly split his soul, he used the Heavenly Jade he already held as an emergency shield, letting the jade's sacred energy neutralize the enemy's attack.

  "Bastard! He’s looting everything in front of our eyes!" The third guard, a giant man with a thunder axe, slammed his weapon into the ground. "Earth-Annihilating Thunder!"

  Purple electrical shockwaves traveled across the ground, exploding the remains of the carriage and sending destructive waves capable of shattering any Divine Soul. Zhi Xuan was thrown into the air, his soul vibrating so violently that his eclipse wings cracked in several places. However, in his grasp, he had successfully swept almost the entire supply of jade into his inner space.

  "Ugh...!" Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul spat out pure silver essence. The pressure from the three peak-stage practitioners locking the space around him began to feel like thousands of crushing mountains.

  "You will not leave here alive!" Ming was already above him, his short sword shining with a blinding sunlight. "Falling Sun Technique: Extinction Slash!"

  Zhi Xuan looked up. In his transparent eyes, he saw death in the form of golden light swallowing his vision. But instead of fear, he laughed hoarsely. With trembling hands, he crushed one of the largest pieces of Heavenly Jade into light-dust and forcibly swallowed it into his soul core.

  Instantly, Zhi Xuan’s soul form exploded in a blinding green glow, creating an energy shield that held Ming’s attack for a fraction of a second. He used that momentum to trigger the Nine Heavens Shadow Escape Technique.

  WUSH!

  Zhi Xuan vanished from sight just as Ming’s sword split the empty air. He moved like a ripple on water, shifting from one shadow of wreckage to the shadow of a distant tree at a speed surpassing the Divine Sense tracking of the peak-stage practitioners.

  "CHASE HIM! He hasn't gone far! His essence is burning itself up; he won't last long!" the silver-haired woman screamed madly.

  Zhi Xuan continued to bolt through the night forest. Every second was agony; his soul felt as if it were being doused in molten metal due to the forced absorption of unrefined Heavenly Jade. The Annihilator Mark on his forehead throbbed again, emitting a red signal that told his enemies exactly where he was.

  "A little more... just a little more to the cave..." Zhi Xuan murmured. His consciousness began to blur. He could hear the roar of wind from long-range attacks raining down on his escape path, tearing through ancient trees like dry twigs behind him.

  At the far edge of his vision, he saw the hidden cliff where his physical body lay. There, Xiao Die and Ao Sheng must be waiting anxiously. With one mental cry that split the night silence, Zhi Xuan spurred his entire remaining existence, becoming a line of green-purple light that pierced the cave's illusion formation, just as three golden shadows landed with a heavy thud before the cliff entrance.

  "Where is he?! Where is that rat?!" Ming roared, his eyes sweeping the illusion formation with fury. Inside the darkness of the cave, Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul crashed into his physical body, merging in an explosion of energy that made the entire cave shake violently.

  Zhi Xuan returned to his body, but the real battle—the struggle against death within his own meridians—had just begun. Outside the cave, the three peak-stage experts began to strike the illusion formation with full force, creating tremors capable of toppling the mountain.

  Great shocks traveled from the cave walls to Zhi Xuan’s bone marrow as his Divine Soul slammed back into his physical frame. The collision of two existences—the nearly shattered soul and the dying body—created a wild energy turbulence. Fresh blood sprayed from his mouth, nose, and ears, drenching the cold stone floor.

  "Senior!" Xiao Die shrieked, her wings trembling as she tried to approach, but she was thrown back by the heat radiating from Zhi Xuan’s body.

  In the Sea of Consciousness, the newly looted pieces of Heavenly Jade overflowed like a flooding green river. The sacred and pure jade energy clashed with the red haze of the Annihilator Mark still blazing on Zhi Xuan’s forehead. This inner battle was far more painful than Ming’s sword strikes.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  The cave shook violently. The illusion formation outside began to crack under the assault of the three peak-stage experts. Ming’s mocking, furious laughter pierced through the rock crevices. "Hiding in a rat hole, eh? Gu Fengyan, come out and face your death like a man, or I will collapse this mountain and bury you alive!"

  "Senior, let me go out and hold them!" Ao Sheng growled, dragon scales appearing on his arms, eyes burning with a reckless fire of courage.

  "Don't... be a fool..." Zhi Xuan hissed, his eyes slowly opening to reveal a dark purple hue mixed with jade-green glimmers. "You would only be... dust beneath their feet."

  Zhi Xuan forced his hands into the Samsara mudra. Hundreds of Heavenly Jade pieces floating around him began to spin, creating a thick green energy vortex. He didn't have time to refine them one by one; he swallowed the energy raw to patch his torn meridians.

  Jade-green light began to seep into his pores, fighting the red roots of the Annihilator curse. Every inch of Zhi Xuan’s flesh felt as if it were being split by thousands of tiny knives as the arrogant jade energy tried to evict the hatred nesting in his bones.

  CRAAAKKK!

  The cave roof collapsed. Dust and large boulders fell, revealing the night sky now dominated by the three golden-robed figures hovering like angels of death. Ming, the silver-haired woman, and the axe giant stood with cold stares, looking down at Zhi Xuan sitting cross-legged in the middle of a green energy storm.

  "So, you actually dare use our Heavenly Jade to recover?" Ming smiled thinly—a smile that didn't reach his bloodthirsty eyes. "Truly a pathetic sight. A Devil trembling in the midst of his own treasure."

  "Finish him now! Don't give him the chance to stabilize his energy!" the silver-haired woman shouted, her hand already holding a golden net radiating a powerful soul-sealing aura.

  "Die, rat!" The axe giant dove first. His axe grew to the size of a city gate, shrouded in purple lightning that tore through the atmosphere. "Heaven and Earth Splitter!"

  Zhi Xuan looked up. In the midst of unbearable pain, he felt the Heavenly Samsara Wheel within him stop spinning for a moment, before finally spinning in the opposite direction at a maddening speed. The massive absorption of Heavenly Jade triggered a resonance with his divine physique.

  Zhi Xuan allowed himself to sink for a moment. With stifled cries from Xiao Die and Ao Sheng, he felt his senses go hollow before surging with madness as he allowed Demonic Thoughts to shroud his Dao Heart. With a low roar and a dense demonic aura, a reddish mist exploded, hitting the three peak-stage Soul Transformation experts, instantly enveloping them in Demonic Thoughts that threw their Dao Hearts into confusion.