Hu Dan and the others, who were controlling their artifacts as they pursued down the mountain, all witnessed the blade’s radiance piercing the sky.
In that instant, no one could tell where Chi Yin had come from—it was as if she had suddenly emerged from the void behind the "Molten Gold Surge." Then, the mountain forest turned icy, the scorching waves smoothed out, and even the Core Refinement cultivators felt their minds grow heavy, as if an immense force pressed down on their heads, forcing their necks to bend.
The pressure vanished as quickly as it came, leaving only the blade’s radiance, shifting from intangible to solid. Gripping the blade’s light, Chi Yin’s delicate figure flashed past Jin Huan with barely any distance between them. The searing heat of the "Molten Gold Surge" was nothing to scoff at—as Chi Yin brushed past, her outer cloak, unable to withstand the temperature, disintegrated into ashes with a hiss. Beneath it, she wore an elegant robe with wide sleeves and a flowing skirt of emerald mist and rosy clouds, her resplendent attire making the shadowed slope suddenly brighten.
Yet what truly held everyone’s gaze was not her appearance, but the consequences of that solidified blade-light slicing through the "Molten Gold Surge."
As the blade passed, Jin Huan seemed to freeze, suspended mid-air, neither advancing nor retreating.
Chi Yin, having landed, didn’t even glance at him. Instead, she clasped the blade’s radiance in her hands and murmured an incantation. Under her whispered chant, the fiery glow of the "Molten Gold Surge" dimmed once more—but this time, it was not because the flames were condensing inward. Instead, all its power was being drained away, its light scattering with no chance of recovery. Meanwhile, the blade in Chi Yin’s hands grew ever brighter, taking on the same crimson hue as the "Molten Gold Surge."
Her murmurs grew clearer, rising and falling like the tide in the night. Those with higher cultivation, like Hu Dan, could faintly sense the intricate shifts in the flow of innate Qi around her. As the chant and energy fluctuations continued, the crimson color on the blade faded, and soon, even the blade itself dissipated into nothingness.
"Is this… the Blade Sacrificial Rite?"
When it came to worldly knowledge, none surpassed Zhou Youde, the steward of the Heart's Desire Pavilion. During his merchant travels in the north, he had once heard of a grand sect whose members could temporarily borrow the power of their worshipped deity, transforming divine might into a blade to slay powerful foes, then offering their essence, blood, and soul as tribute to please their god.
In truth, few present understood his mention of the "Blade Sacrificial Rite." Hu Dan and the others were still descending on momentum, drawing closer to Chi Yin, yet an invisible force seemed to grip their throats, stifling any sound.
Only when a fierce mountain wind roared past, drowning out Chi Yin’s chant, did they snap out of their daze.
By then, Jin Huan’s "Molten Gold Surge" had lost all its radiance—even its form. The wind scattered it into vapor, leaving no trace behind. Only a fist-sized orb, layered with multicolored light, remained, now unsupported, tumbling down from mid-air.
That was the Myriad Rays Draping Cloud Pearl.
A top-grade magical artifact, refined by Jin Huan over many years with at least fifty layers of inscribed talismans.
Chi Yin, being the closest, had no reason to hesitate—with a flick of her sleeve, she swept it into her grasp. Yet her expression showed no joy.
Killing Jin Huan had been swift and clean, but her original plan had also included sealing Yu Ci’s soul. With the descent of her deity’s might, she could have done so undetected—even Xie Yan, upon his return, would have found no clues. But that fool had actually used his Yin Spirit to control an artifact, directly resisting the "Molten Gold Surge’s" impact. By now, his soul had likely been scattered, and the answers she sought might be lost forever.
Still, she was now certain about the mirror’s origins. Back then, despite repeated study, she had found nothing. Yet now, in that fool’s hands, it had displayed some measure of power. And for that, she would claim it without fail.
Just then, Hu Dan rushed past her to check on Yu Ci.
Chi Yin sneered inwardly as her sleeve closed around the pearl. Her fingers had just touched its warmth when a cold snort pierced her ears.
"The Rakshasa Sect sure knows how to throw its weight around!"
Hu Dan sensed the disturbance behind him, but as the foremost expert of the Thousand Spirit Gate, his judgment was sound. He knew the immediate priority was Yu Ci’s condition.
He called out tentatively. Yu Ci lay on his back in the muddy snow of the slope, motionless.
Hu Dan had seen Jin Huan sacrifice himself to unleash the "Molten Gold Surge," a single strike severing Shi Song’s arm. He didn’t know how Yu Ci had managed to block the brunt of the attack, but the residual force alone was no joke—how could a mere Divine Connectivity cultivator withstand it?
Heavy breathing sounded beside him—Shi Song, wounded, had caught up. "Well?"
Hu Dan shook his head, unwilling to jump to conclusions. He performed a quick examination, finding no obvious internal injuries—Yu Ci’s pulse still beat, but when he lifted his eyelids, the pupils were unfocused, devoid of awareness. Probing with a strand of Qi, he detected only chaotic vital energy and no physical response whatsoever.
"This is… soul separation?"
Both Shi Song and Hu Dan were experienced enough to recognize that Yu Ci’s soul had parted from his body. There were two possibilities: either his cultivation was deep enough for his Yin Spirit to roam freely, eventually returning on its own—but that made no sense given the circumstances, especially since Yu Ci was only at the mid-stage of Divine Connectivity, far from the level of Yin Spirit projection.
Or the other, far grimmer alternative…
For a moment, the two men stared at each other, both seeing the unease on the other’s face:
Had Yu Ci been struck so hard by that last blow that his soul had scattered?
If that were truly the case, how were they supposed to explain it to the Rifting Earth Sect?
As if their fears had summoned it, just as they were at a loss, a cold voice cut through the air:
A chilling aura swept over the hillside. The two turned to see Xie Yan striding toward them, his face dark with anger.
Both Shi Song and Hu Dan felt bitterness rising in their throats.
At that moment, no one noticed the faint glimmer on the surface of the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror, buried in the slushy snow after being sent flying over a dozen zhang by the "Molten Gold Surge" and sliding even further.
Yu Ci was, of course, not soul-scattered—but he was in a very strange state. It seemed dire, yet also inexplicably bizarre.
By the time Jin Huan’s "Molten Gold Surge" surged toward him, Yu Ci no longer had the strength to dodge. Faced with the bone-melting heat of the attack, he certainly couldn’t test it with his physical body. The only thing within reach was the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror, and in desperation, he thrust it forward—only to realize that his Yin Spirit was still connected to the mirror. This accidental Yin Spirit weapon control resulted in a direct collision with the "Molten Gold Surge."
How was this any different from slamming head-on into Jin Huan himself?
In truth, there was a slight difference.
When Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit channeled the mirror, he didn’t just feel the surging power within—he also sensed traces of something else. These were the blood marks left behind from his earlier use of the "Hidden Star Grand Refinement Technique," where he had mixed his essence-blood with talisman force to create points on the mirror’s surface, serving as anchors to draw and reflect astral power.
Previously, when using talismanic arts, the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror hadn’t been the core artifact—it had merely acted as a tool to gather and reflect the projections of Qi. Any decently crafted mirror could have fulfilled that role. But an ordinary mirror certainly wouldn’t contain the intricate structure and surging energy within the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror. So when the residual imprints of the talismanic art and Qi came into contact with the force awakened by Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit, something changed.
For an instant, Yu Ci felt as though he had fallen into an endless void. Stars dotted the expanse in all directions—some clustered like seas, others scattered to the edges of the firmament. His own body seemed to dissolve, leaving only pure consciousness adrift in the cosmos. It was somewhat like his "Void withing the Mind," yet the vast, boundless, and magnificent sensation was something he had never experienced within it.
The feeling flashed through him—lasting only a moment.
The next instant, he was thrust back into reality, just as Jin Huan’s "Molten Gold Surge" struck the mirror’s surface. He didn’t see the changes on the mirror, but at the moment of impact, part of the "Molten Gold Surge’s" force was clearly neutralized. At the same time, the immense power within the mirror surged at unprecedented speed, swirling around the central aperture like a deep-sea vortex, generating an irresistible suction force.
Yu Ci’s mind wavered—and when he regained clarity, he realized his physical body was gone.
The sensation was surreal. If he had to describe it, it was like the state between dreaming and waking, where thoughts flowed naturally, the sense of "self" remained intact, and awareness of space and time was still clear—yet there was no tangible feeling of existence. Only the surging tremors from outside reached him, making his consciousness ripple like waves.
After a long daze, he suddenly understood: he was no longer in a state of unity between body and soul. Instead, his Yin Spirit had been forcibly pulled out of his body and drawn into the central aperture of the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror.
‘Yin Spirit projection? You’ve got to be joking!'
Yu Ci had imagined his first Yin Spirit projection a thousand, ten thousand times—but never .
This wasn’t a natural breakthrough. It was the mirror’s overwhelming power yanking him out!
Back at the Sky Rift Valley pavilion, when he first succeeded in Yin Spirit weapon control, something similar had nearly happened. But at that time, his aperture-guarding technique had been solid, preventing his Yin Spirit from being torn out. Now, exhausted from prolonged battle, he had finally succumbed.
Yu Ci tried to move his Yin Spirit, to escape this cursed place and return to his body—but he soon gave up.
The "outside" environment was simply too hostile!
The raging forces beyond were spinning wildly, like a whirlpool, like a storm. Only the central aperture—the mirror’s core—was somewhat calm, like the eye of the tempest. Yet even here, an overwhelming suction pulled at his Yin Spirit, threatening to drag him into the churning vortex of energy at the periphery.
At this moment, Yu Ci recalled the Yin Demon that had devoured Nan Songzi on the mountain path outside Heart Prohibition Temple, only to be swallowed by the mirror moments later.
Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit had yet to fully solidify. Under the tearing forces coming from "all directions," he felt as though his Yin Spirit had truly turned into smoke, twisting and distorting. Parts of it had already been pulled into the outer storm, ripped apart and scattered after a few chaotic swirls, dissipating toward the edges of the mirror.
The sense of weakness grew sharper.
Yes, Yu Ci felt it with perfect clarity—just like that moment at the Sky Rift Valley pavilion, when countless star-lights had scattered. Now, hundreds of star-motes, transformed from his own soul’s energy, were being hurled in all directions by the mirror, piercing through the snow and mud to illuminate the world outside.