As everyone fixated on the Time Tree, Yi Xie sent a voice transmission to all the proven sages of the Beast Soul Sect. He was the first to charge out of Time Mountain Plaza.
If the Time Tree were still here, the other sects might have had a slim chance to join forces with the Beast Soul Sect against Lan Xiaobu. Now that it had fled into the void, teaming up against Lan Xiaobu was a joke. If the Beast Soul Sect didn’t leave now, it would truly perish on Li Zhou Star.
The moment Yi Xie vanished from his spot, all the Beast Soul Sect members turned into spatial ripples and disappeared. The other sects realised Yi Xie was preparing to flee.
Without the Time Tree, and with the star-level sects that had come with the Beast Soul Sect unwilling to clash head-on with Lan Xiaobu, the Beast Soul Sect had no choice but to abandon this place.
But just as they moved, everyone felt an abrupt shift in Time Mountain Plaza. A ferocious, overwhelming killing intent flooded the entire space.
In that instant, nearly everyone summoned their treasures, some even preparing to break the array. Clearly, they were trapped in a killing formation.
“All Saint Wasteland members, do not act. Stay where you are,” Da Xuanqiong decided instantly.
His guess had been spot-on. He’d observed for ages without locating the array’s core or even sensing its presence. If not for the oppressive weight on his mind and the creeping sense of danger, he wouldn’t have known a killing array existed. Now that it had activated, its power was absurdly formidable.
More terrifying still, even with the array triggered, he couldn’t pinpoint its core. He didn’t dare probe it with his divine sense—that would be tantamount to provoking Lan Xiaobu.
With such a fearsome array, combined with Lan Xiaobu controlling it, forget wiping out the Beast Soul Sect—add Saint Wasteland, Sky Desert Hall, and Yellow Spring Sacred Sect, and they’d still be slaughtered. No wonder Lan Xiaobu had the gall to come here alone.
Following Da Xuanqiong’s order to his disciples, Zhen Changtian of Sky Desert Hall and the Yellow Spring Ancestor of Yellow Spring Sacred Sect also immediately restrained their own followers.
This killing array surpassed divine array levels, crafted with techniques they didn’t recognise. Even if all four star-level sects attacked together, they might grievously wound Lan Xiaobu, but their losses would be catastrophic. With the Time Tree gone, why risk fighting Lan Xiaobu?
Conversely, someone from Li Zhou Palace fired a treasure at the array. With one strike, the array’s killing intent recoiled, severely injuring the attacker.
“Stop!” Shan Bu’ang roared. Injured and slow to react, he’d still realised this was Lan Xiaobu’s array, not one set by the four sects.
As Lan Xiaobu activated the killing array, Yi Xie—frantically fleeing—felt a jolt. He knew his suspicions were correct: a top-tier entrapment divine array had indeed been set here.
Before he could pull out an array flag to break it, a massive wooden bridge emerged from the hazy mist within the array.
Yi Xie didn’t immediately focus on the bridge—he was stunned by the array itself. It reminded him of the wheel pattern that had wounded him earlier. Like that pattern, he couldn’t sense this array’s base or core, as if it existed outside this universe, yet it still trapped him.
A thought he dared not entertain surfaced: a ruleless, array-flag-crafted killing formation beyond divine level?
Fear surged, and Yi Xie desperately wanted to escape. Only then did he notice the wooden bridge blocking his path.
The Reincarnation Bridge? His pupils shrank. A terrifying array was bad enough, but now the Reincarnation Bridge too?
Two Beast Soul Sect proven sages above Fifth-Turn had just been forced back by the array when a giant footprint kicked out, “Get up there.”
Lan Xiaobu booted the two onto the Reincarnation Bridge. Great runes of the Dao flowed across it: *“One Breath, One Cycle.”*
The two sages lasted less than two breaths before the *“One Breath, One Cycle”* runes swept them into the roaring torrent beneath the bridge.
Yi Xie burned his essence blood in a frenzy, his body beginning to fade. But before his forbidden technique could fully activate, a terrifying killing intent struck from the side.
He abandoned the technique, summoning a disc to counter it.
Boom! The charm of divine Dao erupted. Yi Xie spat a blood arrow, landing at the foot of the Reincarnation Bridge.
“Friend Lan, this was my Beast Soul Sect’s fault. I, Yi Xie, am willing to offer unconditional compensation—even my planet if you want it. I only hope we can resolve this grudge in the future. Even if we don’t become friends, we could at least aid each other on the path to eternal life…” Yi Xie blurted this out in one breath.
He believed Lan Xiaobu could hear the implication: killing him wouldn’t stop his rebirth. Better to turn enmity into alliance. He had no choice but to yield—one more step back, and he’d be on the bridge.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t bother responding. The Longevity Halberd unleashed a single arc of light, “Go in peace. Assist me? You’re not worthy…”
Death’s shadow loomed. Yi Xie screamed, “Lan Xiaobu, I’ll kill you for this someday, destroy your planet…”
His disc struck out with desperate force.
But no matter how he struggled, the Longevity Halberd blasted the disc aside and cleaved him onto the Reincarnation Bridge. Before he could react, the halberd slashed again.
Yi Xie could only watch as it sank into his body. The deathly runes on the bridge—*“One Breath, One Cycle; One Halberd Crosses Three Lives”*—made his soul tremble.
*If I, Yi Xie, don’t die, I’ll avenge this day…*
He knew he was beyond saving, hatred flooding his soul. But before the thought could fully form, a powerful spatial rule tore his world apart.
How could this be? He was a Ninth-Turn Sage, half a step from eternal life. If his world could be so easily shredded, what revenge could he hope for? If his foe could tear his world apart this effortlessly, they might also wipe out all his rebirth soul fragments through his spirit…
As feared, no sooner had Yi Xie thought this than his soul was sucked into a void rule vortex. Every fragment of his spirit scattered across the vast cosmos was dragged in, his anguished screams unending.
“No…” His final cry was a single word, drowned by overwhelming regret, powerless to stop his utter annihilation from the boundless universe.
Yi Xie’s piercing screams echoed from the Reincarnation Bridge, piercing every ear.
Zhen Changtian paled slightly. He knew Lan Xiaobu had intended to settle scores with him earlier. Had he not backed off quickly, would he be among those screaming now? Among the four sect masters besieging Li Zhou Palace, his strength was likely the weakest.
If even Yi Xie couldn’t escape Lan Xiaobu, could he? From Yi Xie’s cries, it seemed his soul had been utterly destroyed, with no chance of rebirth.
Not just Zhen Changtian—Da Xuanqiong and the Yellow Spring Ancestor were equally shaken. Guessing Lan Xiaobu’s strength was one thing; seeing him crush peers like chickens was another. They’d thought they could escape if needed. Now, it seemed that if Lan Xiaobu didn’t want them to leave, they wouldn’t.
The Yellow Spring Ancestor’s expression flickered. He sensed the Reincarnation Bridge’s aura. He cultivated the Yellow Spring Great Dao, but he had neither a Yellow Spring Bridge nor a Reincarnation Bridge. Even his treasure, *“Heavenly Dao Yellow Spring,”* was a counterfeit—forged from the condensed souls of countless planets’冤魂.
Blood mists burst within the misty killing array. To the relief of Saint Wasteland, Sky Desert Hall, and Yellow Spring Sacred Sect cultivators, as long as they didn’t act, the array didn’t target them. Clearly, Lan Xiaobu had no intent to take on their sects—he’d come to wipe out the Beast Soul Sect and call it a day.
Shan Bu’ang glared icily at the Li Zhou Palace disciple who’d attacked the array. If he could move, he’d kill that dimwit himself.
They’d come to help, yet while the enemy stayed still in the array, his own disciple had been the first to strike.
The relentless screams and the Reincarnation Bridge’s crushing Dao charm dragged on, tormenting everyone.
The Beast Soul Sect suffered knowing their end was near. The rest suffered under the dread of being trapped in Lan Xiaobu’s terrifying array. If he wished, they’d be the next Beast Soul Sect.
