Mo Wuji slowed his pace. Sensing no immediate threat to his life, he had no intention of fleeing.
A trap-kill array here? Mo Wuji’s divine sense brushed against a trap-kill array, and he paused, bemused. Using such an array against a master of cosmic barriers like him?
Though he hadn’t planned to set up his own array to trap his foe, with a ready-made one, he quickly wove void array patterns, transforming the trap-kill array into a simple trap-kill barrier in moments.
As Mo Wuji stepped into the enemy’s array, Chong Jiu appeared before him, her saint domain locking down all space around him.
Mo Wuji stared at the woman, incredulous. Was she out of her mind? Clearly still recovering from severe injuries, she dared to ambush him. Not only that, but she attacked so brazenly, using her domain to crush him outright. She didn’t take him seriously at all—utterly clueless.
“You’re Xinghe Mo?” Chong Jiu asked, her domain pinning Mo Wuji as her divine sense probed his aura.
As Mo Wuji suspected, she truly didn’t see him as a threat. Yet, she felt a slight unease. Mo Wuji lacked any sharp edge, and she could barely discern his fifth-step Great Dao aura—nothing else stood out.
In her eyes, this fifth-step cultivator was so ordinary, he’d blend into any crowd. Could someone this unremarkable have killed Yin Yuan?
“Xinghe Mo is my alias. My real name’s Mo Wuji. Are you stopping me to invite me to your place?” Mo Wuji said calmly. He knew she was aware he’d killed Yin Yuan and aimed to profit from him. Too bad—she was foolish, thinking she could crush him with such strength. Since she intended to kill him, he had no plans to let her live.
Chong Jiu sneered. “Are all juniors this arrogant now? Reaching the fifth step makes you think you’re something special?”
Mo Wuji looked at her, puzzled. “Whether I’m special doesn’t matter. What’s important is, weren’t you injured by a fifth-step cultivator?”
Chong Jiu snorted. “Open your world. I’ll take two things, and I swear I won’t kill you—I’ll let you go.”
“Such nonsense. Take my finger first,” Mo Wuji said, tired of wasting time. He struck with his Seven Realms Finger’s third move, *Creation*. Being tailed by those feathered beasts had worn his patience thin.
Chong Jiu hadn’t expected Mo Wuji’s audacity. She hadn’t even attacked, yet he struck first—seeking death. But before she could summon her treasure, the space around her shifted abruptly.
She controlled this space, her array, her domain. Yet, she felt as if she’d fallen into a vast cosmic furnace.
Terrifying dao laws began melting everything in the furnace, even the cosmic rules themselves.
Chong Jiu was alarmed. She knew Mo Wuji, having killed Yin Yuan, wasn’t simple, but this move was beyond her expectations. If she stayed, she’d melt in this furnace.
No longer underestimating him, she summoned her Blazing Moon Hook and activated the trap-kill array.
Her face paled the next moment. The array didn’t respond. Worse, she realized she was trapped in a barrier. Without her domain, she’d have no resistance in this space.
She’d gravely underestimated Mo Wuji. She couldn’t stay in his barrier. Ignoring her damaged dao foundation, she burned her dao rhythms frantically. The Blazing Moon Hook unleashed waves of spatial flames. She had to escape his locked space to either call Guan Chong or flee.
But Chong Jiu was stunned. The spatial flames from her hook became fuel under Mo Wuji’s finger dao laws, vanishing in moments.
*Boom!* A spray of blood mist erupted. The Moon Falcon beside her, unable to withstand the tearing dao laws of Mo Wuji’s Creation Finger, disintegrated.
Chong Jiu’s heart sank. She realized she was no longer the seventh-step powerhouse she once was. Her damaged dao foundation barely sustained sixth-step strength. Yet her opponent was clearly a top-tier sixth-step cultivator.
If she didn’t escape, she’d fall here.
Burning her lifespan desperately, she transformed the Blazing Moon Hook into countless flaming flowers, their aura swelling as if ready to explode.
As she pushed her dao laws to the limit, moon-white dao rhythms enveloped her, her form fading.
Mo Wuji let out a long chant. “Enter my Creation Dao laws and still think you can escape? Melt!”
The space under his finger shifted abruptly. Everything became fuel in the furnace, all vitality stripped by the Creation Dao laws.
Chong Jiu’s fading form began to solidify. Panicking, she knew she had to break free.
*Boom!* The Blazing Moon Hook exploded under her burning dao laws, its terrifying treasure dao laws nearly tearing the space apart. Even Mo Wuji, controlling the space’s dao laws and rules, had to retreat temporarily.
Seeing Mo Wuji fall back, Chong Jiu exhaled in relief. Losing the hook was costly, but her life was safe.
Yet, as she surged forward, she was slammed back down.
“Cosmic barrier…” Chong Jiu’s face turned ashen. Had she known this ambush would cost her life, no treasure would’ve lured her here.
Mo Wuji wiped blood from his mouth. He was certain Chong Jiu’s pre-injury strength surpassed his. Otherwise, her treasure and dao law explosion wouldn’t have broken his Creation Finger and injured him.
As Mo Wuji approached, Chong Jiu knew escape was unlikely. She took a breath and said slowly, “I’m Chong Jiu, Saint Master of True Derivation Saint Dao’s Moon Derivation Dao. My strength fell due to severe injuries; otherwise, I’m seventh-step. True Derivation has four or five like me. My sect knows I came for you. If you spare me, I won’t pursue this, and you’ll gain True Derivation’s friendship.”
Mo Wuji nodded. “True Derivation sounds impressive. I’ve heard of it. Thanks for the heads-up.”
Chong Jiu relaxed slightly, but before she could speak, Mo Wuji’s powerful domain locked her completely. It seemed ordinary yet fused the cosmos’s mightiest dao laws in harmony. She even doubted she could’ve escaped it uninjured.
“You’re really going to kill me?” Chong Jiu’s heart chilled. Why wasn’t this as she expected? In the Great Cosmos, who but a Dao Ancestor dared disrespect True Derivation or kill its Saint Master? Had the world changed so fast, or had her long seclusion blinded her?
Mo Wuji’s actions answered her. He pointed at her brow. Already critically wounded and bound by his saint domain, Chong Jiu had no resistance. Her protective dao laws tore apart one by one.
Terror filled her eyes as her world’s spatial dao laws began collapsing. If this continued, her world would be opened.
“You’re opening my world?” Chong Jiu finally grasped the reality.
“What else?” Mo Wuji replied, blasting through her protective domain with a finger. His hands wove countless spatial dao laws, tearing into her world.
“How is this possible?” Chong Jiu knew, despite her injuries, her world was still seventh-step. Only someone beyond the seventh step could open it.
As her world’s spatial dao laws cracked, she realized Mo Wuji could open it effortlessly.
She understood she’d chosen the wrong target. A fifth-step cultivator who could open a seventh-step world was destined for the seventh step. True Derivation couldn’t threaten him.
Too late for regrets, her world opened, and her soul and spirit were obliterated by Mo Wuji’s killing dao laws.
