As his words fell, Shen Bai charged at Long Yan once again.

This time, his attack was far more unrestrained than before.

At the beginning, in order not to alert Long Yan, he had absorbed very little.

But this time, his absorption was far more brazen.

After his Spirit Casting Technique reached Level 4, he could absorb the Qi of others through Cold Moon.

And now, as she fought Shen Bai, Long Yan felt even more of her Qi being drained away.

All sorts of thoughts raced through Long Yan’s mind. She continued to clash with Shen Bai as she carefully considered her options.

’No, if this keeps up, this guy will drain me dry. I can’t lose to him!’

Long Yan knew very well what losing meant for her.

It meant that everything she had would vanish into thin air.

Looking at the dense fog around her, Long Yan gritted her teeth and then swept out with the Flower Spear in her hand.

As she created a brief opening, another portion of the Qi in her body was drained by Shen Bai.

Long Yan’s figure retreated rapidly. She then formed a Magic Formula with her left hand, and with a press of her fingers, the sound of operatic singing rang out again.

Shen Bai was slightly taken aback. A chilling sensation instantly washed over his entire body.

The cold feeling made him stop and scan the surrounding dense fog.

Just a moment ago, he had sensed something more than just the cold—a dangerous presence was building.

’What is this? No, that’s an aberration.’

Shen Bai’s gaze went past Long Yan, toward the white mist behind her.

Within that white mist, an immense figure appeared, drawing closer from the distance and arriving on the battlefield.

As the figure drew nearer and became clearer, Shen Bai finally saw the aberration’s true form.

It was an aberration covered entirely in heads, each one filled with resentment and a chilling aura.

And the mouth of every head was uttering all sorts of terrifying whispers.

When they converged, the sound was enough to shake one’s very soul, as if one could be submerged in an ocean of voices at any moment and turned into a mindless puppet.

"Nightmare."

Shen Bai narrowed his eyes.

Long Yan looked at the aberration and gritted her teeth. "Shen Bai, you forced my hand!"

As her words fell, the aberration suddenly stopped its wailing.

Immediately after, Long Yan thrust her Flower Spear straight at the aberration.

With a violent gust of wind, the aberration dissolved into endless smoke under the strike of Long Yan’s Flower Spear.

After the smoke appeared, it quickly vanished without a trace.

Something strange also happened to Long Yan.

A chilling, sinister aura rose from all over her body.

One of her eyes turned blood-red.

The other remained normal.

Layer upon layer of patterns appeared on the left side of her face, including over her eye.

Each pattern was suffused with a cold, sinister aura.

"Divine Play Technique, I am the Aberration."

Long Yan said slowly.

Then, the aura of her power began to climb at a visible rate.

This was the highest-level Secret Technique of the Peach Opera Garden, and it was also Long Yan’s ultimate move.

The so-called Peach Opera Garden emphasized the art of performance.

And within this art of performance, there was a Forbidden Technique that not even the former Garden Master of the Peach Opera Garden dared to use.

That was to embody an aberration.

Aberrations could also be embodied through the Peach Opera Garden’s Secret Technique, but each performance would cause irreversible damage to oneself. If things went wrong, one could completely transform into an aberration.

This time, with no other choice, Long Yan had merged herself with the Nightmare.

Because she knew very well that with Shen Bai’s ability to absorb Qi, it wouldn’t be long before she was the one who failed.

She could not accept defeat, could not accept returning to a normal life only to remain trapped in Fenglin State, so her only choice was to use this Secret Technique.

Shen Bai sensed the aura within Long Yan’s body and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Half human, half aberration. Landlord Long has truly paid a heavy price."

Now, having learned a great deal, Shen Bai could already see what was wrong with Long Yan.

Right now, Long Yan seemed to be in a state of balance. If that balance were even slightly disturbed, she would be completely assimilated by the aberration and transform into a mindless one.

The situation had originally been well under Shen Bai’s control, but after Long Yan made this move, things had become uncertain again.

Long Yan wasted no time on words. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She couldn’t maintain this state for long. If too much time passed, she would transform completely into an aberration.

So, after Shen Bai spoke, Long Yan raised her Flower Spear and attacked him.

This time, there were no phantoms of a great army, only a chilling, sinister aura.

Shen Bai felt a frigid energy envelop him, as if he were in a world of ice and snow, with not a trace of warmth remaining.

The ground began to freeze, the ice spreading toward Shen Bai.

Before Shen Bai’s eyes, the spear thrust seemed extremely slow, yet also incomparably fast.

At the critical moment, Shen Bai thrust out Cold Moon.

The moment it clashed with the Flower Spear, the chilling, sinister aura rapidly enveloped Shen Bai.

The white light around Shen Bai’s body shattered the instant the Yin Qi surrounded him.

Shen Bai executed the Burst Speed of Divine Hundred Miles, and at the instant the chilling aura swept over him, he retreated several dozen steps, becoming a blur.

BOOM!

A roaring sound echoed as the chilling aura became like a vortex, swallowing everything.

The spot where Shen Bai had been standing was reduced to ruins.

"Impressive. Just as I’d expect from you."

Shen Bai smiled, but his eyes were perfectly calm.

Long Yan strode toward Shen Bai. "I don’t know why you’re still so calm, but it seems your ability to absorb Qi alone won’t solve this problem now."

In her eyes, although Shen Bai was calm at this moment, he was absolutely powerless and could only face the arrival of death.

Shen Bai smiled and said, "Who says? My Spirit Casting Technique is the key to breaking this stalemate."

Long Yan was slightly taken aback. She looked at Shen Bai in confusion and said, "You can even break through this?"

Just then, Shen Bai reversed his grip on the longsword in his hand.

Then, he plunged Cold Moon into the ground in front of him.