The Demon-Slayer Saber answered Ye Liuyun’s excitement with a surge of its own; a dark-gold blade-light slashed straight at the spear-glow that lanced toward it.

The berserk saber-intent tore a rift in the surrounding void. Chen Piaoran’s fierce spear-beam was shattered in an instant, and the saber-light kept driving toward him.

“What terrifying saber-intent!”

Chen Piaoran had only probed with that thrust. Unsure of Ye Liuyun’s strength, he’d feared killing the man outright and had held back.

Now, feeling the domineering aura of that slash, he knew his opponent was no simple foe. He dared not be careless; sweeping his spear with full force, he finally dispersed the strike.

“As expected of a late-stage Ninth Heaven expert—still formidable. And his true essence is so condensed!”

Ye Liuyun noted inwardly, then layered spatial power into another slash aimed at Chen Piaoran.

Chen had been charging in for close combat, planning to seize Ye Liuyun in the chaos. But he suddenly twisted aside, erupting with spatial force to evade the saber-intent that had already sliced into his body.

Cold sweat broke out on him; he hadn’t expected the combined might of saber-intent and spatial power to be so lethal. He slowed his advance, wariness replacing haste.

Knowing this foe wouldn’t fall easily, Ye Liuyun condensed a thousand spirit blades. With a sweep of the Demon-Slayer Saber, he sent them all hurtling toward Chen Piaoran and the Chen disciples behind him.

Both clones—faces changed—drew their sabers and charged the other two Chen squads. Only Lei Ming and Vermilion Bird remained by Ye Liuyun; every other beast followed the clones.

Nine-headed Demon Dragon and White Tiger each accompanied a clone, roaring in unison. The sonic and soul-shaking waves—soul attacks—had doubled in strength after absorbing dragon souls. The weaker Chen disciples were immediately bloodied by the blast and tumbled toward the desolate sea.

“Roar!”

From the sea, the dragon maiden in black-dragon form burst upward with a draconic cry that knocked the already-damaged disciples unconscious. A lash of her tail exploded their bodies.

Chen Piaoran thrust at her, but she shattered the spear-light with a clawed, gauntleted swipe before diving back beneath the waves, awaiting her next chance.

White Tiger loosed a storm of golden light; Nine-headed Demon Dragon spat a cloud of poison at the remaining two groups. While the disciples struggled against the soul shockwaves, the clones fused spatial power with saber-intent and instantly slew both squad leaders.

Chen Piaoran’s brow knitted tight.

“These people are tough!”

He still wanted close combat, but Ye Liuyun’s endless tide of spirit blades kept forcing him back. With spatial power woven into saber-intent, the strikes flickered fast and slow, appearing from nowhere—he dared not relax for an instant.

“Rally to me!”

Chen abandoned any thought of encirclement, pulling all survivors behind him.

The clones and beasts harried the two retreating squads. Chen tried to ambush the clones, yet each time their saber-intent blocked him.

“Why are these two also so strong in saber-intent?” he wondered, racking his brain for which great sect trained such sword cultivators.

One clone wielded demonic qi, the other Buddhist radiance—so he never suspected they were mere copies.

Though they repelled Chen’s attacks, the clones recalled the beasts rather than let them chase the fleeing disciples; in that first clash they had already killed more than thirty apiece—good enough.

The beasts swept up the corpses and returned to Ye Liuyun’s side.

Chen regrouped and charged again. Vermilion Bird’s crimson pupils flashed, casting illusions that rattled his soul and broke his focus, while a sheet of vermilion flame rolled over him.

“Scatter!” Chen detonated his true essence, the blast snuffing the fire.

But the instant his qi erupted, Lei Ming triggered a pillar of demon-thunder as thick as a water barrel. Ye Liuyun’s spatial-powered slash arrived even faster, cutting straight for Chen’s chest.

The trio’s timing was flawless; Ye Liuyun and Lei Ming’s golden eyes could see the flow of Chen’s true essence, letting them strike at the precise moment.

Chen Piaoran dared not ignore Ye Liuyun’s saber intent; he instantly raised his spear to forcibly block that slash.

Boom!

Lei Ming’s lightning strike crashed straight into him. Even though he wore a Void-grade protective soft armor, the blast numbed his entire body and sent him flying backward.

“Let’s all roar together!”

Ye Liuyun ordered every beast to unleash sonic attacks and soul-shaking waves in unison, and they bellowed as one.

With so many soul-empowered beasts roaring at once, the very space quivered. Over thirty disciples were instantly stunned, toppling into the Desolate Sea where the dragon girl burst them one by one.

The remaining Chen disciples, though still conscious, suffered varying degrees of soul damage; none dared strike again.

Chen Piaoran had never imagined he’d be blasted away by three fifth-rank humans and beasts. Before he could recover, the beasts’ combined roar left his soul reeling. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Whoosh, whoosh—his first clone loosed two arrows in rapid succession: one straight, one curving, yet both arrived at the same instant.

The moment the clone locked onto him, Chen Piaoran felt death’s breath. When the first arrow didn’t head straight for him, he couldn’t grasp its intent.

Only when the second arrow was already in his face did he erupt with full force to parry it—yet the arrow fired earlier also slammed into his armor at the same moment, blasting him away again.

Pfft!

Unable to hold it back, Chen Piaoran spat a mouthful of blood.

Before the blood even finished leaving his lips, saber light from both Ye Liuyun and the clone slashed down once more. In frantic haste he raised his spear; one blade struck the shaft, the other his chest, hurling him backward in another spray of blood.

Only then did the other Chen disciples rush up, surrounding him and retreating step by step.

“Kill!”

Ye Liuyun swept his saber forward, leading the beasts in a fresh charge.

The beasts roared again, battering foes with sonic and soul attacks while launching every other assault at their disposal.

The Chen disciples broke into chaos. Suddenly Chen Piaoran was blasted away a third time. Taking advantage of his injuries—and while the beasts’ roar drew every eye—Vespera and Xenocide struck again, one claw reaching for his heart, the other for his core.