Suddenly, the sound of heavy chains echoed behind her.
Before Zi Ling could react, her injured body was tightly bound by a pitch-black chain.
Not only was her body restrained, even her spiritual power was sealed.
"I have more important matters to deal with right now."
Wu Chou yanked the chain, flinging Zi Ling aside.
"I'll play with you properly later."
He raised his hand, summoning the two Heavenly Capital Corpse Puppets bestowed upon him by the Extreme Yin Ancestor, positioning them on either side of the black sphere.
These two corpse puppets each possessed combat strength equivalent to peak Core Formation cultivators.
With them, Wu Chou could roam freely among Core Formation cultivators without fear.
Even if the person inside was the one who had used Azure Fire Thunder earlier, he had nothing to worry about.
"Go! Kill whoever's inside!"
At Wu Chou's command, the two corpse puppets lunged forward simultaneously, claws tearing through the air as they closed in from both sides.
At the same time, Wu Chou activated the Profound Yin Technique.
A massive Yin Demon Hand condensed in midair and slammed violently toward the black sphere.
Dark clouds rolled in.
Terrifying Profound Yin Demonic Qi instantly engulfed the entire canyon.
But in the very next instant—
Something bizarre happened.
Just as the two Heavenly Capital Corpse Puppets reached the black sphere, a pair of hands suddenly emerged from within, gripping their necks directly.
Boom!
Amid an eruption of thunder and fire, the two corpse puppets—each at peak Core Formation—were shattered into fragments.
The Yin Demon Hand was struck head-on by a firebird that burst out from the black sphere, disintegrating into ashes before it could even draw near.
As the dust settled,
a handsome young man stepped forward, six radiant divine halos slowly revolving behind him.
"I heard you just tried to kill me?"
Zhu Chen raised his head, his icy voice echoing throughout the canyon.
"S-senior… it's all a misunderstanding!"
Wu Chou's face drained of blood.
"I… I didn't know you were here…"
Cold sweat poured down as he stammered in terror.
"You think I don't know what you were planning?"
Zhu Chen took a single step.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared right beside Wu Chou.
Wu Chou didn't dare say another word.
Activating his escape technique, he fled desperately into the distance.
But he hadn't gone far when flames suddenly erupted across his body.
Wu Chou frantically activated the Profound Yin Great Art, trying to extinguish the fire with Profound Yin Demonic Qi.
Instead, the demonic qi only caused the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire to burn even more fiercely.
In the blink of an eye, this notorious young master of Extreme Yin Island was burned to ashes, leaving nothing behind.
"Damn it. You think you can ambush me?"
Zhu Chen spat at the spot where Wu Chou vanished.
He had been in the middle of opening his sixth grotto-heaven within the Yin Spirit Sand sphere when this ugly crow launched a sneak attack, nearly causing his breakthrough to fail.
Fortunately, at the final moment, he succeeded in fully opening the sixth divine ring grotto-heaven.
This incident, however, taught Zhu Chen an important lesson.
In the future, breaking through in the wilderness was far too reckless.
He would either need a secure location or someone guarding him to ensure a smooth breakthrough.
In a treacherous cultivation world like this—
Caution was never a bad thing.
On the path from the Spirit Abyss Water Pavilion to the Ice and Fire Path, there lay a mountain forest rich in spiritual energy.
Spiritual herbs and fruits grew abundantly throughout the forest.
Any cultivator who passed the first trial of the Void Heaven Palace could freely gather herbs here as a reward.
The Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng that Han Li required was located in this very forest.
Zi Ling's purpose in entering the Void Heaven Palace was also to collect rare herbs for pill refinement.
However, these resources held little value for Zhu Chen.
Most of the herbs and fruits here were leftovers from the Star Palace. Only a handful of spirit herbs that had developed sentience were barely worth considering—and those were notoriously difficult to capture, making the effort hardly worthwhile.
Zhu Chen had no intention of lingering.
He led Zi Ling straight toward the entrance of the Ice and Fire Path.
Of course, if he happened to spot any valuable herbs along the way, he would casually pluck them and hand them to Zi Ling.
Yet it was precisely this casual generosity that deeply moved her.
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