At the sound of that immense noise, Ye Jingyu froze entirely, his eyes snapping wide open, filled with disbelief. His head instinctively whipped backward, and he saw a gaunt figure emerging from the sword qi so dense that even divine sense could not penetrate it.

His frame was desperately thin, yet in Ye Jingyu’s eyes at that moment, he appeared impossibly tall and majestic. He held a blade in his hand, a sword that looked as if it were carved from stone. He simply stepped out, covering the distance to where Ye Jingyu and the others stood in a single stride...

Seeing that withered face, observing the wild, disheveled length of his hair, Ye Jingyu felt tears burning behind his eyes...

He slapped his own face hard, confirming he was not dreaming, and then Ye Jingyu truly began to weep...

“Master, you’re not dead!” Ye Jingyu suppressed the shock and elation churning within him, rushing forward and throwing himself at the figure.

Dugu Bachen rolled his eyes. What kind of greeting was that? Did the boy expect him to be dead already?

“Get lost! I can’t fully control the power surging through me!” Seeing Ye Jingyu charge recklessly, Dugu Bachen snorted coldly. With a mere wave of one hand, Ye Jingyu was sent flying backward. Bones that had just begun to knit together shattered once more, causing him to howl in agony.

Dugu Bachen clearly paid no mind to Ye Jingyu’s screams. He flicked the stone blade in his hand, and a wave of sword qi ripped outward, instantly pulverizing the punch Shan had launched toward Hu Yanqi.

Seeing this newcomer, a look of pure fury contorted Shan’s face.

“Where did this old wretch crawl out from? Are you tired of living?” Shan scoffed contemptuously, unleashing all eight of his arms and charging straight toward Dugu Bachen.

His body blurred into streaks of afterimages in the air; soon, the sky seemed filled with a hundred versions of him—his speed had reached a terrifying apex. His eight arms transformed into a thousand, unleashing torrents of fist energy and palm winds that erupted from within him. The sheer oppressive might of a Hong-level master fully exploded forth.

Immediately following, these bundled energies of fist and palm strikes coalesced into a single beam of black light, shooting directly toward Dugu Bachen’s heart.

The speed of this beam was incredible, and its power immense. Ye Jingyu had no doubt that if Shan had unleashed this attack earlier, even with the protection of the Donghuang Bell, they would have been utterly annihilated. He realized with a jolt that Shan had been playing with them before!

“Master, be careful! This fellow…” Ye Jingyu suddenly remembered that Dugu Bachen’s cultivation seemed comparable to his own, and he tried to warn him. But halfway through his sentence, he froze dumbfounded.

Dugu Bachen merely slashed out casually with his blade, and the terrifying black light beam was sliced into unrecognizable fragments. Then, Dugu Bachen closed the distance to Shan in a single step, and the seemingly blunt stone blade fell straight down.

There was no flourish, no discernible technique—just a simple, downward chop. The speed appeared agonizingly slow; Ye Jingyu felt that even an ordinary person could easily sidestep it. Yet, what stunned him, and Liang Xiaoke and the others, was that Shan—who had been chasing and tormenting them like a cat playing with mice—stood frozen, allowing the stone blade to cleave into him.

The stone blade looked so dull, yet the formidable scales covering Shan’s body parted like tofu. With a single strike, one-third of Shan’s body was shorn away...

A cry of pain escaped Shan’s throat, his features etched with stark terror. The remaining two-thirds of his body instinctively twisted to flee, but Dugu Bachen’s stone blade swept out lightly again. His remaining mass was also sliced cleanly in half.

The once whole body now lay in three segments on the ground, twitching violently. To Ye Jingyu’s astonishment, Shan was not dead. The severed parts began emitting waves of black light, seemingly attempting to repair the catastrophic wounds.

Dugu Bachen’s frame swayed slightly, the power within him surging uncontrollably. The muscles in his arm bulged periodically, as if something fundamental was on the verge of breaking free.

Looking down at the three writhing segments on the ground, Dugu Bachen raised the stone blade once more. He intended to execute the fiend completely before the power consuming him spiraled into total chaos.

Seemingly sensing the imminent extinction of his life, Shan was filled with boundless dread. The Demon Clan inherently lacked deep emotion and certainly held no concept of loyalty; survival of the fittest was their sole creed. Now, Dugu Bachen’s strength far eclipsed his own, rendering him utterly incapable of resistance. Sensing the killing intent emanating from Dugu Bachen, the three severed parts of his body convulsed even more violently...

“Don’t kill me! I beg you, spare me! I will become your slave, please, do not kill me!” Shan’s divine sense flooded out, saturated with panic and desperate pleading.

But Dugu Bachen offered no heed. This creature had nearly killed his disciple; on that count alone, he was unforgivable. Dazzling sword light erupted from the stone blade, and the terrifying sword qi within his body spewed forth—enough to shred Shan into dust.

“Master, show mercy!” Although Ye Jingyu couldn't fathom why Dugu Bachen hadn’t perished and instead wielded such terrifying power, he could not allow him to dispatch Shan so easily.

He still needed to locate Ling’er. The strength of the demons they had killed previously was insufficient; they lacked knowledge of the higher-ranking fiends. Shan’s rank was clearly superior to Yu’s, meaning he might hold clues. Most crucially, Shan was a Hong-level expert—his entire being was pure energy! If they could refine that energy, the advancement in strength for himself and those around him would be astronomical.

Especially since the Twelve Heavenly Witches had only manifested three forms; the other nine remained unable to take physical shape due to insufficient external power. If they could integrate this creature's power into the Twelve Heavenly Witches Extinction Grand Array, the remaining nine might finally materialize their true forms. Even if each only achieved Heavenly-level cultivation, the array’s might would multiply exponentially. Such a golden opportunity could not simply be wasted on execution.

“Oh? He injured you all so severely, and yet you still wish to keep him?” Dugu Bachen frowned tightly. The power inside him showed increasing signs of runaway chaos, and he had no patience to waste time here.

“Not exactly, Master. It’s just that his entire power should not go to waste…” On Ye Jingyu’s lips spread a smile far more cruel than any Shan had shown moments before. Catching sight of Ye Jingyu’s chilling expression, the three segments of Shan’s body instinctively quivered...