What are we to do?” Everyone exchanged glances, their eyes speaking the same question, the same three words. Among these experts stationed at Duotian, even the lowest cultivation level was the Saint realm, and there were even peerless masters at the Saint Venerable level present, yet they were utterly frozen in the hard ice, unable to move or do anything about it! If such a fate were revealed, it would surely become a great joke.

But this colossal joke, in the eyes of the world, was currently a hard fact, one that no one could doubt! During their brief moment of hesitation, the ice underwent another change. With a series of cracking sounds, it turned entirely the color of crystalline jade at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The appearance of this color signified that this ice was no longer mere ice, but Profound Ice! These blocks, freshly condensed from water into ice, completed a transformation process—from ordinary hard ice to Profound Ice—that normally takes ten thousand years in the snowy mountains, all within the span of a few breaths! Almost instantly!

But this sudden shift did not cease. Not only did the water fundamentally change, but the surrounding pit walls continued to evolve. Their texture grew increasingly rigid, squeezing the massive block of Profound Ice at the core from all directions, compressing it violently towards the center! Even as it compressed, it continued to solidify…

Such astonishing and terrifying miraculous changes gradually unfolded before the eyes of everyone present! The Profound Water rapidly took shape, its brilliance growing increasingly dazzling and its transparency ever sharper. Correspondingly, its volume shrank until, finally, the entire massive block of Profound Ice seemed to vanish from the world. Looking down from above, one could clearly and unimpededly see forty human figures suspended in mid-air! The water, the ice, the Profound Ice—it all seemed to have disappeared!

Yet everyone clearly recognized and felt that the icy layer had not vanished at all, but merely converted into something else. Something they had only heard of in legends but never witnessed firsthand: Ice Marrow! Ice Marrow could be called the ultimate essence of ice existence! Even an age-old ice peak tens of thousands of years old might not yield a single piece of Ice Marrow the size of a human head. Yet, now, Jun Mo Xie had forged a gigantic slab of Ice Marrow at least several hundred zhang in circumference in the blink of an eye!

Such a technique could truly be described as stealing the creations of heaven and earth! Ice Marrow, a priceless treasure!

A piece of Ice Marrow the size of a fist, if melted and forged by a master smith into a weapon, would create an absolutely indestructible divine instrument, capable of truly slicing through refined steel like tofu. Even an ordinary person possessing no profound energy could cut through refined steel as if it were soft paste. If a sword were forged entirely of Ice Marrow, its might would be even more astonishing!

A single draw of the sword would instantly bring forth the biting cold and frost stretching for a hundred li! But here, this divine object, the Ice Marrow that countless people yearned for and were captivated by, now stood before them. Was this a beautiful dream, or a nightmare?

With the advent of the Ice Marrow, all transformations finally concluded! Regardless of what it meant to others, for those frozen within the Ice Marrow, this once dream-sought divine object now only signified a nightmare, signifying unspeakable agony! Everyone within it could not move in the slightest!

This was the legendary divine object, Ice Marrow, an essence sharper than any divine weapon in the world! If any one of the forty people inside dared to move even slightly, the remaining thirty-nine would instantly suffer the pain of being pierced by ten thousand swords. Even with their robust physical strength, they could not endure such an assault.

If they had been confined within this Ice Marrow in some open space, these forty individuals might have attempted to unleash their power simultaneously, breaking out and escaping together. While this would require incredibly precise coordination, it wouldn't be a major issue for these masters, though some casualties might still be unavoidable; most of them could still retreat unharmed.

But the truly grave problem now was this: the colossal slab of Ice Marrow was set within a large pit, perfectly and seamlessly embedded within it. And the surrounding pit walls were even harder than the Ice Marrow itself! If the forty men tried to unleash their power simultaneously, their only chance of success would be to shatter the hundred zhang circumference—the Ice Marrow, the pit walls, and the ground beneath—all at once to truly break free! Although they were all masters, they lacked any such certainty.

And if they failed, it meant that all forty men would simultaneously endure the combined strike of the other thirty-nine! The result was simple, so simple there wasn't a second possibility—all forty would instantly turn into forty pools of bloody pulp! No one would be an exception! And under this shroud of extreme cold, perhaps even the Saint Infant of a Saint Venerable master could not escape!

Now, the only thing they could do was wait and see, holding out for rescue! Because there were truly no other options left! They could only wait for Xia Changtian and Ji Bowen above to win their respective battles and then find a way to rescue them from the outside. After all, no one would die instantly.

Although the group couldn't escape immediately, as long as they remained motionless here, surviving for ten days to half a month would not be an issue. With the powerful strength of Xia Changtian and Ji Bowen, who had only reached the Saint Monarch level, they could certainly defeat Jun Mo Xie and the Heavenly Punishment Beasts with ease. At that time, whether by shattering mountains and breaking weapons, or by commanding Jun Mo Xie to melt the Profound Ice, they could rescue everyone. Upon thinking this, the trapped individuals, who held deep confidence in Xia Changtian and the others, breathed a collective sigh of relief.

They had no idea that everything up to this point was merely the appetizer Jun Mo Xie had prepared. The killing move Jun Mo Xie had arranged was still lingering in the air. Only now did it officially descend. Chaos Fire—only Chaos Fire was truly fatal. Profound Ice and Ice Marrow, though formidable, served only one purpose: to immobilize them!

The Chaos Fire high in the sky did not cover an extremely vast area, only enveloping a space a hundred zhang in radius. It drifted down from the heavens languidly and gracefully. With such an attack radius and such a slow speed, any master above the Venerable level could easily evade it; the threat seemed quite limited. If it failed to strike the opponent, everything would be in vain!

But with everyone immobilized, it became a different matter. The attack range of the Chaos Fire only needed to be larger than the volume of the Ice Marrow! It was enough to ensure eternal damnation!

As the Chaos Fire descended, there were truly no blind spots! In fact, this hundred zhang radius of Chaos Fire represented the absolute maximum Jun Mo Xie could unleash. No, this was not even the full extent of the power he could currently wield from the Hong Jun Tower!

Xia Changtian and Li Bowen, the two Saint Venerables, were already spitting mad at Jun Mo Xie and about to retaliate when they unexpectedly saw flames filling the sky, followed by a monstrous flood surging forth inexplicably. Then came a loud crash, and everything changed, slipping entirely beyond their control!

First, the solid earth beneath their feet suddenly became a bottomless pit! Eight or nine out of ten of their brothers fell into it. These two, having the highest cultivation, could still maintain standing in the void like solid ground even when their footing abruptly vanished. The other three Saint Venerables and two Saint Emperors, though lacking such power, held their composure due to their focused minds, borrowing strength from each other, and managed to flee far outside the hundred zhang radius in an instant. Just as they managed to steady themselves, a towering deluge swept down into the deep pit; had they not escaped in time, they would have been swept away even before falling!

With such a sudden turn of events, forty people had already vanished from the ground where they once stood!

“Jun Mo Xie! What in the blazes are you up to, brat?” Fu Changtian shouted angrily while standing in the void, “Using ghostly tricks and insidious schemes to plot against people? A despicable wretch like you dares to call yourself a overlord?”

“Overlord? I never intended to become an overlord!” Jun Mo Xie’s voice drifted ethereal and faint. “Xia Changtian, the only thing I want now is for you to deliver justice! To let my brothers rest in peace in the Nine Springs, that is all.”

Xia Changtian’s intent in lowering his status to curse Jun Mo Xie was precisely to bait him into speaking, hoping to capture him in one go. This brat was too slippery; he had already used an invisibility trick right at the start of the battle… He couldn't even be seen, so how could they fight?

Although Xia Changtian’s cultivation was immense, he was not Qiao Ying; he lacked the Eye of Wisdom to see through invisibility. In fact, Young Master Jun’s power had recently advanced further, and even if Qiao Ying were present, he might not be able to pierce his current Yin-Yang Escape technique!

Now Jun Mo Xie had spoken as desired, but his voice was so indistinct that even the cultivation of the two Saint Monarchs, Xia Changtian and Ji Bowen, could not discern where he was hiding, nor could they pinpoint his direction…………… This was truly bizarre!

In the sky, dense black flames descended slowly and elegantly. Xia Changtian paid them no mind, treating them like mere specks of paper ash, remaining vigilant while scanning the surroundings, still hoping for a decisive strike!

Young Master Jun was currently not only in the void state of the Yin-Yang Escape but his entire body had entered the Hong Jun Tower, revealing only his head to speak. Naturally, Xia Changtian could not find him.

However, Young Master Jun's current state was one of excruciating suffering and unbearable strain! This was the first time he had pushed his output to the absolute limit; even running the Five Elements power at full capacity had depleted his spiritual energy to the point of near exhaustion. He could not sustain it any longer. Forced to act, his spiritual consciousness completely merged with the Hong Jun Tower, ultimately using the tower’s power to transform the water into hard ice, then into Profound Ice, and finally into Ice Marrow! Next came the blanket dispersal of the Chaos Fire!

But even when completely merged with the Hong Jun Tower, he could only cast this much Chaos Fire! Any more, and Jun Mo Xie would genuinely collapse. Even if Jun Mo Xie willed it, the Hong Jun Tower would resist. Given Jun Mo Xie’s current strength, this was the maximum power he could draw from the tower; forcing any more would result in a backlash. That backlash would only lead to the destruction of body and soul!

But what he had currently unleashed was more than sufficient! More than enough!

Jun Mo Xie’s face was pale, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, as he coldly and mercilessly gazed down at the massive pit on the ground! This is uncomfortable, is it?

The truly agonizing part is yet to come! Just wait patiently.

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