By the time Ta Shan was fully upright, the Cataclysmic Seal was only ten meters away from his head!

The anger that had been in his eyes was quickly replaced by subdued shock and then despair.

He didn’t have enough time to form any sort of defense or make an escape!

“Boom!!!”

The earth violently quaked with a sound that reverberated through the air as the mountain-sized Cataclysmic Seal sunk into the ground!

Not even a peep was made by Ta Shan before he was crushed by the Cataclysmic Seal. Despite the giant explosion that came with the destruction of his origin essence, Ta Shan was still crushed by the brick. His aura was snuffed out just like that!

The way the Cataclysmic Seal was binding the earth around Ta Shan made it so he couldn’t escape into the ground.

That only left death as his last remaining option!!

Ever since the battle had started, both combatants had fought with all their might. Only Ta Shan lacked the final step and was crushed underneath the Cataclysmic Seal as a result!

“Whew…”

A relieved sigh escaped Bai Yunfei’s lips. His final strike was by no means effortless; the collision of the two essence fireseeds had cost him eighty percent of his soulforce. It was fortunate that his first essence fireseed was extremely easy to work with. After the second essence fireseed was gone, the first had settled down without any further troubles. It continued to regulate the warm elemental fire in his body, making up for the soulforce it had used up earlier.

“I won… all on my own this time! I won against a Soul Exalt!!” Giddy with excitement because of his achievement, Bai Yunfei gave an appreciative look to his Cataclysmic Seal.

After relaxing for a moment, Bai Yunfei suddenly came to a start, “s.h.i.+t, Xinyun!!”

The battle had been so intense that he had temporarily forgotten about Tang Xinyun. Bai Yunfei had been sent flying behind Ta Shan earlier in the fight, meaning he could use the Cataclysmic Seal without needing to worry about hurting her.

Paradoxically, he had forgotten about her in the rush of the moment.

Whipping his head back to look in her direction, Bai Yunfei began to worry that someone else had taken advantage of the situation while he had been distracted and had taken her farther away.

About half a minute ago, when Bai Yunfei was about to use the Cataclysmic Seal to smash into Ta Shan’s fist—

Hidden Snake was still hidden in the small mound of dirt with Tang Xinyun as he observed the distant battle with a confused eye.

In truth, he had planned to carry Tang Xinyun away a lot earlier. They were being chased, and he had no way of knowing if it was the Tang chasing them.

He wasn’t as strong as Ta Shan, so being dragged into the battle would’ve bode badly for him. When Bai Yunfei’s strength was made known to him, Hidden Snake felt his worries slip away.

Bai Yunfei might have been just a little stronger than him, but the same couldn’t be said for Ta Shan’s strength.

Taking into account his better judgement, Hidden Snake decided to satisfy his curiosity and watch the fight.

Another major reason for him staying behind was because of the strange spear Bai Yunfei was using.

He could tell it was a very strong soul armament; any soul cultivator would be able to tell that by the amount of power radiating from it.

While Ta Shan was Bai Yunfei’s opponent, it didn’t mean Hidden Snake couldn’t get a share of the spoils himself.

However, the battle proved more shocking than he initially thought. He had never once doubted Ta Shan’s strength, but the amount of weapons in Bai Yunfei’s repertoire left him speechless!

The more he watched, the more ‘pleasantly surprised’ he felt. In the end, Hidden Snake couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. There was far too many soul armaments!!

If Bai Yunfei were to die, how many items could he get for himself??

Bai Yunfei’s strength was enough to keep him from leaping in the fray.

When Ta Shan sent the Cataclysmic Seal flying and was on the crux of victory, Hidden Snake finally let out a sigh of relief. He prepared to walk out to ‘help’ land the killing blow on Bai Yunfei.

But that was when the battle suddenly took a turn for the worse.

Summoning back his essence fireseed, Bai Yunfei managed to force Ta Shan into destroying his origin essence as a final gambit and a chance to live. Despite that, Ta Shan was still overwhelmed by the intense power of the Cataclysmic Seal and was killed.

This left Hidden Snake stunned at the sight. His mind was abuzz with the implications of the battle along with disbelief in what he was seeing.

The next moment, clarity came rus.h.i.+ng back to his mind. Any qualms he might’ve had about staying behind were thrown to the wind thanks to his fear. Grabbing Tang Xinyun, he suppressed his own aura. Then made use of the terrain to make a quick and stealthy getaway.

“Hey now, where are you trying to take my brother’s wife?”

Out of nowhere, the sound of a third party made its way into the ears of Hidden Snake. Letting loose a swear as he came to a stop, Hidden Snake turned around with a pale face and a sweaty back.

The reason why he was so afraid was because of how this person has appeared like a ghost.

Already… a dagger was pressed against Hidden Snake’s neck!

It was only when this figure spoke that Hidden Snake had realized where the person was!

“Im—mpossible!!” Thunderstruck, Hidden Snake couldn’t even find the words to describe what he was thinking. When Ta Shan had been killed, Hidden Snake didn’t think that he has been discovered then, so why now?

More importantly, how did this person appear right behind him without him noticing!?

He was a soul cultivator that excelled in all things stealth related. He had faith in his abilities to detect anyone within a hundred meters radius. It’d be a stretch to say that he was detected due to Tang Xinyun’s weak aura.

Yet, that was the case. Hidden Snakes well-trained senses were telling him that this was the only possible way…

“Hey now, don’t be so surprised. You’re a little… too green to even think about hiding from me.

“But don’t move! I’ll have you know that the dagger at your throat is a heaven tier soul armament. As long as I will it, the energy in the dagger will cut through your throat before you can even twitch.”

The foreboding voice of the person behind Hidden Snake terrified him, so he didn’t dare move a muscle.

“Good, good. Now put down the person you’re holding—slowly now. She’s worth her weight in gold, you know! If you hurt her, I’m afraid you won’t be able to afford it…”

His banter was quite light-hearted. In fact, one could probably even call it lazy, but Hidden Snake knew better than to risk it. Gingerly putting Tang Xinyun down on the ground, he raised his hands up to show that he was willing to comply.

“Very good. Now walk forward, slowly. Don’t you dare try anything sudden, or you’ll have to excuse me if my finger starts itching to cut into your throat.”

The entirety of Hidden Snake’s head was drenched thoroughly in sweat by now. He was so nervous even gulping the saliva in his mouth was proving to be an impossible task. He was afraid that if he did swallow, the bobbing of his adam’s apple would press against the dagger.

If that were to happen, he could say goodbye to his blood and life.

As he slowly walked away from Tang Xinyun, the person behind him followed like a shadow, and though the person’s body bobbed up and down with each step that was made, the dagger remained level without moving a centimeter.

Just ten meters away, the previously frightened-into-silence Hidden Snake was now starting to regain some confidence. A sinister light began to bleed into his eyes as a wave of killing intent started to rise up from within him…

“Hey, you know why I wanted you to walk this far away?”

The still calm voice spoke again.

This time, Hidden Snake was startled to see the dagger move away from his throat!

Before he could even properly register why it was moving, his eyes widened in shock and the killing intent quickly turned into absolute despair.

“Pzk!!”

Hidden Snake felt his blood start to leave from a cut across his throat. He tried to open his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

His hands tried to move up to hold the wound together, but halfway through the process, his arms fell back down.

His strength was spent. His eyes were already starting to dim.

As he crashed down to the ground, Hidden Snake felt his life slowly come to a silent stop.

Behind him, Jing Mingfeng swung his dagger to rid it of blood.

“It’s because I didn’t want your blood dirtying the clothes of my brother’s wife.” Mingfeng explained.