NOVPUBElder Huang, currently lying low and nursing fabricated injuries, was still unsuspected. That made him the perfect person to assist with taking down Elder Zhen Luyin.
Tarkos stood with Victor outside a collapsed section of the eastern hall as they finalised their plans on taking down the last two.
"I go with Huang," he said simply.
Victor nodded. "Leave Yan Rui to me."
They concluded that Elder Huang and Tarkos would team up to take down the female elder while Victor would take care of Yan Rui.
--- 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
Elder Huang approached the ice garden near the northern wing, where Zhen Luyin often meditated. He wore a loose robe and walked with a limp to maintain his facade.
She was sitting amidst frozen lotus blooms with her body cocooned in a veil of frost.
"You're not supposed to be walking yet," she muttered without opening her eyes.
"I've recovered faster than expected," he replied. "But there's something urgent. Come with me."
She opened her eyes with a slight look of suspicion. But before she could act, Tarkos dropped from the frozen roof above with his tattoos spreading out midair like demonic wings.
He slashed downwards at the female elder who reacted by quickly slapping her palms together to activate a Frost technique.
A palm of ice rose from the ground to meet Tarkos and it got smashed to pieces the moment Tarkos collided with it.
However, it gave her the opportunity to evade his attack.
"This is where you meet your end," Tarkos stated.
Zhen eyes widened in realisation as she immediately understood what was going on.
"Traitor," she hissed while summoning a glaive of glacial qi.
The battle commenced instantly.
Elder Huang supported Tarkos from the side with ranged attacks, while Tarkos clashed blade to glaive in the center of the garden.
Spikes of frost jutted from the ground. Sword and glaive created shockwaves of freezing wind.
Tarkos face remained impassive even though she was strong.
They were practically in the same cultivation realm after and he also had help.
Huang fired a burst of golden qi that collided with her side, sending her staggering despite while Tarkos charged forward to press the attack.
...
...
Meanwhile, Victor made his way to the secluded chamber buried beneath the cliff on the western side of the pavilion.
The air grew denser with each step. He could feel the oppressive surge of cultivation energy coming from within the sealed chamber.
Victor reached the stone wall that separated him from the chamber. A pattern of glowing jade serpent runes spread across the surface.
"She's in the middle of breaking through..."
He peered into the chamber through a tiny spatial slit he forced open. Yan Rui sat in a meditative position as her body glowed with unstable qi.
A massive lotus had manifested beneath her, formed purely of qi and spiritual intent.
Petals rose, fell, and rotated with a rhythm that echoed across the mountain range. This was no ordinary seclusion—Yan Rui was at a critical point.
Victor's body stiffened as he tested the air currents around her. The closer he stepped, the more it felt like his own energy was being pushed back.
"She's already this far in…"
He reached out with his hand and was immediately met with resistance, as though the very fabric of space around Yan Rui had been sealed tight.
Victor clenched his fist. "If she completes this breakthrough, I'll never have a chance to kill her."
He gritted his teeth, pulled back, and drew his sword.
No matter how much he tried to slash, stab, or redirect qi to disrupt the process, nothing worked. Everything he threw at her was deflected by the cocoon of condensed energy. It was like trying to slice through time itself.
Then, a ripple echoed from within his blood.
Victor's eyes flared white and violet as his Void Emperor Bloodline activated.
Space itself bent around him.
He raised his sword and poured pure Void Qi into it. The weapon darkened further until it seemed to vanish entirely from sight, like a sliver of erased reality.
He stepped back, inhaled deeply, and shifted his fingers into a precise gesture.
"Can't get to her directly… then I'll bend the world around her."
He twisted his palm slowly, bending space like it were silk.
Tiny distortions appeared in the air—rifts, cracks, and overlapping layers of dimensional energy.
Victor's blade vanished from beside him… and reappeared inside the cavern.
It hovered just behind Yan Rui... between two swirling strands of qi, bypassing the chaotic aura completely.
Victor narrowed his eyes as sweat dripped from his brow.
Controlling spatial slivers for this long wasn't easy, and his bloodline was already straining.
"Now," he muttered before sweeping his palm forward.
The sword obeyed.
Without a single sound, without warning—
It plunged straight through Yan Rui's chest with a sickening wet sound.
Yan Rui spasmed violently as blood spilled from her lips before her body tilted forward.
Victor reached out and summoned the sword back, catching it by the hilt.
"It's done," he whispered.
He turned around and began walking away.
Ten feet...
Twelve...
Then he felt something and suddenly came to a pause.
The world behind him began to tremble.
A violent storm of qi erupted from the chamber.
Victor spun around in disbelief.
Yan Rui's body was floating into the air with her arms outstretched. Lightning clouds surged into the cavern through cracks in the cliff. Her eyes snapped open emitting a silver glow.
"No..."
She let out an unholy shriek as her cultivation surged.
She had broken through.
Yan Rui had survived his assassination attempt and ascended to the Soul Transformation Realm.
"Uh oh..." Victor gulped saliva and gripped his sword tighter.
...
...
The icy winds howled as Elder Zhen stood atop a fractured terrace with her robe fluttering like ribbons of vengeance.
Her eyes narrowed upon the two men before her—Tarkos and the injured Elder Huang.
"Still standing, Elder Huang?" she said, voice cold as the domain she commanded. "You should've stayed in bed."
"I don't need to stand to break your bones," Huang replied through gritted teeth while leaning on a spirit-forged staff.
Tarkos stepped forward. "You're outmatched. Even the ice has limits."
She raised her hand. "Then let's test yours."
A burst of frost exploded outward from her palm, freezing the air so quickly that the moisture crystallized into spears.
They came down like a meteor shower, shattering into the ground around Tarkos, forcing him to move.
His feet slid across the icy platform, but he pivoted expertly, avoiding the worst of the attack.
"Don't blink, old man," Zhen hissed.
She clapped her hands, activating a frost defence technique and her body became encased in glacial armor that was as thick as steel but transparent enough to reflect her surroundings like a mirror of war.
With a single step, the ground beneath her turned to glassy frost, spreading in a wide arc. Trees nearby withered, stone cracked, and frost crawled up buildings, turning wood to brittle ice.
Tarkos charged with his tattoos writhing across his body.
He summoned an earth-based technique—Stone Reaver Form—and his limbs became reinforced with layered rock-like skin.
He sent forth a powerful punch that collided with Elder Zhen's shield, ringing like a war drum. It cracked the ice but didn't break it.
She retaliated with a twirl, sending shards of ice spiraling toward his eyes. He deflected with his forearm which was covered in tattoos.
"You'll need more than that," he grunted.
Zhen didn't wait.
She hurled her arms to the sky and summoned Glacial Halo, forming floating sigils that blinked into life above her like frozen stars.
One by one, they discharged beams of condensed frost energy, aimed to pierce pressure points.
Tarkos ducked, twisted, and rolled as his tattoos absorbed the brunt of a few strikes while Elder Huang conjured a temporary barrier, redirecting one blast that nearly tore through Tarkos' back. "Left flank!" Huang called while blood dripped from his lips.
Tarkos leapt to the side and launched one of his ink blades forward...
Twwhoosshh~
It split the ground in two while surging through the air with incredibly force and then hit Zhen square in the chest.
Her body was lifted off the ground causing her to smash through two stone columns.
Ice sprayed as her armor shattered from the piercing strike.
But she rose with a furious look. "You break my armor, I'll break your spine."
"Frost veil spear!" She summoned a weapon forged of compacted ice and spiritual energy.
With one thrust, she launched it like a divine missile.
...
...
Meanwhile back at Victor's location...
The air around Victor rippled violently as he stood before Yan Rui.
Lightning cracked faintly in the distance, summoned by the strange atmospheric pressure surrounding her sudden breakthrough to Soul Transformation Realm.
Her long silk robes fluttered unnaturally, untouched by wind. Her beauty was deadly and her smile was even more venomous than any serpent.
Victor didn't waste time. The moment he realized she had broken through, he acted.
He dashed forward with wind spiraling beneath his feet as he activated Wind Dash.
The ground cracked with every step as he neared while enveloping his blade with Void qi.
With a swift swing, he released Shadow Crescent Strike, a wave of pure destruction aimed directly at her chest.
Yan Rui's body burst forth with qi.
A serpentine sigil lit up before her, absorbing the attack entirely.
"Cute," she purred.
