Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Zhao Wuji blocked the gap in the stone wall with his dark blue sword sheath held horizontally in front of him.

Luo Qingxue frowned.

Elder Zhao.

Luo Qingxue looked at the dark blue scabbard, her voice turning cold.

"Article 3 of the sect rules stipulates that outer sect members and resident elders have no right to detain wandering souls who are not on the sect's register."

Her fingers tightened around the sword hilt.

"Although the ancestral decree is strict, this wandering soul is on the verge of collapse. If it is forcibly subjected to the direct light of the precious mirror, it will surely be annihilated on the spot."

Luo Qingxue stepped forward.

"You are abusing your power."

Zhao Wuji twitched the corners of his mouth, causing the nasolabial folds on his face to droop downwards.

He didn't reply, but instead opened the sword sheath with his right hand, joined two fingers together, and forced out a dazzling golden light from the fingertips.

The hand seals were then formed.

The Celestial Mirror in mid-air emitted a muffled hum.

The mirror's slow rotation came to an abrupt halt.

The massive frame tilted downwards.

A blinding white light crashed down from the sky.

The beam of light shrank to less than a foot in diameter, directly enveloping Su Chang'an behind Luo Qingxue.

White light pierced through the heavy gray cloak.

The silver patterns on the coarse cloth lining were completely destroyed the moment they came into contact with the white light, turning into a wisp of smoke.

This beam of light had no temperature whatsoever, yet it carried a powerful force capable of completely stripping away and exposing every inch of the soul's structure.

Su Chang'an felt a tightness in his chest.

The white light rushed straight in and directly collided with the barrier emitted by the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman on her chest.

That was her last line of defense.

The barrier shattered under the crushing force of the white light.

Once this layer of white light is broken, the true nature of the Heavenly Fox beneath will be completely exposed to Zhao Wuji.

The sound of the wind around them slowed down considerably at that moment.

Su Chang'an did not retreat.

Her translucent fingers clenched tightly inside her gray cloak.

Within the core of her soul, she forcibly mobilized her remaining will and lunged towards the edge of her soul.

There lingers the chill that lingered in her body when she fell into the far northern snowfield, a chill that had seeped into her body by the laws of the frozen earth.

This chill, which was originally a deadly poison, became her only cover at this moment.

She used the most brutal method to forcibly pull this ethereal aura from the edge of her soul and spread it across the entire surface of her soul.

This is not enough.

The Heavenly Mirror's detection was extremely fierce; a single layer of spiritual energy could not block the fundamental fluctuations at the bottom.

Su Chang'an gritted his teeth and transformed his divine sense into a sharp blade, piercing into the depths of his own soul.

A dull thud echoed deep within his consciousness.

She deliberately shattered the medicinal power of the Soul-Stabilizing Pill that she had just refined not long ago.

The cracks in his soul that had begun to heal collapsed instantly under the impact of the destructive effects of the medicine.

Intense pain acts directly on the very essence of the soul.

Her translucent body convulsed violently beneath her cloak, large fragments of her soul swirling wildly within her.

The once somewhat solidified soul became riddled with holes and murky in the blink of an eye.

Two forces converged.

The deathly stillness of the spiritless aura and the chaotic aftermath of the shattered pills met the white light of the Celestial Mirror at the same moment the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman's barrier broke.

A white light swept across Su Chang'an's body and reached the ground.

Zhao Wuji stared intently at the reflection on the ground.

A grayish-white shadow was cast on the stone pavement.

The shadow's edges were incomplete and its interior was filled with chaotic spiritual energy impurities. It lacked any crimson color and the unique hue of the Heavenly Fox lineage.

This is a low-level human wandering soul that has been ravaged by wind and snow on the far north snowfield and is on the verge of collapse.

Zhao Wuji frowned.

The scrutinizing look in his eyes disappeared.

He looked away and dispelled the magic gestures from his fingertips.

The celestial mirror in mid-air rotated again, causing the white light to deviate from the side door.

"A true prodigy of the inner sect."

Zhao Wuji looked at Luo Qingxue, his dry voice filled with undisguised sarcasm.

"The sword cultivator who was so highly regarded by the sect leader has actually been reduced to picking up this worthless trash by the roadside."

He held the dark blue scabbard horizontally in front of him.

"Nephew Luo."

"If your Daoist mind is too idle, you might as well sit on the Cliff of Reflection more often."

Zhao Wuji raised his hand and waved it casually.

He tucked the dark blue scabbard that had been lying across the road back to his waist.

The four sword-wielding disciples stepped aside to the sides.

Luo Qingxue ignored Zhao Wuji's taunts.

Her expression remained aloof as she glanced at Zhao Wuji before turning and walking away.

"Walk."

Su Chang'an, dragging his extremely weak soul, followed behind Luo Qingxue.

The backlash from the shattered medicinal properties made every step she took extremely difficult.

The translucent body beneath the cloak trembled uncontrollably.

She managed to keep her steps steady without making a sound.

The two passed through the gap in the stone wall and stepped onto the array stone slab that connected the side door to the outside world.

Luo Qingxue's boots were about to step out of the last array of light.

"Clang clang."

A sharp, piercing bell rang out from above the main law enforcement tent at the very center of the camp.

The bells tolled continuously.

Before the first sound had even faded, the second and third sounds followed in quick succession.

The sound waves, carrying a warning spiritual power, reverberated throughout the entire camp.

All the patrolling disciples drew their longswords at the same time.

Zhao Wuji quickly turned around, gripped the hilt of the dark blue longsword, and looked up at the sky.

The defensive array surrounding the camp was fully activated.

Twelve layers of transparent light curtains rose from the ground and converged in mid-air to form a huge, inverted semi-circular air shield.

The surface began to shake violently the moment the light curtain rose.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth fell into a frenzied chaos.

The inner side of the light screen reflected a scene from thousands of miles away.

That was an early warning image that automatically appeared after the array detected an extremely dangerous energy source.

The void in the far west was revealed.

The thick, leaden-gray clouds were violently torn apart.

A colossal, blood-red creature occupies half the frame.

It was a white tiger statue several hundred feet tall.

The White Tiger was surrounded by a tangible, malevolent aura of metal.

The malevolent aura was so intense that it took on a dark red hue.

Every hair on the white tiger reeked of blood.

It didn't stop at all.

The enormous tiger claw slammed forward, causing the spatial barrier in front of it to collapse, revealing a large expanse of pitch-black void.

The White Tiger merged with the void and then forcefully crashed out at the next spatial node.

It is tearing space apart with its physical body.

The mountains and rivers along the way crumbled into dust under its strong winds.

The clouds were rammed, creating a vacuum passage that stretched across the sky.

Its direction of travel points straight to the northern region.

A brief silence fell over the camp.

"The Asura Field of the Far West".

Zhao Wuji stared at the blood-red white tiger on the array's light screen, his withered voice changing tone, filled with undisguised horror.

"That's the mad tiger Bai Yin!"

"What's wrong with him?!"

The hand of a disciple holding a sword trembled uncontrollably.

"He's coming for the Northern Regions!"

The disciple took half a step back.

"Is he out of his mind?!"

"That method of forcibly crossing the void will cause the physical body to collapse!"

Luo Qingxue stopped in her tracks.

She looked up at the light screen, her fingers gripping the sword hilt so tightly that her knuckles bulged.

Su Chang'an stood behind Luo Qingxue.

She didn't look up.

She only peeked through the gaps in the edge of her gray cloak at the blood-red white tiger reflected on the array's light screen.

That Dharma image was enormous and brutal, filled with murderous intent to destroy everything.

But Su Chang'an saw something else in the white tiger's scarlet eyes.

That was a resolute act after all reason had been burned away.

It is the desperation of clinging to the last glimmer of light even if it means being shattered to pieces.

That's Bai Yin.

The little tiger who carefully peeled the charred skin off a roasted fish in the reeds of Yunmengze and fed the tenderest part of the fish to her.

The blood demon who, out of fear of her disappearing, strangled her tightly and cried like a child.

A violent tremor ran through the depths of Su Chang'an's soul.

She had just shattered the medicinal power herself, leaving her soul in a state of utter disarray.

But at this moment, a fluctuation that belonged neither to spiritual power nor to laws surged out from the very core of her soul.

It was a resonance that transcended thousands of miles and pierced the boundary between life and death.

Bai Yin is looking for her.

He tore through space recklessly.

He dragged his crumbling body toward the Central Continent, toward the Northern Region, toward the direction where she was.

Su Chang'an lowered his head and buried his face completely in the shadow of the cloak.

There were no tears in the unreal eye sockets.

In a state of spiritual instability, tears cannot be shed.

But she felt a burning sensation.

The heat ignited from the depths of her eyes, following the broken lines of her soul, and burned into her heart, which had long been accustomed to scheming and coldness.

A gust of wind swept across the stone path by the side gate, lifting the hem of the cloak.

Su Chang'an stood in the wind, watching the crimson hue on the horizon grow ever closer.