My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

That wasn't a battle.

It was a... dance.

A bloody dance with fire as ink, swords as pens, and paper puppets as paper.

The dancers were composed, while the audience remained silent.

Finally, Ye Qingfeng walked to the center of the hall, to the edge of the large crater that had been burned by the flames.

He stopped and looked down into the pit.

There, the soil churned and the air was thick with gloom.

"Aren't you coming out?" Ye Qingfeng said calmly. "Do you want me to invite you?"

The moment the words fell—

"boom--!!!"

The bottom of the pit exploded with a deafening roar!

A huge paper coffin burst from the ground and hung in mid-air.

The coffin was nine feet long, its surface covered with densely packed reliefs of human faces, which were now contorted in agony, emitting overlapping and piercing screams.

"Death...die...die..."

The paper coffin lid slid open.

The paper goddess slowly sat up from the coffin.

Her appearance at this moment was completely different from before. Her snow-white skin was covered with strange blood-red runes, and her black hair moved without wind. Each strand of hair was wrapped with a wisp of gray-black vengeful spirit.

Her eyes turned completely blood red, with golden-red flames reflected deep within her pupils—a deep-seated resentment and madness.

"Samadhi True Fire..." The Paper Goddess's voice was hoarse, "You actually cultivated Samadhi True Fire..."

Ye Qingfeng looked up and met her gaze, his expression remaining calm.

"Haven't you already seen it?"

"So what if you see it?" the Paper Goddess sneered. "Although the Samadhi True Fire is powerful, your cultivation is definitely still shallow. How long can you maintain it?"

My Thousand Souls Paper Coffin, imbued with the resentment of a thousand souls, is nearly indestructible! The Blood Vengeance Spirit Pivot Array is complete; the entire Moon-Gazing Pavilion is my domain! What do you think you can do to defeat me?!

She slammed her hands together and shouted sharply:

"A thousand souls obey my command, ten thousand pieces of paper transform into soldiers!"

The entire Moon-Viewing Boat shook violently!

The walls, floors, ceilings, beams... everywhere that was covered with paper, now all came to life!

The yellow paper peeled off layer by layer, twisting, folding, and recombining in the air, transforming into countless paper blades, paper arrows, and paper spears!

Millions upon millions, blotting out the sky and the sun!

Each paper blade gleamed with a ghostly green phosphorescence, clearly coated with deadly poison; each paper arrow was entwined with gray-black vengeful spirits, emitting a mournful shriek.

The paper goddess floated above the paper coffin, her arms outstretched, appearing as if possessed.

"Do you see that? This is true power! Using the entire building as its body, a thousand souls as its strength, and ten thousand sheets of paper as its soldiers! No matter how strong your Samadhi True Fire is, can you burn all the paper in this entire building?!"

She pressed down suddenly with both hands!

"A thousand pieces of paper pierce the heart—go!!!"

A barrage of paper blades, paper arrows, and paper spears rained down on Ye Qingfeng like a torrential downpour!

Each paper blade is enough to cut through gold and jade, each paper arrow can pierce through iron armor, and each paper spear contains the power to shatter mountains!

Even more terrifying is that these paper weapons continued to absorb the surrounding Yin energy during their flight, their power increasing steadily!

This is a decisive situation.

The area within a radius of ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) of Ye Qingfeng's territory has been completely sealed

Paper weapons came whistling in from all directions!

There is no way to avoid it, and no way to stop it.

All the guests who had not yet escaped held their breath, their eyes filled with despair—how could human beings possibly withstand such an attack?

Lin Zhenyuan and Zhao Damang gripped their sword hilts, ready to rush forward and stand shoulder to shoulder with Ye Qingfeng, but were pushed back three zhang by a gentle yet firm force—it was Ye Qingfeng's Qi.

Ordinary people cannot withstand it.

Faced with this overwhelming killing intent, Ye Qingfeng finally made his move.

It's not retreating, it's not dodging.

He took a step forward.

He raised his right hand and raised the Autumn Water Sword, the tip of which pointed diagonally at the ground.

His left hand formed an ancient Taoist mudra in front of his chest—the index finger of his left hand was straight, the other fingers were bent, and the thumb was pressed on the first joint of the middle finger.

The same applies to the right hand, but it is crossed with the left hand, with the thumb pressing down on the left thumb.

The moment the seal was formed, Ye Qingfeng's aura suddenly changed.

If the previous image was the sharpness of a drawn sword, then this image is the stillness of a deep pool or ancient well.

He slowly closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again.

The moment I opened my eyes, two clusters of golden-red flame phantoms appeared deep within my pupils!

"Fire magic..." Ye Qingfeng said softly, "is not just about burning."

He kept his left hand seal unchanged, and with his right hand holding the sword, he slowly drew a circle in the air.

It was very slow, so slow that everyone could see the trajectory of the sword tip.

Where the sword tip passed, it left a trail of golden-red flames.

The trajectory connected end to end, transforming into a three-foot-diameter ring of flames that hung in front of Ye Qingfeng.

The ring slowly rotated, with three layers of light flowing endlessly.

"Water flows downwards, fire rises upwards." Ye Qingfeng's voice was clear, like reciting a Taoist scripture. "Water flows downwards to nourish all things; fire rises upwards to purify the world."

"Today, this humble Taoist will use this Samadhi True Fire—"

He touched the center of the fiery ring with the tip of his sword:

"Burn away all evil and wickedness here."

"call--!!!"

The ring of flames suddenly expanded!

It spread out like ripples.

Wherever the golden-red flames passed, the paper blades, paper arrows, and paper spears that came rushing in were like moths to a flame, and were completely swallowed up and purified the moment they hit the ripples of the flames.

In the golden-red flames, the paper weapons first had their surface of malevolent energy stripped away, and then their bamboo frames turned to ashes.

Finally, even the yellow paper itself decomposes into the most primitive wood-attribute particles, which are then transformed by the flames into pure yang energy, nourishing the surrounding environment.

The ripples of flame continued to expand.

One zhang, three zhang, five zhang, ten zhang...

Wherever it passed, the paper weapons scattered everywhere melted away like spring snow.

Even more strangely, the flame ripples did not harm the real people at all—several guests who were unable to dodge in time were swept by the ripples and felt a warm current seep into their bodies, and the weakness they felt after having their life essence drained for many days actually subsided a bit.

The paper goddess stared in horror.

"Impossible! This is impossible!! My 'Ten Thousand Paper Soldiers'... how could this be...?"

Ye Qingfeng ignored her.

He pointed his sword again.

The flames suddenly contracted, transforming back into a three-foot-long circle.

This time, however, the ring no longer floated, but slowly fell and landed on the blade of the Autumn Water Sword.

The sword began to burn.

The entire sword, from the inside out, transformed into a vessel for flames and an extension of those flames.

Ye Qingfeng held his sword and looked up at the Paper Goddess.

"It's time to end this."

He took a single step, shrinking the distance to an inch.

His figure disappeared from the spot, and when he reappeared, he was already in mid-air, level with the Paper Goddess.

The two were no more than three zhang apart.

The Paper Goddess screamed and frantically formed hand seals. At the same time, the human face reliefs on the surface of the Thousand Soul Paper Coffin opened their mouths and spat out hundreds of vengeful blood arrows, each one enough to defile the magic weapon and erode one's cultivation!

Ye Qingfeng simply thrust his sword straight at Ye Qingfeng.

There are no fancy moves, no fancy tricks, just the most basic and simple "spike".

But with this thrust, the golden-red ring of flames at the tip of the sword suddenly contracted and condensed at a single point.

That glimmer of light shone as brightly as the midday sun.

The torrent of blood arrows collided with the single point of light at the tip of the sword.

There was no explosion, and no stalemate.

It's like a river flowing into the sea, or a clay ox entering the sea.

The hundreds of vengeful spirits and blood arrows were completely purified and dissolved the moment they touched the light at the tip of the sword, without even causing a ripple.

The sword tip continued forward.

It pierced the lid of the thousand-soul paper coffin.

"Click..."

A slight cracking sound.

On the surface of the paper coffin, cracks spread out like a spider web, centered on the tip of the sword.

The reliefs of human faces simultaneously emitted their final, mournful howls before abruptly ceasing.