Shen Chumo stared at Bai Ziqing's hesitant expression, her inner alarm bells ringing: "Speak your mind!" She flipped her wrist, and nine silver needles floated at her fingertips, pinning the Gu worms that tried to get close to the ground.

Ji Linchuan switched the stun gun to flame mode. The blue flames shooting from the muzzle temporarily repelled the swarm of insects, but in the blink of an eye, they were overwhelmed by even more Gu insects.

Bai Ziqing swept his sword horizontally, and the lightning cleaved through the countless Gu worms, but dimmed the moment it touched the blood-red pillar of light: "The core of the formation is at the Star Gazing Platform on the summit of Kunlun Mountain!"

suddenly!

Bai Ziqing's sword suddenly turned towards his own throat! Shen Chumo flicked out a silver needle, deflecting the sword's edge, the needle tip colliding with the blade and sparks flying.

Only then did she see clearly the blood-red insect patterns that had appeared on the back of Bai Ziqing's neck—they were exactly the same as the human face markings on the Gu worm's body.

"He's been parasitized!" Ji Linchuan pressed the stun gun against Bai Ziqing's back, but the high-voltage current caused the insect patterns to spread even faster.

Bai Ziqing's eyes were bloodshot, and he let out a non-human roar: "Quick...go...to the back mountain..."

Shen Chumo bit her fingertip, drew a blood talisman in mid-air, and slapped it onto Bai Ziqing's brow.

The talisman, like golden threads, pierced the skin, intertwining and tearing at the blood-red insect patterns. Bai Ziqing convulsed and collapsed to his knees, vomiting a large pool of black insect eggs.

"Hold on!" She tore off the jade pendant from her waist and crushed it, its clear light enveloping the three of them.

"This jade can temporarily suppress the poison; we must destroy the array's core within fifteen minutes!"

In the distance, crimson pillars of light had formed a cage, and the entire Kunlun Mountains began to sink.

The creatures crawling out of the cracks in the ground were no longer Gu worms, but monsters that were half-human and half-insect, tearing apart all living things in their path.

The three broke through the encirclement and arrived at the back mountain. The sight before them made Ji Linchuan's stomach churn—nine bronze pillars were nailed to the circular altar, and each pillar contained a Kunlun disciple. Their skulls had been drilled open, and red lines ran along their spines to the central blood pool.

The blood pool boiled and churned, and two figures could be vaguely seen.

On the left is a woman in red with a Vermilion Bird tattoo on her neck, her ten fingers manipulating countless lines of blood; on the right is a burly man wearing tortoise shell, with a huge black Xuanwu tattooed on his left ankle, who is throwing corpses into the pool.

"Vermilion Bird! Black Tortoise! ​​Two of the four hall masters of the Angry Gate have actually arrived..."

Suzaku suddenly turned her head, a smirk playing on her red lips beneath her mask: "Three more sacrifices have arrived."

With a flick of her finger, the silver needle in Shen Chumo's sleeve suddenly changed direction and stabbed herself!

At the critical moment, Ji Linchuan threw out an electromagnetic grenade.

The burst of blue light interfered with the bloodline control, and Shen Chumo took the opportunity to make a hand seal, sending seven lightning talismans down from the sky to strike the blood pool.

"A mere trick." Xuanwu sneered, his tortoise shell swelling into a shield.

As the lightning exploded on the carapace, he had already appeared in front of Ji Linchuan, his fan-like palm aimed straight at the top of Ji Linchuan's head!

"boom!"

Bai Ziqing parried with his sword, but the blade was shattered by the blow.

Xuanwu's fist still had momentum, and it dented his chest.

Blood sprayed onto Ji Linchuan's face, glowing with an eerie light.

"Bai Ziqing!" Ji Linchuan was utterly shocked.

The Vermilion Bird's bloodline took the opportunity to wrap around her limbs, with each thread sprouting barbs that pierced her meridians.

"Don't rush, little brother," Zhuque whispered in her ear, "Once the Lord descends, a promising talent like you will be given special attention and nurtured..."

Shen Chumo's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints.

"You..." Her voice suddenly became ethereal and otherworldly, her hair moving even without wind, "...all deserve to die."

“Crack—”

Before Zhuque could react, her entire right arm was covered in a thick layer of frost. To her horror, she discovered that her lifeblood lines were breaking off one by one.

"Who exactly are you... ah!"

Shen Chumo's right hand had already pierced through Zhuque's chest.

No blood splattered, because the wound was frozen instantly by the absolute low temperature upon contact. The face beneath the Vermilion Bird mask contorted as it saw an ice crystal lotus blooming on its chest.

"No...impossible..." These were Suzaku's last words.

Her body began to crystallize from the inside out, eventually shattering into a pile of ice shards.

"Vermilion Bird!"

Upon seeing this, Xuanwu's eyes widened in fury. He abandoned the heavily injured Bai Ziqing, and black mist surged around him, while the incantations on his tortoise shell glowed with a blinding red light.

He roared as he charged toward Shen Chumo, each step leaving a trail of black, oozing footprints on the ground: "You bastard! How dare you kill my companion!"

Shen Chumo slowly turned her head, her eyes gleaming with a deep blue light, and the chilling aura surrounding her caused the air to mist.

She raised her hand and waved it lightly, and an ice wall suddenly rose up, blocking Xuanwu's attack. The frost flowers that had condensed on the surface of the ice wall spread rapidly, freezing Xuanwu's arm to the wall.

"A mere trick!" Xuanwu roared, and runes burst forth from its tortoise shell, shattering the ice wall.

But just as he unleashed his full power, Shen Chumo vanished like a ghost, reappearing behind him the next second, the ice spikes condensed at his fingertips piercing straight into his heart.

The tortoise shell formed by Xuanwu groaned under the strain.

He pounded his chest frantically: "The Holy Lord granted me indestructibility... uh!"

Shen Chumo appeared behind him without his noticing, her fingertips lightly touching the tortoise shell that was said to be impervious to swords and spears.

Tiny cracks spread from where she touched them, quickly covering the entire carapace.

"Impossible!" Xuanwu watched in horror as his renowned defensive magic weapon crumbled into pieces.

"This is made from the shell of a ten-thousand-year-old black tortoise..."

"It's too noisy." Shen Chumo loosely clenched her left hand.

Xuanwu's roar came to an abrupt halt—his throat was pierced by an ice spike that appeared out of nowhere.

Even more terrifying, those icicles were growing in his blood vessels, freezing his internal organs into solid blocks of ice.

Ji Linchuan held the dying Bai Ziqing, staring dumbfounded at the scene.

The ever-lazy Shen Chumo was now suspended in mid-air, surrounded by nine ice lotuses, each petal reflecting a chilling sharpness.

The blood pool suddenly churned violently.

The remains of the three-eyed statue, pieced together, emitted a piercing shriek: "Die!"

Countless bloody hands reached out from the bottom of the pool, grabbing at Shen Chumo's ankles.

She simply stomped her foot lightly.

"boom--"

The entire pool of blood instantly froze into a red ice field. The bloody hands remained frozen in their menacing poses within the ice.

Shen Chumo floated down in front of the statue, and a crystal-clear ice needle condensed at her fingertips.

"The Holy Master of the Angry Sect?" She plunged an ice needle into the statue's third eye. "What utterly despicable thing would dare to proclaim itself like this?"

The moment the ice needles exploded, the crimson pillar of light covering the entire Kunlun Mountains collapsed simultaneously.

The half-human, half-insect monsters howled and turned into pus, from which clear mountain springs seeped out of the cracks in the ground.

Ji Linchuan suddenly noticed that Bai Ziqing's breathing had become much more stable. The eerie fluorescent blood was fading, turning back into a normal bright red.

"Is it... over?" His voice trembled.

When Shen Chumo turned around, the coldness in her eyes had not yet faded.

When she saw Ji Linchuan's blood-stained clothes, she frowned and quickly went over to feed Ji Linchuan and Bai Ziqing two pills each.

The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth, and Ji Linchuan immediately felt a warm current spread from his throat to his limbs and bones, while his previously burned skin experienced a tingling, healing sensation.

Bai Ziqing's eyelashes trembled slightly as he slowly opened his eyes. His pupils dilated for a moment, then contracted sharply as he struggled to sit up: "The array's core... must be destroyed..."

"It's over." Shen Chumo pressed his shoulder, her voice returning to its usual calm, though her face was still somewhat pale.

Bai Ziqing stared blankly at his surroundings—the frozen blood pool, the shattered statue, and the ice crystals scattered all over the ground.

His gaze finally settled on Shen Chumo, and his Adam's apple bobbed: "You... are not an ordinary cultivator."

Ji Linchuan helped Bai Ziqing sit up and handed her a water bottle: "Drink some water first. If it weren't for Chu Mo, we'd both be sacrifices by now."

Bai Ziqing's hand trembled slightly as he took the water bottle. He looked down at the wound on his chest—a thin layer of frost had formed there, stopping the bleeding but sending a chill down his spine.

"This is true ice energy?" His voice was hoarse. "But even a Foundation Establishment stage ice-elemental cultivator couldn't..."

"Don't ask." Shen Chumo interrupted him, taking out a small jade bottle from her sleeve. "Eat this pill; it will repair your meridians."

Bai Ziqing stared in shock at the luminous pill: "This...this is the legendary..."

"Eat it." Shen Chumo shoved the pill into his mouth without further ado. "Your meridians are already cracked; if you delay any longer, your cultivation will be completely ruined."

As soon as the pill entered his stomach, a layer of blue light immediately emanated from Bai Ziqing's body.

He groaned, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, but his complexion improved at a visible speed.

Watching this scene, Ji Linchuan thoughtfully stroked his chin: "Chu Mo, just how many good things do you still have up your sleeve?"

Shen Chumo glanced at him: "No matter how much you do, it can't withstand this kind of torment."

She pointed to Ji Linchuan's charred cuff, "If you hadn't rushed in recklessly just now, you wouldn't have been so badly injured."

"I know I was wrong." Ji Linchuan readily admitted his mistake. He knew that no matter how skilled he was, he would not be a match for these cultivators, but his duty just now did not allow him to back down.

"But speaking of which, was that so-called Holy Master of the Angry Sect really killed?"

After Bai Ziqing finished regulating his breathing, he shook his head with a solemn expression: "That was merely a projection of the Holy Lord's avatar. The true Holy Lord of the Angry Gate is probably still slumbering in some secret realm."

He struggled to his feet and bowed deeply to Shen Chumo: "Thank you so much, Miss Shen, for saving my life."

Before Bai Ziqing finished speaking, his gaze had already fallen on the bronze pillars of the circular altar. Although the Kunlun disciples who were nailed into the pillars had lost their color, their bodies still maintained a struggling posture. Although the red thread connecting their spines to the blood pool had been broken, black energy still slowly flowed along the wounds.

He staggered forward, his trembling hand stroking the bruised face of one of them, "Junior Brother Zhao... Junior Sister Wang..." His hoarse calls echoed in the silent valley, filled with endless sorrow.

"The souls of these disciples are trapped in the pact between the bronze pillar and the blood pool. Although their bodies have not decayed, but..." Bai Ziqing's throat tightened, and he turned to look at Shen Chumo, his eyes filled with pleading.

"Miss Shen, since you possess such wondrous magic, could you... save them?"

Shen Chumo stepped forward slowly, condensing a wisp of spiritual energy at her fingertips and probing into the nearest bronze pillar. In an instant, countless shrill cries exploded in her mind. Her expression changed slightly, and she withdrew her spiritual energy, saying, "Their souls are imprisoned by the blood curse. Forcibly separating them will cause their souls to scatter."

Ji Linchuan clenched his fists, looked at the miserable state of these young disciples, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Isn't there any other way?"

Shen Chumo pondered for a moment, then took out a yellowed ancient scroll from his robes and quickly flipped through it: "Ancient texts record that the blood curse can only be broken with the 'Soul-Purifying Fire,' but this fire requires the primordial spiritual power of a high-level cultivator as a catalyst, and..."

Her gaze swept over Bai Ziqing's still-healing chest. "The caster will suffer the pain of soul backlash."

"I'll do it!" Bai Ziqing said without hesitation, but coughed violently due to aggravating his injuries. "These disciples suffered this calamity while protecting the Kunlun Sect. If even I, their senior brother, abandon them, what face do I have to call myself a Kunlun disciple!"

Shen Chumo gave him a deep look and nodded, saying, "Alright. I'll help you. Ji Linchuan, you stay around and guard the perimeter to prevent any remnants of the Chen Sect from taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack."

Ji Linchuan immediately raised his gun in alert. Shen Chumo and Bai Ziqing sat facing each other. She formed a hand seal, and nine ice lotuses floated around her, emitting a soft light. Bai Ziqing forcefully summoned his spiritual power, and a pale blue flame ignited in his palm, but it flickered due to his unstable injuries.

"Stay calm, I will protect your heart."

As Shen Chumo spoke, a wisp of icy true energy flowed into Bai Ziqing's body, helping him suppress his injuries. The two's spiritual energies merged, and the Soul-Purifying Flame gradually intensified, transforming into a fire dragon that spiraled upwards and coiled around the bronze pillar.

As the flames burned, the incantations on the bronze pillar began to twist and deform, and the trapped souls let out painful howls. Veins bulged on Bai Ziqing's forehead, and black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, but he gritted his teeth and refused to let go.

Upon seeing this, Shen Chumo's ice lotus shone brightly, drawing all the backlash towards herself, and a few strands of frost-white hair quietly crept into her hair.

"Hold on! The blood curse is about to be broken!" Shen Chumo's voice trembled slightly.

Finally, with a crisp cracking sound, the incantation on the bronze pillar collapsed, and more than twenty transparent souls slowly floated out.

Shen Chumo quickly made a hand seal, and the ice lotus transformed into a net of light to envelop the souls and prevent them from dissipating.

Bai Ziqing, however, collapsed backward due to exhaustion of spiritual energy and the backlash from his soul. Ji Linchuan rushed forward and caught him, anxiously saying, "Brother Bai!"

"It's alright... the soul has been rescued..." Bai Ziqing breathed weakly, "Next, all we need to do is..."

"I know." Shen Chumo took out a jade bottle, poured out several pills, and tossed them into the air. The pills transformed into streams of light and entered the souls' bodies. The souls gradually solidified and slowly fell into the disciples' physical bodies.

A moment later, the youngest junior brother Zhao opened his eyes first, looking around in confusion: "Senior brother... what's wrong with me..." Before he could finish speaking, he burst into tears.

The other disciples also woke up one after another. When they learned that it was Shen Chumo who had saved them, they all knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude.

Shen Chumo helped everyone up: "Get up, if you want to thank someone, thank your senior brother."

Bai Ziqing turned around and bowed to Shen Chumo again, "Miss Shen, I have no way to repay your great kindness. If you ever need anything in the future, the entire Kunlun Sect will go through fire and water for you!"

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