193: No one survives under the sword; all are slaughtered.

“This... what kind of power is this?!”

Song Qingyun struggled, attempting to climb up from the icy ground, but every exertion pulled at the hideous sword wound on his chest, causing heart-wrenching pain.

He coughed up great mouthfuls of blood, which even contained fragments of charred internal organs. Reflected in his pupils was the figure of the Demon God slowly approaching, leaving behind only endless terror and incomprehension.

He could clearly feel that the Gray Sword Intent lingering on the cracks of his Nascent Soul was like billions of greedy leeches, frantically gnawing away at his Origin!

That was no ordinary Sword Intent; it was the manifestation of a higher-level Dao! Overbearing and sinister, filled with the stillness of death and decay that terminates all things!

His majestic Late Nascent Soul Stage magic power, accumulated over nearly a thousand years, was utterly vulnerable before that strange Sword Intent, collapsing upon contact, unable even to slow down its erosion!

His Nascent Soul Dharma Body, which he was so proud of, was decaying and withering at a visible rate, emitting an aura of corruption!

“No... impossible...” he muttered to himself, his consciousness already beginning to scatter. “This is absolutely not power a Golden Core Cultivator should possess!”

He had seen his own Half-step Soul Transformation Old Ancestor Song Xuanyi make a move, and that might was enough to burn mountains and boil seas.

But compared to the power before him now, it seemed so normal, so compliant with common sense.

As for the monster before him, his power defied all reason!

“Do you still want to fight me to the death now?”

Shen Yuanmo's voice slowly emerged from beneath the ferocious Dragon Horn Helmet. The sound was hollow yet grand, like an echo from the Nine Nether Abyss.

Step by step, he walked toward Song Qingyun, who had long since been terrified out of his wits.

His pace was slow, but with every step he took, the entire gray Chaos space trembled lightly, as if his will were the Law of this heaven and earth.

The tip of the great evolution immortal slaying sword pointed diagonally toward the ground, carving a deep black mark into the hard surface. Strands of gray Annihilation Sword Qi flickered along the blade.

“No! Don't come closer!”

Song Qingyun was completely terrified. The shuddering originating from the deepest part of his Soul made all his bones tremble.

Having cultivated for nearly a thousand years, he had never felt so powerless or so despairing as he did today.

“Little Beast... No! Fellow Daoist Shen! Senior Shen! Spare me! I beg you to spare my life!”

All his dignity, pride, and the decorum of being a Great Nascent Soul Cultivator were crushed into dust before death.

With a “thump,” he abandoned his final struggle and knelt straight down onto the ground.

He frantically kowtowed to Shen Yuanmo, his forehead colliding with the ground, making dull thuds as blood and dirt mingled together.

“As long as you spare my life! I, Song Qingyun, am willing to offer my Divine Soul Imprint and serve you like an ox or a horse! The location of my Song Family's treasury, all its secrets, I can tell you everything! I am willing to help you destroy the Song Family, I only ask that you give me a way out! Please, don't kill me! I don't want to die!”

Looking at the Nascent Soul Cultivator who, just a moment ago, had been shouting about tearing him into ten thousand pieces, but was now incoherent and wailing on his knees.

Shen Yuanmo's gaze remained unchanged.

It was still purely indifferent, like looking down upon an ant.

“You only think of begging for mercy now?”

He stopped walking and looked down at Song Qingyun.

“Too late.”

The moment his voice fell, Shen Yuanmo's figure faded away from the spot!

He disdained listening to any conditions, giving Song Qingyun no chance to breathe, closing in swiftly to commence a foregone conclusion... an execution!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sword light cascaded like a waterfall, sweeping across heaven and earth!

Streaks of Gray Sword Light, imbued with the circulation of the Five Elements and the True Meaning of Destruction, sealed off all of Song Qingyun's retreat paths from all directions, slashing down furiously!

“No—!”

Song Qingyun let out a shrill, distorted roar!

Begging for mercy was useless. He could only erupt in despair, forcefully suppressing his fear and summoning all his Magic Treasures, attempting to block the torrential attack!

However, everything was futile.

Clang!

A jarring clash of metal! His Natal Flying Sword, forged from Tier 4 High Grade “Purple Flame Essence Gold” and nurtured for eight hundred years.

The moment it collided with the great evolution immortal slaying sword, the blade let out a mournful cry and snapped into two pieces!

With his Magic Treasure destroyed, the mental connection caused Song Qingyun to spit out another mouthful of vital blood!

Crack!

The protective inner robe he wore, woven from ten-thousand-year “Heaven Silkworm Silk,” claimed to be impervious to fire and water, and capable of withstanding a full-force attack from a Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator.

Under the cutting of the Gray Sword Light, it shattered piece by piece, turning into fragments of spiritual light fluttering across the sky!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Stripped of all protection, Song Qingyun's Physical Body became the most helpless target beneath the sword's edge.

Sword marks deep enough to reveal bone continuously burst open on his body! Blood, shredded flesh, and bone fragments splattered everywhere!

In just a few breaths, Song Qingyun had become a tottering man of blood.

There was no intact skin or flesh left on his entire body. He was completely corroded by the overbearing Annihilation Sword Intent, and his life force was rapidly draining away!

“Aaaah! Little Beast! I'll fight you to the death!”

Endless pain and despair finally spurred his last bout of madness.

Song Qingyun knew that he was certain to die!

Since death was inevitable either way, he intended to drag this monster down with him!

He wanted to self-detonate his Nascent Soul!

He planned to use the entirety of his cultivation and Divine Soul as a Great Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator to destroy this strange space, along with that damned monster, taking them both out together!

Rumble—!

A burst of energy, utterly violent, so much so that the entire Formation Space began to tremble violently, suddenly erupted from his Dantian Qi Sea!

His body rapidly inflated like a balloon, his skin cracking inch by inch, and blinding spiritual light surged frantically from the fissures!

Within a radius of a hundred miles, the air was completely repelled by this power, forming an absolute vacuum!

However, just as he was about to detonate his Nascent Soul.

Shen Yuanmo's cold and cruel voice, like a curse piercing through time and space, slowly rang out once more.

“I told you.”

“In front of me, you don't even have the qualification to self-detonate.”

Before the words finished, Shen Yuanmo's figure ignored the violent energy storm and appeared like a ghost in front of Song Qingyun.

He extended his left hand, the one not holding the sword. A wisp of Gray Sword Glow, condensed to the extreme, lingered on his slender index finger.

Then, gently, he tapped the center of Song Qingyun's forehead, which had already swelled to its limit.

Buzz—!

A circle of visible gray ripples violently spread out, centered on his fingertip!

This even more overbearing and purer Five Elements Annihilation Sword Intent ignored Song Qingyun's violent protective magic power and bypassed his Physical Body barrier.

It directly imprinted itself within his Dantian Qi Sea, upon the Nascent Soul that was furiously burning!

“No—!”

Song Qingyun's Nascent Soul let out a shriek that pierced the Divine Soul, filled with endless terror and unwillingness!

It felt itself grabbed by an invisible large hand and forcibly dragged into a cold millstone constructed from the Five Elements and the Law of Destruction.

The millstone slowly rotated, emitting terrifying grinding sounds.

Every rotation ruthlessly ground and annihilated its Origin, its Divine Soul, its memories, and its very existence, little by little!

Finally.

Pop.

A soft sound, like shattered glass.

Song Qingyun's Nascent Soul, which had burned for nearly a thousand years, completely disintegrated, turning into the most primitive energy light points, scattering like dancing fireflies in this gray space.

His life force and Divine Soul were also completely erased from their very roots by that overbearing Annihilation Power in that instant.

Both body and spirit destroyed.

Having dealt with Song Qingyun, Shen Yuanmo slowly retracted his finger.

His cold eyes, hidden beneath the Dragon Horn Helmet, slowly turned and focused on a spot not far away.

There, thirty Ziyang Battle Guards were already Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. Having witnessed their commander, a Great Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, being massacred in such a manner, their Dao Heart and their faith had completely collapsed.

“De... Devil! He is a Devil!”

“Run! Split up and run! If one person lives, that's enough!”

When Shen Yuanmo's gaze swept over them like a tangible force, the sanity of these battle-hardened, mentally resolute Golden Core Great Perfection Cultivators completely snapped.

They let out terrified screams, no longer caring about their comrades or their mission, exerting all their strength, scattering frantically in all directions like headless flies!

However, in this Absolute Killing Space created single-handedly by Shen Yuanmo, where could they possibly escape to?

Shen Yuanmo watched the scattering figures, his eyes completely calm, without even a hint of desire to pursue them.

He simply and casually raised the great evolution immortal slaying sword in his hand.

Facing this gray Void Realm, he gently swiped horizontally.

A Gray Thread, so fine it was almost invisible, flashed across the sword tip and vanished.

There was no sound.

There was no imposing might.

The Gray Thread silently traversed the entire space at a speed that transcended space and perception, sweeping past the thirty frantically fleeing Ziyang Battle Guards.

The next moment.

Time seemed to have been paused.

All the fleeing figures abruptly froze in place at the same moment.

The terror and despair of their escape were still solidified on their faces.

Immediately after.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Thirty heads uniformly shot up into the sky at the exact same time.

Crimson blood columns erupted frantically from their headless necks, but they were annihilated by an invisible force and turned into nothingness less than half a foot away.

Their bodies, along with their Golden Cores and Divine Souls, were instantly annihilated by the Annihilation Power contained within the gray thread the moment it swept past.

One sword strike.

Just one sword strike.

Thirty Golden Core Great Perfection Cultivators.

Totally annihilated, leaving no corpse behind.