423: Chapter 433 A Battle of Life and Death

Black Wind Mountain, inside the Killing Formation.

At the very instant the Black-Robed Man's large hand, wreathed in thick blood-red Evil Qi, was about to touch the back of Su Ming's heart.

Su Ming, who had been "fleeing in panic" all this time, suddenly halted his disheveled figure.

He spun around abruptly. His face, which had been filled with terror and despair, was now as calm as a bottomless pool of cold water. In his clear eyes, all previous panic had completely vanished, replaced by the cold, indifferent gaze of a hunter watching his prey step into a trap.

"Rise!"

A single word escaped Su Ming's lips.

The voice wasn't loud, yet it was like a divine decree handed down by a god from the Nine Heavens.

Boom—!

In that instant, the entire world seemed to be completely overturned!

The Black-Robed Man felt the ground beneath his feet tremble violently. Then, the surrounding scenery rapidly blurred and distorted like ink dropped into water.

A layer of thick, impenetrable white mist rose from all directions without warning, instantly enveloping the space within a hundred-zhang radius. In the fog so thick one couldn't see their own hand, all sense of direction was stripped away. When he extended his Divine Sense, it was like a clay ox entering the sea—decomposed and swallowed layer by layer by an extremely flexible yet irresistible force.

"A Formation?!" The Black-Robed Man's laughter stopped abruptly, replaced by extreme shock and fury. "You're not at the Qi Refinement Stage?!"

This was absolutely not a Formation a Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator could set up! This massive and pure fluctuation of spiritual power was clearly...

"The Foundation Establishment Stage! You dared to hide your strength to plot against me!"

The Black-Robed Man finally realized what was happening, a sense of humiliation from being toyed with rushing to his head. He let out a roar as the massive spiritual power of his Early Stage Foundation Establishment burst forth, transforming into streaks of black blood-red Evil Qi that lashed out wildly at the surrounding mist, attempting to tear open this damned cage with brute force.

However, at that moment, another change occurred!

Above the pervasive mist, the obscured night sky seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand. Seven cold, bright beams of starlight, like seven swords of judgment descending from the heavens, pierced through the fog and shone precisely onto the Black-Robed Man.

Chichi—!

The streaks of blood-red Evil Qi, strong enough to shatter stone, hissed like snow meeting boiling water the moment they touched the starlight. Their power was instantly weakened by more than thirty percent! The starlight poured down, each ray carrying the heavenly might to cleanse evil, crushing the surging Evil Qi around the Black-Robed Man into fragments. One could even faintly hear the shrill screams of wronged Souls contained within the Evil Qi!

The Black-Robed Man felt as if he had been thrown into a boiling vat of oil. His protective Evil Qi churned violently under the starlight, and a burning pain and sense of suppression from the depths of his Soul drove him nearly to madness.

"The Lesser Celestial Starry Formation?! No... wait, it's just a prototype!" Shocked and enraged, the Black-Robed Man finally recognized the source of this power. "Who exactly are you?! Which Peak's Disciple of the Cloud Hidden Sect dares to interfere in the business of 'Ming'!"

His answer was not words.

It was a drop of water.

A crystal-clear droplet, only the size of a dragon's eye but containing extremely compressed spiritual power, silently pierced through the mist. At a speed difficult for the naked eye to track, it shot straight toward the back of his heart.

"Dripping Water Force!"

The Black-Robed Man was, after all, at the Peak of Foundation Establishment, with extremely rich combat experience. The moment the droplet reached him, he twisted his body violently, while a shield condensed from blood-red Evil Qi instantly blocked his front.

Pff!

A very faint muffled sound.

That seemingly indestructible Evil Qi shield was instantly pierced through, leaving a smooth hole in the center as if it were parchment scorched by a red-hot iron.

Most of the droplet's power was dissipated, but its momentum remained. It grazed the Black-Robed Man's ribs, bringing forth a spray of blood.

A sharp pain followed, and the Black-Robed Man let out a muffled groan. The contempt in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity.

He knew that today, he had kicked a steel plate.

"Get out here for this seat!"

The Black-Robed Man roared in fury, his hands snapping together. A three-foot blood blade, condensed from essence blood and Evil Qi, appeared in his hands. He stopped attacking blindly and instead poured all his spiritual power into the blood blade. The blade emitted shrill ghostly wails, transforming into streaks of terrifying blood-red saber light that slashed wildly through the mist, attempting to find the person controlling the Formation from the shadows.

Su Ming's figure moved through the mist like a phantom.

He didn't face the Black-Robed Man head-on at all.

He was the Dominator of this Formation. The mist was his eyes, the starlight his weapon, and the earth beneath his feet his shield.

He constantly changed positions, activating the "Dripping Water Force" for long-range harassment from the Black-Robed Man's blind spots every time.

He didn't seek a one-hit kill, only to wear him down continuously.

This was a hunt of patience. Su Ming was like the most experienced hunter, using the minimal cost to slowly grind down the tiger's claws and energy.

The battle proceeded in an extremely eerie rhythm. The Black-Robed Man was like a madman, his attacks wide and powerful, with terrifying momentum, yet he was always attacking thin air. Meanwhile, Su Ming's attacks were silent and appeared precisely in the opponent's most uncomfortable spots every time.

After fifteen minutes, the Black-Robed Man's breathing began to grow heavy.

Controlling hundreds of Formation Flags to refine corpse puppets simultaneously had already consumed a massive amount of his mental energy. Now trapped in a starlight Formation that suppressed evil energy and facing a slippery Cultivator of the same level, his spiritual power consumption rate far exceeded his imagination.

And amidst this high-intensity confrontation, Su Ming keenly caught a detail.

Every thirty breaths or so, there would be an extremely brief but very noticeable and sharp decline in the Black-Robed Man's spiritual power fluctuations!

It felt like a person running at full speed whose heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Although this process was extremely brief and almost negligible, it was precisely captured by Su Ming's Divine Sense, which acted like a precision instrument.

"So that's how it is..."

A knowing curve touched the corner of Su Ming's mouth.

He understood instantly.

The Black-Robed Man wasn't just fighting him; he was also distracted! He was using a portion of his mental energy to forcibly maintain the stability of the hundreds of Formation Flags being refined deep within the cave!

Those Formation Flags were like hundreds of hungry infants, continuously draining his spiritual power and Divine Sense. Once the supply stopped, those semi-finished evil Formation Flags would likely collapse immediately due to spiritual power imbalance, perhaps even backfiring on their master!

This was his greatest weakness!