Just as a horribly painful demise was about to be meted upon them, the blueish-black power of Ao Heilan suddenly shifted and became a protective barrier that covered the Black Heaven Sect, something which shocked those of that faction.

As for the blood river, it washed over those of the Six Paths Demon Sect, not even staining their clothes and leaving them entirely unharmed. After all, Zhen Xueren was not crazy enough to actually kill her own people, because even if it was difficult for those below to penalize her, she was in competition with other True Inheritors, and they would definitely use such an act as a springboard to launch an offensive on her.

Just as the logic stood that the Six Paths Demon Sect as a whole valued her over a group of second realm disciples, so too did she value herself and her peace of mind over the lives of these fellows.

As for why she even made a move in the first place…

"Oh? A non-human member of the Supreme Jiao Clan is protecting a group of humans? It seems something interesting has occurred." Zhen Xueren teased with a hint of malice in her tone.

Whereas the expression of Ao Heilan was cold and gloomy, deeply uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"That's none of your business. Either leave now or face the wrath of the Supreme Jiao Clan!" Ao Heilan tried to get her to back off once more, but Zhen Xueren simply laughed mockingly and launched an attack.

To those spectating this event, it simply felt as if Zhen Xueren had pointed a finger forward as a surge of blood formed a cyclone that struck at the blue-black miasma that covered Ao Heilan, but to Li Ling, he felt hints of refined void power in both their moves.

This didn't comfort Li Ling but rather made him sweat profusely, for 'refined void power' meant it was no longer turbulent and wild, but controlled and personal. Its lethality was truly absolute to anyone who didn't also have refined void power of their own, meaning that this was a fight where the lightest stray energy could eviscerate everyone.

Even he, no matter which Perfection-stage daoist art, Void Space, or the like he used, would also die. In fact, he was still hanging around and not daring to enter his Void Space because its durability only reached up to the Nascent Soul stage. Any pressure higher than that, and the barrier that prevented his personal Void Space from being purged into the unstable subspace world would be decimated.

So like an idiot, he had to forcibly stay hidden within raw subspace as if he was about to use Void Step, only that he delayed the coming out part. Unfortunately, his physical durability was high but not great enough to resist the cutting winds of the unstable void, and his previous limit had been about a minute or two.

Obviously, he was going over ten minutes in the void by this time, only sustained because he kept furiously casting the Restoration Spell to heal himself even as new damage came on top.

What made Li Ling feel bitter was the fact that he was not getting any benefits from this. Usually, those protagonists who were trapped in the void and were forced to keep themselves alive using some means would have their forms destroyed and reborn, refined by the void which would grant them either void power, stronger void comprehension, stronger void affinity, or some void physique.

Unfortunately, the Blood Asura Descent he practiced was too good, having perfectly refined his body along with the Infinite Slaughter System's method of breakthrough which left no stone untouched. Even a normal Blood Child could have benefited lightly from this, as there would always be places that were refined poorly or in a rush, but Li Ling had none of that.

He also already had the best Void Physique known to cultivators of Tian Ming Continent, so there was also no special development there.

It was essentially free pain and a waste of magic power.

The only reason he even still persisted hiding within the void for this long was solely because it was the only advantage he had in this situation. His confidence to escape any calamity lay first and foremost in Void Step and Void Space, but the two fellows in the sky above could easily detect and shatter both.

But he was far better off than those down below him who were out in the world and could be killed at any second. So Li Ling bore with it, watching the surprisingly silent battle going on above which didn't seem that spectacular.

Even Core Formation cultivators could unleash attacks with more flair and sensationalism, but that was just it. These two had mastered their power so well that they could use it casually without activating daoist arts, even avoiding killing the weak ants below.

Li Ling sighed with lament.

He knew he was paying a price for his choices. This was not referring to his choices during this war or even in choosing to come to this war, but his choice to come to the Six Paths Demon Sect as a whole.

Power creep was a word he was very familiar with as a young man who enjoyed hot blooded media, and like most young men, he utterly despised the concept. Why slowly progress from the bottom in controlled areas and then rise up to a new zone with higher tier power?

Why not just start from the highest zone and have access to the best resources, most knowledge, and arts right from the start?

Well, the outcome was precisely this: what Li Ling decided to dub the 'Established Power Curve.'

Established Power Curve was simply the situation where rather than grow slowly and rise to a new realm or area with higher power levels, one reached the area with the highest power level and was exposed to powerhouses of each level from top to bottom.

This could be good or bad, and Li Ling was currently tasting the bad part as he was thrust into a battle far beyond his level that he should realistically be nowhere near.

During this time, the two Seventh Realm powerhouses had made a few probing attacks at each other, with Zhen Xueren's expression becoming more and more relaxed while Ao Heilan's grim frown became gloomier as time passed.

From this, one could guess who had an advantage and who was struggling, as their meager spirit senses could not even leave their bodies, so none but Li Ling could sense the potency of the attacks going back and forth.

"If this is all you have, then I am disappointed. I worked hard to lay this trap you know? I had to pretend not to see the obvious void distortion from the Secret Realm left behind by the Flood Dragon's demise." Zhen Xueren began speaking with a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes, her words causing the faces of many to change.

"If I hadn't done that, how would this shabby low level sect have gotten the guts to hold out when the war was announced, catching them off guard? My plan was initially to push them to seek backers from the righteous sects and I even took the risk to leak some details of the spoils here to get the Bright Sword Sect to send some disciples over."

Zhen Xueren shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "Who knew that those fellows would be killed before being able to even report back, and on top of that, they found a measly sea creature descendant like you."

Li Ling narrowed his eyes in understanding, but most of those spectating were confused as they did not have detailed inside information about what was going on, leaving them utterly puzzled.

Ao Heilan glanced downward briefly then ceased his attack, his expression becoming one of cold mocking.

"Indeed, your trap was well laid out. Had things gone your way, you could have lured a powerhouse from the righteous sects of your human race to ambush, but you just so happened to run into us!"

Huh…? 'Us'?

Zhen Xueren didn't have time to be puzzled as auras flared from the Black Heaven Sect's side, with three new powerhouses rushing upwards to surround Zhen Xueren in the middle with their full power unleashed right from the start.

Zhen Xueren's pupils constricted into needlepoints, horror surging in her heart as she sensed the aura of Seventh Realm powerhouses no weaker than herself having surrounded her all around. Even worse, they acted immediately to seal the void, preventing anyone with the ability to enter subspace from doing so.

"Do not look so surprised. Just as you can lay a trap for us, we too can lay a trap for you, can we not?" Ao Heilan remarked with lips curled upwards.

The intense auras dissipated to reveal three men with similar looks to Ao Heilan, but with a slightly different hue. The one to Zhen Xueren's right was taller than Ao Heilan with a squarish head and more rugged looks, his aura being a mixture of yellow and black.

To her left was a stockier and more ratty looking fellow with sparse hair atop his head, his black aura tinged with flecks of green. Behind her and blocking her retreat was a robust fellow with a cruel expression on his ugly face, his black aura marred with dark red like blood splotches.

Their sole point of focus was the trembling Zhen Xueren, who realized that things had backfired far worse than she expected!

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