Xie Zhaolin's utterly resolute stance and the sudden surge of her aura filled the Golden-Backed Demon Wolf and the Bewitching Beast Yam with a deep unease. Though intelligent, the beasts' instincts screamed at them, warning them to be on guard, sensing the desperate gamble in her every movement.
"Roar!"
The Golden-Backed Demon Wolf bellowed, holding nothing back. A terrifying pillar of concentrated beast power slammed down toward Xie Zhaolin's head.
At the same time, the Bewitching Beast Yam struck. Its countless vines no longer spread out but fused into a colossal, razor-sharp tendril, shrieking as it aimed straight for the back of her heart.
Xie Zhaolin brought both palms forward, her baleful qi erupting into two massive ghostly hands, boldly intercepting the pillar of force. mEnergy tore around her like wild fire, her phantom hands fracturing inch by inch, yet the Geng Metal pillar was sapped of most of its power.
The remaining force slammed into her crossed arms, sending her staggering back, her bones creaking under the strain. Blood seeped from her lips, but through sheer qi-fueled strength, she endured what should've been a fatal strike!
"Roar!"
The wolf, furious that its strike hadn't landed fully, slammed its massive limbs to the ground, rushing forward with the wind of its bulk, claws aiming straight for Xie Zhaolin's head.
Simultaneously, the Bewitching Beast Yam's concentrated tendril jabbed at her back from a nearly impossible angle, its soul shock trailing to disrupt her judgment.
Faced with an attack from front and rear, Xie Zhaolin's eyes turned icy. mWith a sudden low spin, she narrowly avoided the wolf's claws, the slicing air grazing her scalp and severing a few strands of hair.
Using the momentum of her rotation, she backhanded a palm strike at the side of the incoming tendril, trying to deflect it.
Shh!
The baleful qi on her hand was sharp, but the tendril carried the Yam's immense force. It shifted slightly aside but still ripped into her ribs, a spray of blood marking the strike.
Pain shot through her, forcing a grunt, yet she didn't pause. She couldn't afford a drawn-out struggle—she had to break the deadlock. Seizing the moment while the wolf was slightly delayed from missing, she charged forward.
Baleful qi condensed into needles at her fingertips, stabbing at the wolf's relatively vulnerable waist and abdomen. It was a desperate exchange, trading injury for injury.
The wolf didn't expect such ferocity, hastily swinging to block.
Pfft!
The needle dispersed on impact, but the bone-chilling cold of the qi still seeped into the wolf's claws, freezing its movement for a moment.
"Now!"
Xie Zhaolin's eyes blazed with sharp light. Ignoring the tendril again closing in from behind, she poured every last drop of baleful qi into her right fist. Black energy roared along the surface of her fist as she slammed it into the gap in the wolf's chest exposed by its block.
The wolf sensed the deadly strike, its crimson eyes narrowing. It twisted violently, spewing its beastly aura to resist.
No way to dodge! No way to block!
Xie Zhaolin's gaze hardened, focusing all remaining qi to intercept the beast's aura.
Boom!
Fist collided with aura in a muffled roar! The residual force smashed against the wolf's chest scales, cracking them. The beast let out a howl of pain, staggering several steps backward.
Yet, as Xie Zhaolin was thrown slightly back by the counterforce—
Shh!
The colossal tendril, charged with the Yam's power, struck her precisely. It pierced beneath her shoulder blade, grazing her spine, even as her body was flung.
A terrifying devouring force exploded.
The Yam's soul shock condensed into a deadly beam, slamming into her sea of consciousness.
"Ugh!"
Pain consumed her instantly! She could feel the tendril writhing, greedily devouring her blood and life!
Her strength drained rapidly.
Her vision blurred, her mind scattered.
"It's over…" In the jade slip, You You's voice trembled with despair as she prepared to burn her pitiful remaining Primordial Soul energy, ready for the near-impossible spiritual imprint extraction.
She had lost the gamble.
But in Xie Zhaolin's nearly dimming eyes, a last spark of defiant ferocity ignited.
"I won't die…"
That thought exploded like a final flare in her sea of consciousness.
"I haven't broken through yet!
I haven't reached the peak!
How could I die here!"
Magic tools? Too late!
Spiritual power? Exhausted!
Baleful qi? Almost gone!
She had nothing left.
Nothing but… this battered body, and…
The blood spraying from it.
At the brink of being swallowed by darkness, her primal survival instinct erupted, mingled with her innate ruthlessness and resolve.
"Explode!"
She used her last ounce of spiritual consciousness, not to defend or attack the tendril, but to detonate the droplets of her own blood, still infused with traces of spiritual energy and baleful qi, spraying from her wound.
"With my blood, I ignite my soul! Better to shatter than to remain whole!
Even if I die, I'll take a piece of you with me!"
Boom—!
The blood detonated behind her. Though far weaker than a full-strength spell, the suicidal intent fused with blood qi formed a powerful shockwave.
Shh!
The tendril piercing her body was blasted and snapped.
The Bewitching Beast Yam let out a piercing shriek.
Xie Zhaolin was hurled forward by the blast, crashing onto the distant ground like a ragdoll. The impact added to her injuries, blood spreading across the dirt. She lay in the pool of her own blood, barely breathing, bones shattered beyond count.
Her left shoulder was a terrifying hole of blood, her consciousness teetering on the edge, only a faint spark of life flickering.
As the two beasts prepared to land a final blow—
Rumble!
Without warning, a sound far grander than any before erupted from the sky, as if from the very source of heaven and earth… thunder!
A blinding lightning bolt tore through the dim sky, turning the entire valley a stark, pale white.
An indescribable heavenly pressure descended instantly.
The Golden-Backed Demon Wolf and the Bewitching Beast Yam froze mid-motion, heads lifting to the sky. For the first time, fear flickered in their crimson eyes and swaying petals.
This thunder… wasn't ordinary lightning.
It was… a Heavenly Tribulation.
And its target… was the bloody, near-dead Xie Zhaolin on the ground.
Her desperate gambit in the face of death, the fierce act of detonating her own vital blood to take down her enemies, had finally stirred some hidden cosmic rule!
The Golden Core Tribulation struck… unexpectedly, at this very moment!