The Strategy of Driving the Tiger to Devour the Wolf

The torrent of black energy, jointly unleashed by the three Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouses, roared like three surging Nether Rivers. Wherever it passed, the space emitted a "hissing" sound of corrosion, and even the Light Rays were swallowed whole. Carrying a deathly aura that promised to annihilate everything, it instantly engulfed the figure of Lin Feng!

Bing Yun, standing behind, and the Clan Leader, who had just steadied her breath, saw their expressions change drastically!

However, at the very moment that destructive energy was about to completely decompose and devour Lin Feng—

"Hum—!"

An aura that was entirely different, yet equally heart-stopping and evil, erupted violently from the spot where Lin Feng stood!

It was not the corrosive energy of the Corrupt Spirit Race, but something far more chaotic, tyrannical, and filled with endless resentment and greed... it was Netherworld Demonic Qi!

One could see that the black rune at the center of Lin Feng's brow, which had been dormant, suddenly flared with unprecedented dark light!

At this critical juncture, instead of suppressing the Soul Imprint, he had actively released all defenses. Using his own Chaos Thunder Origin and Primordial Dao Source as bait, he frantically stimulated that Netherworld Tracking Mark!

"Roar—!!"

A vague yet immensely massive Demon Shadow, as if separated by endless time and space, let out a roar of fury along the forcibly widened channel of the mark!

Lin Feng's body became a temporary coordinate and conduit. Pure Netherworld Demonic Qi surged out from within him like a geyser, colliding fiercely with the black energy torrent of the Corrupt Spirit Race!

"Rumble—!!!"

Two dark powers, both representing destruction but fundamentally different in nature, clashed violently in front of Lin Feng like mortal enemies, eroding and exploding against one another!

The pitch-black Demonic Qi and the black mist of the Corrupt Spirit Race intertwined and tore at each other frantically, emitting a teeth-grinding hiss. The shockwaves from the explosion lifted and shattered the thick ice layer on the ground!

"Netherworld? How is this possible?"

The Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouses emitted waves of shocked and angry mental fluctuations.

They clearly recognized this power, which originated from the same source as their "target for cleanup" but was far more ancient and pure!

This was completely beyond their expectations!

As for Lin Feng, who served as the "battlefield," he was currently enduring unimaginable pain.

The two extreme forces were violently countering each other using his body and soul as the arena. His meridians felt as if they were being sliced by countless red-hot blades, and his soul felt as if it were being ground beneath a millstone.

Yet, the madness and calmness in his eyes were intertwined to the extreme!

"Now is the time! Furnace! Reverse it for me!"

Enduring the excruciating pain that threatened to scatter his soul, he frantically drove the Thunder Emperor Seal Fragment and the Great Dao Furnace within his dantian!

The seal fragment erupted with chaotic light. Instead of refining, it generated a strange force of "repulsion" and "guidance." Like a precise valve, it forcibly twisted the direction of the majority of the Corrupt Spirit Race energy that had invaded his body, mixed with a portion of the erupting Netherworld Demonic Qi, and sent it surging back along the not-yet-closed mark channel!

This was no longer a simple energy clash. Using his body as a fulcrum, Lin Feng leveraged a portion of the Corrupt Spirit Race's attack, turning it into a "poisonous thorn" wrapped in Netherworld Demonic Qi, and thrust it straight along the soul channel toward the Demon Shadow at the other end!

"Pfft—!"

From the distant, unknown space, a muffled groan mixed with pain and fury could be faintly heard!

The will of the Demon Shadow transmitted through the mark was clearly disordered and weakened for an instant!

Lin Feng could even vaguely sense that the terrifying existence at the other end of the channel seemed to have suffered no small injury!

[Netherworld Tracking Mark activity reduced by 37%! Counter-measure successful! Temporarily obtained partial interference authority over the mark!]

As the feedback from the Great Dao Furnace echoed in his mind, Lin Feng felt a sense of certainty!

He had bet correctly!

However, the crisis was far from over!

Although the three Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouses had been caught off guard by this sudden burst of Netherworld Demonic Qi, they reacted extremely quickly and immediately adjusted their tactics.

Two of them had the black mist around their bodies contract, forming even more solid armor. Hardening themselves against the aftermath of the energy explosion, they brandished blades condensed from pure corrosive energy and charged at Lin Feng from the left and right!

The last one hovered in mid-air, pressing his hands downward into the void. As he chanted ancient and obscure syllables, a massive black magic array composed of countless twisted runes appeared beneath his feet, emitting terrifying fluctuations that could imprison space and strip away souls!

They wanted a quick resolution and would no longer give Lin Feng any chance!

"Your opponent is me!"

A cold, crisp shout rang out. Bing Yun held an ice-crystal longsword, drawing upon the wind and snow filling the sky to transform into an icy blue whirlwind, forcefully intercepting the Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse on the left!

Although her cultivation was inferior, she relied on the exquisite secret techniques of the Snow Clan and the advantage of the terrain to entangle her opponent for the time being.

The Clan Leader also forcibly raised her True Essence. Her plain white dress fluttered without wind as she formed seals with her hands, drawing upon the primordial cold energy of the secret realm to manifest nine giant ice-crystal dragons. They roared as they charged toward the Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse who was setting up the array, interrupting his spellcasting!

The final Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse appeared instantly before Lin Feng with cold killing intent, his corrosive blade thrusting straight toward the center of his brow!

The speed was fast to the extreme!

Lin Feng had just completed that perilous counter-attack, and his aura was at a low point where the old strength had just faded and the new had yet to be born. Facing this ghost-like strike, it seemed he had no time to dodge!

However, a cold glint of a successful scheme flashed in his eyes.

He had never intended to dodge!

At the very moment the corrosive blade was about to touch his brow, Lin Feng suddenly raised his head, staring directly into the "eyes" of the Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse hidden beneath the black mist. His soul power vibrated in an unprecedented way, and he let out a roar containing the "partial mark interference authority" he had just seized, combined with the will of his own Chaos Thunder Prison:

"Look over here, you scum!"

At the same time, he forcibly mobilized the Netherworld Mark—which had just been weakened but still existed—amplifying and twisting its fluctuations in an instant to simulate the illusion that the "coordinates were about to shift" and the "variable was about to escape," and transmitted it outward!

The movements of that Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse showed a minute trace of hesitation.

Their core directive was to eliminate "variables" and ensure that traces of civilization were completely erased.

Lin Feng's roar, imbued with a soul-shattering impact, and the abnormal fluctuations of the mark, had precisely triggered their programmed logic of judgment.

It was this insignificant moment of hesitation!

"Chaos Thunder Prison — Instant Hell Kill!"

The true essence within Lin Feng, which had seemed exhausted, erupted once more under the pressure of the [Great Dao Furnace]!

The dark purple lightning no longer radiated outward; instead, it became extremely restrained, condensing upon his joined index and middle fingers!

At his fingertips, space warped slightly, a point of extreme darkness and destruction gestured within!

Striking after but arriving first, he used his finger as a sword, pointing toward the corrosive blade that was only an inch from his brow!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft "pop" that pierced straight through the soul.

The blade, condensed from pure Corrupt Spirit energy, disintegrated and annihilated silently the moment it touched Lin Feng's fingertip, like a snowflake cast into the void, starting from the tip!

Even the arm of the Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse holding the blade shattered inch by inch under this finger force, which contained the essence of chaos and extinction, turning into fly ash!

"Argh—!"

The Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouse let out a mental shriek of pain and disbelief, the black mist roiling violently as they retreated rapidly!

Lin Feng did not let up, enduring the tearing pain in his meridians as his figure followed like a shadow, his dark purple fingertip acting like a death warrant, pointing straight at the opponent's core—the center of that roiling black mist!

Just then—

"Hum!"

The entire Snow Clan Secret Realm shook violently!

A vast, majestic, and supreme suppressive force of array fluctuations swept out like a tidal wave!

Countless giant ice crystal runes appeared in the sky, interlocking to form a heavenly net that covered the entire secret realm!

The Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Great Array had finally been forcibly activated by the Snow Clan elders at this very moment!

Brilliant ice-blue pillars of light descended from the sky like the judgment of gods, precisely enveloping the three Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouses!

"Cleaning... incomplete... mark... too deep..."

The three Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouses let out unwilling hisses from within the black mist; their bodies began to freeze and disintegrate rapidly within the ice-blue pillars of light, eventually turning into three struggling black cores that were forcibly sealed and compressed by the power of the array, finally becoming three thumb-sized ice crystal beads that constantly emitted black gas before falling to the ground.

The crisis seemed to have been temporarily averted.

The light of the array slowly receded, leaving behind only the devastated Frost Scar Barrier and the shaken crowd.

Lin Feng dissipated the lightning at his fingertips, his face as pale as paper, his body swaying slightly as he could no longer suppress the blood rising in his throat, spitting it out violently; it splashed onto the crystalline ice surface, a shocking sight.

His series of actions just now, while seemingly imposing, were actually walking a tightrope at every step, causing immense consumption and damage to himself.

Bing Yun hurried forward to support him, her eyes filled with worry.

The clan leader also walked over, looking at Lin Feng with an incredibly complex expression.

If not for Lin Feng taking such a desperate risk today, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

She waved her hand to retrieve the three sealed black ice crystal beads, feeling the still-restless Corrupt Spirit origin within them, and said in a deep voice:

"The reappearance of the Corrupt Spirit Race is no small matter; we must notify the other guardian tribes immediately. Young Friend Lin, you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Lin Feng suddenly raised his head, looking toward the direction outside the secret realm, his eyes sharp as blades.

"I'm afraid... it's already too late."

In his perception, outside the secret realm, a far more massive, colder, and terrifying aura carrying the pure will of "cleaning" was approaching from afar, like an invisible tsunami, crushing toward the Snow Clan Secret Realm!

The scale of that aura was a hundred times greater than the three Corrupt Spirit Race powerhouses from before!

The true army of "Cleaners"... perhaps, had already arrived.