A New Domain Lord for the Western Domain

True Man Tian Shu was caught off guard. He grunted, and the spell signs in his hands faltered, making the Heart-Questioning Mirror's light sway violently. Though Su Qingyin's mind had been disturbed, her spiritual senses remained intact. A fatal sense of danger made the hairs on her body stand on end, but with her mind still immersed, her body reacted a beat too slowly!

At the critical instant, just as the black needle was about to touch her skin—

"Vmmm!"

A deep sword ring, seemingly reverberating through the soul, suddenly exploded inside the secret chamber without warning! It hadn't come from outside the door, but from beneath the ancient zither covered in plain brocade on the table beside Su Qingyin! A brilliant yet illusory, wavering sword light flared into being. Moving faster than the needle, it struck the very tip with pinpoint precision!

Clink!

With a faint chime, the black needle shattered inch by inch and vanished into black smoke. The sword light dimmed as well, revealing the phantom of an unusual little sword, almost entirely transparent, with only a star-like glimmer circling its tip. It was the Shadow Demon Sword's sword-intent avatar, which Lin Hao had secretly placed there in advance, concealing it with a trace of Xuanyuan Sword intent and spatial techniques! He had already sensed that the Heart-Questioning Trial might not go smoothly from Xiahou Jie's warning and True Man Tian Shu's concerns, so he had laid this hidden safeguard.

The assassin's figure faltered in the shadows, clearly unprepared for this turn of events. Without hesitation, he burst into dozens of dark silhouettes that fled in every direction, letting out a shrill screech at the same time—obviously some sort of signal or self-destructing spell.

"Thunder Prison: Instant Hell Kill!"

The icy voice seemed to come from the