Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao (11)

Lu Xueqi stood behind him, looking at his back—neither broad nor imposing, yet exceptionally steadfast. Something deep within her heart was gently stirred. She no longer tried to step forward and stand beside him. Instead, she silently poured every last trace of her spiritual power into the Tian Ya Sword. Blue light pulsed along its blade as it gathered strength, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the black shadow the instant Su Han struck—or to shield him from any counterattack that might follow.

Elder Mu also stopped his futile long-range interference. He poured all his spiritual power into the core restriction of the hall, reinforcing the barrier around Bi Yao for one final stand.

Bi Yao lay at the center of the halo, watching Su Han's resolute back. She sensed the peculiar fluctuations coming from the tortoise shell—power born of the same source as the black shadow's strength, yet opposite in nature. A vague thought flashed through her weakened mind. She struggled to focus, no longer attempting to pour spiritual power into the tortoise shell—she had almost none left anyway—but instead tried to use her faint will to sense it, respond to the ancient and feeble consciousness within it, and understand the meaning of the "Void Guide"...

Just as the massive black hand was about to descend upon them—

Su Han moved.

The sword in his hand fell without a sound.

There was no earth-shattering sword qi, no dazzling radiance. There was only a tiny, almost invisible, straight "line" extending forward.

This "line" seemed to contain the first glimmer of light from the beginning of creation, the principle that separated the pure from the impure and defined being and nothingness.

It met the massive black hand reaching for Su Han and Lu Xueqi.

Sizzle—

A sound so faint it