Reaping the Benefits

Wang Qiu'er acted decisively, without the slightest hesitation. She raised her hand and pointed the miniature ice sword ahead at the Holy Spirit Cult members.

"Wait!"

Lin Xuan's purple-black eyes suddenly narrowed as he stopped Wang Qiu'er.

"Hm? What is it?" Wang Qiu'er paused slightly, then asked in confusion.

"Look." Lin Xuan said nothing else, merely motioning for Wang Qiu'er to look ahead.

In that very instant, the situation ahead suddenly changed.

Logically, even a Titled Douluo should have avoided the brunt of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's self-destruction.

Yet not only did Nangong Wan and the Masked Douluo not flee, they instead let loose and ordered the Holy Spirit Cult members to change positions.

In the blink of an eye, the Holy Spirit Cult's people formed a hexagonal formation around the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon, tightly encircling it.

Nangong Wan and the Masked Douluo stood respectively at the left and right sides of the formation's apex, like the formation's cores.

"Form the formation!" Nangong Wan shouted.

Following Nangong Wan's command, several pillars of Soul Power shot into the sky from the Holy Spirit Cult members. They intertwined and connected, forming a tightly sealed formation in an instant.

"Oh, a formation? The Holy Spirit Cult actually has formations?" Lin Xuan watched the Holy Spirit Cult members ahead, who had chosen not to flee and had instead begun setting up a formation. A trace of surprise flashed through his purple-black eyes. After thinking briefly, he nodded in understanding.

His eyes shifted as he quickly recalled that, in the original work, the Holy Spirit Cult did indeed possess several special formations.

Judging from the scene before him, this formation was clearly centered on sealing.

If they only wanted the soul bone, they could have simply cleaned up after the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon blew itself up. Why go through all this trouble?

The only explanation was that they wanted to capture it alive!

Ahead, the formation's cores, foundations, patterns, hubs, flags, disks, and domains had all been deployed.

"Profound Prison Heaven-Sealing Formation!"

The hand seals of the Holy Spirit Cult members changed, and they shouted in unison. Vast waves of Soul Power surged from their bodies and poured into the formation before them.

The next second, as the formation patterns flickered, an immense, unified aura rose up and formed into a gigantic skull above the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon's body. It then descended from the sky and stamped itself onto the dragon's body.

Boom!

The skull smashed down onto the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon's massive body, producing a dull, heavy sound.

The dragon's previously swelling body abruptly froze in place, while even its scarlet eyes dimmed somewhat.

An overbearing sealing force surged into the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon's body, forcibly suppressing the violent Soul Power within it that was about to lose control.

In the blink of an eye, this super soul beast, the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon, completely lost its ability to self-destruct. The formation had even stripped it of the right to do so.

"Roar!"

Feeling its Soul Power forced back down within its body, the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon let out an unwilling dragon roar and cursed, "Bastards! Despicable and shameless! No martial virtue at all!"

"This is the Grand Cult Leader's personal order: capture the souls of high-level soul beasts like you, bring them back for refinement, turn them into wraiths, and store them in the Supreme Cult Leader's Death God Tower. If you must blame someone, blame your bad luck." Nangong Wan sneered.

"Myriad Star Hand!"

Just as Nangong Wan was reveling in his triumph, a sharp shout suddenly echoed through the forest.

The space around Nangong Wan and the others abruptly twisted violently. Their surroundings rapidly changed, as though they had been transported into a starry sky filled with glittering stars.

In an instant, the starry expanse began to writhe rapidly, soon transforming into a colossal hand of stars covered in countless points of light.

The gigantic hand trembled slightly, and an incomparably powerful spiritual pressure spread from it. Then it swept toward the Holy Spirit Cult members before it.

"What the hell? Where did this attack come from? How could there be someone here?" Nangong Wan stared at the roaring giant hand of stars, and stormy waves instantly surged through his heart.

When he had surrounded the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon earlier, he had clearly scanned the surroundings and confirmed that no one was present.

Yet someone had suddenly launched an attack on them from the shadows! What horrified him even more was that the space around him had already been sealed by a forbidden technique.

Someone capable of evading his detection, hiding in the dark without a trace, and even sealing space had been secretly watching them all along!

Nangong Wan instantly understood. He had been played like a fool—the other side wanted to reap the benefits! But he had no time to think further. He could only focus all his strength on blocking the giant hand of stars rushing toward him.

Whoosh!

Before Nangong Wan and the others could react, an icy-blue streak of light followed closely behind. Accompanied by a sharp tearing sound, it was even faster than the giant hand of stars and instantly closed in on them.

Then, the icy-blue streak of light exploded!

Boom!

A dazzling icy-blue radiance instantly illuminated the entire forest. An extreme chill capable of freezing all things erupted, transforming everything within a thousand meters into a world of ice and snow.

Nangong Wan and the others, along with the Crimson Gold Mountain-Shaking Dragon, had no time to react before the terrifying explosion tore them into countless pieces that scattered amid the ice and snow.

The next second, the giant hand of stars descended with world-destroying force, smashing the already frozen ground into an enormous five-fingered crater and sending ice, snow, and dust flying into the sky...

In the Extreme North, within a luxurious Ice Palace...

"Xue'er, just let me kiss you once." The Ice Empress clung to the Snow Empress, her soft, delicate body constantly rubbing against the Snow Empress's embrace.

"No." The Snow Empress pulled the unruly Ice Empress off her helplessly. "Bing'er, behave yourself."

"Hehe." The Ice Empress grinned mischievously as she moved close to the Snow Empress. "Isn't Little Xuan away? He went out to train, and I have no one to kiss, so I had to come find you."

"You..." The Snow Empress had just begun to speak when she suddenly froze.

The Ice Empress, who had been fooling around moments before, also stiffened on the spot, the smile on her face completely freezing.

The two looked at each other and murmured in unison, "How could this be..."

Just then, they had clearly sensed that one of the three miniature ice swords they had left Lin Xuan for protection had been triggered.

"Xue'er, Xue'er, did Little Xuan run into danger?! Let's hurry and find him!" After coming to her senses, the Ice Empress hurriedly grabbed the Snow Empress's arm and said anxiously.