"Vermin—you should be proud you managed to wound me this much."Voss felt the binding force of the Dragon-Lock Gate weakening as Elena's focus wavered. At last, he could move freely again.
With a feral grin, his speed surged. He closed in on Anna in an instant, his blade crashing down like a storm of steel!
Worse still, from the wounds Anna had carved into him, threads of thick, ink-black spiritual power began to seep out—alive, writhing—coiling around the long blade in his hand.This dark energy seemed only partially suppressed by the Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Formation, cloaking the weapon in a chilling aura. Every strike now carried terrifying, bone-shattering force.
Anna's pressure skyrocketed. She pushed her movement technique to the limit, barely evading one lethal slash after another.The wind of his blade tore her clothes, sliced her skin, and wherever it missed, the ground and walls were gouged open in deep trenches, rubble flying.
One solid hit—and her bones would shatter.
"I told you," Voss sneered as he pursued, arrogance dripping from his voice. The black aura around him thickened, feeding his blade."You don't understand the strength of an inner disciple. Even the Bitter Sea Crossing we cultivate is a different version. Do you know its true core?"
"The power of pain."
Pain… power?
Anna's heart lurched. No wonder the more he was injured, the fiercer his attacks became.
Damn the inner sect. Damn their privileges!If her Blood Core hadn't been destroyed a year ago… the one wielding this power might have been her!
"No… this can't go on." Her thoughts raced. She glanced toward Elena—five enforcement disciples had already formed a tightening encirclement, only a few strides away.
If Elena fell, the formations would collapse.And then she'd be facing Voss at full strength—no chance of survival.
"Veil of Cloud and Haze!" Anna shouted decisively.
Elena reacted instantly. Her hand seals shifted, diverting most of her focus from maintaining the Dragon-Lock Gate to activating another prepared formation.
At once, Voss felt the restraints loosen. His joy surged, his blade accelerating—just as it was about to cleave into Anna—
"Whoosh—!"
A dense white mist erupted from every hidden array line—ground, walls, eaves—spreading like spilled milk.In a heartbeat, the entire courtyard was swallowed.
Light and sound warped and dulled. Visibility shrank to less than a meter.
Voss's killing blow struck nothing but empty air.
He extended his spiritual sense—only to find it mired, distorted by the fog.
"Cheap tricks!" he roared, sweeping his blade wildly, but the mist barely thinned.
Within the fog, however, the world was entirely different for Elena and Anna.
They could clearly sense each other—and the five disciples stumbling blindly like headless flies.
Anna slipped through the mist like a wraith, reuniting with Elena.
"Junior sister—stop splitting the Dragon-Lock Gate. Focus everything on locking Voss down. I'll handle the rest."
Her voice was cold, decisive.
Elena nodded immediately. Her hand seals shifted again.
In the fog, the faint sound of tightening chains echoed—and Voss's furious roar followed.
Bound once more, he became a trapped beast.
And Anna—vanished into the mist.
The five disciples stood back-to-back, blades raised, inching forward in fear.They tried to reach Elena's last known position—but the fog warped all direction.
Anna approached silently.
Cold. Empty.
Her Blood Core restored, spiritual energy surged through her veins once more. Her hands formed seals—slightly stiff, long unused—but in this perfect concealment, it didn't matter.
This technique… resembled the one the Black Baron once used.
"Pain-Thorns… Bind."
"SHHK—!"
Four grotesque, barbed black vines burst from the ground like venomous serpents, instantly wrapping around four disciples' legs and torsos.
Barbs sank into flesh. A chilling force invaded their bodies, slowing their spiritual flow further.
"Enemy—!""What is this—?!"
Their cries barely began—
A shadow tore through the mist like death itself.
Four flashes of blade-light.
Cold. Precise. Final.
Screams—cut short.
Anna vanished again.
Her blade—unstained.
Four bodies collapsed lifelessly.
The fog seemed colder now.
Only one remained—Lin Zhen.
By sheer luck, he hadn't been caught.
He watched his comrades die without even seeing the killer.
Terror shattered him.
With a shriek, he turned and fled blindly toward the courtyard gate—vanishing into the mist.
Anna noticed—but hesitated only a fraction—
"BOOM—!!!"
A far more violent explosion erupted.
The fog was torn apart by a brutal surge of black energy.
A figure burst free like a caged beast—
Voss.
Too fast.
Before Elena could react—
"—!"
A blood-soaked hand clamped around her throat, lifting her into the air.
The formations destabilized. The mist thinned. The chains flickered.
Anna's heart nearly stopped.
Voss stood there—his chest split open by two massive cross-shaped wounds, bone visible, blood pouring.
But from those wounds surged thick, black pain-energy, wrapping his body.
He looked like a demon bathed in blood.
He had done it deliberately.
Inflicted greater pain—to unleash greater power.
"Let… go…" Elena struggled, face turning purple—but her eyes were cold, resolute.
Voss tightened his grip effortlessly, crushing her resistance.
He looked up at Anna, smiling—a grotesque mix of agony and triumph.
"The game is over, vermin."
"Drop your little tricks. End the formations. Come out."
He shook Elena like a broken doll.
"Or your clever little junior sister… dies because of you."
Anna froze.
She looked at Elena.
At her fading face.
At her dimming eyes.
The mist thinned… like her courage.
Her steps… retreated.
Maybe… she could still escape…
"You're running?"Van Helsing said calmly.
"We can't win… she'll understand…"
"She'll die."
"It's not my fault! She chose to stay!"
"She's not like you. She's a lotus in snow…"
"Shut up!"
"And you are—"
"SHUT UP!!!"
Then—
A voice.
Weak. Faint.But unbreakable.
"Run, Senior Sister! Go—! Find… the truth… for me!"
Elena.
With the last of her strength—
"Buzz—!"
The fog surged again—denser than ever. A final flare of life.
"You dare—!!!" Voss roared.
Black pain-energy exploded from his hand—
"—CRACK."
Something shattered.
Elena spat blood—mixed with faint, starlike fragments.
Her Blood Core… destroyed.
"You're nothing but a maggot."
Van Helsing's voice fell.
Anna stood still.
Everything faded—
Sound. Thought. Fear.
She only saw—
Elena's lifeless face.Her dimmed eyes.Her falling hands.
And deep inside—
Something…
snapped.