“Pcht!!”

A fountain of blood erupted from Huangfu Nan as he flew back. It took dozens of meters before he was finally able to secure his footing, but by that point his face was already white as paper.

“Don’t interfere!!”

Huangfu Nan barked in between gasps of pain, but he succeeded in stopping any one of the crafters from drawing close.

“Dongfang Ming!! I know you hate me, do as you will as long as you don’t harm my daughter!!’

The look of panic on Huangfu Nan’s face pleased Dongfang Ming. “It’s true,” he laughed, “I abhor your very being, Huangfu Nan. And it pleases me to see you like this, however…”

“Boom!!”

A ray of dark-red light blasted Huangfu Nan across the chest and sent him flying once again.

“This isn’t enough to wipe away my hatred for you!”

“Boom boom boom boom…”

Ray after ray of dark-red light shot out from Dongfang Ming’s hand. Like arrows, they streaked through the skies to hone in on Huangfu Nan. Each blow sent him reeling backward even more, and soon, Huangfu Nan wasn’t even visible underneath all the rays that hit him…

Huangfu Nan was only a Late-stage Soul King. Any full-powered attack from Dongfang Ming would definitely kill him. But to kill him like that wouldn’t be satisfying. Death could come later, but for now, it was time to torture him…

“Enough…enough!! Stop this!!”

Right as Dongfang Ming raised his right hand to attack Huangfu Nan again, a terrified scream erupted across the battlefield.

It was Cang Yu.

If not for Huangfu Nan telling her not to do anything, Cang Yu would’ve stepped in a lot sooner. Seeing her love be hurt in such a way was a pain too much for her to bear any longer.

Dongfang Ming stopped in his assault when ‘asked’, but he did so with rancor. His eyes grew frosty as he sneered. Then a burst of killing aura exploded from his body!

“Eh?!”

Right as his killing aura revealed itself, Dongfang Ming looked up as if he had noticed something. Raising his right hand, he brought it over his head as if to grab hold of something!

“Pcht!!”

A black flash of light exited from his hands and was scattered apart by something, as if it was cut. To space beside Dongfang Ming’s hands vibrated softly as if something invisible was traveling past him.

There was a shimmer of light as a semi-transparent blade was revealed.

The Lacus Edge!

There was an instant while Dongfang Ming was defending himself when someone suddenly appeared beside him. Another instant later and the person was gone along with Huangfu Rui!

Anyone else watching would’ve only seen Huangfu Rui just suddenly disappear into thin air before Zi Jin reappeared with her a good distance away.

The Wind Lightning School and Soul Refining School were both aghast with horror while the Crafting School were filled with glee.

While Dongfang Ming was too busy enjoying himself, Zi Jin managed to rescue Huangfu Rui!

Not even Huo Zhenting had realized when Zi Jin was up to until it was too late. Only Zi Jin was capable of such a feat.

“……”

Normally, a person should’ve been horrified to see their hostage taken from them. But Dongfang Ming…was smiling!

“My daughter!!”

Cang Yu flew to Huangfu Rui at once. She hadn’t thought Zi Jin would be able to save her daughter, but she was glad!

But as she drew closer to the two…she let out a horrified shout!

“What?!”

Zi Jin, who had been busy glaring at Dongfang Ming after saving Huangfu Rui, took notice of the shifting motions of Huangfu Rui. Something was wrong. Instinctively, he took a step back but…

“Pcht…”

Zi Jin felt a searing pain sink deep into the right side of his neck!

He teleported several dozen meters away at once and raised his right hand to his neck. Blood was already spilling in volumes large enough to stain his palm and robes…

His face grew pale at once. In disbelief, he looked to Huangfu Rui—in her right hand was a three pronged dagger!

It was the demon armament Dongfang Ming used!

Huangfu Rui had used that demon armament to stab Zi Jin’s neck!

“Master!!”

“Headmaster Zi!!”

The reactions were instantaneous, everyone cried out in horror at the sight of Zi Jin’s injury.

The crafters weren’t the only ones to be astounded by this sudden turn of events. Huo Zhenting and his group were similarly stunned.

“This must be…Soul Puppetry?”

Huo Zhenting muttered to himself. The light in his eyes deepened as he smiled with sadistic pleasure. This was a sight he was all too happy to see.

Panic erupted amongst the crafters at once. Multiple people sprung up to Zi Jin’s side at once. Some to hold him while Kou Changkong hurried to give a pill for Zi Jin to take and Yang Yao stared warily at their enemies.

“My daughter! Little Rui!!”

Cang Yu was right beside Huangfu Rui now, her hands clutched at her daughter’s shoulders as if to shake her out from her stupor, but it was useless. Like an emotionless puppet, Huangfu Rui stood there and allowed herself to be shaken. The demon armament had already fallen from her hands to fly back to Dongfang Ming’s side.

“My…my daughter…”

A second person hobbled to Huangfu Rui and Cang Yu’s side, it was the blood-soaked figure of Huangfu Nan. His body trembled, not from the pain of his wounds, but from the fury of Huangfu Rui’s state. “Dongfang Ming!” He howled, “What have you done to my daughter!! You bastard!! I’ll kill you for this!!”

“Pcht!!”

The stress of his wounds had Huangfu Nan spilling out another mouthful of blood again. Swaying unsteadily, he collapsed into the frightened arms of Li Tiechui.

“……”

Kou Changkong and the others were in a panic now. The panic in both Huangfu Nan and Cang Yu’s eyes were more than enough to fill Dongfang Ming with enough glee to make him cackle out loud almost.

“Master, do you think saving a hostage is the same as ‘saving’ them? Having nearly died at her hands…do you regret saving her now? Do you regret crippling yourself to save her then? Huangfu Nan, do you feel despair yet? How do you think your daughter will feel when she learns of what she has done? Of course, that’s if she wakes up, hahaha…hahahaa!!!!”

The longer Dongfang Ming laughed, the more he sounded like he was turning into an insane man of some kind.

“You traitor! You ought to die for this!!”

Hu Yang howled in fury at the laughter. A giant fire spear appeared in his hand before he launched it at the still-laughing Dongfang Ming!