Everything within a hundred steps of Gu Lianhun was in chaos. Only the immediate area around him was ‘fine’. The Flame Dragon Crescent Blade managed to break through the network of cracks, leaving Gu Lianhun’s final barrier of defense to be a barrier of elemental energy. Glinting in the light and whistling in the air, it moved in to strike at Gu Lianhun’s head!

“Skreeee!!”

It cut into the barrier with an eerie sound, but it managed to make it through to continue at last at its target!

Gu Lianhun had invested most of his energy in that last line of defense. Pushing both hands outward, he gathered another wave of soulforce to them and glared at the incoming soul armament.

“Now…begone!!”

A maniacal light entered Gu Lianhun’s eyes when the Flame Dragon Crescent Blade was just half a step away from his head. His fingers bent to form claws before he pulled at the air in opposite directions and roared!

“Bang!!”

A burst of black light exploded from the area where his hands once were. The Flame Dragon Crescent Blade was hit by the energy and then bounced backward from the force!

“Urgh!”

Gu Lianhun’s last-ditch effort to protect himself had done some damage to Shen Pojun’s soul armament. The man had let out a small grunt of pain and grimaced when his soul armament was reflected.

“Pft!!”

But the damage to Gu Lianhun was even greater. His body swayed unsteadily despite his soulforce trying to stabilize himself. When he opened his mouth, a small torrent of blood managed to escape from it!

Even injured and pressed for time, Gu Lianhun had somehow managed to stop the joint attacks of two Saints. This only served to show how powerful Gu Lianhun was as a Mid-stage Soul Saint. It would take more than that to stop him.

But he had to pay a mighty price to survive all that.

All the damage done so far had been done to his soul. This was the type of injury any soul cultivator feared most since it meant they’d be only able to use half the amount of power they’d normally be able to use…

Bai Yunfei had no doubts risking his own life in this plan. Everyone else was trying their hardest to play their roles, so why shouldn’t he? The plan was already working—Gu Lianhun was weakened before the battle could even truly begin!

If now wasn’t the time to make use of this excellent opportunity, then when else?!

……

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh!!”

Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint both didn’t hesitate to unleash another attack when their first one failed to end the battle. Two pillars of ice and fire immediately rained down from the sky toward Gu Lianhun!

They didn’t plan on giving Gu Lianhun the chance to catch his breath. They were ready for a second joint attack!

“Damn!”

Gu Lianhun had never felt such humiliation before. Swallowing his fury as he tried to calm his soulforce, Gu Lianhun waved his right hand to cover himself in a giant whirlpool of dark-gray light.

“Boom!”

“Boom!!”

The two pillars struck against both sides of the whirlpool with enough force to nearly collapse it.

Gu Lianhun didn’t look happy that his defense worked. If anything, he was looking even more troubled. But perhaps that was because…another two pillars of energy were coming at him again!

There was another two explosions, but this time, the whirlpool protecting Gu Lianhun collapsed and dissipated away. Gu Lianhun’s face turned red as he resisted the urge to vomit blood once again.

It was maddening how much he was being forced back, but the true kicker was when…

“Bzzz…”

It happened again, something strange was happening in the air around him again. He could feel it. As a man with an affinity for both darkness and space, Gu Lianhun was especially sensitive to the changes in spatial energy. He could feel the spatial energy around him being ‘smothered’, or in other words, the area he was kneeling in was…changing!

“No!!”

His first reaction was to leave this place at once, but it was too late. He felt the world go blurry before everything around him turned kaleidoscopic in color!

This wasn’t an array, his soulsense was telling him that much. But everything around him, from left to right and up to down, was absolutely devoid of everything!

The most striking change Gu Lianhun noticed was the fact how…he wasn’t able to manipulate the elemental energy around him!

Whether it was elemental darkness or spatial energy…he wasn’t able to use it!

“This…this is the Interdimensional Phantasm! The one from the Beast Taming School!! And that…that’s the Frostfeather Saint! You are beast tamers!”

To his credit, Gu Lianhun was quick to recognize the root of what was going on around him and also what the soulbeast was in front of him. He was just confused by the implications of the two soulbeasts.

As confused as he was, Gu Lianhun didn’t have the time nor luxury to think about the whys. The characteristics of the Interdimensional Phantasm and its effects were unique and especially troublesome. It was an early-stage class eight soulbeast, yes, but not being able to manipulate elemental energy was extremely debilitating to one’s fighting prowess. Gu Lianhun was probably able to force open a path into the real world, but that was only if he was undisturbed. How could Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint possibly let him have such a luxury?

In fact, Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint had already launched another salvo of attacks at him when the Interdimensional Phantasm appeared!

He was completely trapped. The only thing he could do was grit his teeth and make use of the elemental energy made in his body to try and ward off the incoming attacks.

“Boom boom boom boom…”

For a while, the Interdimensional Phantasm was beset with an endless chain of explosions.

……

In Bai Yunfei’s eyes, his plan was a success the moment the Interdimensional Phantasm managed to bring Gu Lianhun into itself.

The first step was to have Bai Yunfei appear in this place by himself to drop Gu Lianhun’s guard. He would then show off a certain amount of his strength and use the +10 additional effect of the Soul Sentinel Scarf to reflect Gu Lianhun’s soul attack to inflict the first set of damage.

The next step was to have the Cataclysmic Seal ‘trap’ Gu Lianhun’s soulbound armament and then absorb it into itself by use of its +14 additional effect. This in turn would deepen the damage Gu Lianhun’s soul even more.

Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint would take over from here and tire out Gu Lianhun even more. Then while he was distracted, Bai Yunfei would bring out the Interdimensional Phantasm and change the battlefield.

Everything was clicking into place. An opportune time. A favorable location. A harmonious collaboration. The advantage was completely on Bai Yunfei’s side!

Not even a Mid-stage Soul Saint like Gu Lianhun would be able to escape from harm like this!

……

“The plan has finished perfectly. Now it’s up to ancestor Shen and senior Frostfeather…”

Smiling in satisfaction at the results, Bai Yunfei watched Shen Pojun and Gu Lianhun assault Gu Lianhun under a storm of attacks.

Using the effects of two extremely-powerful soul armaments to outmaneuver a Mid-stage Soul Saint left Bai Yunfei feeling especially giddy. He had been extremely nervous up until this point, but now he felt like he could finally relax.

He was no longer capable of influencing this battle. It was now his turn to watch the battle.

……

Time went by slowly in this place. Ten minutes had gone by since Bai Yunfei handed over the reins to Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint. Both of which had yet to cease their barrage of attacks.

Without hesitation and without mercy, the two were completely overwhelming Gu Lianhun!