“Deactivate the Primordial Yellow River Formation, don’t let her absorb more power and break the seal!” Nocturne shouted.
“But if we shut down the formation, she’ll escape,” one of the disciples warned.
“We don’t have time for that! Quickly, retract the Primordial Yellow River Diagram!” Nocturne ordered.
The disciple holding the diagram raised his hands, golden spirit power flowing as he grabbed the glowing scroll spinning in midair, trying to pull it back.
The Evil Spirit Kui, seeing this, lunged toward him.
“Stop her!” Nocturne barked.
He rushed forward to block her path, while the other four maintained their Four Symbols stances, their combined power surging once again.
Thunder roared across the heavens as the divine beasts’ energies intertwined, surrounding her.
At that instant, the Evil Kui suddenly threw her head back and let out a piercing roar.
A wave of holy light burst from her body.
“Not good!” Nocturne shouted immediately, his face paling. “It’s Heaven’s Lamentation!”
But it was already too late. The sound rippled through the air like a stone dropped into still water, sending shockwaves and ripples across space itself.
Everyone’s souls trembled; their minds went blank for an instant.
It lasted only a few seconds, but that brief delay was enough.
The disciple holding the Yellow River Diagram was struck by her tail and sent flying, blood spraying as he fell, completely defenseless against the blow.
Seeing the young man’s body crash to the ground, Nocturne cried out. But he had no time to check on his disciple, the Evil Kui’s self-destruction was already at its limit and could no longer be stopped.
“If there’s another life after this,” the Evil Kui screamed, “then that coward Kui will be my first prey! I will not accept this fate!”
As her voice echoed, the light around her grew unbearably bright. The power of her self-detonation reached its peak.
“Lord Xu, please do something!” Jiang Mozi cried from below, his voice filled with panic as he looked to Xu Zimo for help.
“Relax,” Xu Zimo said with a small smile. “She can’t blow herself up.”
He looked up toward a corner of the sky.
At first glance, it seemed normal. But upon closer inspection, there was a faint, shadowy darkness cast across the heavens, like something immense was blocking the sun.
As the explosion began, a pair of enormous black hands descended from the sky.
The hands looked as though they were carved from dark jade, smooth, translucent, and radiant, every line and vein upon them visible.
They carried an irresistible power, sweeping downward and enveloping the entire area around the Evil Kui.
In the next moment, time reversed. The flow of heaven and earth bent backward.
That entire fragment of space began to rewind.
The explosion reversed itself, the blinding light dimmed, the chaos receded, and the Evil Kui’s energy quieted completely.
“This… this is…” Jiang Mozi stammered, too shocked to form words.
Even though the true body was unseen, the power radiating from just those hands was enough to make one’s soul tremble.
“It’s Kui,” Xu Zimo said casually, stretching lazily. “You guessed right. Think about it, if your life were at stake, would you really entrust it to someone else?”
From the moment the formation was activated and the Ghost God Collegium descended, Xu Zimo had sensed a hidden, overwhelming presence watching from afar.
If Nocturne and the others succeeded, all the better.
If not, then the real Kui would certainly intervene.
After all, the Kui and his Evil Spirit were one. How could he possibly stand by and let his other half perish?
Jiang Mozi turned to Xu Zimo, realization dawning on his face.
He had been too naive.
“At the very least, that Ghost God is a Saint Sovereign,” Paimon’s voice echoed from the God World.
“Saint Sovereign or not,” Red-Blade Bull Demon snorted, “if he dares offend our Lord, I’ll rip him to pieces all the same.”
Xu Zimo chuckled. Above, the giant black jade hands twisted reality itself, reversing the explosion.
The Evil Kui’s self-destruction failed completely.
“Kui! You dare show yourself!” the Evil Kui howled, her voice laced with rage.
“What’s wrong? Too ashamed to face me after your cowardice?”
But the true Kui said nothing.
The massive hand simply swept over everything, wrapping around the Evil Kui’s body.
With a single motion, both vanished from the world.
“I’ll take her with me,” a deep, ethereal voice said. “You all may return and report.”
“Yes, Lord Kui!” the others shouted, immediately kneeling in reverence.
As the presence faded, Xu Zimo thought, for a moment, it looked directly at him before disappearing.
But that fleeting connection was so subtle, he couldn’t be sure.
When the hand vanished, Nocturne and the others descended back to the ground.
Kongde, the injured disciple, was being supported by two of his companions, his condition dire.
“Lord Nocturne,” Jiang Mozi said quickly, bowing as the group approached.
“Pathetic,” Nocturne snorted coldly.
“Yes, yes…” Jiang Mozi lowered his head even further, not daring to argue.
“The Celestial Sage Academy no longer has a reason to exist,” Nocturne said curtly. “Count how many disciples remain. Those who wish to leave, let them leave. The rest will return with us to the Ghost God Collegium.”
Though his tone was cold, Nocturne still showed a trace of responsibility, he wasn’t abandoning them outright.
Jiang Mozi nodded quickly, then pointed toward Xu Zimo and his companion.
“Lord Nocturne, if not for these two, we never could’ve contained the Evil Spirit. I wouldn’t have even been able to contact the Academy. I promised them they could accompany us to the Ghost God Heaven.”
“The Ghost God Collegium’s affairs don’t require outsiders,” Nocturne replied flatly.
“If you didn’t let outsiders help,” Xu Zimo countered, “you wouldn’t have handled it at all.”
Nocturne’s eyes narrowed sharply, his stare fixed on Xu Zimo.
After a tense silence, he finally said, “Very well then. Bring them along.”
With that, he turned and swept his sleeve, leaving without another word.
“Sigh… you shouldn’t have spoken up,” Jiang Mozi said quietly.
“Why not?” Xu Zimo asked.
“Lord Nocturne’s status in the Ghost God Collegium is extremely high. Offending him is unwise,” Jiang Mozi explained. “If he says something, just let him. It’s not worth the trouble.”
“You think he’ll try to take revenge?” Xu Zimo asked with a grin.
“Even if he won’t, his students might,” Jiang Mozi said simply, unwilling to elaborate.
Xu Zimo smiled faintly, patting Jiang Mozi’s shoulder.
“That’s why Celestial Sage Academy fell into ruin, you spent too much time kneeling and worrying about the opinions of nobodies.”
“I…” Jiang Mozi started to speak, but the words died in his throat.
The formation wall of Celestial Sage Academy had been damaged.
It was the same wall Nocturne and his group used to descend.
Now, to return to the Ghost God Heaven, it would need to be repaired.
That wasn’t Xu Zimo’s concern, the Ghost God Collegium would handle it. It would just take some time.
While they worked, Xu Zimo found a quiet spot and let his consciousness return to the God World.
By now, Chaos had already left the Western Mountains and begun wreaking havoc across the Northern Frontier.