However, just as Sheldon turned to flee, ready to activate a life-saving secret art that would burn his own nascence, an aged, hoarse voice rang out. It sounded like bones grinding against one another, carrying a chilling cold that sent shivers down the spine.
“Leaving in such a hurry, Mr. Soulsby?” The voice came from deep within the ranks of the Infinite Soul Demon Sect, from the pitch-black war carriage that had remained silent all this time, drawn by nine skeletal demon dragons.
Without any wind, the curtain of the carriage slowly lifted. A hunched, gaunt figure, so frail it seemed a gust could knock him over, emerged step by step, leaning on a ghastly white bone staff.
His entire body was shrouded in a voluminous black robe, his features hidden from view. Only a pair of eyes burning with eerie green flames was visible. Those green flames flickered, as if capable of scorching the soul itself.
With his appearance, the surrounding temperature plummeted. Even the air seemed to freeze as an overwhelming aura of death and decay spread outward, thick enough to suffocate.
It was the Supreme Elder of the Infinite Soul Demon Sect, Mordain Frostgrave, a true demonic colossus who had lived for countless ages, and whose cultivation had reached Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Seven.
He was also Infinite Soul Demon Sect’s final trump card and pillar of strength.
At the sight of Mordain, the Demon Sect disciples, who had been on the brink of collapse, seemed to grasp their last lifeline. A glimmer of hope reignited in their eyes.
Sheldon, as if clutching at the last straw, hurried to Mordain‘s side, his voice trembling with grievance and venomous hatred.
“Elder Frostgrave, you’re finally taking action! This brat is utterly wicked! He brutally slaughtered multiple elders of our sect! I beg you, Elder Frostgrave, suppress him and avenge our fallen elders and disciples!”
Mordain did not spare Sheldon a glance. His ghostly green-flamed eyes locked onto Jared in mid-air like a venomous serpent, scrutinizing him from head to toe as though trying to peel away every secret.
After a long moment, his rasping, grating voice slowly rang out, filled with unconcealed contempt and icy malice.
“Young man, your methods are vicious and bizarre. Who knows what disgraceful inheritance you picked up in some backwater corner, yet you dare swagger about here, slaughtering members of my Infinite Soul Demon Sect? You’re merely at Human Immortal Realm Level Nine… How dare you act all high and mighty with such a hollow and unstable foundation? Do you truly think I cannot see through your tricks?”
He scoffed.
“Kneel! Hand over your inheritance and magical items. Cripple your own cultivation. Perhaps, in consideration of the difficulty of your path, I may spare you a remnant soul and send you into reincarnation. Otherwise, I will let you taste what true soul-stripping and spirit-refining means—eternal damnation, never to be reborn!”
Mordain’s words swept across the battlefield like a frigid wind from the netherworld, making countless hearts quake.
The naked greed and cruelty in his tone sent chills through all who heard it.
At last, Jared looked directly at the Supreme Elder of the Infinite Soul Demon Sect for the first time.
His gaze remained calm. It lingered for only a brief moment on the dense aura of death and decay surrounding Mordain before a faint curve, colder than ten thousand years of black ice, appeared at the corner of his lips.
“How are you so old and still so devoid of morals?” Jared said slowly, his voice quiet yet clearly audible to all. “You’re already reeking of rot and have one foot in the grave. Yet you still dare spew such nonsense? You want to see the true extent of my powers, huh?”
With that, Jared raised the Dragonslayer Sword in his hand, the tip pointing directly at Mordain. “Very well then. You can see, but in exchange, I want your life.”
The instant the words fell, Jared moved.
There was no overwhelming momentum and no charging of power. He simply thrust his sword toward Mordain’s direction, yet this sword strike was unlike any before.
As soon as the blade moved, the ultimate energy that Jared had kept restrained erupted violently. Behind him, the phantom of the Chaotic Fire Lotus became clearer than ever, slowly rotating as it scattered billions of rays of chaotic radiance.
The Dragonslayer Sword in his hand finally unleashed its own true edge, an unparalleled sharpness that seemed capable of severing star rivers and slaughtering true dragons.
From the sword tip burst forth an extremely condensed sword energy, as though it had devoured all light and color, leaving behind only the purest essence of chaos and annihilation.
At its inception, the sword energy was no thicker than a thumb. Yet the moment it left the blade, it crossed space itself, ignoring time and law, appearing directly before Mordain’s brow.
It was indescribably fast, as if the sword had always been meant to be there. More importantly, it was also indescribably strong!
Wherever the sword energy passed, space itself silently collapsed, leaving behind a pitch-black scar that refused to heal. Within it, earth, water, fire, and wind replayed their cycles while stars were born and destroyed anew.
Mordain’s green-flamed eyes shrank to pinpoints at the instant the sword energy appeared. Needless to say, he had felt it.
It was a supremely destructive sword intent that made even his soul tremble, and within it, the aura of the Chaotic True Flame, as if capable of burning away the deathly demonic essence he had cultivated for tens of thousands of years.
Jared’s power was staggering!
