Before his words even fell, Xuan Chengzi no longer bothered to argue.
The old man’s figure flickered and appeared beside Dustin. His thin, bony palm pressed lightly against Dustin’s back.
A stream of pure, gentle, and endlessly vital azure energy poured continuously into Dustin’s nearly exhausted body, like a mountain spring flowing into a dry riverbed.
This spiritual power, belonging to the same Daoist lineage as Dustin’s Xuanqing True Qi, was even older and more refined. It not only rapidly repaired his injuries but also nourished his depleted essence.
“Young friend, steady your mind — I’ll help you recover,” Xuan Chengzi said quietly.
A warm current surged through Dustin’s limbs and bones. The hidden injuries and soul-tearing pain caused by resisting Ao Kun’s golden fire and metal arts were healing at a startling speed.
The exhaustion from consecutive battles vanished; his depleted energy was swiftly replenished. Within mere breaths, his condition had recovered by more than seventy percent.
He was shocked — this robed elder’s cultivation was truly unfathomable!
“Many thanks for your aid, senior!” Dustin said sincerely.
This scene completely enraged Ao Kun.
In his eyes, Xuan Chengzi’s act was blatant defiance — and betrayal!
“Good! Very good! Since you’re all so eager to die, I’ll send you all to the same end!”
Furious beyond restraint, Ao Kun stopped wasting words. Dark-gold and platinum radiance erupted from his body, merging into a pillar of annihilating light that pierced the ceiling.
Both of his hands thrust forward.
“Golden Fire Purgatory — Return of All Laws to the Void!”
Rumble—!
The entire Penglai Immortal Palace trembled violently.
Centered on Ao Kun, waves of dark-golden divine fire and blinding platinum energy swept outward like a cataclysmic tsunami.
Where the flames passed, jade melted, metal liquefied. Platinum currents sliced through beams and walls; pillars collapsed and shattered.
The opulent wine pool evaporated in an instant, the pleasure garden turned to charred ash, and countless men and women enjoying their revels vanished in the inferno without even a scream.
The grand hall seemed ready to collapse and vanish completely beneath that single strike!
“Together!”
Xuan Chengzi shouted. His whisk flicked, and thousands of silver threads flared into a soft, misty brilliance, forming an enormous Taiji diagram in front of them. It blocked the torrent of destructive golden fire, holding firm.
The Taiji diagram rotated slowly, yin and yang cycling endlessly, dissolving and neutralizing the wild golden fire as it came.
The child stopped joking, his little face now solemn. Forming hand seals, he chanted under his breath.
The white jade floor beneath him softened and swelled upward, forming a massive, earthen-yellow wall — the Shield of the Earth — reinforcing the Taiji diagram and absorbing the shockwaves that escaped it.
Dustin wasted no time. With most of his true qi restored, his sword blazed with a sharp, clear cry.
Man and sword became one — a streak of azure lightning tearing through purgatory. Instead of striking head-on, he followed the narrow opening Xuan Chengzi’s Taiji diagram had created, slicing through the chaos like a butcher’s blade through flesh, driving straight toward Ao Kun himself.
At the sword’s tip condensed his entire understanding of the sword path — a single, ultimate gleam sharp enough to pierce all illusion.
“One Sword — To Banish Evil!”
Ao Kun hadn’t expected such perfect coordination between the three. Offense and defense moved as one.
He roared, forced to divide his focus. His left hand gathered platinum energy into a massive shield, his right commanded divine fire into several blazing dragons that coiled toward Dustin.
Clang! Boom!
Sword and shield collided with a shrieking ring.
Flames and sword aura clashed, detonating into waves of scorching firelight.
The four combatants erupted into full battle.
Xuan Chengzi anchored their defense — his Taiji diagram stood immovable, dissolving Ao Kun’s sweeping assaults. The child supported from behind, his earth spells forming walls and spikes to hinder Ao Kun’s movements. Dustin led the offense — his sword like lightning, his body a whirlwind, relentlessly probing for weakness and striking with deadly precision.
Golden radiance split the air, firelight burned the heavens, azure qi surged, and the ground roared beneath them.
The entire Penglai Palace became their battlefield. The grand structures crumbled at visible speed. The jade dome split open under the force of their powers, revealing a sky swirling with ominous energy. Pillars toppled one by one; the floor cracked into deep chasms as if struck by a great earthquake.
Margaret had already retreated to the farthest corner, using the remnants of a broken formation to barely shield herself. She watched the battle in stunned awe, her heart overwhelmed with shock.
So this was true celestial power — the might of beings beyond the mortal world, who could shatter mountains and overturn palaces with a gesture.
Ao Kun, though immensely powerful and skilled in both fire and metal, was steadily being pressed down by the trio’s flawless coordination.
Xuan Chengzi’s defense rendered most of his attacks useless. The child’s disruptions kept him from focusing fully, and Dustin’s deadly, unpredictable sword strikes forced him to stay constantly on guard.
Cracks split his black war robe; dark-golden blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. His once boundless aura was now clearly fading — he was being overwhelmed.
“Damn you! You insects dare wound me?!”
Ao Kun roared in fury, his eyes burning with madness and rage.
He unleashed a massive surge of golden fire, forcing the three back for a moment. His figure staggered, face dark with rage and humiliation.
The three formed a triangle around him, their energy linked in harmony, trapping Ao Kun at the center.
Though all had spent much of their strength, their momentum only grew.
Ao Kun was faltering — the balance of victory had begun to tip. - Ao Kun
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