Silence hung heavy over West Camel Peak, and with each passing moment, Hai Zongming’s patience frayed further.

“Jiang Wang,” he called out, his voice resonating with a growing frustration. “We could have resolved this peacefully. Must you make everything so… difficult?”

As the words left his lips, Hai Zongming extended both hands, palms facing upwards.

A strange sound began to echo across West Camel Peak – the murmur of tides.

Yet, there were no rivers near Camel Peak. Where did the sound of waves originate?

The tide’s whisper grew steadily clearer, fiercer, stronger. It rose from the very earth beneath their feet!

Hai Zongming, in a masterful display of his domain, communed with the hidden underground river and, through arcane secret techniques, compelled it to his will.

He had initially been reluctant to resort to such drastic measures. Disrupting the very fabric of the land so profoundly risked incurring the displeasure of powerful local figures. But his patience was spent. He could not remain here indefinitely, locked in a stalemate with Jiang Wang. This was not his territory, not his stronghold.

A prolonged standoff invited unforeseen complications.

He could no longer afford to hold back.

Fortunately, there were no major powers nestled near Camel Peak. A swift, decisive victory should prevent any serious repercussions.

The sound of the surging tide drew closer, more urgent, like a colossal earth dragon stirring, causing the mountain peak to tremble.

Finally…

A slender column of water erupted from the ground, lancing skyward!

It was like the first beat of a war drum on the battlefield, a signal for the charge of a thousand armies. The first water column’s emergence triggered the onslaught.

More and more water columns burst forth.

The entirety of West Camel Peak was transformed into a chaotic landscape of geysers!

And West Camel Peak itself began to shudder violently!

An entire subterranean river, snaking through the very veins of the earth, was forced to the surface, directly assailing the mountain’s foundations.

Hai Zongming’s intent was clear: to collapse the mountain and flood the area, temporarily transforming it into a watery wasteland. He was confident that no matter how Jiang Wang concealed his presence, he could not maintain his hidden state amidst such a cataclysm. The pervasive water would grant him an all-encompassing, unerring perception.

Indeed, Jiang Wang and Xiang Qian could no longer afford to wait.

The Illusion Garment of Concealment deceived the eyes, and Yin Guan’s methods blinded spiritual sense.

But the Illusion Garment of Concealment could not erase the user’s existence entirely.

Hai Zongming’s approach, a direct and overwhelming force, was precisely the counter to such concealment.

However, Jiang Wang had no intention of waiting any longer.

He had already confirmed the accuracy of the information, and gained a deep understanding of Hai Zongming’s strength. To wait longer was to invite the assassins from the Hell’s Gate to arrive. At that point, he would be forced to pay an exorbitant sum. That colossal sum would leave Jiang Wang penniless overnight.

Just as Hai Zongming controlled the underground river, and West Camel Peak began to crumble, a flying sword shot forth abruptly.

Its appearance was sudden, yet strangely natural.

Like a fish leaping from the sea’s surface, or moonlight falling upon the world.

It was chillingly cold, dazzlingly silver, its edge peerless, its ferocity unmatched.

It pierced through the collapsing mountain stones in an instant, appearing before Hai Zongming.

With this sword’s emergence, it was as if all else between heaven and earth faded away, all things lost, save for this single sword.

Its point aimed directly for his brow!

Hai Zongming instantly registered the sword’s presence and, with his overbearing cultivation, quickly shook off the sword momentum’s lock. Beyond the flying sword’s keen edge, he saw the sword’s master – a dishevelled, outwardly decadent man.

This did not match the description!

It wasn’t Jiang Wang!

Had this person triggered the sword array earlier? Where, then, was Jiang Wang?

Hai Zongming’s internal alarm blared at its highest intensity, yet his face betrayed nothing. His right hand opened wide, and a vortex of water formed before his palm. The core of the vortex was a patch of impenetrable darkness.

This technique was called Sea Vortex.

Vortices in the vast sea often connected to unknown places.

The technique drew its name from this very phenomenon.

In any location where the water element reached a certain density, all attacks would be deflected by this technique, dispersed by the element of “water.”

And his unleashing of the surging dark river had already fulfilled the conditions for this technique.

The flying sword plunged into the Sea Vortex, seemingly irretrievably!

Just at this moment, a youth with resolute eyes appeared behind him. The hand sign was complete, the momentum overbearing, ready to execute an assassination.

Hai Zongming abruptly spun around. “Caught you!”

His secretly accumulated Dao technique, held in reserve for this moment, erupted. Countless water droplets linked into countless shimmering threads, instantly enveloping the youth and then cutting!

Cutting him into countless segments… broken shadows?

Hai Zongming was greatly startled. Realizing the true source of the threat, he hastily turned back again.

And there, precisely as he turned, he saw Jiang Wang’s true form leap out from behind the decadent man.

As he leapt, his sword also surged forth.

This was the sword of the late sunset, tragically beautiful and irretrievable.

The moment he saw it, it had already crashed before him.

Jiang Wang had first used Xiang Qian’s sword for a frontal assault, then employed the illusions of the Red Makeup Mirror to create a diversion. These two continuous actions had served to disperse Hai Zongming’s attention, precisely to create this opportunity for his killing strike.

This opportunity was fleeting, gone in an instant, and he had undoubtedly seized it with perfect timing.

In this critical moment, Hai Zongming still managed to react. His right hand, which had been controlling the Sea Vortex, actively detached itself, only to clench tightly immediately after!

Wind rose.

It seemed like a mere wisp of light wind at first.

Yet, it was fierce, cold, and cruel, instantly transforming the environment.

Vast, endless gales of wind swept in from all directions.

This seemingly complex exchange of blows occurred within a single instant.

West Camel Peak was still collapsing, the “fountains” still surging upwards.

But as the wind swept in, those “fountains” were immediately silenced.

This technique was so overbearing! Before fully manifesting, it first cleared away other Dao techniques to create its own environment.

This was Hai Zongming’s most potent Dao technique, his trump card: Azure Nine Strikes!

The Azure Wind possessed nine strikes, capable of exterminating heaven and earth.

This technique could truly be called might unmatched.

Ordinary cultivators, caught in the midst of their most powerful killing strike, only to suddenly face this technique, would inevitably meet a tragic end.

But Jiang Wang already knew.

Moreover, the fierce Butcher, Chong Xuan Chu Liang, with the vision of a peak Divine Manifestation realm cultivator, had provided a method to counter it.

However, Jiang Wang did not follow Chong Xuan Chu Liang’s guidance, for he had a simpler method.

Man followed the sword.

A green bead appeared amidst the rampaging gales.

He had brought forth the Wind Quelling Bead!

Obtained from within the belly of that colossal, nameless sand worm in the Seven Stars Pagoda’s Hidden Star World!

This bead had a single, unshakeable purpose: to quell the wind!

It was, of course, not enough to completely dismantle Hai Zongming’s strongest Dao technique, even with their inherent elemental opposition.

But the moment it appeared, the rampaging gales paused for an instant.

The fierce and peerless Azure Nine Strikes, mid-activation, was forcibly halted for a single instant.

And in that instant.

Jiang Wang returned his sword to its sheath, yet thrust a palm forward!

Flames suddenly erupted.

The Star Fire Secret Treasury opened!

The Fire Source Totem opened!

Superimposed totem power, superimposed power of the Yu Heng Star.

His most powerful Samadhi True Fire to date, unleashed without reservation!

The flames surged towards Hai Zongming’s body, expanding then contracting in an instant.

The entire process took less than a breath.

Within that flicker, an illusion of a tidal wave briefly appeared, only to be extinguished immediately. It was so short that it seemed as if it had never existed.

That was likely Hai Zongming’s protective measure.

When the Samadhi True Fire contracted, a vast void appeared where he had stood.

There was no longer any trace of Hai Zongming, not even the blasted mountain stones.

Only white ashes fluttered down.

It was impossible to distinguish which were bone dust and which were stone powder!

Jiang Wang extended his right hand, allowing a newly gathered cluster of Samadhi True Fire to settle into his palm before drawing it back into his Inner Mansion.

West Camel Peak, at this moment, finally completed its collapse.

And at the same instant, a figure in a black robe, wearing a Yama mask, appeared in the high heavens, the moon at his back.