Chapter 393: Engagement and Capture

After a brief exchange, Jie Ming and Anya swiftly reached a consensus.

The predicament looked daunting, but when broken down it consisted of only two parts: the sixth-ring light-lord at the core, and the vast legion of lesser light-elementals beneath it.

“I came here for technical exchange, so I only brought limited combat units,” Jie Ming mused inwardly. “There are just the two Black Giant Priests stationed in my inner space. But that should be enough for the primary target.”

After all, Black Giant Priests were mutated sixth-ring existences by birth, possessing high intelligence and exclusive abilities.

Two priests working together had an extremely high chance of subduing a freshly ascended, still-unstable sixth-ring elemental alive.

The difficulty lay in creating an undisturbed “one-on-one” arena for them.

After hearing Jie Ming’s summary of his combat strength, Anya quickly grasped the plan even as surprise flickered in her eyes.

“Then our job is to clear the field and provide cover,” Anya said calmly. “Hold back the fodder and prevent them from interfering with those… Black Giant Priests. Also…”

She paused, then added, “If possible, we should try to take as many ordinary light-elementals alive as we can. Grandmother Starfall will definitely want to study their group behavior and social structure.”

“Agreed,” Jie Ming replied. “You cut in from the outside, create chaos, and draw away part of their forces. Hold on a moment. I’ll first create a ‘signal’ inside to pin the core target’s attention firmly on me, so it doesn’t detect your approach and ambush you right away.”

“Understood. I’ve reached the upper fissures and am ready. Waiting for your signal,” Anya answered.

As for what the signal would be…

Jie Ming’s gaze pierced the phase-space barrier, locking onto the radiant, energy-swirling sixth-ring light-lord below.

It was still frantically searching for traces of the earlier “intruder,” sweeping the cavern like a searchlight, vigilance maxed.

Now!

The instant one search sweep ended, Jie Ming’s eyes sharpened. His figure within phase space abruptly launched!

Massive computational data flooded his mind. With the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror sharing the burden, Jie Ming pushed Phase Shift speed to its absolute limit.

He became a streak imperceptible to the naked eye, hurtling straight toward the light-lord’s core!

Under Phase Shift, he existed on a different spatial layer from the prime material and could theoretically pass through any solid object.

Yet phase space was merely a temporary simulated space mirroring the real one; in theory, the “shape” of both spaces aligned perfectly.

The moment his phantom trajectory completely overlapped with the light-lord’s terror-energy-laden “body” in spatial coordinates—

BZZZT!!!!!

A violent spatial rejection erupted!

The light-lord was no mere pile of energy. Its core carried the spiritual laws imprinted during ignition and the newly acquired sixth-ring life tier, creating a stabilizing and “tagged” effect on the surrounding space.

Jie Ming’s high-speed close-range phase penetration was like trying to force a thin veil through a sphere of scorching, viscous lava; it triggered ferocious friction and turbulence between spatial layers.

A piercing crack—inaudible to ears but screaming through spatial perception—rang in Jie Ming’s mind as the feedback of tortured space.

The temporary phase space he had constructed collapsed the instant it intersected the light-lord’s entity, unable to withstand the “difference” from true space!

Jie Ming was forcibly ejected back into the prime material plane, reappearing just behind the light-lord.

And in the exact instant the collapsing phase space fused back with reality, the unreconcilable shearing force generated by the merging layers detonated along the path Jie Ming had taken!

Spatial Slash!

A pitch-black, silent fissure that devoured even light itself appeared across the light-lord’s “waist.”

The rift flashed and vanished, but the damage was unmistakable: the colossal radiant body was cleanly bisected into upper and lower halves!

At the severed surfaces, light and energy gushed out in chaotic torrents.

“ROOAAARRR!!!!!”

A heaven-shaking spiritual roar swept the entire cavern—not sound, but pure soul impact.

It was filled with pain, fury, and disbelief.

The light-lord’s radiance flickered violently. The two halves rapidly drew together, countless luminous threads extending from the wounds in an attempt to rejoin.

Elemental beings were resilient; such physical bisection was not fatal.

As long as the core and energy supply remained intact, they could regenerate swiftly.

Yet this sudden grievous injury completely disrupted its rhythm, inflicting immense pain and energy loss.

With one ruthless, precise strike, Jie Ming had instantly maxed out the aggro of both the light-lord and its entire legion!

Every light-elemental’s attention locked onto this suddenly revealed “ugly flesh-monster” that had gravely wounded their king!

“Now!”

Anya’s eyes flashed; she instantly recognized Jie Ming’s promised signal.

Almost simultaneously with the light-lord’s roar, shadows on the cavern’s upper wall boiled!

Anya’s figure emerged like a wraith. Without pause, she spread her arms, and dense natural spirit light exploded from her body!

“Heed my call, my companions!”

With her clear chant, countless nature spirits surged forth: lightning-fast thunder sprites, immovable stone guardians, coiling vine spirits, explosively burning fire elementals…

Like soldiers answering a battle order, they howled downward, crashing into the restless light-elemental army that was preparing to swarm Jie Ming.

Massive elemental collisions detonated in chains of explosions and radiant splashes.

The light legion’s formation was instantly thrown into disarray, relieving the pressure about to descend on Jie Ming.

And in the moment the light-lord—blinded by pain and rage—locked most of its energy and attention on Jie Ming, preparing a thunderous counterattack,

two pitch-black, gaunt figures condensed from deepest shadow silently appeared on either side of the light-lord.

Standing barely two meters tall—tiny compared to the colossal light-lord—their bodies were coated in flowing liquid black metal that devoured all surrounding light. Only their eye sockets glimmered with cold, rational spirit light.

The Black Giant Priests had arrived.

No roars, no oppressive aura.

Yet their mere presence caused the light-lord’s furious spiritual fluctuations to stutter, as if doused with ice water.

An instinctual terror of a higher-tier predator, mingled with the eerie “hunger” radiating from the priests (the Black Giants’ insatiable thirst for energy).

The light-lord instantly realized: the true mortal threat had come!

There was no room for words. Battle erupted!

The light-lord abandoned its pursuit of Jie Ming. Radiance exploded outward as countless ultra-condensed searing beams and shockwaves bombarded the two priests.

The Black Giant Priests displayed speed and coordination utterly disproportionate to their size.

One met the barrage head-on, its surface of black liquid surging like a bottomless abyss, swallowing the incoming energy attacks.

The other melted into the flickering shadows of light and dark, striking opportunistically—each flash leaving strange draining wounds that accelerated the light-lord’s energy loss.

In the blink of an eye, the core battlefield was cleared by the shockwaves of sixth-ring combat.

Jie Ming seized the chance to Phase Shift a short distance away, escaping the most dangerous zone and appearing beside Anya.

“Nice coordination,” Anya remarked mid-battle, her hands never slowing.

She was directing her nature-spirit army against the light legion yet refrained from using her signature life-force siphoning technique.

“Your move isn’t great against crowds?” Jie Ming asked, noticing the pattern.

“Mm,” Anya confirmed, smashing a fourth-ring light-elemental that tried to ambush her, sending it flying with scattered radiance. “When too many lives gather, their life-force fields interfere and stack, forming a ‘torrent.’ My attraction gets diluted or washed away, making it hard to target individuals precisely. It actually costs more energy that way.”

As she spoke, she lashed out with two lightning kicks, blasting several more light-elementals apart.

Only now did Jie Ming have the chance to truly observe Anya’s fighting style: pure close-quarters brutality.

This seemingly delicate silver-haired girl was currently a humanoid beast of destruction!

Every punch and kick was concise, explosive, and perfectly accurate.

Even more terrifying, her strikes seemed to directly destabilize the target’s energy core and life structure.

Light-elementals she hit didn’t just lose energy; their life auras plummeted, as if their spiritual-energy bond had been shattered from within.

Her physical body had clearly undergone some unfathomable tempering; even direct energy impacts only caused faint natural spirit-light shields to ripple across her skin.

Jie Ming quickly understood.

A wizard born with ultimate affinity and dominion over life force and nature spirits—how could her flesh possibly be fragile?

Abundant life force itself was the finest quenching agent and energy source. Their bodies were often the deepest, most immeasurable part of their power system—the ultimate fortress bearing all talents and sorceries.

“Guess I don’t need to hold back either,” Jie Ming smiled, turning toward the tidal wave of light-elementals trying to breach the nature-spirit line.

He inhaled deeply, hands tracing empty arcs before him as spatial energy began to ripple violently.

“Perfect chance to test this in real combat.”

He wrenched his hands apart!

Spatial Distortion—small-scale release!

HUM!

Within a hundred-meter radius in front of Jie Ming, space was seized and viciously twisted by an invisible giant hand!

Light warped, scenery deformed. The light-elementals caught inside emitted piercing spiritual shrieks.

Those in the central dozen-meter radius were instantly shredded by berserk spatial forces, torn into fragments.

Radiance extinguished, spirituality annihilated.

Those at the edges suffered varying degrees of distortion damage—half a body ripped away, energy circuits severed.

Most lost all combat ability, falling dimly to the ground with only faint life fluctuations remaining.

One strike had killed or crippled thousands with terrifying efficiency.

“Your spatial research is coming along nicely,” Anya commented with a glance.

“Still getting used to it,” Jie Ming replied modestly, already locking onto the next dense cluster and unleashing Spatial Distortion again and again.

He deliberately controlled range and intensity—not for maximum slaughter, but to neutralize combat capability.

At the same time, he fine-tuned the spell model in live combat, improving resistance to the complex energy environment’s spatial interference and making Spatial Distortion more stable and controllable.

Anya did the same: her nature-spirit army and personal melee attacks focused on disabling, wounding, and disarming rather than outright killing. True deaths were the minority.

For a time the cavern flashed with chaotic light and energy. Nature spirits roared; light-elementals shrieked spiritually.

But the tide of battle rapidly turned.

As Jie Ming and Anya efficiently “disarmed” the light legion, and the two Black Giant Priests completely suppressed the light-lord, victory tilted decisively toward the wizards.

The light-lord fought desperately, even attempting to detonate its core and take its enemies with it.

Yet the priests’ combat intelligence was extraordinary.

The instant its energy began compressing inward for self-destruction, the two priests—perfectly in sync—blurred forward. Four palms covered in liquid black metal slammed simultaneously onto the blazing core!

Energy Drain · Full Power!

Terrifying suction erupted!

The light-lord’s runaway energy surged uncontrollably into the priests like a breached dam.

Its self-destruct sequence was forcibly interrupted, turning into a feast that fueled its enemies.

Radiance rapidly dimmed, size shrank drastically, until only a fist-sized, flickering, weakened light-nucleus remained.

One priest carefully enveloped the barely conscious core in a stable containment field.

With their lord captured and unconscious, the remaining light legion’s morale shattered completely.

Some tried to flee, some stood frozen, some emitted waves of despair.

Jie Ming and Anya accelerated their cleanup, soon neutralizing or restraining every light-elemental still capable of movement.

The once-deafening subterranean cavern gradually fell silent.

Only the lingering hum of residual energy and the dim, star-fallen “prisoners” scattered across the ground remained.

Mission accomplished.