Chapter 496: Double Strike

Jie Ming pressed his right hand to his chest.

The entrance to his inner cave heaven quietly unfolded before him.

From within the cave heaven, a continuous stream of various materials flew out. Jie Ming’s hands moved swiftly through the air, trails of alchemical radiance flowing from his fingertips.

Under the influence of his spiritual power, the materials melted and reshaped, forming an array of intricate components covered in runes.

These components were scattered across several kilometers around him in a precise pattern—some embedded in the ground, others suspended in midair—linked together by invisible threads of energy, constructing a three-dimensional array model.

Soon the entire array was complete.

Jie Ming formed the final seal with both hands. All components flickered faintly at once before vanishing seamlessly into the environment, as though they had never existed.

Yet any sufficiently sensitive perceiver entering this area would feel an unsettling “coiled and ready to strike” pressure lingering in the space itself.

“The concealment is a bit lacking… but I never expected to fool them completely. It’s good enough.”

Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction, then hesitated as another thought crossed his mind.

He reached into his robes once more. This time, what he withdrew was not solid material but a hazy, formless wisp of iridescent mist that seemed to carry the joys and sorrows of all mortal life—the very essence of the mortal world.

This was his most precious reserve: Mortal Dust Qi.

“This is my entire stock… I really hate to use it… but if I don’t, there might not be a second chance.”

Gritting his teeth, Jie Ming steeled himself.

He took out large quantities of auxiliary materials and began constructing a second, far larger composite array around the perimeter of the first.

This array was vastly more complex, its nested layers of runes and instruments completely enveloping the previous one.

With utmost care, he placed the wisp of Mortal Dust Qi into the central array eye.

The moment the qi merged, the entire array seemed to gain a soul. Faint, almost inaudible whispers of countless mortal voices emanated from it.

Not long after the second array finished concealing itself, three figures tore through the sky from the horizon.

It was the three sixth-ring wizards.

The moment the Chaos Secret Cult heavy-armored wizard Karon stepped into the area, he sensed something off and barked sharply: “Be careful! There’s—”

Before he could finish, Jie Ming on the ground looked up and flashed a grin.

“A small courtesy…”

The words had barely left his mouth when Jie Ming slammed his right hand downward!

“…I hope you enjoy it!”

BOOM!!!

The first array fully activated.

Centered on Jie Ming, countless dark-golden array patterns blazed across dozens of kilometers of earth!

In the next instant, hundreds of precisely arranged Trigram Fire Annihilation Divine Light beams—each energy field mutually amplifying the others—erupted from every node of the array!

To prevent mutual interference, the beams did not fully overlap. Instead, they formed a carefully calculated barrage sequence that interwove in midair.

Finally they converged into a single dark-golden pillar of pure annihilation energy more than a hundred kilometers wide, tearing through the sky toward the three wizards above!

Wherever the pillar passed, space was scorched into twisted traces. Thin elemental qi evaporated completely. Even light seemed devoured—leaving only the color of death between heaven and earth.

The three sixth-ring wizards’ expressions changed drastically, but against a light-speed strike they had no time to react.

Only their emergency reactive protective artifacts managed to release a few shields before the trio was swallowed by the overwhelming dark-golden radiance.

Jie Ming stared tensely at the sky.

This was the effect of the first array he had prepared: simple and brutal. It unleashed hundreds of Trigram Fire Annihilation Divine Light beams at once, erasing everything within the array’s range.

The massive pillar before him was the result of those hundreds of beams fusing together.

Watching the three sixth-ring wizards engulfed by the dark-golden pillar, Jie Ming anxiously calculated in his mind.

To avoid interference, the hundreds of beams had been arranged in an ordered sequence rather than complete overlap.

Moreover, to maximize destructive power, Jie Ming had slightly compressed rather than spread the beams too wide—so the number of beams each sixth-ring wizard actually endured, and the intensity of damage they received, varied.

The best outcome would be the complete annihilation of all three.

Of course, Jie Ming knew that was wishful thinking.

Even caught off guard, sixth-ring wizards were not so easily eliminated.

The realistic result should be one to two dead and one to two injured.

Of course, in the worst-case scenario—if these three were particularly strong—all three might only be injured, or perhaps none at all.

Under Jie Ming’s tense gaze, the dark-golden pillar flashed and vanished.

When the three figures reappeared in the sky, Jie Ming’s expression darkened.

Luck… not good.

Though somewhat disheveled, all three still hovered there.

Not one of the three sixth-ring wizards had died.

The Tower of Annihilation wizard’s gray-white mist had thinned considerably, yet his aura remained steady.

Clearly, thanks to his profound understanding of energy annihilation, he had endured the attack head-on without even being injured—only expending some mental power.

Fortunately, the two from Chaos Secret Cult were clearly wounded.

A large section of Karon’s heavy armor on the left side had melted away, exposing charred skin beneath; his left arm hung limply. The crone’s withered wooden staff had cracked at the tip, dark-red blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her aura was disordered.

“Tower of Annihilation wizards really do have extraordinary resistance to pure energy damage…” Jie Ming silently noted. “Makes sense. They specialize in annihilation energy; their techniques for resisting and manipulating energy are exceptionally deep.”

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief: “Good—at least the other two really are injured. Light wounds, but the first step of the plan succeeded.”

High above, the three wizards’ eyes now held not only fury but a trace of lingering fear.

They had never imagined that a mere fifth-ring wizard’s array could unleash such terrifying power—nearly capsizing them in the gutter.

“This little bastard… cannot be allowed to live!” Murderous intent flashed in Karon’s eyes.

A fifth-ring capable of threatening sixth-rings—if he advanced to sixth-ring, wouldn’t Noren Workshop gain another elite sixth-ring wizard?

Even if he couldn’t advance on the battlefield right now, a fifth-ring wizard who posed such danger to their mid- and low-tier forces was already a major threat!

Ignoring the searing pain in his left arm, black rune-like patterns surged across his body, converging in his right hand to form a dark spear of pure curse energy. He drew back to throw.

At the same moment, the injured crone and the Tower of Annihilation wizard reached the same conclusion and raised their hands without hesitation to cast.

But the instant their movements began…

On the ground, Jie Ming activated the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror once more.

“See you later!”

Rainbow light flared. Jie Ming’s form dissolved into light again and streaked toward the distant horizon!

“Trying to run?!” The Tower of Annihilation wizard roared. Mist roiled around him as he prepared to pursue.

However, in that same instant, the two injured Chaos Secret Cult wizards both stiffened.

“Something’s wrong… this wound…” The crone was the first to notice the anomaly.

What emanated from her wound was not pure pain but a strange, warm current that seemed to promote healing.

Yet within that gentle warmth lurked a terror that shook her soul to its core.

“No! It’s a trap!!” The crone’s pupils contracted sharply as she screamed.

But it was already too late.

What had seeped into their wounds was precisely the Mortal Dust Qi Jie Ming had deployed earlier.

The effect of his second array was very simple—not offensive, but a healing array designed to accelerate recovery.

However, Jie Ming had added a little “extra ingredient” to the healing process.

As the two wizards instinctively began mending their injuries, the Mortal Dust Qi silently rode the healing power and entered their bodies.

Now, the moment they tried to pursue and mobilized their mental power…

The Mortal Dust Qi detonated.

“Ugh…”

Karon and the crone let out short, stifled grunts. The light in their eyes dimmed abruptly like candles snuffed by wind.

Their energy fluctuations plummeted. Like puppets with cut strings, both plummeted straight down from the sky, crashing heavily to the ground and falling silent.

The Tower of Annihilation wizard halted his pursuit in horror and dropped beside them.

He quickly examined them; his expression grew uglier by the second.

They were still alive, but their souls had been polluted by some unknown force, turning turbid and falling into deep coma.

If not for the inherent resilience of sixth-ring souls, that single instant would have been enough to shatter them completely.

“What a vicious method…” he muttered, deep wariness filling his eyes.

This Noren Workshop fifth-ring wizard was not only technically powerful—his meticulous scheming far surpassed the norm.

He immediately sent an emergency message via terminal to the main base, briefly explaining the situation and requesting reinforcements.

Then he laid multiple layers of protective and concealing barriers around his two unconscious comrades to ensure no other enemies could harm them.

After finishing, he turned to Karon’s charred, limp left arm. Resolve flashed in his eyes.

Swoosh!

Gray-white mist condensed into a blade and slashed downward!

Karon’s left arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder.

The Tower of Annihilation wizard seized the severed arm and chanted an obscure incantation, forcibly extracting the lingering trace of Karon’s life aura and mental imprint from it and injecting it into the gradually fading “shadow hound” that had lost its master.

The shadow hound’s form immediately solidified again. Its head turned toward the direction Jie Ming had fled and let out a bloodthirsty low growl.

“Pursue!” The Tower of Annihilation wizard barked coldly. His figure transformed into gray-white flowing light as he followed closely behind the shadow hound.

In his heart, Jie Ming’s threat level had now been raised to the absolute maximum.

He must be eliminated at any cost!