357: Xuanzun presiding over

Zhou Yan's voice was raspy, carrying a bone-chilling coldness and a sense of absolute control.

His powerful Divine Sense, like an invisible giant net, instantly locked onto the source of the four thunderous strikes—four massive pieces of Ore that had been buried in advance and inscribed with Thunder-Attracting Explosion Talismans! There was no one there at all!

"Trying to lure this old man away with such a clumsy diversion? Naive!"

The corners of Zhou Yan's mouth curled into a cruel arc.

His Domain perception told him that the auras of those two little bugs were rapidly approaching the core warehouse from beneath the fortress—from the direction of the surging Awakening of Insects River!

"Rats will always be rats! Only good for burrowing!"

Zhou Yan's withered body, like a weightless ghost, instantly vanished from the spot!

His speed was so great that he left a faint afterimage behind!

He completely ignored the chaos caused by the four thunderous strikes, his target clear: he lunged straight for the secret drainage outlet beneath the fortress that connected to the Awakening of Insects River!

In the surging waters of the Awakening of Insects River, two figures wrapped in pale purple thunder light shields swam upstream like two nimble fish, rapidly rushing toward a drainage outlet at the base of the fortress hidden by the turbulent current.

It was Di Jingzhe and Feng Linger!

Di Jingzhe was in the lead, Zixiao Divine Thunder condensing at his fingertips, ready to break open the drainage outlet in one go.

Feng Linger followed closely behind, her ancient zither floating before her, hands poised over the strings, ready to use melody to interfere with any guards that might appear.

The plan was clear: use the four Talisman thunders to create chaos and draw attention and potential Formation counterattacks from the front.

Meanwhile, they would use the speed of the Wings of Thunder and the Thunder Spirit Body's affinity for lightning to break in through the underwater drainage outlet, which had relatively weak defenses and the natural barrier of the current!

As long as they were fast!

Before the powerhouse holding the fort could react, they would break into the warehouse, use the Zixiao Divine Thunder to detonate the thunder-attribute spiritual materials stockpiled inside, and then flee far away!

However, just as the purple lightning at Di Jingzhe's fingertips was about to touch the drainage outlet!

An indescribable, terrifying pressure descended instantly, like the depths of a ten-thousand-fathom sea!

The surrounding surging river water seemed to instantly freeze into ten-thousand-year-old profound ice!

The thunder light shields around Di Jingzhe and Feng Linger let out overwhelmed groans, flickering violently as they neared the point of shattering!

The flow of Spiritual Qi within their bodies instantly became incredibly sluggish, as if they had fallen into the thickest mire!

"Little rats... I've finally caught you!" A raspy, cold voice, like a snake's hiss, echoed directly in the depths of their Souls!

Di Jingzhe's pupils constricted abruptly!

A sense of fatal crisis stabbed into his spine like an ice pick!

Without a second thought, he shoved Feng Linger behind him while the Zixiao Divine Thunder in his Dantian erupted with all its power!

"Wings of Thunder!"

Deep purple thunder light instantly condensed into a pair of magnificent and violent wings behind his back, which he flapped forcefully!

He attempted to break free from this terrifying Domain suppression!

"Trying to leave? Stay here for this old man!"

Zhou Yan's figure appeared outside the drainage outlet like a ghost. He reached out with a withered palm, ignoring the turbulent river water, and spread his fingers, clawing down toward Di Jingzhe's head!

This clawing motion seemed slow, yet it contained a profound trajectory, sealing off all space for evasion in every direction!

Within his palm, a gray thunder ball, deep as a black hole and radiating an aura of annihilation and yin coldness, instantly condensed!

Heaven-Grade Medium Grade Martial Skill—Profound Yin Soul-Suppressing Palm!

As the palm struck, the power of the Yin Thunder Death Domain was pushed to its limit!

Di Jingzhe felt the space around him completely solidify, and even his thoughts became incredibly sluggish. The gray thunder ball enlarged rapidly in his eyes, and the shadow of death instantly enveloped him!

A strike from a Profound Venerable was absolutely not something the Purple Mansion Realm could withstand!

"Jingzhe!" Feng Linger, having been pushed away, saw this scene and felt her heart rending!

She recklessly channeled her ancient zither, her hands plucking the strings frantically!

"Zheng! Zheng zheng zheng—!"

A sharp, explosive sound rang out, like the clashing of weapons or the wailing of ten thousand ghosts!

Blades of pale silver sound waves, condensed as if solid, tore through the frozen river water. Carrying the power to pierce the Divine Soul, they shot fiercely toward Zhou Yan's head and heart!

This was her strongest sonic attack, launched by channeling the ancient zither's Origin power regardless of the backlash!

"An ant trying to shake a tree!"

Zhou Yan snorted coldly, not even bothering to look back.

The Yin Thunder Death Domain around him flowed naturally. The sound wave blades, which were enough to make a Heaven-Reaching Realm Divine Soul collapse, hit the Domain and were like mud entering the sea; their speed plummeted, their power was weakened layer by layer, and finally, three feet from his body, they dissipated soundlessly, failing to move even a single hair of his!

Absolute suppression of Realm!

The Profound Venerable Domain is impervious to all techniques!

He hadn't expected a Venerable to be holding the fort here!

Zhou Yan's withered claw, carrying that gray thunder ball of annihilation, had already descended upon Di Jingzhe's head!

Purple lightning surged in Di Jingzhe's eyes as he frantically channeled the Zixiao Divine Thunder. The Awakening Thunder Sword erupted with unprecedented light, attempting a final struggle!

"Die!"

A cruel sense of pleasure flashed in Zhou Yan's eyes, as if he could already see the scene of this junior, who had repeatedly humiliated the Zhou Family, turning into fly ash under his palm!

At the critical moment!

Just as that gray thunder ball was about to touch the tips of Di Jingzhe's hair!

A sudden change occurred!

Behind Zhou Yan, a hand reached out soundlessly!

This hand was broad and steady, containing an unspeakable sense of power.

It carried no world-shaking momentum, no brilliant light, and didn't even cause any reaction from the surrounding Yin Thunder Death Domain.

It simply reached out in an ordinary fashion, fingers spread, and lightly pressed against the center of Zhou Yan's back, as if brushing away a fallen leaf.

The cruel pleasure on Zhou Yan's face instantly froze, replaced by boundless horror and disbelief!

He couldn't feel any Spiritual Qi impact, nor any Law fluctuations. What came from that hand was only a pure, absolute power!

Poof—!

A muffled sound, like a ripe watermelon being smashed.

Zhou Yan's skinny chest, centered on where the palm had pressed, suddenly collapsed inward!

His entire back strangely protruded forward!

The layer of Protective Aura on his body, condensed from Profound Yin Death Thunder and capable of withstanding attacks from those of the same rank, was like paper; it couldn't block it for even a thousandth of a microsecond!

"Ugh... hrrr..."

Zhou Yan's eyeballs instantly became bloodshot and bulged out, and a sound like a broken bellows came from his throat.

He looked down, disbelievingly at his collapsed chest, feeling the life force within his body draining away frantically like a bursting dam.

The gray thunder ball condensed in his palm, about to explode, dissipated soundlessly.

Only at this moment!

BOOM—!!!

Zhou Yan's body suddenly exploded!

There was no scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere; his entire body, along with the Profound Yin Death Thunder Yuan power inside him, was shattered into the finest dust under that purely terrifying power!

Only a cloud of rapidly dissipating gray dust remained on the spot, along with a dull, crack-covered spatial ring that fell to the ground with a clink.

A powerhouse of the first layer of the Profound Venerable Realm, an Elder of the Zhou Family, was thus soundlessly and without any power to resist, completely erased from the world! Both body and Soul destroyed!

It all happened too fast!

So fast that Di Jingzhe's Awakening Thunder Sword had only just been raised, and the sound of Feng Linger's zither was still vibrating in the air!

So fast that the Crimson Thunder Guards inside the Thunderclap Fortress, who were suppressed by the Domain, hadn't even fully understood what had happened!

Di Jingzhe maintained his full defensive posture, his pupils constricting violently as he stared fixedly at the spot where Zhou Yan had vanished and at the ring on the ground.

A chill, a hundred times worse than Zhou Yan's Yin Thunder Death Domain, instantly swept through his entire body!

In that moment just now, he had clearly felt the descent of death, and had also clearly seen the appearance and disappearance of that hand.

Pure, crushing destructive power!

That level of power... was far above that of a Profound Venerable!

Feng Linger also stood dazed on the spot, her pretty face pale as she held the ancient zither with fingers whose knuckles were white from excessive force. The scene of the silent erasure of a Profound Venerable just now had brought her a shock and fear that even surpassed the death threat of facing Zhou Yan directly.

"Go!"