Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Ji Xiao Erupts

Ji Xiao still stood.

But when Jia Lan saw Zhao Ji Xing flee, his eyes almost bulged out of his skull.

In that instant of distraction, Holy Son Qu Shu’s Bodhi Bead slammed into him.

The bead transformed into a long string and bound Jia Lan tight, spiritual light sealing his limbs.

Zhao Ji Xing had fled. Jia Lan was restrained.

The situation should have tilted completely in Lin Zhao’s favor.

For a heartbeat, many on Zhao Ji Xing’s side nearly stopped resisting, their minds blank as they watched the starfield vanish.

Then someone shouted.

Ming Yue was flung to the ground.

Blood spilled from her lips as she hit, hard enough to crack earth.

She—at Great Perfection of Enlightenment—had been thrown aside by Ji Xiao with one hand.

Phoenix Wings flared behind Lin Zhao. She shot forward and caught Ming Yue before she could bounce again.

Ji Xiao rested his saber on his shoulder, eyes mocking, voice lazy and cruel. “Well, well. I didn’t think you’d actually find an opening, you Crippled Phoenix.”

After badly injuring Ming Yue, he looked at Lin Zhao with open contempt. “Good thing I came in person. Otherwise, you might’ve actually crawled back up.”

Lin Zhao fed Ming Yue a pill with swift hands, then stepped forward, planting herself between Ming Yue, Holy Son Qu Shu, and Ji Xiao.

She could feel it now—the oppressive, surging spiritual power rolling off him.

“The Ji Family really thinks highly of me,” Lin Zhao said, voice even.

Ji Xiao didn’t answer.

Instead, with a lazy flick of his hand, the Corpse Mountain, Sea of Blood Phantasm he had always hidden unfolded behind him.

A river of blood. Mountains of corpses. A domain drenched in death.

Holy Son Qu Shu stared, breath catching. “This is… a Core Aspect?”

It wasn’t a real landscape. It was a domain-level ability unique to Golden Core cultivators.

Core Aspect.

Core formation at Golden Core.

And Ji Xiao—

Ji Xiao was using it.

Lin Zhao’s side, which had been surging with victory a breath ago, fell into dead silence.

Across the battlefield, the momentum flipped. On Ji Xiao’s side—no, on his team now—disciples cheered, renewed battle intent roaring back to life.

At this level, a single Golden Core cultivator could overturn everything.

In front of Golden Core, even three Great Perfection Enlightenment fighters could only lose.

The gap between Enlightenment and Golden Core could not be challenged.

Ji Xiao cracked his neck, bloodlust thickening in his gaze as he stared at Lin Zhao. “You’re not bad,” he said, voice darkening, “but there can only be one Phoenix Maiden of Destiny in this world.”

His lips curled.

“For my sister—die.”

He raised his saber.

Spiritual heat poured off the blade, turning the metal a vivid, dripping red.

Centered on that saber, the Core Aspect spread outward.

A cultivator caught at the edge screamed, clutching at his own arms as his flesh seemed to melt away.

“Captain Ji! We’re on the same team—you can’t! Aaaah!”

He ran in terror toward the boundary, but the spreading domain swallowed his escape.

To everyone watching, he collapsed into a puddle of blood.

Even the disciples who had cheered froze.

The timid cried out, voices breaking. “Where are the teachers?!”

This wasn’t a small skirmish. With commotion like this, no one believed the academy’s teachers didn’t know.

And if an official Enlightenment disciple could be reduced to blood—

Panic rippled through both sides.

Lin Zhao swung Bone Sword. The Hong Hu sword array formed, its spiritual light flaring as it pushed back the encroaching domain—barely.

Lin Zhao’s gaze stayed sharp, not surprised, only colder. “Your people have blocked the teachers,” she said to Ji Xiao. “Haven’t they?”

Ji Xiao didn’t answer. He only kept closing in, step by step, as if savoring her strain.

The Hong Hu sword array trembled, beginning to fracture under the pressure.

Ji Xiao burst into laughter, voice turning crazed. “Look at you. So pathetic. How do you deserve to be born the same year, month, and day as my sister—and also carry Phoenix Fortune?”

His eyes went red.

“Back then, the clan didn’t accept my suggestion to kill you. I’ve held that grudge until now.” He lifted his saber. “But it doesn’t matter. Killing you now is enough!”

The corpse mountain and sea of blood grew heavier, more solid. It broke through the Hong Hu sword array and surged forward.

Disciples who reacted quickly turned and fled without hesitation.

Others screamed as they were swallowed by the illusion of death, friend and foe alike.

Lin Zhao carved out a clean zone with Bone Sword, forcing space around herself, shielding Holy Son Qu Shu, Ming Yue, and her people behind her.

Ji Xiao sneered. “You’re already struggling to survive, and you still want to play saint and save people? Stupid.”

He was only a few steps away now, aura crushing.

“Your body isn’t bad,” he said, voice edged with contempt, “but compared to Golden Core, this is a mantis trying to stop a chariot.”

Lin Zhao’s breath came shallow under the pressure. Her arms ached. Her spiritual energy burned.

Of course she could retreat—Phoenix Wings could carry her away.

But she could dodge once.

What about after?

Was she supposed to let Ji Xiao become a nightmare lodged in her Dao Heart?

Lin Zhao raised Bone Sword.

Golden light blazed between her brows.

“You talk too much,” she said, voice hard. “I’m a lot more than you think.”

Indestructible Golden Body, first level—Greedless Aspect!

Golden light spread over her skin.

And something strange happened.

Ji Xiao’s Core Aspect shuddered—then thinned, turning vaguely hollow around Lin Zhao, as if it couldn’t anchor itself against her.

Lin Zhao understood instantly.

She stepped forward and punched Ji Xiao square in the face.

“You pseudo Golden Core that hasn’t fully advanced,” she snarled, “how dare you be so arrogant?”

The gap between Great Perfection of Enlightenment and true Golden Core was a chasm.

But that step—from Great Perfection to Golden Core—was also more than a hundred times harder than any breakthrough before.

Countless cultivators spent their entire lives trapped at Great Perfection.

Before Golden Core, some could enter a state called pseudo Golden Core: still Great Perfection in cultivation, but spiritual energy gathered and flowed as if forming the faint prototype of a core. It allowed them to use fragments of Golden Core authority—like Core Aspect.

That was why it was called pseudo Golden Core.

Stronger than ordinary Great Perfection.

Still not true Golden Core.

For Lin Zhao, that difference meant everything.

Her punch snapped Ji Xiao’s head to the side, sending him crashing down. He hit the ground hard, eyes unfocused.

When he looked up again, some of the red haze in his gaze had thinned—forced back by pain.

The violent aura remained.

Ji Xiao spat blood, recalled his saber, and sprang up. His Core Aspect withdrew, collapsing inward. Spiritual power surged again, condensing behind him into a gigantic blood-red dragon.