Watching the mirror shatter, Ji Yunzou's expression turned grim.
This was a Void Mirror, capable of projecting scenes from thousands of miles away into the mirror.
Xu Zimo gave him a strong sense of threat, yet he couldn't see through him at all.
Ji Jiucheng was the most suitable candidate in this generation to fight for Heaven's Will within the empire.
There couldn't be any slip-ups, so Ji Yunzou wanted to clear every obstacle in the way.
Even if it meant offending the True Martial Sacred Ground and sending someone to kill Xu Zimo.
But now, a bad feeling was rising in his heart.
...
On the scorching ancient road, the black-clothed man's face was hidden behind a mask.
Wearing all black, his aura was sharp and cold.
"Die painfully amidst the music. Your life will end in mourning and sorrow."
The man slowly raised his long flute and began to play.
The moment the music began, Xu Zimo immediately sensed something was wrong.
The flute carried a unique power. Xu Zimo could feel the spiritforce in his body growing chaotic.
It started to surge violently, rushing through his veins and meridians, as if it was going to burst his body from the inside.
The music had a strange magic to it, accompanied by the pressure of a God Meridian Realm cultivator.
His attack was like a storm.
Behind him, his True Fate appeared, it was also a flute formed of spiritforce.
As the sound spread, the surrounding trees couldn't withstand the pressure.
They split open from their trunks.
Birds flying by exploded into blood and flesh.
The music became more intense, rising higher and higher.
Finally, as the flute sounds surged in from all directions toward Xu Zimo...
He felt like his blood was flowing in reverse like a raging river. The blood vessels beneath his skin bulged and looked ready to burst.
He looked up slightly and smiled, slowly pulling out the Shadow Tyrant sword from his back. He had killed God Meridian Realm cultivators before.
The blade rang softly.
A massive wave of sword intent burst out from the Shadow Tyrant. Xu Zimo stepped into the air.
Gripping the sword with both hands, he raised it above his head and brought it down with force.
The space around them split open, forming a path. A powerful beam of sword energy fell from the sky with a thunderous boom.
Seeing this, the black-clothed man did not dodge. He kept playing the flute seriously.
The flute sound seemed to generate waves of sword intent that collided with Xu Zimo's sword energy.
Another loud explosion followed.
A wide chasm split open on the ground between them.
The black-clothed man looked at Xu Zimo in surprise.
He hadn’t expected him to not only withstand the music but still have enough strength to counterattack.
“You’re still far from enough,” Xu Zimo said, eyes closed, as streams of space energy surged around him.
He drew a line in the air with his right hand.
“Realm Demon.”
As his hand fell, the surrounding space took on a distorted feel.
Nothing seemed to have changed, yet everything felt off.
As the black-clothed man played his flute again, the same melody echoed from Xu Zimo’s side.
Two identical flute sounds clashed, canceling each other out.
“Space folding… or something else?” the black-clothed man said, his tone serious.
He placed his hands on the space in front of him.
From what his eyes told him, there was less than ten meters between them.
But in reality, it felt like they were on different dimensions.
He refused to believe it.
He played a different melody this time.
But no matter what tune he played, the same sound would echo back from the other side.
...
“Your mastery of space is incredible,” the black-clothed man said, clearly shaken.
He realized the surrounding space was like a folded mirror.
No matter what attack he launched, it would be mirrored back at him.
Xu Zimo didn’t even need to lift a finger. This was one of the effects of the Dao of Space.
But to achieve this, one needed an almost insane level of understanding and control over space.
Especially since his flute music wasn't a simple attack, it shouldn’t be so easily mirrored.
To break this move, one would need overwhelming power to shatter the folded space.
The black-clothed man had tried just now, he didn’t have that kind of strength.
At the very least, one would need to be an immortal and break through the ninth meridian gate.
That meant Xu Zimo now stood in an invincible position.
“No wonder you’re so fearless,” the black-clothed man snorted coldly.
“You’re wrong. My fearlessness isn’t because of my space power,” Xu Zimo said, shaking his head.
With a wave of his hand, a different kind of aura began to spread from his right hand.
“Plague Demon!”
This aura was similar to death energy, but its power was tens of thousands of times greater.
Because it could bypass all defenses and strength to directly strip away life.
“What is this?” the black-clothed man cried out in panic and tried to escape.
But Xu Zimo locked down the surrounding space.
Just as the man broke through the spatial seal, the gray aura struck his back.
As the aura entered his body, panic spread across the black-clothed man's face.
The pure black mask on his face cracked with a "snap" and broke in two.
Revealing a gloomy, ordinary-looking middle-aged face.
A face so plain it would disappear in any crowd.
“What did you do?!” the man cried out.
“You’ll find out soon,” Xu Zimo smiled calmly.
As the gray aura spread through his body, the black-clothed man became frozen in place.
His face turned from normal to waxy yellow, then pale white.
Wrinkles deepened, and his features aged rapidly.
From a middle-aged man to an uncle, then within moments, to an old man on the verge of death.
“What’s happening to me?” the man shouted in horror.
“What are you trying to do?”
“As the first person to die to Demon, you should feel honored,” Xu Zimo said coldly.
The man's skin worsened, his aging accelerated.
His life force was rapidly drained.
Eventually, his lifeless body collapsed to the ground.
His corpse rotted, leaving only bones.
The bones turned to dust and scattered in the wind.
“This move really is overbearing,” Xu Zimo said to himself, clearly satisfied.
To forcibly extract someone’s life force, but with his current control and strength, it likely wouldn’t work on an immortal path opponent.
He glanced back in the direction of the Phoenix Perch Empire, then sat back onto the Darksky Tiger and headed for Phoenix Heaven City.