Jared didn''t dodge.


    He lifted his right hand, and a ball of chaos-me gathered in his palm.


    Violet radiance and golden me twisted together, ringly bright against the darkness on the valley floor.


    The instant the chaos-me appeared, the thick fog around them started churning violently, like it had run into its natural enemy.


    Under the searing burn of the chaos-me, the fog let out sharp sizzling sounds and quickly evaporated away.


    A sh of fear streaked through the ckscale Beast''s eyes.


    It felt it clearly now. That ball of me could kill it.


    For thousands of years, the ckscale Beast had never once tasted fear.


    It had killed True Immortal Realm Level Five cultivators. It had killed True Immortal Realm Level Six cultivators. It had even fought a True Immortal Realm Level Seven cultivator before. It couldn''t win that fight, but even then, its life had never truly been in danger.


    But right then, death had brushed up against it.


    And by then, it was already toote to pull back.


    Its w had alreadye crashing down.


    Jared thrust the chaos-me from his hand.


    The me didn''t twist into a fire snake.


    It became a Fire Dragon outright.


    The Fire Dragon stretched dozens of yards long. Purple light and golden fire ran through its whole body, and its scales, horns, whiskers, and ws looked almost alive.


    It threw open its jaws and let out a silent roar as it lunged at the ckscale Beast.


    The Fire Dragon mmed into the ckscale Beast''s descending w.


    There was no explosion.


    There was no thunderous impact.


    In front of the chaos-me, the ckscale Beast''s w was no sturdier than paper.


    Its five de-like talons turned to ash in an instant. Then the w went. Then the forearm. Then the shoulder.


    The Fire Dragon bored into its body and tore through its flesh from the inside.


    ck scales peeled away one after another, and every scale that fell burst into me midair before crumbling into ash.


    Its flesh charred ck in the fire. Its bones burned until they started snapping and crackling like a string of firecrackers.


    The ckscale Beast''s blood wasn''t red.


    It was ck, like ck ink.


    The moment that ck blood spilled out, the chaos-me vaporized it, and a thick burnt stench spread through the air.


    The ckscale Beast let out a shrill, ragged screech.


    That cry came apart under the weight of pain, fear, and despair.


    Its body started breaking apart. From the right w, cracks raced across the rest of


    it.


    Violet me burned inside every crack, destroying its flesh inch by inch.


    It tried to run, but its body had already stopped obeying it.


    Its limbs burned away in the chaos-me.


    Its torso was punched through.


    Its head was swallowed whole.


    In less than three breaths, that True Immortal Realm Level Six spirit beast had turned into a pile of ash.


    The ash drifted to the ground and mixed into the scorched earth until there was no separating one from the other.


    Jared drew back the me, then crouched and carefully picked the soulbind herb.


    He didn''t dare use too much force.


    He was afraid of damaging the roots.


    He wrapped his fingers in chaotic force, lightly pinched the root, and slowly pulled upward.


    The soulbind herb''s roots ran deep, a full 1 foot long.


    The root fibers were packed thick together, like a bundle of silver-white threads.


    He pulled the whole herb out, roots and all, and put it into his Storage Ring.


    Then he rose to his feet, ready to leave.


    Right then, he heard footsteps.


    "Someone broke into the Soul Abyss!"


    "Quick! Notify the Elder!"


    "Seal the exit! Don''t let him get away!"


    Jared looked up and saw dozens of golden motes appear above the gorge.


    That was the holy radiance of celestial cultivators, ringly bright in the thick fog.


    They had found the damaged ward and followed the trail all the way down to the valley floor.


    Jared didn''t flinch.


    He stood on the valley floor and waited for them toe down.


    The first wave to rush down was ten celestial cultivators at True Immortal Realm Level Two.


    They wore golden cuirasses and carried longswords.


    The instant they saw Jared, they charged without a word.


    "Kill him!"


    All ten of them struck at once. Golden holy radiance burst from their attacks and turned into ten de-res, all of them shing straight at Jared.


    Jared raised his right hand and drove a palm strike forward.


    Purple chaotic force surged out and condensed into a pir of me, swallowing all ten de-res in one sweep.


    The pir of me didn''t stop there. It kept driving forward and mmed straight into the ten celestial cultivators.


    It hit them like a mountain. Their bodies were thrown backward in an instant, and they crashed into the rock wall with blood spraying from their mouths.


    Two of them cked out on the spot.


    The other eight struggled back to their feet, and whatever had been in their eyes before was gone. What was left showed in enough on their faces.


    The second wave dropping into the valley was twenty celestial cultivators at the True Immortal Realm Level Three.


    They were stronger than the first group, and they moved together with far tighter coordination.


    They didn''t rush him head-on. They split into four groups and attacked from four directions at the same time.


    Golden holy radiance broke into countless light des and poured down on Jared like a storm of rain.


    Jared lifted both hands.


    Chaos-me gathered in his palms.


    He thrust the me outward. A violet ring of fire spread from him in every direction with Jared at its center.


    Where the ring of fire passed, the golden light des vanished at once, like snow thrown under a zing sun.


    Then the ring of fire kept going and crashed into the twenty celestial cultivators.


    "Aaagh—"


    Screams erupted one after another, ovepping until they filled the whole valley floor.


    Some were cut in half at the waist


    by the ring of fire. Their upper and lower bodies split apart and the wounds were scorched ck by the me, not a single drop of blooding out.


    Some were struck in the chest. A hole the size of a fist opened there, and the edges


    of it were still burning.


    Some had an arm swept by the ring of fire, and the arm turned to ash on the spot.


    Out of the twenty, twelve died.


    The other eight were left heavily wounded.


    Those eighty on the ground, wailing and rolling. Chaos-me kept burning through their wounds, so they couldn''t close, and the pain clung to them without letup, gnawing on them every moment.


    The third wave to drop into the valley was five celestial cultivators at the True


    Immortal Realm Level Four.


    They were the Tribunal''s core members. Every one of them wore a


    gold robe finer and more borate than what the ordinary cultivators had on and on each robe was the Tribunal''s emblem a pak of golden scales, the symbol of "justice."


    The moment they saw the carnage spread across the valley floor, every face


    changed.


    "Jared!" The man in front recognized him at once. "You''re Jared!"


    Jared said nothing.


    "You killed Deputy Hall Master Magnus Storme, and you still dared toe to Soul Abyss?" The man''s voice shook. "You... you aren''t even afraid of the Hall Master..."


    He never finished.


    Jared stepped forward once and was suddenly right in front of him.


    The man had no time to react. Jared''s palm was already pressed against his chest.


    Chaos-me surged out of Jared''s palm and burned a gaping hole straight through his chest.


    The man dropped his gaze to the hole in his chest. His eyes stayed fixed on it for a beat, then he slowly copsed.


    The other four turned and ran.


    Jared didn''t chase them.


    He raised his right hand, and four strands of chaos-me gathered in his palm,


    shaping themselves into four fiery spears before shooting after them.


    The fire-spears moved like lightning. In an instant they caught the four men, drove in


    through their backs, and burst out through their chests.


    All four hit the ground at the same time.


    Silence settled over the valley floor.


    The air was thick with the smell of scorched flesh and blood.


    Blood had soaked the ground through, turning the burned earth a dark red.


    Jared stood in the middle of the corpses. Not a single drop of blood had stained his cyan robe.


    His face stayed calm, his eyes clear, as if the people he had just killed weren''t several dozen lives at all, but a swarm of ants.


    He lifted his head and looked toward the top of the gorge.


    More celestial cultivators were still rushing in.


    Golden motes packed the air so densely there had to be at least a hundred of them.


    Their holy radiance washed across the whole sky and dyed it gold, bright as full


    daylight.


    Jared did not give a single step.


    He stood where he was and waited for them toe down.


    More than a hundred celestial cultivators charged down onto the valley floor.