Snow Cloud

Yun Qianxue stood calmly, observing her disciples and elders as they confronted Huo Han and the others, while also keeping a watchful eye on Huo Yan.

"I didn't expect you to still have this card. This should be the ancient formation that was left behind, right?" Asked Huo Yan. He didn't seem to care about Huo Han's life or death.

Yun Qianxue shifted her gaze to Huo Yan, but she didn't give him a reply.

Huo Yan wasn't annoyed by this. Instead, he looked around at the formation with interest.

"Ancestor! Please help me!" Huo Han shouted while desperately defending against the bombardment. With his strength reduced to the Earth Profound Realm, he couldn't even save himself, let alone kill anyone, at this moment.

Meanwhile, Ji Muchen's expression couldn't have been uglier than this. Everything went wrong for him. At that moment, he felt that Qi Qianxing was deceiving him. It seemed that Qi Qianxing had no intention of helping him at all.

"Go to hell!" A young girl, dressed in a snow-white robe, shouted fiercely as she swung her sword at Ji Muchen with all her might.

Ji Muchen's eyes filled with a murderous intent. He unleashed his sword intent and mercilessly aimed for the young girl's heart.

Just as his sword intent was about to pierce the opponent, a powerful arrow was shot at him, forcing him to retract his hand and attempt to block it. However, he was not fast enough.

With a bang, Ji Muchen's body was sent flying like a broken kite. Several of his bones shattered immediately under the powerful impact.

"Sect Master!" A few elders from the Profound Sword Sect madly rushed towards Ji Muchen. Unfortunately, their heads immediately exploded from Yun Qingrou's arrows.

"Ugh!" Ji Muchen coughed up fresh blood, struggling to stand up. A hint of fear surfaced in his heart for the first time. He had experienced life-and-death situations several times in the past. His heart had never given birth to fear as he was always confident in himself. However, this time, it was the first time in his life that he truly felt helpless.

Ji Muchen turned to the sky and shouted angrily, "What the hell are you doing, Qi Qianxing!? What are you waiting for!?" However, he didn't hear any response, which caused him to fall into despair.

Yun Qianxue's eyes sharpened, and her spiritual sense extended into the sky, scouring for any sign of Qi Qianxing. However, in the end, she couldn't locate him.

"You don't have to waste your efforts looking for him. He didn't come." Huo Yan suddenly said. His words caught Yun Qianxue's attention. He further stated, "If my guess is correct, he should be busy excavating Fire Spirit Stones at my sect right now."

Yun Qianxue was taken aback by Huo Yan's statement, but she quickly grasped the situation. Qi Qianxing had likely betrayed both the Sacred Flame Sect and the Profound Sword Sect.

"You never sent anyone to my sect during this time. Your target should only be the Profound Sword Sect." Huo Yan expressed his thoughts.

Yun Qianxue was silent for a moment before she replied, "You're correct. I didn't send anyone to your sect."

Huo Yan nodded. "Well, it doesn't matter to me. I'm here to claim the crown, and I'm going to leave this small place."

"Aren't you too confident?" Yun Qianxue responded.

Huo Yan shook his head with a smile and stood still in place, unperturbed.

"Ahh!" While they were talking, Huo Han was stabbed in the abdomen by a disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect, causing him to scream in pain.

Huo Han unleashed a fiery palm print at the attacker, compelling them to retreat. He glanced at Huo Yan pleadingly, but Huo Yan didn't even bother to look at him. This made him extremely furious as he yelled, "You old bastard! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be like this!" His hatred for Huo Yan had reached new heights. He blamed everything on himself.

Riip—

While Huo Han wasn't paying attention, Yun Ruanyu silently appeared behind him and swiftly used a sharp sword to cut his neck at lightning speed. Blood splashed into the air like a fountain, along with Huo Han's head. His eyes widened with unwillingness as his consciousness slowly succumbed to darkness. A generation's Sect Master of the Sacred Flame Sect had died just like that.

"Sect Master!" A few elders of the Sacred Flame Sect howled in despair when they witnessed this scene, only to be swiftly killed by their opponents in the following moment.

The sect master of the Sacred Flame Sect and thirty elders. All of them were dead!

"You're surely heartless." Yun Qianxue said to Huo Yan.

"He's too weak." Huo Yan replied nonchalantly.

"Qi Qianxing! I won't let you go, even if I become a ghost!" Ji Muchen roared towards the sky as an arrow from Yun Qingrou pierced his heart. Another arrow pierced his head, instantly shattering it into pieces and ending the life of the Sect Master of the Profound Sword Sect.

"You're the only one left now." Yun Qianxue calmly drew the divine sword to the front and said.

Huo Yan's eyes narrowed, and a long crimson staff silently appeared in his hands, emanating a scorching flame aura.

Yun Qianxue's expression abruptly changed, and she quickly shouted, "Everyone, retreat!" Following that, her figure turned into a streak of deep blue light and rushed at Huo Yan.

Yun Ruanyu sensed a crisis. She turned off the Heaven Suppressing Formation and used the barrier of the Grand Protection Formation to push Huo Yan out of the place, but it was too late.

A blazing crimson flame rapidly spread in all directions. Several buildings were quickly engulfed in a fire and burned to ashes.

"None of you can escape from me!" Huo Yan floated into the air with a flame revolving around him. His current appearance resembled that of the God of Flame, capable of reducing anything to dust.

Yun Qianxue appeared in close proximity to Huo Yan, unleashing her powerful frost aura as she swung the divine sword down towards him.

Huo Yan smiled coldly and fearlessly waved his staff at the incoming divine sword.

Clang!

Their weapons collided, but neither of them had retreated. Yun Qianxue was shocked when she saw that the staff was unharmed. Previously, the divine weapon could destroy any weapon effortlessly. However, what was the current rank of this staff?

Yun Qianxue had no time to think about it, as Huo Yan waved his staff at her. She poured her profound energy into the divine sword, causing it to emit a stronger frost aura as she clashed head-on with Huo Yan's staff.

Boom!

Yun Qianxue was blown away by the collision and fell to the ground forcefully, creating a massive crack beneath her.

"Sect Master!" Several disciples on the scene shouted in worry and rushed toward Yun Qianxue.

"Back off!" Yun Ruanyu stopped them when she arrived beside Yun Qianxue. Looking at Yun Qianxue's injuries, Yun Ruanyu's expression became grave.

"Unexpectedly, you also possess a divine weapon." Yun Ruanyu turned to Huo Yan.

"Why do you think I am waiting for that old hag to pass away, then?" Huo Yan replied nonchalantly.

When he obtained an ancient record, he not only became aware of the existence of the crown, but also learned about the Misty Cloud Divine Sword. He was aware of the sword because he himself possessed a divine weapon. He knew that mastering it would be extremely difficult, especially since his abilities were inferior to those of the previous sect masters of the Misty Cloud Sect. Therefore, he didn't dare to start his plan when she was around and could only wait until she passed away.

Yun Ruanyu was about to say something, but was interrupted by Yun Qianxue, who had already stood up from the ground. "Leave it to me, Sister Ruanyu."

"We can kill him together." Yun Ruanyu said with determination.

Yun Qianxue smiled faintly. "Come on, Sister Ruanyu. You're smarter than me. You should know the current situation. So let me do it."

"But you…" Yun Ruanyu looked at Yun Qianxue with complicated emotion.

"This is my duty." Yun Qianxue gave Yun Ruanyu a brilliant smile. "If something happened to me, please bring him away from this place and tell him to take care of himself."

Yun Ruanyu shook her head. "You can't! Let me do it. This duty is supposed to be mine, to begin with."

All of a sudden, the droplet symbol on Yun Qianxue's forehead shone brightly. It was even brighter than before. Her aura began to soar, increasing tremendously—the first level, second level, third level,… until the peak of Ruler Profound Realm.

"You!" Yun Ruanyu exclaimed in anger, but she was helpless to stop Yun Qianxue now because she had utterly activated The Final Haze.

Huo Yan stared at Yun Qianxue in amazement. Suddenly, he felt something was not right. Why did he never hear about this forbidden art before?

In fact, it wasn't Huo Yan's fault for not knowing this. The Final Haze was actually invented by Yun Ruanyu several years ago by combining the sect's profound arts that the sect's founder left behind. It was due to this reason the previous Sect Master chose her as the successor back then.

However, Yun Ruanyu humbly rejected the position, as she knew that her strength mainly relied on knowledge and comprehension. Although her musical sorcery was strong, her overall battle prowess was inferior to that of Yun Qianxue and Yun Meilan. Therefore, she chose to serve as the First Hall Master instead.

"You still have some tricks, heh?" Huo Yan's expression returned to normal. He was certain Yun Qianxue couldn't stay in that state for too long. As long as he could drag the battle, he would be able to win this.

Yun Qianxue didn't say anything and floated into the air. When she raised the divine sword towards the sky, the clouds began to swirl, and within moments, snow started to fall.

Huo Yan felt a strong suppression from the snow as his flame started to shrink. No matter how much profound energy he injected into the staff, the surrounding flame was still reduced, unable to overcome the snow.

Scree—

A loud phoenix's cry reverberated throughout the space as the deep blue light on the divine sword continued to shine brighter and brighter. At this moment, Yun Qianxue's flawless black hair slowly turned completely white.

Yun Ruanyu and Yun Qingrou looked at her with tears. It was not a secret among them. In order to fully utilize the power of the Misty Cloud Divine Sword, the user had to sacrifice their life force to compensate for their lack of strength.

Yun Qianxue wanted to kill Huo Yan in one strike. She didn't hesitate to allow the divine sword to absorb her life force as much as it desired.

Several wrinkles appeared on her lovely face. Her appearance that was similar to a twenty-five-year-old woman had now changed into a woman in her fifties.

Huo Yan struggled hard to break free from the suppression, but his efforts were futile. When he saw Yun Qianxue's current appearance and the divine sword in her hand, his mind instantly told him to flee.

Just as Huo Yan decided to escape, his entire being was shrouded in a boundless killing intent that made his body turn cold, as if he had been thrown into a frozen abyss.

"Die!" Yun Qianxue's voice echoed through the sky as the divine sword in her hand descended upon Huo Yan with immense power.

"No…" Huo Yan's eyes widened in horror as his body slowly turned into an ice statue when the sword's energy touched him. The ice statue cracked and burst into countless ice particles a moment later, leaving behind the divine staff that plummeted to the ground.

Yun Qianxue felt her strength gradually leaving her body, as the droplet symbol on her forehead slowly dimmed along with the glow on the divine sword.

"Qianxue!" Yun Ruanyu floated into the air, preparing to greet Yun Qianxue.

However, just as she was about to reach Yun Qianxue, a powerful wind lance suddenly emerged from behind the group of clouds and shot towards her with lightning speed.

Yun Ruanyu instinctively threw the Guqin in her hand at the wind lance, but she couldn't stop it. The wind lance destroyed her Guqin and pierced into Yun Qianxue's abdomen, pinning her body to the ground.