When the last word faded, the glow of the “Soul-Locking Radiant Orb” on the bloodkiss’s forehead died down too. The Demon Phoenix had ended the connection on her own.

Yin Wanderer wasn’t the type to be easily scared. The Demon Phoenix’s warning rattled her a little, but she didn’t take it too seriously.

Yin Sanren wasn’t easily scared. The warning about the demon phoenix didn’t go completely unnoticed, but she certainly didn’t take it too seriously.

She narrowed her eyes and gave the bloodkiss’s scruff a shake, trying to find the control core of the "Soul-Locking Radiant Orb."

Maybe she shook it too hard, because the little beast let out a sharp yowl. Its limp body suddenly went rigid, the fur on its neck turning slick and hard to grip. With a twist, it nearly slipped right out of her grasp.

Yin Wanderer caught it clearly: right after that cry, a ring of ashen-white energy burst out from beneath the creature’s fur, rippling like water, spreading through its coat, then flaring outward with a low hum.

Yin Wanderer let out a soft “hmm.” She knew this kind of energy better than anyone. It was pure deathly yin qi. How could this little demon possibly have it?

Then it struck her. Back then it had swallowed Blood Wanderer’s Crimson Ghost Chain, and now it was entangled with Net Throat Demon in ways still unclear. Drawing on deathly qi from either source wasn’t impossible at all.

Her mind was spinning with thoughts, but her hands moved with practiced ease. She turned her qi a few times and dissolved the surge of qi as if it had never existed. It couldn’t have been easier.

The next moment, though, ease was no longer possible.

Just as she got distracted neutralizing the bloodkiss’s qi attack, a sudden wave of murderous aura shot up out of the void a hundred feet away. It didn’t care about the distance. Like a raging storm, it tore through the deathly qi and slammed straight into her calm, clear dao heart.

So fast!

Yin Wanderer was a little surprised. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a pitch-black shadow slicing through the air. Its target wasn’t her vitals, but Chong Yu cradled in her arm.

“Net Throat Demon!”

With a low shout, Yin Wanderer suddenly jumped back. Her hands were occupied, and suddenly facing a powerful enemy at her level, she inevitably found herself at a disadvantage.

Demon Throat pressed his advantage without mercy. His long arms moved like a praying mantis, stabbing hundreds of times in the blink of an eye.

Pure deathly qi, infused with his innate devouring nature, struck the air with a sharp, piercing sound, as if it were slicing through the void itself.

Clutching Chong Yu, she narrowly dodged a sweeping slash. But she had no way to save her wide robe sleeve. With a tearing sound, a piece was sliced clean off by Net Throat Demon’s strike through the void.

That was all it took to ignite her fury. Her eyes sharpened, and the air around her flared. The void thickened as if it had turned solid, binding itself into a whip of qi. With a flick, it cracked out a thunderous qi explosion.

The tip of the whip sliced past, its knife-like chill so sharp that even the ferocious Net Throat Demon had to draw back slightly.

But Yin Wanderer hadn’t meant to fight him head-on with the whip. After staggering him for an instant, she swung Chong Yu behind her without looking.

Behind her, Li Xun and Qin Wanru were rushing up.

By Yin Wanderer’s intent, she was ready to have a proper match with Net Throat Demon. But the brute had no interest in a real fight. His gaze flicked toward Chong Yu, a guttural sound rumbling in his throat, and he flashed again. Cutting a short arc, he tried to slip past Yin Wanderer and go after his prey.

How could she possibly allow that?

Truth be told, of all the Seven Demons of the world, Net Throat Demon was the one Yin Wanderer held in the lowest regard.

His demonic looks were bad enough, but worse was that beast’s brain of his. True, his demonic technique were earth-shaking, but at the end of the day he was nothing more than a one-track brute. That such a creature could be ranked alongside the other Six Demons and the Three Wanderers was nothing short of outrageous.

Ever since her consciousness was restored, Yin Wanderer had been swallowing her frustrations, unable to show them on her face. Now that a chance had finally come, how could she let it slip by?

Yet she didn’t even get the chance to strike. Net Throat Demon’s vertical blood-red eyes flicked, and with a guttural cry he thrust out a long arm. Gray-white qi flickered and leapt across it like flickering embers. The eerie, sinister glow was almost like a gray fire, chilling the soul.

In the next instant a bolt of light shot forth like lightning, aimed straight at Yin Wanderer’s face.

The attack posed no real threat. She only tilted her head, and it streaked harmlessly past.

But the moment it grazed by, she suddenly realized something. She whipped a hand back to seize it, yet Net Throat Demon gave her no chance. With another growl he lunged forward, his withered fingers curved like hooks, reaching straight for the bloodkiss in her grasp.

The little demon was shrewd. Taking advantage of the opening, it struggled again. Its qi blasts weren’t very deadly, but the constant waves of tremors it sent out were a real nuisance. Dealing with them kept Yin Wanderer from focusing entirely.

In the blink of an eye, Yin Wanderer understood Net Throat Demon’s intent. Or rather, the intent of the one behind him.

Now she faced a cruel dilemma.

Either focus fully on stopping Net Throat Demon’s claws, or let that bolt of light strike and kill her younger sister. It wasn’t even a real choice. Without hesitation, Yin Wanderer tightened her grip and hurled the little demon straight at Net Throat Demon’s face.

The bloodkiss let out a sharp scream. Net Throat Demon clearly cared about it, for he hastily pulled back and scrambled to catch it.

Yin Wanderer gave a cold glance, spun around, and drifted backward. Halfway through, she snapped her fingers, and the force of it hit first, shattering the light bolt into pieces.

Qin Wanru finally arrived and swept her sleeve out to gather her mother safely into her arms.

Yin Wanderer glanced back coldly. The little demon was now perched squarely on Net Throat Demon’s shoulder, one claw hooked around a shoulder spike. When its spiritual eyes turned toward her, they still flickered uneasily, as if the fright hadn’t yet faded.

Net Throat Demon’s own gaze, however, had grown a hundredfold more vicious. He might have gained a small advantage just now, but Yin Wanderer’s impenetrable defenses left him with no outlet for his raging bloodlust. The frustration gnawed at him, driving him into a dark frenzy.

But after the bloodkiss let out a low hiss, the rage in his blood-red eyes was forcibly suppressed. He shot Yin Wanderer a fierce glare, then suddenly shot away, vanishing in an instant.

Just then, Qin Wanru rushed over from behind and said curiously, “Master, that bloodkiss seems really important. Net Throat Demon seems to be afraid of it.”

Yin Wanderer hummed in reply, and glanced at Li Xun on the other side.

Li Xun cleared his throat. “What a shame. If we’d managed to take down that bloodkiss, maybe we could have turned it against Net Throat Demon. Still, intercepting Madam Yu this time counts as achieving our goal. That’s something to celebrate!”

Qin Wanru shot him a glare, clearly unhappy with his choice of words in calling her “Madam Yu.”

But at the moment, Li Xun really couldn’t think of a better way to address her. So he simply pretended not to notice Qin Wanru’s expression.

“But, if you’ll allow me to be blunt, Madam Yu’s mental state isn’t exactly normal. I’ve crossed paths with her a few times over the years, and, well… it’s hard to say what’s going on there. Maybe some kind of mind-bewitching technique from Jade Wanderer is at work.”

What he had deliberately glossed over was her attitude.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Li Xun knowing exactly where Madam Yu came from, there’s no way he’d guess from her expression or manner that she was once a victim, seized by Jade Wanderer through force.

Qin Wanru, of course, didn’t want to hear that. She looked at Yin Wanderer with hopeful eyes, silently wishing her all-knowing master would give her a clear answer.

Yin Wanderer’s face betrayed nothing. She simply reached out, brushed a hand lightly across Madam Yu’s face, then nodded.

“It is indeed a mind-bewitching technique. Clearing it away will be troublesome, but it can be undone… wait. What is that?”

Both Li Xun and Qin Wanru were startled. Yin Wanderer’s face darkened like water, her eyes flashing sharp and cold. Her mood had clearly turned grim. Under their astonished gazes, she suddenly bared her teeth in a smile, yet the smile carried nothing but frozen killing intent, enough to strike fear in the heart.

“Spirit-extinguishing Thread… very good. So the Ancient Daoist has finally made some progress over the years.”

“Spirit-extinguishing Threads?”

Li Xun was puzzled. Qin Wanru horrified. Their reactions were different at first, then quickly reversed. Li Xun at last remembered what this “Spirit-extinguishing Thread” was, while Qin Wanru was left utterly confused.

The Spirit-extinguishing Thread was a well-known treasure refined in Qianfan City, one of the great sects of artifact refinement. Its main use was to attack a cultivator’s spiritual consciousness and shake the very soul. It could also be planted inside the human body, hidden and dormant, yet controllable even across thousands of li. With just a single thought, the wielder could take a person’s life. It was the perfect tool for coercion and control.

Though not as profound as corpse-puppet techniques that bind both soul and spirit, leaving one unable to live or die, the Spirit-extinguishing Thread had its own advantage: small effort, great payoff. In practice, it was a very pragmatic choice.

Because the Spirit-extinguishing Thread lay hidden inside the body with no obvious signs to detect, many cultivators who fell victim to it had their lives held in another’s hands. Forced to do shameful, unspeakable deeds, they spread fear across the sects. For a time, the entire Tongxuan Realm was thrown into chaos.

Even so, Qin Wanru still couldn’t understand.

“How can it be the Spirit-extinguishing Thread? Didn’t Qianfan City already destroy every last one before the other sects, swearing on their sect’s very fate never to refine that cursed thing again? They even destroyed a key tool needed to make them. How could any still exist in this realm?”

Yin Wanderer hummed, seeming a bit distracted. “Even if the sects cast their nets across the sky,” she said casually, “they could never wipe them all out. A few Threads here and there… what of it?”

After a pause, she let out a quiet laugh. “So even the proud and lofty Gu Zhixuan can have moments of doubt?”