Wu Shu’s Last Card

Above, a massive sword formed slowly—dozens of zhang in length, forged entirely of glacial ice qi. Its sharpness was not of this world. The very air beneath it twisted and cracked. The pressure alone carved fissures into the ground.

Jiang Chen could only watch with no other way to counter.

Is this… it?

The world dimmed.

In the silence between moments, his gaze fell—almost absently—to his left hand.

The ring.

An unremarkable thing. Just a dull, black band with a faint trace of heat at its core.

It was glowing, Like something inside was waiting.

Jiang Chen hesitated. His fingers brushed it.

Should I…?

Boom!

Just as the sword began its descent, a wall of golden earth qi surged upward, intercepting the blade mid-fall. A deafening clang echoed across the field, and the earth trembled beneath their feet.

A figure stepped forth beside him.

"…Su Jen?"

The woman's appearance had changed. No longer frail and indistinct, her form radiated an overwhelming qi pressure. The robes she wore shimmered faintly with spiritual light, and her aura was as vast as an ocean—deep, calm, unfathomable.

Jiang Chen's heart trembled.

He could not sense her cultivation. Not because it was hidden—but because it stood far beyond his current realm of comprehension.

Across the battlefield, Xiao Ning's smirk vanished. His eyes narroweing slightly.

Wu Shu, mid-technique, froze mid-motion, his ice blade suspended in the air. Both men recognized the aura instantly. 

"Late stage… Heavenly Tribulation Realm," Wu Shu's eyes widened in shock, "How… how could you?!" 

Xiao Ning's narrowed slightly. A red light flickered across his eyes.

[DAO SYSTEM INTERVENTION WAS DETECTED] 

He cursed under his breath. "And you wanted me to act swiftly and eliminate the protagonist?" 

The woman had been a pawn, a distraction—until now. Her true power was a revelation, a wildcard he'd never accounted for. 

Su Jen's eyes glowed faintly gold, her once-plain attire now shimmering with an ethereal light.

Wu Shu's Eternal Frost Domain feel like a child's snowball by comparison. 

Wu Shu's face twisted in anger, his earlier arrogance tuning into dust.

"Do you have any idea who I am? How dare you interfere in this!" 

Su Jen's lips curved into a serene smile. "Ah, the useless crown prince of the Wu Clan, is that right?" 

Jiang Chen stared, still baffled. "Su… Jen? What are you—" 

"You've wronged countless innocents, Wu Shu. Today, your reign of terror ends." 

Her hands moved in a fluid, almost meditative sequence, and the air itself seemed to bend to her will.

A colossal column of golden light erupted from her palms, radiating heat that melted the ice beneath Jiang Chen's feet.

The Eternal Frost Domain instantly torn apart, its icy tendrils crumbling under the onslaught of her heavenly tribulation qi. 

Wu Shu's eyes widened as the golden beam bore down on him.

He frantically raised both hands, summoning a shield of jagged ice, but it shattered like glass against the light. The force of the strike sent him crashing into a nearby boulder, which crumbled under the impact. Blood trickled from his lips as he staggering to his feet 

"You… You dare strike me?! Do you know what this means?!"

Antagonizing him was equivalent to antagonizing the entire Wu Clan.

Su Jen's expression remained unchanged. "You think too highly of yourself."

She raised her hand, and the ground beneath Wu Shu's feet began to crack, fissures spreading outward like a spiderweb. Golden veins of qi pulsed through the fractures surrounding Wu Shu from all directions.

Wu Shu's eyes flashed with cold fury. In a swift motion, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a set of glowing talismans—five in total.

"You think I came unprepared?"

He slapped the first talisman onto his chest.

"Fifth-Rank—Frostscale Barrier!"

A crystalline dome of ice surged around him, layers of defensive seals layering atop one another like the scales of an ancient wyrm. It deflected Su Jen's first wave of golden energy easily.

Talismans—specially inscribed symbols crafted by rune masters—were tools of war and survival, imbued with pre-cast spells, their strength was determined by the cultivator who created them and the depth of the inscription.

Fifth-Rank talismans were rare and powerful—made by at least a heavenly tribulation realm expert or higher.

Not waiting for the next attack, Wu Shu activated the second talisman.

"Fifth-Rank—Ice Phantom Strike!"

From the talisman exploded a spectral warrior made entirely of ice qi. It rushed toward Su Jen, wielding twin blades wreathed in sub-zero energy, each swing capable of freezing the soul of even an early stage heavenly tribulation realm expert.

Su Jen narrowed her eyes. With a flick of her wrist, her aura surged again.

"Heavenlight Dispersion."

A radiant gust burst from her palm, dissolving the phantom before it could land a blow. The shattered remnants fell like snowflakes onto the broken earth.

The talisman attack was just a childish play for her.

Seeing this, Wu Shu gritted his teeth and burned the third talisman in his hand.

"Fifth-Rank—Glacial Reversal Array!"

A formation instantly unfolded across the battlefield—complex runes glowing with icy light, encircling Su Jen in a tightening ring. Cold surged upward from the ground as pillars of ice erupted around her, trying to lock her down and invert her qi.

But Su Jen simply brought her hands together in a series of graceful seals.

The ground trembled.

Golden earth qi surged up around her, coalescing into a glowing finger of divine might. It descended like a judgment from the heavens.

The Glacial Reversal Array resisted. Runes flashed violently, trying to suppress the incoming force.

It failed.

Boom!

The golden finger struck down, shattering the array like porcelain. Ice pillars cracked and crumbled. The earth shook as Wu Shu stumbled back, his face pale.

Su Jen stood untouched, golden light swirling faintly around her.

"Damn her… even Fifth-Rank talismans can't…"

Then he ripped open the hidden pouch in his robe—the final card.

"Fifth-Rank—Voidstep Escape Talisman!"

The last talisman shimmered with spatial runes, ancient and unstable. He hurled it skyward. It detonated in a blinding flash of azure light, twisting reality around him into a vortex.

As the portal formed, Su Jen took one last step forward, raising her hand—

But Wu Shu was already engulfed by the spatial tear.

"THIS IS NOT OVER!"

"THIS WU WILL FOREVER REMEMBER THIS INJUSTICE AND HUMILIATION!"

The vortex collapsed with a final crackle of space-warping energy, leaving behind a scorched crater and a faint shimmer of frost.

Wu Shu was gone.

Jiang Chen gaped at the scene, forgetting his own injuries.

"Su… Jen, who are you?"