Bia frowned, but ultimately, there was no other choice but to continue forward. They fought desperately, carving a path through the chaotic scene, completely unaware that someone was secretly following them, taking advantage of all their hard work.
Yizhe’s lips curled into a faint smile as he watched them struggle, following behind and waiting for the perfect chance to kill them and reap the benefits of their efforts.
This was the advantage of being the stronger party and owning a Celestial Symbol, even if it was fragmented.
He could completely conceal his presence from anyone weaker than himself. Just like now, he was following right behind the very Celestials who wanted him dead, yet not a single one of them knew that he was there.
He wanted to laugh.
But he suppressed his laughter, quietly watching their efforts from the shadows.
On the other hand, Alec and James, who were at the front of their group, suddenly realized that the countless massive ice creatures had stopped chasing them.
The two froze for a moment.
Turning around, they saw that the ice creatures they had been fighting had all halted at a certain point. None of those creatures dared to advance any farther, almost as if an invisible boundary or wall had appeared between the two sides.
But Alec and James hadn’t felt anything.
Even now, they couldn’t sense anything.
Alec’s eyes flickered with surprise.
He immediately shouted.
"Guys, get over here! Quickly!"
Hearing him, the others quickly fended off the creatures and abandoned their formation as they rushed toward Alec. One after another, they crossed the invisible boundary. The moment they stepped to the other side, the deafening chaos behind them seemed to vanish, leaving only the sound of their own breathing.
No ice creatures followed.
Jian looked around at the completely different atmosphere, and his eyes lit up.
"It feels like we entered a safe zone!"
He even turned around and waved provocatively at the frozen creatures.
"Come on! Didn’t you want to eat us a moment ago?"
The ice creatures didn’t even look in his direction from beyond the boundary.
Jian’s grin widened.
"You all should have ignored us earlier!"
Alec glanced at him speechlessly before turning his attention to the surroundings.
Behind them, Yizhe smiled as he stepped through the invisible boundary. An excited glint flashed within his narrowed eyes.
So there was a boundary here—one that even he, a powerful Ruler, hadn’t noticed!
At the same time, Mirabel and the Rulers accompanying her also noticed that Alec and the group of Celestials following him had disappeared from their sight.
Realizing that something was up, they immediately rushed in that direction.
Soon, they too crossed the invisible boundary.
The moment they reached the other side, their tense expressions relaxed. After all, having battled those creatures for so long, finding a place where they could breathe without worrying about another wave of monsters appearing was a welcome relief.
Some of the Rulers even laughed.
Unlike them, only a handful of the other Celestials who had entered the towering gate ultimately managed to successfully pass through the boundary. The rest had either died along the way or were simply too powerless to fight their way forward, even after joining forces with others. For those who had managed to survive, this boundary was nothing short of a lifeline.
Amidst the silence, where everyone who had crossed the boundary was catching their breath, Alec’s whisper suddenly rang out, echoing through the surroundings.
"Yue?"
Immediately, everyone’s attention turned toward the direction of his gaze.
There stood a slender woman, half of her beautiful face concealed behind a veil. She seemed equally startled by the sudden call and also turned to look in their direction.
However, the moment Yue’s eyes fell upon the Rulers, her pupils contracted slightly.
She recognized one of them!
It was the young-looking Ruler who had tried to grab her and begun pursuing her after she had entered through the gate!
Yue wanted to shout, to warn Alec and the rest of her companions about the enemies floating beside them. But before she could, an amused voice filled with mirth suddenly rang out from behind her companions. The voice didn’t come from Mirabel’s group.
Yet everyone in her group recognized it.
"Kill them all."
A smile curled on Mirabel’s lips. She turned and gave a slight nod toward the man who had stepped out from the shadows, a calm yet provocative smile playing on his lips.
Yizhe casually nodded back at Mirabel.
The moment he appeared, the expressions of Jian, Alec, James, Bia, and everyone else who had sworn to one day kill him changed.
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
Jian even pointed at him.
"You—"
He couldn’t believe this guy had been behind them all this time! Just thinking about it sent a chill down his spine.
But before Jian could even find the words to finish his sentence, or anyone else in his group could utilize their defensive skills, Yizhe casually waved toward the Rulers.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Kill them."
Just as Yizhe finished speaking, Mirabel and the Rulers surrounding her attacked without hesitation. The ice around them trembled, while cracks spread through the air like shattered glass as the immense pressure and terrifying power of several Natural Laws erupted from the Rulers.
In the next instant, in front of Yue’s eyes, Alec and everyone else around him lost their balance and were immediately sent hurtling downward, slamming into the ice.
The tremendous force of the impact shattered the frozen ground beneath them, sending countless fragments, both large and small, of ice flying in every direction.
The situation immediately changed.
Yue’s trembling gaze lowered and drifted toward their direction. She couldn’t even catch the movements of the Rulers; they were just that fast. Her eyes turned red as she saw blood staining the icy expanse.
The sounds of painful groans and desperate curses rang in her ears.
But her limbs seemed frozen.
After all...
She knew that, even with her, Alec, James, and everyone else combined, they had no chance against so many Rulers. Against such overwhelming power, they, who had barely reached the second or third stage of the Celestial Rank, were nothing but mere lambs rushing toward their own deaths.