Too fast.
It was all too fast, sudden, and outside the realm of expectation at every conceivable level. Bing Jingru's eyes bulged as she saw her sister run through, quiveringly clutching at the instrument of her death, spewing blood and bits of mangled flesh from her lips, and with a facial expression so distorted by desperation, fear, anger, and confusion.
Not once in her entire life had she ever expected to see her sister harmed on the territory of the Bing Clan.
"BING JIALUN!!!" She howled maniacally. Her Mystic Aura exploded with tremendous force! The resulting explosion caused the world to quake, the sky's clouds to twist, and those beside her to be blown away helplessly!
Bing Jialun's handsome face was utterly calm. The gigantic sword that resembled a heap of thick, monstrous iron was held by a single hand with seemingly effortless ease. Bing Tian was still struggling to escape, and by this point, the pain and subconscious realization of her situation had caused bloody tears to flow from her eyes. The desperate desire to survive, to see one more beautiful day, outweighed the pain she felt.
Bing Jingru desperately wanted to act, to rip Bing Jialun in two, her eyes brimming with murderous intent; however, her sister still clung to life. Any attack would result in her genuine death, and bringing back a Demi-Mortal Lord from death was absurdly difficult, borderline impossible for even Earthly Saints. She didn't dare to risk it. It was easier to heal critically fatal injuries than reverse genuine death. Moreover, she was facing an unknown enemy that had launched an assassination in the Bing Clan's domain. If this didn't allude to their confidence and strength to kill and escape, then Bing Jingru had no idea what else could.
"Where's the other two?" 'Bing Jialun' asked the convulsing and crippled Bing Tian.
"Ugh…grhhaa…" Bing Tian's mouth spewed gushes of blood. She couldn't talk. Her lungs and heart were pierced through. If she wasn't an Ascended, she would've long since perished.
"I see," 'Bing Jialun' clenched his fist around the hilt of his gigantic blade. "You should've accepted my offer then," he quietly whispered before exerting some Spiritual Strength into the blade. Bing Tian's eyes widened once again, seemingly exceeding their previous limits as the light of recognition flashed through her pupils.
Abruptly, her blood-leaking eyes which contained a fierce desire for life and survival dimmed into non-existence. While her body still exuded a lingering lifeforce, her Sea of Consciousness, Mind's Eye, and Soul had been ruthlessly siphoned from her fleshy husk by the gigantic blade, including her untainted Primal Yin as her skin immediately cracked. Her beauty almost instantly faded as wrinkles formed on her skin.
Yet before the others could register this change, 'Bing Jialun' gave Bing Jingru a sidelong glance. The Ascended of the Bing Clan had already gathered alongside their leader. They seemed ready to offer support, to use various Arts and Spells to assist Bing Jingru in taking him down.
"Here," 'Bing Jialun' casually said as he lightly swung his blade towards Bing Jingru, and Bing Tian's body easily slid off. She spun lifelessly in the air like a kite cut from its string, arcing towards the Bing Clan's experts.
Bing Jingru's eyes flashed, but she didn't act. A Soul of Mysticism clansman by her side acted instead, urgently unleashing gentle Water Power to receive Bing Tian, simultaneously infusing purification and healing powers into her. If there was a trap left inside her body, this would reveal it or remove it.
While most were focused on Bing Tian's body or the traitorous 'Bing Jialun', they failed to notice a Mystic Star Phase expert among them began to quiver slightly. Only when their fluctuations grew abnormal did Bing Jingru's Spiritual Sense turn towards that particular expert.
"...Bing Hanju?" A Mystic Star Phase female clansman said as she saw the elderly man beside her begin to emit a type of dangerous aura. For a split second, she felt a sense of deadly crisis. It was only for a split second, because…
BOOM!!!
"AAHHHH-" Screams instantly erupted as the elderly man named Bing Hanju self-detonated! The explosion of a Mystic Star was comparable to a mystic-graded Supernova! The entire planet was affected!
Xiao Bing was unable to react to any of this. While she had cultivated diligently, being exceptionally strong for a cultivator at her stage, she was still a mere mortal, and her senses couldn't fathom Mystic Energy, Essence, or Power of any type. In her vision, all she saw was a blur that moved towards Bing Tian, and then a frame of 'Bing Jialun' hoisting Bing Tian's body by a large heap of metal that could be barely called a blade, and shortly after, not even a blink later, a storm of black gusts containing planetary debris enveloped her vision.
On her right hand, an esoteric rune emanating an aura of Imperial Heaven Qi brightly glowed. She had no conscious control over it as it firmly sealed her body by a Mystic Ward, protecting her from the raw destruction unfolding. It was forged and reinforced by Wu Yu, a genuine Earthly Saint, and it had been given extra care as, while the Grand Knight wouldn't consciously admit it, it was the smallest gesture to respect Long Chen's fading memory.
Not even an Ever-Knight would find it easy to break this reinforcement. Moreover, it swept up any allies it recognized and would activate even if Xiao Bing wasn't the target. This was deliberately designed to prevent a Hong Ru situation from happening ever again.
As a result, Bing Liya was brought into Xiao Bing. They subconsciously embraced each other as the explosion sent them hurtling away violently. They instantly breached the many Sky Layers of the planet, piercing into the Dark Void. If it wasn't for the rune, only their ashes would've made it.
Bing Jingru's eyes widened as she saw the explosion enlarge slowly in her senses. As a Demi-Mortal Lord, she was the sole existence present that could and would suppress a Mystic Star's self-detonation to save Ice Jade. While the planet had passive protective formations littered about, these passive formations wouldn't be able to protect it from a Soul of Mysticism Phase cultivator's attack, let alone a self-detonation from a Mystic Star Phase cultivator!
She had to do two things: save lives and activate the planetary array. She urgently acted to preserve the lives of her citizens and clansmen, most importantly her sister's life!
Bing Jingru first exerted her Everfrost Ice Power to envelop the gradually enlarging explosion, seeking to contain it, while reaching into her Spatial Ring to activate the planetary array's formations that could resist even an Earthly Saint for a while!
"Too slow," a voice like a life-ravaging demon entered her ears, and she felt her spine-tingling chill. She had forgotten about the assassin! No, she hadn't forgotten! She expected that this ploy was the assassin's attempt to produce a diversion great enough to escape! To escape!
Her heart raced as she tried to redirect her focus, but her power had already been sent out, her Spiritual Strength had been diverted into her Spatial Ring, and she didn't have two minds to perfectly execute multiple tasks with ease! She turned to see 'Bing Jialun' before her, that titanic blade in hand, and it unleashed a vile, evil aura that caused her scalp to grow numb.
Bing Jingru wanted to urge her Mystic Soul to enter the Demi-Mystic State! Unfortunately, she was too divided.
The blade, despite its size, was indescribably fast. It swept towards her like a bolt of lightning with the weight of a titanic-sized planet. She felt stifled to the utmost, her heart howled, and her mind erupted as she lifted her hand to strike out a palm. The palm contained continuously infused and growing Everfrost Ice Power, but it was too slow to accumulate.
With monstrous force, the blade smashed against her palm. She helplessly watched as her hand was pulverized into bits of mangled blood, bone, and flesh. It kept going as it eviscerated her entire hand, then her forearm and then sliced into her left shoulder.
Bing Jingru desperately wanted to ignite her Mystic Soul; she knew that if she couldn't muster any additional power, she would be sliced into two! Despite her divided attention, igniting one's Mystic Soul was incomparably easy—a literal thought away. Unfortunately, the moment the blade sliced into her shoulder, an unimaginably suppressive will invaded her body!
"This…!" Bing Jingru had never felt such an evil will before, and as it overtook her, the limits of her fear were reached and exceeded within the same heart-clenching moment. The blade didn't delay as it sliced into her diagonally, its size recklessly damaging all in its path, and her Dantian was its destination! With a single move, her Mystic Core and Mystic Soul that inhabited it was eviscerated!
But it mattered not for Bing Jingru, as her body exploded into a gorey display of flesh and blood instantly afterward. She never got to feel the sensation of being crippled—a grand fortune to have, but she felt the sensation of approaching a violent death—the worst fortune to have. Her mind was filled with endless questions. Why had Bing Jialun killed her sister? Why did Bing Jialun kill her? What did she do to deserve this…?!
She would never have any answers in this life.
The explosion, unabated, kept growing; it swept across the planet with world-ending quickness. This self-detonation explosion seemed to be extra-powerful in comparison to the typical Mystic Star Phase cultivator. It resembled the self-detonation of a Soul of Mysticism! Even if Bing Jingru had acted uninterrupted, she wouldn't have been able to half-heartedly stop it!
Moreover, with no indication of its explosion, the entire planet descended into chaos as its beauty was violently ravaged, the faint remnants of Bing Hanju's ice-attributed Mystic Power flash froze half the planet and destroyed the rest.