Invisible ripples surged toward Xiao Suo.
Xiao Suo was about to defend himself when agony pierced his brain, like a dagger driving straight through his skull.
But the moment the pain passed, right before Li Ban could reach him, Xiao Suo dissolved into a black shadow and tore free from the invisible force binding him.
With no other choice, Li Ban stopped in his tracks to wait for the next opening.
By the time Xiao Suo reformed his physical body, Priest Ai Jing had caught up.
Xiao Suo cast a sidelong glance at her. "So hot-tempered right after your advancement. Careful now, or you'll birth a heart demon."
Priest Ai Jing scoffed coldly. "Hmph. Killing you will do wonders for my peace of mind!"
She abandoned all defense, pouring everything she had into trapping and slaughtering him.
Xiao Suo had been trying to stall for time, but as his gaze swept over Cat Girl in the distance, a flicker of unease crossed his mind.
‘Did the plan fail?’
‘Impossible. That's impossible!’
A frantic, manic energy began to spread through Xiao Suo's chest.
But he was still the same Xiao Suo who gave all the White Robes endless headaches. In a fraction of a second, he realized the truth.
‘No, I've been hit.’
But that fleeting moment of panic was enough to disrupt the spell forming in his hands.
Priest Ai Jing, who had been slightly on the losing end, finally seized her chance. She summoned a multitude of white peaks, trapping Xiao Suo dead in the center.
Just as Xiao Suo tried to melt back into the shadows and flee, Li Ban appeared perfectly at his back. A beam of starlight crashed down, and even a man like Xiao Suo froze for a fraction of a second.
This time, Li Ban was already right beside him. He thrust his index and middle fingers straight into Xiao Suo's skull.
Xiao Suo stiffened. "So... I was your target all along."
Giving the man absolutely no time to escape, Li Ban yanked out Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shard.
Seeing this, Priest Ai Jing's face lit up with joy. She instantly threw up a wall of fog, enveloping herself and Li Ban to hide them from any prying eyes outside.
Li Ban seized the moment to shove this piece of Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shard into his own head, completing the fusion.
This was the first time Priest Ai Jing had watched Li Ban fuse with Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shards.
While maintaining the fog to block outsiders' vision, she watched him in nervous suspense, terrified he might be corrupted by the darkness.
Yet when Li Ban finally nodded to her, he showed absolutely no signs of corruption.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded back, overwhelmingly relieved.
"Good. Very good. From now on, wiping him out is in your hands. If you ever need anything, just say the word."
The white fog dispersed, and Xiao Suo's corpse crumbled into dust.
Only Priest Ai Jing and Li Ban emerged.
Du An, who had barely managed to dodge Priest Li He's deadly pursuit using his special abilities, watched this unfold in utter shock.
He spared a quick glance at Cat Girl, whom Li Ban had relocated far into the distance.
She had held on for this long without succumbing to voidification. Even the most oblivious fool could tell the plan had gone off the rails.
Sighing inwardly, Du An prepared to make his escape.
A streak of red silk suddenly materialized in his hand—it was the very same Superior Element that Li Ban had once snatched from the escort agency.
Somehow, at some unknown point, Du An had taken this Superior Element back.
He threw the red silk up as a barrier between himself and Priest Li He.
Scorn flashed in Li He's eyes. He didn't believe for a second that a mere Superior Element could actually protect Du An.
Just then, the roaring waters of a surging river finally crashed into everyone's view.
The group spotted Priest Qian Que and the Black Robe he was locked in combat with.
The Black Robe was a complete stranger; not a single person present recognized him.
Judging by the immense aura radiating off him, he was clearly a Solar Priest as well.
And Qian Que, having only barely managed his own advancement to the Solar realm, was steadily losing ground in the fight.
Suddenly, the stranger abandoned Priest Qian Que. Sweeping up the roaring river waters, he charged straight toward Li He and Du An.
In the blink of an eye, the raging river crashed down, swallowing all of them into its depths.
Instantly, massive, illusory silhouettes appeared over the bodies of every Priest caught in the River of Helplessness.
These were their divine souls.
When ordinary people were swept into the River of Helplessness, their souls were immediately torn from their flesh to drift with the current.
Priests, fortified by their cultivation, wouldn't have their divine souls washed away. The waters still dragged at them, however, pulling their divine souls halfway out so they hovered ethereally just outside their physical forms.
The three Priests completely ignored the changes to their bodies, relentlessly charging at their respective enemies.
Priest Li He knew this newly arrived Black Robe was incredibly dangerous, but he remained fixated on hunting down Du An.
Rather than panicking when the River of Helplessness engulfed them, Li He was thrilled.
He was a Solar Priest. His divine soul was vastly stronger than that of a Star Glow Black Robe like Du An.
The waters of the River of Helplessness suppressed everyone's strength, but Li He was drained far less than Du An.
As a result, Du An's frantic escape slowed to a crawl.
Capitalizing on his slowed target, Li He raised his hand, preparing to obliterate Du An in a single strike.
Then, he caught a clear look at the shape of the divine soul hovering over Du An—and froze dead in his tracks.
His raised hand hung suspended in the air, refusing to come down.
The mysterious Black Robe arrived a split second later.
A chaotic, overwhelming blast of kinetic energy erupted from the stranger, sending Priest Li He hurtling backward.
Yet Priest Li He merely defended himself. Shielding his physical body and divine soul, he crashed out of the River of Helplessness without launching a single counterattack.
The mysterious Black Robe didn't press the assault either. Grabbing hold of Du An, he rode the rushing current forward, vanishing deep into the thick fog.
Up in the air, Priest Qian Que finally recovered his bearings and tried to give chase, only to realize his targets were long gone.
Left with no other choice, he dropped down beside Li Ban, joining him in staring out into the distance toward Cat Girl.
"How is she?"
Li Ban didn't rush over, choosing instead to wait quietly. "She should be fine."
"Are you sure she can pull through?"
If she couldn't, Priest Li He—and even Priest Ai Jing—would obliterate her before her voidification was complete.
"I'm sure," Li Ban said, his confidence surprisingly rock-solid.
Priest Qian Que trusted him. So when the other Priests hurried over, Qian Que held up a hand, stopping them from approaching Cat Girl.
Knowing that pursuing Du An was hopeless, Priest Li He descended beside Li Ban and Priest Qian Que.
"Li Ban, you still have a chance to strike." Even now, Priest Li He was pressuring him to execute Cat Girl.
Li Ban looked at him. There was no fiery indignation in his eyes, but his voice was absolutely resolute.
"Priest Li He, when and how I choose to advance is none of your concern."
Priest Li He blanked for a moment and raised an eyebrow. A few seconds later, he finally let out a curt, "Fine."
Priest Ai Jing hurried over to join them as well.
She had hunted Xiao Suo for ages, and even though Li Ban was the one to strike the final blow, she was thoroughly satisfied with the outcome.
Looking at Cat Girl in the distance, she knew the prisoner was Li Ban's ally, which filled her with a trace of worry.
"Li Ban, what are you waiting for?"
Stopping the voidification of a Mutated Element was exceptionally difficult.
Even as Priests, they didn't have any reliable methods to halt the process.
The only reason they were all standing guard here was to put Cat Girl down the second before she fully descended into chaos.
While killing her wouldn't destroy the Mutated Element, it would severely weaken its power and stop it from spreading to other continents.
When the time came, they would strike her down whether Li Ban tried to stop them or not. The only reason they were waiting was out of respect for him, giving Cat Girl one last sliver of a chance.
Even though everyone knew that chance was vanishingly small—practically impossible.
But just as they had all written her off, the fur covering Cat Girl's body slowly began to recede.
Against all odds, she had suppressed the voidifying element and restabilized herself.
Cat Girl slowly lifted her head. The golden fur on her face had almost entirely vanished.
It was only then that the group realized what Cat Girl had been clutching to her chest this whole time.
It was a Wizard Embryo Fragment!
A moment later, the Wizard Embryo Fragment floated gently upward, sinking straight into the space between her eyebrows.
A relieved smile finally broke across Li Ban's face.
"She did it!"