Thunderclouds coiled into a vortex above the Qingyun Sect, with serpent-like shadows as thick as mountain ranges moving within the clouds. Lin Mo's pupils reflected the scene miles away: the Kui Niu of the Northern Wilderness crushed glaciers, the Xuan Gui of the South Sea surfaced with the entire Coral City on its back, and in the depths of the Western Extremes, the war drums sounded from Zhu Yan, who pounded its chest.

  "They are responding to your call." Qing Zhu's lingering soul was almost transparent as her fingertip touched Lin Mo's brow. "But you must think carefully; once you accept the worship of the ancestral clans..."

  Suddenly, Su Wan'er coughed violently, a droplet of blood spilling from her mouth and freezing into an ice crystal mid-air. The curse mark around her neck had spread to her collarbone, and frost-like veins appeared beneath her skin. Lin Mo grasped her wrist, feeling her pulse faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

  "There are seven days left." The warning from the sword spirit echoed in his ears. Lin Mo's hand, gripping the sword, throbbed with veins bulging as the Zhan Yuan sword sensed its master's emotions, the blood patterns on its blade writhing like living creatures.

  Suddenly, dozens of mounds of earth rose, rotten hands breaking through the surface. These were the Qingyun disciples devoured by the Heavenly Refinement Array, now transformed into corpses covered in curse inscriptions. The foremost corpse wore the outer disciple's robes, half of its face still retaining a youthful innocence—it was the boy who had brought food to Lin Mo three days prior.

  "Be careful!" Su Wan'er swung her sword, severing the corpse puppet's arm, while frost spread along the blade to freeze its chest cavity. But more corpse puppets surged from all directions, their blood-colored array patterns resonating with the totem on Lin Mo's hand, causing the Beast Pearl in his dantian to stir restlessly.

  Lin Mo suddenly stabbed the Zhan Yuan sword into the ground. The fused Beast Pearl erupted with a blue light, using the sword as a medium to carve a massive beast-controlling symbol into the surface. As the final stroke was completed, the entire Qingyun Mountain began to tremble, and seven blood springs gushed from the mountain's cracks, condensing into the shape of the Big Dipper in the air.

  "With my bloodline, I call upon your true names—" He bit his tongue, his essence mixing with incantations that echoed through the heavens, "Kui Niu of the Thunder Marsh, Xuan Gui of the South Sea, Zhu Yan of the Western Extremes..."

  The shadows in the clouds roared in unison. The Kui Niu stomped down, shattering the thunderclouds and crashing down with bolts of lightning; the Coral City on the Xuan Gui's back shot out countless azure water arrows, accurately piercing the array focal point on the corpse puppet's forehead; Zhu Yan smashed its fists into the core of the Heavenly Refinement Array but was rebounded hundreds of feet away, the sight of its arm bones piercing through flesh making Su Wan'er look away.

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  "Not enough." Qing Zhu's voice trembled. "The Heavenly Refinement Array is absorbing their attacks!"

  As if to confirm her words, the defeated corpse puppets reformed into a three-headed, six-armed monster. Lin Mo suddenly felt a searing pain in his palm, as the blood pact totem extended crimson threads connecting to the array patterns on each corpse puppet—he was becoming the new focal point of the Heavenly Refinement Array!

  Su Wan'er suddenly pressed close. The coldness of her lips brushed against the corner of his mouth, and the cold marrow spirit flowed into his meridians. Lin Mo glimpsed her memories: at five years old, her birth mother had pushed her into a cold pond to awaken her abilities; on her thirteenth birthday, the Tianji Pavilion cultivators had slaughtered the village that raised her; and until three days ago, Xiao Han’s unfinished words about "Senior Sister Qing Li left..."

  "Don't get distracted." As Su Wan'er pulled away, ice crystals fell from her hair. "I can feel the array's core moving."

  As if in response to her words, the ground opened into a chasm. The purple-robed elder's warship rose from the depths, its surface embedded with thousands of beating hearts. At the top, within a glass dome, Qing Li's remnant body was pierced by seventy-two chains, with the other half of the jade pendant embedded in her heart!

  "Mother!" Lin Mo's eyes widened in rage. The Zhan Yuan sword sensed its master's killing intent, emitting a roar that summoned thunder from the heavens. But all attacks were absorbed the moment they touched the warship—she had become the final shield of the Heavenly Refinement Array.

  Zhu Yan suddenly spoke in human tongue: "Kid, use that!" It broke its own bloodied arm bone and tossed it over. The moment Lin Mo caught it, the familiar ritual inscription appeared on the bone—exactly like the one his mother used to form seals.

  Su Wan'er suddenly snatched the bone. Infusing it with cold marrow spirit, she froze it into an ice blade: "You can't do it; I will." She dashed towards the warship like a shooting star, the curse mark on her neck shining blindingly. "Aunt Qing taught me that the cold marrow body is best suited for being a sacrifice..."

  "Don't—!"

  Lin Mo's roar erupted simultaneously with the thunderstorm. The ice blade pierced Qing Li's heart, and at that moment, time seemed to freeze. The red light of the Heavenly Refinement Array suddenly extinguished, and the purple-robed elder looked down in shock, seeing an ice blade protruding from his chest—Su Wan'er’s figure appeared behind Qing Li's remnant body, a serene smile on her lips.

  "Foolish girl..." Qing Li's eyelashes fluttered, and her remaining consciousness transformed into light points, merging into Su Wan'er’s brow. "This is what a mother left for you..."

  The warship began to collapse. Lin Mo caught the falling Su Wan'er and discovered that the curse mark around her neck had transferred to him. The girl in his arms felt light as a feather, her white hair like snow covering his arm: "Look, fireworks."

  As the last heart exploded, blood rain fell from the sky. The Beast Pearl spun in the rain, devouring all the spiritual energy of the Heavenly Refinement Array. Lin Mo heard the sound of shackles breaking deep within his bloodlines, dragon horns sprouting from his forehead, and bone wings breaking forth from his back—this time, they were not the incomplete wings of a Taotie but the dual wings of a dragon entwined with wind and thunder!

  Qing Zhu's lingering soul laughed softly in the rain: "You have finally awakened, the thirty-seventh sect master of the Beast Immortal Sect."