Chapter 890: Ninety Seconds

The old man's cold smile remained. He slowly spoke, glancing one last time at the young Saint Child. "In the Five Great Forbidden Zones, no one should ever feel fear towards their enemies! In other words, the moment you decided to bring these outsiders into the Five Great Forbidden Zones, your mission was already complete."

As he finished speaking, the old man watched a deep green light instantly expand, then transform into a unique six-pointed star. It floated briefly in the void before firmly locking onto the young Saint Child's body.

Boom! In just an instant, the six-pointed star completely melted. As these small stellar formations vanished, so did the young Saint Child's physical body.

In mere moments, a living child's life vanished at the old man's hands, a process that left Xu Yang's team utterly bewildered.

"Hmph, so the 'Saint Child' is merely a human puppet manipulated by you higher-ups. While they gain the authority and status, their very soul essence has already been siphoned off by you old geezers. That's how you can so effortlessly strip them of their lives through that method of punitive descent."

Xu Yang quickly understood the situation and spoke coldly to the old man. While he felt no sorrow over the child's demise—after all, they were enemies of the Five Great Forbidden Zones—Xu Yang strongly disagreed with the old man's wanton manipulation and arbitrary ending of lives.

Such extreme disregard for life would be scorned by any cultivator from the mainstream continent.

"What does his life or death matter to me? All I know is that in the Five Great Forbidden Zones, anyone who dares to defy the ancestral witch's command faces only one fate—and that includes you. You should worry about yourselves."

While the old man's method was indeed cruel, it instantly nullified any leverage Xu Yang and his team had over him. With the child's demise, Xu Yang's group no longer possessed any means to gain an advantage against the ancestral witch.

"Very well, from this moment on, we are back on equal footing, at the same starting point for a fair confrontation. Let us both decide our destinies based on our own strength."

As the old man's words faded, his eyes shone with a profound piety that deeply astonished Xu Yang and the others!

Suddenly, he gazed up at the sky. In that instant, at the peak of the clouds, an enormous circular magic array rapidly materialized beneath his feet, its intricate parts aligning in their respective positions.

Various complex inscriptions quickly appeared; each one represented a powerful, hidden pattern in the surroundings that had now been activated.

Xu Yang understood clearly that in a confrontation of this caliber, seizing the initiative and controlling the pace equated to establishing a significant advantage.

Without hesitation, Xu Yang immediately invoked the Law of Earth, frantically altering the topographical features of the plain. He aimed to disrupt Ancestral Witch Yuntong's array-forming rhythm in this way.

"Hahaha, your strength is indeed formidable! But on my territory, you are still an outsider. The pre-set patterns I've arranged are far beyond the traps you encountered on the jungle's outskirts."

Ancestral Witch Yuntong touched his glabella. Suddenly, an incredibly solid soul body outline materialized before Xu Yang's team. This soul body was remarkably complete; even Xu Yang only discerned its unique nature after observing it for a considerable time.

"Now, let's play a game. If you can conquer this soul body of mine before the surrounding pre-set patterns are fully activated, I will grant you a chance to live. Otherwise, you already know your fate."

"No time to lose, quickly!"

The Winter Goddess immediately dashed forward without hesitation, using the unique sealing power of her potent frost aura to instantly restrain the soul body before them.

However, with just one encounter, the Winter Goddess realized that the soul body could bypass any form of physical attack. Even after her frost aura enveloped its surface, the entity effortlessly slipped out of the sealed area.

"I've set the time for ninety seconds, or one and a half minutes. This is your only opportunity to act, so be swift!" Ancestral Witch Yuntong reminded them once more, his gaze remaining fixed on Xu Yang throughout.

What puzzled Ancestral Witch Yuntong, however, was Xu Yang's apparent lack of urgency. He remained perfectly calm, allowing his three teammates to struggle while he stood motionless.

As expected, Big Dog also demonstrated his abilities shortly after. The Soul Burning Array repeatedly unleashed its power towards the soul body's feet.

Yet, just like the Winter Goddess's power, it failed to inflict a sufficiently potent soul strike on the entity. Finally, Yun Xiao made the third move, materializing a jade-green soul arrow in her palm and launching it from her sleeve like a hidden dart.

In an instant, it precisely struck the glabella of the soul before them.

As anticipated, Yun Xiao's attack yielded the exact outcome everyone had hoped for!

It instantly pierced the entity's glabella.

However, as the soul body began to disintegrate, the mental pressure it emitted steadily intensified.

"Hahaha, it worked! Pure mental attacks can effectively harm this entity! Now I understand what needs to be done!"

The Winter Goddess acted again, surprisingly summoning her beloved wild boar.

"Partner, use your howl to drive this entity to despair!"

The Winter Goddess stroked her wild boar companion's head.

The next moment, the wild boar suddenly opened its gaping maw and unleashed an incredibly powerful soul-shocking roar. This roar, in the form of a materialized sound wave, frantically suppressed the soul body before them.

Given the soul body's inherent strength, that single roar ordinarily would not have affected it. However, because Yun Xiao's previous strike had succeeded, the soul was no longer whole.

Its overall defense limit had been breached, so now only complete disintegration awaited it!

This roar could further amplify its distinctive disintegrating effect.

Soon, the old man's soul body completely disintegrated into nothingness. Simultaneously, the immense pain from its collapse erupted, causing the old man to let out a hysterical scream.

At that very instant, all the surrounding pre-set patterns, activated by the bindings, fully initiated.