Chapter 119: Ants Like These Should Have Been Killed Long Ago

"L-late-stage Nascent Soul!"

Inside the grand hall, the four Golden Core cultivators turned ashen at the words, prostrating themselves and not daring to raise their heads.

A late-stage Nascent Soul?

That was an existence on par with the Three Great Cultivators of the Heavenly Abyss Sea. How could someone like that appear in this tiny Four Seas City?

The ugly dwarf no longer possessed a shred of his earlier arrogance. Watching the azure-robed figure approach step by step, he trembled uncontrollably, unable to muster the slightest thought of resistance.

The figure loomed larger in his eyes as the aura of a late-stage Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator bore down on him.

He had already cast aside his supposed dignity as a Nascent Soul cultivator. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed frantically, each impact heavier than the last. His forehead split open, fresh blood streaming down to dye the floor tiles red.

"Senior, Senior! Spare me, I beg you! I never should have spoken out of turn, let alone raised a hand against you. I deserve to die—I truly deserve to die..."

With that, he began slapping his own face with frantic force, striking harder with every blow. His cheeks swelled crimson, blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, and several teeth knocked loose, yet he did not dare stop.

Jiuyou remained expressionless, silently watching the dwarf's performance without a single ripple of emotion in his eyes.

Seeing that the Grand Cultivator had not struck immediately, the dwarf thought he had found a sliver of hope. He slapped himself all the harder, thin trails of blood weeping from his cheeks as apologies poured from his lips, groveling like a dog begging for pity.

After a moment, Jiuyou tilted his head slightly and chuckled coldly, watching the Nascent Soul cultivator kneeling before him like a dog that had lost its home.

"Indeed. You truly do deserve to die."

The words slammed into the ugly cultivator's mind like a heavy hammer.

He collapsed backward with a thud and scrambled away several steps in sheer desperation.

"No, you can't kill me! I—" he stammered in terror.

He wanted to invoke his backing, only to suddenly realize how laughable his so-called sect support was before a late-stage Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator.

Seeing that Jiuyou had no intention of staying his hand, a vicious gleam flashed across the dwarf's face. He surged his magic power once more, prepared to fight to the death.

Yet the moment his magic power stirred, a sharp, piercing pain shot through his abdomen.

He looked down to see that a Cyan Chain had pierced his dantian at some point, securely locking his Nascent Soul in place. A frigid chill rushed along the iron links, flash-freezing his Nascent Soul in an instant so he could no longer muster a single shred of magic power.

With a wave of Jiuyou's hand, the Nascent Soul was dragged into the Nether Capital Gate and swallowed alive. The dwarf's corpse and storage pouch were swept away just as casually.

Inside the hall, the four Golden Core cultivators caught sight of the scene from the corners of their eyes, their courage completely shattered by terror.

Trembling all over as cold sweat poured down like rain, they remained pressed flat against the floor, hardly daring to breathe aloud. They prayed only that this Grand Cultivator would pay no heed to ants like them.

Yet nothing would go as they wished.

"Hahahaha—"

Jiuyou chuckled coldly. His laughter was not loud, yet it pierced bone like icicles, drilling into the ears of everyone present until their very souls trembled.

A sinister chill erupted from his body, sweeping across the entire hall in an instant.

The four Golden Core cultivators and over a dozen serving girls, along with the tables, chairs, food, wine, and instruments in the hall, were entirely frozen into ice sculptures.

Expressions of terror still lingered on their faces—some with mouths agape, some with eyes wide, others with hands raised to ward off the cold—all of them forever frozen in that single moment.

The chill did not subside. Instead, it spread wildly outward, sweeping over the entire city, the entire island, and a hundred li of the surrounding sea.

Jiuyou took a single step and appeared outside the grand hall. Behind him, the hall collapsed with a deafening roar, showering crushed ice in all directions and kicking up a storm of frozen dust.

The Nether Capital Frigid Domain unfolded.

Frost blotted out the sky, radiating outward in every direction with him at the center. Frost coated the ground, ice sealed the walls, and the very air seemed to freeze solid.

Wherever it passed, all things turned white, and every trace of life was extinguished.

Countless Nether Soul Puppets surged from the void in a dense, overwhelming horde, howling as they lunged in all directions. Ghostly Cyan Chains darted through the freezing mist, silent and swift as lightning.

Outside the city, mortals and cultivators alike met the same fate. Those with low cultivation were frozen solid before they could even react, while those with higher strength lasted only a few breaths before succumbing either to the biting ice or the Nether Soul Puppets suddenly surging from the void.

Some were pierced through by hurtling chains, their bodies bursting into mists of blood before their remains flash-froze in place.

Others attempted to fight back with blades in hand, but the moment they raised their weapons, a Nether Soul Puppet tore them to shreds with a single claw. Blood splashed across the frozen ground, instantly crystallizing into dark red ice.

Mortals fleeing through the alleys, patrolling city guards, and cultivators meditating behind closed doors—regardless of status, strength, good, or evil—were all swept into the slaughter.

Even cultivators hiding in secret chambers and commoners cowering in cellars found no escape. Chains plunged into the earth, dragging those in hiding out to be strangled on the spot.

Screams, pleas for help, and wails of agony rose and fell, weaving a dirge of despair. Yet within the boundless frigid domain, every sound was swiftly swallowed by the howling wind, returning to dead silence.

Jiuyou stood suspended in the air, expressionless.

With every step he took, his figure crossed more than ten li.

The eastern markets, the western residences, the northern market town, the southern harbor.

His footprints covered the entirety of Four Seas Island. Beneath his feet, cyan light erupted, shattering the frozen cultivators and mortals into mists of blood as their souls became nourishment for the frigid domain.

From beginning to end, his expression remained unchanged, his gaze indifferent to the point of numbness. Beneath his feet lay a landscape of corpses and rivers of blood. Dark red blood meandered across the ice, slowly congealing into vast, shocking sheets of blood-ice.

Ghostly Cyan Chains danced across the sky, crisscrossing into an inescapable net that locked down every corner of the island. The frigid domain froze all vitality, the puppets reaped lives, and the chains tore bodies asunder—the three working in terrifying harmony to forge an inescapable purgatory.

"Hahahaha—"

Suspended high in the sky, Jiuyou looked down at the fleeing ants with a cruel, cold laugh, his shrill laughter echoing through the frigid wind.

"Die. Once you're dead, all will be well. You've lived on this patriarch's Soul Wraith Island for so long—it's about time I collected some rent. A bunch of ants... you should have been killed long ago, killed long ago! Hahaha."

Several hundred li away, a group of traveling cultivators steered a flying boat, intending to stop at Four Seas City to rest and resupply.

From a distance, they saw thick, white freezing mist blanketing the sky above the sea ahead. A faint unease stirred in their hearts, prompting them to slow the flying boat and peer intently into the distance.

When they finally made out the current state of Four Seas Island, every cultivator aboard the flying boat froze. Their pupils contracted sharply, utter horror written across their faces.

As far as the eye could see, the entire island was buried beneath thick ice. Streams of an unrecognizable crimson fluid poured from the land, staining the nearby sea as deathly energy soared to the heavens.

Though they were several hundred li away, the bone-piercing cold and the nauseating stench of blood still drifted over on the wind, pressing down on their trembling minds.

"Is... is that Four Seas City?" a middle-aged cultivator stammered, his legs so weak he could barely stand.

"Such terrifying cold... Could everyone on the island be... gone?" Beside him, a young cultivator turned deathly pale, stumbling backward in fright until he nearly fell from the flying boat.

Another cultivator parted his lips, unable to utter a sound for a long time. He could only point into the distance, his finger trembling uncontrollably.

Staring at that dead, purgatorial expanse, an unknown terror seized their minds.

At the thought of how close they had come to stepping into that domain of death, cold sweat instantly soaked their backs.

"We absolutely cannot stay here!"

No one knew who barked the warning first.

Not daring to linger for another moment, they pushed their spiritual power to the limit, turning the flying boat around and fleeing for their lives.

High atop the city gate tower, the azure-robed figure stood in silence, watching the tiny motes of light flee into the distance.

The frigid wind whipped against his robes, sending them snapping in the air.

Deep within his eyes, the calm remained unbroken.