Lin Mu tried again, this time using Blink, then Meld, but both failed. The space warped unpredictably, each attempt rejected by the corruption in the air.

Only Phase and Flicker, which affected his own body directly, still worked. But those would not help him bypass a barrier this vast.

He clenched his fists. The situation was worse than he thought.

"We cannot pierce it," said Elder Ice Drake, his voice grave. "Even the flow of Qi inside it bends unpredictably. It absorbs and nullifies everything"

Lin Mu frowned. "It's not just absorption... it's conversion. The Baleful Qi is consuming our attacks as nourishment."

The realization struck everyone hard. A permanent, self-sustaining barrier. Unless the source was destroyed, it would never collapse.

They could only keep fighting and buy time for the rest of the army to hold their lines.

But the Ancestor had no intention of letting them wait.

His skeletal hand lifted the black staff once more, and his voice turned into a guttural chant. "You think you are the chosen of light and order? Then let us see how you fare against your own kind!"

He struck the staff against the ground, sending a pulse through the earth.

The chanting of his followers grew louder, more deranged, as streams of black mist gathered around them. The mist twisted, condensed, and began to form shapes.

Hundreds of corrupted memories and fragmented spirits rose from the ground like smoke from burning corpses. They clustered together, drawn to fifteen different points in front of the Ancestor. Each gathering began to solidify, taking on humanoid forms.

The air grew heavy.

When the transformation completed, fifteen figures stood before them, each different in shape and aura.

Some were tall and clad in heavy armor forged of shadow and bone. Others were lean, their bodies wrapped in cloth that shimmered like black silk. Each held a weapon; swords, halberds, whips, and axes, all radiating power that could make the heavens tremble.

Lin Mu could sense it clearly. These were no ordinary constructs.

Each one of them carried the spiritual signature of countless fallen souls merged into one.

The Ancestor threw back his head and laughed. His voice cracked the silence like thunder. "Behold! The Ephemerach Hollows! Warriors forged from the remains of forgotten heroes and sinners alike. Their strength rivals the peak of the Transcendent realm!"

The ground split where the Hollows stepped, their bodies dripping with condensed Baleful Qi. Their eyes glowed crimson as they raised their weapons in silent readiness.

"The Ephemerach... They can make more?" Lin Mu had thought there was just one before, but it was clear the Ephemera Sect had the means to make more.

Lin Mu felt their power pressing against him like a physical weight. The other Transcendents drew their weapons, their auras flaring.

This was no longer a battle of armies. This was a confrontation of titans.

Lin Mu's hand rested on his sword. The faint hum of the Sword Cradle Divine Sheath echoed within his soul, answering the call of battle.

He exhaled slowly, eyes locked on the fifteen new enemies. "So," he muttered, his voice steady, "these will be our opponents."

The Ancestor smiled wickedly. "Indeed. Let us see if you can survive them, False Vessel."

The air cracked as the first of the Ephemerach Hollows stepped forward, its massive sword raised high.

BOOM

The battle between the Transcendents began in a spectacle of destruction that shook the heavens themselves.

The air vibrated with the clash of impossible powers, Baleful energy twisting the world while Immortal Qi and Sword Intent struggled to stabilize it. The very Marshes of the Silent Skies became a battlefield of gods, and each clash sent shockwaves that churned the black waters below.

The fifteen Ephemerach Hollows moved like extensions of the marsh itself... silent, lethal, and suffused with the corruption of countless souls and their memories. Their forms flickered between shadow and substance, their armor forged from the compressed essence of Baleful Qi itself.

The five Transcendents and Lin Mu stood as the last line before the encroaching darkness.

"Stay sharp!" Lin Mu shouted as the Hollows surged forward. "They draw from the barrier's energy. Every second they fight, they get stronger!"

The Xian Sword Sect Patriarch reacted first, his sword gleaming with endless radiance.

HUALA

With one gesture, a thousand sword beams erupted behind him like a constellation. They streaked through the air, forming a lotus-shaped formation that enveloped three of the Ephemerach Hollows. The beams cut deep, sending sparks and black mist into the sky.

But the Hollows did not fall. Their armor absorbed the Sword Qi, their wounds knitting back together almost immediately.

"Tch... it regenerates too fast," the Patriarch muttered, his brows tightening.

Grand Elder Huo stepped forward, flames mixed with Sword qi surging around him like a rising sun. "Then we burn them until there's nothing left!" While he was primarily a Sword Cultivator, that didn't mean he couldn't use a couple more elements.

With a sweep of his hand, the air ignited. Waves of golden fire suffused with Sword Intent cascaded across the battlefield, swallowing several Hollows whole. The flames burned bright enough to sear through Baleful Qi, and the burning screams of the Hollows filled the air.

Yet even that was not enough. The fire dimmed as black tendrils emerged from the ground, consuming the flames and replenishing the Hollows' strength.

At another corner of the field, Elder Ice Drake roared and summoned an avalanche of glacial energy. A storm of frozen shards rained from above, blanketing the field in a blizzard that locked several Hollows in ice.

The ground cracked, and the temperature dropped so sharply that even the air

froze into crystal flakes.

But as the frost crept over their bodies, the Hollows began to tremble. Their armor pulsed with dark light, and the frost shattered like glass. The Baleful Qi burned through the cold, melting the ice into black sludge.

The Abbot of the Silent Lotus Temple stood with his palms pressed together, his expression serene despite the chaos. "Compassion may not destroy evil, but it shall suppress it."