The attack could have crushed an ordinary Heavenly Immortal, yet Jared only lifted the Dragonslayer Sword-calm, unhurried, almost curious.

“An ant toppling an elephant,” he mumbled, uninterested.

Five-element Nascence Power, newly restored, roared through his meridians and into the blade. A faint ripple of the Time Law shimmered around him, bending every second to his will.

“Slay!”

A plain, color-striped flash-Prismatic Sword Aura-shot forth. It sliced the phantom mask like cheap silk, leaving the once-formidable array in tatters that dissolved into smoke.

The aura did not slow. It skimmed across the screeching crone who had led the chant.

Her twisted sneer froze. A heartbeat later, she and the magical item she clutched-fell apart in two silent, clean halves.