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"Roar!" As I tore open the scroll, Zha on the other side paused momentarily, seemingly recovering from her previous attack. But she soon charged again. I quickly rose to face her. After a few exchanges, Zha withdrew her spear and retreated, assuming the same starting stance as before. I swiftly drew another weapon from my waist—the longsword 'Heavenly Snake Fang.' Preparing for when she would attack, I planned to use the only solution I could think of to defend against her: the *One Slash to Sever the Universe* from the *Qiankun Extinction Blade*, which I had devised after witnessing Zha's spear thrust.

However, Zha stood there, spear in hand, looking stunned. She did not thrust her spear and simply stood there blankly. I didn’t dare to make the first move and remained fully alert, facing her off.

"Use a mental attack to disrupt her mind," came the weak and tired voice of Katherine from behind me. After all, unlike Apu’s neat wound, despite her heart being pierced and healed by the Great Resurrection Scroll, Katherine was still extremely weak. I didn’t dare to turn back or even speak, so I listened intently as Katherine continued.

"Her divine weapon, the *Spear of Absolute Destiny*, is said to possess the ability called *Trajectory of Fate*, which allows for ultra-short-term future prediction. It calculates the outcome of each spear thrust through repeated forecasting and then strikes in a way that guarantees a hit. I thought it was just a legend, but it turns out to be real. Right now, it's likely because Xuanfeng, you have an almost perfect technique that prevents her from predicting a future where she can hit you, which is why she's hesitating. We've already demonstrated that she's not in her right mind and may have even lost her memory. Now that she's using *Trajectory of Fate*, her mental resistance is at its weakest, giving you the best chance to succeed." As a lioness, her vitality was strong. Though her voice was weak, it didn’t break. She was right—the mental attack she referred to was my *Soul Manipulation Technique*.

The *Soul Manipulation Technique* from the *Nine Yin Manual* was designed to control an enemy's mind. However, it was originally created by Huang Chang to interrogate prisoners and uncover the secrets of the Manichaean cult. Using it on the battlefield to defeat an enemy was more difficult because if two opponents were evenly matched in skill, their willpower would typically be similar as well. Controlling such an opponent’s mind would be impossible. But facing an opponent like Zha, who was immensely powerful yet seemed to have an empty mind, was a different story.

At the beginning level, the *Soul Manipulation Technique* could only fortify one's own will and automatically counter mental attacks. Once mastered to a small degree, it could confuse enemies, making them unwittingly follow the practitioner's will, like a puppet. When advanced further, it allowed full control over an opponent's mind and actions. I had studied the technique extensively to enhance my mental control over half-orcs. After adopting the little girl Jin Luosha, I even used this technique to save her, nearly exhausting all my power in the process. Now, after many trials, though I wouldn't say I've reached the pinnacle of mastery, I could use it with ease.

Upon hearing Katherine's plan, I channeled my inner energy into my mind, releasing a mental force from my eyes that pierced through Zha's gaze. To be honest, I wasn’t very confident in this method, but the result was more straightforward than I had imagined.

The mental attack went surprisingly smoothly. With a dazed look in her eyes, Zha offered no resistance and accepted my control. At my command, she loosened her grip on the crystal spear. I immediately unleashed my full power to completely lock down her mind and used the capturing techniques of the *Nine Yin Skeleton Claw* to dislocate several of her joints. Seeing that Zha didn’t resist at all, I finally exhaled in relief and turned to check on Katherine’s injuries.

Two hours later, I and Katherine, along with Zha, whose joints had been reset and who offered no resistance, met up with the guards outside. The group of young warriors looked at us with strange expressions. Seeing Katherine covered in blood, her armor shattered, her face haggard, and then seeing Zha—tall and following closely behind me, with only a few pieces of cloth covering her—large areas of her snow-white skin were exposed. They couldn’t help but spread rumors: "Lord Xuanfeng has taken a mistress," "The two women fought over him," "Katherine was injured in the fight," and so forth. The rumors never ceased.

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Chapter Eighty-Five: The Rose's Heart, A Promise of Three Lifetimes

"Hmm... I think... it's possible... probably... that you've captured a variant of an ice frost elemental giant," said Winter Ye, the White Dragon, after conducting a comprehensive analysis with four ninth-level mages on the barbarian Sword Empress Zha that I had "captured."

"Hey, can you be a bit more serious? I thought dragons and elemental giants were mortal enemies back in the age of the Four Gods War. The Dragon Clan hadn't even entered the Abyssal Realm at that time. No matter which side of your lineage we look at, you should be an authority on elemental giants. How can you give me such a vague answer?" I couldn’t help but feel frustrated after waiting three days for this conclusion.

"What can I do? The situation is highly unique. If it weren't for the fact that the Valkyrie clan claims descent from frost giants, and if the *Spear of Absolute Destiny* carried the lingering resentment of a slain dragon, confirming it was the weapon of a *Dragon-Hunting Ice Demon* among the elemental giants, I wouldn’t even be able to give you this much," Winter Ye said helplessly, shaking his massive dragon head.

Dragons don't have societies, schools, or books, but they have their own methods of passing down knowledge. Each dragon is born with a Dragon Pearl that contains the important memories of their parents and ancestors, which can be accessed at any time. So even though Winter Ye was still young, he knew more about the elemental giants that were highly active in ancient times than even the elves who worshiped them. If even he couldn’t figure it out, the question could only be answered by the gods. So I could only say, "Well... what's your hypothesis then? It would be a shame to destroy such a high-level expert if we can't rule out the danger."