113: The fireworks extravaganza has begun!

The little girl, Linglong, closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly from fear.

She could see nothing, yet she could feel the entire world falling silent.

It wasn't the disappearance of sound.

It was the stillness of Laws.

The wind stopped, the clouds froze, and even the never-ending roars of resentful Souls deep within the dungeon were paused in that instant.

Chu Xuanjin straightened his body.

He raised his right hand, extended a single finger, and lightly tapped toward the ceiling of the dungeon.

There was no earth-shattering momentum.

There was no world-destroying pressure.

There was only a single point of light.

A white point of light, so pure it reached the extreme—as if it contained all the light in the world, yet also as if it had swallowed all the colors of heaven and earth—quietly emerged from his fingertip.

Immediately after, this point of light began to expand.

Silently.

It passed through the dungeon's ceiling, through the thick layers of rock, and through the white jade-paved square of the Tianyan Holy Land.

It passed through one magnificent palace after another, through one powerful Restriction after another.

Everywhere the light passed, all matter—whether it was hard profound ice or ethereal immortal mist—was instantly decomposed into the most primitive particles.

There was no explosion, no shockwave.

There was only a kind of ultimate annihilation.

Tianyan Holy Land, Main Peak.

The Holy Lord, Daoist Tianyan, a genuine Body Integration Great Perfection expert, was in closed-door cultivation within a secret chamber.

He suddenly snapped his eyes open, and an unprecedented fear originating from the depths of his Soul made every hair on his body stand on end!

"Ene—"

He only had time to let out a roar of absolute terror.

In the next second, that pure white light had already penetrated the walls of the secret chamber.

His voice stopped abruptly.

His immortal body, which he had cultivated for tens of thousands of years and was said to be impervious to all techniques, along with his powerful Divine Soul, didn't even manage to cause a ripple before turning into the most insignificant dust.

The light continued to spread.

From the main peak to the secondary peaks, and then to those floating islands connected by star chains.

The entire Tianyan Holy Land was being erased from this world bit by bit, as if by an invisible eraser.

When the edge of that light was about to reach the outer regions of the Holy Land—the areas responsible for chores and farming—it was as if an invisible giant hand precisely pinched it, causing it to slowly stop.

Finally, the light dissipated.

Color returned to heaven and earth.

The wind began to flow again.

However, that immortal Holy Land which had originally floated above the Nine Heavens and flourished for hundreds of thousands of years...

At this moment, only a messy outer region remained.

In its core area, over ninety percent of the palaces and floating islands, along with the tens of thousands of Core Disciples, Elders, and even the Holy Lord living within them...

All of them had disappeared.

It was as if they had never existed.

Only an indescribably massive gap, smooth as a mirror, remained suspended above the Nine Heavens, silently telling of what a terrifying miracle had just occurred here.

"Alright."

Chu Xuanjin clapped his hands, as if he had only done a trivial little thing.

"Let's go home."

This time, Linglong did not cower.

She looked up, and in those hollow eyes, there seemed to be a reflection of something called 'light'... Myriad Dao Divine Mountain, small courtyard.

Chu Xuanjin's figure, carrying Linglong, appeared out of thin air.

"Linger, Yan'er."

He gave a soft call.

Two figures instantly appeared before him.

"Revered Master."

When Su Linger and Gongsun Yan saw the little girl in Chu Xuanjin's arms with a weak aura and hollow eyes, both were stunned.

A thick sense of heartache immediately welled up in Gongsun Yan's eyes.

"Revered Master, this child..."

"Her name is Linglong," Chu Xuanjin's voice was softer than ever before.

"She has suffered some fright, and her body is somewhat depleted. You two take her to wash up first, change her into clean clothes, and then use some mild Spirit Medicine to nourish her body."

"Remember, don't ask her about anything, and don't use Qi to forcibly probe her body."

"Yes, Revered Master."

Gongsun Yan quickly stepped forward and carefully took Linglong from Chu Xuanjin's arms.

When her warm hand, filled with the breath of life, touched Linglong's cold body, the little girl's body trembled slightly.

But this time, she didn't dodge either.

Su Linger watched this scene; though her eyes remained cold, she silently waved her hand.

Inside a quiet bamboo hut not far away, it instantly became as warm as spring, and a hot spring pool formed by a spirit spring began to emit curling steam.

The two women led Linglong into the bamboo hut.

Chu Xuanjin watched their receding backs.

He took out his disciple token and sent a message to Ye Chenfeng and the others.

"The gates of Tianyan Holy Land are open, and remnants still exist."

"I'll leave the cleanup to you all."

"Remember, make it quick."

After doing all this, he sat back down in his rocking chair and began to ponder a serious question.

How should he settle Linglong?

This child was formed from a fragment of the Heavenly Dao and possessed an Innate Dao Embryo; her Root Bone potential had already exceeded the scope of Divine Grade.

If he took her as a Disciple, the System would surely give a Heaven-Defying reward.

But... Chu Xuanjin looked toward the bamboo hut and shook his head.

This child didn't need a Revered Master; she needed a home.

She didn't need a Cultivation Technique or Divine Ability; she needed warmth, companionship, and bit-by-bit kindness that could make her believe in this world again.

"Forget it, let her stay on the mountain for now."

"We'll talk about future matters later."

...Aboard the massive war flying boat, the atmosphere was so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

Xu Zhenxiong's eyes were bloodshot, like a gambler who had lost everything.

Qiao Lian's face was pale as she tightly clenched her fists.

Wen Chici stood at the bow, gazing toward the Eastern Desolation without saying a word, though his slightly trembling fingertips betrayed his inner turmoil.

They all felt it.

Just now, that vast and ancient Luck belonging to the Tianyan Holy Land had disappeared.

It hadn't weakened, nor was it heavily damaged.

It had completely and utterly vanished.

"Wen... Saint Wen..." Xu Zhenxiong's voice was as hoarse as a broken bellows, "Tianyan Holy Land... is it..."

"Shut up," Wen Chici's voice was bone-chillingly cold.

He didn't need to guess to know what had happened.

That Myriad Dao Divine Sect hadn't come out in full force at all.

While they sent people to raid the Xu Family's nest, they simultaneously sent an even more terrifying existence to directly wipe out the mountain gate of our Tianyan Holy Land!

Feinting to the east while attacking the west?

No!

This was a dual-front operation, a two-pronged steamroll!

"What should we... do now?" Qiao Lian's voice carried a hint of a sob.

Their three-party Alliance hadn't even officially set out yet, and the strongest among them was already gone.

How could they still fight?

"Continue forward," a crazed light flickered in Wen Chici's eyes.

"At this point, we have no path of retreat!"

"The Eastern Desolation! They must be in the Eastern Desolation!"

"As long as we seize their roots, we still have a chance to turn the tables!"

He seemed to be trying to convince others, yet also convincing himself.

The Disciples on the other two flying boats were already panicked, their morale having plummeted to rock bottom.

But since things had come to this, they could only steel themselves and follow this already-maddened warship to the bitter end... A few days later.

The eastern shore of the Endless Dead Sea.

Three massive flying boats that blotted out the sun finally tore through the clouds, descending upon this land they considered barren with an aura of desperation and tragic resolve.

However, what awaited them was not the expected Mortals kneeling for mercy, nor the panicked Eastern Desolation Cultivators.

What awaited them was a stretch of dead silence.

The sea breeze blew across the deserted coast.

The sunlight spilled over the calm, waveless sea.

"Where are the people?"

A Disciple of the Hundred Flowers Palace murmured to herself.

Right at that moment.

One figure after another slowly emerged on the sea horizon.

Some stood silently upon the reefs.

Some sat cross-legged atop the crests of waves.

Some hovered in mid-air on flying swords.

Ye Chenfeng, Zhao Wuyou, Ye Wushang... nearly ten thousand Disciples of the Myriad Dao Divine Sect were already here, arrayed and waiting.

They didn't shout battle cries or taunts.

They simply watched the three massive flying boats calmly, with the look one gives to the dead.

Aboard the flying boat, Wen Chici saw the disciplined army below with its heavy aura, and his pupils shrank violently.

Xu Zhenxiong and Qiao Lian beside him were even more terrified, retreating repeatedly.

They finally understood.

The opponent wasn't some rat hiding its head and tail at all.

From the very beginning, the opponent had laid an inescapable net here.

Waiting for them to throw themselves into the trap.

"Myriad Dao Divine Sect?"

Wen Chici's voice was somewhat dry.

On the coastline, Ye Chenfeng rested his hand on the ink dragon sword and slowly raised his head.

His voice was flat, yet it clearly entered everyone's ears.

"We have been waiting for you for a long time."