243: Chapter 243 The portal collapsed

The tremors at the mountain peak were no longer mere shaking, but a wail of impending disintegration rising from the depths of the earth.

"What's going on? Has the Earth Dragon turned over?!"

Below the altar, the Mad Blood Prince's voice revealed an uncontrollable panic for the first time. The black stone ground beneath his feet, harder than iron, was cracking into a spiderweb of bottomless fissures.

Su Changge pressed one hand against the stone pillar carved with the ancient Blood Ancestor totem. A cold sensation transmitted from his palm, yet it couldn't suppress the violent turbulence surging from the soles of his feet to his heart. He frowned and looked up at the sky.

There, it was no longer the sky.

The collision of the two supreme powers did not ignite the expected blinding light or deafening roar. They crushed and annihilated each other, completely tearing apart the fundamental Laws of that patch of sky. Space became like a piece of glass twisted to its limit, showing a grotesque and terrifying deformation, as if an invisible giant hand were about to wring the firmament of this world into a braid.

The spatial rift forcibly opened by Ye Qingyao was brutally pried apart and torn at the center of the confrontation between the two forces. It evolved from a mere sliver of light into a hideous abyssal wound. Chaotic and violent spatial turbulence, like a bursting river of stars, gushed from the wound, sweeping across the entire Blood Ancestor mountain peak with a sharpness that could cut through anything.

Atop the mountain peak, Ancient Blood Maple trees that had grown for ten thousand years were uprooted and ground into the finest dust in mid-air. The hard mountain rock was peeled away layer by layer, emitting a piercing grinding sound.

Su Changge's black robes fluttered loudly in the wind. His internal Spiritual Qi circulated automatically, barely allowing him to stand firm.

The bit of peace he had just secured vanished completely.

Is it really going to explode?

I only wanted to use the heart of the realm to drive away the foreign enemies and protect myself! How did I end up poking such a huge hole?!

"Boom—Crack!"

The sounds of the earth splitting grew more frequent. Massive fissures, a hundred feet deep, spread from the base of the mountain all the way to the summit. Turbid, foul-smelling blood springs gushed from the cracks, carrying the Evil Qi accumulated in the depths of the earth for countless ages, rolling down the slopes.

The millions of Blood Descendants kneeling below the altar could no longer maintain their pious posture. The pungent bloody Evil Qi and the collapse of the earth beneath them threw them into primal terror. Piercing screams rose one after another as countless blood race citizens scrambled to their feet, attempting to flee this doomed Holy Land.

The entire central altar instantly turned into a chaotic mess.

"Silence!"

Four figures soared into the sky—the Four Princes. They hovered above the chaotic crowd, each taking a side, their hands forming seals. Majestic blood-elemental Spiritual Qi instantly expanded, transforming into a pale red barrier that covered the entire altar area, blocking out all the gushing blood springs and Evil Qi.

"Our King's Divine Might is here! Why are you in such a panic?!"

Prince Jimie's voice, imbued with Spiritual Qi to soothe the Divine Soul, clearly reached the ears of every blood race citizen.

"All Blood Descendants, stay where you are! Anyone who moves without orders will be treated as a traitor to the clan!"

The pressure of the Prince-level was released without reservation. That suppression originating from the depths of their Bloodline finally calmed the frantic blood race citizens. Their bodies trembled with fear, yet they dared not move an inch, kneeling back down one after another, entrusting their fates to the King atop the altar.

At that moment, at the border of the Blood Abyss Realm, the Planar Portal that had been maintained for two full months as a beacon for the invaders let out a massive, overburdened boom.

The pure power of the purification Origin swept through like an invisible wave. The countless profound runes forming the portal, along with the Ten-thousand-year Profound Crystals serving as its base, failed to last even a single breath. They were completely erased from the level of Laws by that power, turning into flying ash without leaving a single trace.

Almost simultaneously, the cold notification sound of the System rang out in Su Changge's Sea of Consciousness.

[Planar invasion crisis detected to be completely eradicated. Realm integrity preserved. Reward: 5,000,000 emotion points.]

Watching the number on the System panel soar all the way to sixty million, Su Changge's tense nerves finally relaxed for a moment.

However, before he could fully exhale, he froze the instant he looked up.

Above the firmament, at the center of the collision between the two terrifying energies, a deep, rotating Black Vortex had appeared at some point.

At first, it was only a few dozen feet wide, but it expanded frantically at a visible rate, swallowing the surrounding spatial fragments and chaotic energy. Ten feet, fifty feet, a hundred feet...

The center of the vortex was pure "nothingness," an absolute darkness that could swallow even light and Divine Sense. An indescribable, terrifying suction emanated from that darkness.

Debris from the mountain peak, fallen ancient trees, and even the thin Spiritual Qi drifting in the air were captured by that force, irresistibly pulled and dragged into the depths of the vortex, vanishing without a trace.

Standing atop the altar, Su Changge felt it most clearly. The suction was not a physical pull, but a dragging of space itself. The entire spatial coordinates of the altar beneath his feet were shifting toward the center of the vortex.

Warning bells rang wildly in his mind.

What is that?

A bug in purifying the world can even create a black hole?

At that moment, on the other side of the torn spatial rift, a white-robed figure finally broke free from the constraints of the last barrier.

Ye Qingyao's figure appeared at the exit of the rift.

Her gaze crossed a distance of less than a hundred feet and a span of a thousand years, locking firmly onto the solitary figure atop the altar.

Revered Master!

It really is Revered Master!

She had waited for a thousand years, hoped for a thousand years, and cultivated bitterly for a thousand years, and finally... she saw him once again!

Tears instantly blurred her vision. Her Dao Heart, which had been tempered as hard as iron by longing and suffering through countless days and nights, completely melted at this moment.

She raised her foot, about to take this step across time and space.

However, her Mahayana Stage Immortal Essence, which came from breaking through the world, and the purification Origin of the Blood Abyss Realm were two completely opposite supreme powers. She was the root cause of the explosion!

The incomparably violent power of the purification Origin finally found an outlet and slammed hard against her body.

"Bang!"

Under the rejection of that world's will, Ye Qingyao's protective Immortal Essence was as fragile as paper. Her body was violently thrown back by an irresistible force.

She reached out, trying her best to grab the corner of the robe that was so close.

What her fingertips brushed against, however, was cold and empty broken space.

"Revered Master—!"

A shrill cry, filled with endless grievance and unwillingness, pierced through the violent energy turbulence and came through clearly along the rapidly closing rift.

Her figure tumbled in the Temporal Turbulence, falling rapidly back toward the Cangxuan Dao Domain a thousand years later.

Under the self-repair of the world's Origin, the hideous black spatial rift also began to shrink and close rapidly.

Ye Qingyao's figure, along with her despairing gaze, finally vanished behind the healing Temporal Barrier.

Atop the altar, Su Changge stood motionless.

That blood-curdling cry of "Revered Master" fell accurately into his ears, every syllable like a heavy hammer striking the depths of his Divine Soul.

His pupils contracted.

Was it really Ye Qingyao?

That fleeting glimpse of the white-robed figure, that lunatic who didn't hesitate to punch through time and space just to see him—was it really that cheap disciple he had casually taken in?

Su Changge looked up at the sky, which had now completely closed, leaving only a shallow spatial ripple. His heart was in turmoil, filled with a mix of emotions.

A little girl he had forgotten a thousand years ago had actually reached the Mahayana Stage by her own efforts? And... she even possessed the great power to break through the barrier of a thousand years of time and space?

This was no longer an exaggeration; it was a myth!

Before Su Changge could recover from this massive shock, the ominous Black Vortex above his head had expanded to several hundred feet, almost covering half the sky.

The suction at the core of the vortex also surged to a terrifying degree. The Ten-thousand-year Profound Stones forming the central altar creaked under the pull of that force, and countless runic formations flickered uncertainly, clearly on the verge of collapse.

"King... what... what is that?"

The Old Priest stumbled to Su Changge's side. Looking up at the expanding dark vortex in the sky, his voice cracked with extreme terror.

The Four Princes also flew back to the top of the altar. Looking up at the vortex that swallowed everything, the composure they once held was gone, replaced by deep helplessness and panic.

Su Changge stood in place, his black robes fluttering, his face as calm as water, maintaining the final poise of a Master.

Deep inside, he was already cursing up a storm.

The crisis of the planar invasion was resolved.

So why is there another Temporal Vortex?

Is today some kind of Mercury Retrograde day?

Can't a person just live in peace?

Ye Qingyao's cry had come through the rift and fallen clearly into Su Changge's ears.

Su Changge's eyes suddenly widened.

Was it really Ye Qingyao?