111: Intercept

The triumphant flying boat traveled through the vast sea of clouds.

The massive hull, crafted from thousand-year-old ironwood, was carved with the ancient flowing cloud totem of the Qingyun Sect, gleaming under the sunlight, full of endless glory and… pride.

Above the deck was a sea of jubilation.

Those Qingyun Sect Disciples who had witnessed the birth of a legend at the Seven Sect Martial Gathering had long shed their initial unease and apprehension.

Their faces were filled with the ecstasy of surviving a great calamity and the pride of being part of something so honorable!

“Hahahaha! You should have seen it! The faces of those guys from Heavenly Sword Manor turned green!”

“Not just green! I saw with my own eyes that their arrogant Sword Son couldn't even hold his sword in front of Senior Brother Lin! That scene, tsk tsk, it was truly satisfying!”

“Senior Brother Lin is the true… legend of the young generation in our Tiannan Dynasty!”

Various discussions, full of reverence and fanaticism, were incessant.

Lin Ye returned to his private quiet room, completely isolating himself from all the external clamor.

Inside the quiet room, Lin Ye sat cross-legged.

He stared intently at the cold bronze fragment in his palm, which seemed to contain endless secrets.

He could clearly feel a faint, mysterious energy, full of endless vastness and profound aura, slowly seeping into his body from the fragment, producing faint… resonance with his System, which had long become one with him!

“What exactly is this thing?”

He tried to probe it with his vast spiritual power, which had already reached the Treasure Body Realm.

However, that spiritual power was like a mud ox entering the sea, stirring not a single ripple.

He tried to communicate with it using his Divine Thought.

But the response he received was still… dead silence.

It was as if it was a complete… piece of scrap metal.

But Lin Ye knew that was not the case!

The System would not make mistakes!

“It seems I can only wait.”

Lin Ye slowly put away the mysterious fragment close to his body.

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the hull of the flying boat, looking at the rapidly receding vast sea of clouds outside the window, his dark eyes shimmering with unprecedented brilliance.

Home was getting closer.

However, just as he was filled with endless anticipation for the future, and the flying boat was about to enter the Qingyun Sect territory, that safest “homeland”—

Suddenly, the originally clear sky abruptly darkened!

The warm blazing sun, which had been hanging high in the sky, instantly lost all its radiance, as if it had been forcefully… throttled by an invisible, terrifying giant hand from the depths of the Nine Netherworld!

A terrifying pressure, filled with endless coldness, death, and decay, poured down, instantly enveloping every inch of space within a thousand miles!

“Om—!!!”

The huge flying boat of the Qingyun Sect, at the moment it came into contact with this terrifying pressure, the hundreds of defensive runes carved by the Core Elders on its hull, couldn't even last a single breath, and with a “bang,” they exploded!

The sturdy hull, crafted from thousand-year-old ironwood, let out a creaking wail of unbearable strain, as if being tightly clenched by an invisible giant hand, and was actually… forcefully brought to a halt from tens of thousands of feet in the sky!

“Wh-what’s going on?!”

On the deck, the smiles on the faces of the Qingyun Sect Disciples, who had been immersed in laughter, instantly froze!

They only felt that they were tightly bound in place by a terrifying power, thick with the smell of blood, from all directions, up, down, left, and right!

Their bones were “creaking”!

Their Divine Souls felt as if they were in the Nine Nether Blood Sea, being torn apart by millions of vengeful spirits simultaneously!

“Thump! Thump!”

In just a single breath, nearly half of the Disciples in the group bled from their seven orifices, their eyes rolled back, and before they could even let out a groan, they all fainted!

“Enemy attack!!!”

A shrill scream, filled with endless horror and disbelief, instantly tore through the dead silence!

Inside the quiet room, Lin Ye’s face also changed drastically in that instant!

He suddenly leaped from the bed, his figure like lightning, and instantly rushed out of the quiet room!

“This pressure…”

He gritted his teeth, frantically urging the vast spiritual power within his body, which had already reached the Treasure Body Realm, to barely stabilize his figure under the terrifying pressure that was as vast as Divine Might!

But his face was more… solemn than anyone else’s!

Because he recognized this aura!

This was clearly the exact same aura as the Dharma Body Realm Demon Shadow that he had defeated with Spiritual Sense Impact outside Black Wind City that day!

No!

It was ten times! A hundred times stronger than that Clone projection!

This was… the True Body!

“Who dares to violate the Divine Might of my Qingyun Sect?!”

A furious roar, filled with endless majesty and towering wrath, exploded like a sudden clap of thunder from the very top of the flying boat!

Sect Master Su Changqing, along with the Core Elders, transformed into several streaks of light, soaring into the sky, tightly guarding the tottering flying boat at its very center!

Their terrifying Dharma Body Realm pressure erupted, like pillars supporting the heavens, firmly resisting the endless Devilish Qi descending from the sky!

However, at this moment!

Three eerie figures, completely shrouded in black cloaks, as if merged with the darkness, slowly emerged without warning in the Void Realm, which had been stained pitch black by Devilish Qi.

The aura of the leading Demon Shadow was even vaster than the sea, unfathomably deep!

He merely stood there, causing the surrounding space to emit a creaking sound of unbearable strain, as if it would be completely crushed by his terrifying aura at any moment!

Dharma Body Realm… Middle Stage!

And the two Demon Shadows beside him, though slightly weaker in aura, had also reached the legendary… Dharma Body Realm Early Stage!

Three Dharma Body Realm Demonic Path magnates!

Upon seeing the cultivation of the newcomers, even Su Changqing’s state of mind, which had long been accustomed to great storms, instantly plunged into an endless abyss!

“Hehehehe…”

A chilling, hoarse laugh, like millions of vengeful spirits wailing simultaneously, emanated from the mouth of the leading Demon Shadow.

His eyes, hidden beneath his hood, glowing with a crimson light, slowly turned, completely ignoring Su Changqing and the others who were facing a formidable enemy, and landed with precise accuracy on the thin… young man on the flying boat’s deck!

“Little thing…”

The voice was filled with endless vicissitudes of time, and a hint of… cold “approval.”

“This Venerable One truly underestimated you.”

“To be able to defeat This Venerable One’s Clone projection, which contained a trace of my Origin Demonic Thought… it seems you, this tiny ant, truly… hide many interesting secrets.”

He was the current Tower Master of the Demon Shadow Tower—Black Fiend Demon Venerable!

“Demon Venerable gracing us with your presence, may I ask… what brings you here?”

Su Changqing forced down the turbulent waves in his heart and asked in a cold voice.

“What brings me here?”

Black Fiend Demon Venerable seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world.

He slowly raised his right hand, withered like a chicken's claw, and pointed it remotely at Lin Ye!

“Hand him over.”

“And also, that… thing he took from the Dynasty’s treasury.”

“This Venerable One will spare your… complete corpses.”

That thing?!

The bronze fragment!

Lin Ye’s heart sank sharply!

He never expected that the other party had come for that seemingly insignificant fragment!

“Wishful thinking!”

Su Changqing roared, “He is a Disciple of my Qingyun Sect! He is the… future of my Qingyun Sect! If you want to touch him, you must first… step over my corpse!”

“As you wish.”

Black Fiend Demon Venerable’s hoarse voice showed no fluctuation.

He merely gently waved his hand at one of the Dharma Body Realm Elders beside him.

“Kill.”

A cold word, like a final judgment!

“As you command!”

The Elder sneered, his figure flickered, and he instantly transformed into a black ghostly claw that blotted out the sky, carrying a terrifying Divine Might capable of completely tearing apart the Void Realm, and clawed down at Su Changqing and the others, who were already poised for battle!

“Form the array!!!”

Su Changqing roared, and he and the Core Elders attacked simultaneously!

“Rumble!!!”

A battle of Dharma Body Realm powerhouses… erupted!

However, just as everyone’s attention was drawn to the earth-shattering battle, Black Fiend Demon Venerable and the last Dharma Body Realm Elder beside him moved!

Their target, from the very beginning, was not Su Changqing!

But… Lin Ye!

“Little thing, come with This Venerable One… for a trip!”

Two terrifying Devilish Qi, far more powerful than before, like two unshakeable ancient divine mountains, one on the left and one on the right, fiercely pressed down on Lin Ye, who had already turned pale with fright!