85: ambushing on the way home

Above Black Wind City, the usual calm returned once more.

Lin Ye, this name, was no longer just a legend.

He had become a living… deity in the hearts of all the surviving citizens of Black Wind City!

After dealing with all the aftermath in the city and re-imprisoning Han Meng and the others, who had long been scared witless, the survivors of Qingyun Sect's Seventh Squad did not linger for a moment longer and embarked on their journey back to the Sect.

When they came, over fifty people were full of vigor.

When they returned, fewer than thirty remained, all injured and looking dazed.

The atmosphere of the team was extremely oppressive.

All the surviving Disciples looked at the thin figure who always walked at the front of the team, their eyes filled with an indescribable complexity.

There was gratitude, there was awe, but more than that, there was a deep-seated… fear from the depths of their Souls!

They had witnessed firsthand how the young man, who usually seemed harmless, even a bit timid, had, with an incredible, almost god-like demeanor, miraculously reversed a certain death situation!

This impact was far more intense and more… subversive than anything experienced on the Minor Competition arena!

… The return journey proceeded through the continuous, vast mountain ranges.

Perhaps because they had just experienced a life-and-death catastrophe, everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit.

However, to everyone's surprise, the journey was remarkably calm.

They did not encounter any audacious Yao Beasts, nor did they encounter any ill-intentioned bandits.

It was as if the towering killing intent in Black Wind City had completely terrified all living beings within a hundred-mile radius.

Three days later, when the familiar, undulating outline of the Qingyun Sect's mountains reappeared at the end of everyone's vision, everyone subconsciously let out a long sigh of relief.

Finally… they were going home.

Even on Su Qingyue's perpetually icy, beautiful face, a trace of the ice quietly melted.

However, just when everyone thought this nightmare, full of blood and sin, was about to end completely—

An anomaly suddenly occurred!

Without any warning!

The originally clear sky suddenly darkened!

The warm sun, which had been high in the sky, instantly lost all its radiance, as if an invisible, terrifying giant hand from the Nine Hells had forcibly… choked its throat!

An indescribable, terrifying pressure, filled with endless coldness, death, and decay, like the overflowing waters of the Nine Netherworld River, poured down from the Nine Heavens, instantly enveloping every inch of space within a hundred-mile radius!

“Wh-what’s happening?!”

Among the team, all the Disciples' expressions changed drastically in that instant!

They only felt that they were tightly confined in place by a terrifying force filled with a viscous smell of blood, from all directions, above and below, left and right!

Their bones were creaking!

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

“Thump! Thump!”

In just a single breath, nearly half of the Disciples in the team had blood flowing from their seven orifices, their eyes rolled back, and they fainted without even a groan!

Even Su Qingyue's powerful cultivation in the Spirit Body Realm was as fragile and insignificant as a small boat in a vast ocean before this terrifying pressure, as vast as Heavenly Might!

She struggled to raise her head, her beautiful face shrouded in an unprecedented solemnity and… horror!

Her body trembled slightly! Her slender hand, gripping the sword hilt, had veins bulging, as if she was using all her strength just to maintain a standing posture!

Treasure Body Realm?!

No!

This pressure was ten times! A hundred times stronger than the demonic cultivator in Black Wind City!

This… this is… Dharma Body Realm!!!

As soon as this thought appeared, her heart, which had long been as calm as an ancient well, instantly sank into an endless abyss!

However, in this deadly silence, which was enough to make all living things despair, only one figure was an exception.

Lin Ye.

He stood quietly.

The terrifying pressure, falling upon his body, which had long been tempered by the Golden Bell Shield to be as solid as a copper wall and iron bastion, only caused his thin clothes to sway slightly.

But his expression was more… solemn than anyone else's!

He could clearly feel a cold Divine Thought, filled with endless killing intent, locked onto him!

He slowly raised his head.

His dark eyes, calm without a ripple, pierced through the layers of darkness condensed from the aura of death, looking towards the empty… Void Realm not far ahead.

“So, you’ve come…”

He murmured softly.

And as soon as his voice fell—

The empty Void Realm, like a calm lake into which a stone had been thrown, suddenly rippled visibly!

Immediately after, all the surrounding light, all the shadows, seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force, converging frantically towards the center of the ripples!

Finally, it condensed into a faint… demonic shadow, completely enveloped in a black cloak!

The demonic shadow was three zhang tall, its face obscured, with only two points of crimson light, like ghost fires, slowly illuminating beneath the bottomless hood!

He was not a physical entity.

Instead, he was a Clone projection, condensed from endless demonic thoughts and the power of Law, transcending endless space, here!

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

Dharma Body Realm!

This was the supreme Divine Might of a Dharma Body Realm expert!

“Hehehe…”

A chilling, hoarse laugh, like the simultaneous wailing of billions of vengeful spirits, emanated from the demonic shadow's mouth.

The two points of crimson ghost fire slowly rotated, finally settling precisely on Lin Ye.

“A… Qi Refining Realm ant?”

The voice was filled with endless ancient vicissitudes and a hint of… imperceptible surprise.

“It was you who killed this unworthy… grand-Disciple of mine?”

Grand-Disciple?!

Lin Ye's heart sank sharply!

He instantly understood that this terrifying existence before him was the… backer of the demonic cultivator in Black Wind City!

It was the Elder of the Demon Shadow Tower, which, according to legend, had been jointly eradicated by the Righteous Path Sects!

He had come for… revenge!

“It seems it's you.”

The demonic shadow seemed too lazy to confirm further. His hoarse voice, like a high and mighty deity, declared the sins of Mortals.

“To be able to slay a Treasure Body Realm with Qi Refining Realm cultivation… it seems you, this tiny ant, indeed… hide many interesting secrets.”

“However, it doesn’t matter.”

“Under my ‘Soul Searching Great Art,’ all your secrets will… have nowhere to hide!”

Before he finished speaking!

His arm, condensed from pure demonic shadow, slowly rose!

A terrifying giant hand, the size of a house, condensed from endless darkness and the power of Law, instantly formed, bringing with it a terrifying Divine Might capable of crushing this entire world, and grabbed down towards the group, who were already confined in place!

In that instant, all the Disciples who were still conscious, including Su Qingyue, showed endless… despair in their eyes!

It's over!

This time, they were truly… doomed!

Before such absolute power, as vast as Heavenly Might, any struggle, any resistance, seemed so… pale and powerless!

Lin Ye gritted his teeth, frantically activating the Heaven Burning True Fire within his body, which had already reached the Great Perfection of the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Realm!

However, under the Domain Divine Might of the Dharma Body Realm, his True Fire, which was capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, was like being doused with a basin of ice water, unable to ignite even a single spark!

The gap in Realms was so immense!

So immense that it was enough to make any Genius, any Prodigy, despair!

The terrifying demonic hand, covering the sky and sun, came closer and closer… The aura of death, capable of completely crushing one's Divine Soul, was already upon them!

Could it be… that his magnificent idle cultivation journey, which had just begun, was going to end in such a suffocating manner, with a complete… full stop?!

No!!!