305: Chapter 303 The Setting Sun Like Blood

At the junction of Ximing Continent and East Xuan Region, there was a stretch of desolate mountains and wild ridges.

The sky was gray, and the clouds hung very low, as if they might fall at any moment. The wind blew from the north, carrying dust and fragments of withered grass.

A withered blade of wild grass swayed in the wind. The stem was completely dried out, grayish-white, and would snap at the slightest touch.

Suddenly, the shadow of that grass moved.

It wasn't moved by the wind; the shadow itself stood up. The shadow peeled away from the ground, elongated, thickened, and solidified. First the outline, then the limbs, then the torso, and finally a face. In just a few breaths, a Lightning Humanoid stood on the wasteland. Wearing moon-white robes, long hair tied up, with young features. Yun Ming stood there, completely unscathed between heaven and earth.

No wounds, no bloodstains, no fatigue. He stood there as if he had never left, as if he had just walked out of the Void Realm. He lowered his head to look at his hands, clenched his fist, then released it. Inspecting his Dantian, his Nascent Soul sat cross-legged, five-colored radiance flowing, spiritual power abundant, Divine Soul stable. The map of mountains and rivers hung in his Sea of Consciousness, the cauldron of all things mother qi, cicada wing sword, and black tortoise heaven-suppressing shield were all there, and the flames of the golden crow feather burned steadily. Everything was the same as before he died, perhaps even better.

He raised his head and looked around.

Desolate mountains stretched endlessly, barren of any grass. The ground was cracked, littered with broken stones. In the distance were a few dead trees, their bare branches reaching toward the sky like withered hands. No bird calls, no insect chirps, no aura of any living creature. The air was dry, carrying a fishy smell of soil. This was not Tianyuan City, not the Zifu Immortal Dynasty, not any place he was familiar with.

Yun Ming frowned slightly. He spread his Divine Sense, sweeping across a radius of a hundred miles. The lie of the mountains, the traces of rivers, and those residual, almost dissipated building foundations. His pupils contracted sharply. This was Great Qian. The place where he was born, grew up, and started his cultivation. The Great Qian that had been refined into a blood prison by the ancestor of the Heavenly Demon Hall. The place he thought he would never return to in this lifetime.

Unfortunately, Great Qian was already dead. Not decaying, not withering, but thoroughly dead. The mountains and rivers still remained, but the Spiritual Qi was exhausted, the rivers dried up. Those former cities, villages, and Sect ruins were now just piles of rubble and debris, covered by wild grass and shrubs. No human presence, no vitality. Only wind, only sand, only boundless, deathly silence.

Yun Ming stood on the wasteland, silent for a long time. He thought of his mother, thought of Er Ya, thought of his Senior Brothers of the Sunset Glow Sect, thought of those who died in the catastrophe of Great Qian. Their bones had long turned to dust, their names long forgotten by people. Only this land still remembered them. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Then, he turned around, no longer looking at these ruins.

Now he had to find them. Yun Xi, Jiu Jiu, Xue Ji, Ah Yuan. Place them all in the map of mountains and rivers. After he achieved the Early Nascent Soul Stage, the world within the map of mountains and rivers was further perfected. Previously, only Mortals could enter, but now those with cultivation could also enter. Although the world within the map was not yet perfect, and the Spiritual Qi was not abundant, it was at least safe. Much safer than this world outside that was being devoured by the Yao Race.

He didn't know what else he could do besides this. Tianyuan City was destroyed, the Zifu Immortal Dynasty was finished, the Crown Prince was dead, the Shenduan Sect and Xuanhuang Pill Mansion were cowering inside. The Old Emperor was still holding on, but how long he could hold on, no one could say for sure. Ximing Continent had defected to the vast Monster Realm, and the Tianbei Region and Tiannan Region were also about to fall. The Xuanhuang Small World was being nibbled away, falling inch by inch. As a small Early Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, facing such great power, he couldn't do anything. But at least, he could protect the people he cared about.

Yun Ming confirmed his orientation. Great Qian was in the southern part of the eastern Xuanhuang Continent, the Zifu Immortal Dynasty was to the northeast. Great Liang Kingdom was in the southwest of the Zifu Immortal Dynasty, and Linan City was in the hinterland of the Great Liang Kingdom. He had to go to Linan City to find Ah Yuan. She was the only person whose location he could determine for now. Yun Xi and Jiu Jiu were missing, and Xue Ji's life or death was unknown. He could only find Ah Yuan first, then take her with him to find the others.

He activated his Escape Light, five-colored radiance lighting up in the twilight, flying toward the north. He didn't dare to fly too fast, nor too high. Heaven knew how many Yao Race were still wandering on the Xuanhuang Continent, and how many old monsters at the Soul Transformation or Void Refining levels were killing each other. The Fuli Heaven-Concealing Record was always active, suppressing his cultivation to the Early Golden Core Stage, concealing his aura completely. He wasn't afraid of death—he couldn't die—but he didn't want to waste time resurrecting. He had more important things to do.

After flying for about an hour, his Divine Sense captured intense fluctuations of spiritual power ahead. It wasn't one or two Cultivators fighting, but hundreds of spiritual powers intertwined, Spells clashing, Magic Treasures colliding, spiritual light exploding, continuous and endless.

He slowed down, restrained his aura, and approached that direction.

Crossing a mountain ridge, the view suddenly opened up.

In the valley, a Sect stood majestically.

The Sect was built against the mountain, occupying dozens of acres, with halls and pavilions layered, blue tiles and white walls, flying eaves and arched brackets. At the mountain gate stood a huge stone tablet, engraved with the Sect's name, the handwriting obscured by spiritual light, making it unclear. The entire Sect was shrouded by a layer of pale golden Mountain Guardian Array, formation patterns flowing, spiritual light flickering. The array had already activated its highest defense, obviously resisting desperately.

Inside the Sect, there were many figures, numbering in the hundreds. Cultivators were performing their duties, some channeling spiritual power at the Formation Eye to maintain the array, some casting Spells on the city walls, some treating the wounded. In the air, Flying Swords shuttled, spiritual talismans filled the sky, and various Spells poured out like a rainstorm.

And outside the array, a black mass of the Yao Race army surrounded the entire Sect tightly.

Hundreds of Yao Race Cultivators hovered in mid-air, in various forms. Some were covered in scales, some had wings, some dragged long tails. They were also casting Spells, Demonic Qi rolling, Spells unleashed together, crazily bombarding the Mountain Guardian Array.

A large number of low-level, mindless Yao Race, as if provoked by something, rushed and rammed into the array like madmen.

The light shield of the array trembled violently under the dense attacks, flickering on and off, but it hadn't shattered yet.

Directly above the array, in the high sky, hung a terrifying figure.

It was an Early Nascent Soul Stage Yao Cultivator. Its figure was two heads taller than an ordinary person, its body covered in dark purple scales, with a pair of curved horns on its head, and its eyes were vertical pupils, glowing with a ghostly green light. It crossed its arms over its chest, looking down at the battlefield below from a high vantage point, a playful smile hanging on the corner of its mouth.

It didn't make a move. With its Early Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, if it were to strike personally, the Mountain Guardian Array of this small Sect wouldn't last three breaths. But it didn't. It just hovered there, watching its subordinates consume the energy of the array bit by bit, watching the human Cultivators inside struggle in despair.

Its gaze swept over those panicked faces, swept over those Cultivators desperately channeling spiritual power, swept over those corpses lying in pools of blood. The corners of its mouth rose slightly, as if enjoying a good show.