297: The secret realm closed, and the capital city trembled.

Qiantian Divine Capital, Heaven Worship Plaza.

The ten-thousand-foot stone gate, which swallowed and spat out spatial turbulence, had its swirling totem light flicker violently, and the entire gate body groaned under the unbearable strain.

In the next instant, the light suddenly retracted.

The stone gate became completely silent.

"Buzz—"

Right at this moment, the Void Realm in front of the stone gate rippled without warning.

Immediately after, beams of light burst forth, and figures were violently thrown out, crashing onto the plaza in disarray.

"They're out! They're out!"

The clamor of the crowd had just begun when it was instantly cut short.

All the family magnates, imperial relatives, and nobles who came to greet them stared intently at the center of the plaza, unable to utter a sound.

There was no trace of Prodigy demeanor left there.

Those young talents who usually looked down on the world and viewed all beings as ants now looked like defeated dogs with their spines removed.

They looked listless, their clothes were shredded, many were covered in bone-deep wounds, and even their Dao foundations had cracks.

"Pfft!"

A Prodigy struggled to stand, his body suddenly arched, and the blood he spat out contained fragments of internal organs. He then fell straight down, his breath gone.

"Quick! Save the Young Lord!"

"What happened? What exactly happened! How could their Origin be damaged!"

The Elders of various families rushed forward with pale faces, supporting their children, frantically shoving life-saving Medicinal Pills into their mouths, and questioning them hoarsely.

But those surviving Prodigies either kept their eyes tightly shut or stared blankly, only shaking and shaking their heads unconsciously, as if a part of their Soul had been drawn away.

"Look! That's Huang Jiutian!"

A sharp cry of alarm pierced the silence of the plaza.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, only to see several Elders from the Northern Plains Celestial Demon Valley trembling as they carried a charred corpse that was almost unrecognizable as human.

On the charred remains, a few broken feathers could vaguely be distinguished.

It was Huang Jiutian!

At this moment, his Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline was exhausted, his Meridians were completely severed, and his Divine Soul fire was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

If the Celestial Demon Valley Elder hadn't used a secret treasure to protect his final heart Meridian, he probably would have turned into dust the moment he was teleported out.

Hiss—!

Gasps echoed across the plaza, one after another.

Even a top-tier Prodigy like Huang Jiutian, possessing Divine Beast Bloodline, ended up like this?

What kind of hell was this Heaven-Reaching Secret Realm!

Immediately after, the figures of the Seventh Prince, Ji Wushuang, and the white-robed swordsman, Ye Wuchen, also appeared in the plaza.

Neither of them bore any wounds.

But everyone could tell that their state was worse than being gravely injured and near death.

On Ji Wushuang's face, which always held confidence and a sense of control, all color had faded, leaving only an intense, unshakable bewilderment and self-doubt in his eyes.

His faith, his pride, seemed to have been utterly shattered by something.

Upon the high platform, Immortal Emperor Ji Cangxuan overlooked this extremely bizarre scene below, and his eyes, which seemed to contain the rotation of the sun and moon, narrowed slightly for the first time.

He could sense that these Prodigies were not depressed because they had failed in a fight.

It was a despair that originated from the deepest part of the Soul after witnessing an existence that was completely incomprehensible and impossible to resist.

His gaze finally fell upon his most proud son.

His voice was calm, yet carried undeniable majesty.

"Ji Wushuang."

"Your son... is here." Ji Wushuang's body trembled violently, as if waking from a nightmare, and he quickly bowed.

"In this Secret Realm excursion, to whom did the final great fortune belong?"

The Immortal Emperor's voice was not loud, but it clearly pierced the ears of everyone present.

The entire plaza was so quiet that a dropped needle could be heard.

All eyes, all Divine Sense, focused solely on Ji Wushuang.

Ji Wushuang's face instantly contorted.

His lips trembled, his throat bobbed, and it seemed that uttering that name required exhausting all the courage he possessed in his lifetime.

Finally, three words were squeezed out of his clenched teeth, one by one.

"Shen... Yuan... Mo."

What?!

These two words exploded like a Nine Heavens Divine Thunder in everyone's mind!

The entire venue fell completely silent.

All the family patriarchs and court officials who came to greet them widened their eyes, their expressions frozen in extreme absurdity and disbelief.

Shen Yuanmo?

The God General Who Suppresses the South who came from the barren lands of the Southern Border?

How is this possible?!

They had imagined Ji Wushuang reigning supreme, Ye Wuchen reaching the peak with a single sword, or even Huang Jiutian achieving Nirvana and dominating.

But they never dreamed that the final victor would be Shen Yuanmo—the one whom everyone considered barely qualified to even participate in the competition!

In this atmosphere of silence, which was enough to freeze the Divine Soul.

In front of the ten-thousand-foot stone gate, which had long fallen silent, the final spatial ripple spread out, soundlessly and slowly.

Radiance flowed.

A figure in cyan robes strolled out from within.

He still wore his ordinary cyan robes and still maintained that indifferent expression.

There were no fluctuations of magic power, no earth-shattering Killing Intent, and not even a single wrinkle on the corner of his clothes.

He walked with such composure, as if taking a leisurely stroll.

It was as if what he had just experienced was not a bloody battle that would determine the Immortal Dynasty's Luck for the next five hundred years.

But rather a trip to his own backyard garden at sunset.

In his hand, he casually held a rhombus-shaped crystal.

The crystal's former brilliant divine light had completely retracted; now it looked like a piece of ordinary colored glaze.

[spirit realm law fragment]!

He walked calmly, ignoring the gazes focused on him, which were filled with shock, jealousy, fear, and scrutiny.

Finally, he stopped in the center of the plaza.

Then, he slowly raised his head, meeting the scrutiny of Immortal Emperor Ji Cangxuan on the high platform—a gaze capable of piercing the human heart.

Their four eyes met.

Time and space seemed to be paused at this moment.

Ji Cangxuan gazed deeply, profoundly, at the terrifyingly calm young man below.

In those eyes, he saw no ecstasy from victory, no reverence when facing the Emperor, and not even the slightest emotional fluctuation.

It was a bottomless Void.

The absolute tranquility of someone who has seen the sea of stars and now looks upon the ripples in a pond.

This tranquility made him, the Supreme Monarch who had governed this realm for thousands of years, feel a trace of... trepidation.

Silence.

Suffocating silence.

Just as everyone's Divine Souls were about to be crushed by this pressure.

Upon the high platform, Immortal Emperor Ji Cangxuan suddenly burst into a hearty, unprecedented peal of laughter!

"Haha... Hahahahahaha!"

The laughter, like a Dragon's roar and thunderous tremor, instantly pierced through the entire Qiantian Divine Capital!

"Good! What a God General Who Suppresses the South! What a Shen Yuanmo!"

The Immortal Emperor's voice, filled with endless admiration and fervor, announced word by word:

"You did not disappoint Us!"

The Immortal Emperor's laughter and declaration were like an indelible Imperial Decree, fiercely branded onto the depths of everyone's Soul!

At this moment, everyone understood.

A peerless Prodigy, surpassing all the Prodigies in the Divine Capital and all the younger generation of this era... today, in a manner they could not understand, only look up to.

has stepped onto the historical stage of this world!