477: When the news reached back, the Holy Land was in an uproar.

The Zixiao Holy Land was wreathed in seas of clouds, with immortal cranes calling in unison.

The Zixiao Divine Palace, situated atop its main peak, was even more majestic and solemn, remaining unmoved through the ages.

However, today, this eternal tranquility was completely shattered by a Space Rift that was clumsily torn open.

"Boom!"

Amidst the chaotic roar of the Space Law, a miserable figure, accompanied by hundreds of equally wretched Cultivators,

was spat out of the rift like trash, heavily slamming onto the plaza in front of the Divine Palace.

It was precisely True Man Lei Yan and his group, fleeing in panic.

"Pfft—"

The moment he landed, True Man Lei Yan could no longer suppress the churning Qi and Blood within his body and his scattered spirit.

A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, and he fell straight backward, his eyes rolling back, having actually passed out.

The three hundred Thunder Department War Cultivators behind him were swaying precariously, their magic power in disarray, showing no resemblance whatsoever to the elite forces of a Holy Land.

"What happened?"

"It's Hall Master Lei Yan of the Law Enforcement Hall!"

"Didn't they go to the South Heaven Immortal City to demand accountability? Why are they in such a state? Where is the nine dragon warship?!"

The Disciples guarding the Divine Palace were stunned by this sudden sight, and the entire Zixiao Divine Palace instantly fell into an uproar.

Soon, several figures whose aura was as deep as the sea teleported out from within the Divine Palace. They were the Holy Land's Half-step Mahayana Grand Elders.

The leader, an old man with the hair of a crane and the face of a child, looked at True Man Lei Yan, who was lying unconscious on the ground.

He frowned, flicked his finger, and an Azure Radiance containing vast vitality sank into True Man Lei Yan's body.

"Wake up!"

A Daoist shout, like a great bell, exploded in True Man Lei Yan's Sea of Consciousness.

True Man Lei Yan, whose spirit had almost been extinguished, jolted violently and woke up from his coma.

He opened his eyes, saw the familiar surroundings and the solemn faces, and the bone-deep terror swept over him once more.

"Ah!!"

True Man Lei Yan let out a shrill, inhuman scream, scrambling backward on all fours, appearing utterly deranged.

"Don't come closer! Don't come closer! Devil! He is a Devil!"

He clutched his head, curled up into a ball, roaring hysterically, with tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Senior, spare me! Junior knows his mistake! Junior will never dare again!"

Everyone in front of the Divine Palace was dumbfounded.

Was this still True Man Lei Yan, who managed the Holy Land's punishments, was decisive in killing, and made countless Devil Heads tremble in fear?

What exactly did he encounter in the South Heaven Immortal City?

"Impudence!"

A hot-tempered Red-faced Elder shouted sternly.

"Lei Yan! How can you act so crazily! You have completely disgraced the Holy Land!"

This furious shout seemed to restore a sliver of True Man Lei Yan's sanity.

He raised his face, which was covered in fear and despair, and looked at the Grand Elders before him.

As if clutching the last straw, he scrambled and rolled toward them.

"Save me! Save me!"

He desperately grabbed the Daoist Robe of the crane-haired, childlike-faced Elder, sobbing hoarsely.

"Dead... they're all dead... the Li Family is gone... the nine dragon warship is gone too..."

"One finger! He just used one finger, and he knocked me... knocked me right down from the sky!"

"Half-step Mahayana... In front of him, we are not even ants!"

"And the warship... our nine dragon warship... he just glanced at it... just one glance... and it was gone! Turned to ash!"

True Man Lei Yan cried out incoherently, screaming his experience in the South Heaven Immortal City in the most chaotic yet direct way possible.

In front of the entire Zixiao Divine Palace, there was dead silence.

The first reaction of all the Elders and Disciples who heard these words was not shock, but absurdity.

Suppressing a Half-step Mahayana with one finger?

Erasing a seventh-rank dao artifact, the nine dragon warship, with one glance?

What kind of tall tale was this?

"He's crazy! Lei Yan must be crazy!" The Red-faced Elder trembled with rage.

"What kind of powerhouse could a mere South Heaven Immortal City possess? I think someone used an Illusion Technique to bewitch your mind, causing your Dao Heart to fail!"

"It wasn't an Illusion Technique! It wasn't!" True Man Lei Yan shook his head wildly, his eyes filled with indelible terror.

"It's true! It's all true! He told me to bring a message back..."

True Man Lei Yan's voice abruptly stopped, as he recalled that utterly domineering declaration.

"What did he say?" the crane-haired, childlike-faced leading Elder asked in a low voice.

True Man Lei Yan's lips trembled, and every word seemed to drain all the strength from his body.

"He said... if there is a next time... that warship... will be the fate... the fate of our Zixiao Holy Land..."

As the words fell.

The entire scene was deathly silent.

Absolute stillness reigned.

The next moment, an uncontrollable surge of fury erupted from all the high-ranking members of the Holy Land.

"Arrogant!!"

"Too much bullying!!"

"An arrogant lunatic who appeared from nowhere dares to insult my Zixiao Holy Land like this!"

The Red-faced Elder was particularly enraged. He took a step forward, appearing directly in front of True Man Lei Yan, divine light bursting from his eyes.

"I refuse to believe it! How could such a monster exist in a mere border region? Let me see for myself what exactly you experienced!"

After speaking, he gave True Man Lei Yan no chance to react, slamming a large hand directly onto the crown of True Man Lei Yan's head.

Soul Searching Secret Technique!

This Red-faced Elder also possessed the cultivation of a Half-step Mahayana.

He intended to forcibly view True Man Lei Yan's memories to find out the truth.

The surrounding Elders did not stop him; they were also eager to know the truth.

However, only three breaths passed.

"Pfft!"

The Red-faced Elder looked as if he had been struck by lightning, violently spat out a mouthful of blood, and the hand pressed against True Man Lei Yan's head recoiled as if electrocuted.

He stumbled backward and fell onto the ground. His face, which was already crimson, was now as white as paper.

His pupils contracted to the size of needle points, and his body trembled violently.

His eyes revealed a terror identical to, and perhaps even more intense than, True Man Lei Yan's.

"It's true..."

He muttered distractedly, his voice shaking uncontrollably.

"One sword... slaying a Half-step Mahayana..."

"One finger... suppressing all Laws..."

"That gaze... that gaze... he saw me! Across space and time... he saw me spying!"

"It's true... it's all true..."

Boom!!!

If True Man Lei Yan's words had only caused everyone to feel absurdity and anger.

Then the personal confirmation from this Grand Elder, who was also a Half-step Mahayana, exploded in the minds of all the Holy Land higher-ups.

The Zixiao Holy Land instantly fell into an uproar.

Everyone was dizzy and their Dao Heart unstable, shaken by this appalling news.

That domineering declaration—"If there is a next time, this warship will be the fate of your Holy Land"—no one now considered it arrogance.

That sentence was like an invisible large hand, crossing hundreds of millions of miles of star river,

fiercely slapping the Zixiao Holy Land, slapping the face of every high-ranking Holy Land official present.

The pain was searing!

This was a monstrous disgrace!

It was a monstrous disgrace that the Zixiao Holy Land, with its Legacy spanning hundreds of millions of years, had never before suffered.

"Kill!!!"

A furious roar echoed through the sky.

An Elder clad in golden battle armor and radiating Evil Qi stepped forward. He was the leader of the militant faction, the Hall Master of the War God Hall.

"Too much bullying! If this fiend is not eliminated, where will the face of my Zixiao Holy Land lie!?"

"I propose that we bring out the Holy Land's foundation, use the Zixiao Divine Mirror, and lock onto this fiend's location."

"We must exhaust the power of our Holy Land to annihilate his Divine Soul, thereby upholding the heavenly might of our Holy Land!"

"Seconded! If we do not avenge this humiliation, how can we stand between heaven and earth!"

"Kill! We must kill him!"

The Elders of the militant faction were filled with righteous indignation and uncontrollable fury.

The terrifying killing intent intertwined, causing the entire sky to change color.

However, at this moment, a calm voice, yet containing supreme majesty, came from the depths of the Zixiao Divine Palace.

"Silence."

The voice was not loud, but it instantly suppressed all the clamor and killing intent.

All the Elders, including the Hall Master of the War God Hall, immediately bowed in salute.

"We respectfully welcome the Holy Lord!"

A figure, shrouded in Chaos Qi and whose face could not be seen clearly, slowly materialized upon the Divine Palace's throne.

He was the current Holy Lord of the Zixiao Holy Land, a truly unfathomable existence.

The Holy Lord's gaze seemed to pierce through space and time, settling upon the mentally collapsed True Man Lei Yan and the Red-faced Elder. He remained silent for a long time.

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely heavy, stiflingly oppressive.

Finally, the Holy Lord's voice, calm as an ancient well, sounded again.

"Suppressing a Half-step Mahayana with one finger, annihilating a seventh-rank dao artifact with one glance."

"There is only one possibility for someone who can achieve this."

He paused, then spoke word by word.

"The opponent is, at the very least, a Mahayana Saint Lord."

Mahayana Saint Lord!

These four words were like a basin of ice water poured over the heads of all the militant Elders.

They instantly sobered up from their fury, feeling cold all over.

Mahayana!

That was an existence on the same level as the Holy Lord, a true giant standing at the peak of this world.

To go to war with a Mahayana Saint Lord, never resting until death, all for the sake of an affiliated Family and so-called face?

"But... but Holy Lord!" The Hall Master of the War God Hall was still unwilling.

"He has humiliated us so greatly. If we stop here, where will the Holy Land's prestige be? How will the people of the world view my Zixiao Holy Land?"

"Prestige is earned through strength, not shouted out with the mouth."

No emotion could be discerned in the Holy Lord's voice.

"This matter must be discussed carefully. Before we ascertain the opponent's background and origins, no one is allowed to act rashly."

"We may fail, but the Zixiao Holy Land cannot fail."

The Holy Lord's decision caused the faces of the militant Elders to flush red, yet they could not refute him.

Meanwhile, the moderate faction, led by the crane-haired, childlike-faced Elder, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

For a time, the entire Zixiao Divine Palace was split into two factions because of Shen Yuanmo alone.

The Holy Land, once sacred and majestic, was now plunged into unprecedented fierce arguments and turmoil.

Shame, rage, fear, apprehension... all kinds of emotions intertwined above the Zixiao Holy Land, and an unprecedented storm was quietly brewing.