108: Empty! The Wang family has completely collapsed!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Inside the mourning hall of the Wang Family of the Northern Region's ancestral land, it was terrifyingly silent; one could hear a pin drop.

Wang Zhantian and the three Great Sage Ancestors, who were blinded by fanatical hope—the ecstasy and visions of the future on their faces froze instantly, as if by magic, before they could even fully bloom.

They were like four statues instantly petrified by an invisible force, maintaining their forward-leaning postures, their bodies stiff and motionless.

Their eyes were wide, several times larger than ordinary copper bells; deep within their pupils, the scene inside the void immortal gold—which had held all the Wang Family's hopes—was clearly reflected.

There... was only a void so pure it made one's heart skip a beat.

There was no supreme Demonic Technique imprint capable of making the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth tremble as they had imagined, nor was there any overwhelming Devilish Qi that could stir up the winds and clouds.

Furthermore, not even a trace of dao rhyme or fluctuations of the Laws of Heaven and Earth could be sensed.

It was a complete, clean void that made one's scalp tingle and heart stop.

That head-sized piece of void immortal gold, which once shimmered with light and was the object of great expectations, was now like a watermelon that had been eaten clean, leaving only an empty rind.

Its exterior remained dazzling and brilliant, but its interior was empty, with nothing remaining.

It was like the most vicious joke played by fate, the most cruel and heartless slap, striking the faces of everyone in the Wang Family heavily and without mercy, the burning pain reaching the depths of their Souls.

Deathly silence.

An absolute, deathly silence that lasted for ten full breaths.

In this silence, suppressed to the extreme, the Divine Souls of the four seemed to be forcibly extracted by an invisible hand at this moment, leaving behind only walking corpses.

"This... this is..."

A white-haired Great Sage Ancestor's trembling lips were like withered leaves in a cold wind, shivering violently, and his teeth chattered with uncontrollable fear.

He couldn't believe his eyes, and he certainly couldn't accept everything his Divine Thought sensed.

He even subconsciously used his Divine Thought to scan the terrifying void inside hundreds of times, over and over again.

Empty.

Still empty.

There was nothing, as if all the dao rhyme and aura he had sensed before were merely a carefully woven dream.

"No... no, this is impossible..."

Another burly Great Sage Ancestor let out a sleep-talk-like murmur, filled with unbelievable self-deception.

He stumbled back two steps and finally couldn't support himself, collapsing onto the cold ground. His eyes lost focus entirely, becoming hollow and lifeless, as if all his essence and spirit had been drained in an instant, leaving only a shell.

"Fake... it's fake... the Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art... is fake..."

"Haha... Hahahaha... It's all fake! Everything is an illusion!"

He was suddenly seized by a kind of extreme madness, letting out bursts of hysterical laughter.

That laughter was more tragic and desperate than the most piercing cry, carrying a frenzy of someone who had seen through the Mortal World yet remained trapped within it.

This reality, cruel to the extreme, was like a giant mountain pressing down or a heavy hammer ruthlessly smashing the only hope in their hearts—the once indestructible spiritual pillar that had supported the Wang Family to this day at such a great cost.

From the clouds of the Nine Heavens to the abyss of the Eighteen Levels of Hell, it only took a brief moment.

And Wang Zhantian was currently at the very center of this storm, falling from heaven to Hell.

He still maintained the posture of pressing his hand against the immortal gold, his body as stiff as iron, like a piece of withered wood fixed in the river of time.

His face rapidly turned from feverish red to pale, then to blue-purple, and finally to a deathly ashen color, as if all blood and life had been drained away.

His eyes stared fixedly and emotionlessly at that appalling void. Bloodshot veins, like a sinister spider web, spread crazily across his eyeballs until the entire whites of his eyes were stained a shocking blood-red, radiating heavenly resentment and unwillingness.

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of rebellious blood, compressed in his chest and mixed with extreme humiliation, overwhelming anger, heart-wrenching despair, and endless resentment, could no longer be suppressed and sprayed from his mouth like a burst dam!

The crimson blood, boiling hot, splattered across that still "flawless" void immortal gold and splashed onto the cold, lonely coffin of the Second Ancestor of the Wang Family.

This scene was so jarring and ironic; every drop of blood seemed to silently denounce the injustice of fate.

"Ah—!!!"

A shrill roar that didn't sound human, as if from a vengeful ghost in the depths of the Nine Serenities of Hell, carrying endless pain and despair, exploded from the depths of Wang Zhantian's throat, shaking heaven and earth!

"Wan! Dao! Business! Alliance!"

His eyes were blood-red, looking like a mad demon, with veins bulging on his forehead as if they were about to burst.

Every word he roared seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his Divine Soul with all his life's strength, carrying an unparalleled blood feud!

"My Wang Family will fight you to the death!!!"

Boom—!!!

The terrifying pressure of a quasi-emperor, on the edge of his completely uncontrolled emotions and collapsing Dao Heart, erupted like a nuclear explosion! An indescribable, violent shockwave swept through, as if to tear everything in the world to pieces!

In the face of this world-destroying power, the entire mourning hall instantly turned to dust, bricks shattered, and dust filled the air!

Even the heavy coffin made of ten-thousand-year-old Gloomwood, which held the Second Ancestor's remains, exploded under the impact of this violent current, turning into a sky full of debris!

The shriveled, stiff corpse of the Second Ancestor of the Wang Family was swept up by the violent air current and then, with a heartbreaking irony, slammed heavily into the broken rubble and dust.

This Peerless Great Sage, who hadn't hesitated to burn his Divine Soul and pay with his life for the Family's future, failed to even receive a peaceful and intact burial place after death.

This was undoubtedly the greatest mockery and tragedy for the Wang Family.

The other Great Sage Ancestors of the Wang Family were also instantly blown away by the terrifying shockwave, crashing heavily into the remaining walls, coughing up blood, their faces as pale as paper. They looked at their Family Head, who was roaring at the sky like a mad demon, with nothing but endless fear and unspeakable despair in their eyes.

It's over.

Everything is over.

This time, the Wang Family is truly and completely finished.

All hope has burst like a bubble in an instant.

They had paid such a painful price, sacrificing the lives of the Second Ancestor of the Wang Family and eight core Elders, bearing a massive debt of 510 billion High-Grade Spirit Stones, and even offending the unfathomable Peerless Enchantress and the long-standing Longevity Family, the Su Family.

In the end, what they got in return was actually... an empty shell!

Is there anything in this world more absurd, more ridiculous, or more utterly despairing than this?

"Family Head! Family Head! What happened to you?!"

Just as the Wang Family's ancestral land fell into complete chaos and tragedy and despair spread through the air.

A hurried, panicked sound of footsteps suddenly approached.

A Wang Family Deacon came running in, crawling and stumbling, his face filled with unconcealable panic and dismay.

"Family Head! This is bad! The Young Lord... the Young Lord is awake!" The Deacon was out of breath, his voice carrying a sob.

"After he woke up and learned that the immortal gold was an empty shell, he... he was completely stunned, his eyes hollow, seemingly unable to bear the blow, and then... then he fainted again!"

"Furthermore, the rumors outside... the rumors outside have completely exploded!"

The Deacon was trembling and incoherent, unable to even speak properly; fear had tied his tongue in knots.

"What rumors?! Speak quickly!"

A Great Sage Ancestor shouted sternly, his voice hoarse from agitation and despair.

"They're saying... saying that our Wang Family of the Northern Region successfully obtained the ancient and renowned 'Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art'! That we are preparing to use this Heaven-Defying Cultivation Technique to cultivate a new generation of Peerless Great Emperors to rule the world!"

"They also say... that our Wang Family paid an extremely painful price for this, not only with countless casualties but even using a quasi-emperor weapon to finally seize this supreme treasure..."

Boom!

This sudden news was like a final death warrant falling from the sky, slamming into the hearts of the three already wavering Great Sage Ancestors, making their vision go black, nearly causing them to faint right then and there along with the Young Lord, Wang Teng!