176: Chapter 176 is all in the past.

"Boom!"

The eye of the heavenly dao seemed completely unable to understand Zhao Yi's words, continuing to rain down its world-destroying punishment without pause.

The purple-black Lightning Tribulation fell incessantly upon Zhao Yi and Approximate, setting the man and the Dragon off as if they were gods or demons.

...

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

The surviving Human Race Cultivators, summoned by Wu Chuan and the others, quickly gathered in the Great Yin Immortal Dynasty capital.

Unexpectedly, there were still fifty-three Mahayana Cultivators alive, including Wu Chuan.

What was even more terrifying was that these fifty-two Cultivators shared a common surname: Zhou.

The Zhou Family, formerly one of the four great families of the Great Yin Immortal Dynasty.

The Bai Family and the Li Imperial Clan, both also among the four great families, had long since vanished in the onslaught of the Spirit Race.

Yet, the Zhou Family's strength remained almost completely intact, which made one shudder to think about the implications.

In the sky above the Great Yin Immortal Dynasty capital, vast banks of white clouds drifted.

Countless Cultivators rode the clouds in the sky, though the majority were only at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stage.

Even the Soul Transformation Cultivators could be counted on one hand.

By comparison, the Zhou Family appeared even more formidable.

The pressure brought by fifty-two Mahayana Cultivators was not something ordinary people could withstand.

"Fellow Daoist Wu!"

"The time is about right."

"When will your master arrive?"

Wu Chuan had publicly declared that Zhao Yi alone had annihilated the entire Spirit Race, and indeed, many Spirit Race members had suddenly perished that day.

However, the Zhou Family was clearly still skeptical; Zhou Yan's sudden departure and the sudden extinction of the Spirit Race had caught them off guard.

This was the reason they had mobilized their entire clan this time.

If there truly were a mighty figure capable of destroying the Spirit Race with a single hand, they would have no choice but to abandon their ambitions and surrender to the other party.

If not...

"Greetings, Senior Sijie!"

Wu Chuan bowed in salute. He was a Cultivator from the Wuxiang Sect, so he was no stranger to the Five Sects, Nine Sects, and the four great families.

Although his cultivation had been low in the past and he hadn't been able to approach these big shots, he had certainly heard their names.

For instance, the one before him:

Once the Qilin of the Zhou Family, who began Cultivating at ten, reached Core Formation at twenty, Nascent Soul at thirty, and achieved Mahayana at five hundred, he was once hailed as the number one Genius of the Qingling Realm.

For ten thousand years, he was the Cultivator most likely to achieve Immortal Ascension, and then... that was it.

After ascending to the Mahayana Stage, he remained there for ten thousand years without the slightest Breakthrough.

After ten thousand years of stagnation, Zhou Sijie had long since lost that indomitable spirit; now, his heart was filled only with schemes.

Just as Zhou Sijie was calculating, a rumbling sound suddenly came from the distance.

At the same time, his instinct as a living being screamed at him to run~

The other Mahayana Cultivators of the Zhou Family felt the same way.

As for those Cultivators with lower cultivation, they fell straight from the clouds, not even having a chance to run.

"Could it be that destroying the Spirit Race wasn't enough for Old Ancestor Zhao, and now he wants to finish us off too?"

"I told you, how could a Death Cultivator have such great Divine Ability? There must be a price for Old Ancestor Zhao, and now it seems that price is us."

Some Cultivators fell from the white clouds and began to wail upon hitting the ground.

Panic is contagious; no matter how Wu Chuan tried to explain, the many Human Race Cultivators simply did not trust him.

Just during this chaotic scene, Zhao Yi appeared with Approximate.

Zhao Yi was seen with the eye of the heavenly dao above his head and a golden Dragon circling around him. The scarlet eye of the heavenly dao occasionally emitted the purple-black world-destroying punishment, shattering the space-time around Zhao Yi.

At this moment, Zhao Yi looked like a god or demon stepping out of the void.

This Aura alone was enough to frighten many Cultivators into fainting.

"What is going on with you?"

"Why did you summon such Cultivators with such poor Heart-Nature?"

Zhao Yi glared at Wu Chuan.

"M-Master Zhao..."

"It is the Maids' fault; we were the ones who called these Cultivators."

Qinghua and Nuanyu said, heads bowed.

"And me!"

Gao Ling added.

"Hmm?"

Zhao Yi frowned, and the three women nearly fainted; the pressure was truly too great.

"Do not let this happen again."

"Be gone!"

Zhao Yi waved his hand and dismissed the many Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage.

He then turned to look at the many Mahayana Cultivators, a look of surprise in his eyes.

Why are there still so many Mahayana Cultivators?

"Strange, the high-level Cultivators of the Human Race were basically all slaughtered by the Spirit Race. What is going on with you all?"

As Zhao Yi asked, the great sumeru treasure hoe already appeared in his hand.

If it weren't for the fact that these Mahayana Cultivators lacked Human Race sins, Zhao Yi would have sent them away directly; why waste words?

Zhou Sijie hurriedly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Heaven have mercy, how long had it been since he last sweated?

Damn it, this was truly too terrifying.

Even though Zhou Sijie had been Cultivating for ten thousand years, his legs were shaking violently now.

It was simply because Zhao Yi was too shocking; that was the eye of the heavenly dao and the world-destroying punishment.

An ordinary Cultivator would perish and vanish upon encountering just one, unlike Zhao Yi, who had both above his head and remained completely unbothered.

"Old Ancestor Zhao, Zhou Family head Zhou Sijie leads many Zhou Family Cultivators to pay respects to the Old Ancestor!"

Fifty-two Mahayana Cultivators and nearly a thousand Cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage—this was a massive force, one could even say an overwhelming force.

Except for Zhao Yi, the Zhou Family had almost no rivals in the Qingling Realm.

"Zhou?"

Zhao Yi thought of Zhou Yan.

"Could it be?"

Zhou Sijie's voice transmission also arrived.

"Old Ancestor Zhao, please allow me to explain. That Spirit Race Saintess has my Zhou Family's Bloodline, which is why my Zhou Family was able to remain unscathed during the Spirit Race chaos."

Zhao Yi...

"So..."

"Your Zhou Family colluded with the Spirit Race?"

Zhao Yi stroked the handle of the great sumeru treasure hoe.

This was a good excuse for exterminating a clan.

Zhou Sijie panicked.

"How can this be called collusion?"

"It was the previous generation's Spirit Race Saint who forced himself upon my daughter; the Zhou Family is a victim here."

Zhou Sijie looked heartbroken, as if he were in immense pain.

"If this counts as collusion,"

"compared to the Old Ancestor, my Zhou Family really amounts to nothing."

Zhou Sijie stared at the pink Storage Pouch at Zhao Yi's waist.

"The Storage Pouch at the Old Ancestor's waist is quite unique."

"If my sensing is correct, there is a token engraved with the character 'Zhou' in that Storage Pouch, isn't there?"

"Compared to Dual Cultivation with the Spirit Race Saintess, the Spirit Race Saintess merely protecting the Zhou Family is nothing."

Zhao Yi...

He pulled off that pink Storage Pouch; this was a gift from Zhou Yan when he had nothing.

Over the years, he had inexplicably kept it hanging at his waist, neither discarding it nor refining it, maintaining it in its original state.

Inside the Storage Pouch, there was indeed a token; it was something Zhou Yan had given him for protection back at the Lesser Strange Spirit Stone Mine.

He took out the token.

Zhao Yi's expression was complex.

"Forget it."

"What is in the past shall remain in the past."

The token fell into Zhou Sijie's hand, and the pink Storage Pouch spontaneously ignited, turning into ash.

"It's all in the past!"

"It's all in the past~"

The four words resounded throughout the entire Qingling Realm.

"Today, I summoned all you Cultivators here because there are a few things I wish to tell everyone."

"First, the path forward for the Qingling Realm is now open."

"Everything that was once a shackle is no longer so; any Cultivator, as long as their Heart-Nature is firm, can basically Undergo Tribulation and achieve Immortal Ascension."

"The second thing,"

"the Spirit Race is extinct. Whether now or in the future, they will never appear again. The Qingling Realm will forever belong solely to the Human Race."