310: Chapter 310 The Great Battle Ends, but Life is Devastated!

The Nascent Soul war concluded, and the borders of the various kingdoms were redrawn.

However, the scars on the land were like bottomless chasms, spanning every inch of soil on the Xuanling continent.

In the north of the continent, the North Sea of the Tianyuan Domain flooded inland, and cold currents swept south across the land.

The number of Mortals frozen to death alone exceeded ten million.

In the central and western parts of the continent, the ley lines of three provinces were drained, the Spiritual Qi dried up, leaving a thousand miles of barren earth where crops failed and corpses of the starving littered the fields.

The Jiaolong Domain suffered catastrophic flooding as the ocean surged inland, turning countless cities into underwater death zones and transforming the region into a ten-thousand-mile marshland!

All signs of human life vanished, and every trace of the Human Race that once existed was completely wiped away.

Natural disasters and man-made catastrophes wove themselves into a net.

Billions of living beings wandered lost across this wasteland; Mortals were displaced and forced to trade children for food, while low-level Cultivators, like stray dogs, fought tooth and nail over a single Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

A vast number of spiritual fields, herb gardens, and spiritual mountains were destroyed, leading to a shortage of cultivation resources.

Nearly half of the Xuanling continent had fallen into lands poor in Spiritual Qi, causing the entire continent's spiritual energy to become thin, making cultivation increasingly difficult.

It carried the distinct aura of an Age of Dharma Decline.

Life and death were no longer anyone's concern.

Those in positions of power were busy licking their wounds and reshaping order; who would care about the cries of ants? They could only resign themselves to fate as life vanished...

Qingcang Kingdom, eastern border.

Inside a dilapidated military town, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

"Kneel!"

With a sharp shout, the three Golden Core Cultivators—Daoist Yun Du, Lu Xun, and Sun Chengzhu—were pressed hard into the mud by several law-enforcement Elders of the Shangqing Sect.

Their cultivation was sealed, and they were covered in blood and filth, in a wretched state.

Behind them were thousands of elite Disciples of the White Cloud Temple who had retreated from the eastern front. At this moment, these Disciples were all shackled through their collarbones and penned together like pigs and sheep.

Leading the Shangqing Sect team was an Elder at the Late Stage of the Golden Core realm under True Monarch Tongming, named Zhao Han.

Zhao Han's face was livid, his eyes filled with violent murderous intent.

"Daoist Yun Du! Your White Cloud Temple has quite the audacity!" Zhao Han kicked Daoist Yun Du in the chest, sending him flying backward, coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.

"Your White Cloud Temple's lair has actually become the base camp of the Yao Race! You even dare to call it the Myriad Demon Domain and plunder the foundations of our Shangqing Sect's three provinces!"

Zhao Han drew his long sword and pressed it firmly against Daoist Yun Du's throat: "Speak! Did you collude with the Yao Race early on, intentionally slacking off on the eastern front and sabotaging our Shangqing Sect's main force!"

Daoist Yun Du's face turned ashen, and he trembled all over: "Elder Zhao, we are wronged! We fought bloody battles on the eastern front and knew nothing of what happened in the rear!"

"That Spirit Beast protecting our sect rebelled; we are victims too!"

"Victims?"

Zhao Han sneered, his sword edge slicing into Daoist Yun Du's neck, drawing blood: "The Shangqing Sect lost six True Monarchs in this war, and we lost five of our nine provinces! Someone has to pay for this pent-up anger!"

"Today, we will use you thousands from the White Cloud Temple to sacrifice the banner, executing you by slow slicing to serve as a warning to others!"

Zhao Han raised his long sword high, ready to strike.

Sun Chengzhu closed his eyes, while Lu Xun gritted his teeth, a hint of unwillingness flashing in his eyes.

Just as the sword's edge was about to fall.

The sky darkened!

It was not dark clouds blocking the sun, but an endless sea of clouds that rolled out from the Void Realm without warning, instantly shrouding the entire military town.

A vast heavenly might, belonging solely to the Nascent Soul realm, crashed down like a hundred thousand mountains.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

All the Shangqing Sect Disciples present, including Zhao Han, had their knees shattered by this pressure, forced to kneel straight in the mud, unable to move.

"Nascent... Nascent Soul True Monarch!"

Zhao Han lifted his head with difficulty, his face full of horror.

From within the sea of clouds, White Crane stepped out slowly, wearing a white feather cloak. With cloud patterns flowing between his brows and a detached, aloof expression, he looked down upon this group of ants.

"I will take these three people."

White Crane's tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable dominance.

Zhao Han bit the tip of his tongue and forced himself to look up: "Senior... these are grave criminals of our Shangqing Sect, and Sect Head Ziyang personally ordered their liquidation... are you intending to make an enemy of our Shangqing Sect?"

"Ziyang?"

White Crane laughed, a cold, chilling laugh: "If he is dissatisfied, he can come to the Myriad Demon Domain to find me. When that time comes, if another war between the Human Race and the Yao Race breaks out, I would like to see if the Shangqing Sect can continue to exist!"

As his voice fell, White Crane waved his large sleeve.

The clouds filling the sky turned into three chains, directly coiling around Daoist Yun Du, Lu Xun, and Sun Chengzhu on the ground, pulling them into the clouds.

"As for the rest of these people..."

White Crane swept his gaze over the thousands of White Cloud Temple Disciples below, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes: "Leave them for old man Ziyang to vent his anger."

"He needs to be given a way to save face, lest he lose his old dignity!"

The sea of clouds rolled, and White Crane, taking the three with him, instantly escaped into the Void Realm and vanished.

Only Zhao Han and the group of Shangqing Sect Cultivators remained, kneeling in the mud, cold sweat soaking through their heavy robes, yet they dared not stand up for a long time.

Myriad Demon Domain, on Zixiao Peak.

A gale howled, and thunder roared.

Daoist Yun Du and the other two were heavily thrown onto the rocks at the peak. Their Seals were undone, and as they staggered to their feet and saw the scene around them, they all gasped in cold air...

Across the mountains and plains, Demonic Qi soared into the sky.

Countless great demons shuttled between the mountains, as if it had transformed into a paradise for the Myriad Demon Domain.

And in the Thunder Pool at the peak, a Thunder Bear, its size like a mountain, was coiled within. The violent thunder dao rhyme made it difficult for these three Golden Core Cultivators to even breathe.

Shi Jian slowly opened his eyes, his thunder-filled gaze devoid of emotion.

"You have returned; it is good that you have returned."

"Brother Shi..."

Daoist Yun Du called out, his face full of bitterness. From the moment he failed to expose Shi Jian's wolfish ambition when the Yao Race was growing powerful...

His silence had doomed everything to this inevitability.

Silence, in itself, was a choice.

"Rest assured, I have not killed anyone from the Yun Clan or the Sun Clan. After all, there is still a bond of shared history, and I am not that heartless."

"It is time for you to make your choice. Whether you will join with the Myriad Demon Domain or choose to leave, I will not stop you."

"You may have grievances in your hearts, but everything I have done is for the survival and prosperity of my race. There is no right or wrong to speak of; it is simply that our respective stances are different."

"Regardless, I respect your choice."

Having said this, Shi Jian waited quietly.

Lu Xun was, conversely, the one with the most peaceful state of mind among the three.

He respectfully knelt on one knee, lowered his head, and spoke with a humble demeanor: "I, Lu Xun, was originally a wandering beggar. Later, I was fortunate enough to enter the White Cloud Temple, received the favor of my Master, Sun Lin, and was granted techniques and wealth by the Zixiao Peak lineage."

"The Old Ancestor even bestowed upon me heaven and earth qi, paving the path of the Golden Core for me."

"This grace is greater than the heavens. I have no way to repay it, so I only wish to spend the rest of my life at the Old Ancestor's beck and call, offering my meager strength to the Old Ancestor."

"Moreover, although the Human Race and the Yao Race follow different paths, they ultimately lead to the same destination."

"I, Lu Xun, have no regrets."

Hearing this, Sun Chengzhu sighed, a look of helplessness appearing on his face.

"The Sun Clan and the Old Ancestor once made a two-hundred-year agreement. Two hundred years have long since passed, but the Sun Clan has never dared to forget the Old Ancestor's kindness."

"The Sun Clan has never been my Sun Clan, nor has it been the Sun Clan of the Human Race or the Yao Race; it has always been the Old Ancestor's Sun Clan..."

"I, Chengzhu, also have no regrets."