159: Han Li's warning

The Memory Hive silently operated, its invisible and intangible mental network covering the entire Lei Yan Divine Dynasty, gradually smoothing and correcting the chaos and forgetfulness brought by the Heavenly Dao's cognitive pollution.

In the cities, the blankness in the eyes of Mortals and Cultivators gradually faded, and their tampered memories returned, though still shaken, at least basic order and cognition were restored.

The logical disarray of low-tier units was also alleviated, becoming orderly once more.

In the side hall of the Hall of Heroes, Ink Snow's pale face regained a trace of color under the continuous nourishment of Water Elemental Essence from Mo Yu, but the overexertion of her Divine Soul still left her extremely weak, plunging her into a deep, self-healing slumber.

Mo Yun sat cross-legged nearby, fully adjusting her breath, attempting to quickly recover some strength.

That silent cognitive battle just now was no less dangerous than directly confronting the Heavenly Dao's thunder punishment; in fact, it was even more fatal.

A suffocating silence filled the hall.

The three women felt a heavy weight in their hearts; the Heavenly Dao had struck twice in a row, each time more cunning and malicious than the last. What would the next attack be?

Could they really manage to survive each time by sheer luck?

Just in this stifling silence—

Buzz... The space within the hall, without any warning, rippled ever so slightly, yet it was completely at odds with the Laws of the Spirit Realm.

This ripple was not an energy fluctuation; it was more like... a wrinkle produced by the space structure itself being gently plucked by an extremely sophisticated power.

Mo Yun and Mo Yu almost simultaneously snapped their eyes open, looking vigilantly towards the center of the ripple!

Their first reaction was that the Heavenly Dao had unleashed some new, bizarre move!

However, the anticipated attack did not appear.

In the center of the ripple, the light subtly twisted, like a stone dropped into a calm lake, but what was reflected was not the scene within the hall, but a blurry, constantly shifting light and shadow.

The light and shadow gradually clarified, revealing a figure they had never expected to see at this moment—

His green robes were unchanged, his face ordinary.

Han Li!

His figure was not corporeal, but a somewhat illusory, flickering cross-realm projection.

His expression seemed even more indifferent than usual, perhaps even... carrying a hint of imperceptible fatigue?

His image was extremely unstable, as if it could dissipate at any moment, clearly indicating that he had crossed unimaginable distances and obstacles to barely transmit this message.

He did not look at the environment within the hall; his placid eyes seemed to pierce through layers of space, falling directly upon... Mo Yun, who was adjusting her breath, and the unconscious Ink Snow, then sweeping over the newly stabilized territory outside the hall.

His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

As if he was not surprised by everything that had happened here, nor by their condition, yet he was somewhat... displeased?

"The Heavenly Dao's backlash is not limited to power," his voice came through the projection, still calm, but carrying an unprecedented solemnity, "Its concretized might has only just begun to manifest."

Concretized?

Mo Yun and Mo Yu's hearts tightened simultaneously!

Could it be that the previous plant animation, spirit-annihilating dust rain, and cognitive pollution... were all just "beginning to manifest"?

Han Li seemed to have no intention of explaining; his projection flickered more violently, its edges already blurring and dissipating, clearly indicating that maintaining this cross-realm communication was an immense burden for him.

As if pressed for time, his speech quickened slightly, but every word he uttered was as heavy as a star:

"Beware—"

His image suddenly flickered violently, and his voice momentarily distorted with static, as if subjected to extreme interference.

"...the White-Robed..."

"...Sword-Wielder!"

The last three words, he uttered clearly, with a warning tone, as if expending the last of that projection's power!

The moment the words fell, with a soft pop, the cross-realm projection vanished completely, like a popped bubble.

The spatial ripples in the hall subsided, as if nothing had ever happened.

Only those three words remained, like three cold nails, driven deep into the hearts of Mo Yun and Mo Yu!

The White-Robed Sword-Wielder?

What was that? Another form of the Heavenly Dao's attack? Or a specific, powerful entity?

Han Li had gone to such great lengths and cost to project across realms, just to warn them to beware of this?

The information it contained sent shivers down their spines.

Even an unfathomable existence like Han Li needed to specifically warn them about it; its terror was...

"White-Robed... Sword-Wielder..." Mo Yun slowly repeated the words, trying to decipher more information, but found only a mist, with an intense sense of crisis washing over her like ice water.

Mo Yu supported the heavily injured and unconscious Ink Snow, her beautiful face also clouded with gloom.

She looked at the seemingly calm sky outside the hall, feeling that beneath that azure, a deeper, more deadly killing intent was hidden.

The Heavenly Dao was no longer merely unleashing calamities; it was... "concretizing"? And it would send out the so-called "Sword-Wielder"?

"Immediate highest alert!" Mo Yun forced herself to stand, her voice hoarse but with an undeniable resolve, "Recall all patrol units and defend from the Thunder Sword Great Wall! Awaken all high-tier combat units in slumber!"

"Notify all Cultivators and Mortals to not venture out easily in the near future! All resources are to be allocated towards defensive fortifications!"

The orders were swiftly issued through the unit network. The Lei Yan Divine Dynasty, which had just experienced a cognitive crisis and was beginning to recover, instantly tensed up again, entering an unprecedented state of war preparedness!

Dark clouds pressed upon the city, threatening to crush it.

And this time, they didn't even know what the enemy specifically was.

Only Han Li's final warning, like the Sword of Damocles, hung over the heart of every informed individual.

White-Robed Sword-Wielder... Who, exactly, are you?

At the same time, in the deepest abyss of the Spirit Realm, at the core of the thunder storm.

In the Chaos Thunder Pool, Immortal in a Bottle Mo Yuan's body, composed of thunder Dao patterns, stirred slightly.

He had also "heard" Han Li's cross-realm message.

In his Thunder Pupils of Creation and Destruction, countless data streams flickered and deduced at an unprecedented speed.

"White-Robed... Sword-Wielder..."

"Concretization..."

"Heavenly Dao execution unit? Cleanup program? Or...?"

His consciousness was deeply integrated with the artifact spirit, frantically searching through all fragments of information regarding "Heavenly Dao," "cleanup," and "concretization" in the Ancient Civilization's legacy, attempting to find the possible meaning and weakness behind this term.

The Thunder Pool surged, and the speed of unit gestation quietly accelerated, shifting its direction towards extreme offense and specific defense.

The storm was about to enter a new phase.