126: Chapter 126 My Territory, My Rules

Golden Sands Land.

Mo Tong was forcefully ejected from the Void Realm, her gaze locked firmly onto that composed, dark-clad figure. Her heart turned cold; her fears had come true!

The disturbance caused by the Sacred Tree's mutation had indeed drawn the attention of Cangwu! And the one who came was no ordinary person—a being capable of ignoring the Sacred Tree's pressure and easily seeing through illusions...

They were likely a super powerhouse from one of the two Rank-8 Immortal Cultivation States! She didn't even dare to contemplate the other party's true Realm.

But why had he arrived so quickly? Qing State was clearly in the most remote part of the southern Cangwu.

Suppressing the sharp pain in her Divine Soul and her fear, Mo Tong forced a stiff, humble smile onto her face and bowed from afar to Ling Hao:

"Se... Senior! This Junior Mo Tong is just an ordinary Cultivator passing by, drawn here by this strange phenomenon..."

She tried to distance herself,

"I did not know Senior was here..."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Ling Hao turned around, his gaze landing calmly on her.

"Passing by? Drawn here?" Ling Hao's lips curled into a faint arc, his tone flat and waveless, "Do you think... I am a fool?"

Mo Tong's heart raced, her face turning deathly pale: "Senior... this Junior..."

"The source of the erosion qi is raging here, and the filth is congealing,"

Ling Hao interrupted her, his gaze piercing the fluctuations of erosion qi swirling around Mo Tong's body,

"The aura on you is of the same origin as this tree. I'm afraid everything here was caused by you, wasn't it?"

Mo Tong's pupils constricted; her last shred of hope was ruthlessly shattered! The other party was not only terrifyingly powerful, but his perception was also shockingly acute!

"Speak,"

Ling Hao took a slight step forward, an invisible pressure enveloping Mo Tong, "This erosion qi, this tree—what exactly are you plotting?"

He was filled with curiosity about this bizarre erosion qi capable of converting Spiritual Qi, and the forces behind it. Perhaps today, he could uncover a deeper secret of this world.

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Mo Tong's eyes. Escape! She must escape! Staying meant certain death!

"Senior, you have misunderstood! This Junior takes her leave!"

She shrieked and, without hesitation, smashed the dark red crystal she had been clutching tightly against the scarlet sapling! At the same time, she burned her life essence frantically, an explosion of filthy blood-escape light erupting around her, tearing through space as she attempted to flee ten thousand miles away!

"Hmph!"

Ling Hao snorted coldly, and the space fissure that was about to close around Mo Tong shattered inch by inch! The filthy blood-escape light was instantly suppressed!

Mo Tong's expression was panicked; deep within her Divine Soul, a distress signal mark shattered silently.

"How dare you—!!!"

A furious roar echoed across the entire sky of Qing State! The Soul of every living being trembled at this moment.

Qingxiao Mountain battlefield.

Chi Shuying, Chi Wanhe, Du Yuqing, and others who were commanding Disciples to clean up the battlefield, as well as Jing Hong, Sect Master Yongyue, the Golden Sword Gate Leader, the Hundred Refinements Gate Leader, and other high-ranking members of various sects who were healing, all looked up at the same time.

They saw that above the sky in the northwestern Golden Sands Land, a fissure had split open in space, and a giant hand covering the sky, marked with leaf patterns, reached out from it.

This giant hand was so massive that it was not inferior to the phantom of the scarlet tree canopy covering the northwestern territory! The giant hand descended, clawing fiercely toward the core of the Golden Sands! Its target was precisely the imprisoned Mo Tong!

Wherever the giant hand passed, space collapsed inch by inch, and its shadow instantly enveloped the Golden Sands Land!

A wild joy of finding a way out of a desperate situation burst forth in Mo Tong's eyes! The Hall Revered Master! It was the Hall Revered Master! The Hall Revered Master, at the fifth level of Undergoing Tribulation, had made a move!

Tianyuan Floating Island.

Yu Lingshuang stood quietly on Moonshadow Mountain, her cold, clear gaze piercing through ten thousand miles of clouds to land on that sky-covering giant hand. Her face was as calm as water, her expression unchanged.

Above Chengyue City.

Lin Xiwei's pretty face was slightly pale as she gazed toward the northwest, her eyes unable to hide her worry. A soft, warm palm rested gently on her tense shoulder.

"Junior Sister Xiwei~" Qin Zhaoxue appeared beside her, smiling like a flower, her voice carrying her habitual teasing,

"Your little face has gone pale; are you worried about Revered Master?" She leaned close to Lin Xiwei's ear, her breath like orchids, "Have a little more faith in Revered Master~ That old thing's hand cannot reach into our turf."

Lin Xiwei's ears turned slightly red; feeling that her thoughts were transparent before her Senior Sister, she could only nod, forcing herself to stay calm.

"Want to save someone?"

Ling Hao hovered in the Void Realm, facing the sky-covering giant hand crushing down, his eyes indifferent and waveless.

"Having entered Qing State, having entered within the thirty thousand miles of my Moonshadow Sect..."

He raised his right hand, splayed his five fingers, and gently clenched them toward the giant hand covering the firmament.

"—My turf, my rules!"

That giant hand, which could easily crush a Void Tempering expert and force back an Early Stage Undergoing Tribulation expert, suddenly froze before it had even fully descended! Immediately, countless glaring cracks instantly covered the entire palm! It was as if it were being sliced by billions of invisible sharp blades simultaneously.

"Boom—!!!"

The giant hand exploded into pieces!

It's over! The wild joy in Mo Tong's eyes froze, turning into complete despair and ashen death.

The Qingxiao Mountain battlefield was deathly silent.

Chi Shuying gazed up at the spectacular scene of the giant hand disintegrating, strange colors rippling in her beautiful eyes. The worry on the faces of Chi Wanhe, Du Yuqing, and the others completely dissipated, and the corners of their mouths curled into proud arcs unconsciously. Revered Master was as powerful as ever!

And the faces of those Moonshadow Sect Disciples were filled with admiration and pride.

That was their Sect Master, who was also their Dao Companion!

Jing Hong, Sect Master Yongyue, the Golden Sword Gate Leader, the Hundred Refinements Gate Leader, and others stood frozen in place like clay statues, their minds suffering a massive shock!

"That... the aura of that giant hand..."

Sect Master Yongyue's voice was dry, "It is a thousand, ten thousand times more terrifying than that True Venerable Yunhuai from Cangmu Kingdom earlier... No, it is True Venerable Yunhuai... What kind of existence's strike was that?!"

"True Venerable Yueying... is he really just a Soul Transformation Cultivator?" The Golden Sword Gate Leader muttered to himself, his eyes dull.

"Absolutely impossible!"

The Hundred Refinements Gate Leader shook his head vigorously, "That northwestern tree shadow nearly suffocated us Golden Core experts from ten thousand miles away! How could a Soul Transformation Cultivator dare to approach? Let alone... casually blast apart such a terrifying attack! Sect Master Ling, he..."

"Body Integration True Saint? Void-Piercing True Emperor? Or perhaps..."

Jing Hong took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the stormy waves in his heart, and voiced the speculation in everyone's minds, his eyes filled with unprecedented awe. They had already been suspicious when Ling Hao had gone to face the danger alone, and this scene before them completely shattered their past understanding.

Liu Sisi stood at the edge of the crowd, gazing at the sky, equally shocked. But her gaze quickly retracted, and she lowered her head to silently look at her blood-stained green clothes and scarred hands. A complex and indefinable resolve quietly coalesced deep within her hollow, dead eyes.

Above the Golden Sands.

"Hmph!" A distant yet clear grunt of pain came from behind the Void Realm fissure, carrying shock and anger. The existence behind this had clearly suffered a great loss!

Ling Hao paid no further attention to the distant consciousness that had retreated in panic, his gaze landing once again on Mo Tong.

"Since you won't speak, I will do it myself." His tone was flat as he raised his hand to perform Soul-searching.

However, the instant his Divine Thought touched Mo Tong's Divine Soul—

Buzz!

A black rune suddenly lit up at the core of Mo Tong's Divine Soul!

"No—!"

Bang!

Her Divine Soul, along with the black rune, instantly exploded into a cloud of black mist and dissipated completely!

The Restriction self-destructed, and the Divine Soul was extinguished!

Ling Hao frowned slightly: "...Rather cautious."

He had obtained no information, leaving only a black storage ring floating in place. Ling Hao casually took it into his hand.

He turned his gaze to the scarlet sapling. Ling Hao's eyes turned cold, and he formed a sword finger!

"Slash!"

An invisible Sword Qi broke through the air!

The broken tree seemed to possess consciousness, its countless roots and branches dancing and intertwining frantically, attempting to block it. But before absolute power, it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Wherever the Sword Qi passed, all obstructing roots and branches were silently severed! The Sword Qi sliced the broken tree down the middle, completely dividing it into upper and lower sections!

The upper section of the canopy, along with the half-opened bud, instantly withered and decayed. The bud exploded violently, and a surge of dark red erosion qi, a hundred times more concentrated and viscous than before, poured out like a volcanic eruption!

The lower section of the gnarled main root twisted frantically, desperately trying to burrow deep into the ground to escape.

"Hmm? The roots are the core of the main body?" A flash of insight sparked in Ling Hao's eyes.

"Suppress!"

He took a step forward, and ripples appeared in the Void Realm beneath his feet! A vast and peerless power of Dao laws instantly locked the earth vein space within a hundred-mile radius. Those roots frantically burrowing into the ground struck an invisible wall of divine metal, emitting teeth-grinding friction sounds as they shattered inch by inch.

"Shatter!"

Ling Hao clenched his fist in the air from a distance!

The lower section of the main root, along with countless secondary roots, exploded inch by inch, turning into dark red powder filling the sky!

With the complete annihilation of the root body, the massive tree shadow disappeared, and the gushing erosion qi lost its source, beginning to dissipate and dilute rapidly.

The oppressive feeling that had hung over the hearts of all living beings in Qing State also vanished instantly.

The world seemed to become clear again.

Just at this quiet moment when the dust had settled and the erosion qi was gradually dispersing—

"Clap... clap... clap..."

Crisp and slow applause rang out abruptly behind Ling Hao.

An old man's voice followed:

"Good technique!... Fellow Daoist's strength is powerful; it truly has opened this old man's eyes."

Ling Hao turned around slowly. He saw that not far behind him, two figures were floating quietly, though he hadn't noticed when they arrived.