Firmament Sword

The aura radiating from the slowly rising ancient stele created a spontaneous feeling of elation in one’s heart!

In that instant, all the negative emotions in their chests vanished completely, leaving only a sense of open-hearted, unparalleled relief!

BANG!

The two halves of the Soul Scripture Stele drew closer and closer, finally slamming together. The radiance they emitted was like a red sun filling the sky!

This single light was all that remained in the entire world!

The light shone down upon the cold, lonely, death-filled ancient city below, bathing it like a sacred glow!

In that moment, nearly all the spirits turned into motes of light and dissipated into the world!

A few of them lingered for a moment, kowtowed earnestly to Xu Luo, and then also dissolved into a rain of light.

In the end, even the most powerful presences lost all their restlessness and hostility. They flew into the air, faced Xu Luo, bowed in salute, and then their bodies disintegrated, scattering into the world.

As the light from the merged Soul Scripture Stele gradually faded, Xu Luo swept his Divine Sense across the ancient, weathered city. He discovered that not a single undead spirit remained!

Then, the massive ancient city began to collapse.

Silently, all the enormous buildings began to turn to dust and smoke.

There were no rumbles, no clouds of dust. The ancient city simply, slowly vanished before the eyes of Xu Luo, Du Qingteng, and Master Mao.

It was as if it were flowing into the long river of time. The ancient aura was so profound it made one want to weep.

It was then that Xu Luo suddenly realized—Lan was gone!

“Where’s Lan?” Xu Luo asked, looking at Du Qingteng.

Du Qingteng was so shocked by the scene that he was speechless. Hearing Xu Luo’s question, he snapped back to his senses and said, “I don’t think… she ever came out!”

“This is bad!” Xu Luo yelled, charging directly toward the spot in the city where the lower half of the Soul Scripture Stele had flown out from.

‘I’m an idiot,’ Xu Luo cursed himself internally. ‘Lan hasn’t come out this whole time. Given her personality and how she likes to stick by me, something is obviously wrong!’

Although he had been chanting the scripture, Xu Luo was perfectly clear on everything that had just happened.

Du Qingteng had cried for help. Lan had manifested her Dharma Aspect below, directly obliterating those few Celestial Venerable Realm undead. Then, in the end… when many of the spirits in the ancient city began to grow restless again without the guidance of the lower half of the Soul Scripture, she had been the one to bring it out.

But she herself was nowhere to be seen!

Recalling that she had previously said the Soul Scripture should be inside an ancient altar in this city… a sense of foreboding suddenly washed over Xu Luo.

‘An altar of a foreign race… how could it be so easy to enter?’

“Lan! Lan! Where are you?” Xu Luo shouted.

The entire ancient city was annihilating itself from the outer edges inward, layer by layer, at an incredible speed!

Using the Shaking Light Step, Xu Luo arrived above the altar in an instant. A sweep of his Divine Thought immediately located Lan.

She was lying weakly inside an ancient altar, as if asleep.

“Lan!” Xu Luo roared.

He immediately rushed over, wanting to carry her away.

BANG!

His body slammed hard against an invisible barrier.

With his physical body, which was now stronger than even a Supreme, the impact… actually left him with a bloody head!

Blood instantly blurred his vision, but Xu Luo’s eyes were fixed only on Lan’s figure. Without the slightest hesitation, he took out the complete Soul Scripture Stele, swung it like a brick, and smashed it forward with all his might!

BAM!

A ripple spread through the air, like a small stone tossed into a calm lake.

The sight infuriated Xu Luo. He roared, “Lan! Wake up!”

In the center of the altar, Lan’s body moved slightly. She slowly opened her eyes, looked at Xu Luo, and managed a weak smile. She was utterly drained.

“ARGH!” Xu Luo let out a roar, frantically smashing the complete Soul Scripture Stele against the invisible barrier before him.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

After who knows how many strikes, Xu Luo coughed up a mouthful of blood, which splattered onto the barrier. The invisible defense was instantly torn open.

Xu Luo stared, dumbfounded, before rage filled his heart. ‘If I’d known my blood would work… why did I waste all that effort?’

As he thought this, he spat several more mouthfuls of blood at the invisible barrier. By now, the city’s annihilation was closing in!

From above, he heard the urgent shouts of Du Qingteng and Master Mao.

“Brother Luo, come back!”

“Xiaoluozi… there’s no time! Get back here!”

Xu Luo ignored them. He simply swiped the fingertips of his right hand across his left arm, then circulated his energy to force the blood out. Instantly… his blood sprayed onto the invisible barrier.

Finally… a large hole was pierced through the defense.

With a wave of his hand, Xu Luo pulled Lan out and shot straight up into the sky.

BOOM!

The instant he pulled Lan out… the entire ancient city was utterly annihilated!

High in the sky, Xu Luo was covered in a cold sweat. Blood was still streaming from his arm, and he hadn’t had time to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He looked like a complete mess, but he paid it no mind, his eyes fixed only on Lan.

Lan forced her eyes open and smiled at him.

“I knew it… Brother Fu… no matter what, you would never… give up on Lan!” As she spoke, her eyes fluttered shut. She was simply too weak; she had exhausted all her strength just to break into that altar.

Xu Luo could now tell that Lan was not in any mortal danger, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In that frantic moment, he had been completely driven by a deep instinct from the depths of his soul. Nothing in the outside world could affect him.

Deep in his soul, there was only one voice: ‘I must save her!’

‘No matter the cost!’

‘I can’t give up!’

Du Qingteng and Master Mao flew to Xu Luo’s side, both too afraid to speak, just staring blankly at him.

After a long moment, Xu Luo let out a deep breath and said, “It’s okay… it’s finally okay!”

At that, Xu Luo glanced at Du Qingteng and Master Mao. Seeing their shaken expressions, he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? See for yourself!” Du Qingteng snapped, pointing down.

“See what… it’s just an annihilated…” Xu Luo’s words trailed off as he saw the scene below. He froze on the spot. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he gave a few dry chuckles. “How terrifying…”

“AAAAAH, IT’S BEYOND TERRIFYING, OKAY?! Is that just ‘how terrifying’? You were almost… dragged into the endless river of time! You would have never come back!” Master Mao roared from the side.

Below, the ancient city… was long gone. In its place was a massive… whirlpool!

The whirlpool emanated an endlessly ancient aura. It was bottomless. No one knew… what it was, nor did anyone want to know what lay in its depths…

Perhaps it was the legendary River of Time, capable of spanning hundreds of millions of years in an instant.

Once caught inside, not only one’s life… but even one’s soul… would be lost in it forever!

Xu Luo himself broke out in a cold sweat at the sight, but he just smiled and said, “Well, it’s over now.”

“Your arm is still bleeding,” Master Mao reminded him bluntly.

“Ah…” Only then did Xu Luo notice. He circulated his energy slightly, and the bleeding from his arm stopped. Looking at the sleeping Lan in his arms, Xu Luo transferred her into the Bronze Divine Hall World.

The house Su Qianqian had lived in before was there, and the environment was very pleasant.

At this point, the whirlpool below that had swallowed the entire ancient city also began to slowly disappear.

The ruins of the ancient city exuded an aura of utter desolation.

It was even worse than the other historical sites they had found before. At least those had some broken walls and ruins left to see.

But here… there was only scorched earth.

There was absolutely no trace that a great city had ever stood on this spot.

Xu Luo sighed. “Let’s go.”

Du Qingteng and Master Mao also sighed and departed in silence.

Anyone who experienced such an event would surely not feel at ease. Some with weaker wills might even begin to question the meaning of life.

A cursed ancient city, existing in deception for tens, even hundreds of millions of years… those who had not witnessed it… could never imagine what kind of power that was.

Nor would they believe that something so bizarre could exist in this world.

Just then, Xu Luo’s Sound Transmission Stone suddenly activated.

It was a live communication.

Xu Luo opened it, and Tang Xiao’s frantic voice came through. “Boss… where are you? We’re under attack! The situation is critical!”

“You’re out?” Xu Luo asked in a low voice.

“Oh, heavens… Boss, you finally answered! We’re all out, every single one of us! We passed that trial and all benefited greatly…”

Just then, Yu Tianjie’s roar came through the Sound Transmission Stone. “Tang Xiao, what the fuck are you babbling about? Get to the point!”

“Ah… the point is, after we got out, we were surrounded by a bunch of bastards from Blazing Flame Province and our own Xi Hezhou! Right now, Yu Tianying is heavily injured, Lv Di is heavily injured, Zhong Jiuyan has lost an arm, and Wang Tong is also wounded! Only Yu Tianjie, Ming Youyue, Shao Zheng, and I are mostly unharmed…”

“Where… are you?” A wave of fury exploded in Xu Luo’s chest.

After everything he had been through in the ancient city, a knot of frustration was already festering in his chest. Now, to hear the bad news that his junior brothers and sisters were under siege and many were seriously injured…

It sent Xu Luo into an immediate rage.

On the other end, Tang Xiao rattled off an address, then began roaring as he clashed with someone.

At the same time, Xu Luo could hear many people shouting taunts through the Sound Transmission Stone.

“Hahaha, calling for reinforcements? Is it that Luo Tian? He’ll die too if he comes!”

“Hurry up and call that trash over! We’ll kill him too!”

“This time… none of you from Celestial Brilliance will escape!”

“Our Jin Family will make you from Celestial Brilliance pay in blood!”

“Those who died in Blazing Flame Province… are waiting for you! We will avenge them!”

Xu Luo shut off the Sound Transmission Stone and glanced at Du Qingteng. “I’m going to save my fellow sect members!”

Du Qingteng’s eyes widened. “Fuck, Luo Tian, what do you mean by that? How could you leave Lord Du out of something like this?”

“Then let’s go!” Xu Luo gritted his teeth. With a bang, he tore open space and sped toward the location Tang Xiao had given him!