"A good monk tells no lies; I will trust you for now. Up I go! I, Lan Qinghuan, fear neither heaven nor earth, and certainly not this tiny Zhuxian Stage!" With a petite and exquisite figure, she resolutely stepped onto the circular Bagua platform, without even looking back once.
"Qinghuan, be careful..." Lan Moyun's worried voice had not yet fully reached her ears when she vanished onto the Zhuxian Stage in a single turn, and that impenetrable mystic light curtain also vanished without a trace the very moment Lan Qinghuan disappeared.
A thousand miles away, the immortals manifested their divine clairvoyant and clairaudient powers, yet could only see the Celestial Emperor standing blankly a hundred meters below the Zhuxian Stage, alongside the Day Rulai Buddha sitting cross-legged on a lotus throne, chanting mantras.
The clear sky was windless and cloudless, and everything was as calm as if nothing had happened at all. Whether one felt concern for her, schadenfreude, or harbored secret plots, no one could possibly know what was happening inside the Zhuxian Stage.
This was a realm of void, dark purgatory, even darker than the eighteenth level of the Netherworld. Lan Qinghuan was not afraid of the dark, but she feared loneliness.
Over all these years, she had accompanied her brother all the way up to the Heavenly Realm, witnessing plenty of dark and bloody slaughter; she had always been bold and confident in her own abilities.
Yet here was a zone devoid of senses, where her soul seemed to sink into a deep slumber. Aside from a feeling of oppressive darkness, she could not even feel her own body.
No, she must not sleep; she must not lose herself like this. She had to walk out alive, for Di Lianzhe was still waiting for her...
Faintly, a green light appeared in her heart. Lan Qinghuan knew that was the Yuyin Dan she had swallowed before her brother sent her here.
Wake up! She had to wake up!
The execution ground was dead silent. Assuming there was nothing left to see, the crowd dispersed on their own.
Right at that moment, the Nine Heavens Mysterious Realm, which had remained clear and unchanging for ten thousand years, suddenly filled with dark clouds. Countless terrifying thunderclaps erupted abruptly, and gigantic dragons could be faintly seen darting swiftly through the thick clouds.
They flew in orderly formation toward the Zhuxian Stage, and from afar, countless gigantic dragons could already be seen hovering densely over the stage.
The clouds above the Zhuxian Stage churned as thunder roiled.
Every immortal standing on the execution ground had undergone the trial of the Nine Heavens Thunder Tribulation when ascending to the Nine Heavens Mysterious Realm, so they naturally knew how formidable it was.
The thunder punishment back then had merely been a Nine Heavens Extreme Thunder summoned by a single blue thunder dragon, yet at this moment, dozens of thunder dragons were circling over the Zhuxian Stage.
Furthermore, there were red fire dragons, cyan vine dragons, purple electric dragons, white water dragons, and so on. Among the swarm of dragons, there were even four golden dragons.
As everyone knew, golden dragons were the royalty of the dragon clan; with so many dragons gathered here, probably the entire dragon race of Longyuan had been mobilized.
Fierce gales raged, and the invisible vacuum pressure in the air swept through everyone's mind and body, forcing them to release the profound Qi within their bodies just to resist it.
If those a thousand miles away were in such a state, what about the Celestial Emperor and Rulai, who were only a hundred meters from the Zhuxian Stage?
Many people wanted to know, but under these circumstances, how many could spare the focus to use their divine sight and hearing?
Dispelling vacuum pressure of this magnitude was child's play for the battle-hardened Martial God, yet he did not help the others dispel it.
He was no do-gooder; besides, seeing the Celestial Emperor and Rulai engaged in a fierce battle, he was anxious to rush over and help.
Moving like the wind and thunder, the Martial God arrived in an instant, only to be blocked outside the barrier.
"Rulai, you and I are both rulers of the immortal realm. I respect you as an elder and make allowances for you in every way. Yet why must you harm my sister?" Faced with the unstoppable Extreme Thunder that vowed to raze the Zhuxian Stage to the ground, even the broad-minded Celestial Emperor grew anxious.
This Zhuxian Formation had been painstakingly forged together by his late Master and a group of seniors back then to suppress a great cosmic calamity.
It incorporated four supreme divine artifacts that once shook all realms—the Qiankun Mirror, the Xiaoyao Sword, the Zhentian Bottle, and the Primordial Dragon Pearl—possessing the power to dissolve souls and annihilate deities. Anyone who walked inside was destined for total annihilation of body and soul.
He had known something was amiss when Rulai asked his sister to enter the Zhuxian Stage, but what kind of person was Rulai?
He was a savior of the suffering, a merciful and compassionate noble being. Ten thousand years ago, he had single-handedly deployed two peerless divine artifacts, the Zhentian Bottle and the Primordial Dragon Pearl, to eradicate the great calamity alongside his Master and other seniors; such a righteous deed was unparalleled.
Would someone with such a heart for all living beings deliberately concoct a lie to deceive him, claiming his sister was the eternal savior and the terminator of the cosmic calamity?
He refused to believe it, yet just to be safe, he had still made his sister swallow the Yuyin Dan that his Master had left in his custody before passing away. With his sister's profound spiritual power backed by the protection of the Yuyin Dan, she was bound to emerge completely unscathed.
Yet, for all his calculations, he had miscalculated.
He never expected that Rulai could summon all the dragons of the dragon clan and keep them firmly under his control.
The dragon clan had always been arrogant; to win them over, he had put in a great deal of effort, yet now they were eating the ruler's food but refusing to obey the ruler's commands.
With divine arts being cast as if divine energy were free, spewing dragon flames everywhere, what was his sister to do?
"The Heavenly Sovereign need not worry overly much. This old monk has not harmed your younger sister; this action naturally serves a purpose. As the saying goes, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed. For the Heavenly Sovereign to fight this old monk in such a manner is truly lacking in decorum. You might as well use your energy to activate the Zhuxian Defense Formation, so as to protect your subjects and citizens..."
Rulai had not moved an inch, still sitting cross-legged in his original spot, forming hand seals and chanting mantras.
He merely erected a protective shield, intercepted Lan Moyun's attack, and transmitted his voice to him.
Hearing the Celestial Emperor say that Rulai intended to harm Lan Qinghuan, the Martial God outside the barrier was burning with anxiety.
He relentlessly attacked the barrier, seeing which, the Celestial Emperor stepped out of the barrier and invited him to join forces in activating the Zhuxian Defense Formation.
Although doubts still lingered in his heart, Rulai's reminder was correct: if they did not activate the Zhuxian Defense Formation immediately, it would be too late. Everything else could be discussed after Qinghuan came out.
The moment the Zhuxian Defense Formation flared to life, the sky tore open. Thunderbolts plummeted, scorching flames rose with the wind, vine whips lashed across the void, and ice blades leaped down like fish.
Rumbling, hissing, crashing—screeches and roars echoed one after another in a lively clamor.
The immortals felt the weight lift from their bodies and collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Yet when they saw the lightning flashes, thunder rumbles, and twisted vacuum outside the array, with that world-destroying power concentrated entirely upon the tiny Zhuxian Stage, they could not help but sigh.
In their hearts, most of them assumed that the once-invincible Martial God had already suffered the complete annihilation of body and soul.
Wake up. Lan Qinghuan, you must wake up.
Ah, so cold. My body is frozen stiff.
No, so hot. Even hotter than being inside the Flame Mountain.
Wuwu, so painful. Don't hit me...
"Wake up, Miss, please wake up..." Xi Yun'er's face was covered in tears as she gently shook Lan Qinghuan's arm.
Yesterday, after Miss returned from Concubine Fang's place, she had run a high fever and kept talking nonsense in her sleep.
Now the family head was away, and Concubine Fang was in charge of the household; what should she do?
"Ah, Lianzhe... It hurts so much!" It felt like she had been having an extremely long, terrifying dream.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Extreme Thunder as thick as waterfalls striking her body, and at that exact instant, she heard Di Lianzhe's heart-rending cry.
It hurt. Her entire body ached, as if the Extreme Thunder had torn her limbs apart. Yet the very last scene lingering in her mind was Di Lianzhe holding her blood-soaked body amidst raging flames.
He had said: Do not forget. Must not forget. Do not wish to forget. Shall not forget each other...