In the Boundless Sea,

  an ice pagoda floated silently.

  Countless fish circled it in fear and reverence, as though greedily absorbing something.

  Inside, Fu Tianluo remained sealed. Despite his Spirit Severing strength, he could not escape.

  He felt powerless, hopeless.

  Yet when he sensed Tulang’s aura, a spark of hope ignited.

  He slammed against the walls, desperate to catch Tulang’s attention.

  Tulang’s presence burned like a sun.

  Soon, massive shockwaves rocked the sea, battering the pagoda.

  Tulang had found the white-clothed youth in the wheelchair.

  They were fighting.

  Could Tulang win?

  Fu Tianluo clung to hope.

  Tulang was far stronger than he remembered, and unlike Fu Tianluo—who had lost his semi-holy compass—Tulang needed no artifact.

  His golden body was his greatest weapon.

  Fu Tianluo prayed Tulang would win. Victory meant the three continents could crush Five Phoenixes.

  And he would be freed—even at a price.

  BOOM!

  The sea transmitted energy perfectly.

  He felt every clash—ripples slamming the pagoda.

  Then—silence.

  Fu Tianluo pressed his ear to the wall, heart pounding with expectation.

  “SAVE ME!!!”

  A scream exploded beside him.

  Fu Tianluo’s face went white.

  His heart felt punched.

  He staggered back, crashing into the opposite wall.

  “Tulang… is dead?!”

  His body trembled, disbelief flooding his eyes.

  The pagoda fell deathly quiet—only his ragged breathing remained.

  He looked up through the tower’s peak.

  Darkness and despair swallowed him whole.

  He was never getting out.

  …

  The Boundless Sea churned with hurricanes.

  Tulang’s golden body—shattered.

  One slash from Lu’s fused Phoenix Feather Swords had cleaved him in two.

  The “Lin” Array Word, as though sentient, sensed danger.

  It wrapped Tulang’s soul and shot toward the heavens.

  Tulang’s soul trembled with lingering fear and relief.

  Thank the heavens—the Liujia giant could retrieve his souls.

  That frail-looking youth in the wheelchair was a monster!

  He wielded a holy-tier artifact!

  Its power had instantly crushed Tulang’s golden body.

  The terror of a holy-tier weapon!

  Tulang was strong—a supreme Mid-Tier Martial Spirit Severing expert.

  But he had no holy-tier artifact. Such treasures were monopolized by High-Tier Martial worlds.

  Even favored by the Venerable One, he had never been granted one.

  His body destroyed, but as Spirit Severing, his soul could survive independently.

  The “Lin” Array Word—true treasure of the Liujia Array Sect—was carrying him home!

  Above the sea,

  Lu watched the golden light streak skyward.

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Running?”

  “Something that entered my pocket… thinks it can leave?”

  He had coveted the Array Word from the start.

  He never expected the giant to attach it to Tulang and send it straight in.

  A gift?

  How could Lu refuse such generosity?

  A rune so similar to those on the Preaching Platform’s Eight Trigrams Array—he would not let it go.

  With a thought, he flicked his finger.

  The world’s origin shifted.

  The Heaven Covering Sword floated into his hand, seven-colored light flowing across its blade.

  Rumble!

  The grand formation activated.

  A colossal misty hand formed and lunged for the golden rune.

  Lu wanted the “Lin” word.

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  Tulang’s soul was just an afterthought.

  …

  Blood-colored battlefield.

  The war continued.

  After discovering the formation’s flaw, Wuxing and Tulang had poured endless Foundation Establishment cultivators through.

  They wanted the passage.

  Wuxing tested if Foundation Establishment cultivators could enter the world proper.

  If so, sheer numbers could overwhelm it.

  Once the interior fell, the formation would collapse.

  Of course, he knew the odds were low.

  Even countless Foundation Establishment cultivators were ants before Golden Core or Nascent Soul.

  So the real goal remained breaking the formation.

  The blood-colored battlefield was merely psychological warfare.

  Then—

  The earth cracked.

  Foundation Establishment invaders from bronze warships were swallowed by fissures, dying instantly.

  Jiang Li frantically ordered retreat behind the walls.

  Everyone huddled, afraid to move.

  In the distance, the ground split.

  A golden rune shot upward.

  A twisted soul screamed within.

  “SAVE ME!!!”

  The cry echoed across the crimson plain.

  “It’s that invincible monster from before!”

  Jiang Li’s breath caught.

  Li Sansui leaped atop the wall, robes whipping in the wind.

  “That monster… is dead!”

  She covered her mouth, eyes wide with shock—and wild joy.

  It had to be Young Master Lu!

  Only Young Master Lu could stop, could kill such a being!

  Young Master Lu is awesome!

  Above the battlefield,

  every Body Storage cultivator stared skyward.

  A colossal misty hand blotted out the heavens.

  It chased the golden rune and screaming soul.

  BOOM!

  The rune tried to flee.

  But the hand was faster.

  It seized the rune.

  The impact cracked the battlefield.

  The giant hand clenched.

  The massive “Lin” character blazed, struggling like a living thing.

  Yet from the palm emerged mysterious runes:

  Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun, Zhong…

  Eight ancient runes suppressed the “Lin” word, its light dimming.

  Slowly, inexorably, it was dragged beneath the earth.

  BOOM!

  A sudden explosion.

  The hand ripped Tulang’s soul free from the rune.

  “Spare me!”

  Tulang’s soul knelt in the sky.

  “I surrender! I will serve!”

  His soul wept blood, voice breaking with despair.

  He didn’t want to die.

  Late-stage Spirit Severing—he was on the cusp of ascending to a High-Tier Martial world.

  He couldn’t die meaninglessly here!

  “You cursed at me.”

  A calm voice boomed from the giant hand, echoing across the entire battlefield.

  Everyone exchanged stunned glances.

  Then—

  the hand transformed into an enormous millstone.

  It ground down.

  Tulang’s soul was slowly pulverized into ash.

  BOOM!!!!!

  A cataclysmic explosion—like a star detonating.

  Specks of light rained down.

  “Plink… plink…”

  A rain of soul fragments.

  Tulang’s Spirit Severing soul—shattered and scattered.

  Like blood rain across the battlefield.

  Li Sansui spread her arms, robes billowing.

  Bathed in soul rain, her mind and spirit were cleansed, clarity flooding in.

  A shell cracked within her.

  Divine sense was born!

  She was breaking into Heavenly Lock!

  Not just her.

  Meng Haoran, blood-soaked scholar’s robes, broken spear dripping red, laughed in ecstasy.

  The soul rain birthed divine sense in him too.

  Jiang Li and countless Body Storage cultivators underwent qualitative leaps.

  Many who hadn’t perfected Body Storage rocketed to completion in an instant.

  “Fortune! Heaven-sent fortune!”

  Laughter and tears mingled.

  The endless invaders had crushed their spirits.

  They had expected death at any moment.

  Yet now—an enemy titan’s fall scattered soul rain that propelled them forward.

  Joy and hope surged.

  Outside Five Phoenixes.

  Wuxing’s face twisted in horror.

  The giant roared in anguish.

  Wuxing was shaken—Tulang, late-stage Spirit Severing, golden body supreme, had been erased before his eyes!

  Even Wuxing, without artifacts, might not have beaten Tulang.

  Yet he was dead.

  A supreme Mid-Tier Martial plane lord—fallen!

  The giant clutched his head, nearly hyperventilating.

  His connection to the “Lin” Array Word—severed!

  BOOM!

  He grabbed Wuxing by the collar.

  Wuxing’s body glowed with protective golden light.

  “What is the meaning of this?!”

  Wuxing stared coldly.

  “You are the array master—why ask me? I only knew the formation was peerless, so the Venerable One summoned you.”

  “Why take your anger out on me?”

  He could not afford to offend the Liujia Array Sect.

  “Get lost!”

  The giant flung him away.

  He stood, eyes bloodshot, staring at the formation below.

  “Break for me!”

  Eighteen stone slabs spun around him like blazing suns.

  He stepped forward.

  He would force his way in!

  “Madman…”

  Wuxing shook his head, robes fluttering, a cold smile on his lips.

  He knew how deadly this formation was.

  He had once tried to break it and nearly died.

  Fortunately, it was defensive—never attacked first.

  Otherwise, they would have perished long ago.

  BOOM!

  On the blood-colored battlefield,

  panic spread.

  Foundation Establishment invaders on bronze warships were crushed like ants beneath the giant’s descending foot.

  The warships exploded.

  The giant stepped onto the crimson earth.

  “Thief! Return my Array Word!”

  His foot sank, shattering the ground.

  Jiang Li, Li Sansui, and the others fled—they could not withstand even the aura leaking from his pores.

  …

  Five Phoenixes Continent.

  The entire sky changed.

  Everyone looked up in terror.

  A colossal giant’s silhouette appeared, as though struggling through mud.

  He roared and screamed.

  World protection force and the Heaven Covering Formation’s retaliation tore his body apart.

  Blood poured from him, turning the sky into a storm of crimson rain!

  On an island,

  Du Longyang and the others, recovering from their fight with Tulang, looked up.

  They saw the giant trying to force his descent.

  Utter madness!

  Utter rage!

  What had driven him to such insanity?

  They could not guess.

  Origin Lake, Lake Heart Island.

  Lu raised a hand.

  White robes snapped in the wind.

  Golden light flew to him.

  The misty palm glowed with Eight Trigrams runes—unshakable.

  It firmly held the struggling “Lin” Array Word.

  Strange fluctuations emanated from it.

  “What a peculiar rune.”

  Lu studied it, eyes bright with curiosity.

  Up close, the tiny “Lin” word was even more mysterious.

  He looked up at the raging giant.

  Then flicked his finger.

  The Array Word tried to burn his hand.

  Divine sense surged.

  Eight Trigrams runes suppressed it again.

  “System, what is this?”

  The system responded promptly.

  [Nine Array Words — “Lin” Array Word (inactive). Created by the ancient Great Emperor ‘Hao’. Possesses terrifying might. Passed down through endless ages. Now belongs to the Liujia Array Sect — their sect-suppressing treasure.]

  “Inactive?”

  Lu caught the key word.

  The system offered no further explanation.

  He guessed the Liujia Array Sect possessed the Nine Array Words but had not fully mastered them.

  After all, they were created by an ancient Great Emperor.

  Lu didn’t know what realm that was.

  But it sounded badass.

  “So… how do I activate it?”

  He pondered.

  Then glanced at the giant still struggling to descend.

  “Little Huang.”

  Whoosh!

  Little Yinglong flapped over, eyes sparkling with anticipation.

  Lu pointed at the sky.

  “Mess him up.”

  Little Yinglong sensed chaos incoming.

  He shot upward as a golden streak.

  With the Heaven Covering Formation and world protection blocking the giant, descent was impossible.

  The eighteen slabs barely kept him from being ejected.

  But the camel’s back only needed one more straw.

  Little Yinglong was that straw.

  Lu ignored the rest, focusing on the Array Word.

  His intuition told him activating it would bring unimaginable benefits.

  With a thought—

  his vision blurred with lines.

  He pulled the “Lin” Array Word into the Preaching Platform.

  …

  Little Yinglong flapped furiously.

  He became a golden arrow shooting skyward.

  Soon, tiny Little Yinglong hovered before the giant’s face projected across the heavens.

  The giant roared.

  Little Yinglong stared.

  Pfft!

  He spat water in the giant’s face.

  No reaction.

  The giant’s eyes shifted, ignoring the dragon—he still sensed Lu on the sea and harbored ill intent.

  Little Yinglong flapped harder.

  Being ignored?

  And plotting against Dad?!

  He was pissed.

  Wings spread.

  His body ballooned to mountain size.

  He spun like a top.

  His yellow-scaled tail whipped.

  The giant saw the tail coming.

  Eyes narrowed.

  “Filthy beast!”

  SLAP!

  Dragon tail met face.

  The giant—already struggling against the formation’s backlash—screamed.

  Twelve slabs shuddered.

  The formation flung him out.

  He shot backward through the mist, crashing onto the dead continent.

  …

  Rumble!

  Within the Preaching Platform.

  Lu sat cross-legged on the Eight Trigrams Array.

  The “Lin” Array Word radiated boundless power.

  Lu looked up in surprise.

  The spinning Eight Trigrams runes fired beams of light onto the “Lin” word.

  The entire platform quaked as though the earth itself shook.

  After a long time,

  the tremors ceased.

  The “Lin” Array Word suddenly blazed with brilliant light, completely enveloping Lu’s mind and soul.

  …

  On the dead continent,

  the blood-soaked, ejected giant clutched his head and howled into the void.

  A massive emptiness tore through his soul.

  At that moment, he understood.

  The “Lin” Array Word…

  was gone forever!