C1017 When the Sky Turned Dark He Closed His Eyes

Benin stood transfixed, her gaze locked onto the ever-widening rift that crackled and hissed as it stabilized. As a member of the Sylph tribe, blessed with the bloodline mysteries of the Voidweaver, she could make out blurry images within the crack that felt strangely familiar...

Could this rift be connected to the foreign land I know of? Benin pondered, her brow furrowed in silent contemplation.

Yet, she couldn't place the origin of those images, no matter how intently she watched. She continued to peer into the depths, hoping for a flicker of recognition.

Hart's calls and excited shouts seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Benin was acutely aware of her worth and knew that her survival, and the duration of her life, hinged on the space rift before her. Hart's clamor and pleas for help were, for the moment, irrelevant.

"What is that?"

In that instant, Sun Jun, having been provoked by Yu Yiyi, was somewhat pacified by the arrival of Peach Madam and the timely reminder from Zhan Ruonan. He couldn't help but follow Benin's gaze to the myriad of bright, interwoven rifts.

And so, he laid eyes on the Dragon Slaying Stage.

Boom!

Sun Jun was jolted to his core as his prized purple eye burst open.

Inside his Mindscape, a terrifying storm erupted, as if mighty giant dragons, as long as mountain ranges, roamed the depths of his soul.

The dragons left destruction in their wake, his spiritual sense shattering like glass, his heart engulfed by the dragon's breath.

Sun Jun was aware that evil energy had infiltrated him, tracing its source to the Dragon Slaying Stage. He tried to look away, only to find his consciousness slipping from his grasp.

"Sun Jun!"

Zhan Ruonan cried out in alarm.

She saw him fixated on a grey-white stone amidst the tangled space rifts, his gaze unyielding. Then, his hand's eyeball exploded, blood trickling from the corner of his eye, yet he was utterly unaware.

After a few seconds of observation, Zhan Ruonan acted decisively, tapping her own forehead.

A slender thread of fiery light shot from her brow, piercing towards Sun Jun's Mindscape, carrying her refined remnant soul.

Through this delicate fiery thread, she witnessed Sun Jun's fragmented spiritual world and the towering giant dragons swishing their tails.

"The breath of the Dragon God! Yet, the tenth level Dragon Gods have long vanished from the Everlands!"

The images within Sun Jun's Mindscape sent Zhan Ruonan's heart racing. Once she grasped the situation, her Solar Spirit Body gently collided with Sun Jun. Streams of scarlet flames flowed into him, aiding Sun Jun in organizing the tumultuous psionic power within, as his spiritual wisdom and consciousness were slipping away. She yelled, "Don't look anymore!"

Don't look anymore! Don't look anymore! Don't look anymore!

In the depths of Sun Jun's mind, it was as if thunder echoed, awakening his self-awareness and finally allowing him to regain control over himself.

He slowly closed his eyes.

As his eyelids met, the giant dragons in his Mindscape vanished as if by magic.

He caught his breath, steadied his emotions, and forcefully avoided dwelling on the thoughts.

Boom! Crack!

A massive crimson sphere of sword light burst forth, accompanied by the sound of porcelain shattering.

Yu Yuan, drenched in blood, stood amidst the fragments of the shattered white jade porcelain bottle, his body riddled with wounds oozing bright, tainted liquid.

Gou Yungui, reappearing once more, was even more stooped over.

The same colored liquid that flowed from Yu Yuan's body also seeped from the swollen hump on his back, emitting a foul stench.

Strands of crimson sword's will, like countless piranhas, continued to gnaw and slash at his Solar Spirit Body. Once stripped of clothing, his Solar Spirit Body, which resembled translucent glass, was riddled with fissures.

A slow shimmer of crimson sword light glinted in the depths of Gou Yungui's resentful eyes.

When the sword light in his eyes grew blindingly bright, his entire Solar Spirit Body shattered into pieces, just like the white jade porcelain.

Yu Yuan activated the Altar of Rebirth, employing the vitality and psionic power concealed within his acupoints to purge the filth from his body.

"If we were in the Everlands, and your Solar Spirit Body and real body were fused as one, wielding numerous rare treasures, I might have been slightly troubled."

Yu Yuan looked down at the radiant fragments on the ground, reminiscing about Xie Bin, whose Solar Spirit Body fragments were collected by the Glacial Storm Seal, his remnant soul slowly reassembling.

"But this is just an unremarkable Solar Spirit Body. It couldn't withstand my blows, and so it ended up like this."

He turned his gaze toward a nearby scene.

Yang Yi from the Binders of Shadows had become an ice sculpture, a victim of the Frost Queen's intense cold.

Huang Zhenlong, ensnared in the Circle of Damnation, was enduring soul refinement. It wouldn't be long before this dark disciple and Solar Spirit of the Poison Cult would perish.

The outcome was inevitable.

"What was it you said earlier? You wanted to give it a try?" He then directed his attention to Sun Jun of the Ruby Hand.

While he had been dispatching Gou Yungui, and with Yu Yiyi's spirit linked to his own, he had also noticed Sun Jun's eagerness to join the fray, as well as Peach Madam's stealthy arrival. "So, you're not content to watch from the sidelines—you want to join the action?"

Sun Jun, who had reopened his eyes but was pointedly not looking at the Dragon Slaying Stage, was still somewhat dazed.

Zhan Ruonan of the Ruby Hand, however, took a deep breath, fighting back her fear, and asked, "Yu Yuan, that grayish-white stone, could it be the legendary Dragon Slaying Stage?!"

She had put the pieces together.

In the current Everlands, with no tenth-level Dragon God in existence, the illusory Dragon God that had appeared in Sun Jun's Mindscape must have originated from that peculiar stone.

The stone, which had caused a space rift and contained the dragon's breath of a tenth-level Dragon God, was surely the fabled Dragon Slaying Stage, known to suppress the entire Naga bloodline, ensuring they could never rise again.

"Correct," Yu Yuan confirmed with a nod.

"The Dragon Slaying Stage!"

Peach Madam, floating above the Rainbow Ocean, had once had a Primordial Spirit companion and was privy to the secret. Upon realizing that the inconspicuous grayish-white stone was indeed the fabled Dragon Slaying Stage, she let out a sharp cry.

This scream finally brought Sun Jun to full awareness.

Now fully alert, he visibly tensed, then wordlessly and solemnly positioned himself behind Zhan Ruonan.

"How did you come to possess this Dragon Slaying Stage? Yu Yuan, can you tell me what significant events have unfolded in the Everlands recently?"

Zhan Ruonan sensed that something was amiss. Recalling Yu Yuan's mention of their outdated information and the oddities he had hinted at, she decided it was essential to understand the current state of affairs back home before proceeding.

Aware that she stood before the Dragon Slaying Stage, she momentarily set aside the fracturing of Gou Yungui's Solar Spirit and the uncertain fates of her comrades Yang Yi and Huang Zhenlong.

In the grand scheme of things, the Dragon Slaying Stage dwarfed the deaths of three Solar Spirits.

"There isn't just one Dragon Slaying Stage; there are two," Yu Yuan said with a light chuckle as he watched the Circle of Damnation's formation retreat back to the cauldron.

This signified that Huang Zhenlong had been refined to death.

"Two?" Zhan Ruonan was taken aback once more.

Without further explanation, Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes and continued, "As I've said, out of respect for Zhou Cangmin and Faang Yao, I won't harm you. You both should leave the Nirvana Realm as soon as possible and head back to the gathering place of your extraterrestrial kin to assess the situation."

Peach Madam slowly nodded in agreement.

She sensed that a monumental upheaval was imminent in the Everlands and intended to seek out familiar dark disciples in the extraterrestrial regions to inquire about her homeland after her departure.

There had been no signs when she left, and it hadn't been that long. How then had someone like Yu Yuan emerged?

Was it solely because he had once been Hong Qi, the God of Medicine?

Peach Madam felt a profound sense of unease.

"Can't you just tell me?" Zhan Ruonan asked.

Yu Yuan shook his head.

"If you wish to leave the Nirvana Realm for another Domain, this space rift offers a path."

At that moment, Benin of the Sylph pointed to the expansive, luminous space rift and turned her clear, bright eyes to Yu Yuan. "Considering you spared me from dying at the hands of that vile creature and even killed him for it, I won't deceive you."

Yu Yuan paused, taken aback.

Benin then gestured towards Hart. "Keep him alive, and we'll guide you. If he dies, we won't lead the way, and you'll have to navigate it on your own."

"A stable space rift!" Peach Madam's eyes sparkled with excitement. "If it's safe, there's no need for me to navigate the black iron warship beyond. This young man is utterly devoted to you, and I have no desire to break up true love. Here, he's yours!"

Hart from the Silverscale Tribe was enveloped in a cluster of clouds and gently delivered before Benin.

As the cloud returned to the Rainbow Ocean, Hart, with a flushed face, gazed at Benin, his expression one of helplessness.

The feelings he believed were deeply concealed had been laid bare by Peach Madam, leaving him feeling both embarrassed and uneasy.

"First, we need to focus on surviving," Benin murmured.

"Yes, absolutely!" Hart agreed, nodding emphatically.

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