C611 This Road Is Unpassable!

A breach tore open the canopy of the sky, allowing the pristine moonlight and the chilly twinkle of stars to spill through the gap.

The trolls, caught within the Mountain and River Array and sensing the tide turning against them, instinctively craned their necks skyward at the moment the celestial fabric was punctured.

Each one, a Ninth Level behemoth at the Unrestrained Stage, possessed the ability to detect the faintest stir within a thousand-mile radius—if they so wished.

To their heightened spiritual perception, the sky's aperture resembled a well's mouth, and they, the denizens of its shadowy depths.

The well's base was an expanse shrouded in dense fog, while its opening was but a mere sliver.

Yet, with the opening of this rift, every troll emerging from the Sword Prison could distinctly make out a two-faced evil statue nestled among the clouds beyond the well's rim.

And there, dwarfed by the sinister effigy, stood a dark Evil Cauldron, its surface etched with writhing Demonic Marks.

Their advanced cultivation levels not only allowed them to discern these marks but also to clearly observe Yu Yuan, who stood within the cauldron—his eyes a deep, enigmatic black, his expression one of detached calm, and the scabbard of his sword held firmly in hand.

"Yu Yuan..."

The sight of him stirred a ripple across their heart lakes, leading them to the inevitable conclusion that the youth, lured here by the Chopping Moon cultivator's scabbard, had been ensnared by the mental manipulations of the evil statue.

It was, after all, as Mr. Yan had proclaimed: the evil statue was a formidable killing artifact of the Divine Soul Sect.

The implications of the Divine Soul Sect were all too clear to those who roamed the Outland Star River—this was an entity that had once unsettled the three great upper sects, the Demon Palace, and the Devil Palace, a colossus that had sent ripples of unease through the billions of Devaputras and the myriad Galaxy Alien Races.

Zhongli abruptly came to a halt.

Tan Yuan, Shen Feiqing, and Du Heng, whom they had recently joined, all stopped in unison, prompted by his sudden pause. They gazed at him with a mixture of awe and admiration.

Zhongli, with his robust frame and hands that hung past his knees, was the undisputed leader of the Ancient Desolate Sect's lineage.

He looked up, and a fierce brilliance erupted from his eyes.

"That evil statue, Yu Yuan, the Evil Cauldron—they've beaten us to it, breaking through the veil to depart first!"

Zhongli inhaled deeply, his feet firmly planted on the ground, as he addressed the trio from the Ancient Desolate Sect, "The realm we occupy is a fragment of the Sword Prison. It's a colossal meteorite adrift in the dim, icy reaches of the Outland Star River, with the Sword Prison perched atop it."

He gestured toward the ground, "This celestial rock was intricately rigged with numerous subtle formations by the Profound Sky Sect and the Primordial Yang Sect. Their primary function was to cloak the Sword Prison, rendering it undetectable."

Shen Feiqing nodded, "I've heard some things about it."

"The meteorite is always on the move in the Outland Star River, shifting its position," Tan Yuan interjected.

"Indeed," Zhongli affirmed, his brow furrowing. "A multitude of formations serve as a veil for the Sword Prison, so that those who traverse near the meteorite may remain oblivious to its presence, much less the existence of the Sword Prison within."

"The carcass of the giant crocodile and the shattered warships of the Galaxy Alien Race were discovered by outsiders who sought to target the Sword Prison."

"In truth, the lord of this domain first leaked the meteorite's location, drawing in numerous formidable beings from the Outland Star River."

"The Sword Sect's sentinels suspected it was a minor oversight that allowed the Sword Prison to be exposed to foreign enemies."

"They assumed it was merely another minor skirmish, a routine bout of slaughter."

"..."

Zhongli paused, then revealed to them that the Sword Prison had not been pulled into the Boundless Land, nor had it been situated before the Desolate Swamp. It was President Lyi who had disclosed the position and trajectory of the meteorite housing the Sword Prison, attracting hordes of the Galaxy Alien Race and Devaputras.

Following the ensuing conflict, the Sword Sect's defenders were gravely weakened.

At that juncture, the true form of this domain's sovereign arrived, seizing the Sword Prison amidst the galactic turmoil, while the three great sects, along with the Demon Palace and Devil Palace, were spread too thin, and the Boundless Land was rife with internal strife.

"The meteorite beneath us is laced with an array of arcane formations and numerous deceptive spells. It won't be easy for me to depart swiftly," Zhongli mused. "Let me attempt to extricate myself through that crevice!"

He slightly bent his knees before snapping them straight with explosive force, propelling his body skyward like a cannonball amidst the thunderous roar of the earth. A surge of power, potent enough to rip through space, radiated from him, sending a cascade of luminescent raindrops plummeting from the heavens. These were the spatial constraints above the meteorite, now shattered by the overwhelming force of his fist intent.

To Shen Feiqing, Tan Yuan, and Du Huang, this prodigy of the Ancient Desolate Sect had, with the formidable fist intent of the Desolate True Spell, swallowed the entire sky whole.

With a crackling thunderclap, countless concealed Spiritual Arrays, invisible to the naked eye, detonated mid-air.

Whoosh! A devastating sword light, capable of withering all in its path, burst forth from behind Zhongli, streaking towards the gaping maw in the sky.

The sword light soared, embodying a deity of death and desolation, its essence concentrated within the blade's intent. Those who dared to decipher or grasp this sword intent were struck with terror, as their very essence, energy, and spirit rapidly drained away, beyond their control.

Pfft! Du Huang coughed up blood, his neck veins bulging, as blood sprayed forth.

With a cold huff, Tan Yuan flicked her sleeve, whisking the rising star of the Ancient Desolate Sect into her sleeve's pocket dimension. There, she used the dense Qi and blood within to help him stabilize his physical form.

Aoao! Loong Jie let out a roar, and in an instant, a resplendent Five-clawed Golden Dragon, nearly ten thousand feet in length, emerged. Radiating the sovereign imperial might of the Dragon Clan, it surged like a reverse golden waterfall towards the breach.

In the most ancient of times, the Five-clawed Golden Dragon reigned as the supreme being of the Boundless Land. In earlier years, even the Demon Phoenix, along with the Ancient Qilin, Vermillion Bird, and other venerable alien beasts, revered the Five-clawed Golden Dragon as the supreme sovereign of their kind.

Loong Jie, the old patriarch of the Dragon Clan, was known for his debauchery and reckless arrogance, actions that earned him the disdain of many within his tribe. Yet, despite this, he was elected patriarch by the eldest dragons of the clan.

Loong Jie was a pure-blooded Five-clawed Golden Dragon, his lineage the most noble and domineering, a true emblem of the Dragon Clan. His bloodline held the potential to produce the next generation of dragon prodigies. To the elder dragons, Loong Jie's licentious behavior wasn't a flaw but rather his greatest asset.

At that moment, the majestic Five-clawed Golden Dragon unveiled its true form, preparing to soar away from the meteorite nestled within Sword Prison.

Hiss, hiss!

Far above in the Outer Star River, the commanding general of the Demon Clan's forces also manifested his true form. He was a serpentine creature, long as a river and slightly more slender than Loong Jie, yet his body stretched half again as long as Loong Jie's thousand-foot frame. The green serpent was adorned with intricate, mysterious patterns that, upon closer inspection, revealed themselves to be the rivers, lakes, and powerful waterways of the Boundless Land, as well as the vast waters coursing through the stars.

This commander, who had once led the Demon Race in battle against the Galaxy Alien Race, now sought to escape through the breach. Lvliu, the Ninth Level green serpent, was a contender for the Demon God title and could have taken his place in the Demon Palace alongside the White Divine Tiger, had he not been confined to Sword Prison, cut off from the sun for eternity.

Zhao Yafu and Zhan Tianxiang, the two youngsters, perched on his neck, were no larger than flies in comparison.

Zhongli, Xi Quan, Loong Jie, and the esteemed Commander of the Demon Palace all sought a shortcut. They were loath to expend their energy navigating the meteorite shrouded in thick fog and countless illusions in search of an exit.

They aspired to emulate the evil statue and Yu Yuan, taking the most straightforward route by simply flying away through the sky.

Within the Evil Cauldron, Yu Yuan, his expression impassive and eyes dark and mysterious, peered down at the gaping hole below.

"This path is closed," he declared with a grunt. Clutching the blunt sheath that had never failed him, he thrust it toward the opening below. "Retreat, all of you."

The concentrated sword light and intent that had been concealed within the scabbard burst forth with sudden ferocity.

As the initial beam of sword light struck like a bolt of lightning, Zhongli, Loong Jie, Xi Quan, and Lvliu wailed as though they were in mourning, their movements abruptly ceasing.

Immediately after, they plummeted to the ground!

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