Skeleton Mountain was utterly silent.
No, it could not even be called silence.
Under the joint suppression of the twelve Golden Immortals, even time and space seemed frozen in absolute stillness.
High in the heavens, twelve beams of divine light shone brilliantly. Their immortal might surged like twelve blazing suns, illuminating all directions.
At the forefront, Guang Chengzi held the Fan Tian Seal in his palm, his expression arrogant. With Words Manifested into Law, he had long since decreed the death of the being within the cave.
The eleven fellow disciples behind him were equally cold-faced, their gazes fixed as though they were looking upon a corpse.
To them, this was no longer a battle, but a judgment.
A public execution of a reckless challenger, carried out in defense of a Saint's honor.
The Spiritual Sense of countless Great Powers throughout the Primordial Three Realms intertwined in the void, all waiting.
Waiting to see whether the being in the cave would kneel and beg for mercy, or be blasted into dust.
No one believed there could be a third possibility.
Yet amid that suffocatingly frozen atmosphere, an exceedingly faint yet incomparably clear ripple suddenly spread across the barrier at the entrance of White Bone Cave.
There was no earth-shattering boom, no collision of immortal light and Magic Power.
The barrier was like a tranquil lake disturbed by a small stone, sending out gentle rings of ripples.
Then, from the center of those ripples, a figure slowly emerged.
He wore green robes, with black hair draped over his shoulders and his hands clasped behind his back.
There was no radiant glow stretching ten thousand feet, no treasure protecting his body, nor the slightest fluctuation of powerful aura.
With a single step, he walked out through the barrier as though passing through an utterly ordinary curtain of water.
He looked like a handsome scholar from the mortal world, stepping out for a leisurely spring outing—relaxed and composed.
At that moment, every gaze fixed on this place throughout the Primordial Three Realms froze.
Within Fire Cloud Cave, Emperor Xuanyuan's hand tightened abruptly around his sword hilt, disbelief flashing in his eyes.
"Is this... a mortal?"
Earth Emperor Shennong shook his head, his expression grave. "No, something is wrong. Anyone who can remain so composed beneath the pressure of the Twelve Golden Immortals cannot possibly be a mortal. But why is there not the slightest trace of Magic Power on him?"
The Eight Trigrams patterns in Heavenly Emperor Fuxi's eyes spun wildly, yet he saw only chaos. He could deduce nothing at all.
"How strange, how strange! Who exactly is this man?"
Within Northern Darkness Demon Master Palace, Kunpeng's gleeful laughter came to an abrupt halt. His sinister eyes locked onto Skeleton Mountain, filled with shock and uncertainty.
"Putting on airs! He still dares to act so arrogantly before the Twelve Golden Immortals? Is he tired of living?"
At Wuzhuang Temple, Zhen Yuanzi's hand holding his teacup stopped in midair, and even his serene smile stiffened.
Ancestor Hong Yun beside him rose directly to his feet and blurted out, "This... how is this possible? How did he do it?"
It was not just them.
High in the heavens, the twelve lofty Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect were likewise stunned as one.
They had imagined a peerless great demon with three heads and six arms charging out of the cave. They had also imagined their opponent producing some world-destroying Innate Spiritual Treasure in desperate resistance.
But never in their wildest dreams had they expected the one who emerged to be such a "person."
A fellow who looked even more ordinary than an ordinary mortal.
Guang Chengzi frowned tightly. His Spiritual Sense swept toward the Green-robed Figure like a tide, only to vanish like a clay ox sinking into the sea, unable to detect anything.
The other party seemed like a nonexistent phantom, a black hole swallowing all of his probing.
An unprecedented sense of absurdity rose in the hearts of every Golden Immortal.
And beneath the gaze of the masses, the Green-robed Figure who had stunned everyone the moment he appeared—Qin Feng—made a movement that nearly caused everyone's eyes to fall out.
He did not look at Guang Chengzi. He did not even look at any of the Golden Immortals in the sky.
First, he slowly raised his head and swept his gaze around the empty void, a faint, knowing smile curling at his lips.
That look seemed to say, "You're all here? Have you found good seats for the show?"
Boom!
That single glance jolted the minds of those Great Powers spying from the void!
He had discovered them!
Not only had he discovered them, he was greeting them!
Surrounded by the Twelve Golden Immortals, he still had the leisure to greet the audience?!
What courage! What... arrogance!
After doing that, Qin Feng finally lowered his head unhurriedly, his gaze falling on the charred ground beneath his feet, scorched black by Taiyi Divine Fire.
He even crouched down, pinched up a bit of scorched earth between his fingers, and brought it to his nose for a sniff.
Then his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
His expression was full of distaste and displeasure.
As though he were heartbroken that his friend's perfectly good lawn had been dug into a mess by a pack of wild dogs.
That action completely lit the powder keg in the sky.
They had been ignored!
Completely, utterly ignored!
The Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect, disciples of a Saint—what exalted beings were they within the Primordial Three Realms?
Yet they had come together in a world-destroying formation, only for their opponent to refuse them even a proper glance after appearing!
First he looked at the sky, then he looked at the ground.
As though the sky and the earth were both more important than the twelve Grand Unity Golden Immortals combined!
This was humiliation!
Naked, undisguised, absolute humiliation!
"You wretch! How dare you!"
Taiyi Zhenren, the most hot-tempered among them, was the first to lose his restraint. He pointed at Qin Feng, trembling with rage, his already pale face flushing the color of liver.
The venom in his eyes seemed ready to spew Samadhi True Fire at any moment and burn Qin Feng to ashes.
Guang Chengzi's expression darkened completely, turning iron-blue as the killing intent in his eyes nearly solidified.
The Fan Tian Seal in his hand began to hum, radiating an increasingly terrifying suppressive force. It seemed ready to fly from his hand at the next instant and smash everything below into nothingness.
The atmosphere across all of Skeleton Mountain was oppressive to the extreme.
A world-destroying storm stood at the brink of eruption.
And it was at this moment.
The Green-robed Figure, who had kept his head lowered as though studying geology, finally slowly straightened.
He dusted off his hands, though there was no dust on them at all. Only then did he lift his eyelids and look toward the sky for the first time, his gaze settling on the iron-faced Guang Chengzi.
He did not respond to the man's shouting, nor did he pay any attention to that killing intent capable of freezing souls.
He merely spoke slowly in a tone as calm as casual conversation, carrying just the right hint of sudden realization.
"So it was fellow Daoists from Jade Void Palace."
His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of every living being present—and every one absent.
After a brief pause, Qin Feng revealed a gentle smile that left every Golden Immortal dumbfounded.
"What is it? Rather than cultivate quietly on Kunlun Mountain, have you all come to my friend's Daoist grounds to help repair... the mountain gate your junior disciple damaged?"
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