The rift valley fell utterly silent.
A clear breeze swept past, yet it could not disperse the pungent stench of blood.
The "Heavenly Soldiers and Generals" had been wiped out to the last man. Not one survived.
Heavenly Seclusion Child, who had only recently reached Supreme Clarity, had his true soul sealed within a painting, while his demonic intent from beyond the heavens scattered without a trace. Nine Infants had at least managed to flee. He had simply thrown his life away.
Those who had spent their lives thinking in terms of crushing others by rank perhaps never realized that, in terms of overall strength, the combined power of these countless cultivators guarding the rift valley was in truth no weaker than the Supreme Clarity group Qin Yi had taken into the Netherworld... And after the demonic beasts were freed, they were even stronger.
They merely had to pay a price.
Leaving aside the innumerable wounded, most had already recovered under Xu Buyi and An'an's combined ultimate technique. Those whom spells could not heal had taken medicine and rested.
Even after such a sweeping victory, the atmosphere remained oppressive.
The cultivation world, long at peace, had not witnessed a war like this—or death like this—for a very, very long time.
Among the fallen was even Qiu Niu, a Late Stage of No Form expert...
Though no one knew how to define it: had he sacrificed himself, or died for the Dao? Sacrifice was sorrowful, while dying for the Dao left one with tangled emotions. From a mortal perspective, he was dead. From a cultivator's perspective, could this not also be great freedom?
Just as Meng Qingying and Qin Yi had felt conflicted when they watched Bei Yuan return to the Reincarnation Disk, not knowing how to define such a thing.