Three Immortal Islands, within the formation.
Fairy Bi Xiao held the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors. Her exquisite face was deathly pale, and a streak of crimson blood at the corner of her lips was a shocking sight.
The spiritual power within her had long since run dry. She was holding on solely through sheer, unyielding will.
The protective island formation's barrier shook violently. Every tremor was like a heavy hammer smashing into her organs, worsening her already severe injuries.
More critically, not only did she have to withstand the fierce assault of the dozen or so Sect of Elucidation cultivators outside the formation, she also had to devote more than half her focus to suppressing the spiritual treasure about to emerge from the depths of the island.
That spiritual treasure was the foundation of the Three Immortal Islands, connected to the spiritual veins of the entire island.
Stirred by the attacks from outside, it was now erupting with increasingly powerful surges, as though it could break from the earth and escape its restraints at any moment.
Once the spiritual treasure went out of control, its rampaging energy would be enough to shatter the entire protective island formation from within in an instant.
Under attack from both within and without, she had reached the end of her strength.
Bi Xiao knew very well that she could not hold out much longer.
At most, half the time it took an incense stick to burn.
After that, the formation would break, and she would die.
Not only she, but even her eldest sister Yun Xiao, who was in secluded cultivation at the heart of the island, attempting to break into a higher realm, would be unable to escape this calamity.
Outside the formation, the taunts of those Sect of Elucidation cultivators drilled clearly into her ears like maggots clinging to bone.
The Daoist in the lead, a late-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal, wore an arrogant expression, his voice filled with the smug delight of a cat toying with a mouse.
"Fairy Bi Xiao, why resist so stubbornly? The Interception Sect is already a relic of the past. How do remnants like you deserve to occupy such a blessed grotto-heaven?"
That Daoist was Daoist Qingxu, a Registered Disciple under True Lord Yu Ding of the Sect of Elucidation.
A sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked cultivator beside him immediately smiled ingratiatingly. "Senior Brother Qingxu is right! This island is destined for our Sect of Elucidation. Leave at once and open the formation. We may show mercy and spare your life!"
Another man laughed even more recklessly. "Hahaha, why spare her? Fairy Bi Xiao is a renowned beauty of the Primordial World. Capture her and offer her to Senior Brother as a bedwarming Dao attendant. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"That's right! I hear every one of the Sanxiao Sisters is a peerless beauty. Today, we can catch them all in one net!"
Their filthy words were unbearable to hear.
Their gazes were filled with greed and lechery, as if they could already see themselves freely taking the treasures within the island and humiliating its beauties once the formation broke.
In their eyes, the immortals of the Interception Sect, whose backing had fallen, were lambs awaiting slaughter, free to be bullied at will.
Hearing this, Bi Xiao's already pale face instantly flushed red—not from embarrassment, but from utter fury.
She suddenly raised her head. In those phoenix eyes, once bright and lovely, there remained only icy killing intent and bone-deep frost.
"Shameless scoundrels!"
Bi Xiao's voice was somewhat hoarse from weakness, yet every word rang clear and forceful, carrying an unbending resolve.
"This is our Three Immortal Islands, the Dao Field of my two sisters and me! You disciples of the Sect of Elucidation have gone too far, running rampant through the Primordial World under the banner of being Saint disciples and committing every evil imaginable!"
"Today, even if I suffer Death and Dao Dissipation, even if my soul is destroyed, I will never allow lowly wretches like you to step even half a foot onto the Three Immortal Islands!"
The Golden Flood Dragon Scissors let out a wail. In her hand, they bloomed with their final radiance and transformed into two lifelike golden Flood Dragons that coiled over the formation barrier, barely sealing several cracks that were about to tear open.
Daoist Qingxu did not grow angry. Instead, he laughed, the contempt in his eyes deepening.
"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! Do you really think you're something?"
"Junior Brothers, put some strength into it! Show her what true despair is!"
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Even more violent attacks rained down upon the barrier like a raging storm. The Destructive Power set the entire sea boiling.
The illusionary images of the golden Flood Dragons lasted less than three breaths before letting out a wail and shattering inch by inch. They reverted to the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, which fell beside Bi Xiao, their glow dimmed.
Pfft!
Bi Xiao suffered a devastating blow and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her aura instantly withered to its lowest point.
At that moment, the protective island formation's curtain of light became as thin as a cicada's wing, covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as though it would collapse completely the next second.
It was over...
A trace of sorrow and despair appeared in Bi Xiao's eyes.
Eldest Sister... Third Sister...
If there is another life, let us be sisters again...
She slowly closed her eyes, ready to accept her final fate.
Yet just as she gave up resisting.
The entire world suddenly fell silent.
The earth-shattering roar came to an abrupt halt.
The Terrifying Pressure that had been enough to crush her mind vanished without a trace.
The tottering protective island formation miraculously stabilized.
Hm?
Bi Xiao abruptly opened her eyes and raised her head in confusion, looking outside.
Then she saw a sight she would never forget for the rest of her life—a sight that overturned everything she knew.
Beyond the formation, those dozen Sect of Elucidation immortals, who had been so overbearing moments ago, now hung motionless in the air like mosquitoes sealed in amber, each frozen in a different pose.
Daoist Qingxu held his Fly Whisk aloft, a sinister sneer still on his face.
The sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked cultivator was forming a hand seal, the ingratiating smile not yet gone from his face.
Everyone's movements, everyone's expressions, had frozen in the previous instant.
They... could not move.
It was as though time had been paused around them.
What... was going on?
Was this an illusion?
In her daze, Bi Xiao's gaze instinctively followed the direction those "living statues" faced.
At the distant end where sea met sky, two figures had appeared at some unknown time.
When she clearly saw one of those familiar figures, a figure engraved into her very bones, her pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints.
The face that could topple kingdoms was instantly overtaken by wild joy and disbelief.
"Third Sister!"
A cry escaped Bi Xiao's lips, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
It was Qiong Xiao!
It really was her Third Sister, Qiong Xiao!
She had returned!
Beside Qiong Xiao stood a man dressed in black robes, his aura utterly ordinary.
At that moment, Qiong Xiao looked at the man with worship and fervor, as if she were gazing upon a god walking among mortals.
The man merely curled his lips and said something.
Then... the entire world froze.
At the same time, Daoist Qingxu, frozen in midair, was undergoing an unprecedented storm within his soul.
He could see, hear, and think.
But he could not move.
He could not even move a finger.
The spiritual power within his body was like a frozen river, completely beyond his control.
His primordial spirit was gripped tightly by an unimaginable, incomprehensible force. Even detonating his primordial spirit had become an impossible wish.
Fear!
Boundless fear instantly devoured his reason.
What had happened?
What had just happened?
His memories still lingered on the black-robed man appearing, then casually uttering three words.
"Too noisy."
Only three words.
Words Manifest as Law?
No! This was not Words Manifest as Law! This was the "law" obeying his words! Absolute suppression on the Law Level!
This was the method of a Saint!
A Saint!!!
The thought exploded in his mind like countless bolts of heavenly lightning, blasting his pride, his arrogance, and every shred of superiority he possessed as a Sect of Elucidation disciple into pieces.
They... had actually bared their teeth at a Saint?
They had even wanted to seize a Saint's Dao Field? To capture the woman favored by a Saint and make her a bedwarming Dao attendant?
Daoist Qingxu wanted to cry, to beg for mercy, to kneel and kowtow.
But he could do nothing. He could only maintain that stupid, ridiculous attacking posture while using all his strength to turn his eyes and stare fixedly at the black-robed man walking slowly toward him.
That was not a man.
That was the Heavenly Dao walking the earth! A moving apocalypse!
It was over.
Completely over.
Just as Daoist Qingxu sank into endless despair, Lin Feng had already arrived before the formation of the Three Immortal Islands with Qiong Xiao.
He did not even glance at the Sect of Elucidation cultivators frozen in the air, as if they were merely a dozen annoying flies.
His gaze fell upon the protective island formation shimmering with light, and his brows furrowed slightly again.
"Obstructive."
Lin Feng casually waved his hand.
As if brushing a speck of dust from his sleeve.
The next moment.
The protective island formation, which had withstood the joint assault of Daoist Qingxu and over a dozen Grand Unity Golden Immortals and forced Bi Xiao to exhaust all her strength to maintain it, simply... silently vanished.
There was no explosion, no roar. It was as though a Scroll Painting had been wiped away from thin air.
Bi Xiao stared blankly at the scene, her mind utterly empty.
Qiong Xiao could no longer hold herself back. With a flash, she rushed to Bi Xiao's side and caught her swaying body.
"Second Sister! How are you?"
"Third Sister... it really is you..." Bi Xiao clutched Qiong Xiao's hand, and tears finally burst from her eyes.
The sisters had reunited. They should have had countless things to say.
Yet at that moment, all of Bi Xiao's attention was drawn to the black-robed man nearby.
Trembling, she raised a finger, pointing first at the "statues" still suspended in the air, their faces filled with extreme terror, then at the man with his back to them, as though he had merely done something insignificant.
"Who... who is he?"
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