When the sun no longer rose.
When sunrise and moonset vanished, it was nothing short of a devastating blow to those awaiting dawn in the winter night.
Though the winter sun had long since become dim and lightless.
Its warmth and the sense of safety it brought were irreplaceable. Even that mere sliver of sunlight could nurture sparse crops.
But now, it was all gone.
"Good heavens..."
"Are you truly trying to wipe us out?!"
"What did we do wrong?"
Even cultivators with some cultivation under their belts sank into unspeakable misery.
Ordinary people without cultivation were thrown into even greater chaos.
If hardship had an end, it could still be endured.
But the boundless darkness seemed to bring nothing but endless suffering.
Chaos naturally followed—those who first descended into disorder were the cultivators. The path of cultivation in this world had always leaned toward the demonic path.
With no sun hanging high in the heavens.
It was equivalent to losing something that could restrain the demonic thoughts in their hearts.
Snatching resources thus became "only natural."
The strong robbed the weak, and the weak squeezed the common folk dry... In short, every conceivable tragedy unfolded one after another—families destroyed, lives lost, and worse.
The sun had vanished for less than half an hour.
Yet everything had already become a complete mess.
Li Ye saw it all. He sat upright within the courtyard, his fingers drawing through the void before him.
Complex, profound talismanic patterns formed in an instant.
The Sun-Moon Rings above his head radiated a gentle, warm light that gathered into the completed talisman.
The talisman flew out of the formation known as Phoenix Pure Land like a meteor, falling in every direction. Each talismanic pattern that landed on the ground formed a tiny white bell.
The ringing