At that moment, ink-black clouds churned like raging waves, while the muffled thunder rumbling within them resembled the roar of an ancient beast. It grew increasingly fierce and frenzied.
The light that appeared abruptly and vanished in an instant flashed with such heart-pounding frequency that it seemed to herald the inescapable sorrow and despair of the apocalypse.
In the space between heaven and earth, all fell into Dead Silence in an instant, as though the entire world had held its breath. Within that solemn, oppressive atmosphere, time itself seemed to congeal.
"Crack..."
A blinding radiance, sharp as the blade that had cleaved apart primordial chaos, tore through the heavy night in an instant. In the blink of an eye, heaven and earth seemed to ignite, bright as day, leaving nothing able to hide beneath its dazzling brilliance.
Immediately afterward, from the depths of the black clouds, which churned like a boiling cauldron, came a thunderous boom that shook the Eight Wastes and made even the soul tremble. It seemed intent on completely shattering the order of heaven and earth.
A massive bolt of purple lightning, wrapped in howling, rampaging winds and carrying the force to destroy heaven and earth, crashed down from the Ninth Heaven in an instant, striking directly toward Golden Stone Valley.
"Bzzz... bzzz..."
Almost at the exact moment the lightning descended, several Defensive Arrays set up around Golden Stone Valley were activated nearly simultaneously, emitting waves of buzzing resonance.
They were like ancient guardian beasts awakening, raising layer upon layer of crystalline, dazzling yet incomparably sturdy Spirit Qi Barriers that enveloped the entire valley without the slightest gap, attempting to shield the people inside from the terrifying disaster about to arrive.
Witnessing that purple lightning capable of destroying heaven and earth, the several Integration Stage experts hovering