Jinao Island.
Inside Biyou Palace.
All disciples of the Interception Sect had gathered here.
Saint Mother Jin Ling, Saint Mother Wudang, Saint Mother Guiling, the Seven Attendants, Zhao Gongming, San Xiao, and Wen Zhong, who had just returned, all stood at the front.
The entire hall was utterly silent.
A solemn, murderous atmosphere pressed down on everyone until they could barely breathe.
They all knew that their master's emergence from seclusion meant... the moment of the decisive battle had arrived.
Above the hall, on the Cloud Bed, space distorted slightly, and the figure of Sect Master Tongtian appeared soundlessly.
He still wore that blue Daoist robe, but his entire aura had undergone a earth-shaking transformation.
The once incomparably sharp, fully revealed sword intent had now been completely restrained, transforming into a profound stillness with no visible depth.
It was the dead silence before a storm, containing terrifying power enough to overturn everything.
His gaze slowly swept over the familiar faces below.
In the end, his eyes stopped on Wen Zhong.
"Wen Zhong."
Those two calm words made everyone's heart tighten.
Wen Zhong's heart shook violently. He immediately stepped forward and dropped to his knees.
"Disciple Wen Zhong pays respects to Ancestor Master!"
Sect Master Tongtian looked at this disciple below, and complicated, indescribable emotions surged in his heart.
He knew that Wen Zhong had never needed to return.
If he had remained in Chaoge, under Wu's protection, he would have been the Interception Sect disciple most likely to safely survive this tribulation.
Yet he had still returned.
"You shouldn't have come back."
Sect Master Tongtian slowly spoke, with neither joy nor anger audible in his words.
Wen Zhong abruptly raised his head. His resolute face was filled with determination.
"Ancestor Master! At this critical moment, with the Interception Sect's survival