Outside the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation.
The rogue cultivators who had initially come to watch the spectacle fell utterly silent. Not one dared draw a deep breath.
They couldn't see what was happening inside the formation, but they had heard those shrieks—so piercing they barely sounded human.
The terror and despair in those cries were enough to make anyone who heard them shudder.
The Twelve Golden Immortals of the Sect of Explanation!
They were great figures who stood at the very peak of the Primordial Era!
Twelve of them had entered the formation together, yet they hadn't even made a ripple before falling silent?
Just who were these three fairies, Sanxiao?
And just how terrifying was this Nine Bends Yellow River Formation?
For the first time, awe and fear of Sanxiao and the Interception Sect filled everyone's hearts.
Inside the formation.
Bi Xiao and Qiong Xiao were excitedly counting their "spoils."
Twelve "mortals" lay strewn across the muddy banks of the Yellow River.
They were Guangchengzi and the others, whose cultivation had just been stripped away.
Now they were disheveled, dressed in rags, and staring blankly into space like soulless puppets. They no longer bore even the slightest trace of immortal bearing.
Beside them lay the Sky-Turning Seal, the Yin Yang Mirror, the Immortal Slaying Sword, the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover... These Innate Spiritual Treasures, once renowned throughout the Primordial Era, now looked like scrap metal, scattered across the ground and stripped of their luster.
"Hahaha! That was satisfying! So satisfying!"
Bi Xiao planted a foot on Guangchengzi's back, put her hands on her hips, and laughed triumphantly.
"Guangchengzi! Weren't you so arrogant? Didn't you look down on disciples of the Interception Sect? Go on, be arrogant now! Let's see you try!"
Guangchengzi, pinned beneath her foot, trembled faintly, but couldn't even muster the strength to lift his head.
Two lines of humiliated tears ran down his face.
He was Guangchengzi, the foremost disciple of Venerable Yuanshi, a True Immortal of Fortune and Virtue who had rung the golden bell. He had always held himself in the highest regard. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?
His cultivation had been stripped away, and he had been cast down into the mortal realm. Now a junior woman was trampling on him and humiliating him at will.
He felt his Dao Heart shatter completely in that moment.
"Hmph! A bunch of useless trash!"
Qiong Xiao looked just as vindicated. She picked up the scattered treasures one by one and turned them over in her hands.
"These treasures aren't bad. Once we've avenged our big brother, we'll take them back to Golden Ao Island and share them among our junior brothers and sisters!"
Only Yun Xiao remained standing atop the platform, her expression unchanged.
She didn't look at the Golden Immortals of the Sect of Explanation, now reduced to mortals, nor did she pay heed to her younger sisters' excitement.
Her gaze remained fixed on Kunlun Mountain.
She knew the real trial had only just begun.
Wiping out the Twelve Golden Immortals was satisfying, but it also meant there was no turning back between them and the Sect of Explanation.
Next, they would face the wrath of the Sect of Explanation's leader, Venerable Yuanshi.
"Eldest sister, what should we do with them?"
After she'd had her fun with Guangchengzi, Bi Xiao ran back to the platform and asked eagerly.
"Should we kill them all and send them to join big brother? Or leave them here and let them fend for themselves?"
"Keep them here for now," Yun Xiao replied calmly.
"They're still useful."
"How are they useful?" Bi Xiao asked, puzzled.
A cold curve touched Yun Xiao's lips.
"They're bait to lure their teacher into making a move himself."
The moment she finished speaking—
BOOM—
An indescribably terrifying pressure, supreme and transcendent above all living beings, descended from the eastern horizon!
The pressure was so powerful, so domineering.
The instant it appeared, the entire Primordial Era seemed to fall still.
The wind stopped, the clouds dispersed, and even the river of time froze.
Inside the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation, the surging yellow mist and howling winds of astral energy instantly subsided at the touch of that pressure, as if they had met their natural enemy.
The entire formation's operation faltered!
Outside the formation, the rogue cultivators' thoughts stopped turning. They remained frozen in their original poses, like insects sealed in amber. Those with weaker cultivation were crushed to their knees, their souls trembling.
A Saint!
A Saint had come in person!
And an enraged Saint at that!
Inside the formation, Qiong Xiao and Bi Xiao turned deathly pale.
They had said they weren't afraid of a Saint, but now that the Saint's world-destroying pressure had truly descended upon them, they understood just how despairingly vast the gulf was.
Beneath that pressure, they felt like a tiny boat in a raging storm, liable to capsize and be torn to pieces at any moment.
Only Yun Xiao could just barely remain standing, protected by the sword energy bestowed upon her by her master, Sect Master Tongtian.
But her expression was just as grave.
She lifted her head and looked east.
In the eastern sky, countless auspicious clouds gathered, and multicolored radiance spread in every direction.
A magnificent carriage of fragrant wood, drawn by nine five-clawed golden dragons, shattered the void as it slowly approached.
Upon it sat a dignified Daoist whose face was impossible to make out, his entire form shrouded in endless Jade Purity Immortal Light.
He sat there in silence, yet the boundless music of the Great Dao rang around him. All things in heaven and earth bowed before him.
He alone was the center of this world.
He was the leader of the Sect of Explanation, Venerable Yuanshi of Jade Purity!
"Your disciples... pay their respects, Master!"
"Master, save us!"
At the sight of the fragrant-wood carriage, Guangchengzi and the others, who had already been utterly despairing, clung to it like a final lifeline. They struggled and cried out as they kowtowed in its direction.
Venerable Yuanshi didn't look at them.
His gaze pierced the dense mists of the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation and landed directly on the three Yun Xiao sisters atop the platform.
There was no anger or murderous intent in his eyes, only utter indifference.
The absolute indifference of one who saw all living beings as ants and all things as mere straw dogs.
In his eyes, the three Yun Xiao sisters were no different from the dust on the ground.
"You have some nerve."
Venerable Yuanshi finally spoke.
His voice was not loud, yet it rang in the depths of everyone's souls like a decree from the Heavenly Dao.
"You dared strip my disciples of the Three Flowers on the Crown and reduce them to mortals."
"Such wickedness is beyond forgiveness."
"Today, I shall purge your sect on behalf of your master and send you to the Investiture of the Gods!"
Before his words had even faded, he extended one hand.
It was a massive hand formed from boundless Jade Purity Immortal Light.
The moment it appeared, it blotted out the sun and covered the entire Nine Bends Yellow River Formation.
Within the hand seemed to lie a complete universe. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind surged; stars were born and extinguished. Its mysteries were beyond comprehension.
Facing that palm, the three Yun Xiao sisters couldn't even summon the slightest thought of resistance.
They knew they would surely die beneath that palm!
The Nine Bends Yellow River Formation? The Primordial Golden Dou?
Before a true Saint, it was all a joke!
Before you continue