Inside what had once been Marquis Wuwen's Residence—no, what should now be called the Ice Cloud Shrine—Hong Xuanji stood motionless before Meng Bingyun's statue, stripped of all his Divine Abilities and magical power. Beside him, however, Xu Feihong, the pope of the Essence Spirit Temple, felt a wave of unease. An immense terror gripped her heart.
"What... what happened?" Xu Feihong asked in shock.
"That is the realm of Shattering the Void. Someone has reached the pinnacle of martial arts, a realm no one has attained in tens of thousands of years." Hong Xuanji suddenly spoke, his voice subdued. Ever since his martial arts and Divine Abilities had been stripped away and he had been forced to burn incense and worship Meng Bingyun, something in his state of mind seemed to have changed. Gone was the domineering air of a man who could subdue divine kings and turn the wheel of Life and Death.
Every movement he made seemed as inert as grass or wood, without a trace of human vitality. Anyone who saw him would think his spirit had died.
His martial arts had been destroyed, his legitimate sons imprisoned, and even his wife Zhao Wan had been sent to a brothel, where she was forced to sell her body to survive. The blow to his dignity was devastating.
"Shattering the Void." Xu Feihong sucked in a sharp breath at those words.
"Who? Who has cultivated to the realm of Shattering the Void?"
"That mysterious Carefree Marquis," Hong Xuanji said quietly.
"Hong Xuanji, your senses are still remarkably sharp. Your mind is as powerful as ever, able to catch the slightest change. Perhaps losing your Divine Abilities has raised your mind to some wondrous new realm." Xu Feihong paused, then teased him in an amused tone.
"Is that so?