Having sensed the message from Luoming, dozens of miles away, Yuanyang Supreme's eyes flashed with a chilling glint. "Those blind fools from the Three Absolutes Holy Land have come!"
At his words, everyone present stirred slightly.
"The Three Absolutes Holy Land..."
Ziling and Nan Feng looked tense.
Previously, the two Supremes Shi Tai and Tie Ming had come to demand an explanation, only to return defeated. Had the Three Absolutes Holy Land come again?
How many people had they brought?
They had always stayed by Li Fan's side, so they knew nothing about what was happening outside.
"Ladies, last time, Shi Tai and Tie Ming met their ends—one died, and the other went mad. This enraged the Three Absolutes Holy Land, and they declared a holy war against Senior Li!"
At that moment, Yuanyang Supreme took the initiative to send them a voice transmission.
Ziling and Nan Feng were both shocked.
The two Supremes from last time—one had died, and the other had gone mad?
They looked at Li Fan in disbelief. Last time, Li Fan hadn't even gone outside.
He had only written a plaque in the Small Courtyard and played a tune.
At the time, Tie Ming had directly turned into the Dao, so they hadn't known.
So he really had died...
Senior Li's methods truly defied imagination.
At the same time, they were utterly stunned.
A holy war!
They had both come from holy lands, so they understood all too well what that meant!
It was a signal that there would be no peace until one side was dead.
It meant the entire Three Absolutes Holy Land would stake everything and bring the full strength of its sect to fight!
"How could this be..."
Ziling looked dazed.
"A holy war... The Three Absolutes Holy Land... is finished."
Nan Feng, however, was perfectly clearheaded. She murmured the words.
Holy lands stood above the clouds in the entire Profound Heaven Realm. They were practically invincible. Once a holy war was declared, only another holy land could possibly withstand it.
No one had ever dared to provoke the wrath of a holy land.
But that was when they were dealing with other people and other forces in the Profound Heaven Realm...
Now, the target of their holy war was Senior Li...
Had they gone mad?
Senior Li could kill the Demon Venerable with a single painting. Even quasi-immortals and the Holy Lords of the Southern Domain's two great holy lands had come to pay their respects to him.
Just moments ago, Senior Li had casually bestowed a sliver of opportunity, creating one Immortal and two quasi-immortals.
Forget the Three Absolutes Holy Land—even if the Three Absolutes Immortal himself came...
She didn't dare imagine it.
While everyone else was still reeling in shock, Li Fan was also a little surprised.
Had that literary enthusiasts' association come again?
Were they really that persistent?
Still, he could understand. Beauties like Ziling and Nan Feng would be prized catches in any group like that, and everyone would fight over them.
Who knew how many people had their eyes on them? How could they let Li Fan just snatch them away so easily?
"This so-called Three Absolutes Holy Land is really rather irritating," he couldn't help saying.
They kept coming back. Who knew when it would finally end?
At his words, Lingchao Supreme and Yuanyang Supreme both felt their brows twitch.
Senior Li had actually said that!
Irritating!
Being irritating wasn't the point. The point was that they had irritated someone like Senior Li!
They immediately understood. The Three Absolutes Holy Land had truly brought disaster upon itself this time.
Jiang Xue spoke directly. "Senior, shall I drive these flies away for you?"
Li Fan thought it over. Jiang Xue and Ling Chao's group had some influence in the outside world, and perhaps more connections. It might be easier for them to handle this.
Most importantly, he couldn't be bothered to deal with these people.
"Good. Then I'll trouble you. I truly don't want to see these people again," Li Fan said.
Jiang Xue's expression was calm. She bowed deeply to Li Fan, then turned and left.
Lingchao Supreme and Yuanyang Supreme exchanged a glance, their expressions growing even more grave.
Senior Li had said he never wanted to see them again!
What did that mean?
It meant the Three Absolutes Holy Land had been sentenced to death!
Not even the holy land itself could save it!
"Senior, we'll go take a look as well. We'll make sure those lowlifes never disturb your peaceful cultivation again!"
The two of them spoke at once.
They had just received Senior Li's great kindness. Now was the time to repay it!
The Three Absolutes Holy Land might be no more than a wave of this senior's hand, but the important thing was to show where they stood!
"Very well," Li Fan said.
The two quasi-immortals immediately turned and left.
Once outside the courtyard gate,
"The Three Absolutes Holy Land has really dug its own grave this time. Let's go!"
Lingchao Supreme spoke, and the two of them transformed into streaks of rainbow light.
Dozens of miles away,
the two armies already faced off!
The Three Absolutes Holy Land's banner snapped in the wind overhead.
"Friends from the Taiyan and Ziyang Holy Lands, why obstruct our sect's path?" one of the Three Absolutes Holy Land's Supremes called out.
Across from him, Luoming and Hong Xuan stood with the allied forces, coldly blocking their way.
"This road is closed!" Luoming replied coldly.
Changsun Liancheng stepped forward. "Lingchao Daoist Brother and Yuanyang Daoist Brother are old acquaintances of mine. I've personally led troops here to avenge our losses. I'm sure they'll grant me this favor. Please, let us pass."
There was a hint of superiority in his voice!
As Holy Lord of a great holy land in the Central Continent, his cultivation was already close to the quasi-immortal realm. He didn't take ordinary Supremes seriously.
"We can't grant you that favor!"
At that moment, a cold shout rang out from the sky!
In the next instant, two streaks of rainbow light appeared. Ling Chao and Yuan Yang had arrived before the formation.
Seeing the two Holy Lords arrive, Luoming and Hong Xuan both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Daoist Brothers, it's been a long time," Changsun Liancheng said calmly. "Two of my holy land's Supremes were harmed in the Southern Domain, so we declared a holy war to avenge them against the despicable wretches responsible. Surely you won't stand in our way?"
Ling Chao's expression was icy. "Who is your Daoist Brother?!"
Yuanyang Daoist was even more direct. He said gravely, "Out of respect for our past acquaintance, I'll give you one piece of advice: let every Supreme cripple their own cultivation and kneel to beg forgiveness. Perhaps then, the Three Absolutes Holy Land can preserve a single thread of its legacy!"
At this, Changsun Liancheng narrowed his eyes. His heart sank, and a cold smile tugged at his mouth. "So the despicable wretches who harmed my holy land's two Supremes are close to you, Daoist Brothers?"
"Or perhaps you're after the immortal artifact left behind by the Ancestor of the Three Absolutes Holy Land!?"
He raised his voice in accusation!
He knew perfectly well that no one was worth making two holy lands risk the wrath of a holy war.
They would have to understand that even if they could withstand it, their holy lands would be badly weakened, perhaps never to recover.
So there could only be one reason these two were blocking him.
They wanted to seize the Three Absolutes Holy Land's immortal artifact!
Perhaps their holy land's immortal artifact had already fallen into their hands!
At the thought, a murderous intent rose in his heart.
Lingchao Holy Lord shook his head. "You truly are incorrigible. You've already shown disrespect to that senior three times. You can't blame us for wiping out your holy land now!"
Yuanyang Holy Lord said coldly, "Changsun Liancheng, you can scheme for immortal artifacts if you like, or plot at the Ascension Platform, but you should never have used that senior as an excuse!"
"You've committed a crime this world can never forgive!"
Their expressions were icy.
At this, Changsun Liancheng's heart skipped a beat!
The two Holy Lords had actually called that person... Senior?!
What kind of person could they address as Senior?
Could there be some terrifying old monster in the Southern Domain?
But the thought only lingered in his mind for an instant!
No matter who it was, no one could obstruct their goal this time!
"Heh. You say you'll wipe out the Three Absolutes Holy Land. What exactly are you going to use to do it?"
His aura surged!
An overwhelming pressure swept outward!
He was nearly a quasi-immortal!
Feeling that powerful aura, Ling Chao and Yuan Yang couldn't help remarking, "No wonder you've gone so mad. You're already close to the quasi-immortal realm, and you urgently need that zither and that brush!"
"That's right!"
Changsun Liancheng's hair whipped wildly as he looked down on everything. "I've already reached the quasi-immortal realm. Who in the Profound Heaven Realm can stand against me?"
An aura of invincibility!
"Arrogant. Conceited."
Ling Chao shook his head. The next moment, his aura burst forth!
Like a storm cloud filling the sky, it forced Changsun Liancheng's aura to roll back!
"No!"
Changsun Liancheng was horrified, his eyes wide. "A quasi-immortal?!"
"That's right. Thanks to that senior's gift, I've become a quasi-immortal!" Ling Chao said coldly.
Yuan Yang laughed coldly. "My apologies. I, too, just recently broke through to the quasi-immortal realm!"
As he spoke, he released his aura. Just like Ling Chao's, it surged out in an overwhelming wave!
The two terrifying auras forced Changsun Liancheng to retreat a hundred steps. The army behind him fell back in panic, their formation thrown into chaos!
Quasi-immortals!
Two of them!
In the Profound Heaven Realm, where no Immortal had appeared, quasi-immortals were the supreme Rulers!
Changsun Liancheng was close to the quasi-immortal realm, already strong enough to look down on the world. But who could have imagined that the mere Southern Domain would produce two true quasi-immortals?
It was terrifying!
"How is this possible... How could you be quasi-immortals? How could you be quasi-immortals?!"
Changsun Liancheng was utterly unwilling to accept it. He couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it!
He had clearly been the strongest among the Holy Lords of the world!
The Central Continent was where the cultivators of the world were strongest.
The Southern Domain? It had holy lands, but their foundations had always been weaker than those of the Central Continent's holy lands.
Who could have expected that two Supremes who should have been far weaker than him would become quasi-immortals?
The disparity was too great.
Then he remembered that the two men had said their quasi-immortal strength came from that senior's gift...
At that moment, a shiver ran through his heart!
He no longer dared doubt that person's existence!
Two quasi-immortals had no reason to lie.
And what kind of strength did it take to cultivate two quasi-immortals?
An Immortal still alive?
That was terrifying!
He'd kicked an iron plate—truly kicked an iron plate!
But how could there still be Immortals in this world?
It was unbelievable!
"Do you know that the two young ladies, Nan Feng and Ziling, had already won that senior's favor and been accepted as his disciples?"
Yuanyang Supreme said coldly. "What kind of Immortal Destiny is that? Even we can only envy them! Their future achievements will surely surpass those of Immortals. If you'd had any sense, their occasional favor alone would have benefited the Three Absolutes Holy Land for generations."
"But instead, you went against the grain!"
"You branded two disciples with limitless futures as traitors, and showed disrespect to that senior!"
"You were dealt a winning hand and played it into a mess. All we can say is that the Three Absolutes Holy Land deserves to be destroyed!"
He shook his head, somewhat regretful.
At those words, everyone on the Three Absolutes Holy Land's side was stunned!
"N-no..."
Changsun Liancheng kept trying to speak, anguish consuming him.
He had schemed for his entire life. Was it all going to come to nothing in the end?
After plotting so much, had he actually brought about his own ruin?
Had he doomed the Three Absolutes Holy Land?
He refused to believe it!
"I don't believe it! Today, I'll kill any god who stands in my way and slay any Buddha who blocks me!"
He roared and pulled a brush from his robes!
It was an ancient-looking writing brush, imbued with the aura of the immortal way!
"An immortal artifact?!"
Ling Chao and Yuan Yang were both astonished.
"It's only a hair's breadth away from becoming an immortal artifact!"
"Even if you two are quasi-immortals, you won't stop me today!"
Changsun Liancheng roared. Clutching the brush, his aura surged—he seemed even stronger than Ling Chao and Yuan Yang!
"Kill!"
He roared!
The Three Absolutes Holy Land's army immediately prepared to charge with him!
The battle erupted!
But just then, a delicate hand suddenly appeared in the sky, suffused with immortal energy. One finger descended, cleaving the heavens!
In an instant, tens of thousands of Three Absolutes Holy Land soldiers fell to their knees, prostrate beneath an utterly terrifying pressure!
One finger pressed down on ten thousand!
Changsun Liancheng was utterly shocked. His strength had already surpassed that of a quasi-immortal, yet he felt an overwhelming terror. As that finger descended, he realized he could not withstand it!
"No!"
He gave it everything he had. Countless divine abilities erupted at once, dazzling to the extreme, almost reaching the immortal way!
He shot into the sky and attacked the delicate hand!
But the slender hand merely flicked its finger!
In an instant, the most dazzling light faded away, and the most terrifying aura was snuffed out!
Changsun Liancheng fell from the sky like a withered leaf!
"Bang!"
He crashed straight into the earth below. The ground shook, and sand and stones flew everywhere!
For a moment, everyone was dumbstruck.
Both armies stood aghast.
Was this the power of an immortal?
The gulf between them was a gulf between heaven and earth!
Even though Changsun Liancheng had come immeasurably close to becoming an immortal, before an immortal's single finger, he was nothing but an ant!
A laughable ant!
Immortal Jiang Xue had appeared in the sky. She stood high above, surveying the scene with cool indifference. Untouched by the slightest speck of dust, she was as cold as frost, a figure one could only look up to.
"With someone like him, you should have simply put him down. Why waste so many words?"
She was speaking to Ling Chao and Yuan Yang!
At her words, Ling Chao and Yuan Yang could only smile bitterly.
They had already shown plenty of backbone, but in an immortal's eyes, they were still far too weak.
"The senior said this sect need not remain in this world. His cultivation has been crippled. I'll leave what comes next to you."
Jiang Xue spoke calmly.
Ling Chao and Yuan Yang bowed deeply at once. "Understood!"
Everyone present had already been utterly shaken by the immortal's appearance, but her words left them stunned all over again.
The moment she had appeared, many had instinctively assumed she was the "senior" behind Ling Chao and Yuan Yang!
But now, she had come at that "senior's" command?!
A dignified immortal wasn't even the true power behind the scenes—she was merely carrying out his orders!
Good heavens, what manner of being was that senior...?
Everyone from the Three Absolutes Holy Land was completely stunned.
What kind of calamity was this?
What terrifying figure had they provoked?
At that moment, Ling Chao and Yuan Yang looked coldly at the Three Absolutes Holy Land's people across from them, all prostrate under the immortal's might. "We hereby sentence the Three Absolutes Holy Land to destruction!"
They swept their hands outward!
The army charged!
It was a massacre!
"Fight to the death!"
"For the Holy Land's survival, kill!"
"The Holy Land must not be humiliated!"
The Three Absolutes Holy Land's six Supremes charged forward, each prepared to die.
But they were far too weak. Ling Chao and Yuan Yang merely waved their hands, and the six spat blood, their cultivation utterly crippled!
A quasi-immortal crushed a Supreme just as completely as an immortal crushed a quasi-immortal!
"Is the Three Absolutes Holy Land really going to be destroyed today?!"
"No! The Holy Land cannot fall!"
"At this life-or-death hour, where is our Ancestor?!"
Countless people from the Three Absolutes Holy Land cried out in grief!
A mighty sect had made a great expedition to the Southern Domain, only to meet its end?
How could they accept it?
They could not accept it!
But the slaughter continued to spread.
Without their strongest fighters, the Three Absolutes Holy Land's army was like a herd of cattle and sheep led to the slaughter.
Below, on the earth.
Changsun Liancheng struggled to crawl out of the crater. His mouth was full of blood. In an instant, his hair had turned completely white. Frail and withered, he looked like an old man on the brink of death.
With his cultivation destroyed, his life had reached its end as well!
He lifted his eyes with difficulty and looked toward the sky.
His eyes were filled with grief!
"The Three Absolutes Holy Land cannot fall... It cannot fall by my hand. I cannot become a sinner of the Three Absolutes Holy Land!"
Tears of age rolled down his cheeks as he gripped the brush, now cracked and damaged!
"I, Changsun Liancheng, ninth-generation Holy Lord of the Three Absolutes Holy Land, beg the Ancestor to descend and protect our Holy Land!"
He spat out the last of his blood essence!
He summoned the Ancestor with his blood essence!
In an instant, the brush shattered, turning to dust. A ray of light shot from within it, streaking straight toward the sky!
A terrifying aura spread with that ray of light!
It was dazzling immortal light. Within it, a figure slowly appeared.
He had a jade zither strapped to his back and a painting brush in his hand. Dressed in blue, he was a man of peerless grace!
"Thousands of years after ascending, must the inheritance I left behind in the lower realm finally be destroyed?"
The man murmured, then swept his gaze across the scene!
His appearance in the sky brought the entire battlefield to a standstill!
Before you continue