"So...
This was not a disaster that had spiraled out of control.
It was more like... an 'internal cleanup' contained within a specific scope."
"Perhaps it was brutal, but there was no way they would allow it to develop into a catastrophe that engulfed the entire city.
Otherwise!
Where would that leave the Cultivator Association's dignity?
How could this city's order still stand?"
Upon hearing this, the Golden Core cultivator in black robes stared blankly, the anxious expression on his face receding like the tide, replaced by dawning realization and the embarrassment of belated understanding.
He slowly sat back down in his chair, let out a long breath, and said with a bitter smile:
"Indeed, indeed... This old man was so panicked that I lost my head.
I only saw that blinding light, yet forgot to consider what sort of place this city truly was.
With the Cultivator Association holding the fort, the heavens... truly could not collapse."
As he spoke.
He looked out the window again, no longer panicked, but with a trace of complexity in his gaze.
Just as countless cultivators within Chongyi Immortal City stared skyward in stunned disbelief, their minds firmly seized by that dazzling radiance above the Cultivator Association headquarters, bright enough to incinerate souls, and their thoughts filled with all manner of terrified speculation—
A sudden change erupted!
At the center of that enormous sphere of light, which was slowly expanding and contained devastating light and heat within...
A tiny, nearly imperceptible crack suddenly tore open without warning!
A faint, dim golden speck, no larger than a grain of rice, like a moth struggling free from its cocoon, shot out from within at a speed that seemed to burn its very origin!
It was unimaginably fast!
As though it ignored the distance of