The instant the Heavenly Sword Flying Ship tore through the air and departed, several blood-soaked survivors in the ruins below finally dared to raise their heads.
A sheet of blood-red ash drifted down from the horizon—that was the only trace Devil Lord Kugu had ever existed.
"Is... is it over?"
A young cultivator covered in blood staggered out of the ruins. His Daoist robe had long been soaked through, and his left arm hung twisted at an unnatural angle—the injury left when Devil Lord Kugu had casually swept his demonic aura across him half an hour ago.
He stared blankly at the open ground—where corpses should have been piled high.
His senior brother, that honest fellow who always loved ruffling his hair, had been standing there moments ago, raising his Life-Bound Artifact to shield his junior brothers and sisters behind him...
But now, not even ashes remained.
"No... it shouldn't have been like this..." The cultivator's lips trembled, his voice so hoarse it barely sounded human.
He staggered two steps forward before suddenly dropping to his knees, his ten fingers digging deep into the earth.
At least... at least there should have been an intact corpse...
At least... he should have been allowed to bring his senior brother's remains back to the Mountain Gate...
But now, there was nothing left.
It was as if an invisible giant hand had gently wiped away every trace that they had ever existed.
"That demon is dead?" Another severely wounded cultivator spoke in a trembling, hoarse voice.
He stared at the demonic aura gradually dispersing in the sky, still unable to believe that he had survived.
The high spirits when they had besieged the demon.
The shock when they had fallen into its trap.
The terror when their sect had been slaughtered in an instant.
And the fear when the demon had been about to break through.
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye.
And it had ended just as swiftly.
Not far away, a white-haired old woman clutched half of a shattered Magic Tool and stared blankly at the heavens.
She did not know who had acted, nor where that Imperial Chariot and Flying Ship had come from. But that pressure towering above heaven and earth had made her instinctively prostrate herself, not daring to lift her head.
"It was a great figure from the Upper Realm..." she murmured, her voice shaking. "It must have been a great figure from the Upper Realm!"
On a more distant cliff, several young cultivators had collapsed to the ground. One of them stared fixedly into the sky and muttered, "That demon... just vanished like that?"
"It didn't even have a chance to resist..." another said with a trembling voice. "What realm must the one who acted have reached?"
They did not know who sat within that Imperial Chariot, nor which force that giant warship that split the sky belonged to.
They only knew one thing—they had survived.
And all this was not because those people had deliberately saved them.
It was only because... those mysterious beings had happened to pass through this place.
"Heaven Above Heaven..." one of them murmured. His gaze unconsciously rose beyond the firmament, and an unprecedented longing surfaced in his eyes. "What kind of place is that?"
Since childhood, they had known that the Xuanming Realm they lived in belonged to the Upper Thousand Provinces among the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.
Below it lay the Middle Thousand Provinces and the Lower Thousand Provinces.
Compared to the Lower Realm, this was already an exceptionally good place.
Yet they also knew that beyond the Upper Thousand Provinces lay an even broader world.
But they had never imagined—it would be so terrifying!
A Half-Step Great Emperor! That was an unparalleled demon capable of easily wiping out an entire realm, yet before that mysterious being, it had not even been given the chance to struggle before being casually erased.
"I heard that Upper Realm people are born standing at heights that we could never reach even if we spent our entire lives trying..." another said bitterly, his voice filled with both reverence and sorrow. "The cultivation techniques they practice, the spiritual energy they breathe, and I even heard that they do not use Spirit Stones, but something greater... things far beyond this realm."
"Then does that mean..." Someone swallowed, his voice trembling. "The Supreme Beings, Holy Lords, and Quasi-Emperors we see as impossibly lofty might only be ordinary cultivators in the Upper Realm...?"
Everyone fell silent.
In truth, there was another conclusion they all understood but dared not voice.
If a Half-Step Great Emperor did not even count as an ant in the eyes of a Great Power of Upper Realm...
Then would a Supreme Great Emperor, in the eyes of those from Heaven Above Heaven, also...
The thought was too shocking for them to even dare consider deeply.
If that were truly so, then what were cultivators of the Lower Realm like them, struggling bitterly in pursuit of the Dao?
Ants? Dust?
Or perhaps... not even dust?
"We..." The cultivator who had spoken first suddenly gave a bitter laugh. "We do not even have the qualifications to be looked at directly by them."
Everyone fell silent again. As they looked toward the sky, which had long since returned to calm, reverence and an indescribably complicated emotion welled up within them.
Longing? Fear? Unwillingness?
Perhaps all of them.
But no matter what, what they had witnessed today had utterly overturned everything they knew.
Whether they would gather themselves again and turn what they had seen, heard, and felt today into stepping stones on the path of cultivation—
Or be crushed by it, their Dao hearts shattered—
Would depend on themselves.
On the deck of the Flying Ship, the Cloud Sea churned beneath them.
"My grandfather told you I would come to the Xuanming Realm, so he asked you to protect my Dao?" Qin Wangchuan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
But that made no sense...
The Qin Clan had countless experts. Why would they ask an outsider to protect his Dao?
There was a conspiracy!
As he pondered, his shoulder suddenly sank.
A snow-white cloak embroidered with Azure Luan Hidden Patterns was gently draped over his shoulders.
He looked up and met Li Qingluan's face—
Her long lashes trembled faintly, while her porcelain-white earlobes visibly flushed crimson.
"The Flying Ship is too fast. The wind is strong." Li Qingluan explained stiffly, yet her fingertips casually reached up to straighten his collar.
At the other end of the deck, several Li Clan elders exchanged smiles, their eyes gleaming with mutual understanding.
It's settled!
It seems the marriage Old Ancestor arranged is even more suitable than we imagined.
That was right, a marriage.
Regarding Qin Wangchuan's marriage alliance, the Li Clan's Li Qingluan was currently the favored choice.
Their status matched, and her talent far surpassed everyone else's.
The only issue was that Li Qingluan was not merely cold by nature—she also possessed the same temperament as sword cultivators everywhere.
Stubborn! Proud!
If she was dissatisfied, then even if the Heavenly Emperor personally descended—
There would only be four words.
She would rather die than submit!
But now, it seemed...
The eldest elder in gray stroked his beard and revealed a strangely sweet smile, not even noticing that his tea had overflowed.
In all these years, when had they ever seen this iceberg take the initiative to care for someone?
"It seems the young lady has reached that age too..."
That teasing remark immediately made the younger Sword-Holding Elder beside him cough violently. Using his sleeve to hide his face, he frantically signaled to his companion with his eyes—
Over there, the sword attendants' shoulders shook as they struggled to hold back their laughter.
You dead mouths, don't laugh! Ahhh!
If you laugh now, people will die!
After all, no one had expected it.
The young lady, who usually found even an extra half-sentence bothersome, now looked like an awkward new bride!
She had even covered her future husband with clothes. How precious~
Li Qingluan had clearly noticed the commotion behind her.
Her jaw tightened, and a streak of sword qi suddenly swept across the deck, cutting off everyone's conversation.
Yet her completely reddened ear tips utterly betrayed her state of mind.
"Absurd..." Li Qingluan silently rebuked herself, though she did not know whether she was scolding those clan members watching the spectacle or her own inexplicable actions just now.
Before setting out, she had clearly sworn to Old Ancestor, "If that Qin Wangchuan is all reputation and no substance, do not blame me for cutting off this marriage agreement on the spot"...
But now—she tilted her head slightly, her gaze carrying a hint of possessiveness as she looked at the youth beside her.
He is handsome, monstrously talented, and his personality seems decent too.
It is just that he is too young. He has not yet shed his childishness...
"At the very least, I have to wait another seven or eight years." Li Qingluan calculated inwardly. As her gaze swept across the youth's still-slight shoulders, an unusual trace of patience arose within her. "When that time comes..."
The moment that thought surfaced, the spiritual energy in her Spiritual Platform suddenly surged.
Only then did she realize in shock that she had actually been seriously considering something as absurd as "raising a Dao companion."
"Wait... is it absurd?" Li Qingluan suddenly came to her senses, then asked herself.
"In the Cultivation World, most Dao companions come together for cultivation or for their Lineages. Genuine affection is rare."
"But if I raised one from childhood..."
Once the thought emerged, it could not be driven away. It was truly terrifying.
Even more terrifying was that when she imagined the youth grown up and standing shoulder to shoulder with her, her usually icy Dao heart actually... rippled with a trace of anticipation?
Qin Wangchuan had no idea what dangerous thoughts the person beside him was harboring.
He only felt that the atmosphere was strange—
Though Li Qingluan looked cold and distant, her barely perceptible gaze kept clinging to him like Spider Silk, impossible to break free from.
Everything she did was thoughtful as well.
First came the cloak, then food, and finally, she personally peeled a Spirit Fruit and handed it to him.
Something was wrong!
Nine parts out of ten, something was very wrong!
Before you continue