The Phantom Image Mirrored the Abyssal Peaks; the Defeated Beheld the Cloud-Capped Mountains

Chu Wujiu stood where the illusory figure had vanished, his chest heaving violently. Staring at the empty space, he forced out a sentence through gritted teeth. "What the hell!"

"I'm still standing, how is it over already?"

"Ending now is the right thing to do. Even if we continued, we wouldn't win."

Li Xuan's voice came from beneath Chu Wujiu's Heaven and Earth Law.

It wasn't that he had given up on himself. On the contrary, he was the most aggressive attacker.

The Heaven and Earth Law have been shattered several times and can no longer be reformed.

Not far away, Yan Wujin collapsed to the ground with a thud, sweat mingling with dust on his forehead. He grinned and let out a long sigh of relief, as if he had escaped a disaster.

"Damn it, it's finally over!"

His tone was ambiguous, conveying neither relief nor resentment.

Ji Wuchen slumped down, breathing heavily.

As Half-Venerable, he hadn't participated in the battle much, so he shouldn't be this exhausted.

However, the previous Void Seal seemed to have made him a target of special "attention," causing him to die twice.

At this moment, Ji Wuchen's face showed little resentment; he merely muttered to himself, a mixture of bitterness and clarity in his voice:

"... Is this the gap between us now and him?"

Everyone knew he wasn't referring to the phantom.

Ye Lingchuan stood silently to the side, his fingertips trembling almost imperceptibly.

"Has he been hiding his true abilities all along?"

The thought passed by silently.

Yun Zexuan and Zhao Lingyun stood a little distance away, relatively calm, but their brows furrowed in thought.

Zhao Lingyun gazed at the spot where the illusory figure had disappeared and murmured, "After all, he's Qin Xuanji's younger brother. It's not surprising that he's hiding his abilities..."

"But this Book Palace closed midway through, I remember... it has never happened before in the history of the Wandao Academy?"

He turned his questioning gaze to Yun Zexuan.

Yun Zexuan pondered for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the ravaged Arena and the lingering terrifying Dao Rhyme, before slowly saying, "It seems someone has interfered with the Book Palace's own operating rules from the outside... Ordinary elders would never have such authority."

"Only the Palace Master of the Book Palace himself, or the Palace Master Seal he personally holds, can accomplish this."

At this time, they were unaware that the Palace Master of the Myriad Dao Book Palace was Qin Hongchen.

"Boom--!"

A dull thud interrupted their conversation.

Chu Wujiu finally couldn't suppress his emotions any longer.

The last bit of Spiritual Power he had been holding onto, which he had intended to use for a fatal blow, suddenly erupted as he slammed his fist into the wall beside him!

The entire wall cracked and collapsed instantly from the point where the fist landed, sending debris flying everywhere!

"How many times?!" he growled, his voice filled with suppressed rage and resentment.

"The third time." Li Xuan answered almost without thinking, his voice calm, yet like a needle, precisely piercing through a tense illusion.

They were referring, of course, to the number of times they had challenged Qin Wangchuan.

This time, however, it wasn't even the person in question.

"It's just a mark, no wonder Chu Wujiu turned out like that..." Xiang Haoran leaned against a broken stone pillar, panting, but his eyes flashed sharply.

He had a clear feeling that Chu Wujiu had suddenly changed at some point.

Become hardworking, become dangerous, stop pursuing fame and fortune, and focus solely on becoming stronger.

There were even rumors that the engagement had been called off.

Perhaps, he found the reason.

Gu Tianye stood at the edge, his gaze slowly sweeping over the various Peak Prodigy in the arena.

They were angry, resentful, embarrassed, or even had a hint of self-doubt.

But he knew that any one of them could easily be revered among their peers and dominate their region.

Watching this scene, Gu Tianye's thoughts suddenly drifted away, and he inexplicably recalled the three words that Feng Qingjue had once said to him.

His lips moved slightly, and he almost silently uttered those three words:

"All living beings... kalpa."

At that time, Gu Tianye did not understand the meaning of those three words.

Even now, standing on this battlefield where one person has crushed everything, watching these once invincible contemporaries collectively lose their souls.

Gu Tianye finally truly understood the meaning behind it.

One person is the Calamity of All Beings.

It is both destruction and blessing.

Only by surviving this tribulation can one glimpse the True Heaven.

I still remember the look I gave Qing Wangchuan when I first saw his sword.

They thought those were clouds hanging high in the sky, and that no matter how high they were, as long as they tried their best to climb, there was always a chance to touch them.

In retrospect, it was nothing more than a thin mist at the foot of the mountain.

There are more than just clouds above the clouds.

There are also towering mountains that are invisible to ordinary people, forming a natural barrier that separates the two worlds.

Gu Tianye took a deep breath, the last trace of confusion caused by shock in his eyes completely burned away, replaced by a calm yet incredibly resolute flame.

"Just wait," he muttered to himself, turning around and pulling up his younger sister Gu Yixuan, who had been silently watching the game. "I'll catch up."

After saying that, the two walked together toward the teleportation array that had already lit up in the distance.

As Gu Tianye walked, he spoke earnestly to his sister in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Now you see, that's Qin Wangchuan."

"Listen carefully, Ah-Xuan--"

"Qin Wangchuan is someone who was born to stand at the center of a vortex. Those surrounding him, whether enemies, friends, or even... women, are all far from simple."

"That's not Chess Game we can handle, nor is it a world you should step into."

Gu Tianye paused, lowered his voice even further, and said with the advice of someone who had been through it all, "Don't be curious, and even more so, don't try to find out."

"Anyway, remember what I said, just stay away from him."

However, Gu Yixuan merely lowered her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes trembled, and she suddenly spoke:

"But brother, didn't you come here because you were curious about him?"

"It's different." Gu Tianye's voice was low and deep, each word spoken as if drawing a clear line.

"That's not curiosity, it's a challenge."

"I placed him in the middle of the road, as a mountain that must be climbed, an obstacle that must be overcome."

"Whatever the outcome, it will make me stronger."

"But your curiosity about him... will only bring you pain." Gu Tianye said, slowing his speech as if afraid his sister wouldn't hear him clearly, each word distinct. "That's not a distant mountain, it's a bottomless abyss—the longer you look at it, the deeper you sink, and in the end, only you will be left to perish."

So, listen to me.

"Don't approach, don't be curious, don't investigate."

Gu Yixuan listened quietly without responding.

The soft light of the teleportation array was reflected deep within the girl's eyes, and in the depths of that clear reflection, a barely perceptible curiosity quietly took root.

On the other hand, Xie Qingshang's performance was completely different.

Far from being defeated, her bright eyes burned with an even more fervent light.

Just then, a somewhat disheveled figure emerged from the light of the teleportation array on the tenth floor; it was Xie Nian, who had arrived late.

As soon as he stepped onto the Eleventh Layer, the chaotic scene and the oppressive atmosphere that filled the air caused his pupils to shrink sharply.

The scene before my eyes completely overturned all my previous expectations.

Xie Nian quietly moved closer to Xie Qingshang and asked in a low voice, "Is it over?"

"It's over."

Xie Qingshang nodded slightly, his gaze still burning as he stared intently in the direction where the illusory figure had disappeared.

No further questions are needed; the answer is self-evident from the lingering resentment, dejection, shock, or contemplation on the faces of everyone around us.

No one passed the Eleventh Layer in this cohort.

And the name of the opponent was not Qin Wudao, as rumored by the outside world.

In that short distance of just a few steps, those Prodigy, who looked dazed and as if their minds had been drained, all murmured the same name in unison.

"Qin Wangchuan is too strong..."

"Qin Wangchuan is only Half-Venerable..."

"We don't even have Qin Wangchuan's mark..."

In just a dozen or so steps, he had heard it no less than a dozen times.

Each repetition imbues the name with a deeper and more concrete sense of power.

"Qin Wangchuan..."

Xie Nian repeated the name in a low voice, his eyes filled with a deep memory and resentment of the defeat he suffered in Qianzhou in the past, as well as a purer and more intense fighting spirit rekindled by the current predicament.

Even a mere phantom was enough to make all the Prodigy of his generation bow down.

It's not shameful to lose to him; what's shameful is not daring to challenge him again.

Last time, we suffered a complete and utter defeat in Upper Thousand Provinces.

After that, he threw himself into the most severe trials, brushing with death countless times, all in order to crush and rebuild that crushing defeat.

And now, having witnessed firsthand the crushing defeat of everyone before him.

Xie Nian's long-suppressed fighting spirit was not extinguished; instead, it was forged into even more intense and pure heat, like refined iron being tempered.

He wanted to try again.

It's not that I'm overestimating myself; the reason is quite simple:

The mountain is there.