Yuan Ruoyu's eyes flashed with surprise, and she was visibly moved.
With this Jade Talisman, she could ascend!
It was an enormous temptation. For any cultivator, ascending to the Immortal Realm and becoming an immortal was the dream of a lifetime.
Wasn't the ultimate purpose of cultivating Qi and seeking the Dao to roam free and live forever?
Now, such an opportunity lay right before her.
Even though Yuan Ruoyu had been somewhat prepared, she could hardly have imagined that the other party's appearance would bring her such news outright.
However, she looked down at the Jade Talisman in her hand, and her mind gradually settled.
A sense of fear and anger rose in her for no apparent reason!
What did the Immortal Court take mortal cultivators for?
If even ascension could be used as a bargaining chip, where was justice in that?
At that moment, Yuan Ruoyu began to understand why Lin Feng had refused to ascend the last time the Gate of the Heavenly Realm opened.
He must have discovered something...
She pondered for a moment, then looked up again at the Masked Person not far away and asked,
"Ascend? Are there any conditions?"
The Masked Person fell silent for a moment. That ethereal voice came from beneath the mask once more:
"Help the Immortal Court uncover everything related to the Immortal Great Emperor, and find him!"
Yuan Ruoyu sneered. "And what if I say no?"
"If you disobey, you will be seized and brought to justice at once. No mistakes!"
Yuan Ruoyu flew into a rage. "What a joke. I'm no criminal, so why would you seize me and bring me to justice?"
"What, does the Immortal Realm also have a habit of pinning false charges on people?"
The Masked Person said nothing more, only sighing.
A cold glint flashed in Yuan Ruoyu's eyes. The next moment, the Jade Talisman in her hand shattered into powder, streaming between her fingers.
"Come on, then. If you want to seize me and bring me to justice, let's see if you have what it takes."
As her words fell, a murderous aura surged into the sky.
A veil of clear radiance rose behind Yuan Ruoyu. Within it appeared the vision of a lotus, accompanied by the resonant music of the Great Dao.
Her aura rose to its peak, shaking heaven and earth.
Above the void,
the Masked Person's robes fluttered. A veil of clear radiance rose behind her as well, and lotus blossoms bloomed one after another.
Their cultivation techniques were, astonishingly, of the same origin.
Winds and clouds churned within the secret realm. A terrifying gale swept up as their two fearsome auras collided.
Crack—
Clatter, clatter—
As their overwhelming auras clashed, space grew turbulent and twisted, dangerously unstable. Thunderous booms rang out without pause.
Yuan Ruoyu stood amid the storm, her feet on a lotus, her expression grave—like a tiny boat adrift on a vast ocean.
The Masked Person met her gaze.
The next moment, they moved at the same time, turning into streaks of light and crashing together at a terrifying speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the center of the clash, deafening booms rang out one after another. Dazzling light burst forth, and space shattered.
A terrifying storm swept out in every direction!
Everything in its path turned to dust. A distant mountain peak was shaved flat.
Petals rained from the sky and fell to the earth. The ground immediately shook, and an endless mountain range was hurled up, like a green cloth hanging in the sky.
In a battle of this level, even a Body Integration cultivator would likely perish on the spot from the slightest contact.
Another quarter of an hour passed.
The sounds of battle ceased, and the turbulent space gradually settled.
With her feet on a lotus, Yuan Ruoyu stood in midair, quietly watching the Masked Person in the distance.
Her gaze held a complicated look.
After a while,
Yuan Ruoyu straightened her robes, her expression solemn, and bowed deeply to the Masked Person.
"May I ask which generation of ancestor of the Jade Pool Holy Land you are?"
"By fighting you today, Ruo Yu has been unfilial. I beg you to forgive me, Ancestor!"
The Masked Person stood motionless. A moment later, laughter rang out. "Good! Good! Good child, it wasn't your fault!"
"To see the Holy Land in your hands fills my heart with comfort!"
Yuan Ruoyu raised her eyes, her face full of conflicting emotions.
During their fight, she had already realized that the other party was seeking death.
The reason she had fought Yuan Ruoyu was, above all, to point out the flaws and weaknesses in her cultivation technique.
The Masked Person shook her head. Her body shuddered, and gray flames ignited all over her. Her voice, still ethereal, said, "Child, remember this!"
"Don't ascend!"
"Don't ascend!"
"Don't..."
Before she could finish, a sizzling sound suddenly rang out. Flames surged over the Masked Person, rapidly burning her flesh, body, and soul to ash.
Yuan Ruoyu was shocked.
She tried to rush forward, but the Masked Person raised a hand to stop her.
The Masked Person's voice was filled with pain. "I died long ago. Don't grieve."
"The Immortal Great Emperor is the only one they can't control!"
"You must remember this. Warn the cultivators of the world: don't... as...cend!!"
Yuan Ruoyu's eyes glistened with tears, her expression stricken. "Ancestor!"
She knelt again, placed both hands on the Lotus Platform, lowered her head, and gently bowed.
"I respectfully send you on your final journey, Ancestor!"
In no time, the Masked Person was completely reduced to ash by those strange flames.
Not even a wisp of her soul remained.
The secret realm fell silent once more. It was empty, save for the flattened mountain range in the distance—a reminder to Yuan Ruoyu that it had all truly happened.
But even now, she still didn't know which ancestor of the Jade Pool Holy Land the Masked Person had been!
Yet the news she had brought today left Yuan Ruoyu shaken, unable to put it out of her mind.
"Don't ascend!"
"Don't ascend!"
Yuan Ruoyu murmured softly, then suddenly looked up at the sky, her gaze seeming to pierce through the firmament.
She seemed to be searching for the truth: were there really immortals beyond the Ninth Heaven?
If there were, why had things come to this?
And if there weren't, where had the emperors who once ascended gone?
Yuan Ruoyu couldn't make sense of it, but she faintly sensed that she had already been swept into a cataclysmic storm.
There was no way to withdraw now.
Or rather, it wasn't only she and Lin Feng—the entire mortal world was already caught in the storm.
For now, only Lin Feng had seen it coming.
Yuan Ruoyu thought again of what Lin Feng had told her when he left.
"This is something only I can do, and I have to do it!"
"I've already been targeted. There's no turning back!"
Only now could she understand why Lin Feng had said those words.
Even as a Great Emperor, perhaps he still had many things he couldn't do.
From the information she had gathered so far, the other party could not only control ascension but also command the former ancestors of the Jade Pool Holy Land. They must have hidden forces at their disposal in the mortal world as well.
Their enemy's power was beyond imagination.
Once she had calmed down...
Yuan Ruoyu began to worry about Lin Feng's safety. She let out a soft sigh. "Where are you now?"
"Why haven't you come to see me? You know that no matter what happens, I'll face it with you!"
In the silent secret realm, her quiet voice rang especially clear.
Yuan Ruoyu glanced once more at the secret realm, now laid to waste by their battle, then turned and left!
The purpose of her seclusion had been achieved. There was no need to stay any longer.
The other party had acted faster than she had expected.
That meant it wasn't only they who were in a hurry—the others were racing against time too.
Before you continue