"There!"
Hope flared anew in Li Xiaoyu's eyes.
He no longer hesitated, transforming into a streak of azure light as he sped toward the source of that aura.
The closer he drew to that direction, the stronger the unease in his heart became.
Because he realized that direction was precisely where the homeland he had spent his life protecting lay in his memories.
Green Cloud Mountain.
Who knew how long had passed before he pierced through the demonic clouds that could rot the soul and arrived above that familiar land.
The sight before him made his rock-solid resolve collapse at that very moment.
Before him lay a place utterly different from what he remembered.
The seven peaks that had once been shrouded in immortal mist had now become broken ruins.
Big Bamboo Peak had been torn in half by a bottomless fissure.
The Hall of Quiet Vigil was long gone.
All that remained was a charred wasteland.
Small Bamboo Peak was no different.
The Moon-Watching Terrace, once filled with birdsong and blooming flowers, had also collapsed.
Only a solitary cliff remnant remained.
Wind Return Peak, Dragon Head Peak, Luoxia Peak, Morning Sun Peak.
Every single peak had suffered devastating destruction.
The pavilions and towers of old had long since turned to ash.
The wondrous flowers and exotic plants had withered away as well.
Nothing remained but a silent, desolate wasteland.
And Heaven-Reaching Peak, the towering symbol of the Green Cloud Sect, had fared even worse.
It seemed as though an invisible hand had snapped it in two.
The upper half of the mountain had vanished without a trace.
Only the lower half, like a gravestone, stood quietly upon this land shrouded in darkness.
Silently telling of the tragic grandeur that had once unfolded here.
"No... this can't be."
Li Xiaoyu