External Upheaval

Outside, within the grand hall.

This was a lounge specially crafted by the Spirit Race's "Sacred Casting Institute," reserved for the prodigies returning from the Supreme Sacred Tree Secret Realm.

Edith, Qingye, Hui Yao, Liuyun, Valerie, and over a dozen other prodigies sat in a circle, while the remaining prodigies were scattered throughout the hall in small groups.

Although they had been expelled by the secret realm's rules a while before Lin Yi, none of them were in a hurry to leave.

Such an occasion was far too rare.

Having just emerged from a high-intensity competitive secret realm, their taut nerves were finally relaxing. As the top-tier generation of the Pan-Spirit Alliance, with the competition now behind them, this was the golden hour to exchange insights, verify their gains, and expand their networks.

Whispers filled the hall, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

Yet, at this moment, the center of the conversation revolved around the one person who had yet to emerge: Lin Yi.

The news had spread two days ago.

Paslan, Xikan, and Ya Xi—three Star Domain Rank prodigies—had been critically injured almost simultaneously and sent out by their protective talismans. The commotion at the time had been significant.

They were immediately taken away for treatment, and everyone in the hall had been alarmed, leading to all sorts of speculation.

It wasn't until today, with the three of them in stable condition, that the definitive news leaked out through those in their inner circles.

In the upper regions of the secret realm, they had encountered an attack from the same Deity Rank Tree Spirit!

That Tree Spirit had directly deployed its Divine Kingdom Projection, an act of near-total suppression.

The three of them had been almost powerless to resist, swatted out of the secret realm one by one.

But