Long-Eared Exposed, His Cave Abode Destroyed

"Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal... Apart from you, there was no second person within the Interception Sect capable of such filthy work—betraying the master's school and cutting off my path to the Dao."

Xuan Liu gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with icy severity and killing intent.

Now that he had identified his target, Xuan Liu would not hesitate in the slightest.

With a flick of his green robe, his Dao body—having just broken through to the late stage of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm—turned into a streak of emerald light and sped toward Golden Ao Island.

That day, Xuan Liu used his great divine powers to conceal himself.

Silently crossing billions upon billions of miles of ocean, he descended upon Golden Ao Island.

He did not disturb Tongtian Cult Master within the Jade Tour Palace.

Nor did he reveal the overwhelming pressure of his late-stage Primordial Unity Golden Immortal cultivation.

Instead, he sent his divine sense racing through layers upon layers of immortal mist, straight toward Dingguang Cave, the cultivation abode of Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal, one of the Seven Attendant Immortals.

At that moment, Dingguang Cave was covered in densely packed restrictions.

But in Xuan Liu's eyes, now that he had entered the late stage of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm,

such ordinary restrictions had so many flaws that they were not worth mentioning.

His piercing Dharma Eye swept over them coldly, effortlessly neutralizing them as a wisp of divine sense forcibly and precisely infiltrated the cave.

Inside Dingguang Cave, Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal was seated cross-legged atop a meditation cushion.

His pair of long, narrow ears twitched faintly, while his face was filled with extreme greed and fervor.

Suspended above the center of his palm was an immortal fruit wreathed entirely in endless golden radiance.

Upon the fruit's surface, the phantom image of a Bodhi Tree flickered in and out of view.

As its medicinal fragrance spread, it carried a faint yet boundless majesty.

A Bodhi Fruit!

A fruit borne by the Bodhi Tree, Zhunti Daoist's true body and one of the ten supreme innate spiritual roots.

"HAHAHA! Xuan Liu, Xuan Liu—so what if your comprehension is heaven-defying and you stole all the glory at the Xuanmen Grand Tournament?!"

Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal stuck out his tongue and licked his dry lips. Jealousy and gloom tangled madly in his eyes as he muttered to himself, "By now, you probably still have no idea who has been plotting against you from the shadows, do you?!

"And with this Bodhi Fruit bestowed upon me by the Western Saint, I will completely shatter my shackles and attain the Dao as a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal!"

His voice was hysterical, filled with the madness of a petty man drunk on sudden success.

However.

He did not notice at all that directly above his head,

a wisp of divine sense was looking down upon him with cold indifference.

"A Bodhi Fruit... It seemed that the price Jieyin offered you for this transaction was indeed quite generous."

A calm, icy voice suddenly thundered beside Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal's ear without the slightest warning.

"Who?! Who is it?!"

Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal looked as though he had been struck by lightning, his flesh convulsing violently.

His liver and gall seemed to split apart. His narrow eyes were filled with bewilderment and disbelief.

"Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal, you actually dared commit an act of betraying the sect. Have you forgotten Master's teachings?"

Xuan Liu's face darkened as he spoke through clenched teeth.

As soon as he finished speaking, he sharply shook the broad sleeve of his right arm.

An Ancient Immortal Heaven-Locking Chain, flowing with emerald, indestructible immortal light and covered in flawless ancient immortal restriction patterns,

shot forth from his Niwan Palace with a roar.

The instant the Ancient Immortal Heaven-Locking Chain appeared, the late-stage Primordial Unity Golden Immortal power infused within it destroyed Dingguang Cave in a single instant!

BOOM—!!!

As a heaven-shaking roar that shook Golden Ao Island rang out, it tore through the clouds of the nine heavens.

Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal's cultivation grounds, which he had been so proud of,

were smashed into scorched ruins beneath the absolute force of the Ancient Immortal Heaven-Locking Chain.

Such undisguised fluctuations from a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal's attack shattered the tranquility of Golden Ao Island in an instant.

"What happened?! That is Senior Brother Dingguang's cave abode—why was it forcibly destroyed by such fierce, thunderous means?!"

"Heavenly Dao above! Look at the figure standing in the sky... That green robe looks so familiar..."

"It is Fifth Senior Brother! Fifth Senior Brother Xuan Liu, who defeated powerful foes one after another at the Xuanmen Grand Tournament!!"

"Why had Fifth Senior Brother, the moment he emerged from seclusion, made such a tremendous move and destroyed a fellow disciple's cultivation grounds?!"

Countless Interception Sect disciples were drawn to the spectacle.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Duobao Daoist, Golden Spirit Holy Mother, Zhao Gongming, the Three Cloud Fairies, and other Interception Sect disciples also arrived at the edge of the battlefield atop auspicious clouds, their expressions grave.

Duobao Daoist's plump face had initially been full of confusion.

But when his piercing Dharma Eye swept coldly over the scene and spotted the Western Bodhi Fruit in Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal's palm, which he had not yet had time to put away,

the Dao heart of the Interception Sect's chief disciple suddenly trembled.

A traitor!

That scoundrel Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal had actually betrayed the Interception Sect!

"Cough... Cough, cough!!"

At the center of the battlefield, Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal tumbled out from the flying rubble in a miserable state.

His plain patchwork Dao robe had already been shredded inch by inch beneath the grinding force of Primordial Unity Golden Immortal power.

Blood hung from his long, narrow ears.

When he raised his head and clearly saw the figure in the air, dressed in fluttering green robes and standing with his hands clasped behind his back,

his face, already grotesquely twisted by terror and fury, turned utterly pale.

"Xuan... Xuan Liu?! How could it be him?"

Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal roared madly within his heart, his nerves stretched to their limit.

Could Xuan Liu have learned that he had told the two Western Saints about his breakthrough?

But by all reason, he should not have revealed a single trace.

After all, the two Western Saints had been secretly helping him obscure the workings of heaven.

Why had Xuan Liu come for him?

Yet at this moment, the eyes of countless immortals were upon them. Duobao Daoist, Golden Spirit Holy Mother, and the other Interception Sect disciples had all arrived.

Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal gritted his teeth, striking first with false accusations and taking shameless stubbornness and sophistry to the extreme.

He stepped forward and shouted, "Xuan Liu! Stop this madness!! I am one of the Seven Attendant Immortals, trusted deeply by Master."

"You had barely emerged from seclusion before using a superior-grade innate spiritual treasure to brazenly destroy my cave abode without distinguishing black from white!"

"Fellow disciples attacking one another, disregarding sect rules! If you do not give me—and all these fellow disciples of the Interception Sect—a perfect explanation today, then even if I must take this before the great hall of the Jade Tour Palace and bring it before Master, I, Long-Eared, will make you pay a painful price!!!"

However.

Faced with Long-Eared Fixed-Light Immortal's hysterical attempt to turn black into white,

Xuan Liu merely raised the corner of his mouth slightly, his Dharma Eyes full of disdain.

"Heh, an explanation?"

Xuan Liu gave a contemptuous cold laugh and said unhurriedly, "Long-Eared, you fed on the Interception Sect's providence, yet held a Western Bodhi Fruit in your hands. You directly sold news of my breakthrough to Mount Sumeru, causing Saint Jieyin to send his divine sense into my dreams in an attempt to forcibly convert me."

"Today, here on Golden Ao Island and before the myriad immortals of the Interception Sect, I will use the life of a traitor like you to uphold the rules of my Interception Sect!!!"