Western Lands.
Deep within the Demon Realm.
The heavens and earth here were utterly different from anywhere else in the Primordial World.
Black mountain ranges pierced the gloomy sky like spikes.
Dark red demonic qi surged from the cracks in the earth.
Countless demonic shadows wandered through the valleys, letting out low growls.
This was the foundation of the Demon Cult.
It was also where Rahu gathered killing intent, resentment, and demonic qi.
When Youdu's remnant soul fled back to the Demon Realm, barely half a demonic shadow remained.
His Taiyi Demon Body had been shattered in Abyss.
More than half of the Demonic Sha he had accumulated over many years had also been devoured by Sea Devourer.
Even the Demon Shadow Talisman bestowed by Rahu had cracked beneath the illumination of the Book of Cause and Effect.
It was an exceptionally grievous loss for him.
Deep within the Demon Realm, atop a black altar.
Youdu knelt on the ground, his figure illusory and unstable.
Above the altar hung a pitch-black spear.
The God-Slaying Spear had yet to fully emerge into the world, yet it already radiated an incomparably terrifying aura of slaughter.
At the end of the altar, a figure sat upon a black lotus.
Black hair cascaded down.
His eyes were unfathomable.
Demonic qi surrounded him like a bottomless abyss with no visible end.
He was Demon Ancestor Rahu.
Rahu did not look at Youdu.
He merely spoke indifferently.
"Defeated?"
Youdu lowered his head even further.
"This subordinate was incompetent."
"Within Abyss are the Book of Cause and Effect, the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl, Dragon-Suppressing Pass, and a subdued remnant soul of a ferocious beast."
"This subordinate had already stirred the Academy's Heart Demons and nearly made Han Jue and Ao Lie fight."
"But the Mysterious Abyss Emperor broke the Heart Demons with a single tortoise cry."
Rahu's gaze shifted slightly.
"A tortoise cry?"
Youdu immediately said, "That sound was extremely strange."
"It was unlike an ordinary mind-cleansing technique. It was more like it came from the source of Abyss itself."
"Nearly every Heart Demon in the Academy was suppressed in an instant."
"Afterward, Ao Lie of the Dragon Clan, Feng Li of the Frost Phoenix, Lin Yue of the Water Qilin, and Han Jue of Ice Scale joined forces and actually formed a Three-Clan Guardian Formation."
"This subordinate released Demonic Sha, intending to corrupt the Northern Darkness Sea."
"But that ferocious beast remnant soul, Sea Devourer, used the power of the Book of Cause and Effect to swallow the Demonic Sha instead, advancing into the Abyss Sea-Calming Beast Spirit."
Rahu finally looked at Youdu.
"Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin can form a formation together in Abyss?"
Youdu gritted his teeth.
"This subordinate saw it with his own eyes."
"Though their coordination was still crude, it had already taken shape."
"If they continue to grow, they may one day become Abyss's true realm-protecting force."
Rahu lightly tapped the black lotus with his fingers.
Countless streams of demonic qi rose and fell throughout the Demon Realm.
The Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans should have slaughtered one another until rivers of blood flowed.
The deeper the hatred among the three clans, the fiercer the Great Tribulation.
The fiercer the Great Tribulation, the stronger the Demonic Dao.
Yet Abyss was doing something contrary to the greater tide of the Demonic Dao.
It was sheltering those fleeing the tribulation.
It was suppressing old grudges.
It was allowing the branches of the three clans to coexist in one place.
More importantly, it had actually allowed the younger generation of the three clans to begin forming formations together.
This was dangerous.
Not dangerous to the current hegemony of the three clans.
It was dangerous to the Demonic Dao.
A trace of interest surfaced in Rahu's eyes.
"Mysterious Abyss Emperor."
"Northern Sea Abyss."
"Now that is rather interesting."
Youdu said softly, "Demon Ancestor, should we send someone to destroy Abyss?"
Rahu replied indifferently, "Why rush?"
"The Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin have not yet slaughtered each other to the bitter end."
"Since Abyss wishes to evade the tribulation, let it gather them first."
"The more it gathers, the heavier its karma."
"The heavier its karma, the better it will look when the demonic flames rise in the future."
Youdu's heart trembled.
"Demon Ancestor is wise."
Rahu raised a hand, and a strand of demonic light fell into Youdu's remnant soul.
Youdu's shattered demonic shadow swiftly stabilized.
"Continue watching the Northern Sea."
"Do not rush to force your way in."
"I want to know exactly how many living beings that Black Tortoise intends to protect."
Youdu kowtowed.
"This subordinate obeys Demon Ancestor's decree."
Rahu lifted his gaze toward the north of the Primordial World.
Across an endless distance, he seemed to see a stretch of murky Blackwater.
Within the Blackwater was a faint, indistinct shadow of a Black Tortoise.
Yet the shadow was extremely dim.
It was concealed by something capable of deceiving the heavens.
Even Rahu could see only its outline.
A chill entered Rahu's smile.
"A sanctuary from tribulation?"
"During the Great Tribulation, who gave you permission to evade it?"
Meanwhile.
In the east of the Primordial World.
Atop a Nameless Immortal Mountain.
A lean Daoist slowly opened his eyes.
He wore a gray-white Daoist robe, and his aura was plain and natural.
He appeared utterly ordinary, yet he seemed fused with the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
Hongjun.
At this time, Hongjun had not yet become a saint, but he was already one of the most unfathomable beings in the Primordial World.
He had originally been quietly observing the changes in the fortune of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans.
Yet he suddenly sensed an exceptionally strange thread of karma in the direction of the Northern Sea.
That place had not actively entered the tribulation.
Yet it continuously received living beings fleeing the tribulation.
That place held no ambition to contend for supremacy.
Yet it had gathered tokens representing the Three Clans' Flame Seeds: Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin.
That place bore no name of the Heavenly Court.
Yet another kind of order had already begun to take shape.
Hongjun's fingertip moved lightly as he attempted a divination.
A moment later, his brows shifted slightly.
The divination had been blocked.
A sheet of murky Abyss water mist obscured his sight.
He could only vaguely see a Black Tortoise sleeping in the Northern Sea.
That Black Tortoise's four legs were like pillars, its shell like land, and its aura was astonishingly ancient.
Hongjun said softly, "Northern Sea Black Tortoise."
"The path of evading tribulation."
"Quite interesting."
He did not continue forcing the divination.
The Dragon-Han Cataclysm had not yet reached its final stage.
Rahu was the one he truly needed to watch.
Northern Sea Abyss was merely an unforeseen variable that had appeared at the edge of the chessboard.
Hongjun remembered this name.
Then he closed his eyes once more.
Abyss.
After the battle at the Academy ended, all of Abyss entered a thorough investigation.
Lan Shuang personally oversaw it.
The Bureau of Cause and Effect, Calamity-Resolution Hall, Realm Guard, and Academy stewards were all mobilized.
Everyone who had recently spread rumors, incited disputes, or spread panic had to undergo a reexamination by the Book of Cause and Effect.
This time, with the lingering effects of the Emperor's Mind-Cleansing Tortoise Cry, the Book of Cause and Effect's power of revelation improved considerably.
Several hidden agents left behind by Youdu were quickly uncovered.
Among them, two cultivators from minor clans had been lightly corrupted by demonic qi.
There was also a member of the Dragon Clan Young Lineage affected by a Heart Demon seed.
Feng Li personally purified him with Frostflame.
Lin Yue used the power of the earth veins to stabilize his mind.
Ao Lie stood silently to one side.
After the Dragon Clan Young Lineage member awoke, he cried as he apologized to Ao Lie.
"Your Highness, I truly thought the Phoenix Clan was going to harm me just now."
Ao Lie looked at him and said softly, "If you are afraid, you can say so."
"If you have doubts, you can go to the Calamity-Resolution Hall."
"Do not hand your heart over to demonic cultivators."
The young Dragon Clan member nodded with reddened eyes.
Han Jue glanced at Ao Lie from the side.
"Well said."
Ao Lie said blandly, "Remember that yourself."
Han Jue's face darkened.
"I'm already awake."
Ao Lie sneered.
"The one who nearly stabbed me with a spear should wake up a few more times."
Han Jue held himself back, but ultimately did not retort.
He truly was in the wrong this time.
Seeing that the two could still trade barbs, Lan Shuang felt somewhat relieved.
Though the Academy had endured a crisis, it had not fallen apart.
On the contrary, the coordination between the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans and the Abyss Guardian Team showed the younger generation a new possibility.
Abyss Academy began adding "Mind-Cleansing Classes."
Before cultivating each day, all disciples had to recite the opening passage of the Abyss Stillness Art.
Fight less.
Kill less.
Incur less karma.
Live longer.
In the past, many young disciples had felt these four sentences were too plain.
Only after experiencing the Youdu chaos did they understand how important these four sentences truly were.
Deep within Abyss.
After listening to Lan Shuang's report, Lu Chen felt heavy-hearted.
Luohou had noticed Abyss.
Hongjun might have vaguely sensed it as well.
Those two names were even more troublesome than Ancestral Dragon, Yuanfeng, and Primordial Qilin.
No matter how powerful the rulers of the three clans were, they would eventually decline in the Dragon-Han Cataclysm.
But Luohou and Hongjun were the ones who would truly shape the Primordial World's future.
Lu Chen had no desire whatsoever to be targeted by them.
At that moment, the system's voice sounded.
Youdu of the Demonic Dao had been forced back. Abyss Academy had endured the Heart Demon tribulation without its order collapsing. The Sea-Swallowing Soul Pearl had advanced into a Sea-Calming Beast Spirit Prototype. Abyss's younger generation had initially mastered the Three-Clan Guardian Formation. Reward: Calamity-Viewing Platform Construction Method.
Lu Chen froze.
A Calamity-Viewing Platform?
He quickly understood what it was for.
Through Abyss's water veins, the Book of Cause and Effect, and the three clans' tokens, it could observe the movements of the Great Tribulation from afar.
Lu Chen's eyes lit up.
This was good.
From now on, he would not have to rely on guesswork.
Wherever fighting broke out outside, wherever demonic aura ran thick, wherever might affect the Northern Sea—he could know in advance.
If he knew in advance, he could hide in advance.
"Build it."
"It must be built."
"From now on, I won't leave home even if it kills me."
At last, Lu Chen felt a faint sense of security.
He did not yet know.
Once the Calamity-Viewing Platform was built, it would let him see the Dragon-Han Cataclysm's true terror even more clearly.
And it would also allow Luohou to sense, for the first time, that Northern Sea Abyss was observing the tribulation.