The Destruction of the Holy Spiritual Academy, Mu Chen's Disappearance

While Futu Yun and the others were still exploring the spiritual treasury on the Northern Heavens Continent, a major event shook the Great Thousand World:

The Holy Spiritual Academy, leader of the Five Great Academies, had been destroyed.

The five academies jointly controlled the ancient divine artifact, the Judgment Mirror, as well as the Spirit Road, so they were fairly well-known throughout the Great Thousand World.

Their apparent strength was nothing remarkable, but each had powerful forces backing them in secret.

For example, the Myriad Phoenix Spiritual Academy, which only accepted female disciples among the Five Great Academies, was supported by the Wen Family of the Northern Domain.

The Five Great Academies were not among the top powers of the Great Thousand World, but their influence was considerable.

Coupled with their special nature, few dared to provoke them lightly.

Several centuries ago, a force that had nearly dominated the entire Northern Heavens Continent emerged: the Dragon Demon Palace.

Although the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy was located on the Northern Heavens Continent, it had never sought to dominate it and rarely interfered in the continent's affairs.

It was precisely because of this that the Dragon Demon Palace rose to power and became the overlord of the Northern Heavens Continent.

Yet even after becoming the overlord, the Dragon Demon Palace was still not satisfied.

The Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, situated at the heart of the Northern Heavens Continent, became a thorn in their side.

They knew that only by uprooting the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy could they truly become the masters of this continent.

Thus, several centuries ago, the Dragon Demon Palace launched an attack on the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy.

Countless experts fell in that battle, and the entire Northern Heavens Continent was engulfed in war.

The war ultimately ended with the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's victory, while the Dragon Demon Palace suffered a severe decline.

The various forces it had once suppressed seized the chance to attack together, and the Dragon Demon Palace's status as overlord vanished completely.

But in truth, even if the Dragon Demon Palace had won back then, it would not have dared to completely destroy the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy.

At most, it could have forced the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy to retreat and taken the position of overlord of the Northern Heavens Continent for itself.

After all, destroying the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy meant offending the force behind it.

It would also enrage every student who had graduated from the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. It was simply not worth the cost.

Yet now, the Holy Spiritual Academy, leader of the Five Great Academies, had truly been annihilated. The entire academy had been bathed in blood.

Even the great family supporting it from behind had not escaped disaster.

And the one responsible was Qing Yanjing, the previous-generation Divine Maiden of the Pagoda Ancient Clan!

The Ji Family behind Ji Xuan discovered that Mu Chen had an unusual identity.

Connecting this to the changes that had recently occurred within the Pagoda Ancient Clan,

they immediately deduced that Mu Chen was very likely Qing Yanjing's son.

But they did not reveal the information at first. Instead, they intended to recruit Mu Chen.

And the best way to recruit him was through a marriage alliance. They wanted Mu Chen to marry into the Ji Family.

But Mu Chen was the protagonist of the original story. Even if he temporarily bowed his head for resources and became someone else's lackey,

marrying into another family was something he would absolutely never accept. Thus, the two sides ultimately parted on bad terms.

Afterward, this information reached the Xuan Branch of the Pagoda Ancient Clan.

After all, since they could not recruit Mu Chen, they might as well trade the information to the Xuan Branch for some benefits.

He was merely one of Young Master Ji Xuan's lackeys anyway. It did not matter if they sold him off.

Ji Xuan himself had no objections. He had only been an insignificant lackey to begin with.

And the Xuan Branch was indeed very interested in Mu Chen:

If they could hold this son of sin in their hands, perhaps they could use him as leverage against Qing Yanjing.

If they could lure Qing Yanjing into supporting the Xuan Branch within the clan,

then even if they could not suppress Futu Yun, they could at least suppress the Mo Branch and make the Xuan Branch the Pagoda Ancient Clan's foremost lineage.

Moreover, Futu Yun had no main lineage backing him.

He did not even have any subordinate branch lineages attached to him.

Even if Futu Yun became clan leader, it would not affect the Xuan Branch's plans.

But Qing Yanjing was no longer in the state of confinement she had been in within the original story.

Her status in the Pagoda Ancient Clan was now second only to Futu Xuan.

Even the intelligence network she had established was more complete than Futu Xuan's:

Futu Xuan's duty was to balance the three lineages, with Qing Yanjing as the one he needed to suppress.

Qing Yanjing's duty, on the other hand, was to lead the Qing Lineage in suppressing the Xuan Branch and the Mo Branch.

Since the Xuan Branch had already learned of her son's existence, Qing Yanjing simply leaked the information to the Mo Branch as well.

Naturally, the Mo Branch could not allow Mu Chen to fall easily into the Xuan Branch's hands.

Mu Chen was not only the son of sin of the Pagoda Ancient Clan, but also Qing Yanjing's son.

Whoever controlled Mu Chen would be equivalent to gaining Qing Yanjing's support.

Thus, the Mo Branch and Xuan Branch immediately began fighting.

The combatants escalated from Sovereign Stage experts to Earthly Sovereigns and even Heavenly Sovereigns.

In the end, Qing Yanjing stepped in and directly slaughtered every member of the Xuan Branch and Mo Branch who had participated in the conflict.

She also wiped out the Holy Spiritual Academy and the forces behind it.

Afterward, some condemned the Pagoda Ancient Clan.

But this had been an internal conflict of the Pagoda Ancient Clan, and more than one Heavenly Sovereign from the clan itself had fallen.

Among them were even the two lineage chiefs of the Xuan Branch and Mo Branch!

It was not difficult to imagine how earth-shattering the scene had been.

As the head of a lineage—and the chief of a main lineage at that—the lineage chief naturally could not have fought alone.

There were always many elders accompanying them to hold the line.

Yet even so, those elders who usually stood high above all others could only suffer crushing defeat before Qing Yanjing.

The matter eventually grew larger and larger, forcing Futu Xuan to personally intervene, but even then, no victor was determined.

Futu Xuan had no choice but to bring out the Pagoda Ancient Seal and use the power of the "Ancestral Pagoda" to forcibly seal Qing Yanjing within it.

The Ancestral Pagoda was the Pagoda Ancient Clan's clan-protecting Sacred Artifact. The origin of the Pagoda Tower cultivated by the clan's members came from it.

The Ancestral Pagoda was rarely used, but once activated, even Saint-grade Heavenly Sovereigns would fear it.

Now that Qing Yanjing had been suppressed within the Ancestral Pagoda, she likely could no longer live as freely and easily as before.

In the past, Qing Yanjing had been imprisoned within the clan only in name. With her abilities, she could leave whenever she wished.

But now that she was trapped within the Ancestral Pagoda, although her life was not in danger, she would still have to suffer somewhat.

Still, with her strength, she definitely would not be in mortal danger, and even Futu Xuan did not dare pressure her too far:

If a grand Spirit Formation master comparable to a Saint-grade Heavenly Sovereign fought without regard for the consequences,

the Pagoda Ancient Clan would have to pay an extremely grievous price—a price it could not afford.

The two lineage chiefs and nearly ten Heavenly Sovereigns who had fallen this time were the best proof.

Qing Yanjing had acted so ruthlessly only to warn those restless elders within the Pagoda Ancient Clan.

At the very least, the Grand Elder, Futu Xuan, had now forcibly issued an order forbidding everyone in the clan from taking action against Mu Chen again.

Even though Mu Chen had already been sent away by Qing Yanjing through the chaotic spatial currents.

"Not bad." By the time Futu Yun received the information, he was already inside the Sovereign Spiritual Treasury.

When Futu Yun stepped into the whirlpool of light that served as the entrance to the treasury, he could feel chaotic spatial fluctuations surging around him.

Then his vision went dark, only to quickly brighten again.

The Great Thousand World's space was unimaginably stable. Experts who could easily tear apart space on a Lower Plane

might not even be able to rip open a Spatial Rift after arriving in the Great Thousand World.

Yet when experts of the Great Thousand World traveled to a Lower Plane, they could shatter heaven and earth with the slightest movement.

Even Heavenly Reaching Realm experts were incapable of opening up space within the Great Thousand World.

But such a trivial trick, something even Sovereigns could manage, was not worth mentioning before the Pagoda Ancient Clan.

Thus, news from the Pagoda Ancient Clan reached Futu Yun immediately.