Xiao Xiao and Wen Qingxuan

Countless onlookers gulped.

Even the Heavenly Sovereigns present felt a deep sense of dread.

They were confident they could reduce Bai Xin'er to nothing too, so the power itself was not what frightened them.

What they could not understand

was how a Minor Spirit Formation, one that did not even qualify as a First-Level Spirit Formation, could unleash such force.

Their fear came from the instinctive human response to the unknown.

The battle ended with Futu Yun, young clan leader of the Pagoda Ancient Clan, defeating Bai Xin'er, the Tai Ling Ancient Clan's first-ranked prospective saintess.

Both sides had suffered losses, but Bai Xin'er's crushing defeat meant the Tai Ling Ancient Clan had lost outright.

Not only had they been humiliated, they would also have to pay reparations afterward, as custom demanded.

That was an unwritten rule of the Great Thousand World. Refusing to acknowledge defeat would only bring them greater shame.

They could have kept fighting,

but the Tai Ling Ancient Clan was weaker than the Pagoda Ancient Clan overall.

Only by uniting the forces behind their many prospective saintesses could they barely stand against the Pagoda Ancient Clan.

Those forces were all Tai Ling Ancient Clan vassals, but their alliance was loose,

and nowhere near as united as the Pagoda Ancient Clan.

Both sides had lost people,

but the Pagoda Ancient Clan had used the battle to rid itself of burdensome factions that had grown too powerful, becoming more united as it fought;

the Tai Ling Ancient Clan's morale, meanwhile, had sunk lower with every clash. After Bai Xin'er was killed in an instant, its fighting spirit collapsed.

If even the first-ranked prospective saintess had been wiped out without a trace, the other prospective saintesses had every reason to panic.

If the Tai Ling Ancient Clan insisted on