At dawn, the Inner City of Formless City did not slowly awaken amid curling spirit incense and melodious immortal music as it usually did.
A chilling air of menace and unrest filled the streets.
The earth-shattering upheaval at the end of Everlasting Joy Street last night was like a ten-thousand-ton meteor hurled into a tranquil lake. In just a few hours, the towering waves it raised had swept through every corner of Formless City's upper echelons.
"Have you heard? The Wang Household... has fallen!"
"What?! The Wang Household was one of the Three Great Clans! Who did it? Did the City Lord's Manor deploy the Black Nightmare Army?"
"It wasn't the City Lord's Manor! It was Ironblood Hall! Not only did Lei Wu survive, but a mysterious expert cured his poison!
"My cousin saw it with his own eyes outside the Wang estate last night. That expert wore blue robes and didn't even lift a hand. He merely uttered a single word, and the Wang Household's [Eight Desolations Baleful-Warding Spirit Array], supposedly capable of holding off a Purple Abode powerhouse for half an hour, shattered like an eggshell!"
"Hiss—his words became law?! How is that possible? Could he be... an old immortal in the Purple Abode Realm?!"
"More terrifying than that! Wang Juefeng didn't even have the right to fight for his life. A single glance from that expert frightened him so badly that his Dao Heart collapsed, and he led several hundred members of his clan to kneel in the street, kowtowing and begging for their lives! They say... he's an [Elder Ancient Immortal] who slept through an ancient world-ending catastrophe and has only just awakened!"
Rumors spread like birds on wings, racing through Formless City's Cultivator Markets, taverns, and secret chambers. As countless people embellished the tale and