Daylight dazzled the eyes, and warm sunlight spilled over the ground.
There was still some distance between the second gate and the Threefold Gate. After leaving the Palace of Guarding the Void, Jiang Yang sped onward.
Along the way, perhaps because he was drawing ever closer to the center, cultivators gradually became more numerous.
In no more than the time it took to rest his feet, Jiang Yang had already spotted two or three groups in the distance, either fighting bloody magical battles or smashing and looting.
Every tower, pavilion, palace, and terrace in sight had collapsed beams and pillars and lay shattered. Some were even burning, while cultivators reveled amid them like a swarm of locusts sweeping through.
The slaughter amid blood and fire was a jarring blemish on this towering, luxuriant landscape. With so many people and prying eyes around, Jiang Yang had no desire to linger and flew past high overhead with a whistling rush.
He had not flown far before he saw ominous weather gathering ahead, dense black clouds shrouding a small patch of sky.
Rumbling rolled within the clouds, and silvery-white arcs of lightning occasionally darted through them, giving off a heart-quaking aura.
He could not see clearly beneath the cloud cover, but he could just make out several cultivators locked in battle with a towering guardian puppet. Silvery arcs of Destruction Thunder struck from above from time to time, and the instant they hit, their victims howled in pain.
With Thunder assailing them and a puppet holding them back, they could neither win nor escape. Danger closed in on every side.
"This is bad! The punitive power of this Destruction Thunder is far too terrifying. If only we hadn't..."
Before the great hall, Jiang Junrui endured the weakness and agonizing pain wracking his body,