Time raced past like a white steed glimpsed through a crack, and in the blink of an eye, thirty years slipped quietly away.
One morning in March of the year 4650 of the Great Tang Calendar, the clear skies above Penglai Island suddenly filled with dark clouds, and fierce winds howled.
Within a radius of hundreds of millions of miles, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed to answer some mysterious, powerful summons. Like a raging tide in furious upheaval, it surged wildly toward Ascension Peak. Where the spiritual energy gathered, space warped slightly, rippling with halos visible to the naked eye, as though dreams and reality intertwined there. Strange sounds faintly echoed between heaven and earth!
At that moment, Liu Changxu was immersed in cultivation inside the Seclusion Chamber of the Ruyi Lotus Palace.
Suddenly, the clear voice of Xiao Gong, the artifact spirit, rang out in his sea of consciousness. Liu Changxu instantly roused from his absorbed cultivation and, without a moment's hesitation, flashed outside the Ruyi Lotus Palace.
By then, Xiao Zier, Zhao Qi'er, and the other women had also come outside the Ruyi Lotus Palace, their eyes fixed intently on Ascension Peak. Seeing their husband emerge from seclusion, they all went to greet him.
Standing at the forefront of the women, Zhao Qi'er said to Liu Changxu with a smile,
"Husband, I have already ordered the entire clan to stand ready and fully activated the Island-Guarding Grand Formation to protect Sister Wu during her tribulation transcendence."
Liu Changxu nodded slightly and said, his gaze steady and composed,
"Good. Notify the clanspeople on Little Penglai Island immediately. They must stay at least a hundred miles away from Ascension Peak and not come a step closer."
With that, his deep eyes remained fixed on Ascension Peak, concern