At the Expeditionary Corps' rear base near Mannali's Royal City.
The two elders, Lin Zaixing and Hong Yunhe, stood in the clearing, personally supervising the laborers as they moved treasure chests and loaded cargo.
Before long, the imprisoned survivors of the Ancient Cultivators were also lifted up, cages and all, ready to be carried into the Void Sandworm's abdominal cavity.
Suddenly, Lin Zaixing turned his head and looked toward the sky outside the camp.
A short dwarf, looking much like a youth, stood there in midair.
A flying sword rested on his back, and his blue robes snapped in the wind.
"Who goes there?"
Lin Zaixing demanded warily.
"An enemy! Form up, now!"
At the sight of this sudden arrival, the Warrior guards displayed extreme vigilance. They immediately sprang into action, taking their positions in the clearing and forming a battle formation.
This dwarf sword cultivator was none other than Kong Cheng.
Standing in the air, he enveloped himself in Gang Essence Force, which suddenly blazed with dazzling light. A peerless swordsman's razor-sharp aura became almost tangible. With a metallic clang like metal scraping at tremendous speed, the flying sword on his back rose into the air like a meteor, then tore through heaven and earth as it shot toward them.
"Realm of Void!"
Startled by Kong Cheng's sudden attack, Hong Yunhe instinctively unleashed his divine ability, conjuring an illusory realm of void containing a separate dimension in front of the Void Sandworm.
The realm swallowed Kong Cheng's flying sword, but a ripping sound immediately followed. Heaven and earth shattered, and even space itself was torn apart.
Fierce sword force spilled out, scattering in all directions amid chaotic origin energy.
"Who exactly are you? Do you know this is a restricted site of the Azure Cloud Sect?"
Though Lin Zaixing's