In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
Outside the Main Hall of the Council Court, Chi Wen stood ramrod straight with his back against a pillar, looking every bit the part of someone steadfastly holding his post.
Yet the faintly unfocused look in his eyes revealed the exhaustion left behind after his arduous "battle" with the verses of the Qingyang Sutra.
Beside him, Lu Bing and Kong Yang had also finished handling the reports submitted from the various domains and waited quietly to one side.
Beyond them, a vast mass of dark figures stood before the hall doors.
Domain Lord Qu Hongwen, Valley Speaker Lin Qianyi, Lake Speaker Yang Song...
The entire Yuqing Domain—its Domain Lord, all sixty-seven Constellation Speakers, and every Councilor within their respective council courts—had all arrived!
Yet the once-glorious titles above their heads had now all been branded with the cold word "former."
They had occupied their positions without earning their keep, while Wusheng had plotted in secret for a full two hundred million years without them noticing a thing. They had even immersed themselves in struggles for power and profit, willingly leaping onto the stage Wusheng had erected...
Countless billions of living beings had nearly perished as a result, and the Anchor Point of the Ancient One "Yuqing" had nearly fallen. Their crimes were unforgivable!
Today was the day they would set off, banished to the Pioneer Constellation.
They had gathered here, bearing indescribably complicated emotions, only to bid farewell to the Formless General before setting foot upon that thorn-strewn road.
At that moment, everyone looked utterly lost. The shrewd calculations once present in their eyes were gone, and they could only stare blankly at the tightly shut doors.
Time trickled away second by second amid the oppressive silence, as though even