Mystic Lord Taiyou had fallen.
Great Scarlet Heaven lay steeped in desolation.
Flecks of silver lightning flickered as the Central Firmament primordial spirit struggled to take shape, manifesting Xu Xuan's appearance.
"The pursuit of sky thunder... has led to the great calamity beginning."
Xu Xuan had lost his status and suffered banishment. At the final moment, he had severed the connection between his original body and Central Firmament, temporarily preserving this altar thunder primordial spirit.
The moment final dusk descended, he had gathered the minds of everyone who had received his registers into his grotto-heaven, keeping them safe. But there were far more people he had been too late to save. Even drawing forth Free and Easy and unleashing the sword wound had failed to stop anything!
Too fast. Everything had happened too fast.
From sky thunder's divine manifestation to the descent of final dusk, scarcely an instant had passed. Yet the situation had spiraled irreversibly out of control, to the point that Xu Xuan had been forced to unleash the Sword Ancestor's wound at the cost of his own fall.
"That pearl was..."
He had never seen anything like it. In divine status alone, it surpassed even heaven and earth, even the Great Dao. Only the Immortal Stele in his hand could compare. Xu Xuan sensed everything happening outside, yet perceived nothing but darkness.
Vast wood had fallen, and water transformation had vanished.
Along with them, the place above jia wood had become utterly empty, without a master.
Qingrang had vanished without a trace!
Xu Xuan had his reasons for not bringing forth the Immortal Stele. With Great Scarlet Heaven preserved, there was still a sliver of hope. But if he unleashed the Immortal Stele, this grotto-heaven would certainly cease to exist as well.
Besides, even unleashing the Immortal