The branches on the tree lashed about, seemingly leaving tiny fissures in space as they danced. Its roots sank deep into the hill beneath it, frantically drawing the earth's essence into its body.
The old ape stood upright like a giant, beating its chest with booming thuds that shook the mountain forest.
Two enormous iron chains coiled around the old ape's arms like flood dragons, radiating waves of terrifying power.
Three beast silhouettes that blotted out the sky stood in the heart of the Starfall Mountain Range, their imposing auras steadily rising.
The vital essence between heaven and earth swirled around them, slowly pouring into their bodies.
Waves of divine power slowly nourished their bodies, gradually filling out their somewhat withered forms.
But they had little time left. As their auras rose, enormous cracks rapidly opened in the ground beneath their feet.
Some Ferocious Beasts, wholly consumed by slaughter and stripped of reason, stumbled into the cracks and vanished, leaving only wretched howls echoing from far below.
The firmament above their heads slowly split apart as well. Space tore open, revealing fissure after fissure.
From those cracks in the sky, Divine Gold Chains shimmering with mysterious colors extended outward.
Terrifying ripples spread from the Divine Gold Chains in every direction, filling the entire space.
After circling through the air a few times, they shot toward the Ferocious Beasts like winding, coiling dragons moving at incredible speed.
Those Divine Gold Chains were the Order Divine Chains of this world, manifesting because something had exceeded what this world could endure.
They had come to annihilate anything beyond the world's capacity to bear.
But just as the chains pierced through layer after layer of space and were about to reach the enormous beasts-
Runes born in the void wrapped around the approaching chains. In an instant, the chains were frozen in midair.
No matter how the chains struggled, it was futile. They could not advance another inch.
The enormous beasts roared, blood-red light slowly spreading through their eyes. They seemed to have anticipated this.
How could we let someone else draw from what we regard as our nourishment? At that thought, fury surged in the hearts of all three Ferocious Beasts.
The moment their roars faded, they hurled their enormous bodies in three different directions.
Along the way, a few casual footfalls diverted rivers and shattered mountains and rocks. Countless Ferocious Beasts were trampled into bursts of bloody mist.
Bloody mist drifted along the paths they traveled, only to be absorbed by the chains in an instant.
The three Ferocious Beasts gathered strength as they ran, each bearing a sky-surging momentum as they prepared to slam into the barrier formed by the rune formation.
They would break out of this cage, tear open a spatial fissure, and charge outside.
Greed and excitement gleamed in their eyes. They had waited a long time for this opportunity.
They thought, Space must be very unstable now. Once we leave these mountains, the sea will be wide enough for fish to leap freely.
They panted heavily as a trace of blood-red color quietly crept into their eyes.
The old ape's chains slipped from its arms. It held one end of each while the other ends dragged across the ground with a rattling clatter, plowing two deep furrows.
All the branches on the Tree Demon lined up behind it. Each resembled a divine weapon, its tip radiating a keen, cutting edge.
Cruelty showed on its face, whose features were impossible to distinguish.
The Tree Demon moved swiftly, dragging its branches along and leaving tiny spatial fissures in its wake.
As for the enormous beast that had awakened first, a single horn grew from its head, gathering a dense aura of the Earth Dao.
It released waves of heavy, piercing power.
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Chapter 54: The Secret Realm Shatters
As the three Ferocious Beasts approached the barrier, divine power surged faster within them, and they quickened their steps.
Their attacks smashed fiercely into the transparent barrier, which resembled both gold and jade, producing a series of hissing, scraping sounds.
The expected sound of the barrier shattering inch by inch never came. Their attacks struck it, but it did not break.
Only tiny ripples rose from the points of impact, spreading across the transparent barrier.
Those ripples resembled the rings raised by a pebble dropped into a still lake, slowly spreading across the barrier.
Gradually, the ripples converged and traveled into the ground outside the Starfall Mountain Range.
When they reached the ground where the barrier met the outskirts of the Starfall Mountain Range, they unleashed an enormous shock wave.
Wherever it passed, the surface rapidly collapsed and heaved as though an earth dragon were turning beneath it. Not a single patch of ground remained intact.
Everything on the surface was swallowed by that enormous shock wave, and its tremendous force continued spreading madly outward.
As the shock wave rose, the entire Secret Realm World trembled faintly, and more cracks appeared in the sky.
More Order Divine Chains extended from them, arcs of lightning flickering along their lengths.
A mere flicker of lightning on the Chains of Order punched tiny fractures through space.
Like the earlier chains, they circled through the air before descending toward the Starfall Mountain Range.
Ten thousand li away from the Starfall Mountain Range, Jin Wanwan and the others waited beside a river for the Secret Realm to open, chatting with one another after a battle.
"Did you see how valiant I looked just now? A few quick slashes, and I cut down several Ferocious Beasts!"
"Stop bragging, will you? If Cousin Jin Wanwan hadn't saved you from that beast's jaws, you'd have been eaten without even a scrap left."
Jin Wanwan sat cross-legged beneath a large tree, carefully wiping the coldly gleaming sword laid across her knees.
As she gently wiped the blade, it reflected Yuan Sheng leaning against the tree with his hands behind his head.
Yet amid this peaceful scene, whenever she turned her gaze toward the golden light shooting into the clouds, worry inevitably flickered in her eyes.
Nearby, Yu Tian also watched the golden pillar in somber silence.
But in an instant, the sky split open before them. A deafening explosion followed, accompanied by a tremendous gale.
Divine power surged through Jin Wanwan, and she drove her sword hard into the ground to brace herself against the wind.
Streaks of light lit up around everyone as they unleashed their Precious Techniques with all their strength to resist it.
When the storm passed and everything grew calm again, they raised their heads in bewilderment. The lofty mountains that had stood in the distance moments ago were gone.
They could see a small, shining dot standing on the horizon, precisely in the direction of the Starfall Mountain Range.
The mountains, seas, and lakes between them and the Starfall Mountain Range had all disappeared. Everything had been annihilated in the storm, leaving only towering clouds of dust to tell the tale.
Everyone turned toward the Starfall Mountain Range, shaken by the storm that had just passed.
They had no idea what had happened in the Starfall Mountain Range this time.
Yu Tian and the others stood together, watching the destruction that seemed capable of annihilating heaven and earth. Their concern for Shi Qingyun's safety deepened.
Outside the Qilin Cave
The guardians from the various factions waiting outside the Secret Realm swiftly rose from where they sat in midair. Their figures flickered, and they appeared before the Qilin Cave.
The power they inadvertently leaked altered even the weather in the area, while the surrounding Ferocious Beasts scattered like startled birds and animals.
It was hardly surprising that these guardians could not keep their auras from spilling out.
They had discovered that the entire Qilin Cave was trembling incessantly, and the tremors were growing more frequent with every passing moment.
As they watched spatial fissures flicker in and out of sight, forming on their own inside the Qilin Cave-
How could they remain calm?
They knew that some tremendous upheaval must have occurred inside to destabilize space.
And if this trembling continued, the Secret Realm would inevitably shatter.
The composure on their faces vanished in an instant, replaced by grave expressions.
The middle-aged man from Heavenly God Mountain instantly moved to the cave entrance. Channeling divine power into his eyes, he watched the runes being continually extinguished under the pressure of space.
He stared gravely at the Qilin Cave, his hands unconsciously clenching. Has it happened again?
He exchanged looks with the people from the other factions. They immediately understood, taking positions on different sides as various Dao patterns appeared on their hands.
They had to open the Secret Realm early. If they hesitated any longer, those inside might never get out.
Most of those inside were geniuses of their respective clans. If anything happened to them, the guardians could not shoulder such an enormous responsibility.
Streams of divine power erupted from their bodies and rapidly poured into the spatial fissure. As the power flowed in, the fissure slowly widened.
Dense masses of runes also flew from the guardians, swiftly entering the fissure and gradually stabilizing its incessant trembling.
When Yu Tian and the others saw an enormous spatial fissure slowly appear in the sky, joy immediately rose in their hearts.
The Secret Realm's entrance had opened. Through the enormous fissure, they could already see their own clan elders outside.
The Starfall Mountain Range.
Seeing that they had failed to shatter the barrier, the three Ferocious Beasts immediately prepared to attack again.
But in the next instant, a dense mass of chains flew out of the Dao Imprints and coiled around the three Ferocious Beasts.
They bound them tightly, preventing them from attacking again.
The three enormous beasts roared, however, and divine power surged through their bodies as they tried to tear the chains apart.
Chain after chain snapped rapidly, but in the next moment, countless more flew out from every direction.
They wrapped tightly around the beasts, pulling rapidly taut as the beasts exerted their strength.
A devouring force also emanated from the chains, consuming the flesh-and-blood essence of the three Ferocious Beasts.
The harder they struggled, the weaker their auras became.
Before long, blood-red light rapidly filled their eyes.
The chains wrapped around their bodies were like straws, drawing out their energy and slowly channeling it into the formation.
The tremendous force exerted by the three Ferocious Beasts was also transferred outside the Starfall Mountain Range.
What followed was yet another wave of destruction within the Secret Realm.
More and more spatial fissures appeared inside the Secret Realm, and the entire space shook.
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