On the outskirts of the Borderlands Battlefield.
The earth was cracked like a web, and the vegetation had burned to ashes. For nearly a hundred li around, not a blade of grass remained; destructive energy had swept over everything.
At the center of this land of desolation lay an enormous circular lake, its water completely evaporated by that purple-golden pillar of light.
Beside the lake, above the ravine-riddled ground,
A thousand-foot mountain, likewise wreathed in purple qi and flashing with golden light, hummed and shook violently, like a skiff pitching upon raging waves.
Beneath the mountain, within the area shrouded in golden light.
The Little Ape King, Yuan Shanjun, led the forces of the Mountain-Moving Demon Ape Tribe, the Golden Ape Tribe, and the Purple Cloud Sect.
They had all crowded into the golden light, watching in utter horror as that golden pillar of light shot into the sky from deep within the lake's center.
Just moments earlier, they had activated the Nine Nether Profound Connection Formation, which had taken two months and vast resources to set up.
They had thought they could smoothly open the restriction and enter the secret realm to search for treasures.
Yet once the grand formation began operating and unraveled the ancient restrictions in the lake's center layer by layer, a sudden upheaval occurred.
This purple-golden pillar of light soared into the sky, instantly annihilating several Great Grandmasters in the group who had been near the lake's center, reducing them to ashes.
Had the Little Ape King, Yuan Shanjun, not promptly summoned this extraordinarily powerful Golden Mountain to protect everyone,
Most of those present would likely have been ground to ashes by the surging energy spilling from the pillar of light.
Fortunately, after lasting just over ten breaths, the pillar of light seemed to have