The Queen Mother Unleashed the Cloud Boundary Banner; Yang Jian Coldly Faced the Deathtrap Formation!

Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Deathly silence.

The Jade Great Emperor lay slumped beneath the Dragon Throne.

The Nine-Dragon Dharma Robe, once a symbol of supremacy over the Three Realms, was now covered in dust, heaped in disarray over his trembling body.

His once-majestic face held nothing now but a pallor twisted by terror.

"The... Buddhist School... has been crippled?"

Those few words drained the last strength from his divine soul.

Hope was utterly shattered.

Everything he relied on, the majesty he had built over countless ages, was laughably fragile before the name "Ruined Temple."

Outside the hall, Yang Jian's footsteps continued to sound.

Thud.

Thud.

Every step landed heavily on the Jade Emperor's heart-and on the Heavenly Court's last shred of dignity.

He was coming.

The nephew he had regarded as a disgrace, as a tool, was walking toward his throne, step by step, to cast him down completely from his supreme position.

The shadow of despair shrouded the entire Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Amid that suffocating, deathly silence, a piercing phoenix cry rang out from the depths of the Heavenly Court's rear palace, resounding through the highest heavens.

"Yang Jian, you brat! How dare you act so insolently!"

The voice carried venomous hatred, along with panic that could not be concealed.

Immediately afterward, a figure streaming with iridescent light soared into the sky from the rear palace, bearing an ancient, boundless pressure. In an instant, she descended before Lingxiao Treasure Hall, standing between Yang Jian and the Jade Emperor.

The newcomer wore a Phoenix Crown and Cloud-Shoulder Robe, stately and resplendent.

It was none other than the Queen Mother of Yaochi!

Yet now, her former composure and dignity were long gone.

Her Phoenix Crown sat askew, her Cloud-Shoulder Robe billowed, and her phoenix eyes were bloodshot. Anger, fear, and madness intertwined