That was... Uncle Yao's voice?
Chu Yunfei's unfocused pupils suddenly contracted.
His consciousness, which had already sunk into boundless darkness, was abruptly pulled back by this exclamation.
Why is Uncle Yao here?
Shouldn't he be managing affairs at the Qingyang City branch?
Before Chu Yunfei could recover from his shock, the azure spirit boat in mid-air roared down.
A slightly hunched figure in a gray robe, exuding anxiety, was the first to leap off the bow of the boat.
"Miss, it really is Young Master Chu! He's seriously injured!"
Uncle Yao landed on the gravel beach, saw the blood-covered figure at the bottom of the pit, and screamed in horror.
boom!
High in the sky, a graceful white figure, pure and ethereal, tore through the void and descended without regard for anything else, even before the spirit boat had come to a complete stop.
A gust of wind whipped up the hem of her moon-white skirt.
It was Wen Jiao.
The moment those clear, beautiful eyes fell upon the pebble beach, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
What a mangled body it was!
The black robe was soaked in blood and stiffened, and a fist-sized hole was glaringly exposed in the left chest, revealing exposed white bone mixed with mud and bits of flesh.
That handsome face, which usually carried a hint of roguishness and a touch of arrogance, was now as pale as paper and covered in blood.
In Wen Jiao's usually calm and composed phoenix eyes, tears welled up almost instantly.
"Young Master Chu..."
A heart-wrenching cry, trembling uncontrollably and choked with sobs.
Wen Jiao didn't even bother to maintain the dignity and composure of the eldest daughter of the Pill Pavilion, and knelt heavily on both knees among the cold gravel.
She reached out her trembling hands to help him up, but seeing the countless sword wounds, bloody holes, and shattered ribs covering his body, her hands froze in mid-air, unsure of what to do.
Everywhere you touch, there's a glaring pool of blood.
Everywhere you touch, you feel twisted bones.
"How did you get injured like this... Who did this?!"
Large, hot tears slid down Wen Jiao's pale cheeks and landed on Chu Yunfei's blood-stained face.
A mixture of cold and warmth.
She had clearly given it her all, pushing the flying boat to its full speed at any cost, all in an effort to reach the imperial city and protect him before the Heavenly Sword Sect could make a move.
But why...?
Why was it still too late?
Looking at the stunningly beautiful woman before him, her face streaked with tears and her eyes filled with terror, Chu Yunfei's heart, which had been taut to the point of breaking, finally relaxed completely.
It's safe now.
An unprecedented, intense feeling of exhaustion and a dark, raging tide engulfed his last vestiges of consciousness.
Chu Yunfei struggled to move the corners of his dry, bloodied mouth, letting out a barely audible murmur:
" Pavilion Master Wen... what are you doing here...?"
Before he could finish speaking...
Chu Yunfei's head lolled to the side, his fingers gripping the Abyss-Devouring Sword slipped limply, and he completely lost consciousness.
Chu Yunfei!
Wen Jiao was so frightened that her face turned pale. No longer caring about the bloodstains, she tightly hugged the cold and broken body into her arms.
" Chu Yunfei, wake up! Don't sleep!"
Her eyes were red-rimmed as she looked up at Uncle Yao and hissed, " Uncle Yao, quick! Bring out all the fifth-grade pills, now!"
Uncle Yao had already stepped forward, his withered fingers swiftly placing them on Chu Yunfei's blood-stained pulse point.
After probing for only half a breath, Uncle Yao's face turned completely pale, and he gasped in shock.
"The meridians are completely destroyed... the internal organs are severely displaced... and the qi and blood are so depleted that the patient is on the verge of death."
Uncle Yao's voice trembled violently as he stared in horror at the unconscious Chu Yunfei: "Even his soul suffered unimaginable, violent tearing."
"Such injuries would have killed an ordinary martial artist, even one at the Divine Sea Realm, ten times over."
"Just now... what kind of terrifying being was he fighting against?!"
Wen Jiao ignored all of this, trembling as she snatched several golden pills radiating boundless vitality from Uncle Yao's hand, and carefully channeled her spiritual power into the depths of Chu Yunfei's parched throat.
The medicine's effects spread like spring water, barely keeping Chu Yunfei clinging to his last glimmer of hope.
Wen Jiao wiped away her tears, her eyes suddenly turning cold and sharp.
" Uncle Yao, we cannot stay here any longer."
"The terrifying commotion I sensed on the flying boat just now was clearly a life-or-death battle Late Divine Sea Realm. This place is too close to the battlefield."
Uncle Yao nodded in deep agreement. "Miss is right. The strange phenomenon just now must have alerted most of the imperial city, and powerful figures and spies from all sides will arrive in no time."
Wen Jiao carefully hugged Chu Yunfei tightly and gently lifted him up.
"Return to the flying boat."
Her tone was resolute, without the slightest hesitation.
As Uncle Yao led the way, he couldn't help but hesitate and ask, "Miss, aren't we going back to the Imperial Pill Pavilion headquarters?"
"We can't go back."
Wen Jiao stepped onto the deck of the flying boat, her expression cold and stern. " The Seven Sects Grand Competition is approaching, and the imperial city is currently a huge whirlpool. Young Master Chu must not appear in the imperial city at this time."
"Moreover, his injuries are too severe; ordinary methods simply cannot save him. Looking across the Eastern Continent, only the Jade Firmament Sect is the most suitable."
The Jade Firmament Sect is a major sect of alchemy with profound heritage and a deep connection with the Wen Family.
Uncle Yao's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately understood the young lady's profound plan. He nodded emphatically, "I understand."
boom!
The azure-colored flying boat, hovering in mid-air, emitted another deep rumble.
The concealment array on the outer side of the ship reached its limit, and the entire spirit ship gradually transformed into an almost transparent phantom in the darkness. It changed direction, tore through the night, and sped away from the imperial city.
And this happened in less than ten breaths after the spirit boat left the valley.
Above the desolate battlefield.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A series of shrill, ear-piercing sounds suddenly rang out.
Several powerful beams of light, each carrying immense and terrifying pressure, descended upon the ruins that had long since been completely leveled, almost simultaneously.
The violent shockwave blew away all the remaining rocks around them.
Six or seven figures, each radiating overwhelming pressure from the Divine Sea Realm, appeared simultaneously.
Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect, a white-robed old man at the Divine Sea Realm Seventh Level.
A white-haired Daoist from the Cangyun Sect, at the Divine Sea Realm Fifth Layer.
An elder of the Divine Martial Sect, a middle-aged man with a burly build like an iron tower.
Qi Yuanshan, Elder of the Puppet Sect.
Even Zhou Xuancheng, one of the five great retainers of the Great Qian Imperial Family and a cultivator at the Divine Sea Realm Eighth Level, was among them.
As soon as they landed, a chilling aura of anxiety and destruction emanated from the ruins beneath their feet.
"Such terrifying destructive power..."
The elder of the Divine Martial Sect looked down at the mountain peak that had been completely flattened by nearly a hundred feet, his pupils contracted sharply, and he said in a deep voice, "The main peak of the entire mountain range has been smashed to pieces, and within a radius of several miles, the rocks have been reduced to dust."
"This is a force that no ordinary Early Stage of the Divine Sea Realm martial artist could create."
The white-robed elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect swayed and landed in front of a giant rock on a cliff covered with cracks.
He crouched down, extended two withered fingers, and touched the dark red blood that had not yet completely dried and congealed in the cracks of the rubble.
The white-robed elder brought the sniff close to his nose and his expression changed drastically.
"Hiss... This blood still retains an extremely violent and domineering destructive will."
He abruptly raised his head, his cloudy eyes filled with disbelief and horror. "Not only that... this aura clearly contains an extremely refined and pure Imperial Dao Dragon Qi!"
"What?"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the surrounding sect elders changed drastically, and their bodies trembled in unison.
" Imperial Dao Dragon Qi?"
"The core direct descendants of the Great Qian Imperial Family?!"
"Could it be that the peerless expert who just struck a sword that resonated with the imperial city's grand formation... was Ling Changkong, the Dao Mysterious Realm elder of the Great Qian Imperial Family family who resides deep within the palace?"
In an instant, everyone's gaze, sharp as a blade, turned to Zhou Xuancheng, the royal retainer standing to one side with a somber expression.
Faced with the intense gazes of several powerful cultivators at the Divine Sea Realm from various sects, Zhou Xuancheng's heart sank.
Imperial Dao Dragon Qi?
Apart from the royal elder Ling Changkong, only His Majesty Ling Zhantian, who has just awakened, possesses such pure royal aura.
Could it be...?