As night deepened, the sky above the Stele Forest Imperial City was covered by a layer of tranquil deep blue. Occasionally, the light trails of patrolmen streaked across the sky in the direction of the main city, like shooting stars breaking the silence.
In Shen Qingchen's residence, the lights had long since been extinguished. After the banquet ended, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. Only the occasional night breeze and the crisp, gentle sound of wind chimes from the eaves remained in the courtyard.
The window of Qin Yu's room was half-closed, and moonlight streamed into the room through the window frame, casting a cold white shadow on the floor. The entire mansion seemed to have fallen into complete slumber.
However, from a shadow not far outside the courtyard, seven figures slowly emerged.
They seemed to have emerged from the darkness of night, their auras suppressed to an extremely low level, almost imperceptible unless one was very observant.
One of them let out a long sigh and said in a low voice, "Finally, it's over..."
Another, slightly aged yet extremely imposing voice rang out; it belonged to the leading Mystic Void Realm High Stage expert. His cold gaze swept across the depths of the courtyard, and he asked in a deep voice:
"Have you seen Qin Yu's room clearly?" The other six nodded in unison. "Yes, we understand."
The old man slowly raised his palm, his eyes flashing with murderous intent like a chilling tide. "Good." "Prepare to attack."
Just as the seven were about to activate the spatial blockade and sneak into the courtyard, a hurried voice suddenly came from the darkness not far behind them.
"Elder! Elder, run! They've found me!" These words exploded in the night like a thunderclap.
All seven people froze instantly. The old man in the Mystic Void Realm suddenly narrowed his eyes, and all seven of them turned around abruptly at the same time.
In the darkness, they saw a strange cultivator they had never seen before rapidly approaching them, his expression panicked and his breathing disordered, as if he were fleeing for his life.
The old man frowned, about to ask, "Who are you—" but before he could finish speaking, the man's figure suddenly flashed in place.
The next instant, he vanished into thin air, as if he had never existed. The seven people hadn't even had time to react.
Suddenly, a furious shout rang out from the distant night sky, "Halt!" Immediately afterwards...
Ten figures sped towards them from afar like lightning, their speed so fast that they were almost just afterimages.
Boom! The ten people instantly landed in front of the seven, their aura pressing down like a mountain, each emanating an extremely terrifying pressure.
They were all at the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme! And each of them wore robes embroidered with the same ancient emblem: the Chi Lineage.
The true rulers of the Stele Forest Imperial City, the seven Holy Clan cultivators, were completely stunned on the spot. One of the patrolling disciples from the Chi Lineage, with a cold gaze, slowly spoke:
"The Holy Clan?" "How dare you!" "You actually dare to disrupt the order of the main city during my Chi Lineage's grand gathering."
The old man, a Mystic Void Realm High Stage, instantly turned pale, cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his voice began to tremble.
"Misunderstanding... misunderstanding..." "Fellow Daoist... oh no no no--" "Senior! Senior!" "We don't know that person at all!"
The Chi Lineage disciple sneered. "Don't you recognize him?" "All ten of us heard him." "He called you elder." Upon hearing this...
The seven people were completely stunned. They looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion and fear, having no idea what had happened.
However, at that moment, one of the Holy Clan cultivators who had Realm Breaking Realm · Supreme was completely terrified.
Without the slightest hesitation, he violently tore through the void with both hands, attempting to force his way out! "Trying to leave!!" But he had only just stepped into the spatial rift...
A sword light suddenly slashed down, but the Chi Lineage disciple didn't even change his expression.
He raised his hand and swung his sword. The sword light, like a black thunderbolt falling in the night, pierced through the void with a deafening roar. The next instant...
The fleeing cultivator was instantly cleaved in two by the sword light, along with the spatial rift he had just torn open, and was completely obliterated.
His entire being disintegrated into countless shattered fragments, vanishing instantly. The Chi Lineage disciple coldly said, "Still trying to escape?"
This scene shattered the spirits of the remaining six, and the old man at the Mystic Void Realm High Stage turned deathly pale. He knew he had failed today; it must have been Qin Yu who had brought this upon them.
However, he has no right to explain himself now, and his only priority is to escape and save his life.
He could no longer care about anything else and suddenly unleashed his strongest logical escape technique, instantly distorting the spatial structure.
His figure began to merge into the void structure, attempting to escape, but in that instant...
A disciple of the Chi Lineage coldly said, "We can't let them escape. Slaughter Annihilation all."
As soon as the words fell, ten experts at the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme attacked simultaneously, raising their hands at the same time.
Between the fingertips, a colorless Formless point of annihilation quietly emerged, and the point of light slowly spread.
Transforming into an invisible wheel of Return to the Ruins, the power of the ten people instantly merged in the next instant.
The Chi Lineage's divine power— All Existence Return to the Ruins —was activated, and in an instant, the entire space seemed to lose its "realism."
The moonlight lost its color, the night wind lost its sound, and even time seemed to stand still.
Suddenly, a line of twisted ancient script appeared in the void. "Truth and falsehood are both reduced to ashes; existence and non-existence Return to the Ruins."
The six Holy Clan cultivators were horrified to discover that their memories were beginning to crumble, and they suddenly found themselves unable to make any certainty.
Did I ever truly exist? Did I ever truly cultivate myself? Their past, their names, their attainments, everything they once had.
Everything began to become uncertain, and then their bodies began to flicker, like candles in the wind.
It flickered between light and darkness, existing Does Not Exist, before the Wheel of Return to the Ruins slowly pressed down.
Silence fell, and the six figures vanished into an indescribable cloud of chaotic mist.
Then it dissipated without an explosion, leaving no remains, not even a trace.
As if they had never existed, the place where they disappeared left only a bizarre logical vacuum.
Even the night wind seemed to hesitate briefly as it blew through the area. The Chi Lineage disciples sheathed their swords and stood there, one of them speaking calmly:
"The Holy Clan has become increasingly reckless in recent years." Another person glanced around.
"Luckily, they didn't ruin our home turf, otherwise we would have been expelled from the Lineage tomorrow."
After confirming that there were no remnants, the ten figures once again transformed into streaks of light and disappeared into the night.
The street returned to silence, while in the distant courtyard, the window of Qin Yu's room remained ajar.
The moonlight fell silently on the ground, as if nothing had happened.
The night remained deep, and the long street outside Shen Qingchen's residence had returned to silence, as if the sudden annihilation had never happened.
In the courtyard, behind a half-open window, Qin Yu stood quietly in the shadows.
He was already awake. Qin Yu slowly withdrew his gaze, a faint hint of coldness appearing on his lips.
"Hmph." The voice was so low it was almost inaudible. "Just you lot?" "This is my surprise for you."
In fact, he had already sensed the seven lurking presences even before the banquet began.
The method of deliberately suppressing one's presence might be extremely difficult for ordinary cultivators to detect, but to Qin Yu, it was as clear as a spark igniting in the darkness.
He didn't make any move at the time because Shen Qingchen and Shen Mengling were inside the house, and if he made a move directly, it would inevitably cause a huge commotion.
This will also cause unnecessary trouble for the brother and sister.
So Qin Yu simply picked up his wine glass, seemingly oblivious to everything, and chatted and drank with everyone.
However, at that very moment, a tiny ripple of his Fate Soul quietly separated from the depths of his consciousness.
That wasn't an ordinary divine thought, but a Yingling's thought. The Yingling was hidden in the shadows, observing their every move, as the banquet gradually came to an end.
After that thought detached from its physical form, it instantly condensed into a projection of an existence almost indistinguishable from True Person, with its aura, energy, and logic of existence completely rewritten by Qin Yu.
Yingling left the courtyard silently, without disturbing anyone, and swiftly sped towards the main city of Stele Forest Imperial City in the darkness of night.
A moment later, the Grand Assembly Square in the center of the main city came into view. It was brightly lit and patrol teams were stationed all around the huge square.
Tens of thousands of Chi Lineage patrol disciples are maintaining order, their auras intertwined, forming a stable and orderly structure covering the entire main city.
Just then, Qin Yu's Yingling suddenly stopped, and his appearance changed in an instant, with his skeletal structure, aura fluctuations, and Fate Soul patterns all being rewritten.
The next moment Yingling's appearance transformed into that of a Holy Clan cultivator, with even the patterns on her robes being completely identical to those of the Holy Clan member.
Immediately afterwards, he stepped directly out of the shadows and faced a patrol team—
He unleashed a powerful attack, unleashing a shockwave that instantly blasted outwards, knocking several patrolling disciples back.
The entire street's alert array instantly lit up. "Enemy attack!" "Grab him!" The patrol team erupted in fury.
However, the "Holy Clan cultivator" did not flee immediately. Instead, he deliberately lingered for a few moments, standing under the lamplight.
He made sure everyone could clearly see his attire—that of the Holy Clan —before suddenly turning around.
They fled towards the outskirts of the city, Mystic Void Realm · Supreme Patrol Experts immediately gave chase. Everything that followed was a matter of course.
... Qin Yu stood in the room, slowly withdrawing the Yingling hidden in the shadows. The last ripple of existence on the distant street had dissipated.
The seven Holy Clan cultivators had been completely wiped out by the Chi Lineage. Qin Yu gently closed his eyes, as if nothing had happened.
As night returned to its quiet, the next morning, as soon as the sunlight rose over the city walls, Shen Qingchen's courtyard was already bustling with activity.
The effects of last night's drinking had long since worn off, and everyone gathered in the courtyard. One of the fellow Daoists stretched and suddenly said:
"Alas, fellow cultivators... did any of you hear anything last night?"
Shen Qingchen scratched his head. "No." "We all drank too much last night." He couldn't help but laugh as he spoke.
"I don't even remember how I got back to my room." Everyone burst into laughter.
Qin Yu stood to the side, gently shaking his head. "I went straight to sleep after returning to my room last night. I didn't hear anything."
Another cultivator waved his hand. "Oh well, who cares?" "Today is a big day." "Cultivators from the entire Eternal Nonexistence Limitless Domain are coming to this Stele Forest Imperial City."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingchen immediately perked up. "Yes, yes, yes!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Today is a grand event for the Stele Forest Imperial City!"
"Let's go, fellow cultivators, hurry up!" "If we're any later, we won't even have a chance to register!"
Everyone nodded immediately. "Let's go!" "Let's set off!" Soon, the eight of them walked out of the courtyard together.
When they actually stepped onto the main city streets, everyone was stunned. Today's Stele Forest Imperial City.
It has completely transformed into a vast sea of people, with countless figures filling the entire city like a starry sky.
The main street in the city stretches for thousands of miles, but at this moment it is completely filled with a dense crowd of people.
Cultivators continuously broke through the sky, streaks of light streaking across the heavens and falling into the city like a meteor shower.
A massive suspended grandstand has slowly unfolded above the main city; it is a viewing platform specially built for this grand event.
Layer upon layer, it resembles a floating city of stars.
Nearly one-third of the cultivators from the five ultimate multidimensional universes of the Eternal Nonexistence Limitless Domain have gathered here at this moment.
Conservative estimates suggest that the population of the entire main city at this moment exceeds several billion.
Countless auras intertwined, causing the entire world to tremble. In the distance, in the center of the plaza, a massive arena for martial arts competitions was slowly rising.
Countless ancient runes flowed around the boundary platform; it was the order array field set up by the Chi Lineage, within which the rules of the entire main city were stabilized.
Today is the grandest martial arts competition in the Stele Forest Imperial City. Looking at the magnificent scene before him, Shen Qingchen was extremely excited.
"Hahaha!" "Fellow Daoists!" "Let's go!" "Today we must make a name for ourselves in this grand martial arts competition!"
The crowd was caught up in the atmosphere and walked towards the main city square with smiles on their faces, while Qin Yu raised his head slightly.
Looking at the massive arena, a subtle, profound meaning flashed in his eyes.