The outer perimeter of the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm has been transformed into a magnificent battlefield forecourt spanning heaven and earth.
The surrounding void seemed to be torn apart by an invisible hand, with countless enormous cracks running across the sky. From each crack, a waterfall of light cascaded down, splashing not water, but waves of energy and fragments of spacetime, like countless galaxies being upside down and tilted. As the light and shadow flowed, they illuminated the abyss and mountains of the entire desolate borderland.
The golden warship from the Eternal Day Divine Court was the first to bear the brunt. Its hundreds-of-feet-long hull was cast from pure divine gold, and its surface was engraved with ancient and indestructible divine runes. The moment the golden war god statue at the bow opened its eyes, its radiance pierced through tens of thousands of miles of clouds, as if announcing the arrival of a god.
The arrival of the Ming Yuan Ghost Palace was even more terrifying. Their procession did not travel in flying boats, but consisted of thirty-three suspended black coffins. The coffin lids were slightly open, and the Netherworld energy and ghostly shadows intertwined to form a sky-covering ghostly curtain. Every breath seemed capable of stealing the souls of onlookers. As the coffin array pressed down, even the void emitted a low, mournful sound.
The Azure Firmament Spirit Clan, on the other hand, was like a dream, with ten thousand feathered butterflies transforming into a flowing river of color, gracefully arriving around a crystal-clear, verdant floating island. On that island grew the "Azure Annihilation Spiritwood," which had long since become extinct in the Source of Epochless, its branches and leaves exuding the aura of the world's beginning, as if adorning the entire borderland into a flowing fairyland painting.
The Star Abyss Demon Domain's forces swept in like a black comet swarm. Amidst the howls of ten thousand demons, one demonic figure after another descended through the void, their bodies wreathed in pitch-black starfire—the sparks that annihilate stars. Each flash caused the surrounding space to collapse into an abyss.
In the distance, there was a battle formation from the Heavenly Balance Battle Clan, with 100,000 iron cavalry riding void war beasts. Their armor was as if it had been forged by the blazing sun, and every synchronized step they took made the heavens and earth tremble, as if even time and space had to submit to their iron hooves.
Beneath the heavens, the entrance to the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm lay like a sleeping behemoth at the feet of various forces. Rivers of light flowed backward, mountains stretched across the sky, and billions of energies surged forth. All the brilliance, killing intent, and aura intertwined, making the outer perimeter of the Desolate Annihilation Realm both a magnificent sight and a suffocatingly terrifying Asura.
Qin Yu's gaze pierced through the torrents of energy and the radiant curtain of light, landing on a team that was slowly appearing in the distance.
It was a fleet of light, feathered boats stretching for hundreds of feet, their hulls cast entirely from platinum and spirit jade, their surfaces carved with delicate, flowing patterns. Each line seemed to contain the soft laughter and fragrance of countless women. Around the boats, wisps of pink and white mist slowly descended, like spring petals intertwined with fine rain, gently brushing across the void, diminishing the murderous aura at the edge of the battlefield.
At the very center of the flying boat, graceful figures slowly emerged. The disciples of the Dawn Cloud First Hall were all dressed in long white gowns with spirit patterns adorning their shoulders, and bells at their waists trembled gently with each step, emitting a clear, silvery sound. Each disciple possessed a unique temperament: some were as aloof as snow lotuses, some as gentle as rippling water, and some as sharp as star blades. Yet, all were exceptionally beautiful, and their auras were unfathomable, as if beauty and killing intent coexisted and intertwined within them.
The Dawn Cloud First Hall is the only all-female super temple in the middle level of the Source of Epochless, and a sacred place that countless male cultivators dream of but cannot reach. The moment they descended, the entire outer edge of the desolate wilderness seemed to darken for a moment, just to highlight their brilliance.
The male disciples from the surrounding temples and clans almost instinctively stopped what they were doing, their gazes all drawn to the flying boat. Some had burning desire in their eyes, some swallowed the restlessness rising in their throats, and some young cultivators even quietly reached out to adjust their armor, trying to maintain their most perfect image in front of these disciples of the Dawn Cloud First Hall.
"Is that... Hong Xiuxiang from the Dawn Cloud First Hall?" a young cultivator murmured, his eyes filled with an almost obsessive light. "A genius of the Supreme Only Book Realm... I've heard that once she unleashes her Innate Martial Soul, even the souls of her enemies will bow down to her."
"Tsk, these women, if they were on the battlefield, they could probably kill without even drawing their swords." Another man's voice was full of complex emotions—a mixture of envy and helplessness.
Even some experts at the Annihilation Source Realm couldn't help but glance at her a few more times, as if that graceful figure in white could penetrate the defenses of years of cultivation. But this infatuation was a fatal weakness in the eyes of experts—and the disciples of the Dawn Cloud First Hall understood this perfectly.
Qin Yu withdrew his gaze, his expression unchanged, but inwardly he sighed: This team is not only beautiful, but also a sharp blade hidden deep within the flowers.
Hong Xiuxiang stood at the very front of the flying boat of the Dawn Cloud First Hall, her slender figure outlined in the white gauze and spiritual light, appearing dreamlike. Her gaze seemed to have traveled through the clouds and mist, landing precisely on Qin Yu's location.
In the midst of a vast sea of people and countless intersecting gazes, she merely raised her eyes slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips, and nodded slightly, casting a quiet yet meaningful signal at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu showed no surprise or restraint. He simply nodded in response with a calm expression, his gaze sharp as a knife, yet in the instant their eyes met, a tacit understanding was subtly revealed.
This was not a greeting upon first meeting, but rather a reciprocation between two comrades who had fought side-by-side on the brink of life and death. During that blood-soaked night in Gloomshadow Source Village, they slayed the ghostly figures together and averted numerous deadly situations. It was also Hong Xiuxiang who proactively shared the map information with Qin Yu, enabling him to successfully find the third map. Now, she possesses the first map, and he has the third. Only the final second map remains for the two of them to complete the map and unveil the astonishing opportunity buried deep within the secret realm.
This brief exchange of glances stirred up an undercurrent in the surrounding area.
"Hey... did you guys see that? Hong Xiuxiang... she just nodded at that kid."
"Holy crap, really? Hong Xiuxiang is notoriously arrogant in the Dawn Cloud First Hall, and she never pays any attention to outsiders."
"Could it be... that they knew each other before? Or even... that they acted together?"
"Tsk... Haven't you heard? It seems this kid and Hong Xiuxiang fought their way out of the Gloomshadow Source Village battle a while back. And they even teamed up with the people who Annihilation with the Soul Devouring Demon."
"This kid... is not simple."
Whispers, envious glances, and astonished speculations mingled in the air of the square, and many young cultivators felt a pang of inexplicable bitterness.
On the flying boat of the Dawn Cloud First Hall, some female disciples looked at Qin Yu with curiosity and even inquiry, as if they were reassessing the young man's value and trump cards.
As for Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang themselves, their expressions were both calm. The tacit understanding in their nods seemed to be telling each other that when they met again in the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm, they might be able to find the second and final map.
The outer perimeter of the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm has now transformed into a boundless battlefield floating in the void.
Thick, chaotic clouds surged endlessly, like a boiling ocean hanging upside down between the sky and the earth. Purple-gold and dark lightning snakes danced wildly in the clouds, reflecting a purgatory-like hue. Countless ancient array patterns appeared spontaneously in the void at the edge of the secret realm, each one seemingly an orderly law precipitated over billions of years, shrouding the entire celestial domain and isolating it from any outside or inside spying.
Flying ships, giant warships, and Kong Ling from various temples and ancient races descended one after another, surging towards the outer edge of the secret realm like a tide. The giant warships were carved with battle patterns from hundreds of millions of years ago, and the remaining imperial-level pressure forced back the weak from afar; the team from the lineage of ancient ferocious beasts rode bone-winged dragons as large as mountains, their bodies sweeping through the thunderclouds and casting shadows, making the hearts of those present tighten.
High in the sky, rainbow bridges spanning thousands of miles appeared, formed from pure Evolving True Flow, carrying the arrival of top forces such as the Radiant Sacred Hall, the Gloom Abyss Ghost Clan, and the Star Abyss Ancient Court. Their auras pierced the void like sharp divine swords, even splitting the chaotic sea of clouds.
At this moment, almost all the powerful figures in the Source of Epochless · Middle Layer had gathered here. Those below the Annihilation Source Realm dared not take a single step; there were countless beings above the Only Book Realm and the Severed Observation Realm, some of whom even wore ancient masks, their auras merging with heaven and earth, making it impossible for even divine soul perception to pinpoint their location.
The edge of the secret realm was like an invisible mirror, reflecting countless illusory possibilities—the ruins of the future, the glory of the past, and illusions that had never existed. Every powerful figure present silently sized each other up, their eyes flashing with probing, calculation, and murderous intent.
Under this overwhelming pressure, even the elders of the Annihilation Dawn Realm seemed to transform into battle flags standing tall in the storm. The one thousand core disciples of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall were completely shocked by this scene, realizing that the true opening of the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm was the gathering and competition of the pinnacle of power in the entire world.
This atmosphere is like an invisible hand, slowly pushing everyone towards the gate to the secret realm shrouded in chaotic clouds—once you step inside, it means stepping into a battlefield of Asura with no way out.
The procession of the Glazed Immortal Hall descended from the depths of the sky like a streak of light. It was a celestial vessel formed from seven-colored divine light, its hull inlaid with countless crystals resembling shards of glazed glass, reflecting the surging chaotic thunderclouds surrounding the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm. The celestial vessel stopped not far from the array of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall. An elder dressed in a cyan-gold robe with snow-white hair slowly stepped out into the air. His figure seemed to carry a gust of wind in the void. With a flick of his long sleeves, thousands of wisps of green wind spread out like gentle rivers, temporarily isolating the surrounding chaotic aura.
His gaze swept across the array of elders in the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall, and he burst into loud laughter, his voice echoing like the morning bell and evening drum. "Hahaha, Old Zhang! It really is you! It must have been tens of millions of years since we last met, right? I never expected to run into you again at the entrance of this peerless secret realm— the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm!"
The elder of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall, known as "Old Zhang," also revealed a hearty smile, his eyes filled with memories and pride. He took a step forward, meeting the gaze of the newcomer across dozens of feet of void, as if the years and distance had been erased by this affection. "Ah... it's truly a rare treat to meet again, Old Liu! We haven't shared a drink together in ages. The last time was at 'Annihilation Star Pass,' where we fought side by side against the void calamity, the two of us battling until the heavens and earth trembled, hahaha!"
Their laughter echoed in the void surrounding the secret realm, like thunder rolling across mountains and rivers, attracting the attention of many cultivators nearby. The laughter was filled with genuine heroism and the bloodlust of those who had met on the battlefield; it was not feigned but rather a camaraderie forged through countless life-and-death experiences.
Qin Yu stood in the crowd, listening to the conversation between the two ancient powerhouses, and his heart stirred slightly—in this vast Source of Epochless · Middle Layer, those who could be on equal footing with the elders of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall were by no means ordinary people.