"Dissipate? What do you mean?" An Xin asked curiously. She had watched Long Qing grow up and treated him like her own child. Naturally, she hoped for his safety and peace throughout his life. The so-called "great karma" sounded like a deep-seated blood feud, and how could she not be worried?
Gu An gave her a glance and replied, "Why ask so many questions? Once your cultivation level is higher, you'll understand everything."
An Xin pouted, "I'm only waiting for you to take me away. Once we find a quiet place, I'll close myself off for a thousand or even ten thousand years. When I finally come out, I'll definitely be a great immortal."
In her mind, ten thousand years was an incredibly long time, and she believed that if she cultivated for that long, she would definitely be considered a powerful figure among mortals.
Gu An didn't try to dissuade her but simply said, "Let Long Qing prepare himself."
An Xin nodded, then raised her hand in a formal salute before turning and walking away.
Although she was very close to Gu An and often bickered with him, she never forgot the proper etiquette.
An Xin left the room, closed the door behind her, and descended the stairs.
A passing female disciple asked curiously, "Senior Sister, Master is not here. Why are you going upstairs?"
An Xin replied, "Even if Master is not here, I still need to tidy up. I can't let him return to see the room full of dust."
The female disciple thought that made sense. She stepped forward, linked arms with An Xin, and sighed, wondering when Master would come back.
An Xin casually comforted her, and the two walked off together.
The Third Medicine Valley was still lively, with disciples busy with their own matters. None of them were aware that yet another calamity was about to descend.
As time passed, more and more beings began to feel the terrifying pressure from the War Court.
When the disciples of the Third Medicine Valley first felt the pressure from the War Court, chaos had already begun to spread across the world.
Most of the beings had no idea where the pressure was coming from, only feeling fear. They fled in panic, but no matter where they ran, the pressure only grew stronger, which only intensified their fear.
Gu An observed that the Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister were heading toward the outer realms. They were preparing to negotiate with the War Court.
This time, the pressure from the War Court was even more intense than that of the Xuanhuang Demon God's previous invasion. Even the self-assured Sun Immortal Emperor and the ambitious Sacred Minister were now feeling utterly defeated.
Especially the Sun Immortal Emperor, who felt that no matter how much he sacrificed, he would always face an unbeatable enemy.
As for the Sacred Minister, he no longer cared about his ambitions and only wished to figure out how to guide the Sacred Court through the tough times ahead.
The Divine Sovereign had already abandoned them. What was to become of the Sacred Court?
That night, the world could not sleep.
The next morning.
Gu An arrived early at the mountain forest, waiting for Xiao Qiang and the other four.
He sat on a rock by the creek, looking up at the outer realms. The Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister were in a grand hall, facing the Dao Repository Free Immortal.
From the looks of it, the negotiations weren't going well.
Gu An wasn't interested in the Dao Repository Free Immortal sitting at the throne. What intrigued him were the nine suns.
Hidden within these nine suns were nine Dao Repository Free Immortals. These suns seemed to act as a passageway, connecting to other universes.
The Great Dao energy emanating from them led Gu An to believe that they weren't from the current universe, and each came from a different one.
What puzzled Gu An further was why the Heavenly Spirit God hadn't intervened yet.
The Heavenly Spirit God had been sitting in front of the realm gate earlier. He hadn't been present before, clearly drawn by the disturbance caused by Gu An's breakthrough.
Could it be that the War Court had reached some kind of agreement with the Heavenly Spirit God?
Gu An could tell that the Heavenly Spirit God had no direct connection with the War Court, as the Heavenly Spirit God's aura was filled with the Heavenly Dao's fortune, whereas the War Court's aura didn't belong to the Heavenly Dao.
Meanwhile.
In the grand hall of the War Court, the Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister stood side by side, gazing up at the imposing Ye Tianji, as if they were looking at a divine being. The light from the nine suns illuminated their faces, making their grim expressions even more visible.
Figures floated around the hall, all mocking the Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister, as though they were nothing but insects.
The Sacred Minister took a deep breath and said, "We truly do not know who the descendants of the Dragon Clan are. The reincarnations of the Heavenly Demon are innumerable. As for the Heavenly Dao Golden Core…"
He glanced at the Sun Immortal Emperor, then turned to Ye Tianji and said, "If the Heavenly Dao Golden Core leaves the Heavenly Spirit Great World, the world will collapse. How is that any different from killing us all?"
Ye Tianji's expression remained unchanged as he replied, "The difference is that you'll still live. Now that it's come to this, do you still expect to protect others?"
The Sacred Minister furrowed his brows.
"If he really cared only about his own life, he could have escaped from the Heavenly Spirit Great World long ago."
At this moment, his only hope was to rely on the Sword Master of the Dao.
Right now, he was doing his best to stall for time, waiting for the Sword Master of the Dao to make a move.
The Sun Immortal Emperor spoke, "Aren't you afraid of the Heavenly Dao backlash?"
Ye Tianji snorted, "Heavenly Dao backlash? It seems you don't really understand what the Heavenly Dao is. But then again, it's rather sad when a mortal who attempts to climb the Heavenly Dao Immortal position can trick your entire great world. But this is the fault of that existence."
The Sun Immortal Emperor, hearing this, was about to ask more, but Ye Tianji continued, "Enough, don't waste time. It seems that the Sword Master of the Dao you've been waiting for has already left."
Both the Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister were stalling, and Ye Tianji was also waiting.
Before arriving, he already knew of the Sword Master of the Dao's achievement in annihilating the avatar of the Silent God Emperor. He could be certain that the Sword Master of the Dao was indeed a Dao Repository Free Immortal. To confirm his suspicions, Ye Tianji had brought along nine helpers from the same realm.
Although he didn't say it, Ye Tianji was cautious of the Sword Master of the Dao, which was why he hadn't acted immediately. He wanted to see what the Sword Master of the Dao would say.
However, after an entire night, the Sword Master of the Dao made no move.
Ye Tianji speculated that the Sword Master of the Dao had been scared away by the reincarnation anomaly. It made sense—something capable of creating such an anomaly must have a power beyond the Dao Repository Free Immortal.
As for whether it was the Sword Master of the Dao, he hadn't considered that, because he had learned from the nine companions above him that such anomalies were also occurring in other universes. The scope was vast and unimaginable.
The faces of the Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister changed drastically. They hadn't expected Ye Tianji to know what they had been waiting for.
Ye Tianji raised his right hand, and upon seeing this, the Sun Immortal Emperor immediately activated his energy. The overwhelming aura of the Dao Repository Free Immortal erupted. The Sacred Minister, who was in the Immortal Realm, wasn't even prepared for battle, and those standing beside the Sun Immortal Emperor were immediately forced to retreat.
The beings of the War Court around the grand hall turned toward the Sun Immortal Emperor. Their aura also erupted, and even the Dao Repository Free Immortal-level Sun Immortal Emperor's expression changed upon feeling it.
He had long sensed that the beings around them were powerful, but he hadn't expected so many to have cultivation levels higher than his own.
How could he resist this?
The Sun Immortal Emperor looked at Ye Tianji, his face turning pale with a cold, murderous glint in his eyes. He fought to suppress the fear welling up within him.
Ye Tianji smiled, arrogantly and disdainfully. He turned his right palm toward the Heavenly Spirit Great World.
In an instant, the entire Heavenly Spirit Great World shifted from day to night. The bright moon and stars disappeared, leaving only darkness.
Walking through the forest, Xiao Qiang and the others were terrified. They cried out and quickly huddled together, too afraid to move forward. Some were even so frightened they burst into tears.
The cultivators and monsters standing on the Heavenly Dao Light Layer were equally shocked. As they watched, an enormous, indescribable hand descended from the heavens, reaching for the Heavenly Spirit Great World.
The vast Heavenly Spirit Great World appeared as small as a pebble before this hand, no bigger than a finger.
Far away in the grand hall, the Sun Immortal Emperor and the Sacred Minister looked on, frozen in place.
"The descendants of the Dragon Clan, you should wake up."
Ye Tianji's voice echoed through the Heavenly Spirit Great World. In the pitch-black night, his voice was like a demon's from the abyss, spreading endless terror to the living.
Meanwhile, Long Qing, who was in the Third Medicine Valley, looked up at the dark sky. Suddenly, he felt something. His hands instinctively went to his head as countless memories surged from the depths of his mind, bombarding his consciousness.
He had never felt such intense pain in his head before, as though it were about to explode. In agony, he fell to his knees.
As the world had grown dark, no one noticed his distress.
"How could this happen…"
Long Qing gritted his teeth, speaking to himself with difficulty. He was seeing himself in battle, slaughtering the beings of a world. The world before his eyes was drenched in blood.