This sense of powerlessness was like a massive mountain pressing down on Han Feng, suffocating him with despair.
The once bustling and lively imperial capital was unusually quiet tonight, with no merchant caravans or visitors passing through.
Of course, it was also possible that those caravans and visitors had already been dealt with.
Tonight, this place would be completely erased, and no one would know what had happened here.
"The Champion Marquis has offended someone he shouldn't have. But for now, he cannot know what is happening in the imperial capital. Therefore, you must die here silently. Don't blame me."
"Since ancient times, the rise and fall of power has always been this cruel."
The masked man stood high in the sky, looking down at everyone. His voice remained cold, devoid of any emotion.
Behind him, several figures continued to chant some kind of scripture, their prayer beads emitting a dazzling light, like an endless fog that enveloped the surrounding space and time.
These prayer beads had been personally empowered by a Ancestral Dao realm expert, creating a domain that even the masked man could not break.
Chu Bai and the others were not even at the Dao Realm. Even if they exhausted all their strength, they could not escape.
"The Marquis has fought and expanded the territory for the Immortal Chu Dynasty, achieving countless merits. Yet at such a time, he is stabbed in the back and harmed by petty schemes. How chilling."
Wu Xuan said coldly. He had already gleaned some clues from the masked man's words.
The Immortal Chu Dynasty was divided into several factions, with the military faction primarily consisting of the Heavenly Divine General and the Champion Marquis. These two factions had always been at odds, and Chu Gucheng, the Emperor, had always sought to balance them, so he did not intervene.
In the past, the Heavenly Divine General faction and the Champion Marquis faction had clashed over recruiting talented individuals.
Wu Xuan believed that the force targeting the Marquis this time came from the Heavenly Divine General faction.
With the Heavenly Divine General fallen at the border, the other generals were left leaderless. They would inevitably elect a new Heavenly Divine General during this time. With the Champion Marquis absent from the capital, this was the perfect opportunity to suppress his faction.
Therefore, those generals must be eyeing this chance, using the suppression of the Champion Marquis faction as a means to ascend.
However, Wu Xuan still had some doubts.
Those from the Able and Extraordinary Mansion who reached the Dao Realm could receive a decree from the Immortal Chu Dynasty, granting them a leisurely official position.
At this moment, he wanted to use the Decree of the Immortal Chu Dynasty to borrow the power of the people's faith in the capital to resist the other party.
But he found that his decree could not be activated, and he could not draw upon the slightest bit of the people's faith.
This made his heart sink. Could it be that the royal family was silently allowing this?
"The Marquis is still the Marquis, and that will not change. But during this time, he cannot know what is happening in the capital."
"Your existence will only hinder the stability of the imperial city and the peace of the Immortal Chu Dynasty."
The masked man's eyes were cold as he scanned Han Feng and the others, who were filled with anger, despair, and unwillingness. He seemed to completely disregard them.
Many of the Champion Marquis's spies in the capital had already been dealt with in recent days.
Many officials, even if they noticed something was wrong, dared not speak up. They could sense that a terrifying force in the capital was targeting the Champion Marquis.
And this force seemed to have the silent approval of Chu Gucheng...
Given the current situation in the Immortal Chu Dynasty, it seemed that Chu Gucheng had no choice but to allow it. He had to stabilize the situation and prevent the internal strife from escalating, or the consequences would be unimaginable.
Chu Bai, Han Feng, and the others were chilled to the bone, their faces pale. They had thought that by bringing Wu Xuan from the Able and Extraordinary Mansion, their mission would surely succeed without any issues.
But who could have expected that the force in the capital targeting the Champion Marquis would be so brazen?
Boom!
The masked man acted again the moment he finished speaking. His wide sleeves billowed, carrying the power of the Great Dao, like a piece of the sky falling, pressing down on Chu Bai and the others below, aiming to annihilate them all.
This time, not only did he strike personally, but he also summoned an ancient, rust-covered mirror with blurred edges. As it flew from his hand, a hazy mist surged forth like an endless river of stars, distorting time and space into illusory shadows.
"A True Dao realm ancient mirror. They even brought such a treasure. It seems they really want to completely erase us here."
Seeing the ancient mirror flying over, causing the entire Great Dao to tremble, Wu Xuan's expression changed drastically. He seemed both shocked and fearful.
He could feel the terrifying power of the ancient mirror. The crystal-clear mirror surface continuously emitted a hazy light like stardust, which was the Great Dao light condensed to its extreme, capable of annihilating everything.
Any area it swept over silently disintegrated and was directly erased.
This made him feel an immense, life-threatening danger.
At this moment, Wu Xuan still wanted to stall the masked man, but he could no longer afford to. He could only try to protect himself, as he no longer had the strength to protect Chu Bai, Chu Kui, and the others.
"Heaven is truly against us!"
Han Feng, Chu Kui, Bi Xin, and the others were filled with despair. Chu Bai was the same, only able to keep communicating with the artifact spirit of the Sun-Shooting Bow, hoping it could block this attack.
"There's no time. If you had given the Sun-Shooting Bow to Wu Xuan earlier and let him activate it, there might have been a chance," the artifact spirit of the Sun-Shooting Bow also seemed shocked and regretful.
Hearing this, Chu Bai's eyes finally showed despair. The situation had far exceeded his expectations and imagination. He deeply regretted his decision to act righteously, as it had now cost him his life.
Boom!
The entire sky blurred. The masked man was utterly cold. His sleeves fluttered slightly, as if they had become a universe, with stars and galaxies swirling within.
The terrifying force pressed down, causing the void to continuously collapse. Chu Bai and the others felt their bodies about to explode, their bones about to shatter, their souls and limbs crushed by the overwhelming force, about to turn into a mist of blood.
Wu Xuan, bearing the full force of the attack, let out a grunt as he was sent flying, crashing through countless stars. The light from the ancient mirror grazed his abdomen, instantly leaving a horrifying hole. Even with the formidable vitality of a Dao Realm expert, he couldn't stop the black, tainted blood from continuously flowing, unable to heal.
In just an instant, he was severely injured and lost his combat ability.
In a quiet courtyard within the capital of the Immortal Chu Dynasty.
Gu Changge looked at the crystal-clear, flawless ancient mirror in front of him and smiled lightly, putting down the wine cup in his hand.
Then, with a point of his finger, the mirror's surface, which had been showing the scene, suddenly blurred. Like the changing of clouds, the mirror's surface began to shatter, and his finger reached into it.
"What a lively night."
He chuckled, then his hand reached into the blurred, deep mirror space, as if trying to pull something out.
Beside him, the spirit of the Gate of Eternal Life and the artifact spirit of the Book of Scavenging materialized into hazy figures, watching the scene with a mix of awe and fear.
Boom!
At the same time, in the area outside the capital of the Immortal Chu Dynasty, which was completely concealed by the strange mist.
The dark night seemed to suddenly crack. A slender, jade-like finger, surrounded by chaotic energy, reached out from the bottomless void. The stars before it seemed as small as dust.
It was as if the hand of heaven had lightly touched, and the universe would shatter along with it.
The masked man, seeing this sudden appearance, instantly changed his expression. His eyes were filled with disbelief as he stared intently at the scene.
"Which senior is taking action?"
He roared, his sleeve, which had been pressing down on Chu Bai and the others, suddenly changed direction, rushing toward the gently approaching finger.
However, an endless surge of energy exploded like a tidal wave.
The jade-like finger, surrounded by chaotic energy, lightly pressed down. The masked man's sleeve instantly shattered, along with his entire arm, flesh and bone scattering in all directions.
The world seemed like a paper painting, torn apart by the appearance of this finger.
The figures sitting behind the masked man were also struck as if by lightning, blood flowing from their mouths and eyes. The prayer beads in their hands trembled, then cracked, quickly spreading before shattering into dust.
As the prayer beads shattered, a terrifying energy surged out, causing the figures to instantly explode, turning into dust without even a chance to scream. All traces of them were erased.
In that instant, all the strange mist quickly dissipated, and the domain enveloping the area vanished like a receding tide.
Chu Bai, Chu Kui, Bi Xin, and the others from the Able and Extraordinary Mansion were shocked and horrified, finding it hard to believe.
Even the severely injured Wu Xuan looked incredulous, his body trembling.
"Which senior is taking action?"
The masked man's arm had been shattered, the intense pain leaving his face pale. His eyes were filled with disbelief and fear, no longer able to maintain his earlier coldness.
In that brief moment, he had sensed that the other party's strength far surpassed the Ancestral Dao realm.
He truly could not understand which Ancestral Dao realm expert had intervened.
Those prayer beads had been empowered by a Ancestral Dao realm expert, ensuring that the aura of this place would not leak and be detected.
So how had this mysterious expert who suddenly intervened become aware of the events here, and why had they chosen to step in?
However, no matter how the masked man questioned, the jade-like finger, like the hand of heaven, remained unchanged, steadily pressing down.
The terrifying force surpassed the limits of what this world could withstand. The Great Dao twisted, the river of time boiled, and the ancient mirror shattered into dust in an instant.
Pfft!
For the first time in his life, the masked man felt fear and despair. He could not move, his entire body pinned in place.
The overwhelming force pressed down, causing his skull to crack, a clear splitting sound echoing as blood gushed out.
The specially crafted mask also shattered, revealing a pale, beardless face filled with terror and disbelief.
"It's him?"
In the distance, Wu Xuan and the others, who had been horrified by the scene, were also stunned when they saw the masked man's true face, unable to believe it.
"How is this possible?"
Chu Kui, Bi Xin, and the others were from the Able and Extraordinary Mansion, holding special positions in the Immortal Chu Dynasty.
Although they were not at the Dao Realm, they often interacted with experts of that level.
Therefore, when they saw the masked man's true face, they were shocked, incredulous, and even chilled to the bone.
Pfft!
At this moment, the finger in the void continued to press down steadily. No matter how desperate, fearful, or resistant the masked man was, it simply pressed down on his head, and with a soft sound, the entire area was erased, leaving no trace.
After erasing the masked man, the jade-like finger also vanished in an instant, as if it had never appeared.
The world returned to peace and clarity, the night as dark as ink, the surroundings deathly silent.
"So terrifying..."
The ease with which the finger had acted, as if crushing a small insect, left Han Feng, Chu Bai, and the others both horrified and deeply fearful.
Just moments ago, facing the masked man, they and Wu Xuan had been as weak as ants.
"But before that illusory finger, even the powerful masked man was nothing more than an insect, easily erased without the slightest ability to resist.
The next moment, just as Wu Xuan, Chu Bai, and the others were still reeling from the events, a large hand reached out from the depths of the dark sky, grabbing them and pulling them away.
The scene before Chu Bai and the others blurred. Before they could react, they found themselves in a quiet courtyard.
Not far away, rare divine bamboo, immortal plants, and ancient pines stood tall.
A young man in white sat at a stone table, his back to them, seemingly drinking alone. His slender, white hand held a wine cup, gently swirling it.
In the other hand, he held an ancient scroll, as if studying it.
Under the cold moonlight, the young man seemed to be surrounded by a hazy light, as if he might step into another transcendent realm at any moment, ethereal and immortal.
Whether it was Wu Xuan, a Dao Realm expert, or Chu Bai, Chu Kui, and Bi Xin, they were all stunned, as if they had not yet recovered from what had just happened.
"Thank you, senior, for saving us."
However, Wu Xuan, being a Dao Realm expert, quickly regained his composure and hurriedly expressed his gratitude, realizing that it was this young man in white who had saved them.
That slender finger that had been swirling the wine cup had casually crushed the masked man with a single tap.
Chu Bai, Chu Kui, and Bi Xin also quickly reacted, bowing and expressing their gratitude.
However, they also felt a sense of curiosity and confusion, as the young man in white seemed somewhat familiar, as if they had seen him somewhere before.
Wu Xuan, however, suddenly realized something and said in a tone of shock and disbelief, "Could it be... Young Master Gu?"
As a Dao Realm expert, he had naturally attended Chu Gucheng's birthday banquet that day. Although he was seated far from the main table, he had seen the distinguished guests at the main table, among whom was Gu Changge.
The mysterious master of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, who had made the entire Prime-Origin Civilization wary and speculative.
Wu Xuan truly had not expected that in tonight's certain-death situation, it would be Gu Changge who had saved them.
"No need for such formalities. It was just a casual act." "I also didn't expect that in the Immortal Chu Dynasty, such an unbelievable event would occur in the capital at night."
Gu Changge smiled faintly, turning around and putting down the golden scroll in his other hand.
"It really is Young Master Gu..."
Chu Kui and Bi Xin, though they had never seen Gu Changge's true face, had heard many rumors about him. They were equally shocked, finding it both unbelievable and absurd.
The master of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, who had caused such a stir in the Immortal Chu Dynasty, making everyone wary and fearful of the remnants of the Black Calamity, was actually such an elegant and refined young man? And he had just saved them?
Chu Bai, however, had sharp eyes. He noticed that the golden scroll Gu Changge had been studying seemed to contain not words, but images.
Though somewhat hazy, he could still make out a few familiar figures, which left him even more shocked and incredulous.
Had Gu Changge used this golden scroll to see the events in the capital and then intervened to save them?
But he could not see more, as Gu Changge had already put down the golden scroll.