In this world, there was such a thing called soul lamps. Not every cultivator had the right to have one tailored to them, but most important cultivators possessed one.

When Forefather Goldenbell’s lamp shattered, the rebel leaders knew of it immediately. However, the three demigods actively silenced the news after a covert discussion.

Alas, bad news from House Yuchi slammed into them right after. The rebels really felt the pain this time.

Meng Qianqiu and the other demigod forefather tried to plead with the Yuchi forefather to prioritize the bigger picture. Perhaps the news that House Yuchi had been assaulted was false.

But why would he listen to them? The house was where his roots lay. Without it, what did the bigger picture even mean?

He was adamant on departing.

Finally, they came to an agreement that the Yuchi forefather could return with a few elites in tow. The house’s main force would remain outside the Martial Sacred Land.

Within his airboat, the forefather’s eyelid twitched when he imagined a terrifying prospect. Could House Yuchi have been attacked by outside reinforcements?

This was something the rebels hadn’t predicted. If said reinforcements existed, it would be quite bad for all of them. He grew even more restless.

It was at this time that their airboat suddenly slowed, as if it had collided with something.

“What is that, forefather?” someone yelped.

“Hmm? Are we in the wrong place? This isn’t the way.” 

All the House Yuchi elites exclaimed in surprise. Their airboat had sailed into alien space. There seemed to be an infinite number of passages leading out of it, and they were connected to ever more passages in turn. There was no end to them.

The Yuchi forefather’s heart sank. He was experienced enough to know that the airboat was in trouble. They had either unwittingly entered a secret realm or a manmade formation.

He judged the latter to be much more likely. “Calm down, everyone,” he growled. “Don’t panic.”

“What’s happening, forefather?”

The Yuchi forefather harrumphed. “Enemies ahead. Be on your guard. I’ll go outside to take a look. You steer the airboat and follow me.”

As the most skilled here by a long shot, the Yuchi forefather wasn’t helpless despite his surprise.

He landed outside the airboat with a whoosh. Once outside, he realized that it was as he’d surmised—they were in a formation that was a dimensional maze.

The Yuchi forefather harrumphed once more. “A formation like this wants to trap the likes of me?”

He clapped his hands, creating a whirl of lightning runes. They rippled in the air, then exploded.

The passages in the air collapsed before their witnesses’ eyes. The sight of it was rather grand.

House Yuchi’s cultivators shouted and jumped with joy. The forefather’s moves were really something else!

This formation had been created by Jiang Chen’s Nine Labyrinth Formation, of course. He’d used it against many powerful experts in the past, but never once had it been destroyed so readily.

The Yuchi forefather had used overwhelming strength to overcome the ingenuity of the formation and smashed it to smithereens. Even Jiang Chen had to admire the sheer force the forefather had employed.

Still, only some pseudo-space that the Nine Labyrinth Formation had generated had been broken. Its defenses weren’t particularly sturdy in the first place, nor was Jiang Chen put in any danger upon their collapse.

The Nine Labyrinth Formation was completely intact as well.

The Yuchi forefather cackled after the dimensional formation dispersed. “Come on!” He waved a hand.

He barely had time to revel before his eyelids twitched in fear when they registered what they saw.

A beautiful, familiar figure, stark against the bleak sky.

Prime Puresmoke!

Which cultivator in Martial Divine Nation didn’t know who she was? Though the Yuchi forefather was a demigod, as well as much older than Puresmoke, he didn’t dare underestimate such a representative character of the sacred land.

Wasn’t this woman supposed to be back at the sacred land’s spirit herb base? Her appearance here… was the attack on House Yuchi related to her?

Was Goldenbell’s death related to her as well?

Prime Puresmoke’s eyes were colder than the frostiest winter. She fluttered her sleeves, unleashing a cascade of rainbow ribbons that swept toward House Yuchi’s airboat like a swarm of wyrms.

The Yuchi forefather harrumphed. “You dare be so presumptuous before me, Prime Puresmoke?”

He materialized a longsword in his hand that was as bright as an autumn river, swinging it ferociously at the ribbons.

The rainbow ribbons fluttered in the wind, transforming into an uncountable number of waterfalling threads that covered the air. They sailed through the air from every direction, almost reaching the surface of the airboat in the blink of an eye.

Forefather Yuchi’s sword cut clean and fast, its beams arcing through the sky with incredible alacrity.

The prismatic torrent was forced away from the airboat, its tendrils sliced into willowy fragments that scattered every which way.

This brief exchange was enough to reveal the Yuchi forefather’s cultivation as being superior to Prime Puresmoke’s. It was a limited lead, but the stronger cultivator was clear.

Puresmoke was upset that the forefather had countered her ability. Still, she understood and was relieved that the Vermilion Bird was the main weapon against the forefather instead.

The Yuchi forefather saw an opportunity to press the verbal attack after his snippy victory. “Puresmoke,” he cackled, “did you attack House Yuchi?”

“So what if it was me?” the prime retorted coldly. “House Yuchi has been using its wealth only for evil. Over all these years, it’s accumulated quite a princely sum thanks to its incredible greed. I was only executing heaven’s will.”

The Yuchi forefather felt his heart tense. “Then you should die too!” His eyes glared daggers.

A little enraged now, he hurtled toward Prime Puresmoke with electric velocity. The sword in his hand scythed with meteoric force toward her, its swing backed by its wielder’s momentum.

Puresmoke was unwilling to clash with the Yuchi forefather head on. Her graceful figure disappeared into the clouds as a streak of light.

“Where do you think you’re going!” The Yuchi forefather tossed his sword airborne, navigating a path for the weapon with his consciousness directly to the prime’s back. It stormed towards her as a radiant comet.

Suddenly, a huge talon reached out from within the dense cloud cover. It grabbed the golden light with a viciously accurate swipe.

The Yuchi forefather’s eyelids jumped. Was he hallucinating? His sword was no ordinary weapon. It was a divine blade, blessed by creation itself. Could it really be grabbed like that in such a mind-boggling way?

The forefather was beyond amazed. He gazed into the clouded sky uncertainly, activating a series of hand seals to summon his weapon back to him.

Unfortunately, nothing he did showed any signs of working.

“How can this be?” Apprehension flickered through the forefather’s heart. He stared at the huge claw warily. The vapors around it slowly began to disperse.

The sky cleared to reveal a bird colossal enough to blot out the sun. It hovered above the Yuchi forefather, stealing the brilliance of the heavenly bodies. The scene darkened in front of the forefather.

“What… what kind of monster is this?” He was too close to recognize what he saw.

It didn’t take long for him to recover from his astonishment and take better stock of his foe. The monster had vermilion feathers all over and a striking familiar shape. A horrendous thought leaped out from his memory.

It was a vermilion bird, one of the four sacred beasts of legend!

The Yuchi forefather felt his own body heat up as he viewed the flame-bathed fowl. His blood began to boil, the rising temperatures scorching his soul. The very notion of a vermilion bird brought many bad premonitions and rumors to the fore of his mind.

Were the Eternal Sacred Land’s reinforcements here?

The thought prompted the Yuchi forefather to make an expeditious retreat. The opponent before him had slain actual gods! He was only a demigod—what hope did he have of winning?

Escape was his top and only priority. The loss of his sword didn't faze him. He needed to get out of here!

He landed on House Yuchi’s airboat, then called out, “Take off, take off, now!”

It was a nightmare to meet a vermilion bird right now. He had no intentions of resisting.

But the Vermilion Bird was hardly going to allow him to flee successfully. That would let down its status as one of the four sacred beasts. The sacred fowl swooped down like a fireball, spontaneously expanding its body once more. It was so enormous that it seized the entire airboat in a single claw.

The vessel was of considerable size and could seat up to several hundred. The vastness of the claw was perfect for it. Their craft forcibly commandeered, the House Yuchi cultivators scampered out all at once.

They weren’t going anywhere! A small flap of the Vermilion Bird’s wings was sufficient to launch a hail of vermilion feathers at the runaways.

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