The voice was a spark in a keg of gunpowder.

It hit the Heavenly Gate Sect cultivators like a potent stimulant, instantly igniting their blood. Morale, which had been wavering under Qin Heng’s dominance, exploded. Fanaticism replaced fear. Even those on the brink of death began to fight with suicidal ferocity, trading injuries to drag the Eastern Sage Sect disciples down with them.

Jing Kongcheng and He Lin, who had been struggling to cope with Qin Heng’s oppressive power, lit up with relief.

“The Sect Master!”

“The Sect Master is here!”

“It’s Ning Daohuan!”

Qin Heng forced the two traitors back with a sweeping arc of sword light, his expression turning grave. He looked toward the distant horizon, where the massive statue was closing in.

His Divine Sense swept out, brushing against the figure standing atop the stone giant.

The aura was as deep as an abyss and as steady as a mountain. It carried a terrifying weight that seemed to transcend the Golden Core realm entirely.

A Nascent Soul True Lord!

For the first time, a shadow of heaviness fell over Qin Heng’s steely face. He abruptly turned his head, his voice booming like thunder across the battlefield.

“All Eastern Sage Sect disciples! Retreat and defend the mountain gate!”

“Activate the Mountain Guarding Formation!”

“Obeying Elder Qin’s command!”

“Understood!”

Chaos erupted. Countless weaker disciples and laborers scrambled frantically toward the safety of the sect’s inner sanctum. Those too slow were cut down in the confusion, their blood staining the stone steps.

Simultaneously, powerful auras flared to life across the sect. Cultivators stepped forward, hands moving in a blur of seals.

Zhao Feng was among the first. He stepped into the void, chanting an incantation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Pillars of blinding light erupted from the earth, shooting straight into the heavens.

To Wang Ba’s shock, a pillar of light also roared to life from right within Ding-Nine Manor, mirroring others at Ding-Seven and Ding-Five.

The pillars expanded, linking together in a vast, shimmering web. In the blink of an eye, a colossal curtain of light enveloped the Sect’s core area—and Ding-Nine Manor along with it.

Wang Ba finally understood why Zhao Feng had insisted he come here if things went south.

Ding-Nine Manor wasn’t just a residential area; it was one of the anchor points for the Mountain Guarding Grand Formation!

As long as he stayed within the manor, and the formation held, he was untouchable.

Yet, as he looked toward the main mountain gate, a nagging sense of unease gnawed at him. Something felt… off. But amidst the chaos, he couldn’t pinpoint the flaw.

Outside the barrier, straggling Heavenly Gate Sect cultivators were trapped. Cut off from their allies, they were instantly blasted into meat paste by the vengeful sect defenders.

Zhao Feng walked on air, his sword moving with casual lethality. Any enemy who resisted was effortlessly beheaded. Cheers erupted from the disciples below, but Zhao Feng’s face remained grim. His eyes were fixed on the sky beyond the barrier.

“Master…”

Outside the sky-reaching curtain of light.

Qin Heng stood alone against the tide.

With the Mountain Guarding Formation active, the enemy army refocused. Foundation Establishment cultivators, no longer needing to breach the perimeter, formed battle arrays and charged at him.

Normally, such ants posed no threat to a Golden Core True Person. But with Jing Kongcheng and He Lin pinning him down, Qin Heng couldn’t spare the energy for a mass slaughter. His maneuvering space was shrinking by the second.

Worse, He Lin’s voice was a constant, poisonous drone.

“Senior Brother Qin, surrender!”

“Ji Lan is gone. You are no match for us. And with the Sect Master here, resistance is suicide.”

“Join us. The two of us can support each other within the Heavenly Gate Sect. I know your Lifespan is nearing its end, Senior Brother… The Holy Sect possesses Nascent Soul True Methods. With your accumulation, one look at those texts might trigger an epiphany. You could break through!”

“Shut up!”

Qin Heng’s beard and hair bristled with rage. He swung his sword wildly, shattering an incoming battle array, but Jing Kongcheng immediately filled the gap, blocking his follow-up.

Qin Heng felt like he was fighting in a swamp. He had world-shaking power, but nowhere to unleash it.

He rang the Spirit-Locking Bell, the sound waves forcing the mob back, but his face paled. He quickly swallowed a pill to suppress his roiling Qi.

His eyes, cold as daggers, locked onto He Lin. “He Lin. Did you betray the Sect just for a peek at their so-called Nascent Soul methods?”

He Lin, still pale from the earlier bell strike, took a breath and shook his head.

“Senior Brother, you are old.”

“You and Ji Lan… your vision is limited to these backwater specks like the State of Chen and the State of Fu. You guard the Eastern Sage Sect’s tiny plot of land like misers, unaware that the outside world has turned upside down!”

He Lin’s voice grew fervent, bordering on hysterical.

“Do you know that beyond the three states of Sen, Chen, and Fu, lies the vast Wind Descending Continent with its thirty-nine nations? And now, forty percent of them have fallen to the Path of Faith!”

“Do you know that a massive flood has swallowed the continents neighboring ours? Those lands are now nothing but endless ocean!”

“Do you know that refugees—cultivators from those drowned lands—will soon wash up on our shores? Among them will be the Nascent Soul monsters we have sought for centuries… perhaps even Soul Formation Ancestors!”

He Lin poured out the secrets he had held for so long, his eyes gleaming with a twisted conviction.

“The Eastern Sage Sect’s world is too small, Senior Brother.”

“Rather than waiting to be slaughtered like ants when the great changes come, or withering away in meditation until my Lifespan runs out… I chose to follow the Sect Master. I chose the true Path of Longevity!”

“Well said!”

BOOM!

The massive divine statue crashed into the earth just outside the sect’s perimeter. Dust clouds billowed into the sky.

The statue was a nightmare of stone—four faces, twenty-four arms, each palm supporting a seated figure. The aura radiating from each of those figures felt no weaker than He Lin’s.

And standing atop the statue’s head, hands clasped behind his back, was a man of breathtaking nobility.

His long hair danced in the wind. His eyes held the rotation of the sun and moon.

Heavenly Gate Sect Master, Ning Daohuan.

He looked down at He Lin with a benevolent smile.

“Fellow Daoist He understands the heavenly principles. This is the mark of a true cultivator! From this day forth, you shall be an Elder of the ‘Profound Yang Path’, one of our twenty-four Paths.”

“You shall be granted access to the Four Nascent Soul True Methods.”

He Lin trembled with joy, bowing deeply. “I am overwhelmed by the Holy Sect’s grace!”

Ning Daohuan nodded, then turned his gaze to Qin Heng. The smile vanished.

“The three breaths are long past, Qin Heng. Surrender, and a seat among the twenty-four Elders is yours. You may even view the Nascent Soul scriptures.”

“But if you insist on courting death…”

Qin Heng’s reaction, however, made Ning Daohuan narrow his eyes.

“Surrender?”

Qin Heng looked around at the circle of enemies. There was no fear in his eyes. Only a wild, savage delight.

“I originally planned to chop off one of your Sect’s fingers and take my time. I never expected to hook the big fish so soon!”

Jing Kongcheng’s expression darkened. “Qin Heng, stop playing tricks!”

He Lin frowned, stepping forward. “Senior Brother Qin, there is no need to—”

He stopped.

His face contorted in sudden horror. He looked down at his hand.

Without him noticing, his palm had become covered in a dense web of black, vein-like patterns. As he looked up, terrified, the same patterns were already crawling up his neck and across his face.

“W-what is this poison?! I… I… Sect Master, save me! Save me!”

He Lin stumbled toward Ning Daohuan, his voice cracking with terror.

Ning Daohuan recoiled, his face twisting in disgust.

“The ‘Floating Life Curse’ of the Ten Thousand Curses Sect… The person struck by this curse is beyond saving. You are already dead.”

Qin Heng sighed, a sound of heavy regret. “Don’t blame me, Junior Brother He. You are a Golden Core True Person. Did you really think we wouldn’t have a contingency plan for a traitor of your rank?”

He Lin’s eyes widened in despair. “If you knew… why did Ji Lan still leave?”

Then, realization hit him like a physical blow.

“I… I understand! You… you are ruthless! The disciples below… you let them die! You used them as bait!”

“The joint attack on the State of Fu… it was all a smokescreen! Your real target was always the Heavenly Gate Sect!”

“No… you want the Heavenly Gate Sect’s Nascent Soul methods too!”

He Lin laughed, a sound of pure madness.

“Truth and lies… when the fake becomes real, the real becomes fake! Sacrificing thousands of disciples who will never reach Golden Core to kill one enemy Elder… it’s a bargain! A bargain!”

Qin Heng sighed again, his hand forming a final seal. “A pity you realized it too late.”

Riiiip.

The black patterns erupted from He Lin’s skin, twisting like thorns and plunging deep into his flesh, piercing his heart and shattering his Golden Core.

The traitor He Lin… perished.

Ning Daohuan watched the death of his new recruit with eyes cold as absolute zero. His aura exploded, a terrifying pressure that warped the air around him.

“Qin Heng. Any last words?”

“Senior Brother Qin is hale and hearty. Sect Master Ning should worry about himself.”

A voice—deep, magnetic, and calm—drifted out from the sect’s core.

The disciples below looked up in shock.

A massive warship pierced through the clouds, sailing slowly into view.

On its deck stood five Golden Core True Persons, flanked by a legion of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators.

At the bow stood a man in a crimson-white Daoist robe. He wore a jade crown and held a folding fan, his face as flawless as white jade.

“Ji Lan? You… you didn’t leave?!” Jing Kongcheng gasped, shock cracking his composure for the first time. “I watched you leave with my own eyes!”

“Fellow Daoist Jing is correct. I did leave,” Ji Lan said with a refined smile, gently fanning himself. “But I came back via the teleportation array. Your ‘Intercepting Void Formation’ is indeed impressive; it took me quite some effort to bypass it.”

He turned his gaze to Ning Daohuan, his eyes sparkling with genuine delight.

“But without such a performance, how could we attract such a joyous event?”

“Joyous event?” Ning Daohuan sneered. “With just your six Golden Cores?”

“No, no, no.”

Ji Lan shook his head, his expression turning serious.

“Sect Master Ning, do you know why the Eastern Sage Sect chose this land?”

Ning Daohuan didn’t answer. He didn’t care.

BOOM!

His Nascent Soul aura erupted. He didn’t waste a single word. He simply reached out a hand.

A giant palm made of pure energy materialized, covering the sky, and smashed down toward the exhausted Qin Heng.

Shameless! A grand Sect Master launching a sneak attack!

Qin Heng, despite being on guard, hadn’t expected Ning Daohuan to attack without even a preamble. He frantically activated layers of defensive artifacts, but the palm shattered them like glass.

Bang!

Qin Heng was sent flying, blood spraying from his mouth.

Ning Daohuan struck again instantly, a second palm aiming to finish the job.

Clang!

A pair of golden bells flew out from Qin Heng’s robes, radiating a blinding light. They intercepted the palm, holding firm against the crushing pressure.

“A 4th Grade Dharma Treasure… no, that aura touches the 5th Grade!”

Greed flashed in Ning Daohuan’s eyes. He reached out to snatch the bells.

“Sect Master Ning is too impatient,” Ji Lan sighed, snapping his fan shut.

“Fine. Let me show you why, in this chaos of rising and falling empires, only the Eastern Sage Sect has stood firm for hundreds of years.”

Ji Lan raised his fan.

“Fan Ming Grand Formation, RISE!”

As the words fell, the earth groaned.

Across the entire territory of the Eastern Sage Sect, pillars of purple light tore through the ground, screaming into the heavens.