As the spatial vortex vanished before her eyes, Shi Yu knitted her brows and withdrew her hand. Wasting no time dwelling on it, she pushed forward.
However, in the very next second, she suddenly felt her body being dragged by an invisible force, pulling her straight toward the battlefield of the two Fire Spirit Giants.
“Oh no!” Shi Yu’s face paled in shock. She struggled desperately, but she could not break free from the invisible restraint.
Under this powerful pull, a distance of nearly a thousand li flashed by in an instant. Dazzling crimson light expanded before her eyes, forcing her to squint.
Vaguely, she saw the earth tremble, the mountains shake, and heaven and earth crumble.
Surging flames fell from the two giants that seemed to connect heaven and earth. Endless heatwaves rolled forth, swallowing the entire world.
A tsunami of fierce fire wrapped around Shi Yu’s body. Her meridians vibrated intensely like plucked bowstrings, causing her to spurt a mouthful of blood.
Without time to think, Shi Yu instinctively summoned the Void Fissure Spiritual Flame to protect herself. Yet the heatwave was halted for only a single breath before pressing down on her with even greater fierceness.
Fissures thousands of feet deep ripped open across the ground. Swallowed by the rushing flames, Shi Yu had no strength to resist and tumbled directly into a bottomless chasm.
...
Outside the Yanyang Spiritual Realm.
Although it was high noon, the sky was unusually dark, as if the black hole indicating the spiritual realm was open was sucking all the light into itself. The surrounding air grew heavy and suffocating.
Yin Shixiu stood atop a mountain peak, looking up at the black hole in midair. “Twenty-five days have passed. Today, Wenzhou and Qingmu should be coming out.”
Before this, those who had emerged had returned empty-handed. Not only had none of them managed to see the Yanyang Xuancang Flame, but a few unfortunates had even lost their lives.
The elders who had accompanied them and waited outside found this outcome difficult to accept. Some sighed bitterly, while others wept aloud, weeping tears and snot with complete disregard for their dignity or composure.
Yet everyone present sighed in their hearts, fully empathizing with their grief.
After all... among those who stood out in the grand competition of the Alchemy Exchange Conference, who wasn't praised as a genius?
Seeing the juniors they had painstakingly nurtured and cherished like precious gems perish silently in a spiritual realm where no accidents had ever occurred before—thinking it was an opportunity only to be met with such a tragedy—was something no one could bear.
Yin Shixiu and Qin Yu were naturally feeling anxious, unsure of what the situation inside the spiritual realm was really like.
Fortunately, they did not have to wait much longer. The black hole suddenly shrank, sending out two distinct ripples.
The power inside the black hole grew increasingly violent, creating a pitch-black void. Suddenly, the wind wailed like weeping ghosts and howling gods. An indescribably terrifying energy leaked out, causing even the surrounding space to crumble into tiny fragments that drifted in the wind.
Everyone's expression changed dramatically.
“What powerful spiritual Qi fluctuations!”
“What is going on today...?”
Why was the commotion so much greater than before?
Before anyone could figure out what was happening, two figures flew backward out of the realm like arrows shot from a bow, one after the other. It was none other than Yin Wenzhou and Qin Qingmu.
Seeing that it was the two of them, Yin Shixiu and Qin Yu finally set their minds at ease and quickly flew forward to catch them.
Yet they saw that both were deathly pale, still shaken with horror as if they had seen something terrifying. Their divine souls were unstable, rendering them temporarily unable to react to the change in environment.
Yin Shixiu frowned, flicked his sleeve, and produced two mind-soothing pills, popping them into their mouths.
Once the pills were swallowed, Yin Wenzhou and Qin Qingmu slowly calmed down, and their frozen pupils began to move again.
“Master!”
“Father!”
Qin Yu gently stroked his daughter's back and injected a strand of dense spiritual Qi to help smooth out her chaotic, reverse-flowing energy. “What happened?”
Qin Qingmu and Yin Wenzhou traded a glance, unable to conceal the lingering terror in their eyes.
Even after entering the spatial vortex created by the Yanyang Tokens, they had still gone through a harrowing ordeal. The spatial shockwaves caused by the clash of the two Fire Spirit Giants had affected the tokens, rendering the vortex extremely unstable. The internal storm surged wildly, nearly devouring them.
Yin Wenzhou and Qin Qingmu had used every ounce of their strength to barely resist the storm's onslaught. Yet they could not find an exit, left to spin endlessly within the vortex.
Fortunately, in the end... it had been a close call without real disaster.
In response to her father's question, Qin Qingmu measured her words before slowly speaking of how the fight between the two Fire Spirit Giants had triggered a cataclysm, forcing her and Yin Wenzhou to flee everywhere.
In her account, however, she omitted the detail that Shi Yu had led the way for them and was subsequently left behind in the spiritual realm alone.
Yin Wenzhou glanced at her, his hands tightening into fists, but in the end, he said nothing.
At last, Qin Qingmu said with a face full of disappointment, “I accepted the spiritual energy infusion to forcibly raise my cultivation to Foundation Establishment and returned from Shiyan Academy all for the Yanyang Xuancang Flame. But now...”
Knowing that his daughter originally had the potential for an Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment, but was now limited to a Mortal Dao Foundation Establishment because she had forcibly raised her cultivation—a complete loss on all fronts—Qin Yu sighed and could only comfort her, “As long as you're safe, that's what matters.”
Yin Wenzhou's expression was equally unsightly. Decades ago, the Association had already sensed that the Yanyang Spiritual Realm was on the verge of demise. They had spent immense resources nurturing him and repeatedly sending him into the realm, hoping he could subdue the Yanyang Xuancang Flame before the realm vanished.
Yet he never expected... that he was ultimately fated to miss this worldly spiritual treasure.
The two Golden Core powerhouses said no more, merely instructing, “Your divine souls are unstable. Go back and rest first.”
Qin Qingmu held her chest, bowed with a pale face, and said, “Then Qingmu will take her leave first.”
Yin Wenzhou hesitated for a moment, but ultimately stayed behind. “I'll wait a bit longer.”
He believed he owed Shi Yu nothing, yet he couldn't convince himself otherwise. A sense of guilt lingered, and unsure of what else he could do, he could only wait here to see what Shi Yu's ultimate fate would be.
Glancing at him, Qin Yu turned to Yin Shixiu. “Right now, only that evil cultivator named Pei from Wanchou Prefecture and Shi Yu from Lingtai Prefecture have yet to emerge.”
The two of them had taken first and second place respectively, meaning they were meant to stay the longest in the spiritual realm.
Yin Shixiu hummed in thought and said, “According to what Qingmu just said, the turmoil caused by the fight between the two Fire Spirit Giants affected the entire spiritual realm. Thus... I fear the two of them are...”
He did not finish his sentence, but everyone understood his meaning.
They were likely dead.
Sure enough, two days later, when Pei Yanji—the second-place winner of the grand competition—was supposed to emerge from the realm, everyone waited in vain. Seeing no sign of him, they knew he had likely perished.
Because of this, speculation regarding Shi Yu's situation became even more grim.
Another three days passed, bringing the final day of the Yanyang Spiritual Realm's opening.
Everyone waited from noon until dusk, but Shi Yu still did not come out.
Before the daylight faded and night rose, the ripples emanating from the black hole in the sky suddenly contracted. The black hole, originally ten feet across, shrank continuously—down to the size of a basin, a bowl, a fist, and finally dissolved into a tiny black speck, vanishing without leaving a single trace.
Yin Shixiu narrowed his eyes and said slowly, “The spiritual realm has collapsed.”
He did not say it was “closed,” but rather “collapsed.” His perception as a Golden Core powerhouse allowed him to sense that not even a trace of the spiritual realm's aura remained in midair. In all previous instances, even when the spiritual realm closed, a distinct trace of spiritual power fluctuations would always linger behind.
“Henceforth, the Yanyang Spiritual Realm is no more,” Yin Shixiu announced gravely.
Yin Wenzhou froze for a moment, then suddenly murmured, “...Shi Yu hasn't come out yet.”
Yin Shixiu said calmly, “If what you said is true, given the clash between the Fire Spirit Giants that day, she and Pei Yanji have likely already...”
He did not finish, nor did he need to.
Yin Wenzhou felt a mix of complex emotions. He knew that under such apocalyptic turmoil, the chances of Shi Yu surviving were astronomically slim. Yet for some reason, an uncomfortable heaviness weighed on his heart.
On the other side, President Song, Master Ji, and the others stared blankly at the sky, their throats tight and unable to speak a word.
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