Within the muffled roar, as time and space gradually collapsed, a massive terrifying face seemed to emerge. Its left eye was a fiery cavern, its right eye an icy abyss. Gigantic horns seemed ablaze, stern and fearsome beyond measure.
Even before it fully descended, the breath of extreme cold had already surged forth, howling and rampaging like a blizzard!
The city of Balensa, on the verge of revival, was once again pushed to the brink of freezing.
Extreme cold descended, frost blanketed heaven and earth.
Gu Jianlin sat upright on the throne, the golden light in his eyes blazing fiercely.
This was the Kui Dragon Ancestor!
"The 'Classic of Mountains and Seas·Great Wilderness East Classic' once said: Its form resembles an ox, its body is azure without horns, it has one leg. When it enters and exits the waters, wind and rain follow, its radiance like the sun and moon, its voice like thunder, and it is named Kui!"
Having crossed paths countless times, both openly and in the shadows, this ancient monster had finally reappeared. Moreover, its aura was clearly more powerful than last time. If another clash of the Ancient Divine Language were to occur, he would most likely be the one to retreat defeated!
In this moment, countless thoughts raced through his mind.
The Kui Dragon Ancestor belonged to the clan of the Candle Dragon, so naturally, it should be a master of the powers of time and space.
For so much of its strength to recover at once, it was certain that it must have been resting in the Sea of Eternal Life to regain its power.
Tang Zijing had previously mentioned that a great being was about to awaken.
The Kui Dragon Ancestor was about to return to its peak!
Gu Jianlin's reckless use of the Qilin Venerable's power, forcibly taking control of this graveyard-like city and purging the Kui's corruption of the Ancient God Seed, must have alarmed it.
What he didn't expect was how swift and thunderous its response would be this time—it was truly a strike of lightning!
No, that wasn't right.
In truth, the Kui had no other choice.
If Gu Jianlin had been the true Qilin Venerable, and had recovered even part of his state, the Kui Dragon Ancestor would have no chance at all. Whether killed or devoured, its fate would be utterly tragic.
However, if the Qilin Venerable's state wasn't as formidable, then the Kui's thunderous strike would buy it enough time—whether to flee this world or recover its strength to return and hunt, both would work in its favor!
Amid the terrifying roar, ancient murmurs echoed.
A voice seemed to whisper: "Qilin…"
This scene was like the resurrection of a primordial giant. The extreme cold gales poured through the fissures of time and space, surging and raging like a blizzard. The entire Golden Temple froze over, as if it had fallen into an abyss.
The monster in the blizzard opened its wild, savage eyes, its voice booming like thunder.
It seemed as though it would tear through time and space to forcibly descend!
Gu Jianlin felt the frost pierce into his bones, his entire body covered in thick layers of ice, his eyelashes frozen solid.
He could barely move.
His mind raced to devise a strategy, but no matter what, he could only see a dead end.
And yet, in that instant, an absurd and fantastical thought surfaced in his mind.
But it was also his only straw to grasp at for survival.
The shadow behind Gu Jianlin trembled violently, dissolving like mist.
An ethereal, unparalleled silhouette coalesced once more. Though a creation of the Qilin Forbidden Curse, its source of power was the devoured Candle Dragon Bone, making its beauty otherworldly. It bloomed like an unrestrained Mandala Flower, exquisite and enchanting, every glance and smile enough to topple all creation.
A beauty without equal, a seductive allure unrivaled.
A magnificence unmatched in the annals of history.
Even due to Gu Jianlin's influence, it carried an additional air of frosty solitude and austere detachment.
She bore dignified crimson dragon horns, her visage a peerless masterpiece in the mortal world. A touch of crimson at the corner of her eyes was bright as blood, her gaze majestic and stern, as though spanning eons of time to behold something profound.
Blood-colored mist danced around her like a flowing dress, swirling violently in the cold winds.
Her inky black hair swayed in the storm.
Her garments fluttered in kind.
"Kui!"
She spoke softly.
There was no overwhelming spiritual fluctuation, merely a detached glance, yet the world itself seemed to tremble.
Boom!
Time and space trembled madly. The terrifying face poised to shatter the void dramatically shifted, as if it had seen an impossible existence. It let out a roar of extreme rage and terror, trembling in awe and dread!
"Venerable One!"
The Kui roared toward the heavens, its ancient, chaotic dialect rumbling like thunder.
"Impossible! How can you possibly appear here! You actually succeeded! You truly succeeded!"
Gu Jianlin understood this archaic language.
Even the Ancient Ancestors could not comprehend the spectacle before their eyes. The Kui sensed overwhelming shock and fear, the entire fabric of time and space quivering on the verge of collapse, teetering towards retreat!
This was exactly the effect Gu Jianlin wanted.
And now, he sought to stoke the flames further!
Good sister, I'm counting on you!
Boom!
The Candle Dragon's ethereal form gradually came into focus. Twin blood-colored vertical pupils ignited, brimming with endless lightning and thunder. In this moment, the heavens and earth seemed to plunge into the Netherworld, with a single black dragon soaring skyward.
It seemed as though it would tear both heaven and earth apart!
Ancient Divine Language!
This was no bellow, but an ethereal, ephemeral melody, as if sung from the very edge of time itself. Someone was softly humming in the silence, yet it carried the weight of divine wrath, concealing the origins of the universe, the essence of creation and destruction, the genesis of all things, the cycles of fate, and the disintegration of karma and order—all unraveling!
Amid the thundering roar, the time and space torn by the Kui Dragon Venerable twisted violently. Like a collapsing vortex, it exploded with a deafening boom, distorting even spatial coordinates and plunging dimensions into chaos!
If the Qilin Venerable's Ancient Divine Language was a forced decree of death upon life,
Then the Candle Dragon Venerable's Ancient Divine Language was the annihilation of causality!
This wasn't Gu Jianlin's power affecting a Primordial Ancestor's time-space travel.
It was the Ancient Divine Language of the Candle Dragon Venerable shattering it from its very foundation!
Like a levee crumbling under the onslaught of ants.
A minuscule deviation creating a vast disparity!
This ability, unique to the Candle Dragon Venerable, had now been flawlessly replicated by him!
With a thunderous explosion!
The spirituality of both his true form and his avatar was completely depleted!
"Candle Dragon, Qilin!"
The collapsing space disintegrated and vanished. Amid it all, the colossal terrifying visage plummeted into the abyss, letting out a furious and panicked roar, spewing blizzard-like breaths that tore through the void!
Boom!
At the final moment of his Ancient God Transformation's dissolution, Gu Jianlin raised his hand to shield himself.
In an instant, he was struck head-on by the raging blizzard crashing down!
In the terrifying explosion, the entire Golden Divine Throne was overturned, smashing through the vast temple and buried under the storm of snow and frost.
·
·
Boom!
Above Balensa City, the snowstorm howled. The terrifying aura, like that of a god, manifested out of nowhere, only to disappear as swiftly as it arrived, leaving behind a flurry of falling snow. The temperature plummeted to minus fifty degrees!
If not for the alchemically-enhanced vehicles of the Ether Association, they would have been rendered inoperable.
"Attention all departments. An ancestor-level fluctuation has been detected! Upon analysis, the source of the spiritual fluctuation matches that of the Underwater Palace event. Temporarily identifying it as the Kui Dragon Ancestor. All units are to enter the highest state of combat readiness."
"Report to headquarters immediately and request Divine General support!"
"Over and out."
Ying Changsheng flew the helicopter with a stone-cold expression. The eldest grandson of the Golden King, heir to the family clan, and the most promising genius to inherit the next "Catastrophe," now bore a resolute yet grim demeanor.
The swords in the sword box trembled violently, uneasy and restless.
"Hush, do not fear."
He said faintly: "Nothing will happen."
"Fifteen minutes ago, we received news of a large-scale disappearance of three thousand people in the real world. All of them Ascenders with established identities within human society. According to the Horus Eye Satellite, traces of sword marks and blood mist were found at the scene."
Mu Qingyou, wearing a headset, reported: "Divination by spirit mediums detected Divine Servant-level fluctuations at the scene. The likely culprit is the missing former heir of the Sword Tomb, Tang Zijing."
She hesitated: "Now with the Kui Dragon Ancestor's appearance and the Ancient God Seed's upheaval in Balensa City, it's highly probable these events are connected to Tang Zijing. Otherwise, the Eastern Front wouldn't have so easily fallen into an ambush."
The top ten Omegas exchanged uncertain glances, sensing that something wasn't right.
For the tone seemed to hint at something unsaid.
But no one dared speak further.
For inside the cabin, someone else was present.
Tang Ling sat in the farthest corner of the cabin, deliberately distancing herself from her teammates. Listening to the reports on the communication channel, her heart felt hollow, an indescribable sensation taking hold.
Whether it was the ominous aura flickering in and out within Balensa City,
Or the roars of the Kui Dragon Ancestor.
It should have been terrifying.
But none of it mattered anymore at this moment.
For before embarking with the support squad, she had already received the news.
A great number of people had disappeared in the real world.
Many innocent people.
And those people were probably already dead.
Because of her great-grandfather.
How vexing.
Tang Ling glanced at the mirror on her lap. The reflection showed a face of stunning beauty, radiant and alluring.
That woman with red hair remained as bewitching and enchanting as ever, her voice a devil's whisper: "What are you still hoping for? After everything Tang Zijing has done, do you still expect him to be as he once was? All you've done so far has only ended up dragging yourself down."
This voice echoed solely in her mind, unheard by anyone else.
Tang Ling fell silent.
"You should've listened to me long ago, giving up on all these meaningless pursuits. Go to Lishan Tiyan Pavilion obediently at year's end to cultivate. You'll become the first human in history to be trained by the Ancient God Clan."
The seductive voice persuaded her: "At that point, surpassing Rhein would be all too easy, wouldn't it? You could even release me completely from Extreme Thunder, and then anyone who displeases you could be dealt with at will. But instead, you pinned your hopes on that Gu brat, got dragged into chaos alongside him, got reprimanded by your teacher, held accountable by the President—and what was the result?"
Tang Ling looked down at her phone, her icy, exquisite eyes devoid of emotion.
The devil in the mirror whispered: "That person didn't even send you a single message."
Tang Ling was silent for a moment. Back when she helped him, she hadn't given it too much thought.
She had simply seen someone stubbornly seeking the truth, alone and isolated—
He had reminded her too much of her old self.
So she did her best to lend him a hand.
For him.
And for herself as well.
But in the end, it turned out she'd been nothing more than a tool.
"If he doesn't reply, so be it. I wasn't expecting anything in the first place."
Tang Ling put away the mirror, curled herself up in the cabin corner with her backpack in her arms. Her frost-white hair cascaded down like snow, disordering her pale, delicate face as she murmured to herself: "Tiyan Pavilion it is, then…"
But just in that moment, the roar outside the cabin abruptly vanished.
The endless thunder of artillery also ceased.
The Ancient God Seed no longer roared.
Silence and freezing cold descended, akin to an abyss.
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