If Xiao Yan was indeed missing, the "Butterfly Effect" his actions had caused was far greater and more unpredictable than he had ever expected. Without the protagonist's foreseen, necessary help, many safety nets that should have protected his own family... his parents back in the small Jia Ma Empire... might no longer exist. The original danger his family faced had been subtle and contained, but now, without the central figure to anchor events, the entire timeline was a chaotic, unpredictable mess of unknown variables.
He flicked his wrist. A small, brilliant jade-green spatial tear opened silently and effortlessly beside him.
"I have my own urgent, far more pressing matters to attend to now," Shen Yi stated, his tone firm and final. He looked back at Han Xue, his gaze intense and unforgettable. "Inform your clan elders that the Hong Clan no longer exists. Use the pill's medicinal power to facilitate your escape from this place. And above all else, do not speak of me to anyone."
Han Xue could only nod silently, completely overwhelmed. The sheer, absolute authority in his voice left her no space for resistance or defiance.
Shen Yi turned away from the terrified girl. His mind had already made a resolute decision. The ongoing, prolonged exploration of the Central Continent could wait for a considerable while... perhaps forever.
"If the plotline has changed this much, I cannot afford to assume anything is safe back home. I must confirm my parents' situation with my own eyes and eliminate any potential threat myself."
With a decisive step, his figure vanished into the emerald spatial tear. The faint gray-gold flash of lightning disappeared, leaving the Hong Clan's highest tower eerily silent, though the sounds of a terrified, collapsing fortress were just beginning to rise from the chaos below. His new direction was set: a rapid, desperate return to the distant, small Jia Ma Empire.
The rift deep within the Central Continent closed instantly behind him.
Moments Later,
Shen Yi's figure reappeared a thousand miles from the Jia Ma Empire's borders, but he did not slow down for an instant. He tore through space with a silent, desperate urgency, his formidable Dou Saint power... now inexplicably surging to the mythical peak of Nine Stars... ignoring all natural barriers and the laws of the world.
The destiny and fate of the Central Continent were completely unimportant compared to the immediate, desperate safety of his family.
He arrived above Yan City in a spectacular flash of gray-gold light, his presence tearing the air.
The scene below was utter chaos, far grander and more devastating than a mere family siege. The entire city was a smoking, desolate ruin of burned and collapsed buildings.
The Chu Yun Empire's armies, easily recognized by their dark-red banners and symbols, had already broken through the city walls and were systematically destroying entire districts. Flames licked the sky like hungry, consuming tongues, and the brutal battle cries of the invaders horribly mixed with the desperate screams of the few remaining, distressed defenders. This was no skirmish; it was a devastating, full-scale invasion designed for total destruction.
His attention instantly snapped to the familiar, central section of the city.
The Shen Clan mansion was indeed under attack, but the main assault was internal and terrifyingly focused. While the bulk of the Chu Yun forces rampaged mindlessly across the city, the Shen family grounds had been secretly entered by a far more insidious and deadly threat.
Above the main courtyard, three ominous figures in black, mist-wreathed robes had successfully cornered the two people Shen Yi cared for most dearly in all the world.
His father, Shen Han, stood resolutely shoulder to shoulder with his mother, Shen Yue. Both their faces were pale with exhaustion but filled with unwavering resolve, having somehow managed to reach the top of the Dou Emperor realm in the years between.
Yet, their hard-won strength was still pitifully insufficient against these unexpected and terrifyingly powerful invaders. Their figures were protected only by a flickering, thin golden shield... the last, dying effect of an emergency artifact Shen Yi had given them years ago.
"The time is up, Shen Han," a dark sneer flashed across the leader's shadowed expression. He was a dark, mist-wreathed Soul Hall Guardian, his power radiating the horrifying, suffocating might of a high-level Dou Venerate.
Behind him were two equally dangerous Soul Hall Elders, both mid-level Dou Venerates, their hands wreathed in chilling black soul-fire. "Your son, Shen Yi, has drastically messed up our Clan's long-term plans and has directly caused the death of one of our most capable guardians," the first elder hissed, his voice full of venom.
"Seize the woman's soul first; it is remarkably pure," the second elder hissed, his eyes fixed on Shen Yue with a predatory, possessive gleam. "We will make sure that boy experiences the profound agony of knowing it was his own selfish defiance that directly caused the destruction of his family and his entire city."
The Guardian slowly raised his hand, gathering an immense, destructive vortex of soul power. He spoke with cold, chilling arrogance: "While the price of your son's defiance is indeed high, the price of attracting our Chief's attention is far higher. You will both be taken alive, serving as the perfect, living threat to permanently control the defiant brat."
Just as the Guardian's final, overwhelming attack began its swift, world-ending descent, an invisible pressure, silent and absolutely complete, fell from the heavens with divine, crushing force.
Wroom!
The destructive vortex of soul power instantly scattered, vanishing as if it had been swallowed by the very air they breathed. The chilling black flame around the elders' hands sputtered and died immediately. Even the random flames burning the roof tiles of the Shen Mansion died down and were pulled back by an invisible, commanding current.
"What kind of Chief is yours that demands such a price?" a calm, lethal voice spoke from high above them.
Every single soul on the battlefield... from the lowest Chu Yun soldier to the terrified Soul Hall Guardian... felt their knees lock and their breath violently catch in their throats... an instinctive, overwhelming terror that went beyond mere fear.
Shred!
In the dead center of the sky, high above the entire capital city, a spatial tear... vast, perfect, and absolute... opened without a whisper of sound.
Shen Yi stepped out from the rift, his mere presence utterly dominating the entire landscape.
He wore the simple black robe that had vanished a decade prior, yet the figure beneath it was no longer a youth, but a supreme, returning ruler of his domain.
His eyes, now a calm, deep vortex of violet and gold, held the placid indifference of a storm that had entirely accepted its own divine, boundless power. Every single inch of his being pulsed with the boundless, world-shattering energy of a peak Dou Saint.
"You came for me," Shen Yi's voice was quiet, yet it boomed not in the air but directly in the minds of the attackers, overriding the distant thunder of the battle and silencing the entire city in a single, devastating instant. "You are merely rats of the wretched Soul Hall. And you dared to lay a hand upon my parents."
The three Soul Hall figures froze completely, their eyes wide with profound, unimaginable terror. Their Dou Venerate power, which had felt all-powerful moments ago, now seemed utterly worthless and pathetic. The Guardian, his soul sensing the absolute, unbridgeable gap in strength, began to shiver violently, a fear-induced seizure.
"Nine… Nine-Star Dou Saint…" the Guardian whispered, the name a cry of utter, desolate despair that echoed the sheer impossibility of the moment. "Impossible… the highest realm in the world… how could you possibly reach the absolute peak of the continent at this age!"
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