"You said the Holy Maiden is in the palace, which means she is not in the palace at all!"
Mo Rui twirled his white beard between two fingers, smiling faintly, the lines at the corners of his eyes deepening into a web of wrinkles.
With a single sentence he had pierced through the truth. Qian Zhi's eyes flickered with panic as he looked nervously at Wan Huaiyuan. "Great Elder, he guessed it…"
Wan Huaiyuan calmly lifted his eyelids. "No need to panic. Even if he guessed the Holy Maiden is not here, he cannot possibly know where she has gone."
Qian Zhi froze. It was true. He would not be able to find her because they themselves did not know who had taken the Holy Maiden away…
"As long as the Holy Maiden lives, our Holy Palace will endure!"
Wan Huaiyuan fixed his gaze firmly on Mo Rui, his expression unshakable, vowing with his very life to protect the Holy Palace.
Mo Rui slowly pressed the piece of Jianmu into the ground until it sank deep beneath the surface. "But if all of you are dead, then even if the Holy Maiden still lives, she is just a powerless woman. Sooner or later, she will fall into our hands."
Wan Huaiyuan's eyes locked on the Jianmu burrowing into the earth. The ground beneath their feet trembled, and the profound ice cracked into water in an instant.
His pupils shrank sharply. He knew a great enemy had come.
"Sect master Mo, who are the 'we' you keep speaking of?"
Mo Rui stood bathed in a faint azure glow, lips curved in a smile. "Since every Holy Maiden from your Holy Palace who ascended has already perished, I may as well tell you the truth. It makes no difference now. You can stir up no more waves."
Wan Huaiyuan shuddered as if struck by lightning. "What did you say? What have you done to our ascended Holy Maidenes?"
"It is not what I did alone. I joined hands with Spirit Realm cultivators and swept them all away in one net. Every Holy Maiden from your Holy Palace who ascended is dead. You are now turtles in a jar, with no one left to save you."
Mo Rui chuckled as he poured spiritual power into the Jianmu. It instantly broke through the ice from beneath, ramming against the fragile natural barrier and shaking the earth violently.
Qian Zhi's expression changed drastically. He quickly formed seals with both hands and struck them toward the barrier. "Hurry, everyone, defend the Holy Palace with me! Do not listen to this old man's words!"
"Y-yes!" The disciples of the Holy Palace trembled but followed, channeling their spiritual power together to steady the quivering natural barrier.
Wan Huaiyuan's face was etched with disbelief as he looked around at the trembling ice. "Impossible… how could things have turned out like this?"
Mo Rui's laugh was low and cold. "The Spirit Realm is no longer a place fit for cultivation. The Holy Maidenes you nurtured were pure and flawless, their spiritual power abundant. We once thought they could resist the strange miasma…
But Heaven mocks men's hopes. Their flesh and souls were barely enough to push us to the Mahayana stage. To ascend to the Immortal Realm, to escape the Spirit Realm, we were only a single step away…
Yet at that very moment, they all perished. We… were bitterly disappointed!"
Mo Rui sighed long and sorrowfully.
Wan Huaiyuan and the disciples of the Holy Palace were shaken to their core, severing their connection to the barrier one after another, leaving only Qian Zhi pouring his spiritual energy into it in a daze.
"How could you do such a thing? Was not Wuxiang Sect always boasting of being the number one sect under Heaven? With such acts, do you still deserve that title?"
Wan Huaiyuan's roar was full of hatred.
A flash of pain passed through Mo Rui's clouded eyes. "You people of the lower realms understand nothing. If we did not do this, we could only watch as the miasma ate away at our organs, wait as our life spans burned out, and finally lower our eyes in death."
The entire hall was stunned.
Wan Huaiyuan stared in horror. "The miasma is something from the Spirit Realm itself? Even you cannot dispel it?"
Mo Rui did not hide the truth. "Yes. When I first ascended to the Spirit Realm, I too looked forward to it as you do. But only upon arrival did I discover that every cultivator there carries within them a strange miasma. It seeps in quietly, infiltrating our very beings, ensuring that no one can ever cultivate further."
He lifted his head, eyes heavy with longing and pain as he stared at the sky above.
The entire Holy Palace was shaken by this revelation.
Qian Zhi stammered, "Then the Spirit Realm is not a holy land for cultivators… but a hell!"
Wan Huaiyuan said sharply, "So that is why you have set your sights on this lower realm."
"Exactly. Returning here is our only way. No one can resist the strange miasma. I have cultivated for a thousand years. I will not sit and watch myself wither away into dust."
By the end, Mo Rui no longer concealed the ruthlessness in his eyes. He slammed both palms to the ground, making the tremors even fiercer.
Qian Zhi staggered, shouting, "Do not let his words sway you! Continue protecting the Holy Palace, increase your output!"
"Yes!"
The disciples of the Holy Palace combined their strength, threads of spiritual energy weaving together in the air, pouring into the trembling barrier to shield the vast palace of profound ice.
Wan Huaiyuan looked at them, his gaze hollow, then swept his eyes over Mo Rui and the Spirit Realm cultivators' triumphant smiles. Tilting his head back to the storming sky, he muttered,"The Holy Palace will not end here. The Holy Maiden will come to save us…"
…
Eastern Wilderness.
Longyin Village.
"Fluorite, luminous pearls, East Sea pearls… well done, all of you. With these treasures, our village will surely weather this heavenly calamity safely!"
A booming voice carried across ten miles. Jiang Shengxiang looked at the villagers who had returned to their usual routines, stroking his beard with a smile.
"Now that the Fairy has become the Xiānzhǔ of the Eastern Wilderness, such trifles are countless. Even if we lit up a hundred miles around, we would not use a fraction of her stores."
He turned his head. "Rong-yé, will Xiānzhǔ not blame us for doing this?"
Xiao Rong bit into a spirit fruit from Clear Water River, slouching lazily on a throne gilded with golden dragons and gemstones. With his mouth full he mumbled, "Don't worry. Boss does not lack for such things."
Jiang Shengxiang glanced at the piles of fruit surrounding him, then at the village shining as bright as day, and sighed. "Xiānzhǔ's righteousness is boundless."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunder roared deafeningly. A violet bolt split through the night sky, and suddenly the Heaven-Climbing Ladder appeared, bridging Heaven and Earth.
Jiang Shengxiang narrowed his eyes. "Is someone ascending?"
Xiao Rong muttered, "That's an awfully big spectacle for an ascension. When Boss ascends one day, won't the entire Heaven and Earth change color?"
"No, this is not ascension!"
A flash of red robes came streaking through the air. Nie Rong snapped open his jade fan with a crisp sound, landing elegantly on a rooftop, his sharp gaze fixed on the heavenly ladder.
"That is not ascension. A heavenly ladder should never…"
"Wow, I thought it was Xiao Tang. Old man Nie, are you getting married today?"
Xiao Rong sniffled and stared wide-eyed at Nie Rong.
Jiang Shengxiang's lips twitched. He could not bear to watch.
Was this elder truly that obsessed with appearances?
"Well, how about it? Handsome enough?" Nie Rong, unbothered by the interruption, curved his lips in smug confidence, his fan stirring the breeze to flutter his hair.
Xiao Rong and Jiang Shengxiang both mimed retching in unison.
Nie Rong frowned, snorted coldly. "Hmph, a pair of fools with no appreciation. Never mind. I shall show this fine new attire to Miss Tang and Physician Zhou instead!"