"What?"

Hearing Blood Demon’s abrupt remark, Qing Yuan froze, almost thinking she had misheard due to her exhaustion.

"I said, Qing Yuan! I’ve found my master!"

Blood Demon’s voice was filled with uncontrollable excitement. This woman, who had lived for over three thousand years, was now as giddy as an eight or nine-year-old girl.

"Look, look at this!"

As she spoke, she hurriedly spread the thick Hundred Affairs Scroll across the table, then took out a clean sheet of Xuan Paper and carefully placed it to the side.

She began meticulously marking the locations and bearings she had previously selected from the Hundred Affairs Scroll onto the Xuan Paper.

Qing Yuan stood to the side, completely baffled, with no idea what Blood Demon was doing.

"Do you remember the deduction I made before?"

Blood Demon looked up, her gaze burning as she stared at Qing Yuan and asked.

"Back then, those few Sect Leaders at the Ascension Realm who came out of the White Bone Forbidden Land all remained silent. As soon as they returned, they announced they were entering seclusion. There were even signs that their Dao Hearts were shaken.

At the time, I speculated that they must have encountered something in the forbidden land that defied common sense, something incomprehensible.

They might have even been secretly plotting something."

"Now, take another look at these places..."

As she spoke, Blood Demon pointed to the spots she had just marked on the Xuan Paper. "According to the Hundred Affairs Scroll’s records from the past two years, large-scale Fierce Beast riots have broken out in all these places. And they just so happen to be where those Sect Leaders’ Sects are located." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"And here, look at these."

Finally, as Blood Demon connected the scattered marks one by one with lines, Qing Yuan’s eyes gradually widened.

In that moment, Qing Yuan vaguely understood what Blood Demon was trying to show her.

The Sects corresponding to these locations, though far apart and seemingly unrelated, were scattered around the Wandao Sect. They corresponded with one another, ultimately outlining a massive Spirit Gathering Array!

And the center of this Array was—

The Wandao Sect!

"This..." Qing Yuan stared blankly as she raised her head to look at Blood Demon, momentarily at a loss for words.

Blood Demon’s expression was grim, her tone heavy. "If my deductions are correct, they are using their own Sects as mediums to try and awaken some kind of entity!"

She paused for a moment, her gaze growing deeper as she continued, "Qing Yuan, I’ve asked you this before—did all those Cultivators who disappeared in the White Bone Forbidden Land really perish? If they truly want to awaken something, relying on Heavenly and Earthly Treasures alone is likely far from enough."

"So... you suspect that the powerful experts who went missing in the Secret Realm were actually..." Qing Yuan unconsciously clenched her fists, her voice trembling slightly.

"Mhm."

Blood Demon responded in a low voice, then turned her head to gaze toward the main peak of the Wandao Sect.

"My master has always been cautious, and her Cultivation has reached Immortal Realm Perfection. Even if she met with disaster in the White Bone Forbidden Land, she absolutely had the ability to escape. Unless... she was betrayed."

...

Deep within the main peak of the Wandao Sect.

Sect Leader Ding Jingyi walked slowly into a hidden mountain cave.

The cave entrance was deep and dark, with a winding passage that led down into the heart of the main peak.

He descended the stone steps one by one, his footsteps echoing with stark clarity in the empty cavern.

The entire main peak had long since been completely hollowed out.

At the end of the passage, dozens of complex Arrays were arranged in rows. At the center of each Array, a Cultivator was firmly bound by Profound Iron Chains.

Their limbs were bound, and Soul-Nailing Needles had been driven into the vital acupoints all over their bodies.

Not only was their Spiritual Power completely sealed, making it impossible to mobilize even a sliver, but they couldn’t even take their own lives.

Meanwhile, their Life Origin and lifetime of Cultivation were being continuously drained away like a stream.

"For the past three thousand years, you have all suffered."

Ding Jingyi stood before the Arrays and gave a slight bow to the ten imprisoned Cultivators.

"Ding Jingyi! For your perverse actions, you will surely face heavenly retribution!" the former Hall Master of Rakshasa Hall snapped his head up, his gaze like daggers fixed on Ding Jingyi’s face.

"Stop now! It’s not too late to turn back from your misguided path!" the Peak Master of Sword Peak coughed up some clotted blood. His eyes blazed with sharp killing intent, but his voice could not hide its weakness.

However, Ding Jingyi acted as if he hadn’t heard any of these rebukes or warnings.

He simply paced calmly, finally stopping in front of a woman.

Her head was bowed, her long hair disheveled, and her face was as pale as paper.

But even so, it was impossible to hide the woman’s world-toppling beauty.

"Rushi, is there anything you’d like to say?"

Ding Jingyi gazed at the woman, his voice low.

The woman named Zhou Rushi slowly raised her head.

Her expression was abnormally calm, showing neither sorrow nor joy.

Only her eyes revealed a hint of pity for Ding Jingyi, and perhaps even a faint trace of sorrow.

"What is there left to say? I am merely disappointed that this world could produce people like you."

Her voice was soft, but every word was clear:

"The ancestors of the Human and Demon Races of old went through so much hardship and paid such a great price to bring about this current golden age... and yet you intend to destroy it with your own hands!"

"No, you’re wrong. We aren’t destroying anything." Ding Jingyi slowly shook his head, his gaze deepening. "I am simply pursuing the true meaning of the Great Dao, walking a path no one has ever walked before!"

He spun around abruptly, looking toward the deepest part of the cavern, his tone gradually revealing an irrepressible madness:

"Once, we all thought the Ascension Realm was the end of cultivation. We thought that since the end of antiquity, no one could ever again step onto the true path of the Great Dao... but heaven never seals all exits!"

His voice grew increasingly shrill.

"I saw it with my own eyes! The radiance emanating from a sky full of Divine Spirits! The supreme power that commands the Laws of the Great Dao! That is true equality with the heavens! That is true immortality!"

"And I—Ding Jingyi!"

He spread his arms wide as if to embrace some formless entity.

"In one year, I will become a god-like being! The entire world will grovel at my feet! I will truly achieve eternal life!"

The moment his voice fell, Ding Jingyi violently activated the Arrays imprisoning the ten Cultivators.

An excruciating, bone-deep pain instantly swept over them, as if countless small knives were flaying their flesh piece by piece.

Their Life Origin and Spiritual Power were drawn out, transforming into iridescent streams of light that all flowed into a statue in the center of the cavern.

The statue depicted a woman in a long, floor-length dress with her hair unbound. She held a Long Spear, her gaze fixed forward.

It might have been a trick of the light,

but the moment Zhou Rushi looked at the statue, the faintest, most subtle smile touched her lips.

The smile was barely there, as if silently mocking this ridiculous mortal world.