Everyone, return to camp,

No one is allowed to leave,

No one is allowed to investigate outside!

After the beam of light,

A crater resembling a scar on the earth appeared in the view of those people, with scorching flames and swirling smoke rising from it. But then, the corner of the Profound Black Dragon Robe was lifted by the hurricane triggered at the explosion center, allowing them a glimpse of the unscathed man. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Xu Yuan raised his eyes to the sky, deep disappointment lurking in his dark pupils, as he murmured to the Tianxun Crystal Orb in his hand:

"Sect Alliance.... you have let me down too much."

The deep voice showed no hint of guilt, as he stated:

"You were the one who betrayed us first."

"Perhaps so."

Xu Yuan didn’t deny it, as he took to the air once more.

This time,

His figure was seen by many high-rank cultivators among the military markets accompanying the army.

Incredulity spread like a plague quickly outside the military camp, as few in the world had seen Xu Yuan’s true form, but that Profound Black Dragon Robe had become the symbol of the Prime Minister Mansion Master for the past century.

Many instinctively cried out in terror towards the interior of the camp, attempting to relay the news of the Han King’s assault, but in response came sword qi from the power of the military formation.

Countless people turned into blood mist in an instant.

And afterward, a cold and chilling voice echoed across the whole land:

"Those who disrupt the military spirit will die!"

"Those who disrupt the military spirit will die!"

"Those who disrupt the military spirit will die!"

High in the sky, Xu Yuan witnessed this scene, and a sigh transmitted through the Tianxun Crystal Orb to the other side:

"You fear the news of my attack reaching the grassroots."

The voice didn’t deny it:

"Yes."

"What if I were to amplify my voice with an energy mechanism, what then?"

"No sound will escape the space beneath your feet."

"..."

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly, as a Spiritual Vision unfolded, revealing an unseen curtain enveloping the area for dozens of miles around him, its presence unknown until now.

A space-locking array-pattern weapon.

But soon,

Xu Yuan’s attention was drawn elsewhere.

Another overwhelming aura began to rise, causing the very space to tremble, emanating from the Black Scale Army Camp, from the commander who had devoted a lifetime of loyalty to the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

He looked over there.

Inside the Black Scale Army Camp, no one would dare make a move against him, because he was the highest commander of the military formation technique, the ultimate figure to whom all Black Scale Army were loyal. Anyone who dared to take action against him would face the wrath of a million Black Scale soldiers.

Therefore,

He deliberately chose to distance himself from that massive Black Scale military fortification.

For the first time, Xu Yuan’s emotions wavered, his heart rate accelerating, as his dark eyes fixated on the Black Scale Tent on the horizon.

What choice would you make?

Would it be like Mr. Hua,

Or....

Betrayal?

...

...

...

Since the incident at the academy, Di’an had become very quiet.

On the third day after sending a handwritten letter to Xu Yuan, Xu Xinyao received an imperial edict summoning her to the palace, and on the way to Di’an from the headquarters of the Heavenly Craft Mansion, even someone politically insensitive like her detected a trace of unnatural danger.

Because it was her uncle himself who came to fetch her.

The cold Sword Immortal who had always been indifferent to her and never regarded her as family.

It should have been arranged by her third brother for her uncle to come.

However, upon entering the palace, Xu Xinyao did not see the third brother she longed to meet.

Her eldest brother was there instead.

As she was led to the Imperial Study Room, she unexpectedly found her eldest brother, who had long since ceased to involve himself in state affairs, inside, discussing matters with Sister Qingyan, though their conversation was transmitted through voice communication, unheard by her.

After a brief oral commendation, without allowing her to question anything, Sister Qingyan suggested she go rest in the side hall of the sleeping palace.

Xu Xinyao couldn’t understand what had happened recently in Di’an City.

Could it be because of the Fallen Sun?

Anxiety in her heart made Xu Xinyao eager to seek answers. As the Master of the Tiangong Mansion, although she specialized in technology, twenty years had granted her some followers from her direct lineage.

After careful consideration, Xu Xinyao decided to contact the deputy director of the Tiangong Mansion using the Tianxun Crystal Orb, that genius who had risen from the bottom, who proposed creating the Void Realm using the Enchantress Divine Sakura Tree as a base, and who had provided great assistance in the ’Fallen Sun’ project.

She inquired about the recent events, and her friend truthfully informed her about the academy incident initiated by Xu Yuan, but at the end of the conversation, her friend indirectly asked her a question.

Where is the Han King?

A chill surged from Xu Xinyao’s feet to her back, and she abruptly severed the connection with the Tianxun Crystal Orb, intending to rush to the Imperial Study Room, but just as she turned, she saw her uncle in his white clothes like snow.

Feng Jiuxuan’s eyes were cold, but not towards her, rather towards the person on the other end of the Tianxun Crystal Orb. If that person were present, Xu Xinyao had no doubt her uncle would have beheaded them with a single slash.

Xinyao bit her lip, her voice slightly trembling:

"Uncle... where is Third Brother?"

Feng Jiuxuan said nothing.

Xinyao realized something, her breath halted, with a cry-like despair in her voice:

"Uncle! The ’Fallen Sun’ has already been sent to the frontlines, Ying Siqi is the escort sent by the Heavenly Craft Mansion! Where exactly is Third Brother now?!"

Feng Jiuxuan looked at her, calmly uttering four words:

"He... knows it."

...

...

...

Soon, Xu Yuan felt the Qi Mechanism of Zong Qingsheng, as the space around him began to warp, a technique displayed by this Black Scale Commander.

To use the strength of the Military Formation to eliminate future threats beyond the Saint, Zong Qingsheng created a secret technique that forcibly pulls anyone into the sky above the army by warping space.

And at this moment,

This Commander used it for the first time in practice.

But,

It was not to transport Xu Yuan to the safety of the Black Scale Camp.

Instead,

A ball-like object as black as ink was sent to his side.

In Xu Yuan’s heart rose an indescribable sorrow, causing the Tianxun Crystal Orb in his hand to fracture with his emotional fluctuations.

Without time for any words,

In the next moment,

A point lit up at the horizon’s edge.

That was not the sun.

The light point was extremely small, yet it pierced through all the mist and haze between the mountains, precisely impaling on everyone’s retinas.

In the two camps and inside Sword Gate Pass countless people, whether they were soldiers on guard or merchants arguing in the military market, saw that point at the same instant.

It made no sound.

Like a silent declaration.

Then, the point began to expand.

Not slowly diffusing, but an explosive expansion in geometric proportions!

A perfect circle, edges sharp, the core pure and indescribably white.

The white quickly consumed the sky, consumed the clouds, the silhouette of mountains suspended in the world abruptly turned into flat black silhouettes.

The world lost all colors.

Only ultimate white and absolute black remained.

The whole world paused for a second.

Then,

The white core of that "Fallen Sun" started to turn red, a boiling, churning red filled with destructive energy!

It was no longer a flat surface, but a sphere with thickness and texture.

The sphere continued to grow until it burst through the horizon, swallowing those black mountains and vast stretches of land!

Silence persisted.

This bizarre absolute silence is more unsettling than any sound.

At a certain moment, the air began to heat up.

Not gradually warming, but instantly leaping from winter’s frost to scorching heat. The exposed skin felt a needle-like pain.

In the military market, someone instinctively used their hand to block the light, only to find their palm revealing the outline of bones under the light.

Panic finally exploded in this dead silence.

The screams and cries, after a delay of several seconds, suddenly converged into a chaotic flood.

People started running, not knowing which direction to go, under the gaze of that enormous light sphere, every direction was a dead end.

The expansion of the light sphere seemed to reach its limit.

It began to rise.

Like a richly magnificent flower of the other shore,

Blossoming grandly in front of everyone!

The heat wave turned into a storm.

An invisible wall of energy swept from its center in all directions.

The trees in the mountains instantly carbonized, rivers instantly evaporated, merchants and civilians in the military market without Military Formation protection instantly turned into blackened skeletons, then scattered into flying ash in the shockwave!

And after the shockwave came the backflow.

The displaced air began crazily rushing back to the explosion’s center, the mountain rocks that were just blown away were pulled by the reverse force, emitting one last earth-shattering wail.

When everything of the world-ending weapon returned to silence,

Figures dared to appear on the horizon, overlooking the explosion’s center, overlooking the silence of this world.

Heaven and earth no longer cried,

No sound of life was left.

Only the chilling cold wind remained,

And,

At the explosion’s very center, the rustle of sounds of a body standing up with its broken remnants.