Just as that crimson stream of light was about to blast the roof open, Lu Jun, mustering strength from who knows where, violently pushed open the half-closed wooden door and scrambled into the snow, stumbling and crawling.

He held his hands high, still clutching tightly the waist token representing his status as a Yi-3 Battalion apprentice, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows: "Don't kill us! We need to see the sect elders! We are the defenders of Iron Wall Pass! We are not deserters!!"

Li Changfeng in mid-air showed a flicker in his eyes, but his downward-pressing gesture did not retract; only that mass of crimson stream of light halted three feet above Lu Jun's head, its terrifying high temperature instantly scorching the tips of Lu Jun's hair.

"Defenders?"

Li Changfeng looked down from his superior position, his gaze sharp as lightning, sweeping over this group of ragged, blood-stained individuals. "Iron Wall Pass is destroyed, the entire army annihilated. Why are you still alive here?"

This interrogation struck the heart of every survivor like a heavy hammer.

"We... were brought out by Instructor Su..." Lu Jun knelt in the snow, his entire body trembling, tears mixing with the grime on his face carving out two muddy tracks. "Instructor Su detonated the earth fire to break us out... He's dying now!"

"Instructor Su?" Li Changfeng's frown deepened. "Which Instructor Su?"

"Su Ming! Technical Assistant Repair Specialist Su Ming of Bing-7 Battalion!" Lu Jun suddenly looked up, nearly roaring the words. "He is the one chosen by Elder Mo! He bears Elder Mo's Formation Heart Seal!!"

As these words left his mouth, the wind and snow around them seemed to pause for an instant.

The originally cold and indifferent Li Changfeng, in that moment, his pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints. His figure flickered, instantly disappearing from mid-air, and when he reappeared, he was already standing before Lu Jun.

"What did you say?"

Li Changfeng grabbed Lu Jun by the collar, lifting him up. The pressure of the Golden Core realm spilled out somewhat uncontrollably, causing the surrounding black pines to groan and crack under the unbearable weight. "Whose seal did you say?"

"Elder... Elder Mo..." Lu Jun, choked and struggling to breathe, his face turning purple, pointed with difficulty toward the dilapidated stone house behind him. "Inside... the house..."

Li Changfeng casually tossed Lu Jun onto the snow, his figure moving like lightning as he instantly rushed into the stone house.

Inside the house, the light was dim, the smell of blood and medicine mingled together, pungent and unpleasant.

Li Changfeng's gaze instantly locked onto the young man lying in the corner of the stone bed.

Su Ming's face was as pale as paper, his breath so faint it was almost imperceptible. His blue robe was long stained a dark brown by blood, and there was a clear depression on his chest—the location of a broken bone.

But Li Changfeng wasn't looking at the injuries.

His gaze was fixed on Su Ming's chest.

There, visible through the torn garment, was a faint star-shaped seal. This seal was not a tattoo, but seemed to grow within the flesh and blood. With Su Ming's weak heartbeat, it emitted an extremely obscure, yet incredibly profound, spiritual energy fluctuation.

Li Changfeng, his hand trembling, reached out. A wisp of gentle spiritual light condensed at his fingertip as he cautiously touched the seal.

*Hum.*

The moment his fingertip made contact, that originally faint star seal suddenly lit up with a trace of deep blue light.

The light was not dazzling, but carried an aura of ancient simplicity. Instantly, it projected a fragmented three-dimensional light-shadow within the stone house—it was a map of the earth veins of Iron Wall Pass. Though damaged, one could still see its once-majestic structure.

Li Changfeng's hand froze mid-air.

He recognized this aura.

It was that unique aura of the path of formations belonging to that stubborn old man Mo Li, tinged with a sense of determination and solitary pride.

"It really is... the 'Border Defense True Seal'..."

Li Changfeng's voice trembled slightly. He slowly withdrew his hand, the muscles on his originally tense and wary face twitching uncontrollably. That expression wasn't simply shock, but a mix of wild joy and lingering fear, like suddenly unearthing the imperial jade seal from the ruins of despair.

He took a deep breath, forcibly calming the turbulent spiritual energy within him. When he turned around, the expression on his face had become incomparably grave and murderous.

"Pass my order!"

Li Changfeng barked at the female cultivator and other disciples who had rushed to the doorway, his voice carrying an iron-blooded tone that brooked no doubt. "Immediately seal off a ten-mile radius around this area! Without my personal token, no cultivator may set foot within this stone house!"

"Dispatch the sect's highest-level 'Vermilion Gold Order,' notify the Sect Master... the person has been found."

"And."

He glanced at the shivering wounded soldiers outside the door, his gaze softening slightly but still stern. "Take all these people away, keep them under separate custody, and provide proper treatment. Before the sect's investigation concludes, if anyone dares leak even half a word of today's events..."

Li Changfeng flipped his palm, a sword energy slicing a bottomless chasm into the ground.

"Behead!"

...

Inside the stone house, with Li Changfeng setting up a soundproof barrier, the world fell into silence once more.

But Su Ming did not wake.

To the outside world, he appeared to have fallen into a deep coma due to severe injuries and exhaustion.

But deep within Su Ming's Consciousness Sea, it was a different scene entirely.

He felt himself falling.

Not falling into a dark abyss, but falling into a long river formed by the convergence of countless rays of light and starlight.

Here, there was no up, down, or directions, no passage of time.

He seemed to have become a speck of dust, floating within this vast sea of stars.

"This is... where?" Su Ming's consciousness was somewhat blurred. He tried to call out to Lin Yu, but found he could not make a sound, could not even sense the presence of the Xuantian ring.

Just as he was lost and confused, the originally chaotic rays of light around him suddenly moved.

As if possessing life, they converged towards him, passing through his non-existent spiritual body, bringing waves of strange tremors. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

It wasn't pain, nor was it pleasure.

It was a... perspective.

Su Ming "saw."

He saw Iron Wall Pass.

But not the majestic pass itself; instead, he saw the gigantic skeletal framework constructed from billions of runes. He saw the spiritual veins underground like angry dragons, forcibly locked onto fixed tracks by some power, roaring in unwillingness.

He "saw" the explosion.

That was the instant Elder Mo self-detonated his Golden Core. The golden Dan Fire acted like a scalpel, precisely severing the connection points of each earth vein, guiding that originally uncontrollable collapse into a directional storm targeting the insect horde.

He even "saw" Zhao Tiji, who had buried himself beneath the stone gate.

On the rough man's remains, lingered a faint, red aura. In the vision of the formation, this will transformed into an indestructible barrier. Even though the flesh had perished, that barrier still blocked the erosion of the insect horde.

"This is... the world as seen through a formation master's eyes?"