Chapter 111: The Great Annihilation

Within Qingxuan Prefecture, a scene of utter desolation stretched as far as the eye could see, as if a natural disaster had ravaged the land.

The calamity struck so suddenly that even the Divine Transformation cultivators guarding the prefectural seat were caught off guard, able only to shield a few strategic locations.

As a result, the shockwaves from the collision wreaked havoc across the region—most mortals and Mountain-Moving Realm cultivators perished, and even those in the Sea-Filling Realm suffered injuries. This single event shattered nearly half the foundation of Qingxuan Prefecture.

Paradoxically, the Yuan Residence, situated at the collision’s epicenter, remained unscathed under the protection of the Arm-Extending Venerable.

“Such devastation! It’s the Path’s Ruin!” lamented cultivators everywhere, their cries filled with helplessness.

The Divine Transformation stage marked a critical threshold: clashes among cultivators at this level involved the laws of heaven and earth, often unleashing catastrophic destruction—hence the term “Path’s Ruin.”

Typically, Divine Transformation masters would contain their power within a controlled radius during battle, minimizing karmic consequences and concentrating the force of the laws to maximize effectiveness.

Only madmen who recklessly slaughtered mortals without regard for karmic debt would unleash such devastation.

Yet, Tuli was not a bloodthirsty killer; his disaster stemmed from insufficient cultivation and a still-immature understanding of the laws, rendering him unable to control his power and thus causing this calamity.

At that moment, a massive shard of profound ice abruptly shattered above the Yuan Residence.

Zhen Ling reappeared, immaculate as ever, though her face was tinged with a faint pallor.

Fixing her gaze in a certain direction, she immediately gave chase.

Only then did the Arm-Extending Venerable breathe a sigh of relief and lift the protective formation sealing the Yuan Residence.

With his strength, he could have intervened in the battle, but since Zhen Ling had not revealed her identity and Tuli’s was also unknown, and given the sensitive state of Qingxuan Prefecture, he dared not act rashly.

“Yuan Tong, tell me everything clearly and from beginning to end about that man!”

“Yes!” Yuan Tong responded promptly.

Meanwhile, several hundred miles from Qingxuan Prefecture, the void above a mountain valley suddenly exploded open. Tuli, face pale as death, tumbled out and barely managed to squeeze into a crevice between rocks.

Once seated cross-legged, he immediately activated the Nine Locks True Spirit Technique, locking down his entire body’s vital energy and blood flow. He concealed this with the Heavenly Dragon Token, finally allowing himself a moment’s respite. He dared not even circulate his cultivation techniques, relying solely on the instincts granted by the century-old Mother Ganoderma to restore his strength and heal his wounds.

The previous strike had been the core technique of the Great Nature Scripture, something he should not have been able to perform at his current level. As a consequence, his Blood God Gauntlet was destroyed, exhausting all the energy of the red luminous orb and draining eighty percent of his vital essence to barely execute the move. His cultivation nearly faltered from the strain.

Still, despite this, he failed to shake Zhen Ling’s confidence.

After all, Zhen Ling was no ordinary early Divine Transformation cultivator. Even a typical Divine Transformation master would have only been slightly troubled by such an attack, never truly threatened.

He knew well that only upon mastering the Great Nature Scripture completely—able to freely unleash the Devastation Fist—and refining the Brilliant Strike technique to harness the utmost power of the red luminous orb, could he pose a genuine threat to such a presence.

At present, he was far from achieving any of these.

His sole hope was that Zhen Ling would fail to find him and then leave Qingxuan Prefecture.

He pressed his lips together, sweat beading finely on his forehead as his mind wrestled with these thoughts.

As he had anticipated, it did not take long before Zhen Ling located the vicinity. Though she appeared somewhat worn from the search, she showed almost no injuries. By then, his vital energy had recovered to eight layers, and his spiritual power was less than half restored. Even if fully healed, he lacked a second Blood God Gauntlet to replicate the same strike.

“What’s going on?” he hesitated, sensing that something was terribly wrong.

Though Zhen Ling had not pinpointed him directly, she was steadily narrowing her search radius, and his position was drifting toward the center of her focus.

Could she truly sense his location?