Volume 6, Chapter 80 – A World Turned Upside Down

The evening wind swept past carrying the lingering scent of smoke and ash. Xing Wu stood tall in her newly restored form — the violet gauze of her dress-armor shimmering with a faint lavender glow, her silver-white hair falling to her waist and swaying gently in the breeze, the tips still trailing the fading luminescence of Augury Force. Though the pressure of her Divine Graced Realm aura had been reined in, it still made the surrounding soldiers instinctively hold their breath.

The soldiers’ gazes clung to her — half transfixed by her striking appearance, the combination of silver hair and violet eyes like a masterwork of creation; the other half stunned by what she was: a Divine Graced Realm existence. This girl, who looked barely into her teens — she was truly the legendary Divine Graced Realm?

Doubt arose instinctively in their hearts, but one look at Xi Xuan’s expression of absolute certainty, and they chose to believe.

After all, the fluctuations faintly emanating from the silver-haired girl already spoke for themselves — a strength clearly surpassing even Xi Xuan’s.

Lord Xi Xuan was an undisputed Peak Divine Departure Realm expert. An existence stronger than Lord Xi Xuan? That could only mean one thing — Divine Graced Realm.

This girl……was Divine Graced Realm?!

After a brief silence, the Divine Martial Realm officer in the crowd was the first to recover. His face still hadn’t quite shed its lingering shock as he asked carefully:

“Miss Xing Wu — Lord Xi Xuan just said……you, you are the daughter of the Alabaster Sovereign? That Alabaster Sovereign — the one who legendarily commanded the First Celestial Augur Knights?”

The Alabaster Sovereign — a warrior who had forged countless legendary deeds a thousand years ago, crushing countless powerful alien race combatants and slaying innumerable Corrupted Beasts. To this day, they remained an idol in the hearts of many.

But a pity: beyond those achievements, records of the Alabaster Sovereign’s personal life were sparse. Things like family, whether they’d had a partner — these were unknown to the modern world.

Which was precisely why the officer was so taken aback to learn that this girl before him was the Alabaster Sovereign’s daughter.

Faced with the officer’s request for confirmation, Xing Wu tilted her chin upward with a prideful air, her voice bright and clear, carrying just a hint of pleased smugness:

“Hmph. Obviously.”

She might frequently act as though she found Bai Lianyue insufferable — but when it came to actually being Bai Lianyue’s daughter, Xing Wu was, somewhere deep down, always proud of it~

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“The Alabaster Sovereign’s daughter……heavens, how old are you, may I ask?” the officer murmured without thinking.

He received, quite predictably, the full force of Xing Wu’s razor-sharp gaze — and then a surge of Divine Graced Realm pressure closed in from every direction, pressing down on him so hard he could barely breathe. As if warning him:

——”A girl’s age is not something you ask about!”——

The officer lowered his head promptly and said nothing further.

That brief outburst of aura also brought the murmuring among the soldiers to an instant hush, replaced by awe that only deepened. No one questioned Xing Wu’s power or her identity anymore. In their eyes, a being of such terrifying strength had absolutely no need to deceive them.

After a short moment of stunned excitement, a young soldier couldn’t help edging forward half a step, cheeks slightly flushed:

“Then……Lady Xing Wu, may I ask you something out of curiosity?”

“A question? What is it?”

“It’s just……who is your mother?”

The moment the question landed, a cluster of officers swung their gazes toward Xing Wu. Just what kind of woman could have captured the heart of the Alabaster Sovereign? Could it be that elf princess mentioned in certain unofficial histories? Or……that female knight of the Fourth Seat, Alice?

Faced with the question, Xing Wu fell briefly silent. A moment later, the silver-haired girl blinked her violet eyes and let a sly smile curl at the corner of her mouth. She deliberately drew out her answer:

“My mom? That would be……Ailiya~”

“Ailiya?”

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The soldiers murmured the name in repetition, not quite registering it yet.

But Xi Xuan beside them looked as though he’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. His eyes went perfectly round in an instant, silver-grey pupils flooding with pure disbelief, and a very uncharacteristic word left his mouth:

“WTF?!”

Ailiya?! My granddaughter?!!

So THAT’S why Xing Wu’s new body looks so much like my granddaughter?! You absolute wretch, Bai Lianyue!!! You used my granddaughter’s body to carry your daughter’s new vessel?!! I am going to END you aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

――――――

While Xi Xuan was inwardly screaming at a pitch approaching the hysterical —

On the Maretide Kingdom’s coastal defense line, the vast army of Vassals of Sea Corrupted Beasts that had been prowling the shoreline just moments ago, biding their time, now lay strewn across the beach like rotting flesh drained of all life — one after another, dead, slowly dissolving into black powder to be swept away by the incoming waves.

The soldiers stationed at the border stared at the scene in complete bewilderment. They had braced themselves for an unavoidable and brutal battle — and now these millions upon millions of Vassals of Sea Corrupted Beasts had simply……died. All at once.

“What — what is going on??”

Even after thinking it over for more than ten minutes, they couldn’t make sense of it.

And then, one of the soldiers raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the distance, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Noticing the change in his expression, the soldiers nearby asked with some curiosity:

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“What? Did you figure out why those Corrupted Beasts suddenly died?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“Look……look over there.”

“Hm?”

Following where he pointed, everyone turned their gaze toward the distant Abyssal Sea — that expanse of pitch-black water radiating death energy and resentment. And one by one, they all wore the same expression of stunned disbelief.

“The color of the sea……it’s changing??”

The unnerving blackness of the Abyssal Sea was receding……the entire body of water was reverting, drop by drop, to what it had once been……

――――――

On the Kingdom of Qingyun’s front lines, the soldiers guarding the border were no different in their reaction. Staring through the barrier at the countless Vassals of Sky Corrupted Beasts that had fallen dead beyond it, the troops still couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation.

Tens of minutes ago, the sight of Corrupted Beasts dropping dead one by one had left their minds in a fog that still hadn’t cleared.

While most of them remained at a loss, the newly appointed Legion Commander Xu Bai immediately set down the intelligence reports he had just gathered, whipping around to gaze into the distance — toward the territory of the Vassals of Sky, where the endless floating isles lay.

“The Corruption aura……is fading?”

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――――――

In the vicinity of the Forsaken Metropolis Visas within the Veiled Domain —

The black miasma that had blanketed the skies pulled back like a receding tide. The light of dawn pierced through the clouds and fell upon land that hadn’t known sunlight in ages, dispersing a cold that had endured for thousands of years. The elves gathered nearby had already been growing uneasy as the Corrupted Beasts around them died off one after another — but now, watching the miasma dissolve, they exchanged glances with eyes full of uncertain, unsteady emotion.

The elves were not foolish. The sudden mass death of so many Corrupted Beasts, and the dissipation of the miasma — both pointed toward a conclusion that deeply unsettled them.

“Sacred Tree………”

Holding tight to her sister’s hand, little elf Nimi said the words in a voice full of anxious foreboding.

――――――

Not far away, Yeli — who had only just regained consciousness — slowly crawled out from the rubble. He stood atop a tall building, gazing thoughtfully at the sky, watching the miasma that had blanketed this place for a thousand years slowly fade away.

“So all three of the Trinity of Malevolence are dead.”

He murmured quietly, his voice carrying no discernible emotion — only a barely perceptible flash of something like disappointment deep in his eyes……

――――――

As the miasma around the Veiled Domain dispersed, the forest that had been shrouded in thick fog for a millennium revealed itself to the world once more. Above Cinderfloat Isle, the perpetual grey ash and white death-light that had hung over it for years were rapidly dissipating as well, exposing scorched black rock and withered vegetation — no longer under the corruption’s erosion. In the depths of the Abyssal Sea, the black waters slowly cleared, and the countless Vassals of Sea Corrupted Beasts lurking on the ocean floor lost their vitality one by one, sinking silently into the deep……

Across the entire continent of Yao Xing, a transformation more sweeping than any in a thousand years was taking place.