Volume 1, Chapter 448 – Return

“There are still outsiders from beyond the realm alive within this world. I’ll clear them out for you. After that, do you need me to send you back to Lingyang?”

After putting away the Sword Emperor’s remains, Wuxu’s expression did not change much, but Shi Lan could sense that he was somewhat unhappy.

“This junior can leave on her own.”

Now that the threats outside had already been swept away, Shi Lan only wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. The longer she stayed, the greater the chance of complications.

“Keep this in your care as well. If you encounter a suitable person, pass it on.”

Wuxu returned the Sword Emperor’s Dao Fruit to her. The light within it had dimmed considerably.

Shi Lan carefully put away the Dao Fruit, then began helping Wuxu clean out the Qiongluo Realm.

Now that she had merged with the heaven and earth of the Qiongluo Realm, she was extremely sensitive to the auras of outsiders from beyond the realm. The people of Reincarnation Hall had nowhere to hide at all.

In less than half a day, Wuxu had completely wiped out the remnants of Reincarnation Hall’s army.

As for the surviving native lifeforms of the Qiongluo Realm, Shi Lan had no time to sort them out for the moment.

There was no telling whether stronger experts from Reincarnation Hall or the Heavenly Dao Alliance might still arrive. She had to leave as soon as possible.

…

The starry sky where the Qiongluo Realm had originally been was already reduced to chaos, the entire continent having been moved into another layer of space.

It could be said that from this moment on, this stretch of heaven and earth no longer had any Qiongluo.

A heavy burden had been added to Shi Lan’s shoulders. Though it pressed on her so hard she could barely breathe, she could still endure it with difficulty.

For someone who had only just entered the Heaven-Man Realm, being able to bear the weight of such a great world was itself a miracle.

If not for the Sword Emperor’s secret art, it would have been impossible for her to accomplish.

A spacetime passage opened within the universe, leading straight to Lingyang.

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“The oversight of the Lingyang Heavenly Dao is extremely strict. If the living beings of the Qiongluo Realm appear in Lingyang, they will find it hard to escape heavenly punishment. You must be especially careful.”

Before Shi Lan stepped into the spatial passage, Wuxu gave her a reminder.

She nodded in acknowledgment, then bowed once more in thanks.

“Please take care, Senior.”

Wuxu said nothing further. Twisting around, he tore open the starry universe with a single sword strike and vanished without a trace.

He still had things left unfinished.

Turning back for one final look at the ruined starry universe, Shi Lan took a deep breath and stepped into the spatial passage without looking back.

…

[War mission failed.]

[Calculating mission results…]

[Calculation complete. Total enemy casualties: Tier 9 units: 12, Tier 8 units: 19, Tier 7 units: 289…]

[Our losses: 5 Tier 9 reincarnators, 174 Tier 8 reincarnators, 579 Tier 7 reincarnators…]

[Beginning comprehensive evaluation…]

[Mission rating: Hell]

[During the mission, irresistible interference was encountered, and our side suffered a devastating blow. Congratulations on surviving by sheer luck.]

[After deducting the penalty for mission failure, current remaining war points: 958723]

In the starry sky, amid one notification after another, Yang Venerable slowly opened his eyes. Staring at the empty void before him, he shivered instinctively.

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Looking at the settlement panel, he remained silent for a long time before finally opening a passage leading to Reincarnation Hall.

…

Several days later, in the desolate starry sky, a giant hand descended.

With a slight motion, the giant hand stirred heaven and earth, setting countless streaks of starlight whirling, and time throughout the entire starfield seemed to begin flowing backward.

Layer upon layer of phantom scenes flashed by, replaying everything that had happened not long before.

The fierce battle between the Supremes, the dazzling sword light, the vanishing of the Qiongluo Realm, and even the final spacetime passage were all laid bare.

After a long while, the giant hand slowly withdrew and disappeared into the starry universe.

Crack—

The phantom scenes shattered, and the starry sky returned to its former broken state, as if nothing had ever happened.

…

The moment Shi Lan stepped out of the passage, an immense sense of danger suddenly rose in her heart.

Pitch-black tribulation clouds blanketed the sky, covering a hundred thousand spirit mountains and expanding at tremendous speed. In an extremely short span of time, they blotted out half of Yunyan Star.

Rumble…

Purple lightning like thunder dragons streaked through the sea of clouds, and the lingering echoes of heavenly thunder’s wrath spread across the entire star.

Countless living beings raised their heads to look skyward in unison, gazing upon heavenly might, unable to hide the shock in their eyes.

Within the mountains and forests, innumerable beasts fled, forming a beast tide as they surged madly outward.

Many experts above the King Realm fell into alarm. If such heavenly punishment descended, it would practically destroy Yunyan Star!

This was a tribulation…

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Shi Lan reacted abruptly and struck out with a palm, shattering her own heart meridian and suppressing the fluctuations of her cultivation to their lowest ebb.

If she underwent tribulation here and now, not only would the entire Tianyan Sect be reduced to tribulation ash, even Yunyan Star would likely suffer unimaginably devastating destruction.

As her aura weakened, the thunder above gradually diminished and slowly faded away. The tribulation clouds that covered the sky and shut out the sun, however, were not going to disperse anytime soon, and not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate them.

The Tianyan Sect, standing at the very center of the heavenly tribulation, was seized by panic from top to bottom.

A moment ago, the thunder dragon within the tribulation clouds had already fully taken shape and had been just about to pounce down, only to scatter again in the next instant.

…

She would have to find another place to undergo tribulation.

After regulating her internal breath, Shi Lan had just risen when a white figure flew in through the door and threw itself into her arms.

“My Lord!”

Tianbai’s face was filled with unease, and when she saw the bloodstains on Shi Lan’s clothes, she became even more nervous.

“It’s nothing.”

Shi Lan gently stroked Tianbai’s hair. Seeing the utterly unalloyed concern in her eyes, she could not help smiling.

The time she had spent away from Lingyang on this trip had not really been long, but for Tianbai, it likely had not felt short at all.

And since this departure had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, with Shi Lan never having told Tianbai about it, such a strong reaction was only natural.

After all, in this world, Shi Lan was Tianbai’s only support.

…

After bathing away the bloodstains on her body and washing off all traces of grime, Shi Lan changed into a white long dress and sent word to Li Canglan.

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If there was nothing within the Tianyan Sect that needed her handling, then she would prepare to return to Lingyang and find a suitable place to undergo tribulation.

As for where exactly to do it, she already had a place in mind.

The furnishings of Shi Lan’s bedchamber were much the same as before. The only difference was that there was now an additional study, containing mostly calligraphy and paintings meant to calm and nourish the mind.

Beneath the spiritual tree outside the room stood an ancient qin, with a qin score resting on the table beside it.

That qin stirred a trace of memory in Shi Lan, reminding her of that great qin master whom she had kicked off the arena with a single blow.

At present, she and Shen Tianlan should still be in the Chengtian Domain.

Shi Lan shook her head slightly, sat down by the qin, and opened the score.

In the span of only a few breaths, the qin score was imprinted into Shi Lan’s mind. With the power of her primordial spirit now, memorizing something like this was effortless.

Zheng—

Her fingertips lightly plucked the strings, and the graceful notes of the qin flowed forth, like pearls and jade rolling over a platter, like the morning wind drifting through a forest, leaving one refreshed in heart and spirit.

“I really am not suited to this path.”

After a moment, Shi Lan stopped playing and shook her head slightly.

Even though the melody she had played followed the score with absolute precision, it always seemed to be missing a certain something.

“Does it sound nice?”

“Yes!”

Tianbai crouched beside Shi Lan. Hearing the question, she nodded repeatedly without thinking.

In truth, she had not understood it at all.