Li Zhexian turned into a rainbow of sword light, crossing several kilometers in an instant.
Within only a few dozen breaths, even though there were still two towering mountain peaks between them, the violent fluctuations of Spirit Power ravaging the distant battlefield were already surging toward him.
Li Zhexian's expression darkened, and his speed surged once more.
Like a bolt of extreme lightning that tore open the sky, he cut straight into the very center of the battle.
The Qinglian Sword rang with a resounding clang.
A single sword strike descended upon the four intersecting staff-sword weapons that were clashing together.
BOOM—!
RUMBLE—!
The explosive force surged like a raging tide,
expanding outward in visible rippling shockwaves.
The lush mountains nearby were crushed instantly—collapsing, rupturing, and sending boulders tumbling in all directions.
With just one exchange—
Li Zhexian, Chen Xin, and Feng Bailong were all blasted back several hundred meters before stabilizing in midair.
"Seniors?"
"No harm done."
Chen Xin and Feng Bailong shook their heads, though their expressions had grown grim:
"The Worship Hall… has finally entered the battle."
Li Zhexian's hand tightened inside his sleeve, his gaze complicated as it landed on the two burly men who had also been forced back.
"Senior Fifteen Ton, Senior Falling Devil… I did not expect our next meeting to be under such circumstances."
Fifteen Ton and Falling Devil unconsciously rubbed their palms along their staff weapons, struggling to calm the storm in their hearts.
They already knew Li Zhexian had stepped into the ranks of the continent's absolute peak experts.
But without having crossed weapons, they never had an intuitive grasp of it.
Until the moment of that sword clash...
Not only did it shock them, causing a painful stinging in their hands, but even the Panlong Staff, their top-tier tool-type Martial Soul, transmitted waves of fearful humming and trembling.
"Good boy…"
Fifteen Ton Douluo lowered his staff, its spinning force making the air hum nonstop.
He spoke in a deep voice, tinged with complicated emotion:
"Li Zhexian, on the day you refused to join the Worship Hall, you should have known a day like today would come."
"We…"
"Are people of the Spirit Empire after all."
A trace of helplessness brushed across Li Zhexian's eyebrows.
Whether because of his connection to Qian Renxue, or because Fifteen Ton and Falling Devil had once protected him in the past… he genuinely did not wish to cross blades with these two.
Whoosh—!
Just then—
An ice crystal arrow tore through the air.
It landed precisely beside Fifteen Ton and Falling Devil, exploding into a cloud of icy mist.
From within the drifting mist—
A figure stepped out with light footsteps.
It was the Glowing Feather Douluo, chewing a candy figurine.
"Senior Glowing Feather."
Li Zhexian's lips lifted slightly, revealing a genuine smile.
Honestly,
Among the Worship Hall elders,
he got along with Glowing Feather the best.
This was a man who would stand with him on the street waiting for the first batch of fresh sugar figurines.
"Li Zhexian, your abilities have grown quite something, hm?" Glowing Feather raised a brow.
Li Zhexian cupped his hands. "Senior flatters me."
That one word—"Senior"—
instantly shattered Glowing Feather's attempt at a stern expression.
He broke into a bright grin.
He turned toward Fifteen Ton and Falling Devil.
"Let's go."
"…What?!"
The two had already gathered Spirit Power in secret.
Hearing this, they stared at him in shock.
"Go?!"
Glowing Feather looked completely justified.
"What else?"
"Three against three — you two are that confident you'd win?"
"If you're staying, then this old man will be on his way first!"
The moment he finished speaking—
He became a streak of cool blue light and shot into the distant sky.
Fifteen Ton and Falling Devil looked furious on the surface but both secretly let out a breath of relief.
If they truly fought Li Zhexian today…
They would feel uneasy facing Qian Renxue afterward.
They didn't bid Li Zhexian farewell.
They simply turned and sped off, chasing after Glowing Feather's direction.
And thus a battle—
Ended in such an abrupt, anticlimactic fashion.
Chen Xin and Feng Bailong exchanged a glance, confusion heavy in their eyes.
"What exactly is the Worship Hall trying to do?"
Chen Xin frowned, pondering for a moment.
"Bibi Dong still cannot command the Worship Hall."
"Behind this… it must be that so-called 'Invincible in the Sky' giving the order."
Hearing this,
Li Zhexian's eyes shifted slightly, as though he had realized something.
...
Meanwhile—
Hundreds of kilometers from Blazing Fire City…
At the border between the Spirit Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, in a narrow canyon pathway—
A gray-robed, golden-haired man sat cross-legged at the canyon's mouth, his back facing the world.
Strangely—
Even in this dim canyon…
A single shaft of divine light shone directly upon him.
His aura was gentle, luminous — but that lone silhouette carried a depth unfathomable.
At this moment—
Bibi Dong, riding her phoenix chariot, shot across the skies.
Her original plan was to personally enter the battlefield, and while the Worship Hall blocked Heaven Dou's titled experts, join forces with the four Titled Undead to kill Li Zhexian thoroughly.
Unexpectedly—
Just as she crossed the border of the Spirit Empire…
She ran into Qian Daoliu sitting here.
"Grand Worship… what is the meaning of this?"
The wind lifted a corner of the purple curtain, revealing Bibi Dong's stunning but frost-cold face.
"Cultivating."
Qian Daoliu did not turn.
He merely uttered one calm word.
"Heh…"
Bibi Dong let out a cold laugh.
Her overwhelming Spirit Power erupted, and she steered the phoenix chariot, attempting to bypass Qian Daoliu and charge straight toward Blazing Fire City.
However—
Just as her chariot was about to pass over that gray-robed silhouette—
A brilliant surge of holy light exploded outward from Qian Daoliu's body.
It transformed into countless radiant angel feathers, spreading rapidly to both sides.
Within mere breaths—
A colossal wall of light, formed entirely from holy feathers, took shape—
stretching across a full kilometer.
Blocking her path completely.
BOOM——!!!
The phoenix chariot smashed into the feather wall,
shattering instantly in a burst of blinding light.
Bibi Dong's eyes darkened, black filling her pupils.
Tendrils of eerie purple Spirit Power slithered out from her body like living creatures, coiling around the glowing feather wall.
Szzz—
Szzz—
The moment the purple energy touched the holy radiance, it dissolved into a sweet-tinged black mist, evaporating into nothing.
And as it corroded, pieces of the once-towering feather wall also flaked away.
"QIAN DAOLIU!"
Bibi Dong's voice sharpened to a piercing edge.
Cracks split the skin around her eyes, spreading like a spiderweb across half her face—making her look twisted and sinister.
"You dare block my way?!"
Qian Daoliu slowly turned.
For the first time, a trace of dazed softness appeared on that normally emotionless face.
He remembered the day Qian Renxue abandoned her infiltration plan and returned to the Angel Temple—
—"Grandfather, I've found the one I love… His name is Li Zhexian. In this life, I, Qian Renxue, will have no one but him."
Qian Daoliu could never forget—
His granddaughter, who had been sent to the Heaven Dou Palace since childhood, holding a Dawnlight Crystal… smiling with the pure, hopeful joy of an ordinary young girl.
In all these years—
He had never seen her look that way.
"I have not been a good grandfather."
"So at least before I depart this world…
I will protect the one you love."
In his mind—
A blue-haired woman, like the deep ocean, flashed by.
Qian Daoliu suddenly raised his palm and pressed heavily downward upon the air.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM——!!!
A torrent of Spirit Power—holy light surpassing mortal limits—erupted from his palm.
The once-fading feather wall burst into boundless radiance.
The purple energy disintegrated on contact,
dissolving completely into the blazing divine light.
Qian Daoliu slowly closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged once more at the canyon's center.
His voice remained calm as he spoke:
"This path is closed."