Gu Luoli said quickly, her voice carrying a trace of exhaustion.
She looked back at the deep entrance of the palace.
There were still shrill screams coming from inside; those were people from other Sects who hadn't escaped yet.
"Everyone, evacuate immediately and return to the direction of the Secret Realm entrance!"
Liu Ruyan made a decisive decision and ordered.
The forty-plus Disciples of Jade Pool Immortal Palace quickly assembled and retreated rapidly in the direction they had come from.
Not long after they retreated.
At the entrance of the palace, more survivors fled out, full of fear and covered in blood.
Mu Bai of Azure Cloud Holy Land had his left arm hanging limply, his face pale.
Ling Chen, the Senior Brother of Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, had a terrifying claw mark on his chest, deep enough to see the bone.
Lingxu Holy Land, Heavenly Origin Sacred Land, Miaoyin Pavilion...
Almost all the factions that entered suffered heavy losses, and everyone was injured.
Some small Sects and Loose Cultivator teams had even been completely wiped out, with no one able to escape.
The Cultivators who escaped with their lives were still terrified and didn't dare to stay at all.
They didn't even dare to look at the palace entrance again and fled in different directions, just wanting to get as far away as possible.
In front of the dilapidated palace, it quickly returned to emptiness and dead silence.
The team from Jade Pool Immortal Palace traveled rapidly, meeting a few scattered fellow Disciples along the way.
When they finally approached the Secret Realm entrance, the team had grown to over eighty people.
Apparently, the other fellow Disciples who hadn't met up had either met with accidents in the Secret Realm or hadn't arrived yet.
Liu Ruyan found a hidden mountain hollow, set up simple concealment and warning Formations, and let everyone rest.
She herself walked to the side with Gu Luoli and Ye Ling'er.
"Luoli, what exactly happened inside?"
Liu Ruyan asked with concern, while handing over a Medicinal Pill.
Gu Luoli took it, consumed it, adjusted her breathing with closed eyes for a moment, and then slowly recounted everything that happened in the hall.
"Inside that 'corpse' in the great hall, there is an extremely chaotic residual will."
"I suspect that it is a wisp of remnant soul left behind after Venerable Tian Qiong failed his Undergoing Tribulation back then."
Gu Luoli's voice carried gravity.
"It didn't attack us after waking up; it seemed a bit confused."
"I have a faint feeling that he should be coming out soon."
Liu Ruyan and Ye Ling'er heard this, and their expressions turned extremely grave in an instant, even their breathing subconsciously lightened.
The awakening of a remnant soul of an Ascension Realm Great Expert, no matter how weak that remnant soul was, was definitely not something they could contend with.
"We must notify the Grand Elder immediately, find all fellow Disciples as soon as possible, and evacuate the Secret Realm!"
Liu Ruyan ordered decisively.
Just as her words fell—
"Hum..."
A tremor came from all directions, from the ground beneath their feet, and from the dark red sky above their heads without warning!
"What's going on?!"
"The... the ground is shaking?"
"No! It's the Secret Realm! The Secret Realm is changing!"
The Jade Pool Immortal Palace Disciples who were resting jumped up one after another, looking around in panic.
They saw a gray-white pillar of light suddenly shoot into the sky from the direction of the dilapidated palace in the distance!
Inside the pillar of light, a vague figure could be vaguely seen, slowly rising.
It was exactly that "Venerable Tian Qiong" sitting on the high platform!
As his figure appeared, the entire Secret Realm seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand.
The Spiritual Qi in the Secret Realm began to frantically gather toward that gray-white pillar of light!
The sky became even dimmer, and those already sparse, strange clouds were torn apart and swallowed.
In the charred cracks on the ground, the remaining Tribulation power and the power of Dao laws were also being forcibly extracted, making an unbearable "crack" sound.
"Not good!"
Gold light flashed in Gu Luoli's double pupils as she stared fixedly at that figure and the changes in heaven and earth, her voice carrying a trace of rare shock.
"He seems to be extracting the energy of the entire Secret Realm to stabilize his own remnant soul!"
"But if that happens, the Secret Realm will likely close early..."
"The Secret Realm is closing early?!"
Ye Ling'er's face turned pale.
If the Secret Realm really closed, they would be locked in this Secret Realm, or wait for the Secret Realm to open again in a hundred years.
And could they survive for a hundred years under the nose of an Ascension remnant soul?
The answer was obvious.
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