Within fifteen minutes, everyone had left the heavenly coffin. Everyone else left, leaving only Liu Wuxie, Ye Hongyi, and Jiao Ba.
"Jiao Ba, wait outside for me," Ye Hongyi instructed.
Jiao Ba gripped his massive hammers. Though covered in wounds, he stood tall and unwavering—a living testament to his brute strength. He had held off a Heaven Profound Realm cultivator and a wave of Earth Profound Realm elites. Surviving that kind of siege was nothing short of miraculous.
As Jiao Ba departed, the rift in the heavenly coffin sealed shut, and silence fell upon the world inside.
Ye Hongyi slowly descended from the sky and stopped in front of Liu Wuxie. Their gazes met and held for a long moment.
"I'm leaving," Ye Hongyi said, her tone unusually sorrowful. "Perhaps we might never meet again."
After a decade of waiting, she had finally fulfilled her long-cherished wish.
"I understand,” Liu Wuxie nodded. He had always suspected that Ye Hongyi wasn't a native of the True Martial Continent—that she came from a higher plane.
"The one who conspired against your grandfather is the Liu Clan's grand elder," Ye Hongyi said, speaking the words she knew he yearned to hear.
"That's impossible! I saw the grand elder die with my own eyes!" Liu Wuxie's expression darkened in disbelief. That moment made him realize the full extent of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion's secrets.
"That was merely a puppet," Ye Hongyi said calmly. "The true grand elder has hidden himself all this time."
Liu Wuxie frowned. "You're saying it wasn't Liu Xiaotian who coveted the patriarch's seat, but Liu Shen?"
He didn't doubt her words. With her strength, no one on the True Martial Continent could challenge her. And since she was about to leave the world behind, she had no reason to lie.
"Aren't you curious who I am or where I came from?" Ye Hongyi asked with a teasing smile.
"Since we'll never meet again, why ask?" Liu Wuxie replied, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of his lips. This parting might be their last.
"You're right. Why ask when we'll never meet again?" Ye Hongyi repeated softly, as if carving his words into her heart.
Liu Wuxie had repaid the debt she owed for saving Xu Lingxue and the others. From now on, there would be no more ties between them.
A heavy silence stretched between the two, making both feel strangely uneasy.
"Thank you for helping me today. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to claim my ancestor's inheritance," Ye Hongyi said. "This is for you—a keepsake I made myself."
She drew out a delicate sachet from her interspatial ring and handed it to him.
Liu Wuxie accepted the gift. A soft fragrance drifted from the sachet, soothing his mind with its calming scent.
Suddenly, a spatial rift split open. A mysterious force surged out, lifting Liu Wuxie into the air.
He wanted to ask her how to enter the Astral Domain, but he was too late.
Ye Hongyi had left too abruptly. She must have used a secret technique to cross realms and descend to the True Martial Continent.
The heavenly coffin atop Eternal Spirit Mountain vanished without a trace, leaving only a bottomless pit in its place.
Countless cultivators still lingered in the area, refusing to leave. They had arrived late, never made it inside, and spent the entire time waiting outside.
"Big Brother Liu!" Xu Lingxue and the others shouted when he emerged.
"That's strange. It felt like we spent months inside, but only three days have passed here," Hei Kui remarked as he walked over.
With Liu Wuxie's return, the group instantly became an imposing force.
Elder Madman had already left because Liu Wuxie no longer relied on his protection.
Liu Wuxie had already deduced that there was no time law within the heavenly coffin. Everything they experienced inside had merely been an illusion.
"Big Brother Liu, where's Big Sister Ye?" Xu Lingxue asked, puzzled by Ye Hongyi's absence.
"She's gone,” Liu Wuxie replied.
The heavenly coffin had disappeared, and so had Jiao Ba. No one knew where they had gone.
From this moment on, the Golden Cauldron Pavilion would vanish from the Central Plains.
The mysterious imprints had dissolved, and the pavilion's legacy would forever shroud itself in mystery.
After learning of Ye Hongyi's departure, everyone shared Liu Wuxie's quiet melancholy.
"Congratulations, Brother Liu. Your strength is now unmatched on this continent," Qiao Bian said, approaching with the disciples of the Dragon Emperor Academy.
"Congratulations to you, too, Brother Qiao," Liu Wuxie replied with a warm smile.
All the nearby cultivators watched with envy and unease. Qiao Bian had obtained a heaven-defying pill with a single decision, and every drop of blood he shed now seemed worth the gain.
The two walked side by side as they left Eternal Spirit Mountain.
"Brother Liu, you seem preoccupied. What's on your mind?" Qiao Bian asked, noticing Liu Wuxie's distracted expression.
"To be honest, my clan is still in danger. I must return immediately to prevent a catastrophe,” Liu Wuxie said. Ye Hongyi's words lingered heavily in his heart.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go! I'll escort the others back safely," Qiao Bian urged without hesitation.
"Thank you, Brother Qiao!" Liu Wuxie cupped his fists and gave quick instructions to Xu Lingxue and the others before taking off.
Upon learning the Liu Clan might be in peril, the four women grew anxious as well. But they knew traveling with Liu Wuxie would only slow him down.
They could only let him go ahead while they followed behind.
Alone, Liu Wuxie unleashed his movement technique to the limit. He sought out the nearest teleportation array and began his journey home.
He had spent half a month reaching Eternal Spirit Mountain. Even at full speed, he would need several days to return.
His Communication Talisman showed no activity, so he believed the Liu Clan remained safe.
But that did nothing to ease the dread tightening in his chest. His grandfather would never warn him, not even if danger approached.
Just like his three senior brothers, his grandfather would rather face death than let Liu Wuxie bear the burden.
Liu Wuxie streaked across the mountain range like a blazing comet, his seventh-level Earth Profound Realm cultivation propelling him at blinding speed.
A few hours later, he finally left the vicinity of Eternal Spirit Mountain and arrived at a city.
Both the Liu Clan and the Heavenly Dao Society were under siege.
The Profound Cloud Sect, the Scarlet Dragon Cult, and the three great clans had dispatched their top experts. Even the Spirit Jade Pavilion, the Five Elemental Sect, and other factions united to annihilate the Liu Clan and the Heavenly Dao Society.
After news spread that Liu Wuxie had defeated Miao Hanxuan, panic swept through the continent. Everyone realized they could no longer afford to wait. If Liu Wuxie were allowed to grow any stronger, he would become an unstoppable force.
"Patriarch, are you sure the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy won't intervene?" a disciple asked.
The Wang Clan had recently appointed a young patriarch.
"The grandmaster is in no condition to interfere," the patriarch replied with a sneer.
Rumors spread that the grandmaster succumbed to an inner demon and damaged his cultivation in an attempt to purge it. The moment the three clans learned this, all fear of retaliation from the academy vanished.
With the grandmaster focused on recovery, only the Divine Sun Sword stood in their way, and that alone couldn't stop them.
The three clans each possessed a cultivator at the Heaven Profound Realm. With the Spirit Jade Pavilion, the Profound Cloud Sect, and the Scarlet Dragon Cult, they assembled a terrifying force of six to seven Heaven Profound Realm cultivators.
Together, they surged forward like an unstoppable tide. Neither the Divine Sun Sword nor Ye Hanyi could contend with their combined strength.
Though the Heavenly Dao Society had grown strong, it lacked a single expert at the Heaven Profound Realm.
As for the Liu Clan, only Liu Hanyi stood at that level. The mysterious white-robed man who once saved them had not returned.
"We must destroy both the Liu Clan and the Heavenly Dao Society to rid ourselves of this hatred finally," declared the patriarchs of the Wang, Liu, and Yuan Clans.
Their earlier losses in Astral Glory City still stung. The Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy's protection had kept them at bay—until now. But with the academy weakened, the moment to strike had arrived.
The Spirit Jade Pavilion coordinated the factions, rallied their forces, and launched a full-scale assault.
The Heavenly Dao Society had devoured the Spirit Jade Pavilion's market, and if things continued, the pavilion would collapse entirely.
News of the Eternal Spirit Mountain events had not yet reached the Central Plains. No one knew that Liu Wuxie had gained the power to kill cultivators at the Heaven Profound Realm.
Nor did they realize that Liu Wuxie had rushed ahead while most of the others were still on their way back. The news hadn't yet reached the heart of the continent.
More than ninety percent of those who entered Eternal Spirit Mountain had perished. Only a few thousand survived from the original tens of thousands. No generation in recent history had witnessed such a bloody toll. But the few who returned had grown incomparably stronger.
Everyone had assembled within the ancestral hall.
"Patriarch, the armies of the three clans are nearly here!" one of the ten elders said grimly.
Every elder present radiated anger. None of them had expected the three clans to press the attack with such ferocity.
"Then we fight," Liu Hanyi declared from her seat, radiating absolute authority despite her gender. "The Liu Clan fears no one!"
She could barely restrain herself when she learned about the three clans' suppression of the Liu Clan over the years.
"Focus on defending," Liu Xiucheng said. "Buy us time until reinforcements arrive from the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy."
He had already sent word, but there had been no response.
A heavy silence settled across the hall.
At the Heavenly Dao Society—
Tens of thousands stood ready. This battle would determine whether the Heavenly Dao Society would survive.
Over the past few months, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion dispatched countless disciples. Under its support, the Heavenly Dao Society had risen to become a true superpower within the Central Plains.
Though lacking a Heaven Profound Realm cultivator, they rivaled the strength of the continent's top factions.
"Leader, we've reinforced the spiritual arrays per your instructions," Lan Yu said, stepping forward. "Even if someone at the Heaven Profound Realm attacks, they'll need time to break through."
He oversaw the completion of the array.
"Well done," Xu Yilin replied. "Our task is to hold the line and buy time for the Liu Clan."
Solemn faces surrounded them. The Heavenly Dao Society had never sought conflict, but war had come to their doorstep.