201: Tearing the Heaven Gate apart with bare hands, blood-stained stairs

The moment Lin Fan's figure stepped into the crack, time seemed to pause.

Tens of thousands of gazes from the entire Qingyun Sect were fixed on that terrifying wound that pierced the sky.

Expectation.

Awe.

And an indescribable fanaticism for witnessing history.

That was the path to the Upper Realm.

It was the ultimate destination that all Cultivators dreamt of and pursued throughout their lives.

And their Old Ancestor was embarking on that path with an unprecedented, and never-to-be-repeated, domineering and powerful stance.

At the entrance of the Alchemy Room, Zhao Linger held her breath, her beautiful eyes reflecting Lin Fan's tall figure, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

Li Hanyue's knuckles, gripping the sword hilt, turned slightly white from excessive force; her Sword Heart was resonating violently with the sharp, world-shattering aura leaking from the crack.

However.

The next instant.

That expectation and fanaticism were instantly shattered by an extreme, bone-chilling terror.

There was no scream.

No struggle.

Not even a ripple of energy.

Lin Fan's figure, the moment he stepped into the crack, just... vanished.

It wasn't spatial traversal, nor was it concealing his presence.

It was a higher-level, conceptual, complete obliteration.

Like a drop of water falling onto a red-hot iron plate.

It instantly evaporated, leaving not a trace.

It was disintegrated into its most primitive particles by the violent, all-annihilating domain power.

Above Qingyun Sect, there was a deathly silence.

Everyone's expressions were frozen on their faces.

The Sect Head and Grand Elder's faces drained of color at a visible speed, becoming ashen white.

The string in their minds called 'common sense' snapped.

Impossible... Old Ancestor... he... died?

As soon as this thought arose, it brought with it an overwhelming despair capable of collapsing the entire Sect.

"No..."

At the entrance of the Alchemy Room, Zhao Linger murmured like in a dream.

The light in her eyes instantly dimmed.

That figure, which had just been as majestic as a god, was torn apart before her very eyes.

An unbearable pain, originating from the depths of her Divine Soul, instantly swept through her entire body.

Her vision went black, and her body softly collapsed.

"Linger!"

Li Hanyue, quick-eyed and quick-handed, caught her, but her own body was also trembling slightly.

Her Dao Heart was as firm as a rock, yet this scene, transcending the cognition of life and death, still caused a violent upheaval in her Divine Soul.

An atmosphere of despair, like a plague, spread above the entire Qingyun Sect.

The hope that had just risen was ruthlessly crushed.

Was the so-called Ascension, the so-called escaping the chessboard, a joke from the very beginning?

Amidst this deathly silence.

Before that hideous spatial crack, still spewing Chaos storms.

A speck of light appeared without warning.

At first, it was as weak as a candle in the wind.

But the next moment, the speck of light suddenly expanded.

A familiar figure, before anyone could react, materialized out of thin air.

It was still the white robe, still the calm face.

Lin Fan, completely unharmed, once again hovered at the entrance of the crack.

He seemed to have just done something trivial, even having the leisure to lightly pat non-existent dust from his sleeve.

The entire world was silent for three seconds.

Then came the sound of gasps, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami roaring.

"Old... Old Ancestor?"

The Grand Elder's voice was completely distorted, filled with an extreme tremor and horror, as if he had seen a ghost.

The Sect Head's mouth was wide open, large enough to fit a fist; he pointed at Lin Fan in the sky, his fingers trembling like a sieve, unable to utter a single word.

Li Hanyue's pupils suddenly contracted; she looked at the reappearing figure, sensing the familiar aura, her rock-solid Dao Heart, at this moment, was impacted by an unprecedented shock, almost to the point of cracking.

A miracle!

This was not a Divine Ability, not a secret technique!

This was, in the true sense, a miracle!

Resurrection from the dead!

In Lin Fan's mind, the System's prompt sounded.

[Ding! Host was obliterated by domain power, achieving the 'Shattering the Void Realm' accomplishment! Rating: S-class!]

[Reward: Passive Skill 'Spatial Affinity'!]

[Reward: Law Comprehension 'Spatial Dao Mark' x1!]

A mysterious stream of information poured into his Divine Soul.

He could feel a sense of kinship, like Bloodline, with the surrounding space.

That crack, which had originally appeared violent and deadly in his eyes, now, though still dangerous, was no longer an insurmountable chasm.

He could even clearly perceive the trajectory of every wisp of spatial storm, every node of Void Realm lightning within it.

Lin Fan lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the stunned, horrified, and fervent faces below.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly upwards, revealing a faint smile.

His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Just a warm-up."

"The domain friction of this Ascension channel is a bit greater than I imagined."

Boom—

These words, like a Heavenly God's thunderbolt from the Nine Heavens, struck everyone's heads.

A warm-up?

That obliteration, which was enough to instantly turn a Soul Transformation Stage mighty figure into dust, was merely... a warm-up?

The Grand Elder and the Sect Head exchanged glances, both seeing an extreme light in each other's eyes, escalating from fear to fervent worship.

Their Old Ancestor was not human.

No, he even surpassed their cognition of an 'Immortal'.

He was an... unkillable, eternally indestructible existence!

Their Qingyun Sect's 'big leg' had become so thick that it exceeded the imagination of this realm!

In Li Hanyue's arms, the unconscious Zhao Linger's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she slowly woke up.

She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the safe and sound figure in the sky.

Tears, once again, uncontrollably welled up in her eyes.

But this time, it wasn't because of sadness and despair.

It was because of an indescribable ecstasy of having something lost and then found again.

Lin Fan's gaze lingered for a moment on the two graceful figures below.

Then, he turned around, once again facing the blood-stained steps leading to the unknown world.

"Well then, round two begins."

He murmured softly.

This time, he didn't hesitate at all.

Under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes below, which had now turned into fervent worship.

Lin Fan's figure, with a calm smile, plunged headfirst into that Chaos storm, capable of shredding everything.