338: What happened?

"Who exactly is it!"

Yun Chenzi's heart was cold, his words carrying a heaven-toppling killing intent.

As his emotions fluctuated violently, the scenery within the Five Elements Dao Palace changed accordingly.

Scattered all around, the Laws of the Five Elements rotation suddenly became chaotic and violent!

Faint phantoms of collapsing hills, radiating sword light, surging water, exploding flames, and entangling vines emerged.

The entire hall was filled with a heart-palpitating sense of oppression.

Yun Chenzi's thoughts spun several times, quickly scanning through potential enemies in his mind, yet he remained clueless.

It wasn't that there were no suspects; rather, there were far too many!

Of those who could Cultivate to Golden Core Perfection, which one hadn't fought their way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood?

Over a thousand long years, he himself couldn't remember how many grudges he had formed or how many people he had offended.

It was impossible to judge who was plotting against him in the shadows at this moment.

Moreover, being in the outer domains, those Great True Persons at the same level of Golden Core Perfection were all theoretically potential enemies.

Despite everyone usually minding their own business, no one wanted to see a new Nascent Soul True Monarch suddenly appear among their peers.

Thus, taking action in advance to intervene was perfectly normal.

Yun Chenzi told himself that if he encountered such a situation, he would also step in to block it.

However, even if he understood this, Yun Chenzi could never sit idly by!

The struggle for the Dao is like thousands of soldiers and horses fighting to cross a single-plank bridge; any possible Opportunity cannot be easily abandoned.

If one thinks that losing a single backup plan is harmless, they are gravely mistaken; that is the path to death!

Only by grasping every sliver of possibility can one win a slim chance of survival!

Therefore, Duan Tianxiong must be saved!

Yun Chenzi made his decision instantly.

Even if this rescue would force the chess piece Duan Tianxiong from the shadows into the light, greatly reducing its effectiveness, as long as a piece remains on the board, it always has its use.

It is much better than being taken for nothing and becoming a completely useless piece!

"Idle speculation is useless!"

Yun Chenzi's eyes were as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

"This seat will go personally to see who has the audacity to pluck hair from a tiger's beard!"

Before his voice finished, the space behind him began to ripple like water, as if unable to withstand some kind of pressure.

Immediately after, a piercing speck of five-colored brilliance burst forth from the Void Realm.

That light contained the ultimate Dao charm of the Five Elements rotation, incomparably sharp yet as heavy as a mountain.

"Chi-la—"

A heart-palpitating tearing sound echoed silently on the level of Laws.

That five-colored brilliance suddenly expanded outward, actually tearing a hideous rift into the solid spatial barrier!

Within the rift, endless deep darkness surged and rolled like viscous, living ink.

Countless violent currents of Chaos collided and annihilated within, emitting a terrifying aura sufficient to make Cultivators below the Golden Core feel their Divine Souls were being extinguished.

Just a trace leaking out caused the Five Elements Dao Palace to vibrate violently.

At the edge of the rift, fine five-colored runes flickered like chains, striving to maintain the rift's stability and prevent it from being burst by the violent power of the Void Realm currents.

The entire rift was like the hideous, gaping maw of an ancient Vicious Beast, roaring silently and emitting an ultimate pressure of destruction and disorder.

Yun Chenzi didn't look back once, simply wrapping himself in five-colored light condensed to the extreme, then unhesitatingly plunging into that rift that seemed capable of annihilating everything!

"Buzz..."

After a low tremor, that hideous spatial rift instantly sealed back up, as if it had never appeared.

Only the slowly settling spatial ripples remained in the hall, along with the lingering, heart-palpitating scent of Void Realm turbulence and the violent aura of the interwoven Five Elements.

This was only possible because Yun Chenzi's cultivation was profound, allowing him to barely manage tearing through the Void Realm for teleportation.

If it were a Golden Core Perfection like Li Daoxuan, they couldn't reach this level; at most, they could only use the power of 'space' to achieve a blink effect.

Only upon becoming a Nascent Soul True Monarch would space become like a toy in one's hands, easily molded and manipulated without creating such a large disturbance.

Although Yun Chenzi's methods were swift and secretive, with the fluctuations intentionally controlled within a tiny range, the various Cultivators who came to offer birthday congratulations could not detect a thing.

However, such a violent disturbance of spatial Laws from tearing through the Void Realm was like throwing a boulder into calm, deep water; it could not be hidden from the several existences within the Qingming Immortal Sect who were at the same level as Yun Chenzi.

Almost the instant the rift closed, four Divine Thoughts as vast as the sea quietly rose from the other four dojos of the Qingming Immortal Sect, silently converging in the deep firmament above the Sect to form a 'Sea of Divine Thoughts' only they could perceive.

"Eh?" One Divine Thought was the first to ripple, carrying a hint of surprise: "What kind of wicked fire has Five Elements caught? He's making quite a stir!"

The nature of this Divine Thought was as sharp as an unsheathed sword; it was the Master of Hidden Sword Peak, whose primary cultivation was not the [Gengjin Dao] but the [Sword Dao].

"Who knows!" Another Divine Thought came from Everlasting Green Peak, carrying a long-lasting charm of endless life.

"Perhaps some blind fool touched his bad luck at this critical juncture. You all know Five Elements' plans; he's at his most sensitive period right now."

"Hmph, why bother with him!" At this moment, a third Divine Thought sounded, ancient and thick, but the words were blunt.

"If you have this much free time, you'd better think more about the upcoming Xuanling Secret Realm. Five Elements has long regarded the 'xuan yin jade marrow' in the Secret Realm as his personal property, determined to get it!"

"So what? If he wants it, I have to give it?"

A fourth Divine Thought sounded leisurely; it was a cold female voice, like a flowing cold spring yet with internal heat like fire, ethereal and uncertain, giving a sense of being both real and illusory.

"Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items belong to the virtuous; the Xuanling Secret Realm won't open for him alone!"

As soon as these words were spoken, they were like ice shards thrown into a lake, causing the surging Sea of Divine Thoughts to suddenly go still, falling into a strange and subtle silence.

Although they all belonged to the Qingming Immortal Sect, shared the resources of the blessed land, and were a monolithic giant to the outside world, once they reached this Realm, the fellow-disciple friendship became exceptionally fragile when it truly concerned their own Dao path and life-bound cultivation.

The Cultivation World is cruel; it has been so since ancient times.

For the sake of Opportunity, for that slim chance of Breakthrough, let alone fellow Senior Brothers, there are countless examples of people turning against their own masters or blood relatives, facing each other in life-and-death struggle.

The struggle for the Great Dao has always been a single-plank bridge; it cannot accommodate too much warmth.

Not to mention the Great Dao of the Nascent Soul, which is a leap in the level of life, the true beginning of touching the authority of Heaven and Earth, and the goal of countless Cultivators.

How could such an Opportunity be lightly yielded with just a phrase like 'fellow-disciple friendship' or 'the Sect's overall situation'?

The capable rise, the mediocre fall, and the losers perish!

This is the bloody reality of the Cultivation World.

Whoever takes that step first, condenses a Nascent Soul, and achieves the position of True Monarch will be the one who laughs last!

Only then is it time to discuss sentiment; giving charity would merely be a matter of a single thought.

A voiceless silence spread through the Sea of Divine Thoughts; the slight ripples of exchange from before quickly settled, and the four Immortal Masters each withdrew their Divine Thoughts, with no further communication.

This was a kind of tacit understanding, because they all knew that beneath this noise, the undercurrents had already begun to surge.

The Xuanling Secret Realm will surely stir up a storm of blood and gore across the entire Profound Spirit Domain!