96: Chapter 94 Your presence here is part of the answer.

The clamor at the entrance of the Heavenly Road dissolved into silent chaos the moment the Law Tide surged forth.

It was an irresistible force, not an attack, nor repulsion, but the Heavenly Road's own inherent dismantling of “completeness.”

It did not allow any powerful individual to enter this trial with a complete team, as if this were a fanatical safeguard for the fairness of Opportunity.

“Hold the formation!”

Chu Ye’s voice was almost swallowed by the roaring of the Laws.

Lady Hua Yu immediately expanded her True Immortal Domain. The Myriad Spirit Phantom roared out, forcefully resisting the first wave of Law Tide surging from the front.

Her figure swayed slightly under the impact, but she did not retreat a single step, True Immortal power surging like a tide.

Li Yue and Cold Moon stood shoulder to shoulder, their double zithers resonating. The Vast Cold Melody transformed into layers of moonlight-white ripples, using softness to counter hardness, constructing a musical barrier around the team.

Cold Moon's zither music was steady and deep, while Li Yue's was clear and sharp. Working together, the master and disciple managed to smooth out the turbulent Law power by a third.

Empress drew her imperial sword, and a Dragon roar shook the heavens.

The Great Qin Dragon Qi transformed into a golden phantom that spiraled upward, forcefully suppressing the Law commotion in the core area of the team with imperial might.

Her expression was solemn, her Phoenix Eyes like lightning. Where her sword pointed, the Laws retreated.

Witch Empress Jiu You sneered, flicking her sleeve. A purple-black Poison Miasma snaked out like a living thing, accurately drilling into the gaps of the Law Tide.

She did not directly resist the immense power, but rather used poison to corrode its roots and filth to disrupt its order, causing the streams of Law attempting to scatter the team to become turbulent and sluggish.

However, the Heavenly Road's rules were far more tenacious than they had imagined.

The invisible devouring force did not come from a single direction, but surged simultaneously from all sides, and even from the Void Realm beneath everyone's feet.

It was not trying to “repel” the invaders, but to “break them up,” dismantling every complete group into independent individuals best suited for the Heavenly Road's screening.

“Chu Ye!”

Empress’s figure was swallowed by a suddenly torn spatial rift.

Dragon Qi surged around her, yet she was still dragged in by the irresistible suction. The corner of her black dragon-patterned imperial robe flashed at the edge of the rift, then vanished without a trace.

“Ni Chang!”

Chu Ye reached out to grab her, but his fingertips only touched the cold Void Realm.

Almost at the same instant,

Li Yue and Cold Moon were simultaneously swept away by a moon-like vortex.

The master and disciple shared a tacit glance before parting, offering no struggle. They simply looked at Chu Ye at the same time, their lips moving slightly, silently saying something.

Then, the moonlight white and plain blue colors dissipated in the halo interwoven with Taiyin Power.

Witch Empress Jiu You gave a cold snort, enveloped in Poison Miasma, and was swallowed by an eerie green rift.

She didn't even look back, leaving only a lazy, dangerous “Interesting” drifting away in the wind.

Su Qingyue chuckled, her Nine Tails swaying, and she voluntarily merged into a ripple suffused with a dreamy halo.

She was the only one who seemed to be “invited” away willingly—the Sea of Illusory Dreams was calling her.

Lady Hua Yu tried to grab Chu Ye's wrist, her True Immortal Domain expanding wildly to counteract the suction.

However, the moment her fingertips touched Chu Ye's sleeve, a Law impact far more violent than before roared down from the depths of the Heavenly Road.

She was forced to let go, and the Myriad Spirit Phantom was swept away with her into a cyan-green stream of light.

Chu Ye only had time to see her final look toward him—it held worry, anxiety, and a sense of reluctance, almost forgotten by herself, that had re-emerged over the long years.

Then, he was swallowed too.

Everything around him—the clamoring human voices, the surging Spiritual Qi, the various Escape Lights and Magical Artifacts—faded away, turning into a dead, weightless, seemingly endless descent.

Chu Ye did not struggle.

As he fell, he adjusted his breathing, keeping his Divine Sense guarded internally. The World Origin of the hundred phoenix diagram circulated slowly deep within his Dantian, like an unquenchable lamp.

Since he came, he would accept it.

If the Heavenly Road wanted to separate them, it meant there was a reason for it, and a path for reunion.

After an unknown period, perhaps an instant, perhaps a millennium, his feet finally touched solid ground.

It wasn't the Void Realm, nor a staircase, but hard, cold ground permeated with a sense of ancient vicissitude.

Chu Ye opened his eyes.

This was a... battlefield.

The sky was shattered, countless cracks spreading like spiderwebs to the edge of the horizon. Dark golden light flowed from every crack—the Dao Trace of a powerful being, long solidified yet still lingering.

The earth was scorched black. Where there might have once been mountains, rivers, and palaces, only a leveled, barren wasteland remained.

Broken weapons and snapped halberds were scattered everywhere, some stuck into the ground, others half-buried in the soil, rusty but still faintly exuding a terrifying sharpness.

The air was saturated with a thick, almost palpable aura of “fall.”

Not the fall of one powerful being.

But thousands upon thousands.

Chu Ye walked slowly, the soles of his boots crunching on the fine black sand, making a faint rustling sound.

He passed a long spear broken into three sections. The dao rhyme at the tip was still sharp, as if its owner had fallen only a century ago.

He passed a skeleton that had long since weathered, with scorch marks remaining on the frame where it had been pierced by something extremely hot.

He passed a tattered battle flag. The flag face was unrecognizable, but the flagpole still faintly carried a trace of Battle Intent, seemingly from high antiquity.

“Immortal Rank... No, more than that.”

Chu Ye muttered to himself, his gaze sweeping over the Dao Trace fluctuations remaining in the air and on the ground. “There are Heavenly Emperors, Saints, Great Earth, and even... Immortals.”

This was a true, massive, ancient battlefield worthy of being recorded in history.

And he, alone, had landed in its center.

Just then,

A slight, almost imperceptible sound of clothing rustling arose from three Zhang behind him.

Chu Ye didn't turn around, only tilting his head slightly, catching a glimpse of a plain color in his peripheral vision, a color completely out of place in this desolate battlefield.

The Saintess of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, Xuan Ji.

She was still dressed in simple robes, her face covered by a light veil, revealing only a pair of eyes as clear as mirrors.

Her aura was unremarkable, as if she were just an ordinary Female Cultivator passing by.

But in this ancient battlefield, where even space was saturated with the Dao Trace of slaughter, her very presence was highly unusual.

“Are you following me?” Chu Ye asked.

“Coincidence.”

Xuan Ji’s reply was brief and calm, without any emotional fluctuation in her tone. “The probability of the Heavenly Road dropping us into the same ruin is approximately one in three thousand seven hundred. It's not zero, so it's not following.”

Chu Ye turned around and faced her directly.

The eyes exposed outside the light veil did not flinch, merely meeting his gaze quietly, as if observing an interesting Divination Hexagram that had not yet been fully deciphered.

“Saintess of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion,”

Chu Ye said, “You appear alone in a battlefield that even I find troublesome. What are you here for?”

Xuan Ji was silent for a moment.

Then, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze passing over Chu Ye's shoulder, landing far behind him. At the edge of the battlefield, something seemed to be standing there.

“I came to find the answer to a Prophetic Remark.”

She said, “And you...”

Her gaze returned to Chu Ye's face.

“You appearing here is part of the answer.”

Chu Ye raised an eyebrow, just about to ask further,

When a sudden change occurred.