"Dao Domain, activate!"
The moment Bai Chen, Yi An, and Yan Bao shouted those words, the space around them twisted violently.
Heaven and earth seemed to bend.
Behind Bai Chen, a blazing halo began to form—an enormous ring made entirely of fire serpents. Each flaming snake bit the tail of another, forming a perfect circle of writhing, living inferno.
Behind Yi An, countless crescent blades spun into existence, arranging themselves into a triangular halo. Each crescent shimmered with cold metallic light, rotating in precise, measured harmony.
Behind Yan Bao, a moon-shaped halo materialized, crackling with violent purple thunder. Lightning arced across its surface.
The atmosphere grew unbearably heavy.
From Bai Chen's fiery serpent halo, a massive sphere of condensed flame surged outward.
From Yi An's triangular halo, a hundred-meter-long sword of pure spiritual energy shot forth.
From Yan Bao's thunderous moon halo, a two-hundred-meter purple lightning arrow burst into existence.
All three attacks streaked toward Shen Yuan.
Mid-flight, they began to fuse.
Fire intertwined with thunder. Sword energy stabilized the volatile fusion.
In an instant, a colossal fiery thunder sword was born—its speed doubling as it tore through space toward Shen Yuan.
Yet Shen Yuan did not move.
He did not dodge.
A faint smirk rested on his lips.
The blazing sword struck him.
Reality seemed to tremble.
The sky rippled like disturbed water.
Then—
Three agonized screams echoed across the pocket world.
Everyone looked.
The fused fiery thunder sword had not struck Shen Yuan.
It had pierced through Yi An, Bai Chen, and Yan Bao instead.
They crashed to the ground in a smoking ruin.
Shen Yuan stood untouched, faintly glowing with an aura the color of a setting sun—warm gold mixed with crimson dusk.
Outside the pocket world, mortals erupted into murmurs.
"Wait... what just happened? That big combined strike—Yan Bao's thunder arrow, Yi An's sword, Bai Chen's fire sphere, all crashing together like a storm. It definitely flew straight at Shen Yuan... but it hit them? Hit the three of them? I blinked once and now they're the ones staggering. Am I going blind?"
"I swear on my mother's grave—the thunder arrow, the roaring flames, the massive sword—it was aimed right at Shen Yuan's chest! Then... poof. It curves back like a boomerang and blasts the three who sent it. What in the ancestor's name? Did Shen Yuan move that fast? Or did the attack... turn on them?"
"I rubbed my eyes three times. The combined strike was massive—fire, thunder, sword roaring together. It should have buried Shen Yuan. Instead it buried the three who cast it. Like the technique betrayed them. Or... Shen Yuan made it betray them. He's not just strong. He's twisting the rules!"
In the elders' chamber, several elders exchanged knowing looks.
High above, World Lord Han Bolin watched with a subtle smirk.
'His pseudo-karma domain… already this refined…. ahahaha!,' he laughed internally.
Inside, Shen Yuan exhaled slowly in relief.
It had worked.
He turned—
And felt something shift.
He spun back, but it was too late.
Bai Chen—bleeding yet conscious—clapped his hands together.
Space detonated.
A violent spatial explosion engulfed Shen Yuan and hurled him away.
He was blasted across hundreds of thousands of kilometers, crashing through the broken land before bouncing across the ocean's surface like a stone skipping water.
He stabilized mid-skip and came to a halt, standing atop the restless ocean.
Waves rippled beneath his feet.
Far in the distance, land smoked from ruin.
Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes—not in anger.
In annoyance.
Suddenly—
Thousands of sword energy strikes tore across the sky toward him.
He smirked.
Instead of retreating, he dashed forward, wings flaring wide.
The sword energies rained toward him like a storm.
He twisted and weaved through them effortlessly, dodging with uncanny precision. Some he even brushed deliberately, absorbing fragments of their power into his demonic aura.
As he neared the shore, only a kilometer away, his right claw flashed scarlet.
"Draconic Slash!!"
He swung forward.
Five colossal claw-shaped slashes burst from his arm and slammed into the land.
The impact erased hundreds of thousands of kilometers in a heartbeat.
Land split. Mountains disintegrated. Oceans churned violently.
Even Bai Chen, Yi An, and Yan Bao felt disbelief rising in their throats.
After taking a direct spatial explosion… how did he still possess such strength?
Then—
Shiny flickers glimmered within the rising dust.
The three moved closer instinctively.
Their faces paled instantly.
They turned to flee, however, it was too late.
The flickers were sparks of void fire.
The dark-blue flames drifted silently before touching them.
The moment contact was made, the three coughed blood violently. Blood seeped from their eyes and ears. Their spiritual energy wavered chaotically.
They collapsed.
Void fire could not erase them entirely as their cultivation was higher than Shen Yuan's, but it was enough to crush their resistance.
Outside, even hardened elders felt impressed.
"Vicious… and brilliant," one muttered.
The mortals were too stunned to speak.
Inside the pocket world, Shen Yuan walked slowly back onto land.
Blood seeped from his pores.
His demonic spiritual energy aura flickered unevenly.
Then—
Footsteps approached.
It was Zhou Xiaosi!
Shen Yuan raised his head weakly and smirked faintly.
"Brother Zhou," he said hoarsely. "Time to settle our grudges."
Zhou Xiaosi stopped several steps away.
"I won't fight you."
Shen Yuan's brows furrowed.
Zhou Xiaosi continued calmly, "Your meridians are frayed. Whatever method you used to wield demonic spiritual energy… it's tearing you apart. I may be from the country that wants you dead, but I still have my own principles."
Blood continued seeping from Shen Yuan's skin, staining his robes.
"Is that fear?" Shen Yuan asked, forcing a difficult smirk. The corners of his lips twitched with effort.
Zhou Xiaosi looked into Shen Yuan's bloodshot, half-crazed eyes and realized that this is a man that loves the fight more than his own life. And that was a dangerous madness, that burns everything faster than even the void fire he wields.
"I'm not afraid of a man half in his grave," he replied coolly. "Don't insult me."
Silence hung between them.
Then Zhou Xiaosi spoke again, voice quiet but sharp.
"You always suffer from the same flaw."
Shen Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You cannot swallow a provocation. No matter the cost."
A long pause.
"Isn't that precisely why you nearly perished three hundred years ago?"
The words struck harder than any technique.
Shen Yuan fell silent.
His smirk faltered.
Memories stirred—painful, buried truths clawing their way to the surface.
He wanted to refute it.
But he couldn't.
After a long breath, Shen Yuan looked at Zhou Xiaosi's back.
"You're right," he said softly.
His crimson eyes slowly faded back to their usual lavender.
The blackened skin along his arms returned to normal. His claws shortened into ordinary nails.
His wings dissolved into scattered motes of light.
His body swayed.
He nearly collapsed but steadied himself briefly before sinking to one knee.
"I quit."
Outside the pocket world, an uproar exploded.
Mortals gasped in disbelief.
How could such a terrifying figure fall to mere words of the past?
"What... what just happened? Shen Yuan was unstoppable—bloodied but still laughing, still destroying everything in sight. Then Zhou Xiaosi says one thing about the past... and he just... stops? Gives up? The man who took hits that would kill armies, beaten by words? My mind's spinning."
"He was winning. Clear as day—he was winning! The air was freezing, the ground cracking under his feet. One casual reminder of the past, and he just... stands there. Lets it end. How does a man like that lose to talk? My head hurts trying to understand."
"Hah! All that big show—laughing like a demon, eyes red as blood, shattering golems like toys—and he quits because some old enemy brings up the past? Pathetic! Shen Yuan's just a coward with fancy tricks. I spat on my own cheers now."
"Most don't see it. They think he quit like a coward. But I watched his aura flicker—demonic spiritual energy surging wild, ready to tear him apart. Zhou Xiaosi's words weren't an attack... they were a rope thrown to a drowning man. Shen Yuan knew. He chose life over exploding like a star. Respect that, even if it hurts to watch."
In the elders' chamber, shock lingered.
Steward Yan cleared his throat sharply, silencing the noise.
"With Shen Yuan's surrender," he announced, "the winner of the sacred sect competition is Zhou Xiaosi."
Cheers erupted from those supporting Fengyue.
Inside the pocket world, a white portal opened—the exit.
Zhou Xiaosi walked toward it.
Without turning around, he spoke.
"Yanqing is still waiting for you. Don't keep her waiting too long."
He paused.
"Breakthrough to the Early stage of Elysian realm first."
The name somehow calmed Shen Yuan.
A faint, genuine smile touched his lips.
"Of course," he murmured. "I haven't forgotten her."
Zhou Xiaosi stepped through the portal.
Bai Chen, Yi An, and Yan Bao followed, wounded but alive.
Ruo Xiulan exited quietly as well.
Tang Jiyan, who had been watching from afar, finally approached Shen Yuan.
He extended his hand.
Shen Yuan looked up at him—tired, drained, yet faintly smiling.
He took Tang Jiyan's hand.
Together, slowly, they walked toward the portal and left the pocket world behind.