Chapter 370 - 369: The Sacred Ground is Being Taken! (2)

The entire preserved realm was ripped out of the fabric of reality!

The movement was slow enough for the cultivators to witness every terrifying moment, yet no force within the Nine Provinces appeared capable of preventing it.

Mountains, rivers, ancient ruins, and the remaining structures of the Sacred Grounds disappeared into a spatial distortion that swallowed the entire realm. What had once been a sanctuary of ancient cultivation was dragged into the Hollow Beyond like a fruit plucked from a tree.

Bai Qingyue’s fingers tightened around the Fortune Banner. The golden light surrounding her body intensified instinctively, but even the power of the Yunqi Realm could not conceal the overwhelming disparity between her and the entity above them.

She had gained the combat strength of a Nascent Soul sovereign, yet the being responsible for the destruction of the Sacred Grounds possessed an aura that seemed to stand beyond the ordinary boundaries of the lower world.

"That is..." Ku Ming whispered.

His voice trembled, and his golden Buddhist aura violently recoiled, shrinking closer to his skin as though attempting to protect him from the pressure descending from the heavens. His face had become deathly pale, and his eyes remained fixed on the place where the Sacred Grounds had vanished. For a monk who had devoted his life to cultivating a steady mind, the sight was almost unbearable.

"Body Integration!" he suddenly shouted, his voice cracking beneath the weight of his realization. "That is the aura of a Body Integration sovereign! A Demon Emperor has awakened!"

The words struck Lin Yuan like a cold blade.

Body Integration was a realm separated from the lower stages of cultivation by an enormous gulf. Even the Void Refinement experts who had dominated the Nine Provinces were insignificant before such an existence, and the difference between an Early Stage Soul Transformation cultivator and a Body Integration sovereign could not be measured by an ordinary comparison of strength.

It was a difference in the very depth of their understanding of the Great Dao, the power their bodies could contain, and the authority they could exert over the laws of reality.

Lin Yuan stared at the colossal hand, his expression growing increasingly solemn. His True Elemental Body, which had allowed him to cycle the Five Great Secret Realms and overcome opponents far stronger than himself, suddenly felt as heavy as lead.

His Dao Fruit spun frantically within his Primordial Spirit, attempting to analyze the spatial displacement and determine whether there was any weakness in the technique being used.

The result was almost meaningless.

His comprehension could identify the broad principles at work, but the information available to him was insufficient to unravel the entire technique.

The entity was not merely manipulating a spatial formation or controlling an isolated pocket dimension. It was exerting enough force to tear an entire realm away from the world, overcoming the resistance of the Sacred Grounds’ ancient foundations through sheer superiority of cultivation.

This time, Lin Yuan encountered a problem that could not be solved simply by observing its structure and identifying its flaws.

Intending to unleash the Six Arms of Reincarnation and sever the demonic wrist before the hand could withdraw into the Hollow Beyond. His body responded to his intention, and golden-purple thunder flickered around his fingers as his Dao Fruit began to gather its power.

He could not take a single step.

His muscles locked in place, and his Primordial Spirit trembled beneath the pressure of the distant entity. The absolute conceptual gap between his cultivation and that of the Quasi Demon Emperor was not merely a difference in strength. It was an abyss so vast that even the thought of launching an attack seemed to be suppressed before it could become an action.

Lin Yuan’s jaw tightened as he forced his spiritual Qi to circulate. The Five Great Secret Realms responded, strengthening his body and stabilizing his consciousness, but the pressure remained. He could still think, observe, and analyze, yet his body had become painfully aware of how insignificant his current cultivation was before the existence above them.

To attack that hand would be like a single raindrop attempting to extinguish the sun.

"The world is breaking," Bai Qingyue whispered.

Her Yunqi Realm fortune surged around her body, forming layers of golden light that struggled to resist the oppressive aura washing over them. She did not retreat behind Lin Yuan, nor did she release the Fortune Banner in an attempt to escape the pressure. Instead, she remained beside him, her eyes fixed on the heavens as she tried to comprehend the scale of the catastrophe unfolding before them.

Lin Yuan turned toward her for a brief moment. He could see the tension in her shoulders and the strain in the golden light surrounding her, but he also saw that she had not lost control of herself. Despite the overwhelming pressure, Bai Qingyue continued to maintain her fortune field, protecting the group from the worst of the spatial turbulence.

He reached out and gently steadied her hand.

"Stay close to me," he said quietly.

Bai Qingyue looked at him, and her expression softened for a moment. "I am not going anywhere."

Her answer was simple, but Lin Yuan understood what she meant. Whatever happened next, she intended to face it beside him rather than retreat and leave him to confront the danger alone. He gave her hand a brief squeeze before turning his attention back toward the shattered sky.

Below them, the Nine Provinces were descending into absolute slaughter.

Through the completely opened Heaven Ward, the vanguard of the Demon Realm poured into the lower world like a tidal wave of locusts.

Millions of grotesque demons blotted out the horizon, their countless bodies moving across the sky in an endless tide of dark scales, twisted limbs, and glowing eyes. Some flew on enormous wings, while others rode clouds of corrosive miasma or emerged from spatial passages that opened above the mountains and cities.

The demons did not arrive as a scattered force seeking to establish a foothold.

They arrived as an army that had been waiting for the barrier to fall.

The first wave descended upon the border regions, where defensive formations that had stood for thousands of years were shattered beneath the combined force of the invaders.

Mountain ranges disappeared behind clouds of demonic creatures, and rivers turned black as the corruption spreading through the air seeped into their waters. Sect guardians attempted to form defensive lines, but the sheer number of enemies overwhelmed them before they could organize a meaningful resistance.

Yet the countless foot soldiers were not the greatest threat.

The Demon Lords were!