Chapter 381 - 380: Abandoned by the Heavens

His voice carried a depth of despair that Lin Yuan had rarely heard from him. The monk had devoted his life to cultivating the Buddhist path, believing that compassion and the pursuit of enlightenment would eventually guide cultivators toward a deeper understanding of the Great Dao.

Yet the scene he had just witnessed had revealed a different reality, one in which the powerful could choose to protect their own while abandoning countless others to destruction.

"The gate opened to save its defeated guard, but it expelled us," Ku Ming continued, his hands tightening around his prayer beads. "The Grand Ascendants know we are here. They know the Nine Heavens Ward has shattered, and they must know that the Demon Realm is invading the lower world. They witnessed everything that happened on the platform."

He lowered his head.

"And they still refused to help."

Bai Qingyue looked toward the Golden Gate, her eyes reflecting the bitter truth of the situation. Her black hair moved gently around her shoulders as the turbulent winds passed over the beast’s back, and the Fortune Banner rested quietly in her grasp.

"They know, Master Ku," she said. "And they do not care."

Her words were quiet, but they carried no uncertainty. The Imperial Domain had possessed every opportunity to acknowledge their warning, yet its representatives had chosen to defend the guard who had broken his own promise.

The intervention had not been an act of compassion or a desperate attempt to prevent an unnecessary death. It had been a deliberate demonstration of authority, reminding the cultivators of the lower world that the gate belonged to those who controlled it.

Lin Yuan hovered beside Bai Qingyue, his deep purple eyes turning as cold as the cosmic void. He looked down at his right hand, remembering the absolute authority of the golden ray and the ease with which it had repelled his attack.

"The Imperial Domain is of no help," he stated.

His voice carried a terrifying finality that left no room for misunderstanding. "They have sealed their paradise. They will watch the lower world burn, and they will only intervene when their own interests are threatened. We cannot depend on them to save the Nine Provinces."

He paused, allowing the implications of the decision to settle over the group.

"We are on our own."

The realization descended upon them like a shroud of lead. Their final hope, the desperate appeal to the ancient ancestors who supposedly possessed the power to protect the world, had been rejected. Whatever resources and knowledge the Imperial Domain possessed would remain beyond their reach unless they discovered another way through the barrier.

Lin Yuan did not allow himself to dwell on the disappointment for long.

Anger would not save the Nine Provinces, and resentment would not stop the Demon Realm from merging with the lower world. The Grand Ascendants had made their position clear, and he had no intention of wasting precious time trying to persuade those who had already chosen to turn away.

If they refused to act, he would have to find another solution.

He turned his gaze toward the devastated horizon.

Below them, the apocalypse continued unabated.

From their elevated position, they could clearly observe the horrifying reality of the merging realms. The bruised-purple sky of the Hollow Beyond was bleeding into the atmosphere, causing clouds to rot and release acidic rain upon the earth. Spatial boundaries dissolved across the horizon, and enormous fragments of jagged demonic terrain appeared between the mountains of the Nine Provinces.

In some regions, entire landscapes were being overwritten.

A mountain range from the Hollow Beyond had emerged across a fertile plain, its black peaks crushing villages and sect compounds beneath their sudden appearance.

A river of corrosive liquid flowed through a valley that had previously contained nothing but grasslands, its waters spreading corruption into the surrounding soil. The natural spiritual veins beneath the continent flickered as foreign laws invaded their circulation, and the once-pure spiritual Qi became increasingly difficult for ordinary cultivators to absorb safely.

The consequences were already visible in the behavior of the invading demons.

The Demon Lords no longer needed to rely entirely upon their own strength to overwhelm the defenders. As the laws of the Hollow Beyond spread through the lower world, their abilities became easier to use, while the techniques of orthodox cultivators encountered increasing resistance.

Formations that depended upon stable spatial principles began to malfunction, and defensive arrays that had protected sects for thousands of years weakened as the foundations supporting them were overwritten.

The longer the merging continued, the more favorable the world would become to the demons.

Ku Ming watched the distant destruction with a heavy heart. He had spent his life studying the ancient relationship between the Nine Provinces, the Barrier Realm, and the Imperial Domain, but he had never imagined that the separation between those regions could be destroyed so violently.

The ancient records described wars and invasions, yet none had prepared him for the possibility that two entire dimensions might be forced to occupy the same space.

"The Barrier Realm and the Demon Realm are fully merging with the Nine Provinces," he observed, his voice heavy with grief. "Without the Great Sea Realm to filter the spiritual Qi, and with the Demon Lords rampaging freely, the orthodox laws will eventually be overwritten. The lower world will become a slaughterhouse."

He turned toward Lin Yuan, his expression troubled.

"If the process continues without interruption, the damage may become irreversible. Even if we defeat the invading armies, we will still have to contend with the corrupted environment and the destruction of the world’s foundational laws. We need to sever the connection between the realms before the fusion reaches that stage."

Bai Qingyue leaned against Lin Yuan, her gaze steady despite the horrors unfolding below. The golden light surrounding her body had dimmed, but the fortune within her remained active, allowing her to observe the changes in the surrounding currents with unusual clarity.

"We have the strength to fight," she said. "But we cannot fight an entire dimension merging with our own. We need a way to sever the connection or protect the remaining orthodox foundations before they are entirely corrupted."

Lin Yuan listened to their assessments without interrupting.

His mind continued functioning with absolute precision, sorting through the information they had gathered and identifying the problems that required immediate attention.

There would be no reinforcements from the Imperial Domain.

The Nine Heavens Ward had been shattered.

The Demon Realm and the Barrier Realm were merging with the lower world, and a Demon Emperor possessed enough power to tear entire spatial dimensions from the fabric of reality.

The situation was dire, but it was not necessarily hopeless.

Lin Yuan had his foundation, his Dao Fruit, and the system that had repeatedly provided him with opportunities beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.

He also had Bai Qingyue, whose natural fortune had already demonstrated that it could influence events in ways that ordinary cultivation could not explain. Together, they possessed advantages that might become decisive if they could discover how to use them.

As his mind plotted the impossible war ahead, the familiar mechanical interface of the Millionfold Return System suddenly materialized in his field of vision. Its appearance did not alter the surrounding atmosphere, and neither Bai Qingyue nor Ku Ming reacted to the panel floating before Lin Yuan’s eyes.

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