Elsewhere in the sect, someone reacted very differently.
"Good!"
Wild laughter burst out of a secluded courtyard.
"This is excellent news."
A handsome young man was laughing so hard that his face looked almost distorted. It was Yun Canglan.
After the Northern Territory Heaven’s Chosen Gathering, Yun Canglan had also broken through to the 1st level of Spirit Manifestation Realm and entered the Inner Sect of the Profound Origin Immortal Sect.
His status, however, had fallen sharply. He had once been an elite among the Outer Sect disciples, but in the Inner Sect he was only an ordinary member.
"The heavens have finally opened their eyes," Yun Canglan said, laughing. "Li Yun, you were so arrogant while you were alive. In the end, didn’t you still die young?"
Because of Li Yun, Yun Canglan had faced a great deal of criticism within his clan. Several family elders had even questioned whether he had the temperament needed for major responsibility, and he blamed Li Yun for much of that humiliation. Now Li Yun was gone.
"Men!"
Several cultivators appeared immediately, all of whom had reached the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
"You will go to the Azure Void Region," Yun Canglan said, and his expression turned vicious. "Kill everyone connected to Li Yun, and leave no one alive."
While Li Yun was alive, Yun Canglan had never dared to do such a thing. Now he believed there was nothing to fear.
"Yes, Young Master."
The cultivators left. Several days later, however, only one of them came back, and Yun Canglan flew into a rage.
"You failed?" His face twisted. "I sent several cultivators at the 4th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm into a tiny, remote region, and only one came back?"
He kicked the survivor.
"What happened?"
"Young Master, it wasn’t our fault," the cultivator said, trembling. "We had barely entered the Azure Void Region when a mysterious woman appeared. She attacked only once, and all the others died from a single palm strike."
Yun Canglan froze.
"Then why are you still alive?"
"She spared me on purpose." The cultivator swallowed nervously. "She told me to bring you a message. She said that if you ever send anyone into the Azure Void Region again, you will be killed, with no exceptions."
Yun Canglan’s face darkened.
"Who does she think she is?"
The survivor suddenly remembered something.
"She gave me her name. She called herself Jiang Xingyue."
"Jiang Xingyue?"
Yun Canglan still looked furious at first, and then he stopped.
"What did you say?"
The room went silent.
"What was her name?"
"Jiang Xingyue," the cultivator answered carefully.
Yun Canglan repeated the name several times, and fear slowly crept onto his face.
"It can’t be that Jiang Xingyue..."
He suddenly looked at the survivor.
"Describe her. Was she wearing robes covered in brilliant starlight? Was she incomparably beautiful? And whenever she moved, did the space around her seem to fill with stars?"
The survivor’s eyes widened.
"Young Master, how did you know?"
Yun Canglan’s face went pale in an instant.
"It really is her." He took several steps back. "How is this possible? How could someone like Jiang Xingyue be connected to Li Yun?"
Very few ordinary disciples in the Profound Origin Immortal Sect knew the name Jiang Xingyue, and Yun Canglan knew it only because of his family’s connections.
Jiang Xingyue had entered the Profound Origin Immortal Sect about two years earlier. The moment she arrived, the sect’s highest-ranking figures broke with convention and granted her the status of Saintess. The decision caused enormous dissatisfaction, and dozens of True Disciples demanded an explanation.
Jiang Xingyue answered them herself. She challenged nineteen True Disciples one after another, and every fight ended with a single palm strike. Not one opponent lasted through even one full exchange with her.
After nineteen victories, the protests died away, and the remaining True Disciples no longer dared to question her status.
The sect later suppressed the story because the incident had been humiliating for many important disciples. Only a small number of insiders knew the truth, and Yun Canglan happened to be one of them.
"Damn it."
His fists were shaking. When he recalled his clan elders’ warnings about Jiang Xingyue, what was left of his anger was buried under fear.
No matter how much he hated Li Yun, he could not afford to provoke someone like her. In the end, Yun Canglan gave up every plan that involved the Azure Void Region.
The story now goes back to roughly half a month earlier.
After the black vortex swallowed him, Li Yun felt himself falling. An enormous ice tunnel stretched downward for tens of thousands of feet, and a terrifying suction dragged him deeper.
The wind screamed around him. The gale in the tunnel was so sharp that it sliced his skin open at once, and bloody wounds appeared all over his body. Blood sprayed out, but the extreme cold froze it solid before it could travel far. If it had not, Li Yun might really have bled to death.
"Ninefold Origin Flesh Scripture: Undying Origin Body!"
Li Yun forced his physique into operation. He was in terrible shape. His limbs had already begun to stiffen, and even his soul felt as if it were freezing.
Only his extraordinary willpower allowed him to keep the Undying Origin Body going, and he knew he could not hold on for long. If the fall lasted several more breaths in these conditions, death would become a real possibility.
Then something came into view beneath him. It was a colossal vortex, turning in the depths of the ice tunnel like the mouth of some ancient devouring beast.
Before Li Yun could react, it swallowed him. His mind spun violently, darkness covered his vision, and he lost consciousness completely.
"Hiss..."
Li Yun eventually woke up, and the first thing he felt was pain coming from every part of his body. He examined himself and could only give a bitter laugh.
The gale had left countless wounds on his skin, his meridians were blocked in several places, and even circulating essence qi had become difficult.
He really had come close to dying. If he had stayed in that frozen tunnel even a little longer, he might have died before finding out where the vortex led.
Li Yun cleared his mind and immediately began to circulate what remained of his essence qi to repair his body. It was slow work. After a full day and night, his condition had improved enough for him to stand, and only then did he take a proper look at his surroundings.
"Hm?" His expression changed. "What is this place?"
There was no ground under his feet. Below him lay what seemed to be a bottomless abyss, yet he was floating. He was not deliberately controlling his essence qi or using any movement technique. His body simply hung there above the darkness.
At his level of cultivation, staying in the air was hardly impossible, but the strange part was that he was doing it without trying.
Li Yun looked down, and his expression changed again. Inside the abyss was an enormous volcano. Magma had erupted from its crater, but everything about it was frozen in time.
Part of the magma hung in midair, and another part was still halfway inside the crater. It had not been frozen by cold. It had been frozen in the middle of its motion.
Another scene sat close by. Thousands of soldiers were locked in battle, with two generals at the front whose spears had just collided. Both men were completely motionless. Even from a great distance, Li Yun could see the killing intent fixed on their faces.
Countless other scenes filled the abyss, including cities, battles, natural disasters, and ancient landscapes. Each one looked vivid and real, yet each had stopped at one particular instant.
"What kind of power is this?"
Li Yun was truly shaken. In his previous life he had stood at the peak of the King level, and even with all the knowledge from that life, he had never come across anything remotely like this.
Then a voice suddenly spoke nearby.
"Oh? A newcomer?"
Li Yun turned at once. A young man in black robes had appeared several meters away. His arrival was so sudden that Li Yun had not sensed him at all beforehand.
The black-robed youth stared at Li Yun, and his eyes lit up with extraordinary excitement.
"Twelve years," he said with a smile. "After twelve whole years, another newcomer has finally arrived."

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