APTnovel Chapter 595 This must be the royal family taking action.
Chapter 595 This must be the royal family taking action.
.......
The morning sun, carrying a touch of coolness that pierced through the long night, slowly shone upon the vast and boundless territory of the Great Li Dynasty, just as it always has.
However, for some, this seemingly peaceful morning is destined to become a nightmare they can never erase for the rest of their lives.
A streak of light shot through the sky at incredible speed.
He was a young man dressed in the outer disciple's robes of the Qinglan Sect, named Li Qing.
A few days ago, he accepted a mission from his sect to travel tens of thousands of miles to a dangerous place to pick spiritual herbs. He went through countless hardships and even almost lost his life to a monster before he managed to complete the mission.
At this moment, he was happily returning on his sword, his mind filled with fantasies about handing over the spiritual herbs and being able to exchange them for a few precious pills, so that his long-stagnant cultivation could advance again.
"We're almost there. Once we cross that misty mountain range ahead, we'll see the sect's magnificent main peak."
Li Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead, a smile he couldn't hide on his lips, as if all the fatigue of the past few days had vanished in that moment.
However, when he actually piloted the flying sword, crossed that familiar mountain ridge, and looked down towards the direction of the sect's headquarters in his memory, the smile on his face instantly froze.
Instead, there is a sense of bewilderment and endless fear that originates from the depths of one's soul.
That's all! Nothing left!
The once magnificent Qinglan Sect mountain gate, with its rolling hills, spiritual energy, and soaring cranes, has now completely vanished from the earth.
The once towering main peak was flattened by an unimaginable and terrifying force, even sinking into a bottomless, enormous sinkhole.
Within a radius of hundreds of miles, all that could be seen was a desolate wasteland reduced to scorched earth.
The earth took on a strange, glassy appearance, a trace of being instantly melted by an incredibly high temperature and then re-solidified.
The air still held a suffocating heat, and a terrifying aura of destruction that, even the slightest touch of it, would cause Li Qing's soul to ache and feel as if it were about to shatter.
"What...what's going on? Am I dreaming?"
Li Qing's body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably, and his flying sword swayed precariously in mid-air.
He bit his tongue hard, trying to break the "dream" in front of him with pain.
However, the harsh reality has not changed at all.
He landed shakily on the edge of the crater, the scorched earth beneath his feet still burning hot, so hot that wisps of smoke rose from the soles of his shoes.
In the ashes not far away, he saw a huge blue stone that was only half left, with melting marks on the edges. The words "Qinglan" could be vaguely made out on it.
That's the plaque of the sect's mountain gate, which has stood for thousands of years!
"The sect... is gone... all gone! The sect leader, elders, senior brothers and sisters... they're all dead!"
Li Qing's knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily onto the scorching, glazed earth.
A chill ran from his tailbone straight to his head, and he seemed to see what a cataclysmic battle between gods and demons had taken place here last night.
That level of power was simply beyond the comprehension of a mere outer disciple like him.
Escape! We must escape!
Get as far away from this hell as possible!
Li Qing's mental defenses completely collapsed. He let out a hysterical scream of terror, and even forgot about controlling his sword. He directly burned the essence blood in his body, turning into a streak of blood light, and scrambled away from this place in a frantic escape.
After all, paper can't contain fire.
In less than half a day, the news that the Qinglan Sect had been completely wiped out overnight and that even its mountain gate had been forcibly erased from the map spread like wildfire throughout every corner of the Great Li Dynasty.
Whether in the taverns and teahouses of ordinary cities or in the markets and black markets where cultivators gather, everyone was talking in horror about this earth-shattering change that was enough to be recorded in the history of the Great Li Dynasty.
As for the Heavenly Sword Sect and Falling Cloud Valley, the other two major sects in the cultivation world of the Great Li Dynasty, the moment they received this news, an unprecedented and violent earthquake swept through the entire sect.
Inside the council hall of Sunset Valley, the atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed as if water was about to drip from it.
The Lord of Luoxia Valley, a powerful figure whose cultivation had reached the third level of the Immortal Platform Realm, was pacing back and forth in the center of the hall, his usual aloof and majestic demeanor completely gone.
On both sides of the main hall, dozens of elders were ashen-faced and dared not even breathe loudly.
"Has the investigation been completed? Is the news true or not? That's the Qinglan Sect! A behemoth that has stood shoulder to shoulder with our Luoxia Valley for thousands of years, how could it just disappear like that?!"
The Valley Master stopped in his tracks, staring intently at the Shadow Elder who was in charge of gathering intelligence, and roared hoarsely.
Elder Shadow swallowed hard and answered in a trembling voice.
"Reporting to the Valley Master, it is absolutely true. I personally led people to observe from afar using secret methods... Now, not even a single living ant can be found in that place."
"Moreover... according to the last fragmented message passed down by our informant within the Qinglan Sect before his death, the previous patriarch of the Qinglan Sect, who was in seclusion, has broken out of his seclusion."
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, the Valley Master gasped and slumped into the armchair behind him.
"That ancestor was a peak Sendai Realm expert many years ago! Add to that Zhang Tianming and Zhang Tianyun, two Sendai Realm powerhouses, and with that kind of strength, let alone being wiped out overnight, they could even challenge the Great Li Dynasty without a doubt!"
"Could it be... that some reclusive master has made a move?"
"Valley Master, what should we do now?"
An elder said with a worried expression.
"The ability to wipe out the Qinglan Sect silently overnight is simply unbelievable."
"If they could destroy Qinglan, they can destroy our Luoxia Valley just as easily!"
A look of surprise and uncertainty flickered in the Valley Master's eyes. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, as if he had grasped some clue.
"Wait! The Great Li Dynasty! Yes, it must have been the Great Li royal family!"
"For many years, the royal family has been dissatisfied with our three major sects for occupying their own territories and refusing to obey orders."
"That Zhao Tianchen is cunning and scheming. On the surface, he only has the cultivation of the second level of the Sendai Realm, but secretly he may have already cultivated some terrifying trump card or invited some outside help!"
"He's making an example of them, using the Qinglan Sect as a starting point to completely unify the cultivation world of Dali!"
Upon hearing this conjecture, everyone in the hall felt a chill run down their spines, and the more they thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
"Quickly! Activate the sect's protective formation immediately, at the highest level of defense!"
"At the same time, immediately send an envoy to the Heavenly Sword Sect to tell that old swordsman that he will understand the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'."
"Now that Qinglan is destroyed, if we don't unite to fight against the royal family, we'll be the next ones razed to the ground!"
The same scene played out exactly the same way inside the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Faced with this unknown and potentially devastating threat, the two sects, which had previously been at odds with each other, quickly set aside their differences and banded together for mutual support under the shadow of death, directing all their attention and vigilance towards the royal family of the Great Li Dynasty.
However, the leaders of these two major sects could never have imagined that Zhao Tianchen, the ruler of the Great Li Dynasty, whom they considered the prime suspect and believed to be the mastermind behind the scenes, was in a state of even greater anxiety than they were.