Under the setting sun.
Gu Qingfeng stood quietly, his long hair fluttering slightly in the wind, his sleeves gently swaying. One hand was clasped behind his back, the other toyed with that string of ancient prayer beads. His handsome face was slightly pale, his expression exceptionally cold, especially his eyes, which were as dark and profound as an abyss.
"You are all Heavenly Destiny bearers chosen by the heavens. You should strive to cultivate and repay heaven and earth. You should not be here stirring up trouble."
Gu Qingfeng's voice carried over, devoid of any emotion, icy cold, utterly indifferent.
Jade Dragon Flying Star stood with his arms crossed in the void, smiling faintly. "Haha, you misunderstand, Monarch. I am not here to stir up trouble. I merely wish to ask for a lesson or two from you, that is all."
"Considering you all bear Heavenly Destiny, I do not wish to strike and injure you. Get as far away from me as you can."
As these words fell, Jade Dragon Flying Star's expression suddenly changed, a cold light flickering in his eyes, killing intent faintly discernible. He arrogantly retorted, "Gu Tianlang, your tone is rather too great, isn't it? Do you think this is still the Ancient Era?
Haha, the era belonging to you has passed. The Present-Ancient Era belongs to..."
"Scram!"
Before he could finish, Gu Qingfeng raised a hand and pointed, shouting sharply, "If you don't scram, I'll slaughter you today!"
That single word—"Scram"—was domineering beyond compare, truly enough to shock heaven and earth, to make ghosts and gods weep.
The crowd gathered at the foot of Shangqing Sect had no idea what was happening. They only felt their vision darken and their eardrums tear with pain, followed immediately by a churning of their qi and blood, their minds going blank. In their ears, only the word "scram" echoed. Those with weaker cultivation fell to the ground on the spot, fainting. The Immortals dared not delay, immediately summoning their immortal spirit protections, leaping up and scattering in all directions in a frantic escape. Only after fleeing far away did they stop and turn to look, stunned by the scene before their eyes.
The setting sun had vanished at some unknown moment.
What replaced it was dusk—a gloomy, murderous dusk, the dusk before darkness descends.
In the sky, dark clouds gathered wildly like rolling river waves. Here, fierce winds rose, thunder and lightning crackled, one flash after another. The earth shook, the mountains trembled. The entire Weiyang Great Domain was violently quaking. Even nature itself was undergoing strange transformations.
Had the sky changed?
Or had the heavens themselves turned?
Could it be that Lord Chixiao's single roar had shaken the very heavens and earth?
Good heavens!
Was this real?
They didn't know.
No one was clear.
What choked them even more was that looking out, nearly half of the countless cultivators previously gathered across the Weiyang Great Domain had been shaken into unconsciousness.
Wait.
What about Jade Dragon Flying Star, Ten Thousand Flowers Rain, and Wuya?
Everyone focused their gaze. When they saw the three of them, they nearly fell out of the sky in fright.
They saw Jade Dragon Flying Star and the other two in an utterly wretched state, collapsed on the ground, their bodies trembling violently, convulsing non-stop. Their faces were ashen, filled with terror, blood trickling from their mouths.
What happened to them?
Weren't they perfectly fine just a moment ago?
How had they turned into this state in the blink of an eye?
Many didn't know what had happened, but that didn't mean no one did. At the very least, Su Hua, Wine Immortal Zhen Yang, Immortal Master Zhenting, and the sect masters and patriarchs of the various major sects clearly knew: Jade Dragon Flying Star and the other two had been forcibly shaken into this state by the sheer force of Gu Qingfeng's shout.
Yes.
A single shout of power, merely the word "scram."
It shook the wind and clouds, making them change color; it shook nature itself into collapse; it shook heaven and earth into trembling; it shook tens of thousands across the Weiyang Great Domain into collapsing on the spot. Jade Dragon Flying Star and the other two didn't even have time to react before they were shaken until blood spurted from their mouths and noses, collapsing on the ground.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one would dare believe this was real.
Even having witnessed it, many—even Wine Immortal Zhen Yang and Immortal Master Zhenting at this moment—found their minds blank, feeling the sky spin and the earth tilt.
They all knew Gu Qingfeng's strength was immense, but exactly how immense, none had a concrete concept.
Especially Wine Immortal Zhen Yang. He slumped on the ground, not shaken there by Gu Qingfeng's shout, but terrified there by this scene. Earlier, Su Hua had said Jade Dragon Flying Star and the others were no match for Gu Qingfeng. It wasn't that Zhen Yang didn't believe it, but he could never have imagined that Gu Qingfeng's strength had actually reached such an earth-shattering degree. With just the power of a single word, he had shaken Jade Dragon Flying Star and the others until blood spurted from their mouths and noses?
One must know Jade Dragon Flying Star was no ordinary nobody. He was a Child of the Constellations bearing a Great Heavenly Destiny, a Heavenly Destiny personally appointed by the heavens! He was also a peerless prodigy of the first rank in this world, his strength unparalleled, unmatched even by those Luo Tian Immortals who had cultivated to the ninety-nine eighty-first layer, or those loose Immortals who had undergone eighteen tribulations. How could he be shaken into such a state by a single roar from Gu Qingfeng now?
And more.
What was with the dark clouds above? The thunder and lightning? Why was the earth trembling continuously?
The sun was just in the west a moment ago. How did it set and vanish in an instant?
What the hell was going on?
Had Gu, that kid, truly become a God?
The power of a single word, and he'd even shaken the damn sun off the mountain?
It wasn't just him who didn't understand.
Su Hua didn't understand either.
As for the grand, overwhelming sonic power that shook nature into collapse, shook dark clouds into gathering, shook thunder and lightning into crackling, shook the earth into trembling—although she didn't know how Gu Qingfeng had done it, she could understand and accept these phenomena. The only thing she couldn't understand, and couldn't accept, was why, the moment Gu Qingfeng's sonic power erupted, the setting sun would vanish and dusk would descend?
Su Hua furrowed her brows. Deep in her heart, besides confusion, there was more palpitation.
Because just as the setting sun vanished and dusk descended, a passage of words suddenly surfaced in her mind, along with the memory of a person. That was a person who had once thrown the Great Desolate Heavenly Realm into utter chaos, a person who had once stormed into the depths of her heart, and also a person of monstrous sin, called the chief culprit of the Original Sin.
"The great sun falls, twilight shrouds, darkness descends, the Nether Emperor arrives, the twilight of Immortals and Demons..."
The Nether Emperor!
Su Hua murmured these two words, looking at Gu Qingfeng, then shook her head. She felt this was simply impossible.
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence," Su Hua thought.
She could only think so.
Suddenly.
Su Hua sensed something amiss. Many divine senses were locked firmly onto Gu Qingfeng, accompanied by numerous strands of Killing Intent. These divine senses and Killing Intent seemed to come from all directions, each stronger than the last, and they were growing more numerous, chaotic.
Not good!
Su Hua knew the sources behind these divine senses and Killing Intent were the Great Dao Experts supporting and cultivating Jade Dragon Flying Star and the others. Now enveloping Gu Qingfeng, it was clearly a warning: if he dared harbor killing intent toward Jade Dragon Flying Star, they would not hesitate to act.