The sky above was overcast with dark clouds.
Thunder and lightning clashed amidst a raging storm.
At the Taixuan Stele of the Nine-Hua Alliance.
At this moment, many people had gathered here. There were members of the Huowu Family, the Little Immortal Valley, and also people from the Yunxin Hall.
Several Chixiao people, including Ziyang and Wan Sen, were also present. Shui Yunruo, Lan Fei'er, Su Hua, and Huode were all there as well.
However, the expressions of those from the Huowu Family and Yunxin Hall were heavy and somber.
While Ziyang and the other Chixiao people all wore faces of profound grief!
Shui Yunruo, Lan Fei'er, and the others looked incredulous, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
The gazes of everyone present were fixed on a young man sitting upright beneath the Taixuan Stele.
He wore a simple, pristine white robe.
His long black hair flowed freely in the wind.
It was Gu Qingfeng.
At this moment, he sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, his face expressionless. Not only was there no expression, but there was also no spiritual aura, no breath, not even the slightest trace of vitality.
No one knew what had happened.
Their memories all stopped at the Fengyun Branch Hall.
They still clearly remembered how Gu Qingfeng had annihilated the people of the Nine-Hua Alliance, and then a strange sound had emanated from the Taixuan Stele.
That sound was ethereal and elusive, seeming to carry boundless fury within it.
When a terrifying spiritual pressure swept over them, before anyone could react to what was happening...
they all lost consciousness.
When they awoke again and rushed to the Taixuan Stele, they were shocked to discover Gu Qingfeng's figure—or more accurately, his corpse.
That's right.
It was a corpse.
Gu Qingfeng was dead.
The absence of spiritual aura was understandable.
If a person had no breath, that was dangerous; having no breath meant their physical body had withered and died.
However, if a person didn't even have vitality, then that person was not only dead in body, but their soul had also scattered...
The flame of life had been completely extinguished.
Dead.
Utterly dead!
But they couldn't accept such a fact.
Especially Ziyang and the other Chixiao people. Although Gu Qingfeng had never admitted it, in their hearts, they already regarded him as the successor of the Monarch Chixiao.
This was good news, tremendous news for all Chixiao people.
Even though the Monarch Chixiao was no longer present, the appearance of his successor, in a sense, meant the Monarch Chixiao still lived on.
How could this not bring joy to the Chixiao people?
But Ziyang and the others never imagined that before they could even share this good news with the Chixiao people of the world, this successor of the Monarch Chixiao had died.
Died inexplicably.
Died in a way they couldn't comprehend at all!
They didn't believe it, nor could they accept such a cruel reality.
They probed again and again, countless times, until their spiritual senses were nearly exhausted, yet they never detected the slightest trace of vitality on Gu Qingfeng's body, not even a wisp.
Dead.
Just like that, dead.
Although Ziyang and the others didn't want to believe it, they had no choice but to accept the fact that Gu Qingfeng had died.
They felt this way.
And Su Hua was no exception.
She was the last to lose consciousness and the first to awaken.
Others might not know whose voice had come from the Taixuan Stele, but Su Hua knew. Because before losing consciousness, she had witnessed with her own eyes a solitary moon slowly rising—a solitary moon stained with blood.
A blood-stained solitary moon could only belong to the World-Venerable Lady, Jun Xuanji.
Of course.
This was only speculation, as Su Hua had never met Jun Xuanji before. She only knew the legend of Jun Xuanji swearing a heavenly oath under a blood-stained solitary moon.
When she awoke and rushed to the Taixuan Stele as fast as she could, she didn't find Jun Xuanji. Instead, she discovered Gu Qingfeng's corpse.
Like Ziyang and the other Chixiao people, Su Hua couldn't accept this fact. But after probing countless times and indeed finding no trace of vitality on Gu Qingfeng, she too had to accept that Gu Qingfeng was dead.
Yet she couldn't understand why this had happened.
She didn't know what had transpired while she was unconscious.
Why had Gu Qingfeng suddenly died?
And was the voice from the Taixuan Stele truly Jun Xuanji?
She didn't know.
Su Hua tried to probe the Taixuan Stele but detected nothing. No!
It wasn't that she couldn't detect anything; she couldn't even sense the existence of the Taixuan Stele. This feeling was bizarre, like seeing something clearly in front of you, yet when you reached out to touch it, your hand passed through empty air.
This was the first time Su Hua had encountered such a strange situation.
She probed continuously, over and over, but could never sense the presence of the Taixuan Stele.
Beside her, Huode stared fixedly at Gu Qingfeng, his face filled with doubt, and within that doubt, boundless worry.
He didn't know if Gu Qingfeng was dead.
Although it looked like he was, Huode didn't believe it.
He knew Gu Qingfeng's identity and knew the extent of his capabilities.
The absence of vitality, in Huode's view, wasn't a big deal.
He had witnessed Gu Qingfeng being annihilated to ashes by the judgment of the Immortal Dao back then, and yet Gu Qingfeng hadn't died.
What was the lack of vitality this time compared to that?
Therefore, Huode didn't believe Gu Qingfeng would die.
But it was just disbelief; deep down, he was still somewhat uncertain. Because he also knew that the person inside the Taixuan Stele was Jun Xuanji, and he knew even better how much Jun Xuanji hated Gu Qingfeng. In his mind, there was only one reason for Jun Xuanji to appear at the Taixuan Stele: to wait for Gu Qingfeng.
As for what she intended to do after waiting for him...
Huode didn't dare think too deeply about it. He was afraid, afraid that Jun Xuanji might kill Gu Qingfeng because of what happened in the past!
Right at that moment!
With a deafening roar, the Taixuan Stele, massive as a mountain, collapsed without warning, turning into a pile of rubble.
What had happened?
No one knew.
Su Hua furrowed her brows and probed again, but the result remained the same: she couldn't sense the Taixuan Stele's existence, only see it reduced to ruins.
"Sister Su Hua, look! Gu Qingfeng, he..." Lan Fei'er's terrified voice rang out. Su Hua turned to look and was immediately struck with horror.
She saw that Gu Qingfeng, who sat cross-legged on the ground, was slowly dissipating, bit by bit.
He was truly dissipating, like an ancient statue weathered by countless years, crumbling away particle by particle. First his long hair, then his head, his arms, his legs...
All were disintegrating...
"Kid Gu!
You..." Seeing this, Huode's eyes immediately reddened. He could hold back no longer and rushed over, trying to stop Gu Qingfeng from dissipating. But when he reached out to touch Gu Qingfeng's body, it crumbled even faster, like ash...
Staring at the handful of ash that was once Gu Qingfeng in his palm, Huode's face turned deathly pale. His breathing stopped, he couldn't catch his breath, and he collapsed to the ground.
Disintegrated...
Just like that, disintegrated.
Gu Qingfeng's body had completely disintegrated, turned to ashes, scattered into particles of dust, merging with nature, merging with heaven and earth, returning to the origin...
At this moment, Ziyang and the other Chixiao people, their faces filled with terror, fell to their knees with a thud.
Lan Fei'er, Shui Yunruo, and the others were so frightened they could barely stand.
Su Hua simply stood there in a daze, at a complete loss.