Everything happened too fast.

  So fast that before Wen Shan could even react, the terrifying force had already descended.

  A violent gale slammed into him. Though it was not aimed at him, the mere aftershock nearly suffocated him, his mortal body trembling on the verge of collapse.

  His mind went blank.

  All he could do was watch as Huang Xiuxiu, who had been standing before him just a moment ago, was swept away like a fallen leaf caught in a storm. Her body traced a hopeless arc through the air and plunged straight into the bottomless abyss.

  She did not even scream.

  Dead?

  Before his emotions could fully form, the culprit behind it all revealed itself.

  The first thing he sensed was its aura.

  Strange. Alien. Unlike anything he had ever felt.

  It was a pressure mixed with brutality, antiquity, and pure malice. Merely brushing against it sent icy terror crawling through his limbs. From the depths of his soul rose an instinctive fear.

  What… was this?

  Then he saw it.

  An arm.

  A massive arm forcing its way up through the rock beneath their feet.

  It was grotesquely thick, covered in savage crimson scales, veins bulging and twisting. It was not human.

  That arm had struck Xiuxiu.

  “Demon clan!”

  Senior Sister’s voice rang out across the summit, cold and furious.

  “How are you here? The Six Cross Mountain secret realm… you entered it? Then the fall of the Hai Suan path truly was connected to you?”

  The enormous hand pressed downward.

  With a thunderous crack, the mountain top split open. Using its arm as leverage, the creature hauled itself up from beneath the earth.

  It was a monstrous hound, so enormous it inspired despair.

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  Its bulk dominated the summit. Its limbs were like pillars holding up the sky. Dark red flames burned endlessly across its body.

  And above its head floated a single colossal eye.

  The eye hovered in the air, clouded and indifferent, gazing coldly at every living being present.

  A hoarse, mocking laugh rumbled from the beast’s jaws.

  “You did not expect me here, did you?”

  “I wonder… after enduring countless hardships to reach the end, only to have everything shattered by my own hand… what kind of despair will you feel?”

  Wen Shan’s brows tightened.

  As the demonic hound fully emerged, he could clearly sense its terrifying aura weakening at a visible rate.

  The laws of the End of Dharma secret realm were beginning to erode it.

  But even so, it remained overwhelming.

  Because here, it was the only one with spiritual power.

  From the moment they had entered this realm, Wen Shan and the others had been reduced to defenseless mortals.

  How could such a gap be bridged?

  His mind raced at unprecedented speed, calculating every possibility.

  There was none.

  The difference between possessing spiritual power and lacking it was an insurmountable chasm.

  Even an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator would be enough to crush them all.

  And this demon beast, even in decline, far surpassed anything he had ever encountered.

  What could they do?

  Almost unconsciously, his gaze shifted toward Senior Sister.

  She was also a mortal now. Yet somewhere deep inside, he still hoped.

  She stood calmly in place.

  There was no panic on her cool face. If anything, a faint smile touched her lips.

  “So you sealed yourself underground like a tortoise, preserving your spiritual power against the erosion of this realm?” she said evenly. “A clever method. But do you know how long you have been sleeping in that lightless earth?”

  The hound’s eyes flashed with savagery.

  “Still talking bravely? Even weakened, I am far stronger than you mortals!”

  “Come. All of you. Let me devour you at once, rather than chase you down like frightened rats!”

  Senior Sister remained tranquil.

  She raised three slender fingers before her lips and spoke softly,

  “Reverently carve the three transmissions, those who enter the time learn without distinction of rank.”

  In an instant, a profound and indescribable aura spread outward from her.

  It was not spiritual power.

  It was older. Stranger.

  It belonged to the Dao of Yin Learning.

  The giant hound’s eyes widened.

  “Impossible! You have no spiritual power. How can you still wield Dao path force? This is the End of Dharma realm. All laws return to the ordinary!”

  She gave a faint, mocking smile.

  “If you could preserve your power by hiding, why could I not do the same?”

  Then she shouted,

  “Release!”

  The Dao path aura around her dissipated like a receding tide.

  And in its place, a terrifying presence erupted from her mortal frame.

  Her aura climbed rapidly.

  Behind her, four other cultivators likewise erupted with surging spiritual power.

  Qi Refining first layer.

  Second.

  Third.

  Their cultivation was restoring at an astonishing rate.

  The demonic hound froze for a split second, then roared in disbelief.

  “Impossible! In this realm, cultivation can only fade. The spiritual power you lost cannot return!”

  She laughed coldly.

  “What if our spiritual power was never lost within this realm to begin with?”

  “Before entering, I used Dao path force to dissolve the cultivation of the five of us, turning us into true mortals.”

  “Thus, the laws of this realm had nothing to erode.”

  “And now… I have merely canceled that effect.”

  At that moment, realization struck Wen Shan.

  Senior Sister’s Dao path was also Yin Learning.

  Yet her manifestation of Dao path force differed from that within the Yin Learning secret realm.

  Even along the same Dao path, the power displayed could be entirely different.

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