The land where the Phantom Tribe resided was a wonderland, carpeted with blossoms and shrouded in swirling mists, like an ethereal realm.

Within an underground secret hall, constructed of seven different divine crystals, numerous exquisite men and women channeled energy, forging their divine bodies and delving into the profound, subtle truths of power's essence. Mandis, having left Meiji behind, stood before a brilliantly shining crystal—a mirror that shifted through various scenes.

A ripple of pale silver light emanated from Mandis’s petite, exquisite form, shooting into the mirror. Within it, a hazy silhouette suddenly materialized.

“Soren!” Mandis whispered, her voice barely audible.

“Mandis, long time no see. Tell me, did you manage to guide that child into the Clouded Dominion Realm?” The blurred figure within scoffed, speaking with leisurely confidence.

“He and that entire continent are situated within the Cloud Clan’s former sacred ground. Is the River of Fallen Stars truly beneath the Sea of Clouds?” Mandis asked with grave seriousness.

When she and Meiji had departed the Phantom Tribe for the Desolate Domain, Soren had contacted her, entrusting her with a task.

Soren seemed to anticipate that Shi Yan would leave the Desolate Domain, and furthermore, that he would bring the Continent of Divine Grace with him. Initially, Mandis had been skeptical, but a succession of events gradually confirmed Soren’s prescience; Shi Yan had indeed followed his predictions, stepping out of the Desolate Domain step by measured step.

Mandis quickly accepted Soren’s judgment.

Soren had requested that she bring Shi Yan into the Clouded Dominion Realm once he exited the Desolate Domain, and that she reveal the secret of the River of Fallen Stars sinking beneath the Sea of Clouds.

Mandis had done everything as asked. But she had no idea what would happen to Shi Yan.

“Shi Yan is the key. The Tower of Profound Runes fused with him is the key to the Gate of the Primordials. If his cultivation realm and power are insufficient, he cannot wield that key. That is why he must grow strong. His ascension will also create an obstacle for the Desolate Land. The River of Fallen Stars is bound to merge with him…”

Soren chuckled, seeming to perceive the mysteries of every corner of heaven and earth. “It’s strange; though I cultivate the Profound Mystery of Fate, allowing me to see a person’s past and vaguely discern the trajectory of a martial artist’s future, I can never quite grasp that single thread of his destiny. This boy is quite fascinating.”

“He is the key?” Mandis asked, stunned.

“Precisely. The Tower of Profound Runes is the key. The Primordial Beings—Judy, Beverley, Egar, and Devour—are all desperately vying for the Tower. They must all faintly sense some profound mystery,” Soren smiled. “Beneath the Sea of Clouds lies more than just the River of Fallen Stars. I believe once he emerges, he will certainly be able to step into the Realm Ancestor level. Ah, remember this: you must bring him along. His presence is mandatory!”

Mandis was silent for a moment, then nodded gently.

Soren’s figure slowly faded, gradually vanishing without a trace.

“Alas, I wonder what this man’s true intentions are. When did he first set his sights on Shi Yan?” After Soren disappeared, Mandis shook her head, murmuring with confusion reflected in her eyes.

...

Deep within the Sea of Clouds.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”

Rushing currents, like coiling serpents, writhed around Fandler’s divine body.

Fandler was entirely enveloped in starlight, appearing as a radiant source of celestial light. These cold, chilling rays warred against the gentle power of the water. Ribbons woven from starlight zipped past the Sea Shark Emperor, shattering clumps of cloud. The battle between the two gradually pulled away from the fray below, descending into the depths of the Sea of Clouds.

Dalsa, Culan, and the others were locked in combat with Minghao, Xuanhe, and their company. The members of the Cloud Clan were clearly no match for the powerhouses from the Continent of Divine Grace.

Especially Audrey, wielding the Primordial Divine Artifact, the Soul Refining Cauldron. With a mere shift of thought, countless specters and malevolent spirits swirled into thick layers of cloud, twisting into bizarre secret arts capable of distorting minds, causing the souls of the strong to tremble and their sacrificial altars to destabilize.

This battle had raged for days, and the Cloud Clan warriors were gradually being overwhelmed, with many already severely wounded.

Initially, O’Quinn had restrained the Priestly Order, forbidding them from joining the fight. However, as Culan, Dalsa, and the other Cloud Clan members suffered increasingly devastating defeats, O’Quinn’s sense of shared enmity flared. After all, they were one race; they could not stand by and watch their clan’s elites be slain one by one.

O’Quinn swiftly ordered the Priestly Order to enter the fray. Their participation slightly eased the pressure on the Cloud Clan martial artists.

But after some time, they too began to falter. Minghao, Xuanhe, Philete, Dicaro, Reddy, and the Sacred Beast Azure Dragon were all Immortal powerhouses, seasoned by countless battles, possessing brutal and ruthless techniques. Few martial artists of equal standing could withstand them.

As their ferocity was unleashed, the Cloud Clan members were utterly outmatched, constantly being suppressed.

Seeing the dire situation, O’Quinn and Culan secretly sent out messages. Cloud Clan members cultivating nearby in the Clouded Dominion Realm responded, gathering in droves. Many of the newcomers lacked profound cultivation, some merely at the Initial God realm, but their numbers were immense.

There were several thousand in total.

Upon arrival, these reinforcements arranged themselves, channeling the vapor from the Sea of Clouds to coalesce into barrier formations, jointly sealing the incoming attacks.

The scales of victory began to tip.

As more and more Cloud Clan warriors arrived, Xuanhe and Minghao found themselves increasingly strained, shifting from frenzied assaults to consolidating their perimeter in a defensive posture.

“Over fifty of our clan members are severely injured, and more than twenty have been killed. Those slain were not low in cultivation. These outsiders must not be spared!” Culan gazed at his clansmen groaning in pools of blood, his expression icy. One clansman, ravaged by the Profound Mystery of Corrosion, watched his divine body slowly decay, threatening to dissolve into a puddle of bloody liquid shortly.

“They are proficient in the methods of the Devour Clan!” someone shrieked.

“Retreat! Do not, under any circumstances, approach that corrosive blood!” Dalsa screamed, intimately aware of the terror posed by the Corrosion Profound Mystery, knowing that any low-level cultivator who touched even a drop of that liquid would be dissolved.

“Damn these outsiders! They will pay the price!” Many Cloud Clan members roared.

“Kill them!”

“Annihilate every last one of them!”

Countless Cloud Clan members bellowed, appearing across all sectors of the Sea of Clouds, their eyes blazing with murderous intent.

Among these arrivals were also some members of the Phantom Tribe, subordinates of Fandler. While Fandler was engaged with the Sea Shark Emperor, they were temporarily under the command of Fan Huinnai.

Fan Huinnai, draped in a rose-red gown and breathtakingly beautiful, stood amidst the handsome men of the Phantom Tribe, smiling faintly. “Your leader has been swallowed by the Sea of Clouds, shattered into fragments within the spatial barrier. What are you stubbornly clinging to? Is it worth it?”

She was addressing Minghao and Xuanhe.

“Even if every one of you dies, he will be fine,” Xuanhe replied with effortless grace. When Shi Yan’s physical body was drawn down, he was certain Shi Yan remained unharmed, as it was Shi Yan’s soul consciousness that had guided his body—a clear sign that Shi Yan’s soul was intact, untouched by the spatial barrier.

“Truly deluded,” Fan Huinnai shook her head, turning to Dalsa. “These outsiders seek death. Kill them if they must be killed.”

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

The Cloud Clan members shouted as their mass surged forward. Various Profound Mysteries were activated, driving the dense vapor in the Sea of Clouds. Thick clouds converged like mountains and flowed like rivers, all impacting the defensive zone held by Minghao and Xuanhe.

The Sea of Clouds became the heaviest of millstones. Every Cloud Clan member unleashed torrents of condensed vapor, connecting them together like a massive net enveloping the clouds, which then slammed down with crushing force.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

A membrane of bloody light flashed before Xuanhe’s eyes and shattered. An unhealthy flush crept across his face; he, too, had been wounded.

“Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!”

A clone released by Minghao was instantly enveloped by a mass of cloud, which began to grind and dissolve the projection.

The Cloud Clan brought the full power of their assembled elites to bear in a frenzied assault against Minghao and his group. Gradually, they could no longer hold the line, and one after another, they sustained serious injuries.

Years ago, when Fandler attacked the Cloud Clan, even though he himself was at the Realm Ancestor level, he could only achieve victory by exploiting internal discord within the clan.

This demonstrated the Cloud Clan’s ability to repel a Realm Ancestor by leveraging the natural advantages of the Sea of Clouds.

Minghao and Xuanhe were not Realm Ancestors, and the only Realm Ancestor among them was held back by Fandler. As Cloud Clan martial artists continued to pour in, bolstered by the tenacity of the Cloud Clan’s miraculous formations, the defense line held by Minghao, Xuanhe, and the others began to crumble, with continuous casualties suffering grievous wounds.

Suddenly, those layers of spatial barrier violently shattered.

Thousands of spatial light blades shot upward from below. Cloud Clan members caught nearby were instantly sliced into fragments—chunks of mangled flesh.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Spatial shards flew like knives amidst the explosion, dragging one Cloud Clan member after another toward the abyss of hell.

The Cloud Clan’s solid attack formation immediately disintegrated, torn to shreds by those blades.

The Cloud Clan members shrieked and fled the area, while O’Quinn, Culan, and Dalsa watched with expressions of utter horror, all turning their gaze toward the source of the light blades.

They knew that location was the crucial entrance to the depths of the Sea of Clouds, the mysterious place where the River of Fallen Stars had descended.

Shi Yan had been swallowed down there earlier; now, this anomaly emerging—could the barrier have been broken?

Within the dense clouds, two crimson orbs of light began to flicker. These blood-red orbs were colossal. As they focused their vision, they realized the orbs contained eyeballs, complete with irises—ghastly and terrifyingly sanguine.

“Eyes! Those are a pair of eyes!” Some Cloud Clan members finally reacted, their skin crawling, retreating rapidly.

Culan and O’Quinn were petrified, their souls scattered. They couldn't fathom what terrifying, monstrous being was emerging from below. If a single pair of eyes was as immense as a blood-red sun, how vast must the creature’s body be?

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

A dense aura of brutal savagery burst forth from the depths of the Sea of Clouds. The terrifying pressure felt capable of destroying the heavens and earth, strong enough to tear the entire Clouded Dominion Realm to shreds!

The soul altars of every Cloud Clan member shook violently, as if being crushed by this savage aura, threatening to explode... Gotta rush my old lady back home today, so only one chapter for today~~RQ