When the crowd next saw the female Phoenix and the Wright Brothers, the Divine Bird's long beak was stained with blood, red droplets even dripping down. The Wright Brothers lay silently before the female Phoenix, each bearing a round, bleeding hole in their throat.

Everyone felt an immediate chill down their spine. The Phoenix Divine Bird was indeed formidable. Looking at the wide-open, unclosed eyes of the Wright Brothers lying on the ground, one could tell that until their dying moments, they likely never understood how the Phoenix had managed to instantly shatter both of their throats with a single peck.

A dead silence once again fell over the Celestial Palace. A few seconds later, a pair of Phoenixes, one female and one male, slowly approached the white casket. The larger male Phoenix stretched its neck, extended its long beak into the white box, and then slowly retracted it. At that moment, everyone saw a sphere, circulating with dazzling golden brilliance, held gently in its mouth.

The crowd quickly turned their eyes to Young Master Liu. He was still shaking his head, signaling for everyone to remain still and continue watching to see what would happen next.

The two Phoenixes retrieved the sphere, turned around, raised their heads high, and began to pace with proud, noble steps toward the entrance of the Celestial Palace.

The others watched helplessly as they neared the hall doors. This time, without waiting for James's command, two SWAT team members wearing black sunglasses suddenly raised their M16A2 tactical rifles and unleashed a frantic burst of fire at the Phoenixes—da-da-da. Perhaps they reasoned that no matter how powerful the Phoenix, it was still a bird and couldn't possibly be immune to the most advanced modern weaponry.

Yet, the ways of the world are always mysterious and unpredictable. The gunfire lasted for a mere dozen seconds at most before abruptly ceasing. Then, accompanied by two sharp, brief cries, the bodies of the two SWAT members erupted in fierce golden flames. These flames, too, lasted only a brief dozen seconds, perhaps even just a few, before suddenly vanishing.

Disbelieving, everyone stared at the two piles of grey ash where the SWAT members had just been standing, utterly dumbfounded. The two Phoenixes continued their stately walk toward the exit, as if the shooting and the rising and vanishing of the golden flames had never occurred.

Young Master Liu couldn't help but offer a wry smile. It seemed that as long as these two Phoenixes remained, no one stood a chance of taking the treasure.

The Phoenixes had already stepped out of the Celestial Palace. Suddenly, James seemed to snap out of the shock of seeing his two subordinates instantly reduced to ash. Unwilling to accept it, he roared at the remaining men, "All of you, chase them! That orb is the ancient divine artifact 'Phoenix Gall,' the vessel containing the secret to eternal life! Chase! Chase! Hurry and catch up, seize it!"

He began frantically shoving his subordinates, urging them out of the Celestial Palace. Prime Scholar Jia quickly asked Young Master Liu, "Laddie Liu, what do we do?"

Young Master Liu offered a wry smile. "Everyone, stop thinking about that orb and the Phoenixes. We have already solved the riddle: these ninety-nine heavens are the very resting place of the ancient divine artifact, the 'Phoenix Gall.'"

"The riddle? We've solved it already?" someone asked in confusion.

Young Master Liu shook his head. The riddle? Had they solved it? Suddenly, he felt a wave of intense dizziness. Countless scenes they had experienced flashed through his mind like a moving picture show, the images slowly, painstakingly connecting in his brain... When the dizziness passed, he clutched his throbbing head, suddenly feeling as if he vaguely grasped something important.

Seeing everyone staring blankly at him clutching his head, Young Master Liu gave another strained smile and explained, "I have a headache, but I think I've grasped some faint clues to the riddle."

Fan DeBiao immediately grabbed his hand eagerly. "Young Master, what is the riddle? Tell us quickly!"

Young Master Liu sighed softly. "I will tell you the riddle. What we can do now is find a way out as quickly as possible and return to the mortal realm. The exposure of the ancient divine artifact 'Phoenix Gall' to the world, in my estimation, does not bode well. And the Phoenixes, the guardians of the artifact, will certainly take it to another unknown, mysterious domain. Without the divine artifact, without its value as a charge, this strange and mysterious space is bound to undergo a massive transformation. We must leave immediately, or we risk being annihilated along with this space during the upheaval."

Everyone was stunned into momentary silence by Young Master Liu’s words. Even the seasoned veteran, Prime Scholar Jia, blinked his small eyes and mumbled, "Then... then where should we go now?"

Young Master Liu shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either. The collective mood instantly plunged into extreme panic.

Just then, the death cries of beings sounding like humans echoed from outside the Celestial Palace. Everyone knew, with chilling certainty, that James and his men must have caught up to the Phoenixes, only to be systematically executed during the struggle to seize the 'Phoenix Gall.'

The series of bizarre screams terrified everyone. Coupled with the confusion and panic over their unknown path home, an infinite surge of despair, fear, anxiety... and a thousand other complex feelings welled up in their hearts.

Suddenly, a strange sound emanated from within the great hall. It began as a faint kaka sound, like a mechanism engaging, but the sound grew louder until the entire Celestial Palace began to vibrate violently amidst the tremendous noise.

Everyone was startled senseless by this sudden change. Amidst the chaos, Prime Scholar Jia shouted, "Run! The hall is probably collapsing, get out quickly!"

At this point, everyone was in a state of utter terror and confusion. Jia's shout acted like a powerful stimulant injected into a dying man, forcing a single, overriding thought into everyone's mind: run!

Fan DeBiao hoisted the still-unconscious Cai Qingchong onto his back, Jia supported Young Master Liu, and the group stumbled and scrambled desperately toward the hall doors amid the violent tremors of the Wuji Dao Zang.

Just as they reached the massive doorway of the Celestial Palace, something occurred that immediately plunged everyone into absolute despair—the hall doors inexplicably slammed shut in an instant! So much so that Jia, who was at the very front, couldn't stop his momentum and slammed into the doors with a loud peng.

And at that very instant, the vibration of the hall ceased as if time itself had been frozen. Unprepared for the sudden stop, the group, who had been running in a daze, all pitched forward and fell onto the floor.

Time and space seemed to halt. Bathed in the soft purple light of the hall, everyone sat up from where they had fallen, their expressions identically vacant. No one asked what happened or why; it was as if, in that single moment, they had abandoned the desire to live and the fear of death, sinking into a state of unconsciousness.

The hall was silent, without a single sound. They remained sitting there blankly, their hearts filled with a languid sense of having surrendered completely to fate.

Suddenly, Young Master Liu felt an incredible sensation of plummeting, as if an invisible force had tugged his body sharply backward and down. But this sensation lasted only a few brief seconds.

What was that? Young Master Liu struggled to force his nearly listless brain to function. Just then, he noticed a single beam of white light appear beneath the soft, pervasive purple illumination of the entire Celestial Palace. He looked toward the white light in surprise, tracing it back to its source, and realized it was emanating from the white casket—the one now empty of the 'Phoenix Gall.'

Young Master Liu suddenly had a feeling that there was some hidden mechanism within that white casket that they had all overlooked. He abruptly stood up and walked toward the box, noticing the others sitting on the floor, watching his actions with detached indifference.