Boom!

Lightning flashed, heavy clouds pressed down.

Almost everyone trembled. The Divine Spirit realm was already legendary in the South Frontier, but now that Xie Fantian had unleashed his full power, he was a God among Gods—a triple-heaven Divine Spirit. In the Outer Domains, the Divine Spirit level corresponded to the World-level as termed by the Central Celestial Court. This was a terrifying level of might.

Xie Fantian’s magic power surged ceaselessly, seemingly threatening to shake the surrounding space itself with its sheer force.

"You brat from the Outer Domains, now you will know true terror." With a thunderous roar, he thrust out a sword strike—a blow relying purely on raw magical power to obliterate Lu Yuan. No fancy techniques now; this was a contest of pure force.

The rapid thrust of the Evil Ghost Sword generated an unimaginably catastrophic storm, powerful enough to annihilate every living thing in its path. Its aura was one of absolute extinction, and Lu Yuan was undoubtedly in its trajectory. With one strike, Lu Yuan was meant to be pulverized.

One finger!

That was right!

A single finger.

It was a slender, fair finger, the index finger among the five.

This solitary finger hovered in the void, seemingly devoid of any true power, lacking any worldly flare—utterly ordinary.

Yet, it was this very finger that parried Xie Fantian’s terrifying, world-ending sword strike, making it appear as if Xie Fantian’s attack amounted to nothing. But heavens above, Xie Fantian’s blow was truly powerful to the extreme, an endless terror filled with the breath of annihilation.

How could this be!

The one who extended this finger was none other than Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan easily blocked the attack of the Evil Ghost Sword with a single digit. He then looked towards Xie Fantian. "World Realm Triple Heaven. Is that considered strong magical power?" Lu Yuan flicked his finger lightly. With a whoosh, an immense surge of finger energy shot straight towards Xie Fantian’s heart. With a deafening boom, Xie Fantian’s heart instantly ruptured.

However, the Evil Sword Civilization possessed secret arts for rebirth. Xie Fantian immediately activated his secret technique. Before he could fully recover, the heart he had just reformed was blown apart again. Simultaneously, an even more annihilating stream of magical power surged instantly throughout his entire body. With resounding blasts, in but a moment, he was utterly destroyed.

Impossible! How could such a powerful figure exist in a backwater place like the South Frontier? To actually kill him in just three moves—he, who belonged to the noble Evil Sword Civilization! This was Xie Fantian’s final thought as death claimed him.

Lu Yuan lightly flicked his finger. "I said earlier that you wouldn't live past three strikes. Now, one sword strike and one finger, making exactly three moves. It fits within the stipulated range. I had initially intended to keep you around a bit longer, but regrettably, another move would have exceeded the limit, so I had to resolve it with that final finger."

Lu Yuan flicked his fingers as if brushing away an insignificant speck of dust. It wasn't arrogance on Lu Yuan's part; dispatching Xie Fantian truly was an exceedingly simple matter, scarcely more difficult than crushing an ant.

This sight shocked everyone nearby. Xie Fantian, a figure capable of plunging the entire South Frontier into chaos single-handedly, had perished so easily by Lu Yuan's hand. Yet, just thirty years ago, Lu Yuan was only at the fifth heaven of the Great Dao realm, a recent arrival to the Central Celestial Court. While progress was indeed fast after entering the Court, it was never this rapid.

It was astonishing!

After the shock subsided, everyone pondered the same question: Now that Xie Fantian was dead, had the issue of compelling the various sword sects to submit been resolved? The crowd was deeply puzzled and turned their gazes to Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan smiled faintly. "Not entirely resolved. Behind Xie Fantian is an immensely powerful force, so what happens next remains to be seen." The Evil Sword Civilization was overwhelmingly mighty; Lu Yuan dared not guarantee a complete solution.

"Xie Fantian was merely a minor figure in that faction."

Hearing Lu Yuan’s words, the other sects could only feel a sense of dejection. But then again, Lu Yuan had no inherent obligation to solve their problems, considering they were essentially strangers to him.

The various factions departed Dayong City, returning to their respective strongholds. They were powerless to resist, after all. A terrifying figure like Xie Fantian was considered a mere nobody within that greater power.

Dayong City returned to calm. Lu Yuan, however, knew this was indeed just the beginning.

The true Evil Sword Civilization was unfathomably deep.

The Vice Master of the Evil Sword Civilization was a surviving entity from the previous Epoch.

Now, it was time to make a move.

Heading to the Evil Sword Civilization. Where was it located? Finding the Evil Sword Civilization was no easy task. Fortunately, they had Xie Fantian. Lu Yuan waved his hand. He didn't care about Xie Fantian's other possessions—a mere triple-heaven World Realm figure was insignificant. However, Xie Fantian possessed a map leading to the Evil Sword Civilization. Upon investigation, Lu Yuan discovered that the Evil Sword Civilization was situated in the relatively shallow regions of the Lost Lands, not too far from the Central Celestial Court. Rumor had it that the deeper one ventured into the Lost Lands, the further they strayed from the Central Celestial Court, and the more perilous it became. Lu Yuan was no stranger to the dangers of the Lost Lands; he had successfully broken through to the World Realm there himself.

Of course, before reaching the Evil Sword Civilization, a journey through the Lost Lands was necessary. Accessing the Lost Lands required shattering the void and traversing spatial faults. Within these faults lurked many ferocious beasts, though typically, Celestial Venerable level strength would suffice. Lu Yuan, despite being only at the sixth heaven of the World Realm, possessed strength roughly equivalent to a Celestial Venerable, so the journey should be safe, provided he avoided encountering the Nirvana beasts. Nirvana were creatures of the spatial faults that lacked sentience and could trap Celestial Venerable level beings within the faults. Once trapped in this spatial distortion, lost amidst endless jumps, returning to the Central Celestial Court would prove immensely difficult.

Fortunately, on this trip into the Lost Lands, Lu Yuan did not encounter any Nirvana. Any other monstrous beasts that dared to provoke him were all cleaved to death by his finger-turned-sword.

He flew directly toward the Evil Sword Civilization. The last time he traversed the Lost Lands, danger lurked everywhere; now, with his strength greatly enhanced, the perilous feeling was significantly reduced. As long as he avoided spatial collapses and unique, powerful monsters, he should be fine. The closer he got to the Evil Sword Civilization, the scarcer the demonic beasts became, as their appearance beyond a certain point would be seen as an offense to the authority of the Evil Sword Civilization.

Every civilization possessed a Minor Thousand World.

And the Evil Sword Civilization naturally had its own Evil Sword Minor Thousand World.

This was an immensely vast Minor Thousand World. Beneath this world, imprisoned by subjugation arts, rested nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine colossal Baxia Turtles. Each of these Baxia Turtles stretched tens of thousands of zhang long. If this Minor Thousand World needed to move, it was these 9,999 gigantic Baxia Turtles that shifted the Evil Sword Minor Thousand World.

The World Gate of the Evil Sword Civilization stood a thousand zhang high and two hundred zhang wide—a massive, towering portal symbolizing the civilization's majesty. Guarding the World Gate were several World Realm figures from the Evil Sword Civilization, ensuring that no one could easily force their way into their domain.

The Evil Sword Civilization was considered a rather powerful entity even within the Lost Lands.

Upon the gate, two immense wolf heads were carved, their eyes glowing with an eerie, malevolent green light, fully embodying their wickedness.

This was the Evil Sword Civilization, rooted in the previous Epoch, whose Vice Master was a being who survived from that ancient era.

The few World Realm guards stationed at the gate were listless as they watched over it.

"So boring."

"Indeed. We were unlucky. Guys like Xie Fantian and Xie Fanyun were luckier, sent out to the Outer Domains to flaunt their might and capture the sword users there. That was quite a feat."

"Sigh, what an easy task—capturing country bumpkins from those remote backwaters in the Outer Domains. And for such a simple task, they earned major merit. What an easy way to gain prestige."

"Maybe they even managed to find some beautiful women to amuse themselves. Their luck is truly exceptional."

"Do you think if Xie Fantian had failed, we would have gotten the chance instead?"

"Tch, failure in a place like the Outer Domains? Stop dreaming. Just stay put and guard the gate honestly." Normally, guarding a gate wouldn't require World Realm experts, but in a place as perilous as the Lost Lands, it was essential to deploy them.

As these men were chatting, they suddenly spotted a single figure approaching.

"Who goes there!" a World Realm guard barked.

"Halt!" said another.

The person did not stop but continued walking toward the main gate of the Evil Sword Civilization. Finally, they clearly saw the approaching figure: a man clad in a blue robe, with a sword slung over his shoulder, holding a wine gourd in his right hand, a faint, casual smile gracing his face.

"A sword user. Are you one of us?" There were very few sword users even in the Lost Lands, which was why they asked.

"No, not one of us. The swords of our Evil Sword Civilization carry negative energy; this person's sword carries positive energy," another guard stated.

"Not one of us, yet he dares approach here? Truly audacious. But perhaps he can give us some entertainment. We can torture and kill him slowly; we're bored anyway." The third guard sneered. This type of disposition was quite common within the Evil Sword Civilization.

This World Realm fourth-heaven guard moved without another word, charging toward the man in blue, thrusting out his longsword wreathed in demonic energy. He didn't intend to kill the blue-robed man instantly but rather to severely wound him first, then enjoy the torture.

The man in blue used his finger as a sword and casually struck out, counterattacking the guard.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath. He had finally reached his destination: the Evil Sword Civilization.

This time, he intended to accomplish something truly spectacular, something magnificent: infiltrating the Evil Sword Civilization alone. Of course, this was not a senseless charge; it was all for Zhou Qingxuan.