The surging Gang Qi, those incoming dust particles, felt at that moment like the sun had observed in that singular world.

Combustion and fission erupted from within, the core balance collapsing, radiating boundless light and heat.

Even a minuscule speck possessed the power to fell a Spirit Realm expert. And when an entire swath flew in, even with’s power now far exceeding the peak of the Immortal Realm, he found handling it extremely taxing.

The thirty-seven Imperial Dao Dragon Tooth Swords spun and struck ceaselessly. But from their previous expanse within a thousand zhang, where sword energy crisscrossed with overwhelming momentum, they gradually retracted to within ten zhang, forming a barrier of sword Gang.

He fully maintained the defense of this small space, preventing those dust particles from entering the perimeter.

Shielding both and , they pressed deeper into the grand formation.

The latter seemed to place absolute trust in , ignoring everything else. Even at the most perilous moments when the fiery dust nearly touched his body, he never wavered for an instant. He remained wholly focused on discerning and utilizing the spatial-temporal gaps within this domain, guiding them both through with surprising safety into the core depths of the grand formation.

was initially concerned, but after a moment, he realized that in matters of formation theory, was indeed superior to him. He also seemed intimately familiar with this Fiery Dust Grand Formation. Thus, ceased diverting his attention, focusing solely on fiercely protecting them both from injury by the heaven-obscuring, earth-hiding fiery dust.

The thirty-seven swords, responding as if they were his own limbs, carved arcs of exquisite perfection around him, drawing in the Great Dao Spiritual Energy, completely shutting out those dust particles.

As for the searing light and heat of the flame energy, he paid them little mind. He commanded the Dao of Infinite Beginning and End; this kind of uncontrolled light and heat was precisely what he feared the least.

Is that all?

The thought barely crossed his mind before’s eyebrows shot up; he already felt a vast, incomparable will descending to cover them. It was completely unhindered by the spiritual formation, completely ignoring the flames and dust.

A Saint Realm expert?

’s heart sank slightly. That was fast!

It had only been five or six breaths since entering this grand formation. He had tried his best not to disturb the surroundings, to prevent the formation’s restrictions from changing too drastically. Yet, in merely six breaths, an expert of the Saint Realm overseeing the Nine Absolutes Death Prison had reacted.

While hesitating whether to retreat temporarily or find a way to delay, he heard a slight tremor in ’s usually cold voice.

“It’s here. We can enter the Third Layer Death Prison directly. My strength is insufficient, My Lord—”

A purple spiritual light flashed in’s eyes as he looked toward where indicated. In an instant, he discerned the location of that gap.

It could lead straight to a certain spatial layer, yet it was simultaneously met with formidable resistance.

Without any hesitation and devoid of any stray thoughts, before could finish speaking,’s Nameless Sword already cleaved horizontally across the air.

Time. Accelerate!

Space. Fold!

Causality. Invert!

Fate. Lock down!

Seventy-nine Star Dao Seeds manifested above and below him, plummeting simultaneously with the sword light.

Then, with a resounding crash, the entire area—ten thousand huo chen—was utterly annihilated.

The void collapsed. Countless unseen fissures sprang into existence. That gap was blasted wide open by this unrestrained sword strike.

And in the very moment before the Saint Realm divine sense extended to this spot,’s magical power swept up ’s figure, hurtling them directly into the ruptured spatial-temporal rift, vanishing completely from this space. The gathering fiery dust lost its target, and tranquility was restored.

However, moments later, an old man draped in a voluminous crimson robe suddenly strode into the area. He appeared from nowhere, hovering in the void, looking down with an almost-smile at the place where and the other had just vanished.

“To be able to break through so calmly and arrive here—these two are indeed remarkable. Hmm, that final sword strike was extraordinary; it actually pierced sixteen layers of restrictions and four spatial barriers. A pity I arrived too late to witness it firsthand—”

His tone held admiration, yet the old man shook his head and gave a cold sneer, sighing deeply. Though these two were not criminals of the Lu family, having entered the Death Prison, those whose names were not on the Lu family’s roster of offenders would find it even harder to escape the Nine Absolutes Death Prison.

“I truly wonder if it is that they don't know the immensity of heaven and earth, or if the fierce reputation of my Lu family’s Nine Absolutes Death Prison has waned these past years? It merely burdens me with having to clean up their mess for a while longer—”

After a brief contemplation, he sent several streaks of golden light darting away in all directions. While troublesome, it was merely an itch, requiring no personal action from him. Even if this person’s strength might exceed the Divine Realm, within the Nine Absolutes Death Prison, it was scarcely worth a mention.

Then, the crimson-robed elder strangely glanced toward the void outside the grand formation. He felt that something was slightly amiss there; a faint, almost imperceptible tremor resonated within his chest.

He spread his divine sense in all directions but found nothing.

The crimson-robed elder snorted coldly and swept his sleeve, departing the scene. Though he appeared unconcerned, a flicker of gravity passed through the depths of his eyes.

Either that place was indeed unremarkable, or the person who arrived possessed strength far superior to his own! This incident is quite bizarre; handling it requires extreme caution… “Is the array of the Nine Absolutes Death Prison really nothing more than this?”

uttered this sentence as he stood already in an unfamiliar world. Before him lay a plain hidden within a dense green fog, and right beside him was .

After entering the third layer of the Death Prison, remained uneasy. He shifted locations several times consecutively until he no longer felt the probing of the Saint Realm divine sense. This world was vast and seemed to possess an inexplicable power that prevented even Venerables of the Saint Realm and those of that caliber from acting wantonly within this realm. This saved him considerable trouble, allowing him to conserve his means of evading divine sense pursuit.

The strangest thing now was that previous Fiery Dust Grand Formation. Its power was undeniably extraordinary, yet absolutely refused to believe that this formation alone was responsible for only two people escaping the Nine Absolutes Death Prison over tens of thousands of years.

, however, looked composed: “The Death Prison’s array functions inward, not outward. My Lord, examine yourself internally now, and then look at the surrounding spiritual energy; the truth will be revealed!”

paused, spreading his divine sense to investigate carefully. In just a moment, his expression grew grave. He hadn’t noticed it before, but now his internal true power and soul consciousness felt as if a lock had been placed upon them, gradually solidifying. It was fortunate that had warned him in time; by resisting with all his might, he prevented too much of his power from being locked away.

Not only that, but the Five Elements spiritual energies surrounding this place were clearly present. However,’s consciousness could not connect with them at all, only managing to incorporate the flame-element spiritual energy into his grasp.

A thought crossed ’s mind, and he tried casting various spiritual techniques he knew, but they yielded no response.