The gods were in an uproar. Zhuxuan Dijun made a decisive decision on the spot, immediately ordering the divine officials in a stern voice: “Quickly remove the restrictions on the divine manor! Bring all the mounts!”

For a moment, chaos reigned below the platform. Some timid Shennu were already sobbing and crying.

The last time such a strange incident occurred in the divine realm was when Gonggong Dajun crashed into the Heaven-Supporting Pillar—how many years ago was that? Not to mention the younger generation, even many elders hadn’t experienced it. After such a long period of stable years, now suddenly having divine realm land fall away—this scared them one by one until they dared not move.

Shao Yi used a small fork to pick up a piece of immortal peach and considerately brought it to Xuan Yi’s lips: “Eat quickly. Otherwise, when we return to Mingxing Hall later, you won’t have anything to eat until tomorrow morning.”

Xuan Yi frowned and shook her head. She had always been a picky eater, not fond of fruits or rare delicacies at all. She only loved to eat delicate tea snacks. Having eaten one piece of immortal peach to give him face, she refused to eat any more, only asking: “Shao Yi Shixiong, how do you know I was injured when I was young?”

Shao Yi tossed the remaining peach into his mouth and glanced at her with a half-smile: “At this chaotic moment, you’re still concerned about this little matter of yours. Go back and ask Xiaolong Jun. Wouldn’t it be better if he told you?”

Eh? What he said actually made a lot of sense. Xuan Yi nodded: “Shao Yi Shixiong used tea snacks as an excuse to lure me here, brought up this topic, then kept me in suspense. What’s the point of this?”

Shao Yi said indifferently: “In this little loach’s heart, whatever I say or do has hidden meaning. Ah, you don’t trust me at all.”

Xuan Yi leaned forward and hugged his arm, saying sweetly: “Who says I don’t trust you? You brought up the topic and aroused my interest, but won’t finish what you started. Making me feel so itchy with curiosity—that’s rather unfair.”

Shao Yi supported the back of her head. His scent and voice were both sweet as honey: “Want to know? Then kiss me.”

Xuan Yi looked at the fire-red jewel swaying on his forehead: “Then close your eyes.”

He pinched her nose: “I’d be a fool to trust you again.”

Baize Dijun’s voice suddenly rang out not far away: “Disciples under Mingxing Hall, quickly come here!”

This teacher who usually wasn’t very reliable had finally become reliable for once today. He had already released all the disciples’ mounts in advance. When the mounts saw their masters, they immediately joyfully went to meet them.

A huge, magnificent scarlet phoenix paced to Shao Yi’s side, affectionately nuzzling his chest with its head. He stroked its abundant feathers, grasped the reins, and mounted in one motion. Bowing his head with a smile, he said: “Little loach, Shixiong can’t carry you now. I hope next time there’s an opportunity for you to ride the scarlet phoenix.”

Meaning he was escaping for his own life and leaving her here, right? Sure enough, this was something he could do.

Xuan Yi stared at his receding figure in the distance for a while, then supported herself on the soft chair and stood up on one foot. After hopping a few steps, she suddenly saw that lingering spirit Fucang riding the nine-headed lion, rushing near like the wind. He reached out and scooped her up. Like riding clouds and mounting mists, she instantly landed on the lion’s back, her back heavily colliding with his chest, knocking the golden circlet on her head askew.

Heat touched her forehead—his palm pressed on that swelling. No matter how Xuan Yi pulled, tugged, or yanked, she couldn’t remove it. Instead, she exhausted herself until she was panting: “…It’s already past the hour of midnight now.”

Fucang’s voice was surprisingly calm: “Mm.”

“Today it’s Tai Yao Shixiong’s turn to escort me.”

“Mm.”

Xuan Yi said nothing more. Tonight was truly exhausting. She had no energy to struggle anymore—whatever. She kept her spine very straight. Even though her entire body seemed to be encircled in his embrace, she stubbornly refused to touch him in the slightest.

At this time, the restrictions on the Divine Bright Manor had only been partially lifted. Flying on wind and riding clouds couldn’t exceed five zhang. The nine-headed lion flew and ran, racing all the way to Baize Dijun’s side. He was counting his disciples. Seeing that not one was missing, he rarely showed a grave expression and said in a deep voice: “After the restrictions above Yuyang Manor are lifted, only fly toward the back gate. Try to stay as far from the Sea of Regret as possible.”

The ominous premonition in his heart grew stronger and stronger. The hair on the center of his back stood up one by one. He feared that tonight, eight or nine times out of ten, another major incident would occur. The last time he had this premonition was when Kunlun and Taihang fell to the lower realm.

Heaven and earth have pure and turbid energies. The lower realm is turbid, the upper realm is pure. If divine realm land fell to the lower realm, there was only one possibility: the turbid energy was too heavy. The Sea of Regret had been sealed in darkness for too long. Who knew how much turbid energy and demonic creatures had bred inside? If it fell to the lower realm, countless mortals would inevitably encounter catastrophic disasters. The consequences would be unthinkable. Moreover, the force of that downward fall—not only the entire Zhuxuan Yuyang Manor, but perhaps the entire Far West would be difficult to preserve.

“Stay close to each other, don’t wander too far from one another…”

He was carefully instructing them when, before he finished speaking, he saw a pitch-black giant hand suddenly rise from outside Yuyang Manor. When the entire palm opened, it was actually longer than a white jade avenue. Slowly but mercilessly, it slapped down toward Yuyang Manor. In an instant, the magnificent and luxurious white jade avenue, accompanied by the terrified cries of the gods, shattered into fragments.

“What is that?!” Gu Ting saw that the pitch-black giant hand had no head, no tail, no body—as if suddenly born from chaos. He was so shocked his voice changed.

His voice was instantly scattered by the sharp wind. The might of this giant hand’s single swing brought violent hurricanes. Those minor gods with weak divine power actually found it difficult to resist and were swept up by the wind, flying chaotically like fallen leaves. Seeing that the disciples also couldn’t withstand this strange wind, Baize Dijun immediately opened a barrier. At the same time, he shouted sternly: “Little brat Zhuxuan! Quickly remove the restrictions!”

But when he looked carefully, Zhuxuan Dijun was busy using divine power to protect the treasures displayed on the Azure Jade Platform. Baize Dijun was so angry he stomped his feet repeatedly: “At this moment, you’re still thinking about treasures!”

As soon as the words fell, he felt darkness overhead. Another giant hand suddenly appeared, slapping down from above. The gods had no time to dodge. They heard a tremendous “clang” sound—the pitch-black giant hand had actually slapped onto Baize Dijun’s barrier, shaking those junior divine beings until their hearts nearly jumped out of their throats.

Only when they got closer did the gods discover that the pitch-black hand wasn’t black skin, but rather densely covered with demonic evil energy. As it moved, the pure energy of the divine realm and the demonic evil energy rubbed and collided, emitting extremely piercing shrieking sounds.

Baize Dijun’s face was grave as water. His hands suddenly came together, loading his disciples into a golden giant carriage. The eight golden qilins pulling the carriage fled like the wind, quickly dodging the range of the giant palm’s fall. From his bosom, he took out a handful of bamboo divination sticks. Scattering them in the air, the bamboo sticks grew with the wind, transforming into countless densely-packed emerald green bamboo arrows. One by one, following the positions of the Two Principles and Eight Trigrams, they nailed the giant palm to the ground. He let out a clear shout, and the giant palm was instantly shattered into fragments by divine power, dissipating into wisps of black energy.

The other giant hand near the Azure Jade Platform seemed to be in a desperate struggle with Zhuxuan Dijun. Watching as many crystal stands were smashed by the pitch-black giant palm, and the treasures all turned to scraps, Zhuxuan Dijun was so angry his flesh trembled. While fiercely brushing with the horsetail whisk in his hand, he raged: “My jade pearls! My mysterious elixirs! My ancient celestial texts!”

He recited each ruined treasure one by one, so angry he didn’t even use the words “this venerable one.” The pitch-black giant hand was brushed by his horsetail whisk until it looked like a tattered rag. Before long, only the skeleton remained, limply collapsing beneath the Azure Jade Platform.

“Where are the divine officials?!” Zhuxuan Dijun’s face was iron-blue. With a great roar, he said: “Quickly tidy up the treasures here! Lock them all in the Jade Green Glazed Tower!”

The divine officials who had been scared and hiding far away finally came to their senses. They surged forward like a tide—those moving boxes moved boxes, those lifting crystal stands lifted crystal stands. Each one moved extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, the treasures on the Azure Jade Platform had been completely cleared away.

The disciples leaned on the windows of the golden giant carriage, craning their necks to look. Those two suddenly appearing pitch-black giant palms were truly too bizarre, so much so that everyone was so shocked that even now they couldn’t speak. Only Tai Yao, as an imperial son, spoke carefully: “Those two giant palms just now—could they be the hands of the Fangfeng Clan?”

These three words, Fangfeng Clan, once again shocked the disciples into silence.

The Fangfeng Clan was an extremely tall and extremely magnificent giant. Back then, he followed Chiyou Dajun in wreaking havoc across the upper and lower realms. Later, the gods used a stratagem at Mount Kuaiji in the lower realm to kill him. Because his body was far too enormous, they used countless large carts to cut apart and separately transport his corpse before they could bring it back to the divine realm.

Zhi Xi appeared very cautious: “Didn’t the Fangfeng Clan already die long ago?”

What was even stranger was that outside Yuyang Manor was empty and desolate. What suddenly appeared were only hands—they hadn’t seen the giant’s body.

Tai Yao seemed to remember something: “Back then, where were the Fangfeng Clan’s bones and remains piled?”

The disciples all shook their heads. These kinds of ancient past events—how would these young divine beings know?

“Tian Di originally wanted to send the Fangfeng Clan’s bones and remains to the lower realm.” Baize Dijun had appeared at some unknown time, his small body hanging on the outside of the giant carriage. “But after all, he had once been Chiyou Dajun’s capable battle general. Even countless years after death, the demonic evil energy was thick and wouldn’t dissipate. Throwing him in the lower realm would inevitably cause problems. Before the Sea of Regret became a forbidden zone, he had always been locked in the Heavenly Palace.”

Tai Yao drew in a breath: “Teacher’s meaning is—after the Sea of Regret became a forbidden zone, Imperial Father threw the Fangfeng Clan’s bones and remains into the Sea of Regret?”

Baize Dijun said indifferently: “It was this venerable one’s suggestion. The gods had no way to deal with the situation of the Sea of Regret. Leaving it there uselessly, it would be better to throw troublesome things inside.”

He just hadn’t expected that this single throw would create a problem.

The disciples’ expressions suddenly changed. Tai Yao looked at his beloved teacher with disagreement: “What else did you throw in there?”

This matter—how could he remember in a short time? Baize Dijun was just preparing to rack his brains when he suddenly heard continuous screams behind him. He saw that the giant hand he had just scattered had actually re-condensed bone, flesh, and black energy. This time, however, it was aimed at the Jade Green Glazed Tower behind them, sweeping down.