Once caught in the black hole’s suction, even with Xu Qi An’s strength, while he wouldn’t be instantly crushed, he had no means of escape. Given enough time, it would still lead to certain death.

Huang was exactly this kind of extreme divine beast. It possessed only one innate divine ability: to devour all things. Even in ancient times, it stood among the elite of divine beasts. When it unleashed its devouring ability without restraint, nothing below the Ultra realm could resist it. Before advancing to Semi-Battle God, Xu Qi An had no way to contend with Huang in this state.

At that moment, the Taiping Blade erected a circular barrier of light, shielding Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, keeping the terrifying suction at bay. But soon, this spherical barrier began to shudder like a bubble in the wind, threatening to burst at any moment.

“I need to sleep…” The Taiping Blade’s weak thoughts entered Xu Qi An’s mind.

Hasn’t it digested that sword yet? As this thought flashed through Xu Qi An’s mind, he reached out and made a gentle grasping motion toward the distant void. In an instant, the two people and the blade vanished, reappearing far away. By then, Huang’s devouring ability had almost completely consumed the spiritual essence in that space. Without the slow restraint, Xu Qi An made several consecutive flashes, finally escaping Huang completely.

The black hole pursued in the direction of Xu Qi An’s disappearance for a short distance before gradually stopping, becoming motionless. Huang had fallen into slumber, though the black hole continued to endlessly devour everything around it.

At the edge of the Divine Beast Island, Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Fox appeared out of thin air. After confirming their safety, he took out the Earth Book fragment to retrieve some clothing while checking the Taiping Blade’s condition. The reason for getting clothes was because the Nine-Tailed Fox was currently naked, without a stitch of clothing, her snow-white body covered only by her fox tails.

“How is it?” The silver-haired enchantress asked about the blade first after getting dressed.

“The spirit has fallen asleep. I can’t sense its presence,” Xu Qi An shook his head.

They examined the Taiping Blade together. The dark golden blade was covered in tree-like, twisted patterns. The Nine-Tailed Fox felt nauseous and dizzy just looking at it. Besides this, the Taiping Blade’s surface showed no other changes.

We got the blade, but what was that thing in the light pillar? Why did it trigger the Great Tribulation? We still don’t know any of this—feels like we came for nothing… Xu Qi An muttered dissatisfied.

“Let’s leave this place first,” he suggested prudently.

“Agreed!” The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox nodded vigorously.

…

Outside Divine Beast Island, waves rippled, supporting the boat.

The Merfolk Queen and the Raging Wave Island Lord, who had been waiting outside for nearly two months, sat cross-legged at the bow, continuing to wait patiently. The other divine beast descendants were scattered about, either chatting or eating, but none had left.

Time held little meaning for the long-lived divine beast descendants. They hadn’t even invented timekeeping devices. Two months wasn’t brief, but neither was it long. Given the island’s importance and their desire for its spiritual essence, they would continue to observe.

“Raging Wave Island Lord, Merfolk Queen, do you think the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox and that human powerhouse died on the island?” A handsome young man floating on a giant clam asked with a smile.

The Raging Wave Island Lord shook his head: “No.”

The handsome young man raised his eyebrows: “But that’s the monster that devoured even the strongest among divine beast descendants.”

He couldn’t believe the Nine-Tailed Fox and the human powerhouse could contend with such a being. Where did these two get their confidence?

The Raging Wave Island Lord gazed toward the mist-shrouded Divine Beast Island and said: “That monster once went to the mainland but was driven back, retreating overseas again. And the one who drove it back was that human supreme expert.”

The handsome young man was startled: “How do you know?”

A pearl-like voice smoothly joined in: “He said so.”

The handsome young man sneered: “You believe him just because he said it? Anyone can boast.”

The distant divine beast descendants burst into laughter.

The Raging Wave Island Lord glanced at him and said flatly: “So you think they knew how terrifying that monster was, and still entered the island to seek death?”

The handsome young man’s expression suddenly stiffened.

After a while, he muttered unwillingly: “That may be true, but you know how terrifying that monster is.”

At this moment, a strange wind swept across the sea surface. The bizarre gale blew toward the depths of Divine Beast Island. The divine beast descendants outside were shocked to discover the dense fog in the sky collapsing, converging toward somewhere inside the island. The entire island began shaking without warning, creating ripples across the sea surface.

A terrifying aura emanated from within the island as if the strongest divine beast from ancient times had awakened. The divine beast descendants present instinctively felt fear.

“What’s happening?” one divine beast descendant cried out.

No one could answer his question. But one thing was certain—something terrible was occurring on the island.

The Raging Wave Island Lord and Merfolk Queen exchanged glances. Fear flashed in the former’s eyes as he considered fleeing. The latter showed more concern. Zhenzhu had some friendships with the Beast Emperor and Xu Qi An.

Should we fight? Regardless of who wins or loses, retreating first isn’t wrong… Just as the Raging Wave Island Lord was planning to “dive” and retreat, figures flashed before his eyes—it was Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Fox who had entered the island months ago.

Zhenzhu’s beautiful face broke into a smile: “You finally came out.”

In her excitement, she forgot to use divine sense communication, so Xu Qi An didn’t respond.

“Did you encounter that monster?” the Raging Wave Island Lord asked.

The handsome man standing on the giant clam and the surrounding divine beast descendants all looked over.

The Nine-Tailed Fox said indifferently: “We fought with It. That one’s gone berserk inside the island.”

Gone berserk inside the island… The handsome young man’s expression became complicated. The Nine-Tailed Fox’s meaning was that they had driven that monster to desperation.

Even if not quite, it was close enough.

Moreover, it seemed that the monster didn’t dare to chase them out, and could only rage inside the island.

He carefully glanced at the human male, feeling reverence arise in his heart.

The surrounding divine beast descendants fell silent, seeing Xu Qi An as a terrifying expert no weaker than that monster.

The Beast Emperor said concisely: “Set sail, we’ll talk after leaving this place.”

It wasn’t good to provoke Huang’s temper now. Better to leave first, observe further, and then decide whether to deal the finishing blow.

“Good!” The Raging Wave Island Lord was very enthusiastic, willingly acting as a sailor, controlling the waves to push the boat layer by layer, quickly sailing away from Divine Beast Island.

The divine beast descendants looked at each other hesitantly, unsure whether to follow the boat.

Just then, Divine Beast Island rumbled with a huge sound, exaggerated fissures tearing apart the “coastline”—the island was disintegrating.

Now no divine beast descendant hesitated, all following the boat to leave.

Xu Qi An stood at the bow, watching the distant coastline collapse and sink into the sea piece by piece. He figured the divine essence within the island was now rushing into the black hole, becoming nourishment for Huang to complete itself.

We didn’t encounter any spiritual essence similar to the martial arts system inside the island, what a pity. Well, the Taiping Blade took away the supposed source of the Great Tribulation, which was an unexpected gain. When it wakes up, I’ll ask what that thing was… Xu Qi An then turned his gaze to the surrounding divine beast descendants.

He contemplated whether to massacre them and plunder their essence blood.

Forget it, they’re just small fry… He let out a breath. Although this overseas journey hadn’t yielded what he wanted, there had been unexpected gains.

The Nine-Tailed Fox lay sickly on the soft couch, tugging at her collar, and remarked with surprise: “The clothes fit quite well.”

That means you and Mu Nan Zhi have equally broad chests… Xu Qi An agreed internally, then said: “Is autumn coming?”

The Nine-Tailed Fox tilted her head, thought for a moment, and shook it: “Don’t know. This Emperor doesn’t pay much attention to seasonal changes. The changing of seasons and solar terms are things you humans need to care about.”

Because humans needed to farm.

Xu Qi An was about to speak when he suddenly sensed something and looked down at his wrist.

The glass bead had lit up silently, though he hadn’t done anything.

A phantom figure, not quite real, floated out from within the glass bead.

White clothes, white hair, white beard, with eyes like bottomless abysses.

“Supervisor? Did you tamper with it while crafting?”

Xu Qi An could sense this was just a thought that would soon dissipate.

The Supervisor slowly nodded: “This thought was embedded during crafting and can only last half a quarter-hour.

“Time is limited, so I won’t waste words. You’ve obtained the ‘Door,’ which means you now qualify to become a Doorkeeper. There are some things I can now explain clearly to you.”

On the soft couch behind, the Nine-Tailed Fox immediately sat up straight, paying attention to the developments here.

…

Western Regions, Beichang City.

Zhulai, wearing a clean robe and layered tall hat, led his caravan while leading a camel, slowly walking toward the city gate.

The caravan behind him consisted of one hundred and twenty people and eight flatbed carts pulled by inferior horses.

Zhulai’s current identity was a merchant who owned his own caravan, now heading to the neighboring Half Moon City to do business.

Of course, this was all a disguise. This caravan was composed of Mahayana Buddhist followers. To avoid detection and maintain relative secrecy during large-scale migration, disguise was necessary.

The mobility of caravans perfectly solved this problem.

Of course, not everyone could leave the city under the guise of caravans—how could such a small city as Beichang have so many caravans?

Fortunately, the Buddhist assembly convened by Alantuo became the perfect excuse for Mahayana Buddhist followers to leave the city with their families and valuables.

Back to the point, the reason Zhulai could organize this migration as a caravan owner was that he was now a minor leader of the Mahayana Buddhist branch in Beichang.

The reason he became a minor leader was that he had introduced all his beggar friends to become followers of Mahayana Buddhism.

Outstanding performance!

Although he was about to leave his homeland, Zhulai felt no attachment. His homeland had left him with only impressions of hunger, cold, and barrenness.

In comparison, the Central Plains, with its pleasant climate and fertile soil, was more appealing to him.

Most importantly, Mahayana Buddhism was about to establish its sect and territory, something that excited and thrilled every follower.

Approaching the city gate, Zhulai calmly called his fellow disciples behind to speed up.

“Wait!” Suddenly, two city guard soldiers stopped him.