This single glance almost drained all the blood from Chu Tianqiu’s body, making him feel incomparably cold.

Heavenly-Dragon… had awakened?

When did this happen?

Chu Tianqiu’s expression froze, but he felt the sensation at his fingertips was somewhat strange. When he lowered his head, he discovered his right hand was turning into blood-red powder, weakly scattering through the air.

The ice-cold sensation of “Dissolution” began its domineering display, leaving Chu Tianqiu’s mind completely blank. The “Heaven’s Vigorous Movement” on his body couldn’t keep up with the destructive speed of “Dissolution” at all.

The situation was no different from what he had imagined.

Wanting to rely on a flesh and blood body to topple these two people… to return freedom to all “Participants”… how could it be so simple?

They had exhausted all their strength yet still hadn’t brought down Qinglong. Now even Heavenly-Dragon had awakened.

With these two people standing together in this room, how exactly could three “Participants” possibly escape with their lives?

Heavenly-Dragon seemed unable to see clearly who was before him. He squinted his eyes, then gently waved his hand. Chu Tianqiu’s body began turning into powder. After his arm came his shoulder, then both legs.

“Heavenly-Dragon…” Before Chu Tianqiu could feel any pain, most of his body had already disappeared. “You…”

From beginning to end, Heavenly-Dragon didn’t speak. He only opened his slightly bewildered eyes and mercilessly released “Dissolution.”

Chu Tianqiu felt that everything had gone wrong.

He had wrongly trusted Qi Xia.

He shouldn’t have believed Qi Xia was someone more hopeful than himself at leading everyone to escape.

He shouldn’t have taken over the “Hall.”

He should have waited alone in this sorrowful city. He shouldn’t have given his heart to anyone.

“Chu Tianqiu…” Qiao Jiajin lay on the ground with blood at the corner of his mouth. “Run quickly…”

“Chu…” Zhang Shan gritted his teeth and charged toward Heavenly-Dragon’s direction.

But Heavenly-Dragon merely waved his hand. Zhang Shan in mid-air turned into powder, casually scattering through the air.

When Zhang Shan’s massive body reached Heavenly-Dragon’s front, only tiny blood stars fell on Heavenly-Dragon’s face, as if he had never existed in the world.

“Heavenly-Dragon!” Qiao Jiajin shouted loudly. “You’re not allowed to…”

Seeing this, Qinglong hurriedly flashed forward to cover Qiao Jiajin’s mouth. Before the words could fall, Qiao Jiajin struggled with a face full of pain. He began gradually scattering into powder from the top of his head. After a few seconds, he made no more sound.

The entire room became strangely quiet. Only Chu Tianqiu’s broken upper body remained suspended in the air.

“Heavenly-Dragon…” Chu Tianqiu gritted his teeth, yet didn’t know what exactly he should do now.

Should he beg for mercy or provoke?

No matter what he did, the result seemed unchangeable.

So many people had risked their lives fighting to the final moment, yet it was all self-indulgent effort drawing water with a bamboo basket.

All of them had been deceived.

“So noisy…” Heavenly-Dragon said in a slightly hoarse voice. “What people… are making noise…”

The voice, half male and half female, was identical to Qinglong’s, making souls tremble upon hearing it.

Chu Tianqiu paused, then said with a bitter smile, “I… am someone with a clear conscience…”

Before the words finished, Chu Tianqiu’s remaining body also turned to powder in the air, vanishing without a trace. Heavenly-Dragon seemed to have never wanted to hear his answer.

The three people inside the room completely disappeared under such domineering and pure “immortal technique.” Only traces of red powder scattered everywhere.

Heavenly-Dragon still seemed somewhat confused. Long sleep would always make him enter prolonged chaos the instant he awakened.

Moreover, this time he seemed to have been forcibly awakened… his thoughts were even more chaotic for a moment. What exactly had happened?

Qinglong dragged his injured body slowly forward one step, carefully saying in a low voice, “Heavenly-Dragon… I am Qinglong…”

Heavenly-Dragon didn’t look at him, only looking at this chaotic room.

The room was covered in blood. The tree had fallen, the door was shattered, even the floor had cracked.

Where… was this place again?

Was the place where he had always slept this chaotic?

“Heavenly-Dragon… do you remember me?” Qinglong still asked carefully. “I am Qinglong…”

He maintained enough distance from Heavenly-Dragon, never daring to approach, only constantly confirming Heavenly-Dragon’s state.

Only then did Heavenly-Dragon finally notice there was still someone in the room. He couldn’t help but turn his eyes over. The blurry scene before him began gradually becoming clear.

“You are…”

“I am Qinglong. Do you remember me?”

Qinglong’s form finally became clear before Heavenly-Dragon. Heavenly-Dragon also finally saw this person clearly.

“It’s you, Qinglong,” Heavenly-Dragon said after a moment of thought. “What happened?”

“Someone rebelled…” Qinglong said with a difficult expression. “I had no choice but to wake you up a few minutes early…”

“A rebellion…” Heavenly-Dragon sighed. “It’s fine. This isn’t our first time experiencing this.”

As Heavenly-Dragon walked forward, the cracks on the ground rapidly restored themselves.

His “Skillful Object” was like bizarre needle and thread, beginning to seamlessly stitch the cracks on the ground without leaving traces.

“Good thing you woke up…” Qinglong also relaxed. “The situation was truly too strange… I suspect we’ve both been schemed against…”

“Don’t be anxious. Speak slowly.” Heavenly-Dragon waved his hand. The battle traces inside the room began rapidly receding. “Since I’ve awakened, then there won’t be any problems.”

After hearing this, Qinglong pointed at the fallen tree beside him. “Heavenly-Dragon… you don’t know… just now…”

Before the words finished, Qinglong froze in place. The words in his mouth also stopped abruptly.

“What about just now?” Heavenly-Dragon looked at Qinglong with confusion, only to find he kept staring at the tree beneath his feet.

It was a very ordinary tree, only it had been cut through at the waist.

Qinglong stared at the tree’s cross-section for a long time, unable to say a single word.

Heavenly-Dragon walked to his side and looked down. The cross-section bore only a sparse few dozen rings, nothing strange about it.

“I know you cherish this tree very much,” Heavenly-Dragon said after a moment of silence. “But a tree is still a tree. Even if we don’t cut it down, it will eventually fall one day.”

Qinglong seemed not to have heard, only staring at the tree for a long time, his face full of disbelief.

After a long while, Qinglong pointed at the tree with a slightly trembling voice. “Heavenly-Dragon, when you look at this tree’s rings now, exactly how many circles are there?”

“What do you think?” Heavenly-Dragon said in a deep voice.

“There should be… seventy circles… right?” Qinglong asked with an uncertain expression.

After hearing this, Heavenly-Dragon stared at Qinglong in silence for several seconds before speaking. “So that’s it. You believe this tree was formed from the fruit pit you threw down back then. At most seventy-some rings, correct?”

“Isn’t it…?” After Qinglong finished speaking, he felt he might have truly overlooked something, but even if he had overlooked it, the discrepancy couldn’t possibly be this large.

“You’ve mingled with ‘Participants’ too long. You’re even forgetting time.” Heavenly-Dragon shook his head. “Seventy years is a fabrication to deceive ‘Participants.’ The total is approximately two thousand five hundred cycles. Calculate it yourself. How could it be seventy years?”

“You mean eighty-four years…” Qinglong paused. “But… but that’s still not right… just now I clearly saw…”

He lowered his head to look at those dozen circles of rings, yet couldn’t speak.

Whether seventy or eighty circles, the patterns on this tree were within understandable range.

But what about those hundreds of rings he saw in that instant just now…?

At this moment, ominous premonition surfaced again in his heart. Even his expression gradually became complex.

He felt he had been played again.

Where were there any hundreds of rings… just now must have been some “immortal technique” affecting vision that activated, actually causing his own Dao heart to fall into great chaos.

Fortunately, now Heavenly-Dragon had awakened. Everything was about to end.