The heavens trembled as a shout reverberated through every soul, yet it couldn't brace them for the spectacle unfolding. Moments ago, Dan Qing, a Mid Integration Realm titan, had loomed with arrogant disdain, his attack aimed at a rising star of Sea Continent. To onlookers, it was an elephant crushing an ant. Lan An's stillness suggested surrender, the chasm between Integration and Fusion Realms too vast to bridge.
But in an instant, space before Lan An shattered. A fist-shaped shockwave tore through the void, sending Dan Qing hurtling into the unknown, his fate uncertain.
"Who could this be?" countless experts wondered, their minds reeling. Such a blow, capable of crippling an Integration Realm cultivator, should have shaken the continent, its source traceable. Yet this strike was a silent bolt from the heavens. Even ancient monsters, their divine senses sweeping Sea Continent, found no trace of the assailant—a terrifying enigma.
"Could it… could it be someone from another continent?" an Eighth-Grade clan ancestor rasped, swallowing hard.
The crowd exchanged stunned glances, disbelief etched in their eyes. To wound an Integration Realm expert from another continent was beyond comprehension, transcending the term "terrifying."
"Tribulation Crossing…?" the Sea Palace Grand Elder muttered, gazing skyward.
He recognized Lan An as a threat he'd sought to eliminate, but this unseen power forced him to reconsider. No one dared confirm his speculation. On Viet Dragon Star, Tribulation Crossing experts were legends, their names echoing through the cosmos. Their every gesture could sunder skies and shatter earth, their will deciding the fate of millions. That none had acted in decades made this intervention unthinkable—a mere clash between Integration and Fusion Realms drawing such a titan.
"Seal the clan! The Lam Clan withdraws from worldly affairs for ten years!" Lam Chung, the Lam Clan's Grand Elder and Peak Refining Void expert, vanished, reappearing at his clan to issue the decree.
"The Lam Clan grows cowardly. Lam Chung lives like a dog," a rival sneered.
"If your Clan Head was beheaded in a single night, and your enemy had such backing, you'd do the same," another mocked, savoring their rival's fall.
Lam Cuc, the Lam Clan Head and Peak Refining Void expert, had been silently decapitated in a secret chamber, shaking Sea Continent. The clan's fury was matched by fear, and learning Lan An had a mysterious protector drove them to seal their gates, desperate to avoid this storm. Lam Chung's decisiveness was undeniable.
If Lan An knew, he'd salute the Seven Assassins Sect. Hiring their killer to end Lam Cuc was worth every coin.
The crowd's gazes locked on the serene youth, hearts pounding with anticipation. The burly man and A Lian Ya stood frozen, as if trapped in a dream.
"Tribulation Crossing…" Dan Qing gasped, his dying breath laced with shock, chilling onlookers further.
Drenched in sweat, the burly man reacted swiftly, darting to Dan Qing's side. He pulled a fragrant pill radiating life essence from his ally's chest.
"Life Restoration Pill—Heavenly Grade Supreme Pill, saving even those at death's door. Truly the Dan Clan's work," elders on Heavenly Secret Island sighed.
Before them stood the Heavenly Secret Palace Master, his profound eyes heavy with gravity. He recognized Lan An's protector as a Tribulation Crossing titan.
"That voice… could it be her?" he murmured hoarsely, wary of her might.
The burly man fed Dan Qing the Life Restoration Pill, restoring some vitality, but his shattered bones showed no recovery—a first for the Dan Clan's vaunted pill.
"Flee… take me!" Dan Qing rasped, knowing they'd provoked an untouchable foe.
The burly man nodded, hoisting him over his shoulder.
"Leaving?" Lan An sneered. After attacking him, they thought escape was easy?
His hands conjured Harmonious Spirit Palm, blending two Strange Fires and two Thunders. Boom! Space shattered as the domineering palm struck.
"Damn you!" the burly man roared, his Great Strength Earth Flame forming a giant behind him, its mountain-like fist meeting the palm.
"Kneel!" the woman's voice thundered through space, crushing the burly man like a mountain.
An ancient elephant's roar echoed, forcing him to his knees despite his bulging veins. Pfft! Dan Qing, slung over his shoulder, spat blood, unable to withstand the pressure.
Onlookers trembled, fear gripping them. Two words had forced a defiant Integration Realm expert to kneel, immobilized. Lan An's Harmonious Spirit Palm pierced through, obliterating the burly man's shoulder.
"Impossible!" spectators gasped. A Fusion Realm attack breaching an Integration Realm body defied reason.
Lan An's faint smile held no joy. He acted to avenge A Lian Ya, knowing without his master's aid, he'd be the one broken.
"You kneel too!" the woman's voice rang, shaking Dan Qing.
He slid from the burly man's shoulder, nearly complying.
"No… the Dan Clan kneels to none…" he coughed, resisting.
Before he could, two ancient voices resounded. The air blazed, the sea boiled, and cultivators felt their blood surge. The sky became a sea of fire, fragrant with alchemy, as two colossal Pill Cauldrons pierced space, radiating overwhelming might. Within burned distinct flames, each proud and noble, roaring with sentient arrogance.
A middle-aged couple stood atop the cauldrons, their gazes lofty.
The man, clad in black, exuded unmatched poise, one foot on his cauldron, space trembling around him. His gray-green flame shifted—tiger, leopard, lion, serpent, bear, cheetah—countless beast forms, yet no divine beasts.
"Beast Tomb Flame, ranked 12th on the Strange Fire List?" onlookers whispered, suppressing greed.
Born in the planet's forbidden Beast Tomb, it absorbed the aura of countless fallen beasts, once wielded by a Seventh-Grade beast on Dark Abyss Continent, now claimed by another.
Beside him stood a stunning woman, her mature beauty bewitching, her blood-red robes contrasting her icy demeanor. Her perfect curves and crimson mole by her eye radiated allure. Her cauldron's flame formed a blood-red skeleton, burning eerily.
"Blood Bone Flame, ranked 4th!" Even Lan An's expression shifted, feeling its invisible pressure.
The couple waved, freeing the burly man and Dan Qing.
"Thanks, Ancestors!" they kowtowed, their fervor for the pair palpable.
The crowd shuddered. Who were these figures to command such reverence from Integration Realm experts? Could Sea Continent withstand this clash?
"Dan Clan Twin Ancestors!" Tian Die Dao muttered gravely at Duo Bao Pavilion, her companions' faces tight with worry.
At Elf Island, the Elf Queen's calm shattered upon seeing the couple, her eyes turning sharp as she vanished.
"Master!" A Lian Ya exclaimed as the radiant Queen appeared beside her.
"This is no small matter, but if they provoke us, Elf Island will answer," the Queen said, glancing at Lan An, displeased at their ambush.
Lan An nodded, admiring her resolve.
Ignoring the stares, the man addressed Lan An calmly.
"Young friend, this was a misunderstanding. Dan Qing is nearly crippled. Let your master show mercy, and we part ways. Agreed?"
His tone conceded loss, aware of Lan An's backer.
An inexplicable disgust rose in Lan An.
"I hear you seek the Poison Person to refine into a pill?" he asked.
The man's eyes narrowed—few knew this secret.
"Indeed," he admitted boldly. "Why do you ask? Are you tied to the Poison Person?"
A dangerous glint flickered in his gaze.
"What's it to you?" Lan An snapped, a nameless fury rising, though unclear why.
The Poison Person had saved him, and he'd make their hunters pay.
"Insolent brat! I'll teach you a lesson for that woman!" Dan Yan Ji hissed, her delicate hand extending, cloaked in skeletal Blood Bone Flame.
Space evaporated under its might, her beauty undeniable yet eerie. Her target wasn't Lan An but the space beside him.
"Dan Yan Ji, my disciple isn't yours to discipline!" a ferocious fist, brimming with wild power, erupted from that space.
"Go!" The Elf Queen yanked Lan An and A Lian Ya back thousands of miles.
Boom! The fist and skeletal hand collided across space, shaking the heavens and earth.