The fault is not mine, but yours.

“Quickly, summon the former sect master!!!”

A blood-curdling cry echoed through the peaks, jolting the scattered disciples below back to their senses.

“Hurry! Go get the old sect master!”

One of the quicker-thinking disciples turned and bolted toward the rear mountain. But before he could take two steps, a faint voice rang out beside his ear.

“No need.”

A middle-aged man appeared mid-air, seemingly out of nowhere. He wore a long white robe, his expression dark as thunderclouds, and his cold gaze locked onto the celestial beings surrounding the elders.

“Hmph!”

“You take advantage of my convalescence to bully my Cloud Summit Sect?”

“Do you truly believe we have no one left to defend us?”

Feng Wuwang flicked his sleeve, and the oppressive aura of the Return to Void realm crashed down like a mountain.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The celestial beings clashing with the elders were struck as if by lightning—each coughed up a mouthful of blood, flew backward, their auras withering, their golden light fading until it was nearly shattered.

“Oh?”

Feng Wuwang let out a grunt through his nose.

Though he had been gravely wounded in the Dangur Desert and had yet to fully recover, his strength at barely seventy percent, these apparitions had somehow withstood a casual blow from him. Interesting.

“It’s... it’s the former sect master!”

The elders, finally able to catch their breath, wept with joy. Their eyes brimmed with relief as they shouted:

“We are saved!!!”

“Master, your injury…” Feng Mengli, clutching a wound carved by a celestial being, asked with concern.

“I’ll deal with you when this is over.”

Feng Wuwang shot her a glare, then turned his icy gaze to Ye Shu. “Brat, I didn’t bother seeking you out myself, yet you’ve delivered yourself to my doorstep. How utterly reckless. Today, you’ll leave your life here.”

With that, he raised a hand, ready to crush this arrogant junior to dust.

“Return to Void?”

Dansha, hidden within the ring, sucked in a sharp breath. “Shu’er! Hurry, let me take over your body!”

Even Medusa couldn’t help speaking up.

“Kid, this is no joke. Return to Void and Nascent Soul are separated by a chasm. Even if you’re a peerless prodigy, you can’t contend with that, especially at mere early Nascent Soul. Just bow your head and apologize, and I’ll—”

Before she could finish, Ye Shu cut her off sharply.

“There’s no need!”

“What?”

Medusa fumed.

The next moment, Ye Shu raised his right hand high. A warm, jade-like pendant glowed in his palm, its light soft and warm, like a miniature sun.

“That is!”

Feng Wuwang’s pupils contracted. “That person’s aura—what relation are you to them!”

“Not good!”

In an instant, Feng Wuwang’s face cycled through a dozen expressions, finally settling into that of a mouse caught by a cat. He raised his hand to slash through the void, ready to shatter space and flee.

But it was already too late.

The space that should have been as fragile as tofu now felt as hard as tempered steel.

And a faint silhouette of light had already appeared in the void.

The form was blurred—only the outline of a Daoist in a robe, carrying a sword on his back, was visible. His face and expression were indistinguishable, and he radiated no intimidating presence.

Yet the moment he appeared.

Heaven and earth dimmed.

The wind ceased. The clouds stopped.

All creation faded into backdrop, mere ornaments to highlight that figure’s existence.

“Who... who is that?”

Someone’s voice trembled, his eyes wide with dread.

The silhouette slowly turned to face Feng Wuwang. Though his face was unclear, Feng Wuwang could feel the gaze upon him—because death had already arrived.

“Insult my disciple, and you die.”

The figure spoke calmly, then slowly extended a hand and made a single, light motion across the void.

Crack—

No sword light appeared.

Yet it felt as though heaven and earth had been severed by something. A fissure flashed before everyone’s eyes.

Then, the world lost its color.

Far away, a mountain range stretching thousands of miles split in two, the cut as smooth and flawless as a polished mirror.

Feng Wuwang was cleaved through the waist. Without so much as a scream, his body dissolved into a rain of light, scattering into the void.

After that, the silhouette vanished completely.

And the former sect master of Cloud Summit Sect, Feng Wuwang, a Return to Void grand cultivator—

Was dead.

“M-master?”

Feng Mengli’s face was ashen. Staring at the spot where Feng Wuwang had been, her lips trembled, but no words came out.

No one had expected that Feng Wuwang, who had just been so formidable, would die so easily, so anticlimactically.

“Impossible?!”

The elders of Cloud Summit Sect were all wide-eyed with fury.

And while everyone was lost in madness and disbelief—

A sharp blade suddenly pierced through... Feng Mengli’s chest!

“Pfft!”

Feng Mengli coughed up a mouthful of blood and turned her head. There stood Ye Shu behind her, the Cyan Abyss Sword already thrust through her body.

“Didn’t anyone tell you?”

Ye Shu said calmly, “In battle, focus is everything—distraction is fatal.”

“You! When did you?”

Feng Mengli’s face went pale with shock.

“Did you think I’d tell you I’m not just an alchemist, but also a master of formations?” Ye Shu shook his head. “Using a stealth formation to close in while your mind wandered—is that really so hard?”

“You bastard!”

Feng Mengli trembled with rage. She thrust out a palm, still carrying impressive force, but it had lost its earlier edge.

Ye Shu sidestepped it, planting his foot.

Whoosh—

The celestial beings struck all at once, clashing again with the elders in mid-air.

But this time, having witnessed Feng Wuwang’s death, the crowd had lost all morale. Their fighting strength plummeted, and the celestial beings soon drove them back step by step.

And the heavily wounded Feng Mengli could barely hold on.

Before long, Ye Shu found his opening—a heavy punch to her abdomen. She spat out a mouthful of sour liquid and flew backward like a kite with its string cut, rolling across the ground several times before barely stopping.

“You…”

Feng Mengli clutched her stomach and struggled to rise. Her robes were tattered, blood streaks covering her body, utterly disheveled.

Ye Shu landed softly, standing tall and straight as he stepped toward her one pace at a time.

Behind him, the celestial beings had also triumphed.

One palm strike would shatter an elder’s head, blood and brain matter splattering. One horizontal sweep of a sword would send several elders’ heads flying, their screams overlapping.

“Wait! Wait!”

Finally, an elder couldn’t bear it anymore and pleaded desperately, “I surrender! I surrender! I’m not with Feng Mengli—I’m not even part of Cloud Summit Sect! I was just here for a meal—you can’t kill an innocent man!”

“Ugh!”

The celestial beings showed no mercy. With one swing of the sword, they executed everyone who had raised a hand.

Watching the foundation of Cloud Summit Sect crumble before her eyes.

Feng Mengli’s eyes turned red.

She struggled to climb to her feet, trying to pick up her fallen sword, but lacked even the strength to grip the hilt. Like a dog with a broken spine, she collapsed back to the ground.

Ye Shu advanced step by step, his posture upright, his face expressionless.

Suddenly, rain began to fall in torrents. Thunder roared, and huge droplets poured from the sky, soaking Feng Mengli’s robes—just as they soaked Ye Shu’s.

Yet he did not use his spiritual power to shield himself.

He simply let the rain fall, soaking his hair until it clung wetly to his face.

Behind him, a great fire blazed—violet flames raging along the pavilions and towers, burning endlessly through the rainy night. The firelight illuminated the figures of the fallen elders in the sky, and cast Ye Shu’s face into deep shadow, his expression unreadable.

He just kept walking, his footsteps splashing through the puddles with a soft pat pat sound.

Like a demon… crawling out of hell.

Feng Mengli watched the scene, her teeth clenched tight.

“I knew it… I always knew it. The Cloud Soaring Sect would fall because of you. That’s why I ambushed you early on in the Demon Beast Mountains. But I never thought… I still couldn’t escape fate. You devil—you are the root of all disaster.”

At last, Ye Shu reached her and stood towering over her.

“You’re just an ordinary Cloud Soaring Sect master. What gives you the right to be reborn? What gives you the right to ‘know it all’? Do you have anything special? Or is it just that you’re a beautiful empty vase?”

Hearing this, Feng Mengli froze.

He… how did he know she was reborn?

“What do you mean? Explain yourself!” Feng Mengli’s eyes went wide as she demanded the truth.

But Ye Shu would not answer her.

He raised his sword, his expression cold.

“My meaning is simple. The one who destroyed the Cloud Soaring Sect was never me.”

“It was you.”