"Xuanyuan, what's wrong?"
A voice drifted down from the void above — it belonged to an ancient ape.
This old ape was extraordinarily aged, yet as he stood in the void with sunlight streaming down behind him, he was framed like a war god. Especially with the black iron rod resting across his shoulders and the black armor he wore — when the white cape behind him billowed in the wind, he radiated sheer dominance.
But on closer inspection, his eyes were blood-red, his killing intent murderous, his demonic aura surging. He was no war god. He was a demon god.
And the black iron rod in his grip drew the most attention of all.
The portion held in his hand looked ordinary enough, but the extended portion was immeasurable in length — because it had already pierced beyond the sky itself.
At that moment, the black iron rod was rapidly shrinking. Its previous volume must have been far more enormous.
The rod was covered in fresh blood, evidence that it had just emerged from a massive battle — countless lives had perished upon it.
"I'm fine," the middle-aged man replied, looking up.
"Shall we go, then?" the old ape asked.
"Let's go." The moment the middle-aged man finished speaking, he transformed into a streak of light and soared into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, he had departed this world entirely.
By now, the black iron rod in the old ape's hand had returned to its normal size.
Only then did one realize it was no iron rod at all — it was a black long spear.
It was merely that the spearhead had pierced beyond the world, making it impossible to notice before.
The old ape seemed lost in thought, but he quickly turned and vanished from the spot as well.
Looking down at this world from high above, one could see it had been utterly devastated beyond recognition.
The earth was torn asunder, magma churned, and across the remaining intact patches of land, broken corpses lay scattered everywhere.
It was a true scene of bodies strewn across the fields and blood flowing in rivers.
Countless figures lay in pools of blood, most crushed beyond recognition, with only a handful still somewhat intact.
If one were to piece together the broken remains, one could make out their true forms.
They all belonged to the same species — lizards.
These lizards had humanoid bodies, their scales divided between black and dark green in color.
Black formed the base, while the green stood out prominently, clinging to their bodies like armor.
This… looked very much like the specimen Chu Feng had seen before — the Dragon Lizard Fierce Beast.
But they differed from the specimen Chu Feng had seen in one respect.
These Fierce Beast all possessed an additional feature — dragon horns growing from their heads.
…
At that same moment, within the world where Chu Feng and the others were located.
Many people were still fleeing or hiding in a desperate bid for survival.
But Taishi Xingzhong opened his eyes.
In his once-despairing aged gaze, a glimmer of relief — the joy of surviving catastrophe — had appeared.
"It's over?" He could hardly believe it.
His judgment had never been wrong. The terrifying power that had just appeared was enough to annihilate everything — no one could have escaped it.
Yet that power had vanished.
"Did some powerful expert intervene?" Taishi Xingzhong speculated.
…
Inside the Forbidden Land of the Ancestral Dragon, Dragon Scale was still channeling the secret treasure to protect Long Xue.
But he too had sensed that the power had disappeared.
Dragon Scale then turned his gaze toward the formation and discovered that the forbidden array he had activated had been completely shattered.
Even the Ancestral Dragon's secret technique had failed to contain Chu Feng.
Not just Chu Feng — the Totem Dragon Clan members had all broken free as well.
"Chu Feng, was that your doing?" Dragon Scale's brow furrowed deeply, his gaze flickering.
What he was referring to was that terrifying power from moments ago.
That power had been too horrifying.
If it truly was connected to Chu Feng, then his plans were likely doomed to succeed.
But the direction from which that power had appeared — wasn't it precisely the direction where Chu Feng and the others were?
If it had nothing to do with Chu Feng, then who else could it possibly be related to?
…
At that same moment, in another part of this world.
What had once been a plain had been transformed into a colossal crater, with magma seeping out even from its deepest points.
And looking down into the depths of the crater, magma erupted like a vision of the apocalypse.
However, outside the crater sat a three-meter-tall sphere made of a special material. Though it was now blackened, it had clearly been golden before.
Moreover, it likely contained a powerful barrier — a supreme treasure from ancient times.