"What's going on?"
Outside the Era of the Gods, various factions gazed at the images reflected upon the massive mirror surface.
"Those must be scenes from inside the Era of the Gods, right?"
"But who are those strangers? Could they be ancient races?"
Everyone had their guesses, but none could say for certain.
However, their guesses were correct. Those were indeed scenes from within the Era of the Gods—events unfolding in real time at this very moment.
In that vast expanse of starry sky stood thousands of familiar faces. Most hailed from the Seven Realms Holy Academy, the Azure Sky Immortal Sect, and the Divine Body Heavenly Manor.
There were also top figures from other powers, as well as independent cultivators, but without exception, every one of them was a renowned existence.
Leading the group were none other than the Master of the Seven Realms Holy Academy, the Master of the Divine Body Heavenly Manor, and the Sect Master of the Azure Sky Immortal Sect.
But these great figures had no idea that their every move was being watched with perfect clarity by those outside the Era of the Gods.
In truth, they had only just been transported by the teleportation force into this stretch of starry sky, and were sizing up the situation before them.
They quickly noticed an invisible barrier that split the starry sky in two.
This barrier was extraordinarily powerful—so much so that not even Jie Tianran could break through it.
On the other side of the barrier stood a group of unfamiliar faces that even these great figures did not recognize.
Their numbers were far fewer—less than a thousand—but every single one of them looked like trouble.
Still, everything they had experienced up to this point made it clear that anyone who had reached this place was far from ordinary.
They surmised that the people standing opposite them were either constructs of some formation, or members of an ancient race.
"Who is Jie Tianran?"
Just as they were speculating, someone on the other side of the barrier spoke first.
The speaker was an old man—or at least that was evident from his voice, since his face could not be seen.
He wore a crimson robe and a wide-brimmed red hat that concealed his features completely.
Behind him stood nearly a hundred more red-robed figures. Clearly, they belonged to the same faction.
"I am Jie Tianran. May I ask who you are?" Jie Tianran stepped forward and inquired.
"I am the Sect Master of the Red Soul Sect—Takuya of Red Soul," the red-robed man said.
"So it is the Sect Master of the Red Soul Sect. Might I ask what business you have with me?" Jie Tianran asked.
"No particular business. I simply heard that in the current age of cultivation, you are the strongest."
"So I'm here to give you a piece of advice. I don't know when this barrier will vanish—if it ever will."
"But you'd better pray that it doesn't," the Red Soul Sect Master declared.
"Oh?" Jie Tianran smiled faintly. He clearly understood the other's meaning but asked anyway: "And why is that?"
"Because the moment it does, I will defeat you instantly and show you that the martial artists of your era are nothing more than a pack of monkeys."
The moment those words left his mouth, a tremendous wave of pressure erupted from the Red Soul Sect Master's body.
The pressure was staggering. Though it did not harm a single person nearby, it swept outward in all directions at breathtaking speed.
Those caught within it might not have been able to perceive its full scope, but those watching from outside the Era of the Gods—through the massive mirror—saw it with perfect clarity.
The visible wave of pressure covered an area so vast it was comparable to an entire minor world.
With such a terrifying range, if he had so desired, he could have annihilated everything within a minor world in the blink of an eye.
"That pressure is terrifying—he must be a Heavenly God, right?"
Outside the Era of the Gods, the experts of every faction were urgently questioning the strongest among them.
"We can't feel the pressure directly, but a coverage area that vast—even a peak True God couldn't achieve something like that. It has to be a Heavenly God."
The experts from each faction offered their assessments. Though their analyses varied, they all reached the same conclusion.
A peak True God did possess the ability to destroy a world, but that was no simple feat—it demanded an enormous expenditure even for one at that level.
Yet this man had displayed such power in an instant, as though it were nothing at all.