A moment later, corpses littered the ground. Across the vast area, no living person remained aside from Yang Kai and Liu Yan.
Not everyone was made of iron willpower. Though the surviving Void King Realm cultivators had united for one final desperate effort at the last moment, it was nothing more than an ant trying to shake a tree. Having witnessed Yang Kai's ruthlessly prolific killing, one of them could no longer withstand the pressure and gave Yang Kai the answer he wanted. Though he couldn't escape death, at least he was granted a quick end.
"The Nine Heavens Sacred Ground, huh." Yang Kai turned his gaze in a certain direction. That name was certainly familiar.
Come to think of it, back on the Tongxuan Continent, he had actually been the Sacred Lord of the Nine Heavens Sacred Ground. Later, he had taken a group of the Sacred Ground's subordinates with him to the Dark Star, but this time on the Dark Star, he hadn't caught sight of them anywhere.
Now that he thought about it, they had probably all returned here together with Xia Ningshang.
This was their homeland, after all. When foreign enemies invaded, they naturally couldn't stand by and do nothing.
Xia Ningshang choosing the Nine Heavens Sacred Ground as her base of operations might well have been a way of remembering him.
"Let's go!" Yang Kai waved to Liu Yan, who darted to his side. Together, they raced shoulder toward the direction of the Nine Heavens Sacred Ground.
Meanwhile, after Xin Xuanming was killed and the Eight Desolations Array Eye was destroyed, at another "ink spot" on the Tongxuan Continent, an elder at the Void King Realm Third Stage suddenly trembled. His eyes snapped open from meditation, revealing a look of dread.
In that moment, he had vaguely sensed something—as though some tremendous crisis was descending upon him. His brows furrowed tightly, and he produced an array disk. After channeling his Sacred Yuan to probe it, his expression changed dramatically.
This array disk controlled this particular Eight Desolations sub-array, but due to the unique nature of the Eight Desolations Spirit-Locking Array, it could also resonate with the other seven array disks, sensing them across the distance.
Through the array disk, the elder now discovered with shock that the remaining six locations were all functioning normally—only the Eight Desolations Array Eye's disk showed absolutely no response. It seemed his side had completely lost its connection to the Array Eye.
In an instant, an inconceivable thought flashed through his mind. Not daring to delay, he rose swiftly and hurried into a secret chamber. The chamber was covered with runes and formation lines—clearly a carefully constructed spirit array of unknown purpose.
He activated the formation, and the entire chamber flickered between light and darkness.
Moments later, a hazy figure materialized before him. The figure possessed only a human silhouette, its features invisible, as though cast from flowing water and constantly shifting. The moment it appeared, it spoke: "Third Elder, I was just about to look for you. There were some disturbances from Vice Sect Master Xin's side recently. I tried contacting him to ask about the situation, but received no response whatsoever. Now even the resonance between the array disks has vanished. Do you know what happened on Vice Sect Master Xin's end?"
Upon hearing this, the sense of unease in the Third Elder's heart grew even stronger. If only his own array disk had lost its connection to the Array Eye, it might have been a minor mishap that would resolve itself after a while. But now even this person was experiencing the same thing.
What's more, he was the closest to the Array Eye and had detected some disturbances. The problem was clearly far worse than he'd feared.
The Third Elder said, "I too gathered you all because of the array disk. I don't know the specifics either, only that Vice Sect Master Xin isn't responding. Let's wait and see what the others have to report."
As the two were speaking, several more ethereal, phantom-like figures appeared one after another within the secret chamber. Though they were separated by vast distances, guided by the chamber's formation, they could all convene in one place as though face to face—remarkably convenient.
Including the Third Elder, there were now seven figures in the chamber—the Great Desolation Star Domain powerhouses stationed at the seven Eight Desolations sub-arrays.
After a brief exchange, they all arrived at the same horrifying conclusion.
They had completely lost contact with the Array Eye. Even Vice Sect Master Xin had gone silent without a trace.
The chamber fell quiet for a moment. Then one person said in alarm, "Could it be that…"
"Impossible!" another immediately retorted. "Vice Sect Master Xin is at the Void King Realm Third Stage. Even fighting any one of us alone, he would be our superior. And he's in charge of the Eight Desolations Array Eye—who could possibly be his match? Vice Sect Master Xin can't have come to harm."
"You Old Third, you're the closest to the Array Eye. Tell us—what exactly did you see?"
All eyes turned toward the figure that had arrived first.
Old Third You said in a low voice, "A streak of light descended from the sky, the earth trembled, and then there was no more contact from the Array Eye."
The chamber grew even more silent.
Old Third You continued, "I can hardly believe it myself, but given the current situation, Vice Sect Master Xin may truly have…" He shuddered as he spoke. If that were truly the case, then the Yellow Springs Sect had provoked an utterly terrifying enemy this time. But… who could possess such earth-shaking power?
"Third Elder, what do we do now?"
The Third Elder's expression was grave. He deliberated for a long moment, then let out a deep breath, as though having made a difficult resolve: "We burn our boats!"