Chapter 1113: Unexpected Gain

Above the main sect of the Soul Sect, countless streams of profound energy surged upwards, transforming into raging torrents that poured into the slowly rotating star formation until no more energy could be absorbed.

*Ping!* Little Jasmine's eyes flickered faintly. With a crisp sound, the star formation shattered, yet not a single wisp of profound energy dissipated. Instead, all the energy within was completely annihilated and vanished with the formation, as if swallowed by an unknown void.

Everyone at the Soul Sect's main headquarters had their profound energy completely and irrevocably depleted. Not a single person was spared.

Her scattered hair slowly drifted down as the pale blue light in Little Jasmine's eyes faded. She glanced into the distance and smiled triumphantly. "Perfect! Hehe, I'm so clever... time to go play!"

Turning around, a colorful silhouette skipped away, as if she had just completed the most mundane task.

In the distance, it took Wu Chengyan a long time to recover from his shock. Wu Guike, whom he had protected, remained sprawled on the ground, utterly overwhelmed by the terrifying and absolute pressure he had just experienced.

"Young Master, she... she's..."

Despite his disbelief, the girl's age, appearance, colorful attire, and the "Starfall Remnant Light Array" she had just employed, all pointed to a terrifying name that resurfaced vividly in his mind, sending shockwaves through his very soul.

"..." Wu Guike helped Wu Chengyan to his feet, his legs still trembling uncontrollably. He turned his gaze toward Lei Qianfeng and the others, who were already utterly lifeless in the distance, and slowly uttered in a grim voice, "Eliminate them!"

Wu Chengyan raised a hand, and a profound light shot forth. In an instant, Lei Qianfeng and the others, whose profound energy had been abolished, all shuddered. Though their bodies showed no external wounds, they were completely lifeless.

With Wu Chengyan's Divine Sovereign level profound energy, killing them would have been effortless even before their profound energy was crippled.

Little Jasmine had not walked far when she sensed the auras of Wu Chengyan and Wu Guike simultaneously vanish behind her. Clearly, they dared not linger and had fled in a hurry.

Little Jasmine's eyebrows curved upwards as she slowly clutched two profound image stones in her small hands, a mischievous, impish smile playing on her lips.

Black Feather Merchant Guild.

Although Yun Che clung to hope, he was also keenly aware of his current weakness and lack of support. The possibility of finding the Nine Star Buddha Divine Jade and Imperial Immortal Grass before the Profound God Convention was exceedingly slim. In comparison, relying on cultivation to reach the Divine Tribulation Realm within two years, though equally improbable, might ultimately be his only viable option.

The cultivation chamber Ji Ruyan arranged for him had a powerful isolation barrier, making it incredibly quiet. Here, he should have been able to truly find peace and focus. However, after an indeterminate amount of time, his eyes repeatedly closed and opened, unable to truly settle his mind.

His sole obsession in insisting on following Mu Bingyun into the God Realm was to see Jasmine.

Mu Xuanyin, his second profound master, was like an ice immortal dwelling among the clouds. Yet, she had shown him, a mere mortal from the lower realms, unwavering kindness. His heart swelled with endless gratitude, a debt he should have repaid without reservation, but instead, he had only been able to flee in disgrace.

He dared not contemplate what the circumstances or consequences would be if he ever saw her again. Yet, countless times, her image and voice came to mind, and he worried whether she had awakened or if her injuries had healed.

And then there was Helin, who died in his arms... Though their time together was brief, his death—his final tears, words, and concerns—had deeply impacted the innermost parts of Yun Che's heart.

He wanted to find Jasmine, to find Helin's sister, and even the thought of returning to the Snow Song Realm to apologize to Mu Xuanyin had crossed his mind numerous times...

"Hmph!" Yun Che exhaled heavily, opening his eyes and gazing at the ceiling. After a full day of quiet, his gaze was not peaceful but empty and bewildered. "Jasmine... what am I even... doing?"

"Young Master Lingyun, may I come in?"

A soft voice reached him. Yun Che rose, walked to the door of the cultivation chamber, and opened it to find Ji Ruyan standing there, her delicate face flushed with a mixture of intense excitement and urgency. "Miss Ruyan," he asked curiously, "what's happened?"

"The Soul Sect..." Ji Ruyan gasped faintly. "Everyone from the Soul Sect... is... finished!"

"..." Yun Che frowned. "What do you mean by that? What happened to the Soul Sect?"

Ji Ruyan took a moment to compose herself. "Just now, news arrived from the Soul Sect's main headquarters. A profoundly strange event occurred there; the entire sect was suddenly enveloped by an unknown blue light. Then, within mere tens of breaths, every single person in the Soul Sect—from the disciples to the elders—had their profound energy completely crippled!"

"..." Yun Che's eyelids twitched. He repeatedly scrutinized Ji Ruyan's eyes and tone. "How could such a thing possibly happen?"

"I couldn't believe it either at first," Ji Ruyan said, "but my father personally went to confirm, and everything is absolutely true. In front of Black Soul Mountain, he and the others even discovered Lei Qianfeng's corpse!"

"...And what about the people from the Divine Martial Realm?" Yun Che frowned deeply, struggling to comprehend.

The Soul Sect's main headquarters had over eight million members. Yun Che had once entered using his Severed Moon Profound Shadow. It was not only massive in scale but also boasted an abundance of powerful experts, making it the apex and most formidable force in the entire Blackya Realm... yet all their profound energy had been crippled?

This was simply an unbelievable and incomprehensible fantasy!

"The people from the Divine Martial Realm aren't there; they must have already left. Furthermore..." Ji Ruyan's beautiful eyes gleamed with an unusual light. "The only possible reason for this to happen is that the Divine Martial Realm King was genuinely enraged by the Soul Sect losing the Royal Wood Spirit. Young Master Lingyun might not fully understand the significance of the Royal Wood Spirit, but even an existence like the Divine Martial Realm King would covet it immensely. Hearing that the Soul Sect had acquired one would undoubtedly fill him with joy, so it's perfectly normal for him to fly into a rage upon learning it was lost due to the Soul Sect's negligence."

Yun Che wasn't surprised by this. That day in the Wood Spirit Secret Realm, Qing Mu, who had given him his wife's Wood Spirit Orb, had personally told him that the ones who killed the Wood Spirit Clan Chief—Helin's parents—for the Royal Wood Spirit Orb years ago were the supreme existences of the Eastern Divine Region, the Brahma Monarch God Realm!

If even a Royal Realm would act this way, how much more so the Divine Martial Realm!

And having been entrusted with the Royal Wood Spirit Orb by Helin, he understood better than anyone why it would incite such intense covetousness.

"Although the Divine Martial Realm and the Soul Sect have familial ties through marriage, at the Divine Martial Realm's level, they would never truly consider the Soul Sect their equal. If the Divine Martial Realm King genuinely became enraged, he would have no qualms about annihilating the Soul Sect. Crippling the profound energy of everyone in the main sect within such a short time is certainly something the Divine Martial Realm could achieve, and indeed, they are the only ones capable of it."

As Ji Ruyan spoke, her recently subdued excitement once more bubbled to the surface. This outcome was far more significant than the mere collapse of the Soul Sect; it also meant that the Black Feather Merchant Guild, which had suffered under the Soul Sect's oppression and control for a millennium, was finally free from its cage.

Having been dragged into an ever-deepening abyss, they had suddenly found light on this day. It was more than just a pleasant surprise; it felt like a new life, a divine blessing from the heavens.

"Young Master Lingyun, the Soul Sect received such a severe punishment from the Divine Martial Realm, bringing it to the brink of ruin, and it's all thanks to you," Ji Ruyan said, raising her eyes. Her shimmering gaze conveyed profound gratitude. "If you hadn't rescued that little wood spirit from the Soul Sect's grasp back then, this outcome wouldn't have happened today, and my Black Feather Merchant Guild wouldn't have escaped this cage. Ruyan, and the entire Black Feather Merchant Guild, will never forget your immense kindness."

"..." Yun Che, however, was frowning deeply, unresponsive to Ji Ruyan's last words. After a while, he seemed to murmur to himself, "Crippling the profound energy of over eight million people, a significant portion of whom are Divine Path profound practitioners, is exponentially more difficult and requires far more effort than simply killing them all. Moreover, it leaves so much room for speculation. If it was truly a severe punishment born of rage, why not just kill them all instead of going to such elaborate lengths to cripple them?"

"Perhaps," Ji Ruyan suggested, "the Divine Martial Realm didn't want to be too absolute, especially since Lei Qianfeng's sister is a concubine of the Divine Martial Realm King."

"Then why did they specifically kill Lei Qianfeng? And you mentioned earlier that only two people from the Divine Martial Realm came, one of whom was Wu Guike—surely he's the least likely person in the Divine Martial Realm to kill Lei Qianfeng?"

"This..." Ji Ruyan didn't know how to respond. "While it defies conventional logic, that is the outcome, and it could only have been carried out by the Divine Martial Realm. The person who escorted Wu Guike was likely a Divine Sovereign, and experts of that caliber often act solely on their whims. It's entirely possible that he killed Lei Qianfeng but spared the other Soul Sect members, choosing instead to cripple their profound energy, simply because he felt like it."

Yun Che harbored intense hatred for Lei Qianfeng. He had exerted immense effort and taken enormous risks to push Lei Qianfeng to the brink of death. The arrival of the Divine Martial Realm had initially made him believe his efforts were in vain, yet an unexpected outcome had emerged. Still, he felt no satisfaction; instead, he was mostly bewildered.

"What's the situation like at the Soul Sect now? Have many people gathered there?" Yun Che suddenly asked.

Ji Ruyan shook her head. "My father deliberately spread the news that since the Divine Martial Realm was involved, no one dared to approach. Even the major branch sects of the Soul Sect have all sealed themselves off, with everyone looking out for themselves and no one daring to get close to the main headquarters."

"Is Lei Qianfeng's body still there?"

"Yes, and it's quite intact," Ji Ruyan replied, her expression showing confusion. "Young Master Lingyun?"

"The main sect is utterly finished. Even if many branch sects remain, given the animosity the Soul Sect has accumulated over the years, there's likely no future for them. This is the retribution they deserved long ago," Yun Che said solemnly. "Whether the Divine Martial Realm was responsible isn't important, and I have no interest in attacking the Soul Sect further. However... I want to take Lei Qianfeng's corpse!"

Ji Ruyan was momentarily startled, then slowly nodded. "Of course, that's not a problem. I'll immediately send a sound transmission to my father, instructing everyone to stay away from the area where Lei Qianfeng's body lies."

Black Soul Mountain Range.

Near the Soul Sect, the atmosphere was entirely different from before.

The former sense of danger and oppression had vanished completely. The air was now permeated with a bleak sense of sorrow and despair emanating from afar.

From being the tyrannical overlords of the Blackya Realm, they had suddenly been reduced to a mass of cripples. This drastic fall from heaven to hell was undoubtedly an inescapable nightmare. Given the Soul Sect's long-standing infamy and deeds in the Blackya Realm, their ultimate fate was entirely predictable.

The Black Soul Divine Sect had, without warning and almost inexplicably, met its complete end.

Following the location provided by Ji Ruyan, Yun Che quickly found Lei Qianfeng's corpse.

The ground here was incredibly smooth, as if a powerful storm had swept through. Lei Qianfeng's corpse was particularly conspicuous. Around him lay several other Soul Sect members; judging by their attire, their status within the sect was certainly not low. However, like Lei Qianfeng, they were all utterly lifeless.

Yun Che descended from the air, his gaze fixed coldly on Lei Qianfeng. The Great Realm King of the Blackya Realm, the man who had almost driven him to his death that day, now lay in an unsettling state. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly, reflecting not the fear of death but a desolate, ashen emptiness, as if he had succumbed to immense despair before dying, his soul having perished even before his body.

"Lei Qianfeng, it's time for you to atone to those innocent Wood Spirits!" Yun Che muttered, extending his arm and roughly seizing Lei Qianfeng's corpse.

Just as he was about to grab Lei Qianfeng and fly away, a faint sound of jade dropping suddenly reached his ear. Yun Che glanced sideways and saw a purple spatial ring. Since it had fallen from Lei Qianfeng, it was clearly something he had worn in life.

As the Great Realm King of Blackya, his spatial ring was sure to contain a vast reserve of profound stones and rare treasures. Yun Che reached out and pulled the spatial ring into his hand. A casual sweep with his consciousness, however, left him momentarily stunned.

For the spatial ring that belonged to Lei Qianfeng contained only four distinct stones.

Two of them were ordinary profound image stones. Of the other two, the smaller one was the size of a longan fruit, emitting a peculiar glow, while the larger one was grayish-white and resembled nothing more than a common piece of limestone.

Yun Che, perplexed, took out the four stones. Lei Qianfeng's personal fortune should have been incredibly vast, so why would his ring contain only four stones?

Picking up the grayish-white stone, Yun Che released a pulse of profound energy. He tried to probe it, but his energy was instantly repelled, preventing any detection.

Yun Che's eyebrows twitched, and he instantly realized that this seemingly unremarkable stone was far from ordinary.

Although he couldn't probe it with his profound energy, Ji Ruyan would likely know what it was.

Putting it away, Yun Che then picked up the jade stone that emitted a peculiar, soft glow. Its light wasn't intense, but it was remarkably tranquil, reminding him of the gentle fusion of starlight and moonlight on a dark night. As his profound energy cautiously infiltrated it, a name slowly materialized in his mind.

Yun Che's arm trembled violently, and he gasped in astonishment, "Nine Star Buddha Divine Jade!!"