Chapter 963: If There Is a Next Life, Disciple Will Surely Serve You Well Again…

Yellow Spring’s pretentious display did not diminish the fighting spirit of Rao Yaoyao and the others.

After Lei Xier became exhausted and could no longer maintain "Demonic Extremity" and "Divine Fall," Rao Yaoyao and Wang Dachui successively recovered from their demonic states and mental stupor.

The former, Rao Yaoyao, possessed a strong foundation in spiritual cultivation; her practice of the "Mortal Sword" allowed her to quickly regain her senses even after brief demonization.

As for the latter, Wang Dachui, his Void Attainment was a solid foundation. Even with the powerful mental impact of "Divine Fall," the gap in cultivation levels was too vast to overcome, so he also quickly recovered his clarity of mind.

"Attack!" Rao Yaoyao wasted no words. Upon regaining consciousness, she didn't even take a moment to compose herself, gripping the Xuan Cang Divine Sword tightly again and preparing to raise it.

Xu Xiaoshou remembered this starting stance. As expected, the next strike would undoubtedly be the "Mortal Sword," capable of restraining him for a long time.

At this moment, his Qi Sea had very little spiritual energy left to sustain another use of "Time Slow."

Just then, an anomaly suddenly occurred. A golden light abruptly erupted within the surrounding heaven and earth.

In just an instant, the golden light spilling from a spatial rift filled the entire Lonely Cliff.

Rao Yaoyao paused, instinctively halting her movements, and turned to look at Situ Yongren: "Did you make a move?"

The inner world of the Heavenly Secret World was extremely stable. If Situ Yongren hadn't acted, Rao Yaoyao couldn't imagine what could cause such a change in this realm.

However, the overflowing golden light inexplicably made Rao Yaoyao's heart tremble. This power didn't seem to belong to Heavenly Secret Arts.

On the contrary, the aura mixed within the golden light was very familiar to Rao Yaoyao—Sword Intent!

"No..." Situ Yongren was also bewildered.

The inner world of the Heavenly Secret World was under his control; he hadn't made a move himself. How could the space within this world crack and allow this golden Sword Intent to spill in?

Rao Yaoyao's heart sank, and she abruptly looked towards Yama Yellow Spring.

Was this guy an ancient sword cultivator? Yet, with just a glance, she could clearly see the surprise and doubt in Yellow Spring's eyes beneath the mask.

"It wasn't him?" Rao Yaoyao understood Yellow Spring's emotional shift and suddenly realized something.

Was someone in the external world forcibly attacking, trying to blast through the inner world of the Heavenly Secret World?

"Damn it, what is Teng Shanhai doing?!"

On the other side, Xu Xiaoshou was equally astonished. Had reinforcements arrived?

His first thought was the inexplicable will that had guided him to the Lonely Cliff—it could be the will of the Eight Venerables, guiding others, or perhaps he himself was making a move to rescue him.

But in the next second, Xu Xiaoshou considered how long he had been waiting for aid in solitude; there was no reason for help to arrive so coincidentally at this very moment.

So, was it a third party? Or perhaps some other unknown reason had plunged this place into another layer of crisis?

In any case, Xu Xiaoshou, who never expected the best outcome, immediately assumed it was "ill-intentioned."

With the enemy's identity unclear, he couldn't rely on the unknown; instead, he should maintain control of the situation himself.

He was about to land and hide in the back to observe the unfolding events.

But before Xu Xiaoshou could make any move, after the golden light had spread, it suddenly intensified, giving no one in the arena time to react.

"Clang—" A prolonged and resonant sword cry echoed. As the golden light intensified, space shattered, and principles materialized.

Densely packed golden swords filled everyone's vision, banishing any other color except gold.

The people on Lonely Cliff were bewildered, still trying to ascertain the source of these golden swords, when in the next second, they felt an unbearable pressure descend upon their heads, causing them all to stagger simultaneously.

"Boom!" Accompanied by a colossal sound, the golden light converged into a crown, pressing down on Lonely Cliff and shattering the mountain terrain within the cliff.

If the thirteen Void Attainments outside Lonely Cliff, including Bai Lian and Mu Lin, managed to remain unscathed under the absolute suppressive power of the "Absolute Monarchy" unleashed by the Myriad Sword Technique, it was because they were far away, and Gu Qing'er's target was not them, but merely Teng Shanhai, who was rushing towards him.

Now, with the inner world of the Heavenly Secret World shattered by the "Absolute Monarchy," everyone inside was exposed, and without exception, they found themselves, like Teng Shanhai, at the center of the golden crown's oppressive aura.

"Pfft!" The first to succumb to this immense pressure were the Throne Dao Realm and Severed Dao experts among the Enforcers.

As each of them looked at the golden crown, blood streamed from their seven orifices, and they collapsed to their knees, as if a giant had stepped on their shoulders, rendering them utterly defenseless.

"Ugh!" Rao Yaoyao, Wang Dachui, and the other Void Attainments grunted, their bodies sharply bending, nearly staggering and falling under the suppression.

Fortunately, the inner world of the Heavenly Secret World had served as a buffer, preventing them from losing composure like Teng Shanhai and prostrating themselves directly on the ground.

As for Lei Xier and Ye Xiaotian, they were spared, having avoided the eye of the storm.

This was because they stood behind Gu Qing'er, at the very edge of Lonely Cliff.

Even so, the scattered pressure still pounded on everyone's minds.

Lei Xier's already weakened body swayed slightly, almost causing her to fall off the cliff immediately.

Fortunately, Ye Xiaotian acted, opening a spatial barrier above her head and simultaneously steadying Lei Xier, thereby preventing a mishap.

However, even though those present either lost their composure or vomited blood due to the sudden attack, they were not the worst off.

The one most affected by the golden crown within the Heavenly Secret World's inner space was Yellow Spring, Xu Xiaoshou's transformed self!

When the golden crown suppressed downwards, he was still seated high in the void, adopting a disdainful posture, looking down on everything...

But in the next second, as the golden crown, carrying boundless suppressive power, crashed down, he couldn't even maintain his spatial seat and was immediately sent tumbling head over heels.

With his mere Master cultivation, and no time to react, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't even resist, only able to let himself fall downwards undignified.

"What the hell..."

Enduring just this one blow, Xu Xiaoshou felt dizzy and disoriented, his heart nearly stopping on the spot.

Fortunately, he had been cautious beforehand, so as his body fell, he held his breath and forcibly activated "Disappearance Art," which required no casting prerequisites, completely erasing his presence from the immediate environment.

This prevented the dignified Yama, the boss, from suffering the huge image blow of being sent headfirst by an unknown entity.

The golden light ended all conflict.

On Lonely Cliff, only an awkward silence remained, gradually spreading with the wailing demonic winds.

"Sword Intent... Golden crown... Isn't this 'Absolute Monarchy'?!"

After that momentary daze, Rao Yaoyao fully regained her senses, her composure almost collapsing.

If "Absolute Monarchy" might not be very familiar to outsiders, for her, one of the Seven Sword Immortals, it was intimately known!

In this world, ancient sword cultivators capable of mastering the Myriad Sword Technique were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Those who could master the first realm of the Myriad Sword Technique, "Absolute Monarchy," were even fewer.

Discarding those who couldn't possibly appear in the Cloud Ridge Mountains, Rao Yaoyao's thoughts swiftly turned, leaving only one option in her mind that could explain the current situation.

Yet, at the same time, countless questions arose.

"Hasn't he always been in the Southern Domain? How dare he suddenly attack, shattering the Heavenly Secret World's inner space, and resolutely choose to oppose the Holy Divine Temple? Is he insane?"

Rao Yaoyao was furious, her inner voice echoing as she raised her sword and looked towards the indiscernible figure at the center of the golden-shrouded storm. Unable to suppress her inner shock and frenzy any longer, she roared:

"Feng Tingchen, do you know what you're doing?!"

Huh?

Gu Qing'er, who had originally intended to use his latest epiphany to teach the group of Void Attainment "stowaways" outside a lesson, then hit and immediately flee, stared at the hundreds of people he had just blasted out...

He fell silent. Feng Tingchen? What was that?

Wasn't that the name of one of the Seven Sword Immortals? What did this infuriated girl mean...

*Gasp!* The Xuan Cang Divine Sword? She... she looks like Sword Immortal Rao, one of the Seven Sword Immortals?

Holy crap! Holy crap! This place, so many people were hidden here?

No way, no way. Surely these people weren't hiding in spatial currents, or some corner I couldn't see, waiting for something all this time... and then I just blasted them all out with one strike?

Gu Qing'er suddenly convulsed violently, his face undergoing a rapid transformation, instantly flushing crimson.

He suddenly realized...

If these hundreds of people had actually been present all along, simply not showing their faces or appearing, then all his previous "grand ambitions" and "passionate outbursts" must have been completely seen and heard by them, right?

At this thought, Gu Qing'er was overcome with unbearable shame.

He covered his head like a marmot, letting out a piercing shriek.

"Ah—"

This scream stunned everyone present on the spot.

He was clearly the aggressor, yet why did his scream convey such extreme grievance and profound humiliation?

Hearing the scream, Rao Yaoyao also saw the true face of the aggressor amidst the gradually fading golden light—a young sword cultivator.

She was also bewildered.

"Not Feng Tingchen?"

"Then where did 'Absolute Monarchy' come from? Surely... this young sword cultivator didn't create it, did he?"

Just as Gu Qing'er was astonished to have blasted out hundreds of hidden individuals with one sword strike, Rao Yaoyao was equally astonished, realizing that the external world of the Heavenly Secret World held no true perpetrator of "Absolute Monarchy."

In the scene, far more than just these two were startled by the bizarre and mysterious situation.

Bai Lian and Mu Lin froze on the spot, completely unaware that so many people had been hidden on Lonely Cliff, within another world.

The thirteen Void Attainments brought by Teng Shanhai were trembling with fear, startled by the Enforcers who, though originally meant to be magnificent, now lay disheveled and prostrate on the mountain terrain near the cliff—what kind of battle had they endured inside to be reduced to this state?

From afar, the five Gold Medal Hunter Order assassins, hidden within the Heavenly Dao, were so full of regret they almost wanted to sever their own heads and offer them on the spot!

What the hell was going on? It turned out there were so many people here?

All these Dao Realm, Severed Dao, and Void Attainment cultivators...

If they had known this information earlier, even just a tiny bit, the five of them wouldn't have been observing here for so long.

Wasn't this equivalent to placing themselves beside a cauldron, waiting to be discovered and then thrown in to be refined to death?!

Lonely Cliff was not truly deserted, after all. On the contrary, it was packed with invisible ghosts, jostling shoulder to shoulder!

Horror, doubt, shame, fear, regret, lingering dread... At this moment, Lonely Cliff displayed a myriad of emotions and expressions rarely seen by ordinary people in years.

After a long period of silence and covert observation, it was Gu Qing'er who first broke the strange atmosphere on Lonely Cliff.

"Ah—" His screams never stopped.

When he was about to run out of breath from screaming, he would instinctively pause. After unconsciously catching his breath, Gu Qing'er would resume howling, seemingly wanting to expel all the unbearable shame within him through his cries.

"You..." Rao Yaoyao opened her mouth but failed to interrupt the young sword cultivator's screams. Her lips twitched slightly.

"Shut up!" Wang Dachui truly couldn't stand the ear-piercing screams any longer.

He also couldn't understand why, at such a crucial moment in the great battle, there was such a "special" individual on Lonely Cliff, loudly "singing" to everyone.

Wang Dachui's rebuke finally broke the rhythm of Gu Qing'er's screaming.

He abruptly stopped, then his vision refocused, and he once again saw everyone's gaze directed at him.

At that moment, Gu Qing'er felt a faint blood-red tint cover his vision, and his face was so hot it felt like it would explode.

As for his burning red ears, he believed that if someone were to come and pluck them, they would come right off.

"Impossible, this is impossible! You're all tricking me, you're all tricking me! Why were you hiding, why were you hiding? Is it fun, so many of you just to mess with me? Are you perverts? 'Perverts' isn't even enough to describe you..."

Gu Qing'er gasped heavily, covering his ears and eyes, instinctively performing strange up-and-down squatting motions—he didn't even know what he was doing anymore.

He babbled deliriously and unconsciously, his muscles taut, his toes, pressing so hard, poked through the tips of his cloth shoes and dug into the mountain terrain, cracking the ground beneath his feet.

"No, this isn't your fault..." Gu Qing'er suddenly changed his tone, beginning to condemn himself:

"It's all my fault, all my fault... I shouldn't have spouted such arrogant words, I shouldn't have treated Junior Brother and Senior Brother like that, I shouldn't have harbored ill intentions... Master was right after all, good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil, I, I, I..."

He looked around, seemingly searching for something. The ground was covered in cracks!

Alas, for all the vastness of Lonely Cliff, there was nowhere for Gu Qing'er to hide!

"Take him down!" Rao Yaoyao had no time to converse with a madman. With her command, the Enforcers cautiously stepped forward, seemingly hesitating whether apprehending such a person would afflict them with madness.

"Ah—" Seeing people approaching him, Gu Qing'er's pupils instantly constricted, his vision regained focus, and he let out another bizarre shriek: "Don't you dare come any closer!!!"

This roar, imbued with sharp Sword Intent, instantly ruptured the eardrums of those advancing, causing blood to stream from their ears.

Gu Qing'er quickly retreated, then suddenly stumbled, stepping onto the very edge of Lonely Cliff.

His gaze fixed, the young sword cultivator saw the sea of clouds behind him, stretching beyond the cliff. At the same time, he seemed to see the end of his own life.

Tears suddenly streamed down his face, his lips twitched, his nose turned red, and he cried out in a trembling voice: "I'm sorry, Master. If there's a next life, your disciple will certainly serve you well again..."

With that said.

Amidst the gaze of all, the young sword cultivator leaped, transforming into a rigid fish, carving an elegant parabola above the sea of clouds in Lonely Cliff.

He took no protective measures, plunging headfirst straight into the bottom of the cliff, disappearing without a trace.