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"Master!"

"We’ve found Chen Xuan!"

"Are you alright?"

Three voices sounded almost simultaneously.

Chen Xuan rolled on the ground and got to his feet, finding himself still on the first peak. Lin Qing, Honglian, and Xu Xuanling hadn’t gone far, and they quickly gathered around him as soon as they saw him.

At this moment, the sky over Nine Sons Peak was filled with forked branches, densely packed white lines crisscrossing, resembling a giant web.

"Don’t worry, I’m fine," he said, looking up at the sky.

Lin Qing didn’t forget to check Chen Xuan and breathed a sigh of relief only after confirming he was uninjured, "Not long after you fell into the erosion zone, it rapidly expanded."

"Why didn’t you return to the store?" Honglian asked, "We all thought you’d escaped, and intended to withdraw from here."

"It’s a long story. Was I only gone for a short while?"

She nodded, "About two or three minutes."

From falling to flying to the mountaintop, it was just two or three minutes... So the time he spent communicating with the silhouette was almost at a standstill for the outside world?

"These white fissures are not erosion, they are the cracks of the grotto heaven, indicating that the protective formation of Lotus Cloud Sect is gradually collapsing," Chen Xuan asserted.

"Cracks!?" Everyone was shocked, looking at each other.

"That’s right, there’s no such thing as multiple erosions. This world is on the brink of shattering. Once the formation ceases to function, the Lotus Cloud Sect... and the Six Kingdoms outside will all lose their protection."

"What happens after losing protection?" Xu Xuanling couldn’t help but ask.

"They will directly face the attack of the inner demon, and then perhaps no one will survive."

"Inner demon?" She looked surprised, "Isn’t that a hurdle only cultivators have to face? If someone goes insane, wouldn’t killing them solve the problem?"

"The problem lies there, that inner demon is unbeatable," Chen Xuan shook his head, "Anyway, let’s leave here... We’ll discuss the details later on the mystical ship."

...

After emerging from Nine Sons Peak, they discovered that the cracks had already spread inside the Dharma Hall, with many fine web-like patterns visible on the benches, walls, and beams. Compared to the thick, sharp forked branches on the first peak, these patterns seemed more like real cracks, indirectly verifying Chen Xuan’s statement.

Outside, the main hall and temples remained unaffected, maintaining their previous appearance.

As soon as they ran out of Lotus Cloud Sect, they saw Liu Shuyue flying hurriedly towards them.

Clearly, she had been teleported back to the main store and immediately returned to the mystical ship.

Seeing everyone present, Liu Shuyue was initially stunned, and her anxious expression slightly eased, "Thank goodness... you’re all safe!"

However, when her gaze fell on Chen Xuan, her eyes appeared somewhat complex.

She quickly averted her eyes, trying to appear as usual.

"The real danger is not us, but this world," Chen Xuan was too focused to notice much. He gestured to the others to follow, "Let’s return to the mystical ship; I have a basic understanding of the Lotus Cloud Sect’s situation."

The five of them gathered and boarded the Wind Song. Liuli and Elorie were already waiting in the entrance cabin.

"Did you guys do something?" The Little Angel asked, "The blizzard that was roaring so loudly suddenly stopped!"

"Not just that, the temperature indicator jumped from minus 25 degrees to plus 5 degrees," Liuli added, "Even if I put a thermometer in boiling water, it wouldn’t rise this fast."

Chen Xuan then noticed that the scenes inside and outside the mystical ship had unified. Now, even looking out through the porthole, the sky was still a clear blue.

However, this was not good news.

The unusually harsh weather wasn’t an illusion but part of the formation’s function. Now, these functions were failing one by one.

No time to hesitate.

Regardless of whether Liu Shuyue was mentally prepared, he must reveal what he witnessed at Lotus Cloud Sect.

"The Lotus Cloud Sect is not merely a temple or a hidden sect perched atop the cloud-shrouded peak," he addressed the group seriously, "It represents the entirety of this world."

...

After a full fifteen minutes, Chen Xuan finally finished narrating.

He had been watching Liu Shuyue’s reaction, but she just clenched her fists, her face stoic, not uttering a word.

Surprisingly, it was Xu Xuanling who first broke the silence.

She exclaimed excitedly, "I don’t believe it! How could Ji Yun become a soulless monster? Wasn’t he said to be a cultivation genius?"

"I’ve seen the world outside the Lotus Cloud Sect; it’s already become a lifeless wasteland. Even if you don’t believe Ji Yun’s inner demon caused this, the threat facing Lotus Cloud Sect is real," Chen Xuan stated bluntly.

He always felt a sense of dissonance about this world.

For instance, the land surrounded by Abyss Sea felt more like an isolated island rather than a continent in the traditional sense.

The Wanshan Wilderness was almost larger than the Six Kingdoms combined, yet historically these countries rarely ventured there.

Despite knowing that such actions would make Immortal Masters more inclined to confront rather than cooperate, Lotus Cloud Sect remained indifferent.

Now, all these oddities made sense.

The entire world was an evolution within the grotto heaven; conflicts between nations were merely a stage for Mountain Disciples, whether to advance or to fall from grace mattered little to the sect. Immortal Masters would grow, die, and then return their souls filled with experience to the Lotus Cloud Sect. With these remnants filling it, the soulless body would not wither, continuing to uphold Ji Lian’s resolve to resist the inner demon.

"What am I... really?" Liu Shuyue finally spoke, not with the expected anger, but with a lost confusion, "Am I still... a real person?"

"If you’re not a person, are you a demon?" Lin Qing promptly replied, "Ji Yun and Ji Lian are just over there; call them over and curse them out, then this is resolved."

"Fool," Honglian rolled her eyes, "Isn’t this Lotus Cloud Sect created to resist the inner demon? If Ji Yun hadn’t made this mistake, how would Liu Shuyue appear? You’ve suffered from changing history; do you want the others to suffer too?"

"Uh..." She was stuck, "So this is... unsolvable?"

"I can’t blame those two," Liu Shuyue slowly shook her head, "If I were Ji Yun, I wouldn’t want to abandon the pursuit of cultivation. Ji Lian, even more so, sacrificing herself to build this grotto heaven to protect her remaining kin. I just don’t understand what my existence means..."

"Even if being an Immortal Master doesn’t mean much to me, you now tell me... that even the act of aiding the people itself holds no real significance... that the task of Mountain Disciples is merely to absorb spiritual qi, providing fuel for the Lotus Cloud Sect without nurturing inner demons?"

Though it sounds harsh, it is indeed the truth.

Chen Xuan couldn’t deny this.

But he didn’t need to actively refute it either, as he believed Liu Shuyue could emerge from this confusion, just as she had previously broken free from the constraints of the Immortal Master title.

"I specifically consulted with the Lotus Cloud Sect on this matter—on how Mountain Disciples are truly born."

"First, you are indeed a living person... Your body is derived from the soulless body, while your soul forms from the infusion of spiritual qi from heaven and earth. I don’t understand the specific spells involved here, but each Mountain Disciple is an independent entity, there’s no doubt about that, as confirmed by the Lotus Cloud Sect."

Chen Xuan spoke with utmost sincerity.

This is a key premise for self-awareness, and it’s crucial for him to let Liu Shuyue know.