Chapter 87: It

Beyond the Stone Gate, within the dead‑silent star ruins, Time slipped by ten days.

The immortal‑sealing light curtain still persisted, but its radiance seemed slightly dimmer.

Duan Tianxiao, Xuan Wuzi, Ye Lingyun and the other leaders of the three dominant powers, along with a few fortunate elder Immortals who survived, did not depart; instead, like patient hunters, they lingered at a distance, their gazes occasionally sweeping over the silent Stone Gate, each with different thoughts.

Duan Xingming and Dao Xuan Yu had already emerged from within; in the outer region they obtained some ancient relics and spirit items. Though fortuitous, they were a world apart from the Chaotic Origin at the core.

After emerging, the two said little, merely casting a complicated glance toward the Stone Gate before each was met by their own elders and swiftly departed.

They knew clearly that the coming turmoil was beyond their participation.

Ye Lingyun's complexion was the worst, so sullen it seemed it could drip water!

The Ye Clan's forty‑ninth sequence Heavenly Pride, Ye Xingchen, had unexpectedly been damaged inside!

How could he possibly accept that?

This was not only a huge loss, but a bare provocation against the Ye Family's authority!

Cold murderous intent radiated from him as he stared fixedly at the Stone Gate, waiting for Ye Wuque to emerge, then vowing to seize and slaughter him at any cost to vent his hatred!

Duan Tianxiao and Xuan Wuzi's gazes grew even more complicated.

They too were stirred by the defying fate opportunity on Ye Wuque, which could be the hope to advance further!

But the thought of the vague, terrifying backing behind him—the possibly returned Shenzun—filled them with dread and hesitation.

To seize him now might provoke Shenzun's Lei Dian wrath?

That is a taboo that could, with a single finger, smooth away the Divine Mountain of Fate!

Greed and fear intertwined fiercely within them.

At that moment, the Stone Gate's light curtain, silent for ten days, rippled faintly.

A figure slowly stepped out from it.

The black robe remained, posture upright, face restored to its original refinement, yet bearing an indescribable depth and calm, as if ten days of seclusion had washed away all pretension, completing a remarkable transformation.

It was Ye Wuque.

The moment he appeared, he instantly felt several unabashed gazes, projected as if tangible.

The icy, bone‑piercing murderous intent came from Ye Lingyun, the complex, greedy probing from Duan Tianxiao and Xuan Wuzi, and several other glances mixed with awe and fear.

Ye Wuque's expression remained calm, as if he had long anticipated this scene; his eyes lightly swept over the few powerful silhouettes in the distant void, feeling neither sorrow nor joy.

Little brute!! Come and die!!

Ye Lingyun was the first to lose restraint; his towering fury and murderous intent erupted instantly, a terrifying pressure surging like a mountain flood and sea tsunami, a massive azure hand blotting out the sky, reaching out recklessly to seize Ye Wuque!

Duan Tianxiao and Xuan Wuzi's eyes flickered; they did not intervene, seeming to test the waters using Ye Lingyun's hand.

However, just as Ye Lingyun's attack was about to be released—

A sudden mutation erupted!

Boom!!!

A wave of indescribable, extreme chaos, bizarre, icy, saturated with decay and dead‑silence, erupted abruptly from behind the soon‑closing Stone Gate without warning!

What?!

There's more?!

Duan Tianxiao, Xuan Wuzi, Ye Lingyun and the others' faces changed sharply as they all turned toward the Stone Gate!

The light curtain twisted violently, as if an invisible giant hand were tearing it from within; a tall, vague, wholly gray‑mist‑formed bizarre creature burst out from it!

Its form was unstable, constantly shifting—sometimes humanoid, sometimes a massive beast—yet a pair of hollow, chaotic eyes, brimming with endless malice, stared fixedly at the crowd outside!

The intensely thick Bane Creatures aura spread instantly like a plague, making Duan Tianxiao and the others feel their scalp tingle and their souls stir!

"This is... a Bane Creature?!"

"How can a Bane Creature be here?!"

Xuan Wuzi let out a voiceless gasp, his face turning pale.

Ye Lingyun also turned horrified, instinctively withdrawing his hand that reached for Ye Wuque, fully on guard as if facing a great enemy!

The pressure emanating from this Bane Creature made his heart race and flesh tremble!

The atmosphere instantly solidified to its utmost tension!

Everyone assumed the terrifying Bane Creature would attack indiscriminately, yet the next moment's events left everyone gaping in astonishment!

The terrifying Bane Creature's hollow, chaotic eyes froze sharply the instant they swept over Ye Wuque!

As if it saw something utterly inconceivable, something that even its primal instinct feared!

Even its constantly shifting body momentarily stalled, a highly anthropomorphic blend of astonishment, bewilderment, then… an incredulous terror, leaking from its eyes!

"Is... is it you?!"

A hoarse, dry, eerily ancient voice, as if never spoken in ten thousand years, surged with intense emotional fluctuation and burst abruptly from the Bane Creature's mouth!

It stared fixedly at Ye Wuque, as if to see him through inside and out!

"Hahaha! It's actually you!!"

The next second, it let out a near‑mad, delight‑filled and venomous cackle!

"Heaven has not been unkind to me, Xuan Yu!"

"Truly, Heaven hasn't been unkind to this king!"

"To think... to think that this heaven let this king encounter such a weak... ant‑like you here!!"

"Hahaha!"

Everyone was stunned!

Such a terrifying, bone‑chilling Bane King, to react so erratically toward a young cultivator?

As if it recognized him?

But how... could that be possible?