Above the palace.

Shen Qinghan floated silently in the gently flowing water like a beauty from an ancient sarcophagus that had been asleep for tens of thousands of years, her long azure hair drifting softly with the current, exceedingly beautiful.

Lin Zichen had no time to appreciate this beauty; he quickly swam to Shen Qinghan's side to check her condition.

The moment he appeared above the palace.

The excited shouting from within the palace eerily vanished in an instant.

In its place, a series of piercing screams filled with terror suddenly erupted.

"Don't sacrifice me!!!"

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die!!!"

"God, save me!!!"

The terrified screams seemed abrupt.

Hearing the screams, Lin Zichen couldn't help but jump, his face slightly changing as he quickly looked down towards the palace below.

Upon looking down, he saw an unbelievable scene.

The entire palace below was collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The crumbling ruins instantly turned into streams of azure light that shot towards the sky, all pouring into Shen Qinghan's Heaven's Gate.

The streams of light moved with extreme speed, resembling panicked living beings fleeing from disaster, all rushing into the depths of Shen Qinghan's Heaven's Gate.

Watching the scene unfold before him, Lin Zichen felt somewhat at a loss for a moment.

Instinctively, he wanted to stop what was happening, but he had no idea how to do so.

Unsure whether the entry of these streams of light was good or bad for Shen Qinghan and if it would cause any adverse effects on her body, he could only keep staring at Shen Qinghan's face, hoping it wouldn't show signs of pain.

However, in just a moment, the entire palace had collapsed.

Turning into countless azure streams of light, all were absorbed into the depths of Shen Qinghan's Heaven's Gate.

After the streams of light vanished, the water surrounding the palace, as well as the water inundating the entire ground below, followed suit, rapidly pouring into Shen Qinghan's Heaven's Gate.

In just a few short seconds.

An amount of water enough to form an ocean was all absorbed into the depths of Shen Qinghan's Heaven's Gate, completely disappearing from this world as if it had never existed.

Having witnessed the entire process, Lin Zichen's face was full of disbelief, and he felt extremely shocked inside.

That was the volume of an ocean's worth of water, which Shen Qinghan had managed to absorb in just a few short seconds.

How was that possible?

Could it be that there was another world connected inside Shen Qinghan's body, or that she possessed a small world of her own?

Lin Zichen was utterly baffled by this.

Although perplexed, he did not dwell on this at such a time.

Instead, he quickly steadied his emotions, took Shen Qinghan, who was floating in the air, into his arms, and landed on a nearby sky-scraping giant tree to observe her condition.

...

Deep in the ancient ruins of the Origin Land.

Qi Qingmo raised her slender right hand and caught a man of the Mythical Level from afar, her fingers tightly gripping his throat.

Under the man's feet lay three withered corpses, nothing more than skin and bones.

All three corpses were terrifying beings that had reached the Great Perfection of the Ninth Order during their lives, but now the Blood Qi Power in their bodies had been completely drained, leaving nothing but worthless husks.

"Heretic Cultivator, you... you heretic..."

The man whose throat was clutched by Qi Qingmo from a distance uttered in extreme pain.

Having lived for so many years, this was the first time he had encountered a humanoid that increased its strength by devouring the flesh and blood of other living beings; he was filled with shock and fear.

Qi Qingmo paid no attention to the man's words. With a thought, she quickly sucked out all the Blood Qi Power from his body for her own use.

As the Blood Qi Power continuously drained, the burly man visibly shrank at a speed detectable by the naked eye.

In just a few seconds, the man, who had been over three meters tall, shriveled into a hunched old man barely reaching one meter sixty.

Emaciated and on his last breath.

"You heretic... you pose a great threat to other Mythical Level living beings... there will be no place for you in the Origin Land..."

In the last moments before his death, the man's eyes were fixed on Qi Qingmo as he left her with these threatening words.

Qi Qingmo felt no inner turmoil upon hearing this, simply speeding up the absorption process. A few breaths later, she had the man, who was of Mythical Level, sucked dry to a traitorous husk, causing him to completely perish. Explore stories at empire

"Whew—"

Qi Qingmo let out a deep breath of turbid air, calmly sensing the Qi Blood Strength within her body.

Seeing her Qi Blood Strength ascend to a higher level, a rare faint smile appeared on her face:

"The Pure Blood Path has been thoroughly mastered; no longer will there be a need to rely on nature's spiritual energy, nor waste time researching Origin Force."

...

In the Southern Domain of the Origin Land.

Within an unfathomably deep cave.

A man with sinister eyes wearing a black Taoist Robe hung upside down from the cave ceiling, meditating with closed eyes.

"Puh—!"

Suddenly, the sound of liquid spraying echoed.

The man violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood; his face turned deathly pale.

His soul had suffered severe trauma, reaching down to his foundations, resulting in a slight drop in his strength.

"That woman in the Taoist Robe is becoming stronger..."

The man took a moment to recover, then said with a serious expression.

He vividly remembered that when Qi Qingmo first appeared, her strength was only at the Middle Order of legends, merely more tricky and elusive, nothing special.

Yet in just a few months, Qi Qingmo had grown strong enough to easily kill one of his Mythical Level avatars, which made him feel very threatened.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read