“Think about it. If we truly intended to deceive you, why would we fabricate such an utterly absurd excuse?”
Xiao Heng shouted one sentence after another.
When Linghu Chang heard that the world had changed and that the Ten Immortal Dao Sects had vanished into ash, his body trembled faintly.
“Fellow Daoist Linghu, Sect Leader Liu’s premonition back then was correct!” Xiao Heng continued fervently. “He saved your entire sect!”
At these words, Linghu Chang’s offensive finally began to slow.
“Xiaomei, Haobo, stop as well!” Xiao Heng called out hastily.
Though extremely displeased, Su Xiaomei still halted her attack. However, the grotto-heaven domains of both Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo remained deployed, their gazes fixed warily on Linghu Chang.
“Fellow Daoist Linghu, every word I speak is true,” Xiao Heng said earnestly. “Could it be that after so much time, your sect’s Oneiric Seasons Array has malfunctioned?”
As he spoke, he retrieved a Mini Medicine King Cauldron from his storage ring.
“This small cauldron was excavated from the ruins of your former sect,” he explained. “It was only by relying on it that we were able to enter this place.
“With your discerning eye, Fellow Daoist, I believe you can judge its authenticity.”
Xiao Heng laid everything out plainly.
When Linghu Chang saw the small cauldron in Xiao Heng’s hand, exuding an aura of antiquity, his pupils contracted violently.
He could immediately recognize that the slightly flawed Medicine King Cauldron was likely a defective product left behind during the sect’s hurried migration. Yet the marks of time etched upon it were impossible to falsify.
What exactly was going on?
Could it be that the array’s chronology truly had gone awry?
Linghu Chang did not respond. Instead, he turned and hurried back to his own chamber.
He verified it carefully once more.
There was absolutely no mistake.
Since the activation of the Oneiric Seasons Array and the slumber of the entire sect, only twenty-four years had indeed passed.
Then, are those demonic outsiders lying?
Killing intent gradually rose again in Linghu Chang's heart.
Just then, he suddenly heard the other party say, "By the way, there is actually a very simple way to verify this."
"Ever since the Great Reformation, the Exclusivity of Immortal Techniques has held true.
"If you do not believe me, Fellow Daoist, you can try cultivating your own technique. The result will be clear at a glance."
Upon hearing this, Linghu Chang's first thought was that it was absurd.
This wasn't the legendary eternal life realm they were talking about; how could there be such a rule?
Yet hearing the unmistakable sincerity in Xiao Heng’s words, and feeling that it might be worth a try, Linghu Chang resolved to test the truth for himself.
He quietly operated the Medicine King Sect’s legacy art, the Salvation Longevity Scripture.
In the very next instant, his world shattered.
Spiritual qi circulated through him several times, yet it was as though he labored for nothing. There was no cultivation progress, only a voice that resounded within his sea of consciousness.
“Salvation Longevity Scripture, Dao Unity Technique.
“Current practitioners: 462.”
Linghu Chang froze.
What... is this?
His face drained of all color. Beads of cold sweat slid down his brow, dripping silently to the floor.
“No. No—this must be an illusion,” he muttered hoarsely. “Some kind of demonic deception.”
He refused to believe it.
With trembling hands, Linghu Chang produced several pills and swallowed them whole. Like a man possessed, he began to circulate the technique once more.
Again.
And again.
Even after a hundred cycles, his cultivation progress remained utterly unchanged. Worse still, a restless agitation coiled tighter and tighter within his chest.
Then, without warning, a strange clarity bloomed in his mind.
He could feel them.
Four hundred and sixty-one other cultivators, each one practicing the same Salvation Longevity Scripture. Their presences appeared before his perception like distant stars, fixed and unmistakable.
A thought burst forth, savage and sudden.
Kill them. Kill them all.
Linghu Chang shuddered violently and forced the thought down, his heart pounding.
“How can this be... how can this be...”
Everything unfolding before him lay far beyond the limits of his understanding.