Inside the spatial tunnel…
Wu San Niang, Ju Mei Ying, and Ju Aman let their bodies go completely limp, allowing the teleportation array to carry the three of them through layer after layer of folded space. Their destination: Yuelong Star Realm.
Though they had safely escaped, the expressions on all three faces were ghastly. Their eyes were bloodshot, brimming with crimson fury. Lan An's sudden, decisive push shoving them into the array had left them both deeply moved and wracked with self-blame. They hated their own weakness—hated that they couldn't do anything to help him…
Dan Meng Ji felt it even more intensely. Emotions surged in her chest to the breaking point. She knew the skeletal frame capable of forging her a new body was right now carried on Wu San Niang's person, and that she herself was finally returning to Yuelong Star Realm… yet there was not a shred of joy in her heart.
If that man died, what meaning would there be left for her—or for her disciple, Shui Qingxuan—to go on living?
While everyone wrestled with their swirling emotions, without warning—
BOOM!
The space trembled violently. The teleportation array shuddered. Cracks tore through the void like spiderwebs, strange ripples distorting everything. It felt exactly like the very road they were traveling on had suddenly collapsed beneath them…
"Not good! Could it be that something happened to Little Nan?!"
Wu San Niang's face changed instantly. The very first thing she thought of wasn't her own safety in the midst of teleportation—it was Lan An's life.
Everyone understood clearly: Lan An was pouring every ounce of strength into protecting the teleportation array. If something had gone wrong with it now… could it mean her man had met with disaster?
If Wu San Niang could think of it, so could the others. In an instant, the mood of the group plummeted to rock bottom…
Inside her body, Man Qiao ground her teeth so hard they squeaked. If anything happened to that man, she swore she would reduce the entire Manhuang Realm to ashes and bury herself with him…
The same murderous thought flashed through Ju Mei Ying's mind at the same moment. Her moon-like eyes flickered with killing intent so dense it almost materialized.
"It's my fault… all of it is my fault… If I weren't so weak, if I hadn't held him back, he wouldn't have had to risk everything like this…" Ju Aman's massive frame trembled uncontrollably. Self-reproach flooded his eyes. His heart pounded like a great bronze bell, blood surging through his veins like never before. Something deep inside him was on the verge of breaking free.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The array shook even more violently. Countless cracks spread. Even spatial vortices were beginning to form. The once-stable tunnel had become anything but, and everyone's faces turned deathly pale.
If even they met with disaster here—if even they were crushed to nothing by the endless void—who would avenge him? Would all his efforts, all his sacrifices, simply turn to foam on the water? They had already covered more than half the journey. Success was so close. They were supposed to wait for Lan An on the other side, just as he had calmly promised: "Don't worry." Who could have expected this sudden catastrophe? It would be stranger if they weren't panicking…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
No matter how bewildered or terrified they felt, the spatial tunnel grew increasingly unstable. Countless rifts appeared, and the group's expressions sank to the absolute depths of despair.
They all possessed enough knowledge to understand the truth: if anyone were sucked into one of those spacetime rifts, whether they survived and ended up teleported to some strange, unknown place would already count as good fortune. Unless one possessed a rare Spatial Spirit Root, no one could control their own fate once lost in the void.
In the best case, you might arrive on a living planet. In the worst—you could be ground into nothingness by the void itself, or drift eternally through spacetime, never finding a way out…
Even so, no one dared make any reckless moves. None of them had the confidence—or the ability—to influence the teleportation trajectory once it had gone awry.
The one who had arranged this interplanetary array was an existence far beyond comparison with Wu San Niang or anyone present…
"Are we just supposed to sit here and wait to die?" Ju Mei Ying drew a deep breath and spoke, her enormous body already swaying unsteadily now that the array was malfunctioning. Her sheer size made her far more susceptible to being swept away than the others…
"Grab each other—hold on as tight as you can!" Wu San Niang shouted.
She immediately climbed into the front of Ju Mei Ying's collar and clung with all her strength…
Ju Mei Ying, in turn, seized Ju Aman's hand tightly, refusing to let her little brother be lost in the endless, misty void…
Yet no matter how tightly they held on, space remained an unfathomable, supreme force. Even though Wu San Niang was already a Ninth Revolution Body Cultivator—far surpassing any powerhouse on Yuelong Star Realm—she still felt utterly insignificant before the boundless darkness…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"No—!"
With Ju Mei Ying's horrified cry, a twisted black hole suddenly appeared directly in front of them, blocking the path. Clearly, the damage to the teleportation array was far worse than they had imagined. The spatial tunnel had fractured, opening into other chaotic, misty passages…
"Push with everything!" Wu San Niang roared. There was no time left to consider the dangers lurking inside the void. She circulated her full spiritual power and launched a punch wreathed in three kinds of異火 (異火 –異 flames), smashing toward the black hole in an attempt to shatter it…
Ju Mei Ying gritted her teeth. Her Giant Shield materialized in her hand, and she brutally slammed it toward the rift…
BOOM! BOOM!
The black hole shattered, revealing a path forward for the group…
"NO…!"
Before they could even feel relief, Dan Meng Ji let out a despairing, chilling scream…
CRACK…
The already weakened spatial tunnel, now struck by the full force of Wu San Niang and Ju Mei Ying, shattered like brittle glass—completely collapsing…
"Hold on tight!" Wu San Niang bellowed.
The moment the tunnel vanished, countless spatial suction forces tore at their bodies, trying to rip them apart. Even their skin and pores began to bleed; signs of imminent disintegration appeared…
Two spatial rifts, like the gaping maws of colossal, mysterious beasts, yanked Ju Mei Ying and Ju Aman in opposite directions. Wu San Niang, still buried inside Ju Mei Ying's bodice, clung desperately to the warm, soft, crowded valley between her breasts—wrapping her limbs around as much flesh as she could to avoid being torn away.
RIP…
Before their wide, horrified eyes, Ju Mei Ying's enormous arms—still locked around Ju Aman's hand—were crushed to pulp by the spatial pressure, severing the siblings completely…
"A—MAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!"
Ju Mei Ying screamed like a madwoman. The entire Giant Race… only she and her brother had truly trusted each other, willing to face death to preserve their racial dignity. Now they were torn apart—perhaps never to meet again in this lifetime. How could she not feel utter despair and agony?
This pain far surpassed the agony of having both arms pulverized…
"Big Sis…" Ju Aman's eyes turned blood-red. A storm of complex emotions roiled in his chest. Seeing the look of absolute despair and suffering on his sister's face, it felt as though someone had crushed his heart. His blood boiled furiously…
"Aman—live well… Big Sis will definitely find you again!" Ju Mei Ying could no longer hold back her tears as she sobbed.
At that moment, a spatial vortex suddenly formed, hurtling toward her body at terrifying speed.
"Void Storm?!" Both Ju Mei Ying and Wu San Niang fell into complete despair.
A Void Storm was one of the most horrifying disasters in the depths of space. Ninety-nine percent of those caught in one were ground into nothingness. The remaining one percent ended up gravely wounded, on the brink of death, stranded in some unknown corner of existence.
No matter the outcome, the consequences were unimaginably dire…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ju Aman completely lost his mind. All reason evaporated.
Because he knew—if his big sister were swallowed by the Void Storm, every sacrifice that man had made would be for nothing. And there would be no one left to avenge them.
"This old lady refuses to accept this!" Wu San Niang and Man Qiao roared in unison.
Three types of erupted. Ninth Revolution Body Cultivation circulated at full power. The Eight Gates opened. Jade Bone Protection activated. Everything she had, she used—pouring it all into one final, desperate punch toward the Void Storm.
Unfortunately, a Void Storm was no mere small black hole. Every strike Wu San Niang unleashed became meaningless—like a pebble dropped into the vast ocean, creating not even a ripple.
"Live well, all of you!" Ju Mei Ying suddenly reached into her bodice, seized Wu San Niang, and with every last ounce of strength hurled her out of the storm's range.
"Mei Ying—Big Sis!" Wu San Niang and Ju Aman howled together, tears streaming down their faces.
Ju Mei Ying's colossal body drifted like a fallen leaf…
Just as her jade-like, flower-like form was about to be swallowed by the Void Storm—something changed.
"The void… who gave you permission to oppress Us?"
A voice of supreme, unparalleled majesty rang out.
Wu San Niang and Ju Mei Ying felt their eardrums tremble violently, their pores nearly exploding from the pressure. In that brief instant, both turned in terror toward the source of the voice.
They saw Ju Aman—his previously shattered arms somehow restored in an instant. A faint, pitch-black phantom suit of armor enveloped his body, unimaginably vast. On his shoulders were the heads of two black wolves howling at the heavens. Across his abdomen gaped a wide, vicious maw brimming with murderous aura…
At this moment, Ju Aman's presence was enough to make heaven and earth pale, space submit, and all living things bow. The innocent, honest face had turned cold and stern. His eyes were deep as the starry sky. An oppressive aura radiated from his towering frame, shaking the very souls of anyone near him…
"This…" Wu San Niang was utterly shocked. The pressure emanating from Ju Aman right now—she had only ever felt it from one other person…
It was exactly the same as when Lan An unleashed Peerless Under Heaven.
Ju Aman ignored whatever thoughts anyone had about him. His eyes were completely emotionless. He gave Wu San Niang and Ju Mei Ying a fleeting glance, then slowly extended one massive hand and clenched it.
"Be still—for Us!"
With his command, the ruined spatial tunnel underwent a miracle. Countless black holes were forcibly repelled. Shattered spatial fragments rapidly sealed shut. The Void Storm threatening Ju Mei Ying vanished without a sound. In less than a few breaths, the teleportation tunnel ahead returned to normal—as though nothing had ever happened… Soon, they would safely arrive at Yuelong Star Realm.
However, if one looked behind them, it was clear: the tunnel had only been repaired from their current position to the destination. The section they had already passed through remained heavily damaged. Clearly, even with Ju Aman's sudden, mysterious eruption of power, there were limits to what he could achieve.
Even so—it was more than enough to leave Wu San Niang and the others speechless.
"This power…?"
At this point, anyone who still saw Ju Aman as an ordinary giant would be a fool.
"Aman?" Ju Mei Ying stared in stunned disbelief. There was no joy at having just escaped death—only wide-eyed shock as she gazed at her little brother.
Right now, Ju Aman felt utterly foreign to her.
PFFFFT!
Suddenly, Ju Aman's body exploded with violent backlash. His pores bulged like overinflated bubbles. Blood sprayed madly from his mouth. That supreme, heaven-shaking aura vanished in an instant. Clearly, his current body could not sustain that terrifying power for long… and the rebound was catastrophic.
Beneath Ju Aman's feet, the void—having endured that earth-shaking presence—finally shattered completely, forming a bottomless, abyssal chasm of nothingness stretching into infinity.
"A—MAAAAAAN!"
Ju Mei Ying screamed as she watched her brother fall completely away, severed from the spatial tunnel and from her forever. She felt herself going mad. In such a short span of time, countless emotions had torn through her—only for her to survive while her brother suddenly erupted with strange power, then suffered grievous wounds and fell eternally into the void abyss?
Ju Mei Ying wanted to rush back and save him, but the teleportation array only moved forward—never backward. In the blink of an eye, she and Wu San Niang had already been carried countless distances away from where Ju Aman fell. He was gone from sight.
"Don't lose hope. I don't know exactly what just happened, but do you really think someone carrying secrets as heaven-defying as his would die so easily?" Wu San Niang looked at Ju Mei Ying with deep meaning in her eyes.
Ju Mei Ying's expression suddenly cleared. A light flickered in her eyes. That's right—the silly boy had erupted with such terrifying power out of nowhere. Could it be that some supreme expert was protecting him? He would definitely be fine.
"Alright! I have to cultivate with everything I have—find him again as quickly as possible!" Ju Mei Ying silently vowed. She no longer resisted, relaxing her body and allowing herself to continue drifting through the endless void.
Yuelong Star Realm… was no longer far away…
Though Wu San Niang had comforted Ju Mei Ying, her own emotions were worse than ever. Because right now, her little male disciple was surely in a horrifying situation—his life and death unknown.
"Don't overthink it. He still has Master Jin'er!" Dan Meng Ji consoled Wu San Niang—and herself.
"That's right!" Wu San Niang let out a long, relieved breath upon hearing that. Master Jin'er was undoubtedly an earth-shaking figure. She would never stand by and watch Lan An fall into danger without intervening.
Moreover, Ji Ya, Su Mei, Xiao Shi… all those women still shared life-and-death contracts with Little Nan. If anything happened to him… none of them would survive.
To know whether Lan An was safe or not, all they had to do was return and check on the women!
…
Lan An had no idea what had transpired during their teleportation.
Right now, he stared like a madman at the array—almost completely destroyed by the Giant Demon Marquis's final desperate strike. Only a tiny corner of the entrance remained. The situation had reached the absolute limit of danger…
"All of you… one day not far from now… will die very, very miserably!"
Leaving behind a sky-piercing curse of hatred, the Five Dragon War Chariot suddenly materialized. Lan An leaped onto it. The Bone Dragon roared furiously, carrying him straight into the array—under the stunned gazes of the entire Giant Demon Clan crowd.