I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

The morning mist had not yet dissipated at the main peak plaza of the Xuan Yuan Sect.

Qin Yuan and his group of five stood in the center of the square, with a large number of sect disciples behind them and the sect leader Lu Xuanfeng and the elders of each peak standing solemnly on the high platform in front of them.

Today marks the start of the Great War of a Hundred Sects.

"I've said everything I needed to say these past few days." Lu Xuanfeng's gaze swept over the five men, his tone grave. "On the battlefield, life and death are irrelevant. We outside will see everything you do. But remember—survival is the most important thing."

Chu Wuyue's white pupils burned with fighting spirit: "Sect Master, rest assured, I will not fail in my mission."

Yun Qingyao said softly, "This disciple will remember."

Han Bing and Ye Guying nodded in silence.

Qin Yuan remained calm, as if he were simply going to participate in an ordinary trial.

Lu Xuanfeng looked at them, a hint of relief mixed with worry in his eyes. He turned to the disciples below the stage and announced loudly, "The Hundred Sects War is a grand event for Qingzhou over the past century. Although my Xuan Yuan Sect is weak, this generation has these five!"

The sound echoed throughout the square, eliciting cheers.

"Senior Brother Qin! Senior Brother Chu! Senior Sister Yun!"

"Let my Xuan Yuan's mighty name be proclaimed!"

"A triumphant return!"

The sound was like a tidal wave.

Among the crowd, Zhou Ming and Zhao Tiezhu clenched their fists, their eyes slightly red. They knew that this departure might be their last.

Lu Xuanfeng raised his hand, silencing the commotion: "The Hundred Sects Battlefield is an independent secret realm left over from ancient times. You will be randomly teleported to various locations and must find a 'safe zone' before sunset, otherwise... you will face the 'cleansing' at night."

He paused, then added, "Each sect can send a different number of people. Powerful sects like the Vajra Sect and the Spirit Sword Sect can send twenty. But my Xuan Yuan Sect... five is enough."

This is very blunt – if you're weak, sending too many people will just be suicide.

The five people remained silent.

"Time's up." Lu Xuanfeng looked up at the sky.

As the sun rose high in the sky, its rays shone on the array diagram in the center of the square. The diagram, ten zhang in diameter and covered with intricate spatial runes, was gradually lighting up.

Lu Xuanfeng formed hand seals, pouring powerful spiritual energy into the array.

"open!"

boom--!!!

The array burst forth with blinding white light, and a massive pillar of light shot into the sky, tearing through the clouds!

At the center of the beam of light, space distorted, forming a rotating vortex.

A terrifying suction force erupted from it!

"Go!" Lu Xuanfeng shouted sharply.

Qin Yuan and the other four jumped into the vortex at the same time.

In the plaza, all the disciples held their breath, watching their figures disappear into the pillar of light.

Lu Xuanfeng gazed at the sky and murmured, "Back alive..."

The moment Qin Yuan passed through the vortex, he felt as if he had been thrown into a spinning top, and the world spun around him.

After an unknown amount of time, their feet finally touched the ground.

He opened his eyes.

Before me stretched an endless expanse of yellow earth.

The sky was dark red, like congealed blood. There were no clouds, no birds, only a few black cracks running across the horizon. The earth was parched and scorched, barren of vegetation; as far as the eye could see, only scattered bones and broken weapons remained stuck in the ground.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur, mixed with a faint odor of blood.

Qin Yuan took a deep breath, his brows furrowing slightly.

The air was filled not only with a thin layer of spiritual energy, but also with a chilling, eerie, and malevolent aura. This aura, like a living thing, was slowly seeping into his skin, attempting to erode his spiritual power.

"An ominous aura..." Qin Yuan immediately activated his cultivation technique, forming a faint protective aura on his body to keep the aura out.

He looked up at the sky.

There was no sun or moon in the dark red sky, but judging by my intuition, it must be afternoon. Sunset was at most two hours away.

"We must find a safe zone before sunset," Qin Yuan recalled Lu Xuanfeng's warning.

The "cleaning" at night—he didn't know what that was, but it was definitely not simple.

His divine sense spread out, reaching a radius of ten miles.

Within a ten-mile radius, all was deathly silent. There were no living creatures, no buildings, only yellow earth and skeletons.

He chose a direction and began to move forward.

After walking for about half an hour, the situation ahead changed.

A deep roar came from behind a raised earthen slope.

Qin Yuan didn't stop walking and climbed up the earthen slope.

Down the slope, three monstrous beasts resembling giant wolves were tearing apart a corpse—the corpse was dressed in cultivator's robes, with a large hole torn in its chest, clearly indicating that it had only recently died.

Sensing Qin Yuan's presence, the three demonic beasts simultaneously raised their heads.

Their eyes were blood red, their mouths dripped with viscous saliva, their bodies were covered with black scales, and their aura had clearly reached the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm!

A three-headed Nascent Soul stage demon beast!

In the region where the Xuan Yuan Sect is located, a single Nascent Soul stage demonic beast is enough to become a local overlord, requiring several elders to join forces to suppress it. Yet here, three have appeared so casually!

The monster let out a low growl, abandoned the corpse, and pounced on Qin Yuan.

They were incredibly fast, transforming into three streaks of black light that arrived in front of us in the blink of an eye!

Qin Yuan didn't move.

Just as the claw of the foremost monster was about to strike his face, he raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and gently touched it.

"Bang."

The fingertip touched the monster's forehead.

The beast's charge suddenly stopped, and then its head exploded! The headless corpse collapsed limply to the ground.

The other two monsters, seeing this, showed a hint of fear in their eyes, but their ferocity increased, and they pounced from the left and right!

Qin Yuan used both hands simultaneously, as if plucking flowers and leaves, and placed them on the chests of the two demonic beasts respectively.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"

With two muffled thuds, the chests of both monsters collapsed simultaneously, their internal organs shattered, and they fell to the ground dead.

From the start to the end, it took three breaths.

The three Nascent Soul stage demonic beasts were all wiped out.

Qin Yuan walked to the cultivator's corpse and squatted down to examine it.

The corpse was dressed in a purple robe with a crescent moon embroidered on its chest—it was a disciple of the "Moonflower Sect." The Moonflower Sect ranked in the middle among the Hundred Sects, and its strength was much greater than that of the Profound Origin Sect.

This disciple was also in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but he died under the siege of three demonic beasts.

"The battlefield... is indeed cruel." Qin Yuan stood up and continued forward.

After walking for another half hour, they heard the sounds of fighting and a woman's angry shouts from ahead.

Qin Yuan probed with his divine sense, raising a slight brow.

Ten miles away, on a dry riverbed, four figures were engaged in fierce combat.

Three cultivators dressed in golden robes surrounded and attacked a woman in purple robes.

That woman was none other than Zi Ling from the Zi Xiao Sect.

She was in a sorry state. A deep, bone-revealing wound was cut into her left shoulder, and blood stained half of her robe. She brandished a dagger in her right hand, its purple light flashing, but it was firmly suppressed by the combined attack of the three.

The three golden-robed cultivators, two men and one woman, were all at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage. They cooperated seamlessly, with one launching the main attack while the other two provided flanking support, sealing off all of Zi Ling's escape routes.

"Purple Fairy, why struggle?" The one attacking was a sinister-looking young man, wielding a golden longsword with a sharp, gleaming light. "Hand over the 'Purple Cloud Token' obediently, and we might give you a quick death."

Zi Ling gritted her teeth: "The people of the Golden Sword Sect... are despicable!"

"Despicable?" another woman scoffed. "On the battlefield, it's all about life and death. Where's the despicable part? Blame your bad luck for being out of the game and running into us."

The third man, a short, stout fellow wielding a pair of bronze hammers, said in a deep voice, "Brother, stop wasting time talking to her. Take her down, and the Purple Cloud Token is ours. We can exchange it for a lot of resources in the safe zone!"

The three men launched an even more urgent attack.

Zi Ling was on the verge of defeat, facing constant danger. She was skilled in assassination, but direct confrontation was not her forte, and being surrounded by three people, she gradually became overwhelmed.

"puff!"

The golden sword added another wound to her right arm, and the dagger nearly slipped from her hand.

"It's over." A fierce glint flashed in the sinister young man's eyes as he thrust his longsword straight at Zi Ling's heart!

Just as the sword tip was about to touch Zi Ling—

A hand appeared out of thin air in front of the sword's edge.

Her hands were fair and slender, and looked quite ordinary.