All Realms and Worlds: The Lost Home

In the endless void, the golden light curtain of the Primordial Heavens Array still shone brightly. Hongjun stood before the light curtain, his body radiating Daoist energy, his gaze fixed intently on Lieyangzi and his group. The Chaos Demons, meanwhile, lingered in the void not far away, their gray-black auras surging, seemingly observing, yet also waiting for an opportunity. The standoff between the three forces was briefly halted by the disappearance of the divine spear and the capture of Lin Nannan, with only the raging void winds still howling and tearing at this nothingness.

Lie Yangzi slowly walked to Lin Nannan, who was being held captive by the purple-robed man. His dark purple dragon-patterned robe fluttered in the gale, and the purple lightning surrounding him flickered faintly, revealing suppressed anger. The divine spear had vanished into thin air, dashing his hopes. Now, only by grasping Lin Nannan as his "lifeline" could he barely make up for the losses of this trip. He reached out, his thin but strong fingers gripping Lin Nannan's left arm. Purple energy seeped into her skin from his fingertips, trying to probe the dimensional traversal power within her.

Lin Nannan was already limp and powerless from exhaustion. With Lie Yangzi's icy fingers gripping her arm, she felt a chill creep up her left arm and spread throughout her body, causing her to shiver involuntarily. She instinctively tried to struggle, but her limbs were firmly bound by the purple energy, preventing even the slightest movement. She could only watch helplessly as Lie Yangzi's energy invaded her body, her heart filled with fear and despair. She knew that her ability to travel through time had been completely sealed away with the depletion of her energy, and the Homecoming System had fallen into a deep sleep. At this moment, she was nothing more than an ordinary, defenseless middle school student.

Lie Yangzi's brows furrowed. He probed Lin Nannan's body with his fingertips, his energy circling again and again, but apart from the faint life force within a mortal body, he couldn't detect even the slightest fluctuation of dimensional energy. That special power that allowed her to freely traverse dimensions seemed to have vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed within the girl at all.

"Hmm?" Lie Yangzi's tone was tinged with doubt, which quickly turned into deep impatience. The energy he used to probe became increasingly sharp, almost tearing Lin Nannan's meridians apart. But even so, he still found nothing. Lin Nannan's body remained a barren wasteland, completely devoid of anything special.

"Damn it! Where's your ability?!" Lie Yangzi suddenly tightened his grip on Lin Nannan's arm, his knuckles turning white from the force. His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins, his originally cold and stern face twisted into a ferocious expression, and his voice became hoarse and violent, like that of an enraged beast, "Answer me! Where did your dimensional travel ability go?!"

Lin Nannan cried out in pain as he squeezed her arm, feeling as if the bones in her left arm were about to shatter. She didn't even have the strength to speak, only able to open her mouth and let out a weak whimper. She wanted to explain, to tell Lie Yangzi that her abilities had vanished, but the intense pain and fear intertwined, rendering her unable to form words. She could only let tears stream down her cheeks, her eyes filled with anguish and pleading.

Seeing that she remained silent, Lie Yangzi assumed she was deliberately concealing something, and his anger burned even more fiercely. He had crossed planes to come here specifically for Lin Nannan's time-traveling ability, hoping to use it to travel through the heavens and plunder resources. But now the divine spear was lost, and even Lin Nannan's ability had disappeared. How could he tolerate this?

"You've actually lost the ability to travel between dimensions!" Lieyangzi seemed to have finally accepted this fact, his tone filled with unbelievable rage. "Useless! You're utterly useless! I expended all my energy to cross dimensions, only to capture a piece of trash!"

Before he could finish speaking, a fierce glint appeared in Lie Yangzi's eyes, and he tightened his grip on Lin Nannan's left arm. A crisp "crack" of bone breaking rang out, particularly jarring in the silent void. Lin Nannan's left arm bent at an eerie angle, and the excruciating pain of shattered bone swept over her body like a tidal wave, instantly overwhelming her consciousness.

"Ah—!" A piercing scream erupted from Lin Nannan's mouth. The scream, filled with excruciating pain, pierced through the raging winds and echoed throughout the entire battlefield. Her body convulsed violently, cold sweat instantly soaking through her cartoon hoodie. Her face was ashen, her lips were bitten until they bled, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her once clear eyes were now filled only with endless pain and fear.

She wasn't a cultivator, she didn't have a powerful physique, nor did she possess any protective energy; she was just an ordinary Earth girl, a child who had just started junior high school. Such bone-cracking pain was undoubtedly devastating torture for her, enough to completely break her.

Not far away, Shen Jianxin, hidden in the shadows, saw the whole scene clearly. He was already filled with remorse for failing to protect Lin Nannan, and now, seeing Lie Yangzi cruelly crush Lin Nannan's left arm and hearing that shrill scream, his anger and pain erupted instantly, like a volcano being ignited, his heart about to burst.

"Nannan!" Shen Jianxin roared, disregarding his severe injuries, and burst out from his hiding place. The remaining spiritual energy around him surged wildly, and the cyan longsword in his hand once again gleamed with a sharp light as he rushed towards Lie Yangzi. His eyes were filled with bloodlust, and only one thought remained in his mind—kill Lie Yangzi and save Lin Nannan!

However, he had already been severely injured in the previous obstruction, his blood and qi churning, his spiritual energy depleted. He had only rushed out a few steps when he was noticed by a purple-robed man from the Blazing Sun Realm. The purple-robed man snorted coldly, raised his hand, and a sharp beam of purple energy shot towards Shen Jianxin. Shen Jianxin was powerless to resist. He was struck in the chest by the energy beam, spitting out another mouthful of blood. His body, like a kite with a broken string, crashed heavily into the void, swept several meters away by the gale, and slammed heavily into an invisible energy barrier, unable to get up again.

"Cough cough..." Shen Jianxin lay on the ground, coughing violently, blood gushing from his mouth, staining the air before him crimson. He struggled to lift his head, his gaze fixed on Lie Yangzi, his eyes filled with resentment and boundless rage, yet he could only watch helplessly as Lin Nannan suffered, unable even to approach her. As a fellow transmigrator from Earth, he had failed to protect this young comrade; this sense of powerlessness and guilt cut like a sharp blade repeatedly into his heart.

He desperately wanted to tell Lieyangzi that Lin Nannan had truly lost her abilities, and he longed to bear all the pain for her. But at this moment, he was barely able to protect himself, and could only let despair spread. He gritted his teeth and secretly vowed in his heart that as long as he had a breath left, he would never let Lieyangzi and his group go.

On the other side, Hongjun stood before the golden light screen, watching this cruel scene unfold before him. His brows furrowed slightly, and a barely perceptible ripple flickered in his eyes. He could clearly sense Lin Nannan's life force rapidly draining away; that fragile aura of mortal vulnerability stirred a strange emotion within him. This girl was innocent, yet she had suffered such torture because of her transmigration ability—truly pitiful.

But he was, after all, the Dao Ancestor of the Primordial World, wielding the Great Dao of the Primordial World; the safety of the Primordial World was his top priority. Lin Nannan was not a person of the Primordial World and had no ties to it. He could not risk the safety of the entire Primordial World and wage war against Lieyangzi and the Chaos Demon God simultaneously for the sake of a mortal girl from elsewhere. If he rashly intervened, it would inevitably trigger a three-way war. Although the Primordial Heavenly Array was powerful, it might not be able to withstand the combined impact of two major forces. In that case, the Primordial World would be devastated, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

After weighing his options, Hongjun finally fell silent. He slowly withdrew his gaze, his expression returning to its previous calm, as if the piercing scream and the cruel torture he had just endured were irrelevant to him. However, his tightly furrowed brows still betrayed a trace of unease within him. All he could do was protect the primordial world; as for the girl's fate, he could only leave it to destiny.

In the void not far away, the Chaos Gods, witnessing this scene, burst into loud laughter. Their laughter was rough and mocking, filled with sarcasm, echoing through the void, particularly jarring.

"Hahaha! Lieyangzi, you've finally met your match!" The crimson-red Flame Demon, wielding a giant axe, laughed so hard he almost fell over, his eyes filled with mockery. "A dignified ruler of a realm, mobilizing a massive force across planes, only to be toyed with by a mere mortal woman who can't even kill a chicken! Not only did you fail to obtain the divine spear, but your target's abilities have also vanished. It's an absolute joke!"

"Exactly!" another Chaos Demon God echoed, his tone full of sarcasm. "Not only did you capture a piece of trash, but you also got so angry that you bullied a mortal. You've completely disgraced the Blazing Sun Realm!"

"It seems this Lieyangzi is nothing special after all!"

The Chaos Gods' mockery was like needles, piercing Lie Yangzi's heart. He was already burning with rage because of the loss of his abilities and the loss of his divine spear. Now, being publicly ridiculed by the Chaos Gods, his anger instantly surged to its peak. The purple lightning around him surged, almost solidifying, and the void itself trembled violently under the impact of this violent energy.

"Shut up!" Lie Yangzi whirled around, his gaze fixed on the Chaos Demons, his eyes filled with murderous intent, his voice icy cold, "If you dare utter another word, I'll wipe you out first!"

But the Chaos Gods were not afraid of him at all; instead, they laughed even more arrogantly. The Flame Demon brandished his giant axe, his tone mocking: "What? Hit where it hurts, want to fight? Come on! We'll see what you, a creature who can only vent his anger on mortals, have that you think you can destroy us!"

Lieyangzi trembled with rage, yet he knew he couldn't afford to fight the Chaos Demon God now. If they clashed, both would be severely injured, and if Hongjun seized the opportunity to strike, he and the people of Lieyang Realm would likely perish. With nowhere to vent his anger, he could only unleash all his resentment on Lin Nannan, who lay limp on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Since you're useless, keeping you around is just a waste of time!" Lie Yangzi's eyes were sinister, his tone ruthless. He grabbed Lin Nannan by the collar and flung her like trash towards the two purple-robed men behind him. "Break her limbs! I want to see if she can withstand it! If she still refuses to tell the truth, then we'll search her soul. Even if we don't uncover the secret of her time-traveling ability, she'll pay the price!"

"Yes, Lord!" the two purple-robed men replied in unison, their voices cold and devoid of any pity. In a flash, they arrived beside Lin Nannan, looking at the girl who was slumped on the ground, writhing in pain. Their eyes showed no emotion, only the cold determination to carry out orders.

Lin Nannan was still reeling from the excruciating pain of her shattered left arm. Her consciousness was beginning to blur, and she could only vaguely hear Lie Yangzi's commands and sense the shadow of death approaching. She wanted to struggle and escape, but her body was already dominated by the pain and fear, and she didn't even have the strength to move a finger. She could only watch helplessly as the two purple-robed men slowly approached, her eyes filled with despair.

A man in purple robes struck first, reaching out and grabbing Lin Nannan's right leg. His fingers, like iron clamps, gripped the leg bone tightly, and without the slightest hesitation, he exerted force. A crisp "crack" rang out again, intertwining with the previous sound of bone breaking, becoming even more piercing.

"Ugh—!" Lin Nannan let out another piercing scream, her voice hoarse and almost broken. The pain of her right leg bone shattering was even worse than that of her left arm, causing her body to convulse violently. Her body arched like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and cold sweat slid down her cheeks and neck, soaking the empty space beneath her.

Before she could recover from the excruciating pain in her right leg, another man in purple robes grabbed her left leg and exerted force with equal force. Another sharp crack rang out as the bone in her left leg shattered, bending at an unnatural angle. The double pain swept over her like a tsunami, causing Lin Nannan's vision to blur and almost making her faint.

"No...no..." Lin Nannan uttered a weak plea, her voice barely audible and filled with despair. She had already endured too much pain; the torment of broken limbs was simply unbearable for an ordinary girl.

But the purple-robed men didn't stop. They walked expressionlessly to Lin Nannan, one of them grabbing her only intact right arm, a faint purple energy gathering at his fingertips to prevent her from struggling in agony. Then, without a shred of mercy, he exerted force violently.

"Snap—!"

With a final crack of bone, Lin Nannan's right arm was completely severed. The excruciating pain of her limbs shattering felt like a thousand steel needles piercing her bone marrow and soul, utterly destroying her consciousness. Her body convulsed violently, then lost all strength. Her head drooped limply, her eyes closed, her face still wet with tears and a pained expression, before she finally passed out.

The two purple-robed figures released their grip, and Lin Nannan's body, like a kite with a broken string, slumped limply in the void, bound by a faint purple energy, motionless. Her limbs were bent at bizarre angles, and blood slowly flowed from the broken ends, congealing into glaring blood flowers in the void, exuding a chilling and tragic beauty.

A deathly silence fell over the void. The laughter of the Chaos Gods abruptly ceased, and a complex, almost imperceptible, glint flashed in their eyes as they gazed at the limp body of the young girl. Shen Jianxin lay prostrate on the ground, staring at the unconscious Lin Nannan, his eyes filled with crimson despair. His fingernails dug deep into his palms, drawing blood, yet he could do nothing. Hongjun remained standing before the golden light barrier, his expression calm, though his brows furrowed even more deeply, and the Daoist aura surrounding him seemed to have become somewhat stagnant.

Lie Yangzi, his anger still burning as he looked at the unconscious Lin Nannan, coldly ordered the man in purple robes, "Bring her here and keep a close watch on her! If she still refuses to tell the truth when she wakes up, immediately perform a soul search!"

Two men in purple robes responded and lifted Lin Nannan's body as if she were a lifeless object. They slowly walked behind Lie Yangzi, bound her tightly with purple energy, and stood quietly.