I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

Paris, on the banks of the Seine.

The sky over the romantic city is now displaying a chilling dark purple hue.

Space is like a mirror shattered by an invisible giant hammer. A void rift, thousands of meters long and spanning the entire center of Paris, is like a cold, one-eyed gaze, mercilessly looking down upon this ancient and prosperous city.

A biting chill poured down from the crack, and the once sparkling Seine River froze into a thick layer of black ice in just over ten minutes.

A few days ago, faced with such a terrifying higher-dimensional disaster, Paris and even the whole of Europe would have been engulfed in a frenzy of fleeing and stampeding.

But today, the situation is extremely bizarre.

There was no emergency evacuation by the military, and no wailing of air raid sirens.

More than 100,000 enthusiastic citizens gathered on both banks of the Seine! Instead of fleeing, they held up crosses and mobile phones, as if they were attending a grand open-air concert.

In the sky, hundreds of drones bearing the logos of major news media outlets are broadcasting live from all angles around the world.

"Ladies and gentlemen! We are now on the banks of the Seine in Paris!"

The BBC war correspondent stood before the camera, showing no fear, but rather with flushed cheeks and a voice so excited it almost cracked:

"As you can see, an unprecedented void rift has descended! But the great Holy See has not retreated; they have taken over the defense of Paris! Today, we will prove to the world, and to those cultivators hiding in the deep mountains of the East—Western magic is the only truth to save all mankind!"

The camera's focus instantly shifted to the Pont Alexandre III, which spans the Seine.

There stood Louis, one of the twelve Great Sage Mages of the West who had just been "forced to mature" through the system and personally appointed by the Pope.

This is a young man who perfectly embodies Western aesthetics. Twenty-five years old, blond and blue-eyed, he was once the go-to model for a top French luxury brand. Now, he wears a pure white robe hastily made overnight by the Vatican and inlaid with hundreds of precious gems, and holds a mithril staff as tall as a person.

Behind him stood five hundred heavily armored Knights Templar, their bodies radiating a faint glow, and thousands of priests praying with their eyes closed.

The formation was absolutely perfect, and the scene was incredibly elegant, almost like a classical oil painting from the Middle Ages.

"Praise be to the Lord, whose glory will surely sweep away all evil."

Louis gave the camera a confident and charming smile.

He didn't even look at the increasingly unstable crack in the sky, but instead, in an extremely affected manner, he adjusted the collar of his robe.

In his understanding, or rather in the understanding of Western society as a whole, magic is a noble art. As long as one has enough mental strength, as long as one draws the "magic circle" sent by the gods in one's mind precisely enough, and recites that obscure ancient Latin hymn loudly enough, "divine punishment" that can destroy everything will descend from the sky.

In the past few days, he used this method to burn several low-level Void Hounds to death in the square, enjoying the vanity of being admired by thousands.

"These are true superheroes! This is civilization!"

"So elegant! In comparison, those Chinese cultivators, covered in dirt and wielding cold weapons to fight monsters hand-to-hand, are practically like barbarians from a primitive era!"

"Lord Louis, use your forbidden spell to teach these Easterners a lesson!"

On the global live stream's bullet screen, countless Western netizens were frantically spamming the comments, their sense of superiority swelling to its extreme.

……

At the same time.

China, atop the Kunlun Mountains.

Gu Qing sat upright on the throne in the Lingxiao Palace, looking at Louis's affected posture on the holographic screen, and then at the Westerners' crazy attacks on Chinese cultivation in the comments section, and couldn't help but sneer.

"Dean, these Western barbarians are utterly courting death!"

Standing below, Chu Tianhe, the Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, frowned deeply, staring intently at the crack on the screen that emanated a terrifying pressure. "According to the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion's calculations, what has descended this time is very likely a high-level void race that has broken the sound barrier—the 'Void Raiders'!"

"Monsters of this level possess physical strength comparable to Golden Core stage body cultivators. Their bone blades on their forelimbs are likely capable of cutting through anything in the mortal realm. Even more terrifying is their incredible burst speed!"

Chu Tianhe looked at the Holy Mage on the screen, who was still posing, as if he were looking at a dead man.

"Faced with such a high-level monster known for its speed and cutting power, instead of forming a defensive formation or creating distance, they just stand brazenly in the middle of the bridge...Are they insane?"

"They're not crazy, they're just arrogant and ignorant."

Gu Qing picked up the teacup, took a small sip, and his eyes revealed a cold, amused look.

"Tianhe, you need to understand one thing. They don't understand what 'Tao' is, or what 'Qi-driven attraction' is."

Gu Qing's fingertips tapped lightly on the armrest of the throne, making a crisp "tap-tap" sound, as if counting down to the end of Paris.

"In China, even novice sword cultivators know that 'even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.' The truth lies only in the killing power of the sword."

"And what about these Westerners? They treat supernatural power as a magical show to display their superiority. Do they think monsters will obediently stand still like in a turn-based game, waiting for them to finish reciting those long, drawn-out incantations that last for over ten seconds?"

Gu Qing put down his teacup, his gaze instantly turning sharp as a knife:

"Just watch, today, this rift will tear the arrogance in the bones of Westerners, along with their prized 'magic,' to shreds!"

……

Paris, on the banks of the Seine.

Boom! ...

A deafening thud suddenly erupted from the S-class rift in the sky, as if some enormous thing had forcibly broken through the high-dimensional membrane and descended into the real world.

The surrounding air was instantly sucked away, and a terrifying, suffocating pressure, like a tangible tsunami, slammed into the center of Paris!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

On both banks of the Seine, tens of thousands of onlookers didn't even have time to gasp before they rolled their eyes and fainted! Even the media reporters hiding in the distance felt as if they had been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer, and they all coughed up blood and knelt down.

This is nothing like the low-level hunting dog that was equivalent to the Qi Refining stage a few days ago!

This is a high-level predator from the abyss!

At the edge of the crack, a thick, dark purple fog churned violently.

Immediately afterwards, a crisp "snap" sounded.

A three-meter-long, eerie, translucent dark gold "bone blade" with serrated edges slowly emerged from the void.

The high-frequency vibration emanating from that bone blade alone instantly sliced ​​off the top floor of a high-rise building hundreds of meters below as neatly as cutting tofu!

Louis, who was just smiling at the camera, froze completely.

He felt like a frog being stared at by a prehistoric behemoth; his blood seemed to freeze, and his legs even began to tremble uncontrollably.

But he had no other choice. Billions of people around the world were watching him. The Pope's death order hung over his head.

"No...don't panic!"

Suppressing his overwhelming fear, Louis suddenly raised his jeweled staff and screamed hysterically:

"Great Lord! Hear the cry of your most faithful servant!"

"Let that holy fire that tears through the darkness descend upon this place..."

Western netizens around the world, glued to their screens, trembled with excitement at this moment, ready to witness this "god-killing blow" that would go down in history.

However, at this very moment, atop Kunlun Mountain, Gu Qing looked at Louis on the screen, who was speaking with great emotion and slowly "loading" the message, as if he were watching a complete idiot.

"Has the loading bar started?"

Gu Qing shook his head and let out a cold sneer:

"But compared to the speed of sound, your fifteen-second casting animation feels like an eternity."