But just as he finished speaking, two terrifying forces struck from left and right, instantly grabbing Harold Hong. In a flash, Harold’s arms and legs were snapped clean in half!
“Aaaah!” Harold Hong let out a blood-curdling scream, spitting out three mouthfuls of blood. His Heavenly Immortal qi shattered on the spot!
“Elder Hong! Elder Hong!” All the Ruins Sect disciples around him shouted at once. A bunch of them wanted to rush up and avenge him, but Harold Hong roared at them with all his strength.
“Go! All of you, get out! Don’t worry about me!” Even now, Harold Hong didn’t care about his own life or death—he was still thinking about the safety of the sect disciples. What really made people’s hearts tremble was that he actually tried to tangle with the Nine-Dragon Gate elders to buy time!
“You’re asking for death!” Ghosthide finally lost it. He bellowed, trying to crush Harold Hong once and for all. Raising a massive blade, he swung it straight at Harold’s head—he clearly wasn’t going to let Harold live another second!
For a moment, the whole Ruins Sect was wailing in grief. No one wanted to see Harold Hong die like this!
At that critical moment, Arthur Shentu was trapped outside the gate, the Sect Master and Supreme Elders inside were all at death’s door, and if Harold Hong’s head hit the ground, Ruins Sect would be wiped off the map of the Immortal Domain World!
But just as things hit rock bottom, a mind-blowing power erupted out of nowhere, smashing straight into Ghosthide! In an instant, Ghosthide’s blade—and his entire right arm—went flying!
“Who—who is it?!” Ghosthide yelled. The other Zang-generation elders around him also cried out in shock. Nobody expected a powerhouse to still be hiding inside Ruins Sect, and this expert was seriously strong!
“Get lost!” a voice roared. The two masters pinning Harold Hong were blasted away, and Harold—already gravely wounded—was teleported to safety. The whole rescue happened in the blink of an eye, leaving the sect disciples utterly gobsmacked!
And when everyone finally snapped out of it, they saw that the one who’d made the move wasn’t anyone else—it was Ryan Ling, fresh out of cultivation in Celestial Hall!
Ryan Ling had basically been forgotten by everyone, but now he’d burst onto the scene like a dark horse, flipping the whole situation upside down!
“Ryan—Ryan, you really…” Harold Hong looked at Ryan charging in like a madman and actually broke into a huge grin, almost forgetting his injuries!
But Ryan was staying sharp. He knew the crisis wasn’t over—in fact, every hostile eye in the place was now locked onto him. The top priority was to get everyone out, because even with his current power, there was no way he could hold back this insane onslaught alone!
“Move! Take Elder Hong and get out, don’t hesitate for a second!” Ryan looked at the remaining sect disciples—his closest people from Tender Haven, Linglong, and the others. Even though the sect had been wrecked, he was lucky: none of his most important friends had died. He had to get them out, no matter what!
“Got it!” Linglong didn’t hesitate. As Tender Haven’s cave-master, she totally understood the big picture. Staying would only drag Ryan down—they couldn’t help him at all. Getting out was the only real help, and she believed that with Ryan’s power, he could break through!
“No more talking—just go!” Joanna Long’s group didn’t hesitate either. At a time like this, there was no room for mistakes. The disciples who’d been drowning in despair suddenly saw a glimmer of hope!
Everyone started breaking out toward safety!
But right then, every Nine-Dragon Gate elder’s gaze zeroed in on Ryan Ling. The sharpest glare of all belonged to Ghosthide.
“That’s him! He’s the punk who attacked us in Immortal-Domain City! Who knew he was hiding in Ruins Sect? Brothers, you’ve got to catch him—skin him alive!” Ghosthide couldn’t hold back anymore and started yelling at the top of his lungs!
Ghosthide had already suffered at Ryan’s hands before, and now he’d lost an arm on top of it—total humiliation. He’d rather die than swallow this disgrace.
The moment he shouted, all the other Zang-generation elders stopped hesitating and aimed every bit of killing intent straight at Ryan Ling!
Ryan gritted his teeth. He’d planned to stay in Celestial Hall for a few more days, maybe even push for a Heavenly Immortal breakthrough. But with the chaos erupting outside, there was no chance for that now!
Even so, his current strength was nothing to sneeze at. His internal reserves had hit max capacity—he could attack the Heavenly Immortal Realm anytime. Plus, in the past few days, he’d gotten a deeper feel for that Immortal-World Giant God’s aura inside his fused Heavenwood. It was faint, but priceless—way more valuable than all his Primeval Heavenwood energy put together!
But in the blink of an eye, Ryan was beset on all sides. Immortal-grade attacks slammed into him like never before, nearly tearing him apart. His Glazed Earth Immortal aura was boiling off like crazy—any other day, he’d have exploded instantly!
But he wasn’t scared at all. His Immortal Crystal power surged out, fusing into his body—layer after layer of crystal armor. In no time, he blocked the elders’ attacks!
“No way! He’s just an Earth Immortal—how can his defense be this insane?”
“Yeah, his defense is even tougher than Arthur Shentu’s! That’s just impossible!”
“Holy crap, this is nuts!”
...
“Forget him—hit him with everything you’ve got! No matter how tough he is, he dies today!” Ghosthide was shaken, but staring at his severed arm, he didn’t hesitate. He started screaming orders like crazy!
A bunch more elders jumped in, unleashing ice, fire, earth, lightning, wood—Immortal arts crashed down like a supercharged storm, way stronger than the Demon-Slaying Grand Array!
Even Arthur Shentu, half-dead, was stunned. He never thought Ryan Ling’s defense would be this insane—way stronger than his own. He used to laugh at Ryan, but now? Joke’s on him!
With Ryan fighting back, everyone—Ruins Sect and Nine-Dragon Gate alike—was locked onto him. In a sect on the brink of annihilation, Ryan had suddenly become the wild card nobody saw coming, wrecking their plans!
And what nobody could believe: even with half the elder corps hammering him, Ryan’s defense held strong. All the tricks they used to crush Arthur were unleashed, but—plot twist!—none of it worked. Instead, Ryan was actually breaking through their blockade!
The faces of every Nine-Dragon Gate elder turned ugly in a flash—their mood tanked hard.
“No way, dammit—let me hit him with some fire!”
“Me too!”
“Count me in!”
...
Just then, three Supreme Elders from Nine-Dragon Gate leapt out of hiding, blasting Ryan Ling with overwhelming force. Their all-out slaughter was a thousand times crazier than what they’d used to trap Arthur before!
Everyone watching was stunned. The guy they’d written off as worthless was suddenly exploding with insane potential—and even under this barrage, Ryan’s face didn’t change at all...