Chapter Fifty-Four: Zhu Yan Battles the Earth Qilin

Within that space, volcanoes erupted, the earth was torn apart, countless demon beasts raced across the land, and the sky was filled with soaring demon birds.

Far in the distance, Nangong Lingyue flew through the air with ease and grace. Ever since she lost to Lin Qingyun last time, she had thrown herself into relentless cultivation, dominating the ranks of the practical trials these past few days. After absorbing a significant amount of liquefied spiritual energy, her abilities had soared. Sensing the weakening of the energy, she too ascended into the sky, avoiding direct conflict with the demon beasts.

In a fleeting moment, Lin Qingyun glimpsed her, and she too sensed a familiar figure flashing by. An inexplicable feeling surged within her, but as the two realms began to overlap, the situation in the other world drew her attention.

“This is truly the entrance to the relic, but something seems off inside…” Nangong Lingyue quickly adjusted her position, wary of the overlapping realms and the imminent opening of the entrance. Her priority was her own safety.

Inside the trial battleground for the freshmen, those prodigies were usually safe; even if danger struck, unless one was unlucky enough to be instantly annihilated, help was always available. But now, the circumstances had changed—survival was paramount.

Meanwhile, Lin Qingyun put away his Fortune Pill Furnace; the liquefied spiritual energy in the air had ceased, and the relic was merging with this world. The entrance would soon appear.

Over this period, teams led by university officials, education department personnel, and military officers had poured in. After entering, spatial anomalies often meant people vanished from sight nearby, but their experience prevailed. They flew in groups, swiftly gathering students and keeping them close for protection.

Hundreds of teams entered, including powerful figures like Nan Yutong, who could snatch students away with a mere gesture.

It was only now that many students, still dazed, realized something had gone wrong—their practical trial was over.

“Where’s that kid? Where’s Nangong Lingyue and the others?”

Nan Yutong, who was rapidly evacuating every visible freshman, was also searching for the most outstanding students from Haicheng University.

“Let them take the others away. You continue the search; I need to go find a few specific people myself.”

Nan Yutong’s team worked swiftly, clearing their assigned areas and evacuating all freshmen. Airborne vehicles were packed with students, and those at the Cloud Ascension realm had enlarged their spiritual artifacts to carry more.

At the center, the relic was opening and the realms overlapped. Though nothing was visible from here, Nan Yutong sensed the change. She instructed others to retreat while she accelerated toward the center.

She was not alone in her decision. As the mass evacuation began due to the unsafe situation, university leaders, education department chiefs, and military personnel all rushed forward.

A sudden sound of shattering echoed around them—it was the space itself fracturing at the overlap, and a swirling vortex formed a passage. From within surged spiritual energy far denser than Earth's, and hordes of demon beasts poured out in frenzy.

Looking into the relic, mountains were collapsing, peaks exploding, sending countless demon beasts fleeing in terror. As the passage opened, many demon beasts rushed out.

Lin Qingyun, anticipating the space fracture and passage formation, quickly dropped to the ground and burrowed underground. He was prepared, and though Nangong Lingyue hadn’t expected it, she reacted fast, flying quickly away.

“Damn…”

As the relic and Earth’s spatial channel formed, countless demon beasts burst forth—some as weak as the Phoenix Initial realm, others as powerful as Cloud Ascension level, but the numbers were overwhelming.

Song Yichen cursed and swiftly dove underground—his earth escape technique was invaluable for self-preservation at such times, provided the attack wasn’t aimed directly at him.

“Good heavens, what kind of relic is this?” The young Daoist Chi Ziyang exclaimed, his Eight Trigrams Mirror transforming instantly into armor, allowing him to fly through the air.

The sky was chaotic, but still safer than the ground. Their first instinct was to dodge, but the original Wolf King, Sand Lizard King, and Snake King sought to defend their territories, issuing roars and warnings. Yet the overwhelming flood of demon beasts swept them away—only the Sand Lizard King reacted quickly enough to burrow underground; the others were obliterated.

As the demon beasts poured onto Earth, some freshmen who hadn’t yet been rescued were inevitably caught in the carnage. Only those like Lin Qingyun, Nangong Lingyue, and Song Yichen, with special skills and quick reactions, survived; the rest perished without even knowing how.

“It’s over… You’d better not be over there…” At this moment, Nan Yutong and the others charging forward abruptly stopped.

Not only her, but all university leaders, education department staff, and military officers halted as well. Their expressions were grim; they had hoped to continue the rescue, but the situation no longer permitted it.

Now that the passage was formed, the spatial anomalies had diminished, revealing the overall picture.

“Retreat! Prepare to form a defensive array and eliminate the demon beasts. Notify the Wind King to mobilize the army…”

Nan Yutong made a decisive call. To advance now, even with their strength, was certain death. The abnormal state of the demon beasts was the critical concern.

Fortunately, this area was desolate enough to buy time. After all, the spiritual revival had lasted a century, with decades of battles against land and sea demon beasts; relics had caused trouble before.

They were not fearful—solutions could always be found. What truly worried them were the top prodigies like Lin Qingyun and Nangong Lingyue. Nangong Lingyue was less concerning; Nan Yutong believed that as the daughter of Desert Wind King Nangong Aoshi, she would have survival measures in her home turf.

But Lin Qingyun’s parents had vanished suddenly. Though his previous performance had exceeded expectations, faced with a life-and-death crisis…

Yet, given the circumstances, they could not rush forward. All they could do was silently hope Lin Qingyun would hide and save himself.

“Principal Nan, I think others might be in trouble, but as for Lin Qingyun—so long as anyone survives, he won’t die easily…”

As they retreated, someone noticed Nan Yutong’s worry and offered this heartfelt observation—not as comfort, but as genuine belief.

Nan Yutong’s mood was heavy with anxiety. The trial had encountered too many mishaps, and now this catastrophe would claim many lives. And the most outstanding few were possibly facing immortal peril. Yet, hearing this, she found it reasonable.

Lin Qingyun’s way of doing things was far from ordinary; the more unusual the person, the greater their luck.

“Rumble…”

Just as she agreed, after retreating several miles, a mountain peak suddenly flew out from the relic—a hundred meters high, crashing down and crushing countless demon beasts.

Even those equal to Cloud Ascension level were obliterated upon impact.

“Something major happened inside the relic. This isn’t a normal opening—everyone, be cautious, report immediately, and prepare for battle.” Nan Yutong regained her composure, remembering that Feng Shouyi had put her in charge of the universities’ affairs. Whatever happened, she had to think of the bigger picture, especially now, when the chaos was unprecedented.

Fear and screams echoed; they realized the demon beasts and monsters rushing from the relic were fleeing in terror, not attacking.

The flying mountain proved this point further.

“Boom… Boom…”

Suddenly, a dozen more peaks, each tens of meters high, were hurled out. Among them emerged an earthen qilin, its body stretching dozens of meters like a moving hill. Its entire form was sheathed in thick, rough, earth-brown scales, each one like ancient rock, radiating a solemn and weighty aura.

Its head was broad and majestic, its huge eyes gleaming. Amid the bombardment, it manipulated the little mountains to shield itself from waves of attacks.

“Rumble…”

As it landed, it crushed a twelve-story building beneath its feet. Its limbs were thick and powerful, like four mighty stone columns anchoring it to the earth, drawing strength from the land itself.

“Hm?” The earth qilin looked around in surprise, realizing it had entered a new world, vastly different from the small world it had just left.

As the earth qilin’s attention wandered, a Zhu Yan with a white head, red tail, and outturned teeth, standing over ten meters tall, strode through the air. Though not a great demon, it was equal to a human at ninth level of Cloud Ascension, and it pursued the earth qilin, causing other beasts to flee in terror.

Seeing the Zhu Yan approach, the earth qilin let out an enraged roar, its murderous intent so powerful that weaker demon beasts nearby lost their minds in fright.

The roar alone caused those within a hundred meters who were weaker than high-level Heartstring realm to explode.

“Whoosh, whoosh…”

The floating mountains beside the earth qilin accelerated, smashing toward the Zhu Yan.

“Boom…”

The Zhu Yan was fierce; it didn’t dodge but smashed the incoming mountains to pieces. Its physical strength far surpassed typical human Sunlight realm experts.

This reckless, head-on approach brought it quickly to the earth qilin, but the qilin instantly vanished into the earth.

“Rumble…”

Jets of compressed earth burst forth underground, but Zhu Yan’s claws, as powerful as a top-grade spiritual artifact, shredded the earth spikes instantly.

Zhu Yan didn’t land, knowing the earth qilin was more dangerous on the ground. Suddenly, its chest collapsed as it opened its maw and roared at the earth below.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Within a hundred meters, the force churned and shattered the earth dozens of meters deep, blasting the earth qilin out into the open.