Chapter 276 The Truth Behind "Ancient Annihilation"

The projection of the starry sky hanging in front of him immediately rippled with a very faint ripple.

next moment.

Mount Tai, Jade Emperor Peak.

The once lifeless ruins of the South Heavenly Gate suddenly lit up without warning.

It wasn't the faint, pervasive pressure from before; rather, it was as if something deep within this ruined gate had been suddenly awakened. The broken pillars, the tattered plaque, and the charred rock beneath the threshold all simultaneously shimmered with a deep, dark gold.

Everyone guarding the perimeter looked up in unison.

"Retreat!"

The military commander shouted it out immediately.

The warships, shuttles, and cultivators in mid-air immediately rose higher, while the hunters and demons on the ground instinctively retreated. But this time, the Southern Heavenly Gate did not press down directly as before, nor did it release the repulsive force capable of crushing even Golden Core cultivators into bloody pulp.

The dark golden light shot into the sky, tore through the clouds, and spread out rapidly.

Like a giant curtain of light stretching across the night sky.

Everyone froze in place.

Because that was not a vision.

It's not a mural either.

It is actually an ancient photograph that was forcibly preserved by the main body of Nantianmen.

The moment the light screen appeared, the entire area surrounding Jade Emperor Peak fell into a deathly silence.

In the picture, Nantianmen was not in its current dilapidated state.

It was a complete Heavenly Gate.

The gateposts soared into the sky, the plaque hung high, and behind them, celestial tiers extended, with celestial palaces stretching as far as the eye could see. Standing before the gate were countless golden-armored celestial generals, their armor gleaming with divine light. Just a glance from afar was enough to make many Golden Core cultivators present feel a chill run down their spines.

Outside the South Heavenly Gate, countless figures filled the sky.

There were human sword cultivators whose flying swords were like a tide.

There is an ancient body cultivator whose blood and energy soar to the heavens.

There were real dragons and great demons, churning and swirling in the depths of the sea of ​​clouds.

Heaven, earth, humans, and demons—at this moment, they found themselves standing on the same battlefield.

It's not about fighting each other.

Instead, we should unite to fight the enemy.

Everyone unconsciously slowed their breathing.

Because everyone understands what this scene means.

In that ancient battle, no single family was going to their death alone.

Rather, it was an entire era that was forced onto the same path.

Then, the sky split open.

It's not a fine line.

Instead, the entire sky, high above, was slowly torn open by some force, creating a massive gash. Deep within the crack, there was no starlight, no flames, only surging darkness. That darkness, like a tide, like a shadow, slowly crept across the horizon.

Then, one after another, distorted void creatures burst out from the rift.

They are neither divine nor solemn.

They looked more like a group of predators drawn by the smell of blood.

The great battle broke out in an instant.

At the forefront, the golden-armored celestial generals formed an array, their divine light crisscrossing, forcefully blocking the first wave of void creatures that rushed down. Human sword cultivators followed closely behind, their sword light forming a river that swept across the heavenly gate, instantly shredding large swathes of black shadows. Further away, true dragons breathed flames, and body cultivators strode through the air, pressing forward relentlessly despite the black torrents pouring down from the rifts.

That was not a one-sided massacre.

It was a true bloodbath.

The void creatures are dying.

The heavens are about to die.

Sword cultivators, dragons, and body cultivators are all dying.

Even so, the defensive line in front of Nantianmen was still held firm.

For a fleeting moment, the battle line was pushed back forward.

A colossal void creature, its body as large as a mountain, had barely peeked out from the edge of the rift when it was pinned to the ground in mid-air by the combined efforts of dozens of celestial generals. The next second, thousands upon thousands of flying swords swept past, instantly shredding its body into a rain of black smoke.

Higher up, a blood-soaked dragon roared and crashed into the edge of the rift, tearing a gap in its flesh. Below, several body cultivators used this opening to shatter the sea of ​​clouds and surge upwards, their fist imprints as solid as mountains, smashing several void monsters that pounced down upon them.

Everyone who witnessed this scene took a few breaths.

Because it wasn't a hopeless struggle.

That's clearly a fighting ability.

It can kill.

We can take this wave of things back hard.

Even the cultivators and hunters on the outskirts of Jade Emperor Peak, whose faces had turned pale from the oppressive power of the Southern Heavenly Gate, couldn't help but brighten their eyes at this moment.

They really did block it.

But right there in that rift torn open by the combined efforts of the true dragon and the body cultivator—

The darkness paused for a moment.

Followed by.

A hand slowly emerged from the deepest part of the crevice.

That hand is too big.

So large that the outline of just five fingers already obscured half the sky. It was neither flesh nor metal, nor any limb that any living being in this world should have. The entire hand was a deep, dark color, with blurred edges, as if it did not fully exist in this world, yet it was so real that it made one's scalp tingle.

The moment it appeared, the entire battlefield seemed to be held down.

The surging sea of ​​clouds came to a standstill.

Even the void creatures that were still charging into battle fell into an eerie silence.

At the South Heavenly Gate, the expressions of the heavenly generals, sword cultivators, true dragons, and body cultivators who had been desperately pushing back the battle line changed for the first time.

That's the kind of expression that only appears when you truly see a desperate situation.

Outside the light screen, the area around Jade Emperor Peak fell silent.

No one knows what that hand belongs to.

But in that instant, everyone instinctively felt a chill rising from the deepest part of their soul.

It was as if those void creatures that could be killed, surrounded, and fought off before were just some insignificant vanguard.

The owner of this hand is the one who will ultimately suffer the consequences.

The battlefield in the photograph suddenly and violently distorted at this moment.

Even the South Heavenly Gate itself could not withstand what was about to happen.

The light screen flickered wildly.

The large hand only had time to press forward another half an inch—

The entire photo was shattered with a deafening crash.

The night sky darkened again.

The South Heavenly Gate remains the same South Heavenly Gate, dilapidated and silent, as if nothing had ever happened.

But the people outside the Jade Emperor Peak were completely frozen in place.

No one speaks.

Because everyone understands that what truly made that ancient generation show despair was not the endless Void creatures they had previously killed.

But finally, it was the hand that reached out from the depths of the crevice.

That's what truly pushed the entire battle from fierce fighting into a desperate situation.

After a long while, someone swallowed hard.

"What...is that?"

No one can answer that.

In the underground intelligence room in Kyoto, Wang Mingyuan finally managed to sit back down in his chair, his eyes bloodshot.

"They can block what's in front of them."

His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding.

"The heavenly generals can form formations, the sword cultivators can advance, and the dragons and body cultivators even pushed the battle lines back forward at one point."

"What truly caused the entire defensive line to collapse was not those initial void creatures."

"But rather, it's the last to intervene... a higher-level force."

The moment those words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent.

A military commander stared at the frozen image on the screen, his face ashen.

"In other words, the ancient ancestors were not facing a single enemy, but a continuous invasion with layers, a vanguard, and a higher-level entity in command."

"Those in front can kill, can block, and can fight."

"The one that finally falls is the one that truly crushes the Heavenly Court, the Dragon Palace, and Mount Shu together."

Wang Mingyuan nodded slowly.

"So they didn't lose from the start."

"They fought to the very end, and when they could no longer withstand the intervention of higher levels, they chose to sever the spiritual energy, bury the ley lines, and actively drag this planet into the end times."

"They sacrificed the extinguishing of an entire era to give us, their descendants, a moment to catch our breath."

Yellow District, Bloodstone Town Black Market.

Several veteran hunters sat slumped in front of the holographic screen, motionless for a long time. They had been arguing about the value of that dark gold tile and guessing what kind of celestial artifact was hidden behind the South Heavenly Gate.

But now, nobody wants to talk about those things anymore.

An old hunter with a face full of scars gave a dry laugh, a laugh that sounded worse than crying.

"So those ancestors did manage to hold on after all."

"It was only when we held out until the very end that we discovered there was an even bigger one standing behind us."

......

The heads of powerful families, who had been arguing heatedly, were now silent.

Because taking photos has already revealed the most crucial layer.

The ancient era was not without resistance.

They weren't completely without any chance of fighting back.

They even managed to hold them off for a time and fight their way back.

But in the end, everything changed when that giant hand appeared.

The military commander slowly stood up, veins bulging on his forehead.

"This suggests that those scattered signs of emptiness may not necessarily be the worst-case scenario."

"The worst is yet to come."

This statement is more chilling than any speculation.

Because it means that what the world is facing today may only be the edge of disaster, or even just its foreshadowing.

Where exactly is that thing that truly crushed the ancient era? How far away is it from Earth? And is it already watching this place?

no one knows.

In less than two hours, the full replay of the photo taken at Mount Tai spread throughout the world.

Everyone saw the hand.

They all understood just how terrifying that ancient catastrophe truly was.

The previous craze for heritage sites was indeed hot.

It's about grabbing, fighting, risking your life for a chance, and rising to the top in one step.

But now, beneath that fiery heat, something even colder has emerged.

That was fear.

It is no longer the instinctive fear of facing ancient oppressive forces.

Rather, it was the chill that seeped into one's bones after seeing the irrefutable evidence.

......