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When you’re caught red-handed doing something bad, especially by someone as high and mighty as the Sect Master, the consequences are unimaginable.

Qing Muling was filled with regret. This incident was far more severe than the last time when the Emperors jointly inspected his private collection. It was the kind of situation where exposure meant certain death, and no one could save him.

“Ha, is there any point in arguing?”

Mu Yinghua’s beautiful eyes spun as she glanced at the album. With her cultivation level, she instantly grasped the entire content of the book.

As expected, the Sect Master’s eyes twitched, and a murderous glint appeared in her bright eyes under her dark brows. The oppressive aura filled the room, making it hard to breathe.

Without a word, Qing Muling’s figure quietly faded from the spot, intending to use his innate divine ability to escape.

However, in just an instant, his nearly vanished figure reappeared. Knowing him inside out, Mu Yinghua wouldn’t give him a chance to flee. Besides, at such close range, even his divine abilities were useless.

“Master, spare me! I won’t dare do it again!”

Qing Muling immediately admitted defeat on the spot. After all, the other party was his master, and there was no shame in bowing his head and yielding.

“Hmph! It’s too late to beg for mercy now!”

Mu Yinghua sneered, raising her hand to bind Qing Muling’s hands and feet with a shimmering red silk, suspending him in mid-air.

“Crack!”

The crisp sound of a whip echoed in the study, and a cold whip appeared in her hand, creating dozens of whip shadows in the air.

“Seriously? She’s really going to hit me?!”

Qing Muling’s scalp tingled. This time, it was clear that his master was genuinely furious and had no intention of letting him off easily.

Just as a beating seemed inevitable, a graceful and voluptuous figure of Lolita Elder emerged in a glow, standing in front of Qing Muling.

“Elder Yu, save me!”

Qing Muling breathed a sigh of relief and quickly called out.

“Sect Master, what’s going on here?”

Yu Lingzhou, having seen the situation in the study, asked in surprise, “What did Muling do to deserve this?”

“What else? This brat is getting more and more outrageous!”

Mu Yinghua’s face flushed with anger as she threw the album to Yu Lingzhou.

The Lolita Elder flipped through it and then looked at Qing Muling with a half-smile, “So, you really did deserve it this time. Why did you have to provoke the Sect Master? Even I can’t plead for you!”

Qing Muling sighed, “Fine, I’ll accept the punishment.”

He realized that Yu Lingzhou was trying to use this opportunity to make demands on him. However, from Mu Yinghua’s standpoint, she wouldn’t let her plans succeed easily. Otherwise, if things got out of hand, it would be the Sect Master who suffered in the end.

“Hmph! Considering Elder Yu, I’ll let you off this time!”

Mu Yinghua said, waving her hand to release him, not giving Yu Lingzhou a chance to speak.

Yu Lingzhou gave Mu Yinghua a frustrated look. She should have known better than to come. It would have been interesting to see how things played out.

But even if she hadn’t come, the outcome wouldn’t have been much different. Unless Qing Muling committed an unforgivable mistake, he wouldn’t be punished severely.

“I’m going into closed-door cultivation with Muling. If Elder Yu has no other matters, we’ll discuss them after I come out.”

Mu Yinghua said. She was just a step away from the Great Golden Immortal realm, with all aspects of her cultivation nearing Great Perfection.

Of course, if she could open the Creation Heavenly Palace once more and absorb Qing Muling’s Dao Rhyme, she would have a better chance of achieving a flawless Daluo Dao Fruit during her tribulation crossing, laying a solid foundation for reaching the Quasi Holy Emperor Realm.

Once she became a Great Golden Immortal, no one in the sect would question her cultivation level anymore.

“Alright…”

Yu Lingzhou frowned at Qing Muling but didn’t stop them. Mu Yinghua’s cultivation progress was also important, and as an elder of the Fengge Emperor’s lineage, she had no reason to hold her back.

So, Mu Yinghua left with Qing Muling.

…

Deep in the Great Void, within a dark starfield.

This starfield had been a wasteland for countless millennia, with all floating lands and living beings within it completely annihilated during a great catastrophe, leaving no valuable resources behind.

Today, on a massive floating land within the starfield, a towering hexagonal pagoda, over ten thousand miles high and nearly a thousand miles in diameter at its base, hovered silently in the clouds.

The tower’s surface was rugged, resembling the bones of countless unknown giant beasts fused together. It was shrouded in dense, pure blood light, with countless twisted and ferocious shadows faintly visible.

And this time, there were not just one but hundreds of such pagodas, with new ones continually teleporting in.

These pagodas shared the same style but varied in size, the smallest being about a hundred miles high and the largest over ten thousand miles, reflecting the strength differences among the various Magic Clan tribes.

The internal space of these pagodas was usually hundreds of times larger than their physical size, filled with blood mist and demonic energy, making it a home for many powerful demons, though uninhabitable for ordinary cultivators.

The hierarchy within the Magic Clan was extremely strict. Those living on the lower levels of the towers were mostly servants and cannon fodder; higher up were regular soldiers; the middle levels housed officials, generals, and minor nobles; and the higher one went, the more important the individual’s status.

At the top of the tallest pagoda, there were grand palaces with a rich exotic style, every brick and tile, every plant and tree, exquisitely crafted. Only the leaders of powerful Magic Clan tribes were qualified to live here.

In the pavilions and corridors, beautiful maidservants in light veils moved back and forth, while guards in blood-red armor stood like spears on either side. Occasionally, a dignified noble would pass by, exuding an aura of authority.

Magic Clan progeny were actually a new species born from the union of extraterrestrial beings and humans. Originally, the two races couldn’t have offspring, but after long research and experimentation, the extraterrestrial high-ups had largely solved this problem.

Low-level Magic Clan progeny closely resembled their extraterrestrial ancestors, with weak strength, short lifespans, and difficult growth, filled with various defects, often serving as cannon fodder.

However, the higher the rank of the Magic Clan progeny, the more they resembled humans. Especially those with True Immortal level cultivation or higher, they were almost indistinguishable from human cultivators. Without special divine abilities or Postnatal Spirit Treasures, it was impossible to tell them apart.

In a blood-mist-filled, eerie hall deep within the palace, more than a dozen towering figures sat in a circle, their powerful divine senses communicating silently:

“After such long preparations, all tribes have gathered enough forces. It’s time to launch a new wave of attacks on the human cultivation world!”

“Indeed. The last attack was just a probe. Our true elite forces haven’t been deployed yet, but even so, it caused significant losses to the human cultivation world, showing their strength has seriously declined, becoming weaker with each generation!”

“That’s right. This is great news for our noble race! Once we crush all their Dao Lineages, sects, noble families, Immortal Dynasties, and Divine Dynasties, the countless mortals of the Great Void will become our blood food, at our disposal!”

“Our primary targets are those so-called Quasi Holy Emperors. Their power rivals our kings and must be eradicated completely!”

“Agreed. All participating troops will arrive at the designated starfield within a month. Then, we can launch a full-scale attack!”

“Excellent!”

…

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