The city lurched into the sky, lightning tearing at its walls. Those who had heeded Su Yan's warning scrambled out and watched in horror as the stone fortress vanished into darkness.
Inside, chaos reigned. The killing intent infected everyone. Cultivators struck at friends and strangers alike, nuo arts and flying swords tearing through the streets.
Su Yan's Grand Unity Daoyin Art kept his mind clear, protected by the Heart-Setting Seals Pei Du had taught him. Yuan Qi, within his aura, remained unaffected.
Xue Ying'an's Octa-Faced Sword divided into countless points of light, filling Su Yan's vision. This was true swordsmanship—far more refined than Su Yan's self-taught Boundary-Breaking Sword Qi.
Su Yan retreated into a stone tower, its spiral staircases climbing the walls. Xue Ying'an pursued, sword qi rising like a pillar, grinding everything to dust.
Su Yan slipped through a window, scaled the roof, and watched the sword light pour from every opening.
"Your sword forms a momentum that forces me back," Su Yan thought. "Impressive."
He flicked a pebble at Xue Ying'an's forehead.
Xue Ying'an looked up, startled. Then he saw what lay beyond the city.
A gas giant planet filled the sky, its surface swirling with yellow, red, and white clouds. From those clouds, leviathans ten thousand li long swam through wind and thunder, chasing the city.
The dragon-headed god dragged the city faster, pulling away from the planet toward a vast vortex of lightning in the starry void.
* * *
Xue Ying'an's protective bell chimed. A palm of crushing force pressed against it, driving the light-wall to the breaking point.
Su Yan had struck.
Xue Ying'an tumbled from the tower, crashing through six floors to embed himself in the ground below.
"A-Yan, you're merciful," Yuan Qi said.
"Now he won't be so naive as to look when told."
Xue Ying'an rose, furious. Su Yan pressed down with another palm—this one carried the weight of heavenly tribulation itself. Xue Ying'an's bell rang madly, barely surviving.
"I'm finished!" he despaired. "My first opponent is a monster!"
But Su Yan did not press the attack. Xue Ying'an climbed out, bewildered.
The ghostly soldiers had stopped fighting. They stood in solemn ranks, gazing upward.
In the brief chaos, most cultivators inside the city had died. Only thirty-odd survivors remained.
The city plunged into the lightning vortex. Time distorted. They aged to white-haired elders, shrank to infants, transformed into beasts and insects, their powers frozen.
When the distortion ended, they crashed onto an ancient desert continent. The city skidded across sand, stopping before a mountain-sized stele.
Su Yan read the blood-red inscription: "Taiyi Minor Xuantian Peril."
Below it, smaller text: "First gate of the Heavenly Road. Ten thousand worlds' soldiers suppressed a demon here, using six Heavenly Dao Artifacts. Sixteen hundred fell. Tian Qingzi kept vigil at their graves."
Su Yan's heart surged. "A hero who guarded the dead and watched the demon."
The old immortal in the broken prison cart cackled. "Good disciple, this is the first stop of the Ancient Battlefield! Carry me! We must find immortal plants before the city returns, or great terror awaits!"
Zhu Zhongquan knelt. The old immortal climbed onto his back, whipping him with chains like a horse, and galloped into the desert.
The remaining Zhu cultivators followed.
Other houses followed suit. Guo Xiaodie left a nuo master to signal their position every quarter-hour.
Li Yingzhu eyed Su Yan. "If the Demon King married into the family, we wouldn't have to share."
Guo Xiaodie sighed. "He wouldn't agree."
"Use force! Knock him out, strip him, take him! I'll hold his arms!"
Guo Yue said nothing.
Xue Ying'an looked at Su Yan, then flew off on his sword. Yuan Qi watched him go.
"A-Yan, he's flying into danger, isn't he?"
Xue Ying'an slammed into an invisible barrier—a fragment of an ancient artifact. Hundreds of lightning bolts cooked him. He fell, charred but alive, and began walking instead.
Soon a sandstorm swallowed him.
"He might not survive the day," Yuan Qi observed.
Su Yan walked into the desert.