Fire!

Ou Yangming suddenly sensed a fire in his sea of consciousness.

It was not his Military Fire, but an invisible power that seemed to have the same origin as it.

The instant the fire appeared, Ou Yangming was deeply in shock. Before this, he had only experienced the feeling once, which was the first time he saw the appearance of the dragon and the phoenix in Lil' Red's spiritual world.

Whether it was the winding giant dragon or the star-like phoenix, they gave him irresistible pressures.

When the intense fire appeared in his sea of consciousness at this moment, he experienced a similar feeling.

Ou Yangming did not know to cry or to laugh, but he immediately made the most intense decision.

Deep inside his sea of consciousness, there was a connection, which allowed him to directly reach a certain spot in the world through the contract power of the world's origin.

Far away, the Wutong Tree in the secret realm swayed all of a sudden.

It was the soul of the entire secret realm, as well as the foundation that made the realm's existence possible. Therefore, the realm vibrated when it began to shake.

Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard were dumbfounded as they looked at the Wutong Tree. They did not know why the old fellow, which had lived for several 10,000 years, went mad and became so anxious and violent. They looked at each other and ran into the distance as they did not want to get involved.

This was because they knew how potent the Wutong Tree was. It only needed a few rattans to deal with spirit beasts like them, by which it could easily end their lives.

As such, the fat antelope and the spirit leopard dared not think that they could persuade the Wutong Tree.

Fortunately, the Wutong Tree did not go crazy for a long time. After just a few breaths, the enormous and seemingly boundless tree wall finally stopped shaking. A person's face appeared on the wall, and it looked into the distance with a complicated expression as though it was feeling conflicted.

At last, the face sighed regretfully.

Nevertheless, it also meant that it made its final decision.

With that, the secret realm's entrance began to collapse and turned into nothing as it completely disappeared from the world.

Once the Wutong Tree made the decision, its connection with the spiritual realm was temporarily cut off. Unless it activated the passage again, nobody would be able to pry its existence.

After some time, when Fat Antelope sensed that the Wutong Tree had slowly calmed down, it mustered its courage and asked, "Senior, why were you so agitated just now? Did something happen?"

The Wutong Tree swayed its large branches and answered, "It's nothing. Don't worry and just wait here."

Fat Antelope tilted its head and raised another question, "Is it related to Master Ou?"

The Wutong Tree responded after a moment of silence, "It's related to him indeed. Heh…"

It could not help but recall what Ou Yangming asked it in the past.

"Don't regret this."

'Regret?' The face on the tree wall had a strange look on its face.

'Did you know that a Phoenix powerhouse will come into this world? But since I chose you, and you accepted me, this is our fate, so why would I regret this?

'Ah, you're being too petty for asking me to shut this secret realm.

'That said… I approve of this, and I quite like it.

'Now, I'll be waiting for your call here so that I can activate the secret realm again. I hope that it won't take too long. Mm, I suppose you'll call me within 1,000 years…'

From the Wutong Tree's perspective of time, 1,000 years would not be too long.

Nonetheless, it never thought that the period was torturous for a human.

※※※※

"Brother Ou, Brother Ou…"

A hurried voice pulled Ou Yangming's mental conception out of his sea of consciousness and back to his senses.

The young fellow's connection with the Wutong Tree was the deepest in his consciousness. In particular, when he ordered that the secret realm be sealed, it involved the secret of his soul. This was the reason he was so engrossed in the process that he did not have free time to pay attention to anything else.

Only when he sensed that the Wutong Tree sealed the secret realm without leaving a trace, he finally relaxed.

By the time Ou Yangming looked up at the sky, another Venerable One appeared in the sky.

The old macaque had unknowingly soared into the sky and was standing with its hands behind its back behind Yuqi the Venerable One.

There were only 2 of them, which made them only half of the total number of insect Venerable Ones. Even so, when the 2 Venerable Ones stood together and released their auras to confront the 4 insect Venerable Ones, they were not in a disadvantageous spot.

Ou Yangming turned to look at Mao Jianbi and asked, "What is it?"

Mao Jianbi was slightly stunned, He suddenly sensed an old and ancient feeling from Ou Yangming for a second just now, and he also felt something that was far more majestic than Yuqi the Venerable One.

While he was dazed for an instant, he could not help but doubt if he had met a fake Ou Yangming.

In actuality, when Ou Yangming's conception came out, he accidentally brought out a hint of the Wutong Tree's mightiness. It was only a hint of it, which quickly dispersed, but it was not something that could be withstood by ordinary people.

Mao Jianbi could take it because he was a top-grade Spiritualist and was only a step away from becoming a Venerable One.

One with a slightly inferior cultivation base would have embarrassed oneself on the spot.

The great elder shook his head to cast aside the unbelievable feeling, then he uttered softly, "Quickly leave!"

"What?" Ou Yangming was bewildered. He turned to look at the others and realized that the formidable top-grade Spiritualists including Immortal Fox looked grim and helpless.

Mao Jianbi sighed and explained, "The 4 insect Venerable Ones somehow destroyed the big formation and specifically asked for you and the spirit. Sir Venerable One is holding them back, but he sent me a secret message and asked me to bring you away as soon as possible."

He reached out and tugged at Ou Yangming's arm as he said, "Go!"

Who knew, Ou Yangming questioned in a deep voice, "Great Elder, if I leave, will they vent their anger on the Beast King Sect?"

Mao Jianbi's face twitched, but he responded without any hesitation, "That has nothing to do with you; you only need to protect yourself."

Ou Yangming looked deeply at him. He did not know if he was touched or agitated, but he experienced an upsurge of uncontrollable emotions.

Immortal Fox and the other foreign top-grade Spiritualists looked at Yuqi the Venerable One and the old macaque in the sky, as well as Mao Jianbi, who acted right after he received his order. They were in admiration and envious, but a few of them scorned and felt regretful.

The wills of Yuqi the Venerable One and the old macaque were the Beast King Sect's decision. They were mighty for withstanding the 4 insect Venerable Ones' pressures and risking the sect being destroyed just to send Ou Yangming away.

Despite that, their decision would also bring doom upon the Beast King Sect.

Some of the top-grade Spiritualists could not understand why the 2 supreme powerhouses would be so irrational at this moment.

Having said that, why did their hearts pound?

They knew Yuqi the Venerable One was making the wrong choice, but they somehow applauded it.

Immortal Fox raised its eyebrows and expressed, "Yes, Master Ou, go ahead and leave. I'm not a Venerable One but since I've come here, I'm a part of the Beast King Sect before the war ends. Heh, if they'd like to destroy the sect, I might just go all-out and fight this life-or-death battle."

Everyone else was surprised. They looked at the spirit fox in shock as they could not understand why it would make such a decision.

It was worth noting that Immortal Fox had incredible backstage support. Even if the 4 insect Venerable Ones appeared in front of it at the same time, they might not be willing to harm it.

In fact, as long as Immortal Fox showed up and expressed that it would not take sides, the Insects would not harass it.

However, if the spirit fox insisted on fighting for the Beast King Sect, it could be killed. After all, the Insects had 4 Venerable Ones. Even if it was for the sake of their ego, they could only bite the bullet to do what they ought to do.

Thus, the others looked at Immortal Fox oddly as they could not make sense of its decision.

Immortal Fox glanced at the others and said, "I suppose you haven't forgotten our final goal." It sneered and continued, "I only know that if I flinch today, everything that happened today will be a nightmare for me in the future… I don't want to stay where I am forever!" Its body slowly released a peculiar aura, which made it look unusually dangerous.

Ou Yangming tensed up. He finally understood why the powerhouses including Mao Jianbi and Bear Li were fearful of the small fox.

The fellow's momentum was so strong that it was definitely the only one that it had seen in its life.

Perhaps Six-armed Giant Beast, which killed Ghost Mo, was the only one that could contend with it.

The other top-grade Spiritualists looked at each other for a brief moment. Other than 3 to 4 of them, who shook their heads and retreated, the rest looked grave and serious.

Nobody summoned them, and none of them said a word, but the powerhouses gave off queer energies.

'Yes, since Immortal Fox isn't flinching, how can I turn away?

'If I turn away today, it might be the beginning of me shying away countless times in the future until I can no longer back away. In the end, I'll no longer be noticed because I would've become incapable.'

Seeing as the eyes of the powerhouses slowly lit up, Mao Jianbi stomped his foot hard. He could not wait to be a part of them, but he had something more important to attend to at this time.

"Master Ou, let's go!"

Just as he wanted to force Ou Yangming to leave, the young fellow noted, "That's not necessary anymore—it's over."

"What?"

"Look…" Ou Yangming looked into the distance and mumbled, "It's here."

Far away, where one's eyes could still reach, a massive red light flickered and surged over in an overwhelming momentum.