Li Tianyi reached out his hand, intending to take his sister home.
Tianyue was still clutching her swords, gazing westward—the direction of the Wu Tribe.
Years ago, this younger sister of his had stood guard over the Azure Cloud Region, and later went to the Eastern Border to defend against the Great Army of the Fourth Prince.
Yet this time, she had left her life behind on the battlefield guarding the Western Border.
But when Li Tianyi attempted to remove Li Tianyue's dual swords, he stood frozen in place.
Although Li Tianyue was already devoid of life, a surge of Spiritual power knocked his hand aside.
It was the Sword Spirits of the dual blades. Unyielding and unwilling to give in, the spirits continued to gaze westward, just like their master.
The dual swords were one red and one silver.
One was the Blood-Drinking Sword gifted by Li Yaozu, and the other was the Spirit-Devouring Sword.
One severed the flesh, the other severed the soul; they had accompanied Li Tianyue for hundreds of years.
"Tianyue."
Li Tianyi stood bewildered and at a loss.
The Sword Spirits were executing Li Tianyue's final command.
Together with the lingering will of the thousand Immortal Soldiers kneeling in a circle on the ground, they stubbornly guarded the last sliver of territory in the Western Border.
They were unwilling to return home; even in death, they sought to preserve this final patch of pure land in the West.
The Spiritual power of Heaven and Earth was drawn to them, transforming them into stone statues.
...
In the distance.
Sage Elder Nirvana was collecting the corpse of the massive ancient tree.
This was the Ancient Tree of their Divine Bird Tribe, yet it, too, would remain forever in the Western Border.
As he collected the remains, Sage Elder Nirvana let out a long sigh.
"An old tree that lived for over a hundred thousand years... ultimately, it met its end here in the Shadowfell Prefecture.
From this point on, it shall scatter back into the world, returning to Heaven and Earth."
He simply placed his hand upon the ancient tree, and it dissolved into motes of light, scattering back into the heavens and earth.
Every member of the Wu Tribe wore a look of grief.
The Ancient Tree had guarded their tribe for over a hundred thousand years, yet in this single battle, it had lost its life at the hands of the Li Clan's Old Ancestor.
That Old Ancestor of the Li Clan, clad in the Bright Moon Divine Set, was proficient in the laws of Time and Space.
He roamed through the Void, and even though Sage Elder Nirvana possessed Spiritual power that rivaled the heavens, he ultimately failed to catch him.
What was most infuriating was that the Li Clan Old Ancestor was like a nagging fly.
To stall their advance, he attacked no one else; having realized the Old Tree's importance to their Divine Bird Totem, he focused solely on killing the Old Tree.
Looking back toward the clouds in the sky.
The Old Ancestor of the Li Clan remained concealed within the Void Dimension, standing guard over Li Tianyue.
"Sage Elder, there is something strange."
Huai Fan pointed toward Li Tianyue and the thousands of soldiers who were gradually turning into stone. His eyes held suspicion, but also fear.
The Sage Elder had said that without using his full strength, he likely could not capture the Li Clan Old Ancestor.
However, the Li Clan Old Ancestor's combat power had already reached the Peak of the Void Refining Realm; killing people like them (Huai Fan and the lower venerables) would require little effort on his part.
Throughout this battle, neither side had spoken a word, yet they maintained a tacit restraint with a mutual understanding.
Li Tianyue led her subordinates in a bitter struggle against the Wu Tribe army, while the Li Clan Old Ancestor faced them (the Wu leaders) alone.
Both sides maintained a boundary, refraining from overstepping.
Huai Fan had heard rumors about the people of the Li Clan, but today, he had truly witnessed their madness.
Even now, with Li Tianyue's corpse floating in the clouds and Li Tianyi having arrived, they were unwilling to provoke the Old Ancestor of the Li Clan—especially in a situation where the Li Clan no longer had any scruples holding them back.
However, the fact that Li Tianyue and the thousand soldiers had turned into stone statues filled Huai Fan with suspicion.
They... seemed to be guarding something.
"What is so strange? If the thing we are searching for was truly being guarded by Li Tianyue, she would have long since handed it over to the Old Ancestor.
If the Old Ancestor wanted to flee, none of us could stop him. Besides, that 'thing' is not a physical object."
Sage Elder Nirvana raised his head, watching the Old Tree's Spiritual power return to the heavens and earth, yet he did not spare a glance for Li Tianyue.
"That General's lingering will refuses to dissipate. For someone with such natural talent to perish alongside those 320,000 Soldiers... it is truly a pity."
Was it a pity?
Sage Elder Nirvana remained expressionless, yet in truth, he did find it a pity.
He had witnessed Li Tianyue's Spiritual power. With those dual swords in hand and her cultivation at the Divinity Transformation Realm, a general who had spent years fighting on the battlefield had likely already gained insight into the Dao of Slaughter.
She was revered by a million Immortal Soldiers—such reverence was equivalent to "Faith."
Coupled with the resources and grooming from the Imperial Dynasty and the Li Clan, she likely would have broken through to the Void Refining Realm within another two or three hundred years.
In this Great Era, had she lived, it would not have been impossible for her to become a Body Integration cultivator, or even a Mahayana cultivator, granting her the opportunity to vie for one of the Twenty-Four Imperial Thrones.
Huai Fan thought for a moment, then gave a bitter smile.
"What the Sage Elder says is true. If the item we are searching for was truly in Li Tianyue's possession, the Li Clan would likely have already taken it away."
As they spoke, Huai Fan hesitated for a moment before asking,
"Sage Elder, we have invaded the Human Race this time, yet you do not engage in battle with them. What exactly are you looking for?"
But Sage Elder Nirvana remained silent.
Huai Fan clearly sensed a surge of killing intent around him.
The Sage Elder was angered; he had been asked about something that could not be spoken of to others.
He hurriedly said, "This lowly one spoke out of turn; I beg the Sage Elder's forgiveness. I will go keep an eye on Li Tianyi to ensure that he does not take anything away."