SSS-Rank 10x Reward System: Accepting Disciples to Live Forever-Chapter 228: Investigation

Somewhere on the Soaring Dragon Continent, within the Seven Cloud Convergence World, the land had already been ruined beyond recognition.

A cold wind swept across the wasteland in shrill, broken cries, sounding like a banshee mourning the dead. In the distance, lightning flickered again and again behind thick masses of unstable clouds, each flash briefly illuminating the devastation below before darkness swallowed it once more. Thunder rolled across the heavens in slow, violent waves, while the surrounding energy churned in complete disorder. One moment the air felt heavy with the promise of rain, thick and damp against the skin. The next, a wave of dry heat would rush over the land as if the entire continent were about to ignite.

Nothing here was stable.

Nothing here felt natural.

If someone were to look down at this region from an unimaginable height, they would see the true horror of it. Stretching across the earth was a massive crater, thousands of kilometers long, cut into the surface of the continent like a grotesque, bloody scar. It did not look like something formed by nature. It looked wounded. As if the land itself had been split open and left there to bleed.

Worse still, the scar was not still.

It was slowly expanding.

The broken edges of the crater continued to creep outward, devouring mountains, plains, rivers, and everything in between. At this rate, if nothing stopped it, one day the entire Soaring Dragon Continent would be swallowed whole by that raging wound.

And the more closely one examined it, the more terrifying the truth became.

This was no ordinary crater.

Its shape was too clean.

Too deliberate.

It resembled the mark left behind by a sword.

A single slash.

A slash so monstrous that it had carved apart a continent.

Just then, the space above the ruined land tore open like a curtain of disturbed water.

Ripples spread through the air, distorting the chaotic world beneath, and from within that fracture Wang Chen stepped out.

The moment his eyes fell upon the scene below, the cold indifference on his face cracked.

His brows drew together.

His pupils narrowed.

For a brief instant, even he looked stunned.

"What the hell happened here...?"

The words left his mouth almost involuntarily.

The Yun family city was gone.

Completely gone.

That city, for which the Yun family had fought for generations, expanding its territory thousand by thousand, paying for every gain with blood, lives, and endless struggle...

Had vanished.

Not ruined.

Not reduced to ruins.

Vanished.

As if it had been erased from the surface of the world.

Wang Chen stood in midair, his divine sense sweeping outward in vast, invisible waves.

Again.

And again.

And again.

His expression grew darker each time.

There was nothing.

Not a trace of life for tens of thousands of li.

No human aura.

No beast.

No scattered remnant spirit.

Nothing.

The silence of the place was more unsettling than any scream could have been.

It was too complete.

Too empty.

And yet, despite the grim stillness around him, Wang Chen remained in control.

Barely.

Because one thing kept him from completely losing composure.

Lin Huang was still alive.

He knew that much with certainty.

If Lin Huang had died, the soul connection between master and disciple would have warned him immediately. That link had not broken.

Which meant this destruction, however terrible, had not ended with Lin Huang’s death.

Holding on to that fact, Wang Chen forced himself to calm down and began examining the battlefield more carefully.

The longer he looked, the grimmer his expression became.

Even now, after so much time had passed, the air still carried lingering traces of sword intent.

Standing there, Wang Chen could feel those remnants brushing against his skin like invisible needles. Sharp. Cold. Merciless. They were only aftershocks, the fading remains of a strike already spent, yet even that was enough to make his flesh prickle.

His eyes sharpened.

This level of sword attainment...

He didn’t need long to understand one thing.

Whoever had made that slash was far above him in the sword.

The difference was obvious the moment he perceived it. His own comprehension of the sword, while powerful by ordinary standards, felt shallow before the trace left behind here.

Wang Chen’s expression turned fully serious.

He no longer wasted time on shock.

He searched.

Carefully.

Methodically.

For an entire day, he moved through the scarred land, examining the ruined terrain, the remaining fluctuations, the shattered laws still lingering in the air. His divine sense combed over every broken inch of the battlefield while his mind pieced together fragments of what might have happened.

By the end of that investigation, he had formed a rough conclusion.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"A Domain Sovereign..."

The words were low, but heavy.

Only a being at that level could have caused destruction like this.

Only someone standing above ordinary immortals, someone capable of bending reality within their domain, could leave behind a wound of this scale.

Wang Chen stood in silence for a moment, the cold wind pulling at his robes.

Because of the news surrounding the Dragon Race inheritance ground, powerful figures from the Upper Realm had already begun descending into this world. He already knew that much.

Which meant the appearance of a Domain Sovereign here...

Was not impossible.

His mind moved quickly.

Then one possibility surfaced.

Could it be...

That Lin Huang had somehow offended that mysterious Domain Sovereign?

The moment the thought appeared, Wang Chen’s eyes darkened slightly.

It sounded outrageous.

But the more he considered it, the more plausible it became.

After all, Lin Huang was not an ordinary disciple.

He carried great Dao destiny.

A person like that was naturally destined to encounter bizarre opportunities, terrifying enemies, and absurd disasters. Compared to the sort of fate that followed Lin Huang around, this kind of situation was almost... expected.

In fact, the surprising part was that something like this had not happened sooner.

Understanding the situation did not bring Wang Chen any closer to Lin Huang.

If anything—

It made everything worse.

More variables.

More unknowns.

More things that could go wrong.

His gaze lingered on the endless scar carved across the continent, his mind moving rapidly, trying to piece together the identity of the one responsible.

Sword.

The answer was obvious.

Every trace left behind here pointed toward it.

The entire destruction—

That single, absolute cut—

Could only belong to a sword cultivator.

Wang Chen’s brows lifted slightly as a thought formed.

"Hmm... so whoever took Lin Huang away is a sword cultivator."

His eyes narrowed faintly.

"Someone from Sword Saint Heaven?"

For a brief moment, the possibility seemed reasonable.

But just as quickly—

He dismissed it.

His head shook slightly.

After spending time with Murong Shenchen, Wang Chen had developed a certain familiarity with the techniques of Sword Saint Heaven.

Their sword was direct.

Dominating.

Violent.

Every strike carried overwhelming force, like a tyrant crushing everything in its path.

But this—

This was different.

The sword intent lingering in the air here was...

Cold and detached.

Leaving behind nothing but absence.

This was not the sword of Sword Saint Heaven.

Wang Chen’s expression turned heavier as he came to that conclusion.

Whoever this was—

They were something else entirely.

He didn’t leave.

Not yet.

Instead, he continued investigating, moving slowly through the devastated land, his divine sense probing deeper, searching for even the smallest irregularity.

Time passed.

An hour slipped by in silence.

And in the end—

He found nothing.

No trail.

No lingering aura strong enough to follow.

No clue that could point him toward Lin Huang’s location.

Only emptiness.

Wang Chen exhaled slowly, a faint sigh escaping his lips.

Could it be...

Even Eternal Dream and Mo Huyan don’t know anything about this...?

The thought lingered.

Because even now—

Neither of them had spoken.

Not a single word.

No correction.

No confirmation.

Just silence.

And that silence was heavier than any answer.

Wang Chen let out another breath, slower this time.

Then he raised his head and looked across the broken world one last time.

For a brief moment—

Something strange brushed against his perception.

Faint.

Indistinct.

Like whispers carried on a dying wind.

It wasn’t sound.

Not truly.

And yet—

It felt like crying.

A low, endless lament echoing through the fabric of the world itself.

Wang Chen’s eyes darkened slightly.

This...

Was the world crying.

Crying for help.

His gaze swept across the endless scar once more, deeper this time. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

More contemplative.

He could already see it.

The future.

The slow, inevitable collapse.

The Soaring Dragon Continent being swallowed piece by piece.

Then—

Beyond that—

The entire Seven Cloud Convergence World following the same fate.

This wasn’t immediate destruction.

It wouldn’t happen tomorrow.

Or next year.

It would take thousands of years.

A long time for someone like Wang Chen.

But for a world...

For something that had existed since the beginning—

That span of time was nothing more than a fleeting moment.

A blink.

The cries grew clearer.

More desperate.

A silent plea reverberating through existence itself.

Wang Chen stood there, unmoving.

Then he slowly shook his head.

Helpless.

Not because he lacked strength.

But because this problem—

Was beyond his current reach.

Only someone above the Domain Sovereign Realm could intervene in something like this.

Even if he had the means to kill one...

That was not the same as saving a collapsing world.

Those were two entirely different levels of power.

The next moment—

The space around his body rippled.

Without hesitation.

Without looking back again—

Wang Chen disappeared.

Now that he knew Lin Huang had likely been taken beyond this world...

The urgency in his heart surged.

There was no more time to waste.

He needed to upgrade the Realm Gate.

He needed to ascend.

Fast.