Several days later.

Hovering above Purple Nan Island, a massive White Bone Palace floated high in the sky, radiating waves of grim, ash-white aura. Its walls and floors were all forged from stacked beast bones, and at the tips of each of the rooftop corners rested the skeletons of exotic beasts—resembling dragons, tigers, turtles, and birds. Inside their skulls flickered ghostly flames, suggesting that they were not mere inanimates.

Surrounding the palace, numerous Flying Boats with the Wu Yue Sect's banners stood guard vigilantly, and on the island below swarmed figures cloaked in black robes.

Purple Nan Island had evidently fallen.

However, inside the White Bone Palace, the faces of the Wu Yue Sect Nascent Soul cultivators weren't entirely filled with joy; many bore traces of doubt.

"Venerable One, I've led people to search the entire island. Just like with Yuzhu Three Islands, the East Sea Alliance left nothing behind," Li Wu strode in from outside the hall, cupped his hands and reported.

Seated upon the skeleton throne in the great hall, the figure of the White Bone Venerable was still shrouded in a black robe, and though his face was unclear, his voice carried a hint of sarcasm.

"Heh heh, the East Sea Alliance is just so-so. As soon as they heard that our sect's armies were mobilized, they abandoned their lairs," he said with a wave of his hand and a laugh.

At these words, a stir went through the Nascent Soul cultivators, followed by the suppression of their doubts as they echoed the sentiment.

"I reckon the folks from the East Sea Alliance never intended to fight us head-on; they just wanted to quickly take away all the resources from the Yuzhu Three Islands. Otherwise, how could they have moved their goods so swiftly?" Qing Ya speculated.

"They must have paid a hefty price when they broke the Red Blood Sand Formation earlier. Now, seeing our forces bearing down, they dare not confront us directly," Li Wu, uncharacteristically, agreed with Qing Ya's conjecture.

For a while, such discussions filled the hall, the atmosphere exceptionally heated; although not a person was killed or an item seized, it was as if they had won a great battle.

Ni Mu sat upright at a lower seat beside the White Bone Venerable, his gaze sweeping over everyone, silent.

"Tian Gui, what do you think now? If we had taken your advice to stay put and let the East Sea Alliance flee, we would have become a laughing stock," the White Bone Venerable glanced at him and asked languidly.

Ni Mu still did not reply, his expression unchanged, but a cold laugh echoed in his heart.

Seeing his reaction, the White Bone Venerable lost the urge to mock him further. With a slight lift of his hand, he silenced everyone in the hall and gave the command, "That rabble from the East Sea Alliance can't have gone far. Don't linger here; press on in pursuit and ensure their total annihilation!"

"Yes!" The multitude in the hall responded in unison.

Before long, the Wu Yue Sect's army continued their march, tracking the East Sea Alliance's troops.

However, nature didn't cooperate. Not long after the Wu Yue Sect's forces set out again, massive dark clouds suddenly appeared in the sky and, with a clap of thunder, a torrential downpour descended upon the Wu Yue Sect's army.

"Send someone to disperse the rain clouds," the White Bone Venerable frowned slightly as he saw the heavy rain outside the hall, sensing that something was amiss.

Li Wu immediately took the command, but before he could leave the hall, several thunderbolts suddenly struck down from the sky outside the great hall, hitting the midst of the Wu Yue Sect's army.

The White Bone Venerable stood up abruptly, while the Nascent Soul cultivators in the hall were also greatly shocked. They clearly felt that the thunderbolts were unusually powerful and their occurrence rather abnormal.

"Snow! Why is it suddenly snowing?" Qing Ya suddenly widened his eyes and exclaimed.

Outside the great hall, large snowflakes gently fluttered down. The howling wind made everyone shiver uncontrollably.

Yet, immediately after, they all felt a wave of heat rushing toward them. The snow that had just been falling thickly evaporated in an instant, to be replaced by clumps of burning red flames, falling from the dark clouds like raindrops.

"Thunderstorms, freezing snow, fire rain—aren't these the weather phenomena exclusive to the Violent Sea Area? Why are they appearing near the Red Leaf Sea Domain?" Qing Ya suddenly realized something. If you're not on *, you're viewing a copy.

Upon hearing this, the White Bone Venerable's heart skipped a beat, his foreboding feeling growing stronger.

"Pass my order, everyone prepare for battle immediately, we are being ambushed!" he amplified his mana, his voice thundering across the formation.

But just as he spoke, the figures of numerous cultivators suddenly materialized out of thin air on both sides of the Wu Yue Sect's army.

These cultivators, though dressed differently, each wore a piece of ribbon around their left arm, the insignia of the East Sea Alliance, and seizing the moment of disorder caused by the unusual weather, they launched their attack simultaneous.

"Haha, White Bone Venerable, since you've journeyed from afar, I believe it's only right for you to enjoy the special climatic features of the East Sea. The only question is whether they meet your standards or not?" Along with the laughter, Wan Tianren and other East Sea Alliance Nascent Soul cultivators also appeared in the sky.

"Humph, defeated dogs still dare to be rampant. Do you really think with these petty tricks unworthy of the stage, you can defeat our great Wu Yue Sect army, how arrogant!" the White Bone Venerable bellowed in fury.

Yet at that moment, behind him, a heaven-shattering sword light suddenly burst forth, like a bolt of thunder cutting through the hall and whitening everyone's field of vision.

Yuan Ming let out a roar, fully activating the Curse Rune on the Soul Destroying Sword, and at the same time, he executed the Nightmare Divine Ability aimed at the White Bone Venerable.

He had used the Void Transformation Technique to elude the eyes of all and arrived by the side of White Bone Venerable. Now that he had suddenly appeared, he naturally did not hold back. Even if he couldn't kill White Bone Venerable with a single strike, he intended to inflict serious injury.

The Wu Yue Sect Nascent Soul cultivators had not anticipated that the enemy had already infiltrated their ranks. By the time they saw the flash of the sword light, it was too late to save White Bone Venerable, and they could only watch helplessly as the formidable slash severed his head.

However, when the skull under the Black Robe of White Bone Venerable rolled to the ground, everyone discovered that what fell was merely a skeletal skull, seemingly long devoid of life.

Yuan Ming was also shocked to see this. His Soul Extinguishing Sword lifted the Black Robe from White Bone Venerable's body, only to find that it was also just a skeleton, devoid of any flesh.

In order not to be discovered, he had not used his Divine Sense since he had sneaked in, and the Black Robe of White Bone Venerable also had the effect of blocking investigations. Thus, he had never realized that this White Bone Venerable sitting on the Skeleton Throne was merely a skeletal Puppet.

"Very well, I'll remember you! My fellows, why haven't you captured him yet?" In the next instant, White Bone Venerable's voice suddenly echoed through the great hall, and the Wu Yue Sect Nascent Souls came to their senses, attacked in anger, and together besieged Yuan Ming.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming didn't dare to resist head-on. With a stroke of his spell, he once again used the Void Transformation Technique to disappear from sight and began to weave and dodge among his enemies.

Meanwhile, Wan Tianren and the others outside the hall naturally wouldn't stand idly by; they attacked White Bone Palace in succession, attempting to relieve Yuan Ming.

Just as a great battle was about to erupt, the four Exotic Beast skeletons on the roof of White Bone Palace unexpectedly came to life at once. They raised their heads, and despite having no flesh, each emitted a piercing roar simultaneously.

Countless pale spirit lights rose from the four skeletons, rapidly converging in mid-air to form a giant Array.

"Wu Yue Sect Cultivators, heed my command. Enter the Array at once and evacuate this place!" White Bone Venerable's voice once again thundered across the landscape.

No sooner had his words fallen than countless Wu Yue Sect cultists withdrew from the melee and threw themselves into the Array, vanishing from sight.

"This is bad, their palace has the ability to teleport through space, it's not a weapon for assault. We mustn't let them escape!" Wan Tianren immediately understood.

Under his lead, the East Sea Alliance Nascent Souls all made their moves, hurling various Magic and Magic Treasures towards White Bone Palace like rain, only to be intercepted by a Formation that had appeared outside the Palace.

Within the palace, Yuan Ming, still using the Void Transformation Technique to hold off the Nascent Souls, heard Wan Tianren's shout from outside and was contemplating ways to break through when he suddenly sensed something amiss.

Strange fluctuations began to waft through the void, seemingly activating some kind of spatial teleportation prohibition.

Looking at the Wu Yue Sect Nascent Soul cultivators facing him, he noticed they were circling but not attacking, or rather, they were defending but not attacking, as if they were only trying to delay him.

Could it be...

Yuan Ming's heart chilled. Could it be that he had fallen into the range of some kind of spatial transmission prohibition, and these people were trying to hold him back to transport him away as well?

Seeing this, Yuan Ming hesitated no longer. He swiftly glanced around and immediately employed the Void Transformation Technique, rushing out of the great hall.

Just as he had left the hall, the Array in the sky suddenly flashed, and following that, White Bone Palace vanished into thin air.

Yuan Ming stopped using the Void Transformation Technique and looked at the place where White Bone Palace had disappeared, his heart still in his throat.

By a hair's breadth, he might have been transported by White Bone Venerable to an unknown region, where if surrounded by a group of Nascent Soul cultivators and with White Bone Venerable, a powerful enemy, making the decisions, even with the Stealing Heaven Tripod to aid him, his chances of survival would likely have been slender.

"Divine Envoy Yuan, are you alright?" Wan Tianren and the others had now gathered around as well.

"I'm fine, it's just a pity we let them escape; fortunately, quite a few of the Wu Yue Sect cultivators didn't manage to completely flee. Alliance Leader Wan, please take care to execute them here," Yuan Ming shook his head.

"Of course," Wan Tianren replied, and seeing that Yuan Ming was unharmed, he led the others to annihilate the remnant Wu Yue Sect forces.

Yuan Ming stood mid-air, taking a deep breath, his gaze sweeping the surroundings, feeling somewhat relieved.

He hadn't expected the Wu Yue Sect's forces to arrive so swiftly, but fortunately, Yan Siyun's fortuitous divination had foreseen this timeously.

Moreover, their successful ambush was thanks to the cultivators from Thousand Dragon Island who happened to meet with the East Sea Alliance cultivators, carrying with them a unique Formation that could temporarily transform the astronomical phenomena of a sea region to emulate those unique to the Violent Sea Area.

This was originally prepared to break the Red Blood Sand Formation, but it ended up being used in the ambush instead.

Unfortunately, White Bone Venerable turned out not to be as simple as he appeared to be. The attack by the army seemed reckless, but they had in fact taken precautions and prepared an escape route in case of defeat. The true body of White Bone Venerable had not engaged in battle, instead directly allowing a White Bone Puppet to stand in.

He even began to doubt the true intent behind White Bone Venerable's actions.

Dealing with such an enemy, he still had to be extremely cautious.