The violet-skinned being was none other than the Realm Lord of the Slaughter Domain. His face was ashen, a trickle of blood staining his chin, and his eyes wide with shock.

A crimson bolt of lightning descended from the violet mists above, its speed blinding. But it did not strike the violet-haired lord; instead, it veered, a searing flash aimed directly at the Divine-Devil Progeny!

The Progeny’s face twisted in alarm, yet escape was denied him. Bound by the Realm of Absolute Clarity, he could not evade the inevitable. The lightning, in a blink, pierced through his chest.

The old one’s eyes dimmed instantly, his corporeal form dissolving into dust with a resounding crack. He was, perhaps, the quickest to meet oblivion among those of the Nirvana Shatterer stage, his fading consciousness shrouded in profound regret.

The crimson lightning, having pierced its target, did not linger. It swept about, a vengeful wraith, and with each echoing *thump*, almost every cultivator nearby was reduced to a shattered husk! This was the dreadful power of the Clarity Expanse!

Wang Lin, anticipating the Divine-Devil Progeny’s approach, had readied himself to unleash the power of his Origin with his third eye. But now, with Clarity’s timely aid, he turned without hesitation towards the Phantasmal Void Lord.

Above, the violet mists roiled and contracted, coalescing into a fist-sized orb suspended in Clarity’s palm. Beside him, a purple phoenix hairpin hovered.

Clarity’s gaze softened as he regarded the hairpin, but as his eyes fell upon the surviving cultivators of the Slaughter Domain, that tenderness vanished, replaced by an icy indifference. He stepped from the heavens, a grim declaration on his lips. “The land I, Clarity, claim for slaughter shall harbor no survivors!”

The violet-haired Realm Lord, his face a mask of despair, acted without thought. He formed a hand seal and thrust his right arm towards the void. With a cracking explosion, the entire limb shattered, its blood and flesh swirling wildly before him, tearing open a rent in reality. He lunged towards it, desperate to escape.

“To make a treasure of that which I left to comfort my deceased wife… you are all deserving of death!” Clarity spoke, raising a hand in judgment. “Arcane Art: Mountain Collapse!”

At his words, the very ground within the Slaughter Domain shuddered. Six colossal peaks erupted from the earth, each soaring over two thousand fathoms, their mere appearance crushing the land with immense pressure.

At the instant Clarity uttered “Mountain Collapse,” the six towering peaks shuddered and merged, forming a single, colossal mountain, indistinguishable from one born of nature itself!

At the command, the mountain trembled. From its summit, a dark plume of smoke billowed, and within its suffocating embrace, a crimson fire erupted, scorching all life it touched. As the fire spewed forth, it hardened into volcanic stones, blackened by smoke, which rained down from the heavens, striking the earth with cataclysmic force.

A toxic dust, thick and suffocating, choked the sky, turning all beneath it into a desolate wasteland.

Waves of molten lava, like fiery serpents, cascaded down the mountain’s sides. In moments, the Slaughter Domain was consumed by unimaginable heat and the stench of annihilation. The lava, imbued with the very power of the heavens, sought to devour all that existed!

Cultivators within the Slaughter Domain, their cultivation lacking, were instantly consumed by the toxic dust. Their bodies withered, their screams cut short as they faded into oblivion.

Others struggled within the lava, but the heat was overwhelming. Even with their arts and treasures, they could not escape the fiery doom!

The rift torn open by the violet-haired lord buckled and shattered under the force of the Mountain Collapse. His face ashen, he retreated in haste. Even with his initial Shatterer cultivation and the aid of a damaged spatial treasure, he was no match for Clarity. Only escape filled his mind!

“Alas, I am the only Shatterer within the Slaughter Domain! Most of my Nirvana Shatterers have gone to the Alliance Headquarters. Had I sufficient power to aid me in the Ninety-Nine Sword Formation, even that, I fear, would be insufficient to withstand such an art!”

The Phantasmal Void Lord, too, paled. He abandoned his battle with Wang Lin and fled, cursing inwardly as he saw Wang Lin pursuing him relentlessly. He flung the Nine United Swords backwards, hoping to distract Wang Lin with what he knew the other desired.

Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed. He ceased his pursuit and snatched the nine blades from the air. They thrashed wildly in his grasp.

Clarity’s gaze burned with fury. He spread his arms wide and thrust them upwards, roaring, “Mountain: First Collapse!”

As the words left his lips, the flames and lava spewing from the mountain surged skyward, reaching for the heavens themselves.

Then, with a deafening explosion, they burst apart, sending a shockwave of unimaginable power across the Slaughter Domain. A dozen or more cultivators were engulfed by the fiery embrace, their bodies consumed in an instant.

“Second Collapse!” Clarity roared again! The entire Slaughter Domain trembled. The summit of the colossal mountain crumbled, unleashing a fresh torrent of lava, fire, and toxic dust.

“Third Collapse!” Clarity formed a hand seal and pointed it towards the mountain.

In that instant, the mountain erupted, shattering completely. Countless stones flew in all directions, and a wall of fire swept across the sky, blotting out all else. The heavens were filled only with fire.

With the mountain’s destruction, an endless sea of magma poured forth, engulfing the land in a heartbeat.

Above, an infinite inferno. Below, a sea of lava. Between them, a suffocating cloud of poisonous dust!

Screams echoed everywhere. In that short space of time, all but the violet-haired lord and the Phantasmal Void Lord had perished. Even the Phantasmal Void Lord was a broken husk, his eyes filled with overwhelming dread.

The violet-haired lord, with a bitter smile, abandoned all resistance. He gazed upon Clarity with a complex expression. He knew the other had no intention of killing him, not yet; otherwise, he would have perished in the violet mist.

Every structure within the Slaughter Domain melted, vanishing without a trace!

Wang Lin stared in awe at the scene before him. He had never imagined that the Mountain Collapse possessed such devastating power. “This… this is the Arcane Art… Mountain Collapse!”

Clarity flicked his sleeve, and eighty-eight beams of silver light shot from the lava. He snatched them from the air, forcibly merging them into a single mass, and tossed it to Wang Lin. “You seem to desire this. Take it!” Wang Lin caught the silver sphere and stored it within his bag.

Clarity transformed into a black gale, seizing the Phantasmal Void Lord and the violet-haired lord. He took a step forward, and with a deafening boom, the Slaughter Domain underwent its final collapse.

The Slaughter Domain, built within a rift in the ancient Immortal Realm, shattered into countless fragments, consumed by the void.

A massive vortex opened beneath Clarity’s feet. He sank into it, nodding to Wang Lin as he spoke, “I have matters to attend to, Xu Mu. Who knows when we shall meet again? Be well!” With those words, he vanished into the vortex, taking the Phantasmal Void Lord and the violet-haired lord with him.

Wang Lin stood in silence, then stepped into the vortex, leaving the collapsing Slaughter Domain behind.

He materialized in the starry void, sighing softly as he gazed back. After a long moment, Wang Lin blurred into nothingness, moving towards the Celestial Fortune Star.

In a distant, unseen place, Clarity walked onward, his expression serene. Behind him, the Phantasmal Void Lord and the violet-haired lord followed, their spirits broken. Upon their brows, the unique mark of the Immortal Realm – the Slave Seal – pulsed.

In Clarity’s hand, he held the purple hairpin. He gazed upon it, and his eyes softened with sorrow and longing.

“Fate is a cruel jester…” Clarity had shed tears only twice in his life. The first time was when the Kingdom of Clarity was destroyed, his parents slain, and he, a mere cultivator, had barely escaped with his life. The pain and fury had brought forth tears of grief.

The second time was in the Thunder Immortal Realm, when, driven mad, he had slain his beloved. Upon regaining his sanity, the tears of remorse flowed.

This hairpin brought back endless memories. He remembered giving it to her on the day he became Bai’s disciple. He could not forget the happiness of those moments. A pang of pain shot through him, and a single tear, the third of his life, rolled down Clarity’s cheek. “…Sheyan…”

Memories were like water held in the palm, slowly slipping through the fingers, leaving a coldness that could never be forgotten… A sudden thought could drown one in a sea of sadness.

Before Clarity’s eyes, the past unfolded. His deceased wife’s vacant eyes, her right hand clutched tightly around this hairpin.

The hairpin’s sharp tip rested against her heart, piercing it deeply. Blood flowed down the hairpin and dripped to the ground. “Clarity, I do not die because of you. I die by my own hand… Do not grieve, do not spend your life in sorrow. You did not harm me…”

To spare Clarity the pain and guilt upon regaining his sanity, this woman, in the instant that Clarity, in his madness, had turned against her, had taken her own life with a smile.

Her gentle, loving gaze, filled with longing, her smile a silent cry, had been the force that restored Clarity’s mind! That was the scene in which Clarity had awakened.

“The man I love is a pillar of strength. He will not give up his life for a momentary lapse, nor will he live in a daze for all his days. Instead, he will channel his strength into a single, unwavering belief… to find the cause of all this!”

Clarity’s eyes burned with sadness. He murmured, “Sheyan, do not worry. I will find the cause of it all!”