The Peerless Emperor (TPE)

The battleship was enormous, and even after dividing the Wanxiang Sect disciples evenly among the five ships, there was still plenty of space left. The number of people from the Divine Sword Sect was only a few hundred, so Lin Qian's ship could easily accommodate them.

As he arranged for the Divine Sword Sect disciples, Lin Qian also made sure to inform them of the rules. The disciples agreed without any objections, and after seeing their sincere compliance, Lin Qian explained the benefits available on the ship.

After hearing Lin Qian's explanation, the disciples of the Divine Sword Sect were astonished, finally understanding why the disciples of the Wanxiang Sect seemed so relaxed and cheerful, without a trace of sadness despite their sect's destruction.

Through their earlier discussions, Lin Qian also learned why the Divine Sword Sect disciples had come to seek refuge with the Wanxiang Sect.

The Grand Elder of the Divine Sword Sect, Fu Yanli, who was Fu Heng's grandmother, had allied with the Victory Heaven Sect and secretly attacked Mei Yuexia. Additionally, a mysterious figure shrouded in a black robe had led the seven Grand Elders of the Victory Heaven Sect in an assault on the Divine Sword Sect.

This black-robed figure was at the Body Transformation stage of the Life and Death Realm, forcing Wei Qingqing to leave the Divine Sword Sect and take some disciples with her. After all, Wei Qingqing's talent, while formidable, did not match that of her younger brother, Wei Wushuang, and she had only reached the Body Transformation stage of the Life and Death Realm.

With only Wei Qingqing and Mei Yuexia capable of fighting, and the latter seriously injured from a sneak attack, leaving the Divine Sword Sect was their only option to avoid total defeat.

In the end, they had no choice but to seek out the Wanxiang Sect.

After learning about what had happened to the Wanxiang Sect, they felt a shared sense of loss. They also speculated that the black-robed figure was likely in cahoots with the alien race from the Black Blood Clan.

According to Wei Wushuang, the Black Blood Clan could only refine Blood Zombies that were at a lower cultivation level than themselves. Since Gao Yuefei, who had reached the Body Transformation stage of the Life and Death Realm, could be refined into a Blood Zombie, it indicated that the Black Blood Clan member was at least at the Power Transformation stage of the Life and Death Realm.

After settling the Divine Sword Sect disciples, Mei Yuexia, feeling guilty, approached Lin Qian. "The storage ring you gifted me, Young Emperor, was taken by Fu Yanli."

Mei Yuexia couldn't help but feel ashamed as she explained the situation to Lin Qian. Despite being his elder, she found it difficult to meet his gaze, knowing full well the immense value of the items in that storage ring.

Lin Qian had given the storage ring to the Divine Sword Sect as a token of goodwill for Ye Xin, and now it had fallen into enemy hands.

Lin Qian was already aware that Fu Yanli intended to use Ye Xin as a furnace to absorb her Yin energy, a fact that infuriated him. After all, Lin Qian had orchestrated Fu Heng's death, making him and Fu Yanli sworn enemies.

The thought of the treasures in that ring bolstering the enemy's strength only made the situation worse. Wei Wushuang, who had heard about the ring's contents from Qin Wushuang, also expressed concern. The ring contained riches from the Danyuan Sect's treasury, including elemental and soul artifacts, as well as valuable pills and tomes—items that should never have fallen into the enemy's hands.

"Although the storage ring has my mark on it and will take time to unlock, it should only take half a month to a month at most for them to break the seal and access the treasures inside," Mei Yuexia explained, her frustration evident. "I never expected Elder Sister Fu to be so heartless."

"She is no longer your elder sister," Wei Qingqing said coldly from beside her.

Snap!

At that moment, Lin Qian snapped his fingers, drawing everyone's attention. A tactical screen appeared in front of them, displaying a scene in real-time.

Far away in the Divine Sword Sect's mountain gate, within the Artifact Refining Hall, many artifact refiners were busy working around an exquisite ring. Nearby, a glamorous woman was staring at it intently, her eyes filled with greed.

This woman was Fu Yanli, and she was well aware of the immense wealth contained within that storage ring, having heard about it from her junior sister. Fu Yanli had been keeping the ring's existence a secret, not even informing the reinforcements sent by the Victory Heaven Sect. She believed that with the wealth from this storage ring, the Divine Sword Sect would surpass the Victory Heaven Sect, and she would become the most outstanding sect leader in the history of the Divine Sword Sect, perhaps even the queen of Linhai Prefecture.

However, as Fu Yanli fantasized about her grand future, the storage ring at the center of the refining formation suddenly burst into brilliant light.

In the next moment, the ring exploded, and twisted images began to appear in front of Fu Yanli's horrified eyes.

Within the distorted space, powerful elemental and soul artifacts, countless jade bottles, and an overwhelming number of tomes materialized. But before Fu Yanli and the artifact refiners could react, the twisted force tore the artifacts and soul treasures into scrap metal, shattered the jade bottles, and ground the pills and tomes into dust.

The display of immense wealth left Fu Yanli and the refiners breathless, but they could only watch helplessly as the treasures were destroyed, lost forever in the void of space.

Ding!

As the space distortion subsided, the formation that had been attempting to unlock the storage ring collapsed, leaving only a few glittering fragments of the ring floating in the air. As for the treasures Fu Yanli had coveted, they had been utterly annihilated, dissipating into the space between dimensions.

"No! Noooo!!!" A shrill scream echoed through the Artifact Refining Hall as Fu Yanli's Void Shattering Realm soul force raged within the hall, even affecting the Divine Sword Sect's artifact refiners.

Two refiners with weaker cultivation bases were torn to shreds by the wild torrent of Fu Yanli's soul force.

In her despair, Fu Yanli failed to notice the glowing fragments of the broken storage ring dimming and fading away.

Back on the battleship, Lin Qian watched as the tactical screen's image gradually darkened before disappearing altogether.

With the screen retracted, Lin Qian turned to Mei Yuexia and said, "Sect Leader Mei, I hope you won't mind that I left a little safeguard on the storage ring. As the saying goes, 'Trust but verify.' Since we didn't know each other well, I had to have some way to protect my interests in case you took my treasures and didn't fulfill your end of the bargain."

"Hahaha, how could I blame you for that?" Mei Yuexia laughed heartily, feeling a great sense of relief. The sight of Fu Yanli's despair and devastation had cleared the frustration that had been weighing heavily on her heart.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!" At that moment, a scholar's voice rang out in the luxurious room.

"Speak."

"We just observed an anomaly at the former Wanxiang Sect's mountain gate. The ground split open, revealing an entrance to a small world."

"What?" Lin Qian and everyone else exclaimed in shock at the unexpected news.