"What… what the hell happened?" Tang Yun asked in a small voice as they stared at the empty area before them. "Where… where is the Sand Sea Mountain? Where is Wu Xi? How can he be suddenly gone?! How can the mountain be suddenly gone?!" he asked as they stared at the empty area in shock.

The golden sand beneath their feet stretched far and wide, and their end couldn't be seen. The golden sand is like an endless sea.

Zheng Fu Gong, Pai Lie, Jing Rui, Qian Tian, Fei Lin, Xi Ling, Ho Yue, Chen Jing, Wu Fan, Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Tang Teng, Li Nanzhi, Qian Shan, Qian Su, Chen Fu, Wu Yang, Wu Yuan, Shu Ji, as well as the disciples Jing Cheng, Jing Bai, Jing Hei, Zheng Yi, Qian Lin, Xi Ming, Xi Xing, Feng Mo, Lei Qing, Sun Yi, Tang Zhe, Tang Yun, Guo Cheng, Shan Lu, and Li Tian and Xiao Le who were in the battlefield were dumbfounded of what had happened. They didn't see how the Sand Sea Mountain disappeared! It was suddenly gone… just like that! In just a blink of an eye!

Wu Ran isn't any better. In fact, he is the one who is the most dumbstruck. "What…" he muttered under his breath as he stared, wide-eyed in disbelief, at the now flat sands where the Sand Sea Mountain is supposed to be. "WHAT – !" he sucked in a sharp breath and felt his earlier boiling blood suddenly became cold when he saw that the Sand Sea Mountain, the reaming only entrance to the Heilong Realm, has vanished. His whole being froze as he continued to stare at the empty sand.

Not only Wu Ran and the other demonic cultivators who were stunned. Even the righteous cultivators, too. Even if the source of the demonic qi, the Heilong Realm, its entrance is located in the Sand Sea Mountain, but it was a whole mountain, after all. To suddenly disappear like that…

Hell, no! That's not only it! "Uncle…" they heard Fei Lin lowly spoke.

Everyone sharply turned to him and saw his pale face filled with an expression of disbelief and doubt. That's right. They all thought. Fei Huang has still not returned. It was only Cheng Sheng and Fei Yin who have returned, even though the former is gravely injured and the latter is dead.

"No…" Xie Lan spoke. "It's not only teacher Fei. Yu Sheng, too – " he pressed his lips tight and looked at the Millennium Ship hovering above.

Fan Wen, Jing Rui, Qian Tian, Chen Jing and Wu Fan also turned and saw the similarly paled face Zuo Zhe clutching the ship's railing tight to the point that his knuckles turned white and his nails scratched the ship and the tips of his fingers now bleeding.

Jing Kang and Lei Ling who were near him finally returned to their senses and immediately removed Zuo Zhe's hands from the ship's railing to not further harm himself after realizing what had happened. Yu Sheng hasn't returned, as well as Fei Huang, and even Mu Jun.

"Wu Xi…" the Huakai Sect cried after they returned to their senses.

Sun Yi who was near them turned when he heard their voices. "What did you say?" he asked as he approached them. "What happened to Wu Xi?" he asked.

Tang Yun was crying. Guo Cheng's face looked sad. Shan Lu was still puzzled, this dimwit. Meanwhile,

Tang Ze maintained his indifferent expression. He turned to look at Sun Yi. "Wu Xi… he encountered some demonic cultivators who knows him." he looked at the corpses on the ground with curved swords lying beside them. "Wu Xi decided he will return to the Heilong Realm. Jut as we were about to follow him, we suddenly saw that the Sand Sea Mountain disappeared." He explained.

Sun Yi was shocked. "He returned?!" he exclaimed.

Tang Zhe nodded. Meanwhile, Tang Yun was sniffling as his tears continued to fall. Guo Cheng's eyes are red while Shan Lu finally returned to his senses and his expression is so complicated. He doesn't know what to react from Wu Xi's departure. Even though Wu Xi has become close to the Huakai Sect from the Intersect Competition until now in their battle against the demonic cultivators, but he and Wu Xi has not much interaction to each other. It was usually Tang Yun and Guo Cheng who interacts with him, and Tang Zhe when he has topics to converse with Wu Xi. But he alone hasn't anything. After all, Wu Xi is a mute. Although Wu Xi can communicate using the Thought Talisman, but it was still inconvenient since the other has to use his qi, and also awkward since only one voice can be heard during the conversation, making it look like they are talking to their self.

Speaking of Thought Talisman… they all looked down and, as expected, saw a Thought Talisman near their feet. Tang Zhe picked it up and turned it, only to see two but powerful words.

"Thank you."

Silence fell upon them. They all looked at each other, then smiled. But, their eyes are red.

"I think there's someone who deserved these words the most." Tang Zhe said. Then, they all looked above, to the Millennium Ship.

That person is now unconscious and is fighting for his life.

…

"Uncle…" Fei Lin muttered as his eyes reddened before his tears fell. He stared, dumbfounded at the now empty area where the Sand Sea Mountain was just standing a short while ago. "Uncle…" he called before he felt his legs which he didn't notice were trembling weakened. A second later and he fell on his knees.

"Lin!" Xi Ling cried when he heard a soft thud beside him, which was actually Fei Lin falling on his knees.

Xi Ling's voice made Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Qian Tian, Jing Rui, Chen Jing and Wu Fan returned to their senses and they turned, only to see Fei Lin collapsed.

"Ling-er!" Xi Ling cried and was followed by Fan Wen going to Xi Ling.

Qian Tian, Jing Rui, Chen Jing and Wu Fan started. They all looked at each other before killing the demonic cultivators around them.

"RESUME!!!" they yelled, rousing everyone from their shock of the Sand Sea Mountain's sudden disappearance.

They don't have time to spend on grieving for the people who haven't returned. As long as some people, like their family or lover, remember them, then they, who are even just mere strangers to those who were lost, don't need to grieve since that isn't needed. They can only do their best to defeat the enemy to make it up for them, for their sacrifices.

Zheng Fu Gong and Pai Lie also have returned to their senses. They turned to look at Wu Ran, only to be greeted by a strong gust of wind added with demonic qi!

"UGH!" Pai Lie granted as he and Zheng Fu Gong flew in the air after they were blasted by Wu Ran's attack.

Although he had subconsciously created another layer of barrier, but the impact of Wu Ran's attack is no joke! He can even vanish a mountain, as what they have seen earlier!

"Elder Zheng! Elder Pai!" Jing Rui called when he heard Pai Lie's voice grunted. He turned, only to see Zheng Fu Gong's and Pai Lie's figures flying past him. "…" he turned and looked at Wu Ran, only to see him conjuring another attack. "WATCH OUT!" he yelled as he flew to the side when a new wave of attack from Wu Ran flew towards them.

Qian Tian, who was near Jing Rui, immediately flew up above and pulled a Shanliangde Sect and Zunjingde Sect elder with him to avoid the attack.

"SHIFU! FOUNDER!!!" Li Tian screamed when he saw Xie Lan and Fan Wen reacted too late. He rose on his feet and immediately created a barrier of array. He felt his heart leapt to his throat when he saw a flash of light appeared beside Xie Lan and Fan Wen just in time for a giant ball of qi to arrive. Then, they saw Wu Ran's attack entered the array barrier, then heard a loud crash in the Shashan Pass.

They all turned and nervously gulped as they coldly sweated when they saw one of the mountains of the Twin Sand Mounds suddenly earned a crater. Then, they silently turned to Li Tian and praised him through their gazes before they turned to look at Wu Ran, only to see the demonic qi swirling around him became thicker to the point that they almost couldn't see his figure.

"F*ck!" they cursed in their heart that is rapidly beating in fear just by looking at the black and red colors around Wu Ran, looking very sinister. Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, they saw that Wu Ran disappeared. "Huh?" they muttered and looked around to look for him, only to suddenly hear a loud scream.

They turned, just in time to see a demonic cultivator died. They were puzzled, why did Wu Ran kill a fellow demonic cultivator, only to see a red, bloody, beating object in his hand. Before they could react, he ate it.