What kept Hengsheng from panicking was the absence of any Lan Clan members' dead bodies.
Although he found traces of battle and remnants of fallen cultivators where Lan Clan's residents' land was located, there were no Lan Clan corpses—everything had been wiped clean, as if they had simply vanished.
If the battle really occurred here in the Lan Clan grounds, yet there was no trace of Lan Clan corpses, it meant someone had cleaned it up.
"What exactly is going on? Where did they go?" Hengsheng murmured as he investigated the area around the Lan Clan territory.
He spotted a small town not far from Lan City—one that still has cultivators and mortals living, trying to survive the chaos.
He gazed at a group of cultivators deep in conversation. Hengsheng couldn't hear them through the Dimensional Map, but he tried to read their lips.
"War… Newly ascended True Immortal… Lan Clan…" These words didn't give him the full picture, but he tried to piece them together.
"Maybe an unknown True Immortal appeared? Did the Lan Clan do something...?" Hundreds of thoughts flashed through his mind, but none made sense or stirred his intuition.
Then, one hypothesis surfaced. Hengsheng immediately began gathering evidence to support the thought.
The Dimensional Map's display shifted to the Wang Clan's location. Just as he had suspected, it was the same situation as with the Lan Clan—everything had vanished without a trace.
The map shifted again, this time to the heart of the southern region of the Metal Flow Plains, where the Thunderclap Blade Sect was located.
What he saw brought a strange sense of relief, that his hypothesis was likely correct.
The Thunderclap Blade Sect was still there, but it was not as described in the books. This place was supposed to be majestic, a massive mountain range where each peak crackled with thunderclouds that had countless thundering dragons flow through it all the time.
Instead, what he saw was ruin: shattered mountains, a broken sky, and sect grounds littered with the corpses of Thunderclap Blade Sect disciples and elders. Among the rubble moved scattered presences—rogue cultivators scavenging through the ruins for treasure.
"Maybe someone from the Blossoming Sword Sect's lineage broke through to the True Immortal Realm… then came to take revenge on the Thunderclap Blade Sect. After that, they must've taken everyone who relied on the sect and left for somewhere else. That has to be it!"
Hengsheng made wild guesses, speaking as if he had witnessed it all himself—yet, he had no idea how accurate his hypothesis was.
Hengsheng did not know what was truly happening, but seeing his clan's enemy had fallen was enough to ease his concern.
He continued searching for any trace of his clan, but he found nothing. When he reached the edge of the Golden Pillar Continent, he couldn't go any further.
Ding!
[Dimensional Authority is Insufficient]
The Dimensional Map was a godlike tool, but it wasn't without limitations.
Hengsheng's Dimensional Authority was still low, which meant the system's functions and abilities were also limited in power.
"If there really was a True Immortal expert with them, they might have already left the realm…" Hengsheng murmured, thinking to himself.
Surely, any True Immortal would have realized that even the Golden Sword Sect, despite having multiple True Immortals, was in no position against the Wu God and the Heavenless Dao Cult's army.
If a newly ascended True Immortal is not stupid, he or she wouldn't choose to stay here. It would be wiser to find somewhere else to settle.
"What about those who stayed in the Golden City then?! How could I forget this!" Hengsheng suddenly remembered that there was a group from the Lan Clan waiting for them to return at the Golden City as well!
The Dimensional Map once again returned to the chaotic war situation in the Golden City.
Hengsheng spotted the Lan Clan's skyship, but he didn't see any Lan Clan members there, either alive or dead.
He remembered that the clan also had a residence in the city, so he looked for it. Before long, he found a mansion that resembled Lan Clan architecture—but once again, there were no Lan Clan members to be found, not even a corpse.
"It seems like everyone has already fled," Hengsheng shook his head, slowly realizing that he—and everyone within the secret land—had been abandoned.
Hengsheng blankly stared at the Dimensional Map. He felt a little hurt, but he could understand—an entire faction couldn't be put at risk just to save a couple of dozen low-rank cultivators.
"What a cruel world…" Hengsheng murmured, gazed at the ruined city. Battles between cultivators and cultists were happening all over the place—no mortals had survived.
Other than the cruel scenes of war, Hengsheng also spotted treasures scattered around the ruined city.
With the power of the new system.
He could teleport there to collect them, but he put his greed aside—it was too risky.
The city was filled with powerful beings; if he dared to enter, he'd probably be dead before he even realized it.
"It's time to move…" Hengsheng was done observing the situation—it was time for him to act.
Hengsheng gazed at the Map, locked onto his destination, and activated the Dimensional Shift ability.
In an instant, his body was enveloped by a swirling purple substance— and then, he vanished from where he had just stood.
A moment later, in the empty space of a metal forest, a bloom of purple substance burst into existence vertically above the ground, swirling like a vortex of mist and light.
From within it, Hengsheng stepped out, his eyes calm as they scanned the surroundings.
In a certain direction, he spotted the top of a broken pagoda rising faintly behind the metal tree forest.
Without hesitation, Hengsheng turned and made his way toward it. His entrance was not silent—he wanted others to notice.
"Who goes there?!" one of the Golden Sword Sect disciples roared, sensing a new presence stepping onto their sect grounds.
Hengsheng stepped out from the shadow of the forest, allowing the disciple to see his face clearly.
"Y-You… Lan Hengsheng!" the disciple exclaimed in shock. It wasn't surprising—Hengsheng had caused quite a stir when he set off toward the rift by single handling the God Spawn's army.
Instinctively, the disciple stepped backward when Hengsheng approached as if he were afraid.
"Y-Young Master Lan! I-I didn't realize you'd returned already…" The disciple backed away a step, his voice tight with unease.
Hengsheng noticed this and couldn't help but sigh. He hadn't done anything threatening, yet they were already afraid of him simply because he was stronger.
Well, it was a logical reaction—after all, in this world, strength reigns supreme. The Earth is also the same, but not as extreme as this world.
If it were people from Earth, they might believe they had the right to talk back to the powerful. But that was just a delusion. The truth was, the powerful merely allowed it… No one truly had the right.
"I've just arrived. Bring me to Jian Zixuan." Hengsheng said calmly.
"Y-Yes! This way, please!" The disciple obediently led Hengsheng to where the upper part of the Pagoda had fallen.
Hengsheng arrived and saw that Jian Zixuan was no longer kneeling like a loser. Instead, he was now at the center of attention, gathering nearly everyone's presence at the pagoda.
Hengsheng concealed his presence, not wanting Jian Zixuan to notice him just yet—he intended to observe and understand what they were doing.
Jian Zixuan was speaking to the crowd. "The continent above has already fallen…"
Hengsheng listened to Jian Zixuan's speech in silence. He was simply explaining the truth of what was happening—there was no longer any point in keeping secrets, not when they were all already doomed.
"There's no place left to return to. We must move forward. Right now, our only option is to leave—before the Golden Pillar is completely destroyed. If that happens, this secret land will collapse!" Jian Zixuan spoke about the urgency of the situation.
Hengsheng nodded in understanding. This secret land was never meant to exist as a 3-D space in the first place—they were inside the Realm Core, the very essence of the realm itself. Its existence was only possible because of a powerful formation. In truth, this entire secret land was part of the seal formation!
From Jian Zixuan's words, Hengsheng gathered that the Golden Pillar is likely something essential for supporting the secret land's third-dimensional space. If it were to disappear, the Realm Core would probably revert to its original state, an immaterial high-dimensional structure that acts as a reality anchor.
If that happens, the 3-D space of secret land would collapse, and most living beings would die in the dimensional turbulence.
Only a strong one like those Tier 7 beings would survive the dimensional collapse.
If not for the Wu God's knowledge, it wouldn't have been possible for Hengsheng to know something like this, at least not while he was still weak.
Hengsheng revealed his presence, having heard enough. This immediately drew Jian Zixuan's attention, but he continued speaking to the crowd and urged them to follow him.
All of the Golden Sword Sect and Silver Lotus Pavilion disciples agreed without hesitation. The way they acted was like they were one.
However, a minority, mostly a second-rate force, young cultivators, were still in shock from what they had just heard.
It was clear they didn't fully believe Jian Zixuan's words. That included Hengsheng's four fellow clanmates, but their opinions held little to no weight in this situation.
"Fellow Daoist Lan! You've finally returned. You took so long, I thought you might have gotten trapped in the rift," Jian Zixuan said as he stepped toward Hengsheng after finishing his speech.