Li Luo remained in seclusion for a total of half a year. During this period of time, massive changes took place in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. All of it was due to the changes to the World's End River Region.

Firstly, news of Li Jingzhe's death had shocked the entire Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. It had been many years since a King had fallen, and it was even a Quasi-Triple Crown. This caused countless people to lament the fact. Such an expert's death was a massive loss for the living beings in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. And before news of it had settled in, they were then taken aback by yet another development.

Tantai Lan had become a Greater Transcendent Duke and taken over Li Jingzhe’s role as the new Lineage Chief of the Dragon's Fang Lineage. Her name, which had caused a stir within the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent twenty years ago, once again resounded throughout it. Many were completely surprised by her talent and achievements. After all, when she and Li Taixuan were chased away all those years ago, they were merely ordinary Dukes. Even though they had crushed all their peers, people like them were found in every generation. They had risen to prominence briefly before being forgotten by everyone else. That was why no one had ever imagined that she would return with such power!

They all understood the implications of her title. The number of Greater Transcendent Dukes in recorded history was even lower than the number of Triple Crowned Kings! It was the culmination of incredible talent, an immense foundation, and also miraculous opportunities.

After Tantai Lan took over, the other powers sent their congratulations, including the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin. They had to pinch their noses and make amends, even going to the point of expressing that all of the enmity formed from all those years ago were due to Qin Jiujie's decisions and had nothing to do with them. Now that Qin Jiujie had turned traitor and Qin Lian was dead, the enmity between them was as good as resolved.

Thus, Tantai Lan's name resounded through every corner of the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. The Tantai Lan was considered a prodigy of her generation twenty years ago, but at the moment, she had truly stepped into the ranks of the giants on the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. Her every word and action would send tremors throughout the continent.

Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e had also become famous in their own right. Their battle with Qin Lian had been revealed to the world. The fact that the two had set off on the Path of Ascension had spread throughout the continent as well. Li Luo had chosen to destroy one of his Ten-Pillar Golden Duke Bergfrieds in order to obtain a pyrrhic victory over the eighth-grade Duke Qin Lian. This incredible achievement was written into the Empyrean Chronicle. This glorious act was embedded on the very first page of it. All the other geniuses who had left their marks on the Empyrean Chronicle were instantly eclipsed by this.

A second-grade Duke beating an eighth-grade was incomprehensible. That display of power was enough to place him at the top of the rankings in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. However, just as his reputation was on the rise, he had secluded himself in the mountains, retreating from the furore. Therefore, the excitement died down fairly quickly.

After all, there were more important things going on in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. Specifically, the Other Disaster that had been unleashed on the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin's territories. The scale of which was far vaster than any ever seen before. A roiling, black tide filled with innumerable Others scattered across the region like a plague as it wreaked havoc. The tens of thousands of miles it engulfed were all transformed into inhospitable wastelands filled with death. It was a catastrophe for living beings.

The powers of the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent were similarly horrified by the scale and severity of the situation.

The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin were in a head-scratching dilemma and were left in dire straits. Qin Jiujie had not only betrayed them, but also harmed them to the marrow. Furthermore, even though Qin Zhongyuan had stepped up to the position of Grand Palace Master, he was unable to boost the lowered morale of the bloodline. After all, who could accept such a reality?

Usually, it was the underlings betraying their superiors by stabbing them in the back. When had it ever been a situation where the boss was the one to stab the underlings?

This Other Disaster was being protected by the Heavenly Emperor Edict, which restricted any King-level powers from interfering with it. This meant that the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin had no choice but to mobilize their Dukes to continuously form layers of defenses to prevent the further spread of it. As a result, their losses were severe.

There were countless True Devils within the tide of Others, including high-grade True Devils! As a result, the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin had to release a Devil Culling Order, a cry for help from the entire Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. They summoned countless Dukes to assist them with dealing with the Other Disaster. As a result, they had to part with generous rewards in the form of high-grade Foundational Spirit Treasures, spirit liquids and purifying lights, Mythic Armaments, Destiny-grade Duke Arts, and the like... All in order to attract the helpers. With such tempting rewards, countless rogue cultivators at the Duke Stage flooded towards the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin to provide assistance. This achieved decent results as with the rogue cultivators' support, the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin was able to gradually resist and contain the spread of the Other Disaster. Alas, they ended up paying a terrifying price in terms of resources; it had hurt them to the bone even with their immense foundation.

Furthermore, as time passed, the resources that were consumed in this operation continued to increase.

Everyone could see that this Other Disaster would lead to the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin suffering gargantuan losses.

Even an ancient Heavenly Emperor lineage would take a long time to recuperate from this.

The Other Disaster spread in the direction of the other powers as well. Specifically, the Dragon's Fang Lineage's western side.

The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin completely disregarded that direction and thus, the spread of the Other Disaster was even quicker. In just the span of half a year, it was encroaching on the Dragon's Fang Lineage's borders. The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li expressed their fury at their actions, but this was met with an unsatisfactory response. The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin simply didn't have any more strength nor resources to restrain the Others. This back and forth communication naturally led to no result, and the elders of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li knew that this was done on purpose. The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin clearly wished to drag them into this issue. After all, they didn't want to be the only ones suffering. Although their actions were shameless, the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li couldn't sit by idly and watch as the Other Disaster worsened. Furthermore, if the Other Disaster did spread into their territories, the losses would be massive.

Thus, under Tantai Lan's orders, the Dragon's Fang Lineage mobilized their soldiers and stationed them on the western border.

The Five Guardian Armies were similarly stationed there, and the other factions sent their Dukes as well.

The entire bloodline was ready.

The neighboring powers tried their best to gather manpower to form further layers of defense as well.

After all, the Other Disaster's spread had caused the existing dark domains, pockets of areas with Others, on the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent to turn more active. This change worried these powers as the dark domains were major gathering points for Others. If they were to rise up, it would cause further disasters.

Thus, all the powers on the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent were on alert and closely watching the situation. Everyone had been implicated by this horrific disaster.

No one knew when the Other Disaster would be curbed and peace would be restored.

Unless, of course, they were capable of getting a Heavenly Emperor to come and erase the Tri-Pupil Enigmatic Fetus' Heavenly Emperor Edict. That said, the four Heavenly Emperor bloodlines’ ancestors were all stationed in forbidden locations around the world, so they did not have time to assist the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent. It was also difficult for them to garner the assistance of the other Heavenly Emperors on the continent.

Everyone understood that this Other Disaster would be like a malignant sore that would fester on the surface of the continent for a long time.

Gradually, people started to call this event the World's End River Other Catastrophe.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Half a year had passed. Within the depths of the Dragon's Fang Mountain Range, the calm and unmoving lake began to ripple and light was emitted, sweeping across the sky.