Thud!
A heavy sound resonated.
Accompanying it, a colossal figure crashed outside the overlapping valleys.
The monstrous bird cloaked in countless howling winds screeched shrilly, dispersing unwillingly in the end to reveal the true body of Patriarch Yuming.
Patriarch Yuming struggled with great effort, trying to stand.
Yet whether physical flesh or divine soul, both had weakened to the utmost extreme.
Above all, his once-magnificent Primordial Spirit that had lorded over heaven and earth had suffered a violent backlash after excessively channeling worldly origin qi.
At this moment, an immeasurable surge of worldly origin qi was rushing toward him, continuously hammering his immense Primordial Spirit.
The gale roared in its death throes!
Yet it was also steadily dissipating!
Helpless, Patriarch Yuming could only watch as his Primordial Spirit swelled and expanded, inexorably marching toward assimilation by heaven and earth, a complete return to nothingness.
Yet compared to the footsteps approaching from the distance, death seemed far less terrifying.
"Of Mingyuan's three mighty cultivators, one fled without fighting, and one skulks about in the shadows. Only you have a bit of backbone."
Patriarch Yuming offered a bitter smile. He was the master of the Mingyuan Sect; naturally, he would fight to the death!
Within his field of vision...
A figure in red robes walked forward at an unhurried pace, the surrounding wild winds serving only to accentuate her peerless majesty.
Countless streams of worldly origin qi likewise battered against her figure, yet upon reaching several zhang before her, they could not advance an inch further.
Throughout the Mountain Sea Realm, rumors persisted that Soul Formation cultivators could not lightly intervene in battle.
This was not an unfounded rumor!
Beings of this level had mastered law true intent and could mobilize the world's source power as a means of combat, making them scarcely different from the Heavenly Dao itself.
Yet individual strength remained small.
If excessive force was unleashed, one would suffer the world's backlash.
Only because this world, which nurtured countless living beings, was not immense itself—how could it allow anyone to squander all that belonged to it without restraint?
If a Soul Formation cultivator remained in good condition, using themselves as collateral and relying on law true intent as a fulcrum to pry loose even vaster worldly origin qi, they could temporarily suppress such backlash.
Yet evidently, after the grueling battle, Patriarch Yuming could no longer suppress it.
His collateral was depleted; inevitably, he was being lifted from the opposite end.
Now, Patriarch Yuming stared in disbelief at the red-robed woman walking slowly toward him. Enduring the assault of origin qi upon his Primordial Spirit, he rasped, "The power you have unleashed is no different from late-stage Soul Formation. Why are you completely unaffected by the origin qi backlash and the assimilation of heaven and earth?"
Monarch Qixia halted her steps, one li away from Patriarch Yuming lying on the ground.
The corner of her mouth curved into a lovely arc as she gave a light chuckle. "Naturally, because I possess the strength to suppress any backlash that could topple a late-stage Soul Formation."
Patriarch Yuming opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to say it was impossible.
This realm could indeed produce late-stage Soul Formation cultivators; in fact, that was the optimal realm for ascension.
Yet such beings were accompanied by torrential amounts of worldly origin qi with every move; how could one act with such reckless abandon like Monarch Qixia?
Moreover, she claimed she possessed the strength to suppress late-stage Soul Formation?
Then wouldn't that make her... Void Refining?
"No!"
Patriarch Yuming crawled with great difficulty to a bare rock and propped himself against it, shaking his head despondently.
"I don't believe it!"
"Strong though you are, the realm you currently display is genuinely on par with ours."
Monarch Qixia did not answer him this time.
Instead, her beautiful eyes turned toward one of the valleys nestled amidst the overlapping peaks.
"Junior, come out!"
A figure walked out slowly.
He cast a calm glance at Monarch Qixia, then shifted his attention to the battered Patriarch Yuming, whose aura was constantly swelling.
Though covered in wounds after the intense battle, his aura was swelling wildly—to the eyes of immortal cultivators, such a counterintuitive phenomenon made the truth immediately obvious.
"Feng Jiang, why did you come out?" Patriarch Yuming asked, his tone laced with exasperation and grief.
Feng Jiang wore an expression of deep sorrow as he offered a respectful bow.
"With the sacred land devastated and the sect fallen, how could this disciple look after only himself?"
Patriarch Yuming said in despair, "But you are no match for her."
"Junior Brother Lei Daozi was no match for her either, yet didn't he draw his sword without hesitation?" Feng Jiang countered. He then slowly straightened his posture, bearing the unimaginable pressure to face the red-robed woman not far away. "At the very least, I will not let her leave this place unscathed!"
"Such grand talk!"
Monarch Qixia sneered and tapped a finger across the empty air.
Pfft!
A bloody hole abruptly opened between Feng Jiang's brows.
His sea of consciousness shattered; his divine soul dispersed.
A generation's Valley Immortal fell just like that.
Yet in that moment, a look of relief washed over Feng Jiang's face.
It was as if he had been trapped here for far too long, and only now had finally gained release.
Monarch Qixia frowned, sensing something amiss.
Sweeping her divine sense, she suddenly looked down at her hand.
With Feng Jiang's heavy collapse, a wisp of gray qi coiled around Monarch Qixia.
"This is... calamity qi?"
Suddenly!
Monarch Qixia's willow-leaf brows raised, and she blurted out, "Valley Immortal Feng Jiang? The Calamity Gu, one of the Southern Border's three great Tier 5 Immortal Gu, is in your hands!"
Regrettably, Feng Jiang was no longer able to answer her.
What answered her was the churning earth. Colossal fissures spread out in all directions with Monarch Qixia at the center.
Endless subterranean fire erupted violently, and scalding magma soared skyward.
The earthly calamity had manifested!
Patriarch Yuming watched mournfully as his disciple departed ahead of him. Feng Jiang had once been the junior he held in the highest regard, far above Lei Daozi, Ye Lingtian, Tan Sheng, and the others.
Yet now, he had fallen like this.
"If only we had reclaimed the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land earlier... sheltered by the blessed land, perhaps you wouldn't have suffered the daily torment of that Calamity Gu, and would have had hopes of advancing to Soul Formation."
"No matter. Now, you have finally found release."
"Then this old man shall use his final strength to lend you a hand, so you may depart in greater glory."
Muttering to himself, his massive Primordial Spirit, hundreds of zhang tall, began to burn furiously.
Sweeping up the dense gray qi billowing from Feng Jiang's corpse, it surged straight toward the nine heavens.
The earthly calamity had appeared; where was the heavenly tribulation?
As if heaven and earth were answering him...
The very next instant!
Rumble!
Across the horizon, a startling thunderclap detonated violently.
It was as though Lei Daozi had returned to life, once again controlling a lightning pool—yet its magnitude exceeded Lei Daozi's by a thousandfold!
The arrogance on Monarch Qixia's face finally faded by a measure.
She looked up at the sky, where ominous black clouds were converging madly at an unimaginable speed.
White light flashed within, lightning slithering like dragons and serpents—a spectacle resembling the destruction of the world.
"What an impressive junior!"
"Before dying, you actually attempted to break through to the Soul Formation realm to trigger the Calamity Gu, with Yuming in his dying moments fanning the flames for you."
"By killing you, I ended up drawing this wrath of heaven and earth upon myself."
"Still, do you think this heavenly tribulation and earthly calamity alone can keep me here?"
Monarch Qixia sneered and transformed into a streak of soaring fiery light, shooting straight toward the sky.
She intended to blast the heavenly tribulation apart before it could fully take shape!
Her action seemed to trigger a chain reaction.
From the earth, colossal hands of yellow soil reached out to grasp at her, torrents of magma surged to pounce from every direction, violent streams of spiritual energy erupted from the earth veins, and an unimaginable gravity bore down upon her body.
High in the nine heavens, the pitch-black storm clouds gathered faster and faster, teeming with countless thunderbolts.
This was a heavenly tribulation beyond the wildest imagination of any Nascent Soul cultivator!
Vague silhouettes of strange beasts even began to emerge within:
White lightning serpents, purple thunder dragons, and black elks.
Monarch Qixia's expression grew increasingly solemn. The power of this heavenly tribulation seemed to grow stronger in response to her own immense might.
In her prime, she naturally would not fear it.
Yet here in the Mountain Sea Realm, no matter how powerful she was, how could she surpass this world itself?
She could even sense that this world's Heavenly Dao harbored the intention to obliterate her; Valley Immortal Feng Jiang's move had merely pushed the river along its course.
"This heaven and earth cannot trap me!"
"Much less a mere heavenly tribulation and earthly calamity!"
Monarch Qixia shouted sternly and struck downward with a wave of her palm.
In an instant, the bizarre earthly calamities were suppressed.
Boundless golden flames erupted violently from her body, sweeping toward the thunderclouds.
She possessed the confidence to suppress these earthly calamities and shatter this heavenly tribulation.
Yet!
"Five hundred thousand li of Mingyuan's domain, over three thousand years of sacred land history, all reduced to ashes on account of you alone. How could we let you simply walk away?"
"Demonic Phoenix, sink into ruin here alongside us!"
"Eternal descent into Mingyuan!"
A figure appeared beneath the endless storm clouds, looking down at the sky-soaring fire phoenix.
He muttered in a low voice, reciting archaic secret incantations that did not sound like the common language of this realm.
Yet Monarch Qixia understood them in an instant, and her expression changed drastically.
"You dare?!"
Patriarch Tianyuan, who had vanished for so long, turned a deaf ear. He poured out his magic power unceasingly, casting incantation gestures one after another.
Under his workings, it felt as though countless bindings were being torn apart.
"Unlock the jade-shattering taboo; enter the Netherworld Abyss."
The Netherworld Abyss, which had encircled the sacred land for thousands of years, surged violently, swelling upward from its banks.
"Heaven and man overturned; heart's eye, open!"
A pair of aged eyes, identical to Patriarch Tianyuan's, emerged within the storm clouds behind him. In that moment, he substituted heaven's will with his own mind, fixing an unyielding stare upon Monarch Qixia.
"No successors left; water sluice, open!"
Five hundred thousand li of Mingyuan territory had long fallen into the flames of war; swept by torrential origin qi, few survivors remained. The immense Mingyuan Sect was practically no different from being destroyed. Saying there were no successors left was no exaggeration.
In that case, why leave such a treasured land to others?
The invisible sluice gates sealing the vast Netherworld Abyss suddenly opened wide. Towering Ming Water rose continuously, the water level rising an untold number of zhang above the Mingyuan continent.
By this point, Patriarch Tianyuan was exerting himself to his absolute limits, scarcely able to continue.
Monarch Qixia would not simply watch him execute such a mutual destruction forbidden technique. Taking a deep breath, she unleashed a piercing cry toward Patriarch Tianyuan.
Skre-e-e-ch!
A phoenix cry pierced the nine heavens, echoing throughout the cosmos.
Patriarch Tianyuan's open mouth froze. With lifeless eyes, he plunged into the Ming Water.
Monarch Qixia let out a breath; she had interrupted him after all.
With her knowledge, she could naturally tell this was a forbidden art meant to unseal something.
And what seal here in the Mingyuan Sect was worth undoing?
Only that Netherworld Abyss, older than the Mingyuan Sect itself, flowing through the Mountain Sea Realm for tens of millions of years!
Within it lay not only the souls of demon beasts and desolate beasts suppressed by the Mingyuan Sect during ancient wars, but also formidable evil spirits and ghostly entities naturally spawned from the dense yin qi since antiquity.
Once that seal was broken, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Yet in the very next instant, that low muttering began once more.
Monarch Qixia's expression froze. She whipped her head around, only to see numerous incarnations of Patriarch Tianyuan bobbing up and down amid the surging Ming Water.
The three patriarchs of the Mingyuan Sect each possessed vast divine abilities.
One excelled in wind manipulation, virtually peerless in direct combat.
One commanded rain and dew, ever triumphant in entrapping and slaughtering foes.
And Patriarch Tianyuan was most proficient in the art of avatar clones; when it came to life-preserving ability, he was the undisputed number one in the Mingyuan Sect.
Truly, had he wished to flee today, even if Monarch Qixia pursued him, it would have been nearly impossible to wipe him out completely.
Yet if he had no desire to leave, things were entirely different.
This time, all of Patriarch Tianyuan's incarnations scattered across various locations simultaneously recited the incantation, their tone frantic and hurried, as if fearing they would not hold out until that final moment.
"High and low cast into disorder; soul lock, open!"
"The greater trend collapses; demon chains, open!"
"Yin and Yang diverge; ghost gate, open! Open! OPEN!"
When the last three cries of "Open!" boomed forth, Monarch Qixia felt as though something fundamental in the world had been snapped in two.
Amid the fathomless Ming Water, tens of thousands of howls abruptly resounded.
Formidable ghost souls seemed to return from the netherworld, exulting in celebration.
Standing atop the crests of waves, they flaunted their colossal spectral frames.
Vying with one another, they devoured Patriarch Tianyuan's helpless incarnations, causing their already terrifying auras to become even more dreadful.
Among them, no fewer than eight or nine possessed strength comparable to Soul Formation cultivators.
Below the Soul Formation level, they were simply countless!
Faced with vicious ghosts tearing at his flesh and spirit, Patriarch Tianyuan maintained a calm demeanor, facing death with serene resolve.
This was the price for unlocking the Netherworld Abyss and releasing the malevolent ghosts suppressed for tens of millions of years in the Eastern Desolation's foremost forbidden ground.
Yet he harbored no regrets!
It was his avatar that had led the wolf into the fold, ushering a formidable foe into the sect's hinterland; naturally, he had to pay the price.
Likewise, Monarch Qixia had laid waste to his sect, so she too must pay the price.
Furthermore, if she could be kept here, then with the foundations Mingyuan Sect had preserved outside, there remained hope to rebuild the Soul Formation sacred land.
'Junior Brother Heize should have hidden inside the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land and can escape this disaster.'
'Nephew Chongming is traveling outside; having consumed the Tianji Pill, he has already comprehended law true intent, possessing a great chance of advancing to Soul Formation in the future.'
'There is also Shangyou Immortal City, Dongyang Sect, and...'
His subsequent thoughts could no longer remain lucid, as far too many ghosts were devouring his incarnations one after another.
Certain Nascent Soul ghosts, upon consuming his avatars, even managed to briefly ascend to the Soul Formation realm.
Though it lasted only a fleeting instant, it ought to be enough to give Monarch Qixia trouble.
'Keep her here!'
That was Patriarch Tianyuan's final thought.
Once his consciousness completely dispersed, every evil ghost turned their gaze in unison toward that exquisitely beautiful, voluptuous figure in red robes.
"Awoooo..."
Amid the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves, billions of spirits swept along with the boundless Ming Water, submerging the Mingyuan Sacred Land and submerging Monarch Qixia.
...
Amid the undulating expanse of the nether sea,
no bird could approach, and no living creature endured.
Suddenly!
Sizzle!
A wisp of flame ignited beneath the Ming Water.
An evil ghost pounced, but the flame casually devoured it instead.
Then, with an even more frenzied and decisive momentum, it spread in all directions.
In just a few breaths, the hundreds of thousands of li of Mingyuan were thoroughly ignited by golden flames, boiling violently.
The resentful souls and ferocious ghosts trapped within wailed incessantly, screeching in agonizing torment.
A clear voice pierced through layer upon layer of Ming Water, reverberating across the skies:
"Tianyuan, none of you can trap me!"
Crash!
Waves surged as the golden flames parted.
A figure, seated atop a treasure chart depicting countless beasts, soared straight out of the Netherworld Abyss.
Her face was pale, and a ruthless glint shone in her eyes.
Crack!
The moment she appeared, a bolt of lightning cleaved down from the sky, accompanied by roaring lightning serpents and thunder dragons.
"Irritating nuisance!"
For the first time, Monarch Qixia showed genuine irritation. This time, however, she no longer attempted to destroy the heavenly tribulation.
During the time she had been trapped in Mingyuan, the heavenly tribulation had already brewed to its absolute peak.
This was a heavenly tribulation capable of obliterating any powerful being in the Mountain Sea Realm.
Contending against it meant contending against the entire heaven and earth!
Monarch Qixia glanced toward a certain spot in Mingyuan, then took to the skies without lingering.
Whenever lightning struck her body, a beast's silhouette on the treasure chart beneath her vanished.
If she could not destroy the tribulation, let alone transcend it, she would use substitutes!
Fortunately, she had the spirit treasure Myriad Beasts Chart obtained from the Moon Hermit as a precaution. It contained countless powerful beast souls, more than enough to bear numerous strikes of the heavenly tribulation on her behalf.
Such a heavenly tribulation could never last forever; it would eventually dissipate.
Monarch Qixia leaped away, leaving behind only the vast Mingyuan where no living creature dared tread, and the furiously burning Nirvana Holy Fire.
Even the ominous storm clouds gathering boundless thunder followed her away.
Black and gold became the only two hues in this realm.
And as Monarch Qixia departed, the direction of her final backward glance had been precisely the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land!
Within, Patriarch Heize struggled to his feet, tottering toward Luo Chen, who was shielded by a circle of golden fire.
"Nirvana Holy Fire!"
"It's you!"
"You're the one who led the wolf into our fold!"
Chapter 910