The night was far too long.
In the darkness that swallowed heaven and earth, bone-chilling rumbles echoed throughout the entire Border Realm. Rampaging shadows ran amok, sweeping across like a raging torrent.
Even more horrifying were the bizarre mutants emerging one after another from the Forbidden Domain.
Colossal forms the size of giants sought any living creature that violated the taboos, roaring brutally and shaking the earth with thunderous booms as they trampled across the ground.
And high above in the heavens, whenever a fleeting burst of fierce light streaked across, it illuminated figures bearing iron wings and clad in golden armor, whipping up storms and ravaging in all directions!
Earth Guard Tianjun!
Even if they were merely residual phantoms from the past, their ferocious, frenzied appearance was enough to strike terror into every heart...
In the riot of the sacrificial temple, the darkness had almost materialized into physical form, thoroughly swallowing the entire Border Realm.
Once mutated, the cruel Law of Tianyuan acted like a noose around the necks of all living things, bringing relentless asphyxiation and dread.
Under the horrifying onslaught of this quasi-heavenly wrath, all the survivors could do was huddle shivering beside their campfires, enduring their terror in agony.
Waiting for dawn...
Around that ornate palace lantern, every retreating survivor was wounded and deathly pale, their numbers reduced to less than half of what they had been when they first entered the Border Realm.
The vast majority of cannon fodder used for pathfinding and attrition had been wiped out in the temple's uprising, devoured by the ravenous remnants, torn to pieces, and assimilated into new phantoms...
At this moment, in this remote, ruined hall, the newly transformed phantoms still lingered just beyond the palace lantern's dim glow.
Stirred by lingering malice, they paced back and forth, hungering for prey.
Yet within the sphere of illumination, it was as if the phantoms could not see them at all, entirely unable to trace their presence.
*They were utterly worthless when alive except as expendables, and in death they've become such a nuisance...* Among Duke Wuyou's subordinates, the head steward in charge of personnel could not help feeling vexed.
*Had I known, I should have dealt with these troublesome things before the temple rioted!*
He cast a resentful glance at the lingering shadows, but as soon as he turned around, he forced a flattering, eager smile onto his face and served the decoctions.
At the base of the gilded palace lantern, which branched outward like a colossal tree, leaned a mangled figure, bones exposed and twitching in agony.
Duke Wuyou!
His majestic and solemn aura was gone, replaced only by frenzy and resentment.
The flesh on his face had peeled away as if scorched by raging fire, hideous as a ghost.
At this moment, while maintaining the light of the palace lantern, he had to divide his attention to suppress the rioting Law of Tianyuan within his body; wisps of flame continually rose from his wounds and dissipated.
He was weak as never before.
Yet soon, the situation changed.
After brief preparations, a slender maid raised an ornate chalice and poured a seemingly endless thread of crimson nectar into Duke Wuyou's mouth. Vast vitality surged through him, rapidly repairing his body.
Surrounding him, blind attendants cut open Duke Wuyou's torso, deftly excising the shattered bones and ruptured organs, along with the Law of the Absolute Sentence inflicted by the sacrificial temple.
Next, metal viscera crafted as if from gold and silver were taken from chests and sorted into his abdomen.
The moment they connected, the metallic gleam and texture quickly faded, transforming into flesh and blood to resume operation.
Thus, fully mended, his flesh was neatly sutured, the long stitches resembling centipedes disappearing beneath his ornate robes into the darkness.
In just a few short minutes, the dying Duke Wuyou was restored to his former appearance.
As if revitalized!
And those attendants, folding up like paper figures, returned into the chest and vanished.
Amid everyone's congratulations, the steward wept with joy, prostrating himself and banging his head repeatedly on the ground, crying out through his tears: "This subordinate failed in foresight and discipline, causing Your Grace's grand design to crumble. Ten thousand deaths could not redeem my failure; all the iron in the Nine Provinces could not forge such a monumental mistake! I beg Your Grace to punish me..."
"Nonsense. Who could foresee every single event without mishap?"
Duke Wuyou glanced at him and waved a dismissive hand. "We are in great need of hands right now, and you are Our trusted confidant. How could you demean yourself so? Speak of this no more."
At once, the steward's eyes welled with tears as he trembled with emotion. "Your Grace's profound virtue and boundless grace cannot be repaid even if my bones are ground to dust! In my next life, I shall surely—"
After this little play of harmonious sovereign and subject, the atmosphere in the ranks livened up significantly. Especially as fine wine and sumptuous dishes kept emerging from Duke Wuyou's chests, the pale, unsettled looks on everyone's faces gradually settled.
As the violent upheaval outside the light began to show signs of abating, morale began to recover.
And the master of Wulou Temple, who had sat cross-legged in meditation without eating or drinking from start to finish, finally opened his eyes.
"Such an unexpected turn—the ways of the world are truly unpredictable. To think that over a decade of meticulous planning has fallen short by one final step." The master inquired, "What arrangements does Duke Wuyou have next? Please enlighten us."
For a moment, expressions subtly shifted across the group, everyone holding their breath.
"What is the Master saying?"
Duke Wuyou gave a faint, ambiguous smile. "A minor setback, hardly worth mentioning—merely a small interlude that leaves the grand design unharmed. Why bother testing me?"
The master remained calm, impassive as withered wood. "The Tower of Audience has been destroyed, and even the Bell of Audience is utterly shattered. Could Duke Wuyou still have another way to open the sacrificial temple?"
"..."
Duke Wuyou's expression darkened for a brief second, yet he maintained his solemn composure, entirely unshaken. "True, without the audience, one cannot set foot before the throne.
"However, stepping into the sacrificial temple is not bound to a single path."
Under everyone's stunned gazes, he gave a faint smile.
"Rest assured, everyone. For this day, my Wuyou lineage has prepared for hundreds of years; there can be no oversight.
"As for the method, as long as you cooperate with me, I guarantee the covenant will be fulfilled. Once the Imperial Seal of the Realm is obtained, everything else within the temple shall belong to you all!"
"Excellent." The master pinched his fingers together in a flower gesture, smiling.
Everyone seemed to beam with joy, brimming with anticipation.
An unknown amount of time passed. Beneath Duke Wuyou's increasingly urgent checks, the palace lantern's light gradually dimmed. Fortunately, right before it was completely extinguished, the dark storm outside finally drew to a halt.
Amid the lingering ripples, wisps of dark shadows still shrouded the sacrificial temple.
The fury had not ended; rather, it felt like a brief lull before the next eruption. The dark mist emanating from behind that high wall of death still filled the Border Realm, making breathing difficult for everyone.
Suppression and repulsion slowed even the operation of the matrix and blessings.
Like being submerged in the deep sea, the greater the entity, the more staggering the pressure it had to bear; the higher one's tier, the harder it was to take a step.
Had an "aberration" like a Celestial-Human been present, let alone drawing close, merely stepping into the Border Realm would instantly invite blockade and suppression from the Shadow of the Tower, with unpredictable consequences.
Conversely, Duke Wuyou, who had coincidentally fallen from the Celestial-Human tier and belonged to the Great Sin of the Unfinished Tower, now felt somewhat as comfortable as a fish in water.
In his subordinates' praise, this became proof of Heaven's Mandate. Under their relentless flattery, it seemed as if ascending the imperial throne and rebuilding the empire would take place this very day.
Yet Duke Wuyou's expression held no trace of triumph.
Instead, it looked rather grim.
When everyone arrived once more beneath the high wall outside the Forbidden Domain, atop those ornate and solemn gates, the gigantic faces remained grotesque and savage.
Their cold eyes glared down at any outsider who dared draw near, ready at any moment to inflict the Absolute Sentence.
After expending two more pieces of cannon fodder to measure the safe distance, everyone stood vigilantly outside the perimeter, looking toward Duke Wuyou in the center.
And after staying silent for a long while, Duke Wuyou ultimately retrieved the treasure at the very bottom of his personal chest.
"Things have come to this, and there is no other choice. Ancestors above, the time to break and build anew is today. Forgive Wuyou's offense."
Inside an amber piece the size of a fist, a pitch-black flame retained its rising posture, seemingly frozen forever at that very instant.
Yet the moment it was taken out, as if sensing the aura of the sacrificial temple, the frozen flame began to tremble violently, raging as if on the verge of waking.
That was...
"...The Mohists' Palace-Burning Fire?" Shehri blurted in shock, unable to believe his eyes.
It wasn't that he couldn't believe it still existed in the world, but that he never expected Duke Wuyou to possess evidence and remnants of such monumental disgrace from the old empire!
The collapse and fall of the Tower of Tianyuan had merely been the end of the empire.
Before that, the Mohists had calculated cunningly to forge countless weapons and instruments of destruction, including tools to breach palace taboos and walls of death before storming the Tower of Tianyuan.
That tiny flame in Duke Wuyou's hand right now...
It was a power forged by exhausting the quintessence of Embers and the White Stag, consuming countless materials, specifically designed to counter the power of the Tianyuan lineage!
It was said that before the Tower of Tianyuan collapsed, the empire's ten-thousand-li palace city had already been engulfed in boundless black flames.
And even after the Tower of Tianyuan fell, the fire continued to burn for ten whole days, until the palaces—where the Eternal Empire had amassed countless treasures and riches gathered from across the world over thousands of years—were reduced to ruins.
Leaving only ashes behind.
On the day the Tower of Tianyuan collapsed, the endless fire stretching for tens of thousands of li burned away none other than the empire's most precious foundation!
Who could have imagined that when it reappeared hundreds of years later, it would be in the hands of a remnant seeking restoration?
"There is no other way."
Duke Wuyou's expression was grim and heavy as he slowly raised the crack-ridden amber in his hands.
Ever since their births, who among Wuyou, Changle, and Anguo had not taken pride in that colossal, magnificent Eternal Empire of the past? To be reduced to using such a thing today—the label of traitor was secondary; what had to be cast aside first was the pride and dignity they valued more than life itself.
If this were known to the world, even holding the Imperial Seal of the Realm, the legitimacy of their claim would inevitably bear a stain.
Yet at this time, in this place, was he supposed to turn and leave over mere reputation? That would be true idiocy!
Since that was the case, there was nothing for it but to destroy in order to build!
Only...
Even as everyone was shocked, they could not help but feel doubtful.
Just how immense the scale of the Palace-Burning Fire had been in the past was beyond anyone's knowledge now. But at this moment, it was merely a single wisp of flame; facing this magnificent, colossal sacrificial temple, how much effect could it possibly have?
Even with qualitative counteraction, facing such a vast disparity in quantity, it would still be snuffed out.
But immediately after, the instant the amber shattered and the Palace-Burning Fire flared up, another crack-covered core emerged from the fissure in Duke Wuyou's chest.
The Flame Tide Seed!
The moment the black flame collided with the disaster seed, Duke Wuyou forcefully suppressed and commanded them, fusing them together by force—using the Flame Tide Seed as a foundation to rekindle and fuel the Palace-Burning Fire!
Could that even fucking work?
Even if it were possible, could you pull it off?
Before anyone could react, while suspicions ran rampant in their minds, they heard Duke Wuyou's chilling voice: "I ask that you all lend me a helping hand..."
In an instant, screams rang out from within the cohort.
First was the obsequious steward behind him, followed one by one by the other subordinates...
They felt a terrifying black hole abruptly appear within their bodies, ravenously devouring their life, souls, and everything else.
In shock, they raised their heads, wanting to beg for mercy, only to see Duke Wuyou's indifferent face.
They did not even have time to resist...
The Path of Tianyuan was one of absolute extraction and dominion; for a superior to plunder everything from his subordinates was simpler than eating or drinking.
Preserving only a few capable confidants, not only were the useless subordinates drained, but wails even erupted from the baskets left on the ground as every living creature stored within was reduced to a sacrifice.
Viscous crimson blood gushed from the gaps of the hampers like springs.
Finally, it converged and coiled around the Flame Tide Seed!
Living sacrifice!
Once again, a living sacrifice had begun!
Within the ranks, all the corrupted who had entered into contracts with Duke Wuyou also felt their spiritus steadily draining away. They could not help shouting in fury and trying to resist.
Yet Duke Wuyou disregarded them completely.
"Those who achieve great things do not sweat the small stuff. Now that the mountain of treasure lies before us, We have even sacrificed so many subordinates. Could you gentlemen truly be stingy over such a meager amount of essence and spiritus?"
All the plundered power, spiritus, and even life and soul were cast entirely into the calamity seed.
A scarlet radiance instantly surged from the fissures in the flame tide, temporarily unifying with the pitch-black Palace-Burning Fire... In the end, accompanied by the violent convulsion of the entire Border Realm, black-and-red flames soared into the sky, turning into a towering fire tornado that reached from heaven to earth, whirling and spreading in all directions.
Under the searing flames, the Shadow of the Tower shuddered violently.
The earth quaked and the sky shook.
Streams of raging fire fell among the ruins and buildings, swiftly spreading and propagating until, under Duke Wuyou's command, they turned into dozens of torrents surging wildly toward the sacrificial temple at the highest peak!
The gigantic faces roared.
Countless phantoms and traces of the past manifested continuously as darkness rioted; massive fissures emerged upon the high wall, spreading rapidly.
The Forbidden Domain was disintegrating!
Under the fury of the Palace-Burning Fire, the darkness within the sacrificial temple billowed upward, appearing to thin out rapidly... revealing the true core of the Border Realm!
Everyone was left breathless.
Countless dancing flames illuminated the firmament, reflecting that solemn silhouette hanging upside down from the high heavens!
A tower!
A half-severed, broken shadow tower extended from the raging ripples, suspended inverted in the sea, pointing straight toward the location of the sacrificial temple.
The fulcrum of the former Tower of Tianyuan finally revealed its true form... Even though the broken tower had plunged beneath the vortex, this place still lay beneath the great tower!
The rampaging Palace-Burning Fire triggered the true power within the sacrificial temple. Shrouded beneath the Shadow of the Tower, it abruptly stalled, unable to expand.
Locked in a stalemate.
Yet the earth-shattering cacophony continued... unrelenting!
Until, finally, the wall of death reached its breaking point.
Collapse—
Behind the colossal breach that split open, the towering palace within the sacrificial temple was revealed, along with the countless rings of sealing illusory light encircling the hall.
"Haha, hahahaha, hahahahahahaha!!!"
Duke Wuyou laughed in ecstasy, dancing for joy, no longer able to contain himself. He gazed feverishly at that palace veiled in illusory light, as if he could feel the call of the Imperial Seal of the Realm.
The authority of the tower was right within reach!
Only...
In that instant, amid the roaring flames, the tremors of the Border Realm, and the collapse of the city, some other sound seemed to ring out.
Faint and distant.
Drifting so elusively through the thick smoke and firelight.
Like a low humming, echoing amid the flames and ruins.
Behind him, amid the crumbling architecture and dancing fire, countless phantoms and traces rose once more.
As if a blurred figure walked past slowly, strolling with leisure and total composure. Behind him, colossal shadows emerged one by one from the dense smoke.
Like an incinerated soul leading monsters on patrol through a hell that belonged to him.
With a scornful glance back at him, the figure vanished into the flames once more.
The footsteps faded into the distance.
What on earth... was that?
It was clearly just one of countless phantoms, yet it caused Duke Wuyou's heart to sink slightly, contracting in an instant. But no matter how hard he searched, he could see nothing clearly.
Nor was there time to dwell on it.
The priority right now was to...
Snap!
The instant he turned his head back, an abrupt chill seized his heart.
A blade drove into his heart, and then the Rotting Scale poison spread through his spiritus, flooding his soul and penetrating everything in an instant.
A long-plotted strike!
"It's you..."
Duke Wuyou's body jerked. His pupils contracted violently as he glared fixedly at the bandage-wrapped face.
Shehri!
Chapter 450