In an instant, beneath the phantom gleam of endless falling stars, ten suns hung aloft in the sky. Savage light erupted violently, ripples cascading one after another.
Such vast and majestic power did not even seek to inflict harm.
Even after unleashing secret arts and squandering tens or even hundreds of times the normal energy, it sought not the slightest bit of destruction. At best, it was merely an all-out effort to stall for time.
To fight for a single split second!
A breath later, the desolate white light piercing the sun manifested once again!
The rainbow radiance that had once nearly severed the birth of the third Wolf Sin in a single strike erupted from the void.
The roving splendor of the blade tore through every impure, mingled hue, reducing the colors of all creation to the purest red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet... And at the very fore of those endlessly racing colors, a wisp of sword-like pallor swept back and forth, gliding effortlessly across the expanse like the stroke of a painter's brush.
There was not even time to react.
By the time anyone came to their senses, that winding white rainbow had already danced with nimble grace like a needle threading silk, piercing clean through all the erupting forces.
Upon the chronometer dial formed of the Chasm Eye's tangled limbs, a fissure abruptly tore open, and grayish-black blood gushed forth like a waterfall.
The tens of thousands of serpent-like thunderbolts of the Decaying Wind vile fiend were snapped in half. The revisions wrought by Defilement and the Aether lineage alike ground to an abrupt halt. As if its power could not even be reined in, it tore through the shackles of the Tianyuan lineage with unstoppable force, cleaving open a massive rift from the void—a straight, unhindered thoroughfare!
One strike severed the shackles; one strike shattered the confusion!
Even the bewitchment and seduction of the Wolf of the Heart collapsed beneath that supreme, razor-sharp edge. Wisps of bizarre phantom light flickered into being from thin air and shattered before they could even disorient the Priest-King's heading...
Amidst shrill chimes like mournful weeping, the Wolf of Suspended Bells was suddenly covered in wounds, blood spurting like springs. Yet its speed grew all the more terrifying.
Within its wild roar surfaced a hysterical relish.
A final deathbed struggle.
Without hesitation, it lunged toward that swath of White Stag light!
"Overestimating yourself!"
High in the heavens, a crack appeared on Fan Yun's face. As the Law of Tianyuan fractured, he suffered backlash.
Yet behind the crack, blazing light surfaced in an instant.
He resolutely reached out and clenched his fist toward the newly escaped Priest-King from afar.
Boom!
Those eyes went abruptly hollow, followed immediately by a cold, aloof gaze. Amidst the resonance and connection of the Law of Tianyuan, he became the fulcrum.
Far away in Midtown, Tianyi, one of the sages of the Heavenly Overseer, opened his eyes and looked upon everything before him.
Then, without need for words or commands, the stars abruptly reappeared across the empty night sky. They flared with burning radiance, weaving together to vaguely outline an indistinct face spanning the entire heavens.
One of the contemporary twin poles of Tianyuan—the Heavenly Overseer had descended!
Merely by appearing, it dispelled the immense downpour of flying light completely, leaving it incapable of posing any obstacle. Then, those eyes looked down toward the earth.
A mere downward glance!
Just like the scene when the Great Sin Lu Changsheng had been reduced to ashes in days past!
Like a bestowal of grace, it rained down predestined extinction!
"...Alright, now it's done."
At that instant—no, long before that very instant—a chuckling voice drifted out from the distant darkness: "Come, let me teach you. It's simple—
"The Emperor decrees: Today, Swordsmith Ji Jue, having performed great service in eradicating the wolf peril and expanding the realm's territory, is elevated one noble rank and granted an actual fief of ten thousand households. Furthermore, for his loyal devotion to the realm and diligent service that has deeply pleased Us, he is granted the acting post of Palace Attendant, temporarily assuming the mantle of the Imperial Sovereign's Hand..."
"—Alright, all wrapped up!"
He said, "Affix the seal!"
Clack!
Amidst a crisp sound, something in the void seemed to press gently down upon this world.
Immediately following that...
Right before the Heavenly Overseer's light of extinction, the void rippled like gauze. Suddenly, an archaic emblem gleaming like gold revealed itself.
It stung the eyes of countless onlookers.
It sent chills down the spines of countless people across the world, prompting outraged roars.
"Eternally Securing Heaven's Mandate, Constant Across Ten Thousand Generations."
It was merely eight ancient seal-script characters. It carried little raw force and possessed no special mechanics or abilities. It was nothing more than an imprint left behind by a seal... yet it caused the Eye of the Heavenly Overseer to suddenly disintegrate!
The face formed of the myriad stars unexpectedly ignored Tianyi's call and guidance. Slowly, it closed its eyes and dissipated without a trace.
Only the radiant golden glow remained lingering between heaven and earth, refusing to disperse for a long time.
Even the usurpers watching from the shadows shuddered and coughed blood, utterly unable to comprehend it...
—The Imperial Seal of the Realm!
It was truly the Imperial Seal of the Realm from the Eternal Imperial Court!
Outside Tianyuan, everyone found it inconceivable. But those within Tianyuan felt struck by lightning, hairs standing on end as though witnessing a living nightmare.
Tianyuan's Sovereign Virtue Implement of old, the legitimate seal of the Eternal Imperial Court's succession, was actually manifesting its power of its own accord to protect Lu Changsheng?!
Wait, are you serious?
Say something, Tianyuan!
Are you really trying to pull off some holy dynasty of transformed evil?!
Now, even Doledonville did not dare make a move. If the descent of the Heavenly Overseer proved useless, how could the Earthly Steward fare any better!
Under the aegis of the Imperial Seal of the Realm, the domain where the White Stag descended actually outlined the grand, towering silhouette of an imperial palace unlike anything seen before. Tianyuan and the White Stag flowed and merged without the slightest discord, even faintly harmonizing...
And all of it was in the hands of a vile fiend!
Boom!
Fan Yun's half-body blew apart under the recoil. Shaken to the core, he instinctively looked back.
Where is the Lord of Weapons!
Lord of Weapons, save us!
The Lord of Weapons did not budge.
Atop a sickly horse, the decrepit, balding old man seemed lost in thought, almost asleep, right on the verge of drooling.
My apologies, getting on in years, didn't catch that.
What did you say just now?
Isn't everything fine? Good things, all good things!
Just like that, he nonchalantly threw in the towel.
"Tianlu, what are you waiting for!"
Tianyi snapped, losing his composure in raspy fury. "With a Mutual Transmutation of Virtue and Vice on this scale, can the Lock even bear it? How much longer are you going to let things deteriorate!"
A soft sigh rose on the wind, laden with helplessness.
"...The mess you fellows created—why do you always come to me to wipe your asses?"
Without warning, a white-robed artisan stepped forward leaning on a crutch. Surveying the situation, he shook his head, then reluctantly extended his hand toward—
"Now."
At the highest point of the White Nation, amidst the ruins of the Audience Hall, a voice drifted from the mask in Fan Qian's hand.
He said, "Fire."
Bang!
Without hesitation, White Owl pulled the trigger.
An ordinary-looking bullet burst from the chamber, streaking through the night. It silently traversed the vast distance, aiming straight for... between Tianlu's brows!
Chekhov's Gun had finally sounded!
While the bullet remained in the chamber, the myriad phenomena shifted and flowed without pause.
Yet now, the moment the bullet flew out, the world seemed to freeze. Time, thoughts, and all phenomena ground to a halt. Only that single bullet soared freely and nimbly, crossing boundless distances and stretches of time.
Like predestined karma, it naturally and indisputably brought death in its wake.
Yet within that frozen time, Tianlu's pupils stirred ever so slightly. He raised his eyes, looked at the bullet inches away, and slowly closed his outstretched hand.
Like plucking a flower.
He caught the bullet in his grip. All kinds of wonders, all transcendence and power melted away into nothingness, leaving only an utterly ordinary bullet.
Time resumed its flow once more.
All fell dead silent.
Everyone was dumbstruck.
Smack!
Amidst a soft snap, blood splattered. Tianlu's body stiffened midair, stumbling a step backward as a through-and-through bullet hole appeared on his forehead.
"He actually..."
Shot!
When he looked down at his hand again, he discovered that the bullet that should have been in his grasp had vanished.
No—it would be more accurate to say that the moment he caught the bullet, another hand had put the plucked bullet right back where it had been!
Mohist Legacy—【Non-Offensive】!
At this critical juncture, the contemporary leader of Nirvana struck boldly. Caught off guard, Tianlu suffered a wound!
No matter how slight the injury, facing a Mohist watching from the shadows placed him at a decisive disadvantage, leaving him unable to spare even a distraction.
What was more...
"Looks like I was outplayed by a move."
Tianlu sighed with regret, and quite naturally threw his hands up.
Sorry, did my best.
Thus, with merely a split second of delay, everything slipped past the point of recovery...
Only hysterical wolf howls echoed between heaven and earth. Eyes scarlet as the sun opened high in the sky, glaring down with ferocious menace.
The Mountain Wolf!
The incomplete avatar blew apart with a roar, detonating into a cloud of blood mist. Yet within that rapidly swelling mist, grayish-black, rock-like fur sprouted and spread outward.
The earth and sky produced a grating screech, as though something colossal was forcibly crossing the vortex and squeezing into the mortal realm... No, if it were forcing its way in, the commotion would have been dozens or hundreds of times more exaggerated!
The way it looked now, it had clearly snuck in long ago!
That was the Mountain Wolf!
The Mountain Wolf's true form!
The first wolf under the Unborn Wolf had somehow snuck into the mortal realm long ago, lying in wait and biding its time, waiting for the very moment the sacrifice was laid upon the altar to feast without restraint.
Even the Wolf of the Heart could not resist cursing inwardly.
Damn it, we agreed to compete on the same stage and fight fair and square. What the hell is this, logging straight in on your main account?!
It clearly wanted to hoard everything for itself, leaving not even a drop of broth for the rest!
Seeing that there was no longer any room to salvage the situation, unable to stomach the fury any longer, and even less able to accept this outcome... that ambitious gambit that had once betrayed their pact had now become an inspired move capable of turning the tables!
The Mountain Wolf suddenly lunged!
Boundless fangs like the silhouettes of mountains forcibly barged into the White Stag's domain, intent on devouring the White King whole!
Flying light was useless; it could not harm its claws.
Sun Reflecting was useless; it could not break its teeth.
At this critical juncture, the Unborn Wolf also exerted every ounce of its might in its struggle against the White Stag, bestowing power to cause the strength the Mountain Wolf could exert in the mortal realm to skyrocket without limit!
Even the Lock's suppression was forcibly propped up by the Wolf of Great Sin, unable to take effect in time... and even if it did, it wouldn't care!
To hell with this or that, eat first and talk later!
Eating means not losing out!
It would eat the Wolf of the Forest, it would eat Lu Changsheng, and damn it all, it would eat the White Stag too!
Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!
Its colossal maw was like an abyss. A vast vortex emerged from the darkness, threatening to swallow the entire ruins of the old capital whole, devouring every last scrap!
"Heh..."
Someone chuckled.
One second.
Time leaped forward by one second, soundlessly and tracelessly.
Across heaven and earth, inside and outside the White Nation, even throughout the entire mortal realm, everyone felt a faint trace of confusion and bewilderment.
It was as if they had just snapped out of a daze.
What was I just doing? What was I about to say? What was I doing just now?
Just what happened a moment ago?
It felt as though nothing had happened at all...
Only a shrill, agonizing shriek tore through heaven and earth.
A downpour of blood gushed forth like a deluge, irrigating the wilderness.
Right before everyone's eyes...
—The Mountain Wolf was severed at the waist!
Not just the Mountain Wolf—before the entire ruins of the old capital, along its inner and outer borders, and even between heaven and earth, a straight fissure silently appeared.
Like an invisible blade gliding across a sheet of paper.
With a sharp click, it sounded as though a sword were being sheathed.
The Mountain Wolf was cut clean in two at the waist!
No lingering aura, no process, no answers, and not even a breath...
In the dead silence, everyone—from the Federation and the Empire to the Four Divisions and Six Sects—instinctively took a step back.
A Sage!
Another Sage was hiding in the Wilderness Market!
Except, those marks...
The Ominous Sword—Jueguang?!
Chapter 649