Yan Kongcheng soared into the sky and activated Mount Emei's sect-guarding treasure, the Sky-Reaching Canopy. Shaped like an imperial carriage canopy and resembling a massive parasol, it was a magic treasure refined by the third-generation ancestral master.
Mount Emei possessed many weighty treasures, including the Myriad Dao Banner, an immortal artifact that anchored karmic fortune. For the Sky-Reaching Canopy to stand out among a host of magic treasures and be passed down as the sect's heirloom, its might was naturally staggering.
As Yan Kongcheng activated the treasure, radiant luminescence surged into the firmament. In the sky, High God Tianming's form—spanning hundreds to thousands of li—was pressed downward by the luminous rays radiating from the Sky-Reaching Canopy.
High God Tianming roared and struggled with all his might. Yet the power of the Sky-Reaching Canopy was simply too overwhelming, pinning him so fast that he could not budge. Although he was a heavenly god, without having fully entered the mortal world, he was incapable of contending against the Sky-Reaching Canopy.
Suddenly, the suppressed sinews and muscles of his form uncoiled. Strands of flesh rustled and shook violently as scales sprouted all over his body, transforming into beasts with dragon heads and serpent bodies that lunged toward Yan Kongcheng!
Yan Kongcheng's own strength was far from enough to contend with a heavenly god; he could rely only on the might of the Sky-Reaching Canopy. Now that High God Tianming struck back, layers upon layers of flesh turned into dragons. No sooner was one batch pinned by the canopy than other dragon-pythons crawled forward over the bodies of their kin.
As those dragon-pythons were suppressed, still more climbed over them, rolling and crushing forward like an advancing mountain of flesh and blood, driving straight for Yan Kongcheng.
Yan Kongcheng was already struggling to maintain the Sky-Reaching Canopy, and was on the verge of being swallowed by the dragon-pythons, when thousands of cave-heavens suddenly flew forward from behind him. Their blinding light blotted out a thousand li of the sky.
These cave-heavens appeared in a state of boundless void, their exact boundaries with the outside world impossible to discern, elusive and unfathomable.
"Sect Master, Mount Emei's Twenty-Four Heavens Immortal Formation is exceptionally difficult to cultivate, requiring mastery of numerology and calculation. But once mastered, nothing can withstand it."
Qiao Zizhong arrived beside him. The sky was suddenly filled with wondrous visions of mountains and rivers, forming twenty-four heavenly worlds linked together by primordial magnetism, radiating towering formation might!
The Bright Moon Mountains and Rivers Beads were his magic treasures, but even without them, he could still execute the Twenty-Four Heavens Immortal Formation! He was a grandmaster of this path.
Using mountains and rivers as dragons and serpents, as long whips, as crushing seal methods, and as weapons that swept through and vanquished the enemy, he led Yan Kongcheng charging toward Tianming.
The dragon-pythons formed of High God Tianming's flesh and blood were either pinned down by undulating mountain ranges, whipped by sweeping rivers, washed away by torrents until only white bones remained, or ignited by blazing suns and reduced to ash!
Before Yan Kongcheng, mountains and rivers danced and the sun and moon wove past. At times, the landscape intertwined to form a grand formation, fending off every single counterattack from High God Tianming!
Just as they were on the verge of slaying Tianming, tentacles suddenly lashed out and clung to the mountains and rivers of the twenty-four heavens, instantly contaminating them with plague qi.
The Plague God's massive form materialized, tentacles reaching toward Yan Kongcheng and Qiao Zizhong. Heavenly Dao runes lit up one after another along the tentacles, exuding Heavenly Dao majesty.
Before the tentacles even reached them, the Dao voice of the Plague Dao had already invaded their minds, leaving them dazed and muddled.
Right then, a colossal hand capable of blotting out the sky swept in, grabbing several of the Plague God's tentacles and ripping violently at them.
Startled and uncertain, Yan Kongcheng and Qiao Zizhong looked toward the giant hand, only to discover that High God Tianyang was pummeling the Plague God.
Roots flapped from High God Tianyang's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. A purple immortal herb was plastered across his face, and he chanted in an indecipherable tongue.
Beneath High God Tianyang, a lone figure floated in midair like an ant—none other than Palace Master Zhang Fugui of the Shangqing Palace. At this moment, Palace Master Zhang wore a look of utter bewilderment, having no clue why he was here.
Looking around, he saw the sky fractured and bizarrely shaped heavenly gods thrusting their bodies out through tears in the firmament. The light of Heavenly Dao runes flared continuously, their terrifying Heavenly Dao will warping the minds of men.
Waves of terrifying Heavenly Dao majesty blasted down from above, slamming toward the mountain range beneath him—the Kunlun mountains.
He felt both confused and terrified. The surrounding sky was continually shattered by terrifying divine abilities, and ripples of divine energy buffeted him like duckweed tossed in stormy seas, threatening to obliterate him into ashes at any second. Suddenly, a big bell flew over with a deafening gong, blocking the storm of thunderclouds stirred up by High God Tianqi. Tens of thousands of lightning bolts danced outside the bell, dense and horrific beyond measure!
"Palace Master, activate your magic treasures! Hurry and activate them!" A large snake with black-and-white horns growing from its head leaned down from inside the bell and called out anxiously to him, "Let's fight our way out!"
The tolling of the bell reverberated, shattering the thundercloud storm. The sky plunged into pitch darkness, within which a gigantic eye suddenly snapped open. Countless heavenly fires surged and converged within the eye, on the verge of slashing down as terrifying divine rays. The snake suddenly opened its maw, and hundreds of magic treasures surfaced within, whistling through the air to meet the monstrous eye. But in the next breath, beam after beam swept out from the bizarre eye, knocking them all down.
The large snake grunted. Blocking merely one wave had rattled its vitality and blood. It bellowed in anger, "Palace Master, activate your treasures quickly!"
'Although I don't know what's happening or who they are, they seem to be saving my life.'
Without a second thought, Palace Master Zhang of the Shangqing Palace let out a sharp cry. A stream of azure qi shot out from behind his head, slicing toward the monstrous eye in the sky.
The Shangqing Palace's sect-guarding treasure: the Shangqing Immortal Qi!
Heavenly fire raged within the colossal, bizarre eye as it brewed a second wave of attacks. But when the azure qi swept across, it proved all-conquering, like the edge of a divine blade, slicing through the Heavenly Eye with a sharp tear!
Zhang Fugui, Palace Master of the Shangqing Palace, retrieved the azure qi and was about to ask the large snake and the big bell what was going on when he saw the owner of the monstrous eye rear its head high in pain.
Only then did Palace Master Zhang clearly see the full appearance of the entity whose eye he had slashed blind. It was a heavenly god bathed in fire, as though composed entirely of heavenly fire, its body free of any flesh or impurity, lacking even bones.
'High God Tianhuo, who oversees the wildfires, conflagrations, earthly fires, and thunder fires across the heavens and myriad worlds...'
Palace Master Zhang's scalp tingled with dread, but the large snake and the big bell soared into the sky to confront High God Tianhuo. The snake shouted, "Palace Master Zhang, we'll block his attacks, you slash between his brows!"
Palace Master Zhang steeled himself and followed them, thinking, 'Though these two brothers aren't human, they're truly good to me. Wait, why did I end up picking a fight with heavenly gods?'
He had no time to dwell on it. The big bell and the large snake had already charged forward fearlessly. The big bell took the lead, deflecting masses of tumbling thunder fire!
The thunder fire erupted, shattering the surrounding space to pieces. These were ripples of world-destroying violence, yet under the power of the big bell, they were swept aside one after another!
The black-and-white horns behind the large snake's head flared as yin and yang qi surged, activating magic treasure after magic treasure to bombard High God Tianhuo's face.
A massive hand burning with heavenly fire swept across, swatting away every one of those terrifyingly powerful magic treasures.
"Now!" the big bell and the large snake shouted in unison.
Palace Master Zhang Fugui of the Shangqing Palace acted without hesitation, unleashing the Shangqing Immortal Light as a streak of azure qi plunged into the flame-shaped center of High God Tianhuo's forehead.
At the same time, a yellow-robed man riding a white deer swept past him with a roar. The man upon the white deer appeared about thirty years old, trailed by three white deer and four white wolves. Atop each deer and wolf sat an identical man, bearing the same likeness as the first, only moving strangely, like marionettes.
"A puppeteer?" Palace Master Zhang was startled.
That yellow-robed man was none other than the Son of Heaven of Zhou. The seven replicas behind him were all puppeteer marionettes, sharing his appearance, cultivation arts, and divine abilities alike.
The eight Sons of Heaven of Zhou suddenly combined their strength, activating a long flaming saber that slashed toward the sky with a whistling screech.
That long flaming saber actually radiated the power of the Immortal Dao, slashing toward the Water God of Heaven.
The Water God swept down his palm to meet the immortal blade. As water and fire clashed, mist billowed across the sky.
Amid the mist, the Frost God of Heaven opened his mouth and spat out freezing frost. A world of ice and snow descended instantly, chilling to the bone, as countless icicles and ice blades flew through the air, cutting toward everyone.
From the sky dropped giant balls of flesh one after another, each as large as a mountain. Mid-fall, they unfolded into massive eyeballs that snapped open, shooting aggressive, piercing beams in all directions, sparing not even the people fleeing on the God Bridge.
At that moment, a qingluan flew in, its wings beating as it pierced through strange eye after strange eye.
At the same time, a seven-colored phoenix darted through the palm of the Astral God of Heaven, whose body was covered in eyes, letting out a shrill cry as it pecked out the Astral God's eyes one by one!
The seven-colored phoenix was swatted by a massive hand, spitting blood as it tumbled and rolled through the air. Dizzy and disoriented from the blow, it slammed into a giant.
The giant gleamed with brilliant golden light as it slowly rose to its feet, towering and majestic. Behind it hung a divine shrine enveloped in curling incense smoke, the incense smoke qi forming thick, fluttering streamers. The golden man also had a Realm of Xiyi composed of various magic treasures, its magic power vast and boundless.
Feng Xian'er looked up and saw that the golden man bore Xu Ying's face. She thought to herself, 'If Young Master Xu were as fair-skinned as this golden man, he'd be quite handsome.'
Only now did she notice that golden men all around were activating one after another, standing tall amid an expanse of mountains and rivers suspended in midair, fighting toward all directions.
A man in black robes and red sashes floated among the mountains. Suddenly, mountains and rivers inverted to suppress the firmament, bearing down on heavenly god after heavenly god.
Those golden men slaughtered alongside this towering man. For a time, the sky ran red like blood, limbs scattering everywhere.
Feng Xian'er transformed into a young girl and took flight, weaving through the mountains. Upon flying out of the land of Shenzhou formed by the Nine Cauldrons, she saw five cave-heavens hanging in the sky. The green-robed young woman Feng Yao, her long hair drifting in the wind, had laid down the realm of the five immortals. With jade-like fingers, she gestured to turn mountains into cups and waters into pools, attempting to drag High God Tiantiao down into the mortal realm for a decisive battle.
Just as Feng Xian'er was about to help, a dull thud echoed out, striking like a blow against her very heart and shaking her with deep discomfort.
She looked toward the sound and saw the sky caved in as the Immortal Seal, suspended high in the heavens, plummeted downward, crushing toward a cloth-robed man.
Beneath the Immortal Seal, Immortal Dao runes were fully illuminated. The immortal majesty grew heavier and heavier, even forcing the Kunlun mountains below to sink!
Suddenly, twenty-four bright moons around the cloth-robed man rose together to prop up the Immortal Seal. Within the moons, mountains and rivers shook and lakes boiled, transforming into beams of rosy light overflowing from within.
The twenty-four bright moons unleashed all their power. It was Qiao Zizhong and Yan Kongcheng flying in; seeing that Martial Emperor Shen could not hold out, Qiao Zizhong had made a split-second decision, taking Xu Ying's place to activate the twenty-four Bright Moon Mountains and Rivers Beads and form the Mountains and Rivers Immortal Formation to oppose the Immortal Seal.
Qiao Zizhong grunted, blood seeping from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Cave-heaven after cave-heaven was crushed into extinction, exploding with loud snaps. Even the twenty-four Bright Moon Mountains and Rivers Beads produced crackling pops. He had never expected the Immortal Seal's power to be so terrifying!
He had only intended to help Martial Emperor Shen hold it off for a fraction of an instant, giving him a chance to strike back; yet the Immortal Seal's power was truly horrific, crushing him to the verge of collapse!
"As expected of an existence that could survive the Heavenly Tribulation..." He coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.
Right at this moment, the cloth-robed man rose to his full height, seizing the opportunity. His explosive fighting spirit surged into the skies, and the Other Shore of the Martial Dao, shrouded in immortal light, was reflected in the eyes of Qiao Zizhong, Yan Kongcheng, and Feng Xian'er.
Martial Emperor Shen truly resembled a Great Emperor of the Martial Dao as he blasted a fist toward the Immortal Seal. That timeless, immovable Immortal Seal that sealed Kunlun's God Bridge and Jade Capital was actually forced back!
Martial Emperor Shen roared and struck again, knocking the Immortal Seal back once more.
'There's no place for me to fight here!' Seeing this, Feng Xian'er immediately beat her wings and took off.
Flying over another stretch of sky, she was just about to dash toward the Jade Capital to see whether Xu Fu was dead or alive when she suddenly heard a loud cry: "High God Lu Wu—!"
Among the mountains, a streak of rosy light came whistling forward, streaking toward the firmament at incredible speed.
"A fight! I like it!" the god within the rosy light cheered with delight.
Feng Xian'er looked in the direction of the cry and saw Xu Ying and another young woman darting through the air, weaving between the gargantuan limbs of heavenly gods.
"This Heavenly Dao rune is flawed, and this one is flawed too!"
Everywhere the two passed, the limbs of heavenly gods burst apart one after another.
Blood splattered High God Tianli's face as he activated a Heavenly Dao divine artifact that transformed into a celestial bow, drawing the string to shoot.
Feng Xian'er was alarmed and was about to shout a warning to Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang, but the Heavenly Dao divine artifact lost all its power, and a mechanical Dao voice echoed from within: "Tianli possesses no authority to administer punishment."
High God Tianli froze in shock.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang flew right up to his face. Xu Ying said, "This rune is flawed, too."
He punched right at the flaw in the rune on the god's face. High God Tianli's colossal face caved in from the blow, his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose twisting as they sank into his head.
Seeing this, Feng Xian'er breathed a sigh of relief and flew into the Jade Capital.
Upon the shattered sacrificial altar, Xu Fu knelt in the center, blood smeared across his face, looking like a sacrificial offering waiting to be slaughtered.
Chapter 260