"This saber is the Imperial Monarch's Purple Nether Saber!" Xu Ying shuddered once more, overcome with an urge to flee.
The big bell, Yuan Qi, and Jin Buyi felt nothing yet. To them, the Purple Nether Saber was merely one of the thousands of bizarre auras lurking in Wangxiang Platform.
In this ancient domain, there were even auras far stronger and more horrifying than the Purple Nether Saber... But to Xu Ying, the Purple Nether Saber inspired a dread etched deep into his indestructible true spirit!
This saber had severed his flesh and annihilated his Primordial Spirit. Had his indestructible true spirit not been cultivated to an exceedingly high realm, Xu Ying would have been reduced to ashes long ago, and there would have been no tens of thousands of years of sinking into oblivion afterward.
"Why is this immortal artifact here in Wangxiang Platform?" Suppressing his fear, Xu Ying braced himself and followed behind Perfected Jade Pot.
Yet the deeper they ventured into Wangxiang Platform, the stronger the oppression the Purple Nether Saber exerted on him.
Yuan Qi noticed something amiss in his expression and hurriedly asked, "Ah Ying, what's wrong?"
Xu Ying's face was deathly pale, his forehead beaded with sweat. His breathing unsteady and his voice raspy, he said, "I'm fine."
He visualized the Zhuxian broken sword, using its supreme killing intent to resist the Purple Nether Saber, and only then did he feel slightly better.
Ahead, Perfected Jade Pot and the two God Kings reached the depths of Wangxiang Platform, a region where Xu Ying had never set foot before.
Crumbling walls and broken ruins lay strewn everywhere, alongside dilapidated cave dwellings, mostly rotted cave-heavens, and even mausoleums forged from countless intersecting immortal artifacts!
In some spots, immortal radiance spilled from the sky, and gazing upward revealed the Immortal Realm. In other places, the contamination of the Immortal Dao was severe, surpassing even that of the Ancestral Court!
Other places were eerily tranquil, with only black coffins floating in the air. Wangxiang Platform was immensely vast—it was the Wangxiang Platform of the Myriad Worlds, not belonging to Yuanshou alone. Yet as Xu Ying ventured deeper, he discovered this place was likely far more than just a Wangxiang Platform for the Myriad Worlds.
Permeating heaven and earth was not just the Great Dao of the Netherworld, but also the Great Dao of the Immortal Realm and the Dao aura of ancient eras.
Most of these Daos of heaven and earth had already decayed.
Before a thatched cottage, he saw two skeletons seated beneath a tree playing chess. The robes on them had not rotted; their ancient attire belonged to who knew what era.
The tree had withered for who knew how long, rotted and decayed.
The two skeletons seemed to notice him. Turning their heads, their eyeless sockets tracked his movements.
"He's back again."
Xu Ying faintly heard the voices of the two skeletons: "Nothing good ever comes when he visits."
Xu Ying looked back, but the skeletons had vanished. In their place sat two old men—one in black, one in white—playing chess beneath the tree, which was now lush and verdant, completely unlike the withered, rotted sight from moments before!
"Ah Ying, it looks a lot more normal here than the outskirts of Wangxiang Platform," Yuan Qi said, looking all around.
Xu Ying wore a grave expression. The outskirts of Wangxiang Platform appeared abnormal, riddled with twisted, deformed creatures, because the Great Daos of heaven and earth conflicted with one another.
Yet the absence of such gruesome scenes here was only because this place was far more terrifying!
Ahead, a coffin creaked. As its lid slid open, a horse-drawn carriage flew out from within, carrying someone away into the distance.
Xu Ying also saw a cliff face swaying, shifting between clarity and translucence, as though trapped in the rift between Wangxiang Platform and another spacetime.
Beneath the cliff's waterfall, a beauty bathed, resting at the edge of the pool. Her lovely eyes blinked as she watched wistfully while Xu Ying passed by with the great serpent, giant bird, and big bell.
Xu Ying concealed their figures with the Gourd Heaven Dao Verification Scripture, making them appear nonexistent to her.
After walking for a long time, they came across a doorway standing all alone. The door stood wide open, revealing an ancient city within, bustling with throngs of people coming and going.
Yet when Xu Ying glanced behind the door, there was nothing there—just a solitary door standing upright.
Yuan Qi was curious. Slithering up to the door and poking his head in, he asked, "Ah Ying, what would happen if we walked inside?"
Xu Ying gave no answer. Just then, the steady tapping of a wooden fish drifted over. Following the sound, Xu Ying saw an ancient temple perched atop a verdant mountain.
A monk stood at the entrance of the ancient temple, striking the wooden fish while watching him with a strange expression.
Beyond that, he sensed that the mountains, waters, all things, and even the spacetime here concealed terrifying beings one after another.
Some of the landscapes and mountains were even physical manifestations of those fearsome beings' thoughts, born of their visualization!
Xu Ying even noticed that someone's thought had formed the celestial phenomena of this world. That being's mind had remained still for tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years, frozen in place—yet should it stir, stars would shift and heavens turn in staggering upheaval!
*So many beings here in Wangxiang Platform... what origins could they possibly have?*
No sooner had the thought crossed Xu Ying's mind than the pressure from the Purple Nether Saber surged violently, eliciting a muffled grunt as his body shuddered.
Steeling his mind, he stopped looking around. Circulating the Taiyi Inborn Technique, he continually visualized the Zhuxian broken sword to resist the mounting saber might.
As they ventured further, Yuan Qi, Jin Buyi, and the big bell also felt the dread saber might. Especially Jin Buyi—the great bird bore two sabers on its back, which buzzed and vibrated ceaselessly as if enduring immense pressure.
Xu Ying's reaction was even more intense. Even before the Purple Nether Saber revealed itself, his spirit was already racked with agony, and his physical body began experiencing phantom pain from his past memories, as if being carved open blade by blade.
Jin Buyi suddenly cried out, staring blankly at him. "Ah Ying, why are you bleeding? Who hurt you?"
Puzzled, Xu Ying wiped his face and murmured, "I'm bleeding?"
Only then did he notice faint cuts had appeared on his face at some point, blood flowing without pause. Not only that, faint marks had formed across his body—though not deep, they had breached his skin.
He had been focused entirely on visualizing the Zhuxian broken sword to combat the Purple Nether Saber, failing to realize these wounds had emerged on his body.
"These are saber wounds from my first life," Xu Ying composed himself and said. "Back then, my flesh and Primordial Spirit were both destroyed by this saber, leaving only my indestructible true spirit. My subsequent bodies and souls were all derived from that true spirit. Likely because of this, whenever I encounter the Purple Nether Saber, wounds break out across my body."
He continued visualizing the Zhuxian broken sword to resist the saber intent permeating heaven and earth. Yet the cuts on his body grew ever deeper, and even the cultivation realms within him began to show saber lacerations!
The horror of an Imperial Monarch's immortal artifact had finally revealed itself!
Bleeding more and more heavily, Xu Ying's steps slowed. Visualizing the Zhuxian broken sword to contest the Purple Nether Saber's might grew increasingly exhausting.
Just as he could barely hold on and nearly gave in, he suddenly felt a mystical resonance with that vast, ancient broken sword standing outside Biyou Palace in the Ancestral Court. A boundless wave of power surged forth!
Using him as a conduit, the Zhuxian broken sword channeled its power across the distance to combat the Purple Nether Saber's saber qi.
Xu Ying was overjoyed. Rousing his spirit to battle the saber qi, the wounds upon his body immediately began to shrink and heal!
Seeing this, Jin Buyi and Yuan Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Ying continued forward. As though provoked, the Zhuxian broken sword poured forth endless killing intent across the bridge of his spirit, clashing with the Purple Nether Saber.
And as if sensing a rival, the saber qi the Purple Nether Saber sent surging toward Xu Ying grew ever fiercer.
Yet the stronger the Purple Nether Saber became, the safer Xu Ying and the others were, because the killing intent channeled from the Zhuxian broken sword grew all the more ferocious!
Xu Ying was both astonished and delighted. He had visualized the Zhuxian sword qi twice before. The first time was in his first life, when, relying on his undying and indestructible body, he had observed the Zhuxian broken sword and comprehended the sword intent of Sword Leveling the Unlevel.
The second time was when Xu Ying entered the Ancestral Court and saw the stone cliff left behind by his first life at Biyou Palace, allowing him to observe the Zhuxian broken sword based on his first life's insights and grasp the broken sword's mysteries.
Yet on both occasions, he had observed it from afar, having no chance to draw close to the Zhuxian broken sword. The broken sword's power was simply too terrifying—no one could endure visualizing it even from a distance; only Xu Ying, who cultivated the ancestral method, could achieve it.
Even so, had Xu Ying observed it up close, he would have been torn to shreds by its sword intent!
Now, with the Zhuxian broken sword using his mind as a bridge to clash against the Purple Nether Saber, Xu Ying was able to examine the broken sword from an unprecedented closeness, deepening his comprehension of it by leaps and bounds!
*Encountering the Purple Nether Saber this time might not be a misfortune after all!*
Just then, a fractured jade mountain came into view ahead. It was split into two, as though slashed diagonally downward from above by some sharp weapon.
The upper half had slid down to rest upon the land beside the Nai River. Centered on this jade mountain, Wangxiang Platform stretched along the banks of the Nai River, connecting the Myriad Worlds!
A cluster of divine palaces stood upon the jade mountain, though now desolate and in ruins.
Yuan Qi looked up, spotted a row of carved words on the mountain, and read softly, "Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain."
"Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain?"
Xu Ying froze. He suddenly recalled the two skeletons playing chess earlier saying that he was back again. Had his past self been here before?
If so, was this Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain the very place where his first life had comprehended the Jade Capital secret depository and forged the Jade Capital Palace?
*An unintentional seed grows into sheltering shade! My goal was originally to seek Great Emperor Beiyin and inquire about the Twelve-Storyed Mansions in the Nether Sea, yet who would have thought I'd come across Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain right here in Wangxiang Platform!*
Xu Ying was overjoyed, but his gaze suddenly froze. At the mountain peak, an enormous purple immortal saber pierced through the void. Behind it lay the Immortal Realm, gleaming with Immortal Dao radiance, while the blade pointed directly at the divine palaces atop Jade Capital Mountain!
Within those divine palaces, a tremendously powerful force was holding its own against the purple saber!
This blade had to be the Purple Nether Saber—capable of piercing the three realms and pointing straight into the Underworld Yellow Springs!
An immortal artifact forged by the Imperial Monarch of the Immortal Realm!
At that moment, Wu Sansi and the two God Kings, Xuanxing and Xuanchen, escorted Young Master Yuchuan to Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain, arriving upon the other half of Jade Capital Mountain.
Jade Capital Mountain had been split in two by a sharp weapon; the other half was not targeted by the Purple Nether Saber, so the pressure there was lighter.
Wu Sansi said, "Young Master, the Imperial Monarch holds you in high regard, which is why he imparted to you the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Demon-Breaking Formula. This art is key to retrieving the Purple Nether Saber. Please channel this technique to empower the Purple Nether Saber, suppress the evil entity on Jade Capital Mountain, and claim the immortal saber!"
Young Master Yuchuan looked toward the opposite peak and asked, "Senior Brother Sansi, what is being suppressed by the Purple Nether Saber?"
Wu Sansi replied, "According to Master, an alien Great Dao was sealed within this Xuandu Jade Capital Mountain. Back then, after slaying the rebel Xu Ying, he sensed that the alien Dao was on the verge of revival, so he unleashed the Purple Nether Saber to suppress it. This suppression has lasted forty-eight thousand years. By now, the merit is nearly fulfilled—it lacks only the final strike."
Young Master Yuchuan was deeply moved. "This is the Nai River, connected to the Myriad Worlds. If the alien Dao were to invade the Myriad Worlds, countless lives would be lost. The Imperial Monarch sacrificed his saber here to suppress the alien Dao—an immeasurable merit—yet he wishes to bestow this merit upon me. What have I done to deserve such grace?"
Wu Sansi chuckled. "This is the Imperial Monarch's order. The Imperial Monarch wants you to refine the alien Dao and reap this tremendous merit, then suppress Xu Ying and slay him. With these two great feats under your belt, when you ascend to the Immortal Realm, not even an Immortal King's achievements could compare to yours. By then, arranging a prime post for you will be child's play. The Imperial Monarch needs to consolidate power, and those seats of real authority are best occupied by our own people!"
Young Master Yuchuan hesitated no longer. Channeling the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Demon-Breaking Formula, he resonated with the Purple Nether Saber in the sky. The Purple Nether Saber vibrated faintly, its blade light blazing brighter and brighter.
Concealed in the dark, Perfected Jade Pot, Xuantian, and Xuankong watched. Jade Pot fumed inward: *Bai Yuchuan hasn't even ascended yet—he's just a petty Qi Refiner, not even an immortal—yet such immense merit is being handed to him on a silver platter! If he takes this merit to the Immortal Realm, not even I will be able to hold a candle to him! Comparison truly infuriates!*
"Xuankong, Xuantian, prepare to strike!"
Eyes flashing, Perfected Jade Pot suddenly lunged from the void, striking toward the back of Wu Sansi's heart!
At the same time, Xuantian and Xuankong struck together, one lunging at God King Xuanxing and the other at God King Xuanchen, seeking vengeance for the past!
Wu Sansi was an Imperial Monarch's disciple after all, renowned in the Immortal Realm. Though ambushed, he did not panic in the slightest. His Dao domain unfurled with a roar, and he pushed his arcane arts to the peak, shouting, "Young Master, unfurl the Immortal Array diagram!"
While refining the Purple Nether Saber, Young Master Yuchuan simultaneously activated the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Extermination Immortal Array. As the immortal array spread, Wu Sansi took a direct blow from Perfected Jade Pot, vomiting blood.
Yet as the array spread, he had already stepped inside its bounds.
How could Perfected Jade Pot give him the chance? His divine abilities had already penetrated the array's void; palms struck out from all directions, landing repeatedly upon Wu Sansi.
In mere moments, countless bones in Wu Sansi's body were shattered. He was entirely incapable of fighting back!
Perfected Jade Pot's greatest specialty was assassination—his reputation was hardly unearned!
At the same time, God Kings Xuanchen and Xuanxing were grievously wounded. A substantial gap in power had already existed between them and Xuankong and Xuantian; in a single exchange, they were battered into severe injury!
Just as Jade Pot, Xuankong, and Xuantian were about to deliver the killing blows, Young Master Yuchuan finally seized control of the Purple Nether Saber. The blade light flared, and Jade Pot, Xuankong, and Xuantian recoiled in terror, hurriedly fleeing!
Yet in the next breath, streaks of purple saber qi spiraled outward in every direction. Xuankong and Xuantian bled profusely, while Perfected Jade Pot shuttled through the void, narrowly escaping disaster with a pounding heart.
Young Master Yuchuan was about to direct the Purple Nether Saber against the palaces atop Jade Capital Mountain when the blade light flared violently. Defying his control, the blade flashed and slashed toward the void to one side!
The razor-sharp saber qi cleaved open that expanse of void in an instant. Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, the big bell, and Jin Buyi appeared, illuminated by the radiant blade light!
The blade was overwhelmingly domineering, on the verge of slaughtering them all, when suddenly a bolt of sword qi surged from between Xu Ying's brows like a sash of silk, seemingly splitting his forehead open!
Where his brow parted, a vast wasteland spanning hundreds of millions of li was revealed within—and in that wasteland, a broken sword reached from earth to heaven, standing proud in the murky, gray expanse!
The Zhuxian broken sword, using Xu Ying's spirit as a bridge, tore through spacetime as its supreme killing intent met the descending Purple Nether Saber!
Chapter 403