A Murderous Glare!

"This is bad! The Immortal Emperor's computing power is greater than all of ours combined!" Failing to sever their karmic ties with the Immortal Emperor, the Divine Mother knew things were dire. She immediately raised another peach wood sword. But the pupils in the eyes of Lan Suying, Fairy Gushe, and Yuan Tiangang had already vanished, leaving only a ghastly, hollow white. "Sever!" The Divine Mother slashed down once more, but with a sharp crack, the peach wood sword shattered again. She raised a third peach wood sword, spat a mouthful of fresh blood onto the blade, gritted her teeth, and struck down! In the sight of Lan Suying, Fairy Gushe, and Yuan Tiangang, the Immortal Emperor had already stepped right before them. Yet to outside observers, he still stood far away above the Heavenly Abyss, separated from them by an immense distance. This was the Immortal Emperor's consciousness tracing their karmic threads to hunt them down, plunging the three great divine prognosticators into extreme peril. At that moment, Dao Lord Xuhuang, Daoist Taiqing, Daoist Yuxu, and the others seemed to sense something. Their gazes turned sharp as lightning, swiveling toward the spot. Dao Lord Xuhuang's eyes flashed with an unusual light as he unfurled the Grand Primordium Banner, attempting to seal the surrounding space! Yet even with beings of their caliber probing the area, they could detect nothing out of the ordinary! "Among all prognosticators, I am the only one who dares plot against a Supreme," the Immortal Emperor's voice rang clearly in the ears of Lan Suying and her companions. "Besides me, there is no second. Since you dare conspire against me, I shall exile you forever!" Their world spun wildly as the trio tumbled through the void toward the Immortal Emperor. Lan Suying, Fairy Gushe, and Yuan Tiangang cried out in terror. The Immortal Emperor grew colossally vast while they dwindled smaller and smaller, plunging toward the soles of his feet. Suddenly, the rushing roar of water surged into their ears. Tumbling and rolling, the three fell toward a great river. How broad or long that river stretched was impossible to tell. Waves surged and crested in spray. As their forms passed through the foaming waters, countless scenes flashed before their eyes, as if they were traversing ages of history in a single breath. They witnessed the Tide of the Three Realms, the merger of the Earth Immortal Realm, Xu Ying severing the Heavenly Road, the destruction of Mount Kunlun, and even the Heavenly Venerable constructing the Heavenly Dao world! Swept along by an irresistible force, they plunged toward the riverbank, and in the process witnessed eras growing ever more ancient. They even caught sight of the siege against Qingxuan and the cataclysmic war that brought about the fall of the ancient era. Just then, the three broke through the final spray of waves and landed on the shore. Still shaken to their souls, Fairy Gushe asked in haste, "Where are we? Are we dead?" Lan Suying possessed the greatest prognostic prowess among them, yet right now even she had no idea where they were, let alone whether they were dead or alive. Just then, a pleasant voice reached their ears: "You are on the other shore of time. Your true bodies are not dead; only your consciousness has been trapped here. Still, your situation is grim—at this moment, you are among the living dead." They hurried to look in the direction of the voice and saw a woman in white standing along the bank of the River of Time. Hazy yet graceful and poised, she was so breathtaking that even Fairy Gushe felt her heart skip several beats at the sight of her. The trio hurried toward the woman in white, and Lan Suying asked, "How may we address you, Fellow Daoist? Were you also exiled here by someone?" "My name is Qiongtai," the woman in white replied. "I was ambushed and suppressed on the other side of the River of Time, never able to return and awaken my physical body." *** When the Divine Mother's peach wood sword finally struck down and severed their karmic ties with the Immortal Emperor Supreme, she was panting heavily with exhaustion. She rushed before Lan Suying and the other two, only to find their eyes completely white, devoid of pupils. Though their breathing remained, nothing she did could rouse them. The Divine Mother examined their primordial spirits, but their primordial spirits were intact and uninjured. She pinched her fingers to divine their fates, yet she could not trace the slightest thread of destiny for Lan Suying and the others, as if all three had never existed! "They're dead..." A chill gripped the Divine Mother's heart, and she slumped dejectedly to the ground. Though Lan Suying, Gushe, and Yuan Tiangang still breathed, still held primordial spirits, and bore no fatal injuries, they were entirely devoid of vitality! This could only mean their consciousness had been erased from the timeline by some bizarre technique! *They bear no fatal wounds, and their bodies and primordial spirits remain intact, which means they are still alive. But they do not live in the present. If they lived in the present, I would surely be able to divine them.* The Divine Mother paced back and forth, turning the matter over in her mind. *Their consciousness has either been hidden in the past or sent into the future. As long as I can calculate the point in time where the Immortal Emperor concealed them, I can deduce whether they dwell in the distant past or the distant future!* At that thought, she immediately began her calculations. First, she projected forward, calculating all the way into the future a hundred thousand years ahead, yet she still could not find any trace of Lan Suying and the others. Her computing power exhausted, she had no choice but to pull back and reverse her divination into the past. She traced back a hundred thousand years, reaching the limit of her calculation once more, but still found no sign of their whereabouts. Her heart sank. Lan Suying and the others hung suspended between life and death, their consciousness lost. Even if she could divine the era where the Immortal Emperor had hidden them, she had no idea how to retrieve them. Just then, the ringing chime of a bell echoed out, accompanied by the roar of a dragon. Turmoil erupted on the opposite shore of the Heavenly Abyss as a great bell burst from the mist, bathed in radiant spiritual light, clashing with a mighty figure! The one pursuing the dragon bell appeared to be a Wonder Realm expert from the Six Venerables and Twelve Wonders. He unleashed nearly the full extent of his cultivation and might, yet he still could not subdue the bell, and was instead forced back step by step by its sheer power. Hidden within the bell was the head and primordial spirit of Far Ancestor Big Dragon, possessing magic power so boundless and overwhelming that after driving back the Wonder Realm master, it flew straight toward the Divine Mother. "The Six Venerables and Twelve Wonders are nothing to write home about!" the big bell laughed boisterously. "Together with Big Dragon, I've defeated a Wonder Realm expert!" Not wishing to disrupt Xu Ying's cultivation, it flew right past him. The Divine Mother hurried to wave it over. "Master Bell, Dragon Lord, over here!" The dragon bell flew over, and the Divine Mother asked urgently, "Dragon Lord, you are versed in the Dragon Heaven Dao-Confounding Numerology. Can you calculate across six hundred thousand years?" Big Dragon replied, "A genius of our Dragon Clan, Qing Mufeng, was once able to divine across ten million years before dropping dead from exhaustion. My mastery of numerology doesn't hold a candle to his. I can only manage a million years." Hearing this, the Divine Mother was stunned. Such computing power was greater even than the Immortal Emperor's! She breathed a sigh of relief. "A million years is more than enough. Mingzun's computing power shouldn't reach that far!" She asked Big Dragon to divine the fates of Lan Suying and her companions. Seeing the state they were in, Big Dragon was taken aback and immediately began his calculations. His method of divination was brutish and wild, lacking the delicate precision of the Divine Mother or Lan Suying; it relied purely on brute magic power to dredge through the past and future! Though most of Far Ancestor Big Dragon's body had been destroyed, his primordial spirit's head still harbored world-shaking power. In sheer magic power alone, his primordial spirit's head surpassed even most Wonder Realm or Supreme figures! His divination lacked finesse, but such colossal magic power was enough to drive his deductions back a million years! Witnessing this, an epiphany struck the Divine Mother: *I don't need my computing power to be extraordinarily refined. As long as my magic power vastly exceeds the Immortal Emperor's, my divination will surpass his!* "Found them!" Far Ancestor Big Dragon snapped his eyes open and declared, "The three of them were cast back six hundred thousand years! Wait, it looks like it's not just them—someone else is trapped six hundred thousand years in the past as well. A woman..." It was as if he had seen it with his own eyes. "Can you bring them back?" the Divine Mother asked anxiously. Big Dragon shook his head. "Fishing someone across the River of Time? Back in my prime, I had the power to pull it off. But right now, just keeping my head from splitting into pieces takes everything I have. To retrieve them, one must travel upstream against the flow of time. In my current state, I can't pull them out. Besides, we don't even know where they were cast six hundred thousand years ago. If we knew the location, it might be somewhat easier." Despair crept into the Divine Mother's heart. "What do we do then?" *** Beside the River of Time, Lan Suying, Fairy Gushe, and Yuan Tiangang stood along the shore with Fairy Qiongtai. Suddenly, the toll of a bell resonated faintly, accompanied by the roar of a dragon. Lan Suying's heart stirred, and she said in delight, "It's the Far Ancestor calculating our whereabouts! He has found where we are!" Gentle and demure, Fairy Qiongtai told them, "Finding our whereabouts is useless if he does not know where we are imprisoned." Yuan Tiangang asked, "Lady, where are we imprisoned?" "Inside my Supreme treasure, the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler," Fairy Qiongtai replied. "Only, it is inside the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler from six hundred thousand years ago." "A Supreme treasure?" All three were shocked, exchanging covert glances. Lan Suying asked, "The Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler is your Supreme treasure? Then you are... a Supreme?" Fairy Qiongtai nodded gently. Lan Suying said to Gushe and Yuan Tiangang, "If we can find a way out, we can win a Supreme to our side!" The two looked troubled. "But how do we get out?" Fairy Qiongtai said, "Once, a young man raised a golden bridge across time. But his cultivation was still too shallow, and he could not extend the bridge to this shore. If his cultivation were a few shades more profound, he could rescue us." Lan Suying sighed and said, "The person you speak of is my son. But he is currently surrounded by perilous danger; his very life may be forfeit." Fairy Qiongtai asked in surprise, "He is your son? I once sensed him." Lan Suying said joyfully, "Lady Qiongtai, since you can sense him, can you control the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler to send him a message and have him rescue you?" Fairy Qiongtai shook her head. "I can only sense him when the ruler's power erupts." Lan Suying's heart sank. For the ruler's power to erupt meant Xu Ying would be locked in combat. If he divided his attention to save Qiongtai at such a moment, it would mean certain death. Gushe asked, "How were you sealed inside your own treasure?" Fairy Qiongtai made no attempt to conceal it: "I struck Emperor Qingxuan dead, usurped the throne, and was imprisoned here." The three froze in stunned silence. *** Beside the Heavenly Abyss, the Immortal Emperor Supreme fixed his gaze on Xu Ying. He watched as Xu Ying slowly rose to his feet, still unhurriedly running through his divine abilities and channeling the power of his thirteen Dao landscapes. The Immortal Emperor's countenance regained its former calm, and he said indifferently, "Primordial Monarch, do you know why I am destined to win?" Primordial Monarch Zitong replied, "You cannot win." The Immortal Emperor smiled faintly. "I can win not only because my calculations show that I will, but also because I have poured more than enough effort into securing this victory. Everything concerning you and Xu Ying lies within my calculations. You are already in the palm of my hand." Primordial Monarch Zitong smiled. "Does that include the Emerald Rock Dao? Did crossing the Four Realms Heavenly Tribulation also fall within your calculations?" The Immortal Emperor's expression darkened. Right then, Xu Ying circulated his technique. In an instant, the myriad Daos resonated in unison, and bands of rosy light streamed between heaven and earth, rays descending even from the depths of the void! Even from the Burial Dao Heavenly Abyss, rosy light surged forth. For rays of the Great Dao to erupt from a place meant to bury the Dao was bizarre beyond belief! It was a phenomenon born solely of Xu Ying circulating his cultivation art! The Immortal Emperor Supreme's face altered abruptly as a sudden realization struck him: Xu Ying had pioneered a New Dao and personally forged it to the Dao Landscape Realm. In that case, how much did the current Taiyi Indestructible Scripture still have in common with the original Taiyi Indestructible Scripture? How much did it still share with the Taiyi Innate Art? The Xu Ying he knew was versed in the Taiyi Innate Art; even if he had conceived a superior Taiyi Indestructible Scripture, it was still built upon the foundation of the Innate Art. Yet now, Xu Ying had overturned the very system of cultivation realms itself. Could this still be the technique he was familiar with? As the thought crossed his mind, a black halo rippled behind Xu Ying's head, and an unimaginably profound Taiyi cave abyss slowly materialized, growing clearer by the moment. As the Taiyi cave abyss revolved, his cultivation and power surged exponentially! Previously, whether clashing with the Last Lord of Ziwei, trading blows with the Demon Ancestor, or exchanging moves with Wei Xu, Xu Ying had never once deployed his Taiyi cave abyss! He had relied solely on his own innate prowess to contend with those titans, testing and learning from their divine arts and abilities. And now, behind his head was not just one Taiyi cave abyss, but two! The Immortal Emperor Supreme's expression shifted once more. Flicking his fingers in rapid succession, his first flick shattered the first immortal rune sealing Xu Ying's memories of his first life, unraveling the first layer of the seal. With a second flick, the second seal broke in turn. In dead silence, he flicked five times, utterly obliterating all five immortal runes that bound the memories of Xu Ying's first life! Seeing this, Primordial Monarch Zitong knew not whether to weep or rejoice. The man she longed for most had returned, but his return would herald his demise. The Xu Ying of the first life could never master such monstrous cultivation, realms, and divine abilities in so short a time, let alone wield them in battle! Xu Ying turned his head, casting an impassive glance at the Immortal Emperor Supreme. His slender frame strode forward as he said with a faint smile, "Your Majesty wishes to unseal me? How unfortunate—I foresaw this long ago. So breaking the seals left by the Dijun is useless against me." The Immortal Emperor replied leisurely, "Xu Ying, who said I only unsealed what the Dijun placed upon you? I also loosened a few of your own seals." Xu Ying's expression shifted slightly as he sensed another consciousness awakening within him! Suddenly, that consciousness halted its own awakening. The Xu Ying of the first life had evidently sensed the mortal danger and voluntarily suspended his revival, leaving control of the body in the hands of the present Xu Ying! Xu Ying exhaled softly, while the Immortal Emperor's brow furrowed. This was the fourth variable surrounding Xu Ying that had defied his predictions. The first-life Xu Ying could clearly have awakened, seized control of the physical body, and reduced the present Xu Ying to a mere fragment of his memories—yet he had chosen not to do so! "Since Your Majesty has struck first..." A murderous glint flared in Xu Ying's eyes. Pushing his cultivation to the absolute zenith, he surged into the air, holding aloft the heavens with one hand, and smashed down the Earth Immortal Seal with terrifying force! *Rumble!* Tens of thousands of li of the Heavenly Sea surged upward, the mountains, lakes, and rivers upon its surface clearly visible as they plummeted toward the Immortal Emperor beneath Xu Ying's crushing seal! "...then do not blame me for being ruthless!"