The expressions of Creation Supreme and the others changed drastically as tall, hulking Zang figures rose into the air one after another, swooping down at an angle from the colossal World-Crossing Golden Ship to close in on them.
Branching patterns drifted around thousands of Zang, forming a gray mist. Looking at them gave a gritty, sandy sensation, as if each was a living being woven from gray offshoots and nodules.
The darkness advanced, rushing toward them at terrifying speed!
Creation Supreme glanced toward the World-Crossing Golden Ship within the darkness; even the golden vessel had taken on a gritty, grainy texture.
Atop that ship, the vessel-shaped Emerald Rock stood out distinctly, unable to be obscured even by the gray mist.
Seated upon the Emerald Rock was a hazy, indistinct gray-black figure.
"Xu Ying!" Creation Supreme's face turned deathly pale.
"Xu Ying? Isn't he dead?"
Dan Xuanzi, Mister Dongshi, Fairy Huoling, Ancestor Boshan, Dao Lord Yuanying, and the others were filled with unfathomable horror.
Panting for breath, Dan Xuanzi gasped, "Xu Ying was clearly harvested by Mingzun and turned into a corpse! How could he possibly be alive?"
Fairy Huoling said, "Exactly! We saw it with our own eyes—he had no breath left in him! There is no way he could revive!"
When they had ambushed the World-Crossing Golden Ship earlier, they hadn't even caught sight of Xu Ying sitting atop the Emerald Rock before being critically wounded and forced to flee.
Only Creation Supreme saw clearly: Xu Ying, who should have perished within the Heavenly Abyss of the Earth Immortal Realm, was actually still alive!
Not only was he alive, but he had also gathered such a massive force in the Mortal Realm to begin purging the Three Supremes and Six Wondrous!
The thousands of Zang radiated an overwhelming, terrifying aura, surging toward them like a tide that eclipsed the sky. In an instant, they realized why the darkness had been able to invade the Heavenly Dao of the Mortal Realm.
Back then, that Emerald Rock had contaminated the entire Mortal Realm, giving rise to the Dark Heavenly Dao and turning the Mortal Realm into a Cosmic Dark Realm. The might of the Emerald Rock was simply too vast; for tens of millions of years, the Mortal Realm had remained blanketed beneath its Great Dao!
Only after ten million years had scattered fragments of the Mortal Heavenly Dao begun to revive, forming a few modest settlements. It was only when Xu Ying underwent his heavenly tribulations within those settlements that the Mortal Heavenly Dao expanded to contend against the Dark Heavenly Dao.
Then the Ancestral God arrived, standing as an equal rival to the dark Mortal Realm. Now, however, the Ancestral God was grievously injured and incapable of commanding the Mortal Heavenly Dao. With Xu Ying carrying an Emerald Rock of his own, he could invade whenever he pleased!
*What's more, that old bastard of an Ancestral God is still aboard Xu Ying's golden ship!*
At this thought, Creation Supreme could confirm the single point most advantageous to them: the Ancestral God and the Holy Venerable truly were heavily injured, making this the best possible opportunity to eliminate them!
Yet even though the opportunity lay right before them, seizing it was easier said than done.
"Run!"
Ancestor Boshan shouted, unleashing his divine arts to bombard the oncoming Zang, hoping to halt their advance. But he had forgotten that within the darkness, under the influence of the Dao weeping, their divine arts could scarcely travel far.
Barely a hundred li out, Ancestor Boshan's divine art was utterly drowned by the darkness, stripped of all might.
Yet within that very darkness, gritty, sand-like divine arts danced through the air. The Zang were channeling the magical arts and divine powers born of the Emerald Rock Great Dao, hurtling straight toward them!
The power of these divine arts did not diminish in the slightest. Though they were not particularly refined or exquisite, they possessed sheer, terrifying brute force!
The group defended themselves against the incoming arts as they fled, but the darkness behind them soon caught up, swallowing their silhouettes whole.
Ancestor Boshan summoned the Myriad Stars Sand Bowl, scattering countless stars. One after another, the stars were obliterated by the divine arts of the Zang.
The star bowl housed the Innate Yin-Yang Dual Qi that nurtured constellations, yet it was battered until it was riddled with dents, making Ancestor Boshan's heart ache with distress.
Dao Lord Yuanying summoned the Lunar Huntian Golden Orb. Once unleashed, the orb swelled to tens of millions of li across, enveloping the Zang and their divine arts within its scope!
Suppressing her injuries, Dao Lord Yuanying drove the Lunar Huntian Golden Orb to invert yin and yang and throw heaven and earth into chaos. This artifact was miraculous beyond measure, forming its own realm where the Great Dao of heaven and earth shifted at her whim, capable of severing an opponent's magical arts and divine powers!
Anyone trapped within this treasure would be unable to execute any divine art, leaving them to be slaughtered effortlessly by Dao Lord Yuanying.
Yet even this Wondrous Realm treasure could not suppress the Emerald Rock's divine arts. In the very next moment, the Lunar Huntian Golden Orb was riddled with holes like a sieve, leaking qi in every direction.
Dao Lord Yuanying coughed up blood from the violent shockwaves, gritting her teeth to keep the golden orb aloft.
Nearby, Mister Dongshi summoned the Void-Disrupting Yin-Yang Ring, Dan Xuanzi called forth the Yuantu Seven-Color Lamp, and Creation Supreme channeled his cave abyss, sending a beam of light from his Creation Wheel to shine upon the Zang!
Fairy Huoling also brought out her badly battered set of fiery bells. United by shared enmity, the group unleashed their combined power.
At that moment, the six great experts stood united as one. Though every one of them was heavily injured, they erupted with astonishing combat strength, temporarily holding off the horde of Zang!
Where the Creation Profound Light of Creation Supreme fell, those Zang even began to revert from their Zangified state, gradually turning back into humans.
Yet while their physical bodies returned to human form, their former cultivation could never be restored, and they could no longer wield the Emerald Rock's divine arts. Such was the vicious malice of the Creation divine arts.
Suddenly, Old Zang Jingming and Ming Wangsun leapt down from the World-Crossing Golden Ship, arriving at the forefront of the battlefield in the blink of an eye. Old Zang Jingming struck the Lunar Huntian Golden Orb with a single palm, denting the Wondrous Realm treasure inward. Blood spurted from Dao Lord Yuanying's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as she was thrown backward.
Old Zang Jingming lunged forward, opening eight layers of Dao realms. Weathering the Creation Profound Light head-on, he closed in rapidly on Creation Supreme against the glare.
Seeing this, Creation Supreme could not afford to concern himself with the other Zang. He focused all his magical power entirely on Old Zang Jingming to prevent him from closing the distance.
Having suffered two severe wounds in quick succession, with the second Dao injury arriving before the first had healed, falling into close-quarters combat against an Eighth Dao Realm Zang renowned for brutal melee would spell certain doom!
On the other side, Ming Wangsun took on Mister Dongshi's Void-Disrupting Yin-Yang Ring alone, weathered Dan Xuanzi's Yuantu Seven-Color Lamp head-on, clashed with Fairy Huoling's chain of fiery bells, and met Ancestor Boshan's Myriad Stars Sand Bowl—yet he did not yield an inch of ground!
Instead, Dan Xuanzi, Mister Dongshi, and the others were repeatedly rattled by his strikes, their injuries worsening as they coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood.
Among the five Wondrous figures, the only other time they had suffered wounds of this severity was during their battle against the Ancestral God six hundred thousand years ago. Even when they subsequently lost the struggle for power and were suppressed, imprisoned, and exiled one after another, their injuries had never been this dire!
With the Creation Profound Light no longer shining over them, the horde of Zang instantly regained their fierce vitality and charged forward ruthlessly. Despair took root in the hearts of the five Wondrous experts: *This time, we might truly perish in the dark realm!*
Creation Supreme was also pushed to the brink as Old Zang Jingming closed in, and a flicker of despair rose within him: *Perhaps I should have left Xu Ying a path of survival back then; then I wouldn't be facing this calamity today...*
Old Zang Jingming tore into his Dao landscape, causing it to undergo Zangification. As one waxed and the other waned, dying at Old Zang Jingming's hands was only a matter of time.
In fact, he would die even faster once the five Wondrous figures, including Dan Xuanzi and Mister Dongshi, were killed. With Ming Wangsun joining the fray alongside thousands of Zang, escaping would be impossible.
Creation Supreme shouldn't have fallen into such a pathetic state to begin with. Yet for some reason, misfortune had dogged him ever since he arrived in the Mortal Realm. First, he was wounded by the joint assault of Jingming and Ming Wangsun; then, while trying to rescue Fairy Huoling, he was wounded by them a second time. And now, fresh injuries were piled atop the old!
*Could it be that five years ago, when I summoned the Returning Dao Jade Platter to stop Xu Ying from killing Mingzun, allowing Mingzun to harvest him, I offended the Dao Ancestor's karmic fortune? Could this be a backlash of fortune?*
What he had done back then was indeed thoroughly unscrupulous—not only blasting Xu Ying away, but also suppressing him so Mingzun could harvest him.
Xu Ying was the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao. Reflecting on the matter made him feel uneasy, but in the next breath, his resolve hardened once more: *Never mind the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao—even my master, Great Dao Lord Xuhuang, was personally slain by my hand back then! If karmic backlash were real, it would have arrived long ago!*
Just as this thought crossed his mind, an ethereal, ringing cry echoed from afar:
"As morning's first light greets the dawn, purple clouds bathe the dark slopes.
Brilliant cave abyss where round radiance gathers, dazzlingly washing Yaoluo."
Then came another long cry, aged and powerful:
"Vast and distant, the primal spirit-realm; lush and flowing, the pure empyrean grace.
Nine heavens lodge jade guests; mist and clouds rise over Luofu in song."
The ethereal voice chuckled. "Dao Brother Creation, fellow Daoists, do not panic. Yaoluo has arrived to assist you!"
The aged, resounding voice also laughed. "Fellow Daoists, Dao Lord Luofu has come to aid you!"
Creation Supreme and the others were filled with both surprise and joy, though a trace of resentment stirred beneath their relief.
That Yaoluo Supreme was another of the Supremes among the Six Supremes and Twelve Wondrous, ranked sixth behind Dao Venerable Lü and Qionghua. But a Supreme was still a Supreme. Even as the sixth-ranked, joining forces with him would be enough to turn the tables and slay Old Zang Jingming, Ming Wangsun, and the rest!
Add to that Dao Lord Luofu, a mighty expert ranked fourth among the Twelve Wondrous, and they might well be able to slaughter every last one of these Zang, storm the World-Crossing Golden Ship, execute the Holy Venerable, suppress the Ancestral God, and put Xu Ying to death!
Naturally, that sliver of resentment stemmed from the timing: for Yaoluo Supreme and Dao Lord Luofu to reveal themselves only when the others were on the verge of collapse meant they had arrived long ago, stepping in only after seeing their comrades battered within an inch of their lives.
This was the unspoken understanding among the Six Supremes and Twelve Wondrous. If you weren't beaten half to death, coming to your aid wouldn't count as delivering charcoal in a blizzard, and your gratitude would be far less profound and sincere.
When such a fate had befallen Dao Lord Luofu or the Immortal Emperor Supreme, Creation Supreme had found it thoroughly delightful. But now that it was happening to him, the delight was nowhere to be found.
Yaoluo Supreme channeled the cave abyss behind his head. This cave abyss had been summoned by Emperor Shaohao in ancient times; it was a Supreme-grade cave abyss, containing a Supreme-level Great Dao along with tens of thousands of immortal mountains and blessed grounds, brimming with inexhaustible spiritual energy and power!
Yaoluo Supreme's Supreme treasure was called the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords. Though it bore the name of a sword, it was actually a set of sword armaments. Once deployed, they could blanket the highest heavens, forming a peerless weapon of slaughter.
Back then outside Biyou Palace, during the battle against the Immortal Slaying Sword, the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords had been completely destroyed, but they had bought enough time for the other Supremes to snap the Immortal Slaying Sword.
Afterward, Daoist Yuji reforged the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords for him using the hilt and fragments of the Immortal Slaying Sword's blade, making the Subduing Heaven Swords even more formidable than before.
Carrying the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords on his back, Yaoluo Supreme possessed a broad, imposing frame, though the scabbard rose noticeably higher than his shoulder. With a sharp *shhhk*, the swords unsheathed. Instantly, a sea of sword light and blade energy swept across the heavens like a vast ocean, swallowing the thousands of Zang whole!
Among the six Supremes, Yaoluo was the Sword Supreme, peerless in swordsmanship across the world.
Dao Lord Luofu chuckled as well, stepping forward to intercept Ming Wangsun.
Right then, Dao Lord Luofu caught sight of a dazzling, golden key flying toward him like a sword. He froze in bewilderment. *Who could be so bored as to forge a key into a magic treasure? What can a key do as a weapon?*
The thought had barely formed when the void shattered with a thunderous roar. The World-Crossing Golden Ship shifted across space almost instantaneously, materializing directly beneath the key, and slammed into him with a cataclysmic boom!
Dao Lord Luofu felt as if his head were still in place while his body was sent flying. An instant later, he realized his head hadn't remained behind—his primordial spirit had been left in place while his physical body was hurled away!
The impact from the World-Crossing Golden Ship was truly horrifying, crippling this expert of the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo in an instant, shattering his bones, snapping his sinews, and pulverizing his internal organs.
The Wondrous Realm of Great Luo was not inherently weaker than the Supreme realm. However, under the lingering influence of the Dao weeping from six hundred thousand years ago, the path of the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo had become an Old Dao, incompatible with the Great Dao of heaven and earth today, leaving its practitioners unable to unleash the power of ancient eras.
Had the Great Dao of heaven and earth remained whole, and had they possessed a Supreme cave abyss of their own, the strength of a Wondrous Realm expert would have been virtually identical to that of a Supreme.
Where the New Dao truly surpassed the Old Dao was not in the Supreme realm itself, but in the various new realms Xu Ying had pioneered. By pushing the Supreme realm forward by half a step or an entire stage, he had brought it on par with the Imperishable realm, thoroughly surpassing the Old Dao.
The World-Crossing Golden Ship not only crippled Dao Lord Luofu, but also slammed through the myriad Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords, leaving them lodged in the golden hull.
As the golden key rotated, the World-Crossing Golden Ship spun with it, tilting onto its side to ram straight toward Yaoluo Supreme!
Shocked and infuriated, Yaoluo Supreme frantically channeled the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords. Myriad streaks of sword light swirled, streaking directly toward the Emerald Rock!
Yet at the very instant he struck toward Xu Ying upon the rock, the World-Crossing Golden Ship crashed down at an angle toward the earth, carrying him, Luofu's physical body, Dan Xuanzi, Dongshi, Huoling, Boshan, and Yuanying with it in an overwhelming crush!
Yaoluo Supreme roared in fury, bracing both hands against the World-Crossing Golden Ship as he shouted, "Everyone, do not give up—hold it back!"
The others let out furious bellows, pouring every ounce of their power into pressing their hands against the World-Crossing Golden Ship to share Yaoluo Supreme's burden. Everyone pulled together, yet the World-Crossing Golden Ship had been forged during the archaic Dragon Court era, crafted by gathering every master artisan and melting down countless treasures across the world to create a vessel capable of crossing cosmic voids.
Back then, two foreign beings from beyond the cosmos, along with Qin Daoquan of the human race, Heavenly Prime Minister Bi Yanhai of the dragon race, and several other Eighth Dao Realm powerhouses, had engaged in a lethal struggle aboard this ship without leaving a scratch on it!
Yaoluo Supreme gritted his teeth, desperately resisting the crushing weight of the World-Crossing Golden Ship while splitting a portion of his mind to control the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords. He thought to himself, *As long as I kill the person seated atop the Emerald Rock, we can turn defeat into victory!*
He was the strongest combatant among them now, the focal point of all their hopes. This strike with the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords was the pivotal blow; failure was not an option.
*Boom!*
The World-Crossing Golden Ship smashed into the earth while grinding over them. Roars shook the heavens as they were dragged backward across the ground, splitting mountains where they struck and leveling seas where they stepped, exerting every scrap of power to contend with the golden ship!
Their skin ruptured, blood seeped from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, and their vital qi and blood boiled upward into rising clouds of crimson!
Aboard the golden ship, streaks of the Great Luo Subduing Heaven Swords shot toward Xu Ying. The Ancestral God and the Holy Venerable intervened immediately, dragging their grievously wounded bodies forward to parry the majority of the swords. Even so, many blades slipped through, hurtling toward Xu Ying.
Suddenly, Yuan Weiyang summoned twenty-seven golden flying swords to meet them. The clashing blades fluttered like swarming golden butterflies, yet over forty Subduing Heaven Swords broke through her defense and bore down on Xu Ying.
Sitting steadily upon the Emerald Rock, Xu Ying suddenly rose to his feet, meeting the forty-nine Subduing Heaven Swords barehanded!
His form moved with agile vigor, shifting like a swimming dragon, meeting those swords with the simplest, purest martial Dao divine arts!
In an instant, afterimages filled the sky. From afar, it looked as though forty-nine Martial God Xu Yings were branded into the firmament, meeting the incoming sword lights head-on!
*Clang, clang, clang, clang!*
A rapid cascade of crisp rings rang out. Each of the forty-nine Subduing Heaven Swords was struck at its weakest point, plunging downward one after another to form a wide circle planted around the Emerald Rock.
All the Xu Yings in midair snapped back into a single figure in a flash, lightly touching down onto the Emerald Rock.
Chapter 638