"Karma is not the karma you think it is, nor is a great curse the sort of spellcraft you imagine," a gentle, melodious voice resonated through heaven and earth, ringing crystal-clear across the Immortal Heaven.
This voice did not originate from this realm, but came from far beyond the heavens.
The assembly of immortals understood at once: this was almost certainly Wei Yuan. Though he possessed numerous incarnations within this realm, he had deliberately gone through the time and trouble of speaking from beyond the heavens, projecting his voice into this world purely to display his might. Such style was unmistakably Wei Yuan.
With the storm imminent, the Venerable Master's aura was already fluctuating noticeably under the pressure. He barked sharply, "Wei Yuan! How can you use a Karma Great Curse?! You have colluded with an alien race!"
Wei Yuan replied in a calm and mild tone, "The Shaman Clan's Karma Great Curse stems from the sacrificial power and karmic debt obtained by sacrificing countless living offerings, which is why it is sinister, vicious, and immensely potent. But my Karma Great Curse derives from the karmic luck of countless mortals; it could also be called a Karmic Luck Great Curse. Its might comes precisely from the mortals upon whom you usually wouldn't deign to spare a glance—hundreds of millions, billions of mortals.
"You believe that mortals are merely a tray of loose sand, useless even if they number in the tens or hundreds of billions. Yet if they are brought together, the united strength of the masses is enough to change the very heavens. Today, I shall draw a wisp of karmic luck from every mortal in Qingming and forge it into a single strike, so that you may see how billions of ants can triumph over heaven!
"My Karmic Luck Great Curse does not tread the insidious and malicious path of the Shamans. It is an upright and righteous... crushing of you to death."
In the world beyond the heavens, Wei Yuan's true body slowly raised a hand. Every mortal in Qingming felt a faint dizziness and a touch of weakness, as if they had lost a little something.
Countless specks of light, invisible to mortal eyes, slowly rose into the sky, vanished, and then materialized out of nothing in Wei Yuan's palm. The power of billions of living beings gathered within his hand, condensing into a single point of light that grew brighter and brighter, until at last its brilliance rivaled that of the sun.
Originally, a realm barrier separated this world from beyond the heavens.
Yet Houtu pointed toward the sky, tearing an opening in the barrier to admit the immortal sword. Guided by karma, it plummeted toward the Venerable Master.
Glaring furiously at Houtu, the Venerable Master only had time to spit out half an oath—"You treacherous traitor—"—before the colossal sword descended upon his head!
With a thunderous roar, the Immortal Heaven trembled violently, leaving nearly every immortal unsteady on their feet.
Only now did the Venerable Master reveal the true strength of an Immortal Lord. As the ten-thousand-zhang colossal sword fell, its tip instantly melted away under the extreme clash of immortal power. Then the blade continued downward section by section, melting away section by section. The two sides clashed with world-destroying force, completely devoid of tricks!
By the time more than half the giant sword had melted, a pure white sun rose from the point of impact. Scorchingly hot heavenly winds swept across nearly half of the Immortal Heaven in an instant, exposing the traces of numerous secret realms, grotto-heavens, and hidden abodes amidst the violent tremors.
The immortals in the sky were instantly thrown into chaos. Some had their hidden secret realms exposed, others discovered the traces of long-sought treasures and immortals, and still others found that their lost cave abodes were actually in the hands of their dearest bosom friends.
Thus, on account of a dozen or so hidden domains, over a hundred bizarre and awkward relationships among the immortals were unexpectedly brought to light.
Meanwhile, in Qingming, hundreds of enormous poles had been erected, each a full hundred zhang high and pointed toward the vault of heaven, recording data on every anomaly in the Immortal Heaven.
The Venerable Master had no leisure to care about such trivialities; he could only hold his ground against the giant sword with everything he had.
This colossal sword truly was manifested from karmic luck. Thus, the Venerable Master was both shocked and enraged: Wei Yuan had just expended ten billion units of karmic luck to summon Houtu, so how could he still have billions more to drive a Karma Great Curse? Even a century of Great Tang's accumulated reserves would amount to no more than this!
Wei Yuan had merely carved out a tiny corner of land—where did he get so much karmic luck?
Regardless of his shock and indignation, it was abundantly clear that even the Venerable Master could not withstand a Karma Great Curse forged from the mortal fortune of billions. Moreover, unlike when Wei Yuan had faced the Shaman curse and had many people willingly or unwillingly share the burden for him, the Venerable Master had severed himself from worldly karma—so there was no one to shoulder it with him!
By now, the giant sword had melted away section by section until only a small segment of the blade remained, yet the Venerable Master could endure no longer. A sudden thought surfaced in his mind, echoing among the assembled immortals. A single thought arose in everyone: *Could it be that an Immortal Lord truly cannot match a few billion mortals?*
Just a few breaths ago, anyone who dared ask such a question would have become the laughingstock of the Immortal Heaven.
Mortals were like ants. Even if they were billions upon trillions, they were still just ants. No matter how many ants there were, it was merely a matter of taking a few more steps to stomp them flat. Thus, in the eyes of certain powerful immortals—such as Duke Yansheng—the tens of billions of mortals in the world could not even compare to a single one of themselves, let alone an Immortal Lord.
Yet at this very moment, Wei Yuan showed the assembly of immortals with absolute clarity that when the strength of billions of mortals was focused onto a single point, it could obliterate an Immortal Lord!
The heavens had fallen.
The giant sword continued to plunge until only the hilt remained. An obscure fluctuation suddenly welled from the Venerable Master's body, followed by a faint, agonizing screech deep within the Immortal Heaven. The pure white sun detonated violently, filling the Immortal Heaven with blinding light and searing heat.
When the white light cleared, a massive rent had appeared in the Immortal Heaven, slowly repairing itself, though it would likely take several years to fully heal.
The Venerable Master was nowhere to be seen, yet the Immortal Heaven did not manifest the Heavenly Flaw and rain of blood that inevitably accompanied the fall of an Immortal Lord. Several immortals breathed a sigh of relief; an Immortal Lord was indeed not so easy to slay. If the Venerable Master had truly perished, it would have been terrifying beyond belief.
At this moment, Wei Yuan's voice arrived once more from beyond the heavens: "That was the Karmic Luck Great Curse. In reigniting heaven and earth out here beyond the heavens, I have managed to save up a modest surplus. I also possess a Merit Minor Curse. I wonder which exalted immortal would care to give it a try?"
The assembly of immortals fell silent.
Wei Yuan naturally knew no one would answer; he had merely asked for the sake of asking. Just as he intended to chuckle and toss out a few barbed remarks to make his Dao heart even clearer, someone suddenly spoke: "I am willing to try!"
Di Ran forcibly summoned two golden grotto-heavens, holding back Zhang Sheng, while he strode toward Houtu.
Zhang Sheng waved her hand, releasing ten thousand golden lotuses that steadily eroded the two grotto-heavens. In the blink of an eye, both were visibly damaged; in just a few more moments, both grotto-heavens would be completely ruined at her hands.
Even for Di Ran, losing two golden grotto-heavens would severely diminish his strength. Yet he paid it no heed, marching single-mindedly toward Houtu.
From the pool of mashed flesh on the ground, the red-eyed Wei Yuan rose once again, blocking Di Ran's path. Then, a dazzling radiance descended from above as Chuhe stepped in front of Wei Yuan once more.
Stroking his beard, Chuhe said, "If this poor Daoist's lifetime of merit can be spent here, I suppose my death will have been worth—"
Before his words could finish, Wei Yuan grabbed Chuhe by the scruff of his neck, turned on his heel, and bolted!
Chuhe was dumbfounded. Before he could grasp what was happening, with a thunderous crash, a thousand-zhang boulder smashed down upon the spot where they had just been standing!
The red-eyed Wei Yuan fled at full speed, shouting as he ran, "Always thinking of sacrificing himself to fulfill others—that guy is a total psycho! As long as he can destroy your Body of Merit, he really will strike!"
Chuhe was startled as well. Though he had long resolved to lay down his life, Wei Yuan's words instantly dampened his fervor for martyrdom. Above all, dragging an Immortal Lord down with him would earn him a place in the annals of immortality. But dragging the Fifth High Mountain to death might not even earn a line in future histories.
Though Wei Yuan was weak at the moment, with his secret techniques his speed was still exceedingly swift. In the blink of an eye, he escaped outside Di Ran's attack range before finally halting.
Looking back at Di Ran with a contemplative expression, he muttered to himself, "Why is this guy so twisted? Always wanting to move himself by playing the martyr for others... Could this short little rock have failed to woo girls in his youth, leaving him with this sort of trauma?"
Di Ran had been striding toward Houtu, but hearing this, he could no longer bear it. He turned his head and roared, "In my youth, this seat was also a peerless prodigy!"
Wei Yuan nodded. "Well, you did become an immortal, so you must have had talent in your youth. But since you've become an immortal, why do you still look like a stubby little rock? Did your youthful heartbreak hurt that bad?"
Di Ran's face took on the hue of dark basalt. In a deep voice, he said, "This seat did suffer setbacks in the past, but they only forged a firmer heart for the Dao. To appear in my true form is merely to follow the Great Dao of heaven and earth—what is wrong with that?"
Wei Yuan chuckled slyly. "Showing your true form is the only way to make those who looked down on you and didn't choose you back then regret it, isn't it?"
Di Ran ground his teeth. "How could this seat be so petty?!"
Red light swirled in Wei Yuan's eyes. Borrowing the power of the Evil Sun Heavenly Pillar, at the instant Di Ran's Dao heart wavered, he caught sight of an odd karmic thread between him and the Ninth High Mountain.
Wei Yuan immediately pointed toward the Ninth High Mountain and said, "I have to say, no matter how strong you are, you're not as tall and burly as him, nor do you look nearly as handsome."
Di Ran's face instantly turned the color of diabase.
Chapter 1496