"Lord Heavenly Venerable... has returned."
Lu Xichan and the array masters present froze slightly upon hearing these words.
Then, inevitably, an overwhelming terror welled in their hearts, forcing their heads low.
Their bodies even began to tremble uncontrollably.
This was the sheer oppressive might of that Longevity Heavenly Venerable who had dominated Xuanhuang for thousands of years and single-handedly founded the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Following Dharma Transmitter Ren's words, across the various provinces of the Alliance, the Holy Emperor talismans affixed to the colossal stone statues of Chuanfa suddenly began to flutter without wind.
They flapped continuously, seeming on the verge of being blown away at any moment.
The statues suppressed beneath the talismans seemed to come alive as well, shaking faintly.
The Holy Emperor talismans and Chuanfa statues—one emanating purple-gold starlight, the other radiating white light—locked in relentless conflict.
Above and across the world of Xuanhuang, the winds and clouds churned.
As if sensing something, the Holy Emperor casually glanced up at the heavens while continuing his sermon.
Yet the truths of the Great Dao spoken from his lips did not halt.
Only his pace quickened slightly.
Amidst the bizarre omens throughout the world of Xuanhuang, some Alliance cultivators had already deduced the truth.
Their faces turned pale, cold sweat dripping from their foreheads. No longer having the heart to listen to the Holy Emperor's sermon, they shuddered incessantly in terror.
Yet other cultivators' eyes flickered with resolve as they focused on taking in the Holy Emperor's teachings, praying in their hearts that Chuanfa would return just a little later.
"Past and present shift and transform; such is the principle of the Great Dao."
"The methods of Chuanfa shall not be tolerated in Xuanhuang."
"Having attained the Dao today, I shall endeavor to change it..."
At last, the Holy Emperor's sermon drew to a close.
His gaze shifted entirely from the myriad living beings below to that solitary figure in the starry sky beyond the Xuanhuang Realm.
With a slight nod, he vanished into the horizon.
Without the Holy Emperor's protection, anomalous phenomena abruptly descended across the Xuanhuang Realm.
Rolling dark clouds arose from nowhere, stretching endlessly and slowly veiling the bright moon formed by the Sacred Court of Great Qi.
Upon the land, the birds and beasts that had ventured out to listen to the Holy Emperor's sermon fled in panic and disarray, scurrying back to their dens for refuge.
Even the plants, flowers, and trees withered and shattered in the increasingly violent gale.
Boom! Thunderbolts tore through the dark clouds, followed by torrential rain hammering the earth.
With wind, rain, and thunder intertwining, the entire Xuanhuang Realm seemed plunged into an apocalypse.
Though Chuanfa himself had not yet set foot here, all living beings under heaven were already shivering beneath His shadow.
Those Alliance cultivators whose hearts had wavered from hearing the Holy Emperor's sermon felt as though a basin of icy water had been dumped over their heads, snapping them out of their feverish reverie.
"What was I thinking?! That is Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa! The Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa who single-handedly suppressed the Xuanhuang Realm for thousands of years! How could I have ever imagined the Sa—no, that this bunch of bandits could win?!"
"The Holy Emperor... Though the Holy Emperor is powerful, he can never be a match for Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa. Dammit, I have to forget this new method immediately."
"Heavenly Venerable above, forgive this lowly one for being possessed by momentary madness..."
"Once Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa acts, everything will be fine!"
Intimidated by Chuanfa's awe-inspiring might, the Alliance cultivators trembled to their cores.
The soldiers of the Sacred Court, faced with such a vast innate gulf in realms, were likewise gripped by momentary terror.
Yet soon, their eyes hardened with resolve once more.
Some remembered what the Holy Emperor had told them before this expedition.
And so, someone shouted toward the sky, "The Sacred Court will prevail! The Holy Emperor will prevail!"
It began as scattered cries, but soon spread like wildfire across a dry plain. Without anyone directing them, all the soldiers of the Sacred Court, as if sharing a single mind, cried out in unison.
The sound grew louder and louder, transforming from shouts to roars, and from roars to ferocious bellows.
The voices of Great Qi's warriors swept across the entire Xuanhuang Realm like rolling billows, with the force of overturning mountains and seas.
As if answering their call, the bright moon in the sky erupted with purple-gold radiance, breaking through the boundless dark clouds once again.
Amidst these earth-shaking roars, the raging wind and rain battering Xuanhuang actually showed signs of gradually subsiding.
Dharma Transmitter Ren sneered as he listened to the distant voices. "Nothing more than a deathbed struggle."
As if in response to his words, teleportation portals opened one after another across the four central provinces of the Alliance.
Massive fleets of flying vessels poured out continuously, filling the skies above the four provinces in an instant.
Standing at the prow of each flying vessel was a Dharma Transmitter.
Looking up into the sky, the Dharma Transmitters bowed slightly toward Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa outside in the starry void.
Lu Xichan peeked at this spectacle, inwardly astonished. *These must be the cultivator forces from the various Dharma Transmitters' respective pocket worlds. Now that Lord Heavenly Venerable has appeared, they naturally have no need to hide behind the scenes any longer.*
*Judging by the auras emanating from those flying vessels, there is no shortage of Dao Integration cultivators among them.*
*The Alliance's hidden strength is even greater than I imagined...*
While Lu Xichan was deep in thought, a mocking voice suddenly drifted down from above: "You deployed the Dissociation Discs and nineteen Tianxuan secondary bodies, yet after all this time, you haven't even broken a mere trapping formation."
"Your Formation Planning Hall truly gets worse with every generation. If Lu Xia knew of this, he would probably be so furious he'd rise from the dead."
Hearing her master's name and the taunt directed at her, Lu Xichan felt a surge of anger. However, she recognized the speaker as one of the Dharma Transmitters, Dou. Thus, despite her rage, she dared not show the slightest hint of it, merely lowering her head and saying, "This subordinate is incompetent."
"Forget it. Have your people step aside." Following Dharma Transmitter Dou's lazy command, a group of boys drifted down from the flying vessel above.
They first bowed slightly to the Mirror Keepers guarding the Dissociation Discs. After receiving the formation data analyzed by the Dissociation Discs thus far, they began unraveling the formation.
There were thirty-six boys in total.
Every one of their faces was completely expressionless; even their eyes showed not the slightest ripple of emotion.
One of them reached his hand into the beam of the Bright Moon Star Sea Formation.
Immediately, his body turned ethereal, from hand to torso, gradually matching the formation's starlight.
Just as the Dao child testing the formation with his body was about to be completely engulfed by the starlight, his figure suddenly vanished, turning into a streak of light that flew before another Dao child.
This second Dao child likewise touched it with his hand, testing the formation with his own body.
So it continued in turn.
Until the thirty-sixth Dao child, just before he was about to dissolve into starlight, shuddered and shook out his previous thirty companions, returning to normal himself.
The thirty-six Dao children whispered and murmured amongst themselves.
Then, as if reaching a consensus, they nodded together.
They split into two groups: one began dismantling the formation, while the other repeated the process of testing the formation with their bodies.
The Alliance array masters observing from the side immediately sensed how extraordinary these Dao children were.
At their rate of unraveling, a breach would definitely be torn in the Bright Moon Starlight Formation in less than half a day at most.
As chief of the Formation Planning Hall, Lu Xichan was shaken far more than the others.
Watching these thirty-six boys break the formation, four words surfaced in her mind: "Array Spirit Sacred Body."
This was an exceptionally rare constitution, as if the physical body were formed of a natural array. Not only did they possess an innate affinity and sensitivity toward all manner of formations, but they could also merge body and array, drastically enhancing a formation's power.
Just as an artifact spirit was to a magical treasure, they could incarnate as array spirits, elevating and transforming a formation.
An Array Spirit Sacred Body was rare even across centuries.
During his life, Lu Xichan's master, Lu Xia, had longed to find a cultivator with this constitution to inherit his legacy. Regrettably, he never had his wish fulfilled before he died, and in the end, out of helplessness, he had passed all his life's learning to Lu Xichan.
Who could have thought that over thirty of them would appear at once today!
Lu Xichan looked up once more at the figures standing atop the densely packed flying vessels floating in the sky.
A chill crept through her heart. *Just how many secrets are these Dharma Transmitters hiding?*
Once Dharma Transmitter Ren learned the progress of the formation breach, a glint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
With the Alliance having been thrown into such a wretched state this time, punishment from the Lord Heavenly Venerable was inevitable.
If so, before that punishment arrived, he would vent his fury upon these troublemakers.
With a wave of his hand, the black-robed cultivators who had paused their technique-pooling due to the Holy Emperor's sermon resumed their work.
Several more cultivators in cyan Daoist robes, brandishing horsetail whisks and talismans, descended quietly from the flying vessels above.
With sweeps of whisks and flutters of talismans, they molded the power accumulated within the suspended spheres of light into ferocious, chilling divine forms resembling descending deities.
As these deities of pure energy manifested in the world, the terrifying might radiating from them filled even Lu Xichan, a Dao Integration cultivator, with profound dread.
The Alliance's counterattack was poised to unleash.
Outside the Bright Moon Starlight Formation, the warriors of the Sacred Court were prepared to engage the Alliance in close combat.
The battlefield's commander-in-chief, Sun Erlang, was methodically transmitting orders through the Holy Emperor's vast astral web.
"Those below the Nascent Soul stage, garrison your positions and do not act rashly! Continue overseeing the construction progress of the suppression formations. Remember, completing the formations on time is a major merit!"
"For cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage and above, I make the following deployment adjustments."
Under Sun Erlang's will, the brighter stars in the sea of stars dispersed and rearranged.
"Do not clash head-on with the Alliance. Stretch the battle lines across every corner of the Alliance."
"We do not need to storm the Alliance Headquarters. What we need is to await the Holy Emperor's triumphant return from the sea of stars!" Sun Erlang said in an unwavering tone.
Great Qi's soldiers answered with a thunderous roar.
Once everyone's spirits were fully roused, Sun Erlang observed the scene inside the Bright Moon Starlight Formation and made final adjustments to troop assignments.
Meanwhile, with spare mental capacity, his mind linked to the Dark Gold Sacred Punishment Puppet standing quietly beside him.
*Finally, I can stretch my muscles.*
Beneath Sun Erlang's calm gaze, a searing, scorching battle intent surged.
Three shichen later.
The Bright Moon Starlight Formation, which had firmly locked down the four central provinces of the Alliance for seven whole days, was finally torn open by a small gap.
An instant later, devastating attacks fueled by the fury of the Alliance cultivators poured out through this breach.
Solidified techniques, glaring deities of energy, and the radiant gleam of countless magical treasures...
They shone in radiant concert and burst forth like a deluge.
Terrifying energy capable of leveling multiple Alliance provinces to the ground surged impatiently in search of a target to strike.
Yet what awaited this long-accumulated counterstrike from the Alliance...
Was merely an ordinary, pitch-black doorway.
As the black portal swung open, every single violent attack was completely swallowed.
Like a colossal beast of the abyss opening its bloody maw, it did not leave behind even a trace of energy ripple for the Alliance.
Having consumed all the explosive power, the black portal vanished as silently as it had appeared, leaving the Alliance forces dumbfounded.
"The sea of gloomy darkness?" Dharma Transmitter Ren's expression changed slightly, for he had felt a familiar aura from that portal.
And just as he expected, the "vast" energy swallowed into the sea of gloomy darkness merely condensed into another accumulation cloud deep within its depths, without kicking up any other ripples.
"It seems the disturbance in the sea of gloomy darkness a while ago was also connected to these bandits."
With old grudges compounding new hatred, Dharma Transmitter Ren's rage reached its peak.
The thirty-six Dao children continued unraveling the formation, intending to shatter the Bright Moon Starlight Formation entirely.
The cultivators under the other Dharma Transmitters filed out through the breach, set upon sweeping away and slaughtering the bandits across the provinces.
However, Dharma Transmitter Ren's plan hit a wall in the very first province.
The entire province was completely deserted.
It appeared the bandits had fully withdrawn; even the interior of the Heavenly City had been swept bare.
Not a soul was left behind.
"They fled?" Dharma Transmitter Ren was suspicious and uncertain.
Just as the Alliance cultivators drew their swords and looked around in bewilderment, flashes of light ignited from every corner of the provincial domain, hurtling toward them in a rapid ambush.
The silver gleams seemed to have received special enhancements, their speed several times faster than before.
They arrived in an instant.
"Hm? This is..."
"Sky-Patrolling Arrows?!"
Several Dharma Transmitters recognized the objects right before their eyes, their expressions twisting in shock.
The next instant...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A continuous barrage of violent explosions shook the heavens.
...
Meanwhile, outside the Xuanhuang Realm, within the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
The figure racing back toward the Xuanhuang Realm met with an almost identical reception.
Only, what was detonated in the sea of stars was no mere Sky-Patrolling Arrow, but the lingering remnants of True Immortal power scattered across the star sea.
Holy Emperor Li Ping was not an obstinate man bound to an honorable duel with Chuanfa.
All he wanted was victory.
Riding the "gale" sweeping through the star sea, Li Ping had utilized the power of the star sea's revival to alter the positions of the residual True Immortal power.
Then, concealing them with formations, he had laid a sort of trap.
This road home was one Chuanfa had traveled countless times, familiar beyond familiarity.
Yet he had never anticipated being ambushed along it.
Like rising winds and surging waves, that figure flickered, distorted, and wavered beneath the impact of various residual True Immortal powers.
He appeared somewhat disheveled.
From a distance, the Holy Emperor gazed at his opponent, whose appearance matched the towering stone statues across Xuanhuang in every detail.
Beyond doubt, it declared his identity:
A tall crown and long beard.
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa.
Yet even under ambush, the expression on this figure's face remained utterly unchanged, just like that of the stone statues on the ground.
The Holy Emperor did not wait for his foe to recover from the ambush.
Behind him, the phantom of the Sacred Court manifested instantaneously alongside swirling vortexes of starlight.
"Destiny Is Mine..."
"The Supreme Dao Is Mine..."
"The Future Is Mine!"
The fortune accumulated and stored by the Sacred Court over countless days was bestowed upon him all at once.
The devout prayers of innumerable Great Qi citizens, soldiers, and Nether Clan remnants pierced through space and time, echoing around the Holy Emperor in harmony like the profound tones of heaven and earth.
In the Pitch-Black Star Sea, a fierce gale stirred around the Holy Emperor.
Darkness retreated, and the starlight grew brilliant.
At this moment, the Holy Emperor seemed to become the very center of the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Boundless starfields, endless void, myriad stars—all revolved around him.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, every living soul felt a stirring in their heart.
Involuntarily, they looked up toward the sky beyond the gloomy firmament.
Brilliant silver vortexes of starlight illuminated the nocturnal world.
And at the center of the spiraling layers of stars stood the majestic, solemn figure of the Holy Emperor.
The astral sacred robe upon him danced with the river of stars, resplendent and radiant without cease!
"Dao Annihilation..."
"Dao Genesis!"
Accompanied by a calm yet monumental Dao sound, the Holy Emperor's figure dissolved into the swirling vortex of starlight.
Dazzling silver light unfurled in an instant, like the Heavenly River plunging down from the ninth heaven, crashing directly toward the tall-crowned elder who had yet to steady his stance!
A ripple of change finally appeared upon Chuanfa's timeless face.
Within that infinite starlight, He seemed to see the primordial cultivation world, the immensely prosperous golden age of cultivation across this star sea.
He saw how, after reaching the zenith of prosperity, discordant, bizarre phenomena began to faintly surface across the star sea.
He also seemed to see how, with the collapse of the immortal Dao, all manner of horrifying calamities silently descended upon the star sea, snuffing out flourishing cultivation world after flourishing cultivation world.
Chuanfa's gaze wavered. Before his eyes, the dazzling sea of stars was dimming.
Starlight entered his eyes, entered his body, entered his soul.
Chuanfa's tall crown and robes began to decay.
His beard and hair began to fall out.
His tall, imposing posture bent and withered.
The lingering remnants of True Immortal power that he had yet to shake off continued to plague Him.
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa appeared on the verge of ruin.
"Cough, cough..."
"What a technique... 'Dao Annihilation, Dao Genesis'."
Amidst the howling wind of the star sea, Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa finally spoke.
His voice differed from the kind, benevolent tone of preaching remembered by the beings of Xuanhuang.
Perhaps due to the heavy blow, he sounded like a dying mortal, feeble and gasping for breath.
The Holy Emperor did not answer.
He did not even reveal his form.
The onslaught and grinding of the river of starlight had neared its end, but the Holy Emperor's attack was far from over.
What had just occurred to Chuanfa was merely "Dao Annihilation."
And what followed...
Was "Dao Genesis"!
Pitch-black hair sprouted from the crown of Chuanfa's head, growing wildly against the wind.
Muffled explosions sounded from throughout his body, accompanied by bulging tumors and protruding bone.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A powerful heartbeat accompanied the wind of the reviving star sea.
With every beat, chunks of flesh violently tore and burst from Chuanfa's body.
When the new Dao is born, the old methods must be slain.
Chuanfa, this archaic relic incompatible with the revival of the star sea, was suffering from an unimaginably severe Dao backlash.
His heartbeat grew faster and faster; his hunched body was already mangled and incomplete.
Even the bones beneath his flesh were gone.
Like a broken puzzle piece, he drifted and swayed amidst violent detonations.
His newly grown long hair looped around the star sea and snapped back, coiling tightly around his neck.
It choked tighter and tighter, like a razor-sharp blade determined to sever his head.
Bang!
Having reached the absolute limit, the heartbeat ceased as Chuanfa's chest detonated.
No mist of blood appeared—only pure, absolute nothingness.
Not even energy remained: a complete manifestation of Dao Oblivion!
From the hollow in his chest, the Dao Oblivion began spreading outward.
His already battered body seemed destined to be completely devoured by nothingness.
The wind of the star sea grew ever more turbulent, as if celebrating this victory.
Yet...
Just as the nothingness of Dao Oblivion was about to swallow Chuanfa's head,
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa—this enigmatic supreme figure who had dominated the Xuanhuang Realm for multiple eras—suddenly had specks of starlight flicker in his eyes.
Though the lower half of his head had been devoured almost entirely, a voice still resonated through the sea of stars.
It was the exact same words the Holy Emperor had spoken:
"Dao Annihilation..."
Following Chuanfa's words, the star sea seemed to plunge into stillness and darkness once more.
The passing wind slowly subsided.
The wildly sprouting hair withered and fell away.
The nothingness devouring Chuanfa was halted by some unseen force, ceasing its spread.
In a mere instant, all the destructive phenomena afflicting Chuanfa vanished.
An invisible boundary seemed to envelop him, barring any power that attempted to draw near.
The wind blew on; the stars shone bright.
Yet neither could harm him in the slightest, even though only half of his head remained.
"Dao Genesis," Chuanfa said with utter calm.
Black hair sprouted anew; flesh and bone manifested and evolved from nothingness.
His tall crown and garments returned to their original state in the blink of an eye.
In mere moments, the critically wounded Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, who had teetered on the brink of death, was completely restored!
What a terrifying sight!
"A pity. Just a hair short," the Holy Emperor's sigh suddenly rang out.
As a sweep of starlight passed, Li Ping's figure reappeared.
Gazing at Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, any trace of regret in his eyes had long vanished, replaced once more by boundless fighting spirit and unyielding conviction.
Chuanfa did not retaliate immediately either, but instead appraised this attacker who had struck to kill without a word.
As if seeing something exceedingly intriguing, Chuanfa was taken aback for a moment.
Then he said, "When did another figure rivaling the Supreme realm appear in this starry sky?"
There was a hint of wistfulness and wonder in his voice.
"Supreme..." The Holy Emperor savored those two words.
Then he shook his head slightly. "Merely the current limit of the star sea."
"If it does not transcend the limits of this star sea, how can it be called Supreme?"
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa did not dispute this.
Instead, he looked back toward the distant center of the star sea. "Does Fellow Daoist know that when the river rises, the boat floats high?"
"My Supreme and your Supreme..."
"Are still somewhat different."
Chuanfa spoke blandly.
There was no boast in his voice, merely the calm detachment of stating a fact.
Listening to Chuanfa's words, the Holy Emperor grew pensive.
He understood what Chuanfa meant.
The reason Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa currently displayed this level of combat power was simply that the star sea could accommodate no more. Yet the power he truly wielded was far above this threshold.
It was merely constrained from manifesting due to the upper limit.
Once the ceiling of the star sea was breached, his strength would only continue to grow.
As for the Holy Emperor, though he had also reached the star sea's current limit, he had done so bolstered by the Sacred Court's fortune, the favor of the star sea, and numerous other factors.
Once the limit was lifted, he would still need to cultivate for a time before catching up.
That was the gulf between Chuanfa and himself.
*After all, he is Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, who has survived who knows how many ages.* In his heart, the Holy Emperor felt little surprise, nor the slightest fear.
Even if his lethal move had been blocked, and even if a disparity in power existed between them...
The Holy Emperor's assault had only just begun.
Holy Emperor Li Ping reached out a hand, feeling the wind rise in the star sea.
This time, it was not the wind of the star sea's revival.
It was a wind of chaos, born of the clash with the residual True Immortal power!
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa also noticed Li Ping's movement.
"Fellow Daoist's technique just now, 'Dao Annihilation, Dao Genesis', was indeed extraordinary."
"Moved by the sight, I found it quite illuminating."
"I too have a move. Pray, Fellow Daoist, grant me your critique."
This time, Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa struck first.
"This technique is called..."
"A Thing in the Palm."
The moment the words "A Thing in the Palm" rang in his ears, unease surged in Li Ping's heart.
The scenery before his eyes shifted at breakneck speed.
In an instant, his body shrank boundlessly.
The surrounding world expanded dramatically.
The tall-crowned elder, who had originally been several sizes smaller than his thirty-three-foot body, expanded rapidly.
By the time the Holy Emperor realized what was happening, Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa had already grown as colossal as the towering stone statues standing upon the face of Xuanhuang.
Nor was it merely a change in size.
The Holy Emperor could even feel his connection to the Sacred Court, to the Xuanhuang Realm, and even to the entire star sea dwindling continuously as he shrank.
The Holy Emperor had a faint premonition that if this continued, the connection would very likely be severed completely, and he would be lost forever in this miniaturized state.
Amidst his racing thoughts, Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa's offensive had already followed in swift succession.
In just the span of a thought, Chuanfa's full figure was no longer visible.
There was only Chuanfa's palm, immense as mountains, vast as earth and sky, pressing down upon him.
The surrounding space was locked; the Holy Emperor had nowhere to flee.
Looking up, even the lines on Chuanfa's palm appeared like towering, continuous mountain ranges.
Facing the colossal palm of Chuanfa bearing down to suppress him, there was not a trace of fear in the Holy Emperor's eyes.
"How could the Xuanhuang Realm..."
"Ever be a plaything in your palm?"
A cold light flashed in the Holy Emperor's eyes.
"I shall have you witness the true power of Xuanhuang."
"Body transformed into..."
"The Xuanhuang Heaven!"
His body was completely eclipsed beneath Chuanfa's colossal palm.
And then...
Boundless xuanhuang radiance flared from beneath the giant hand.
At that moment, the living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm suddenly felt the earth beneath their feet shake violently.
Even the dark clouds in the sky were dispersed by the tremors.
Many sharp-eyed cultivators could see that between heaven and earth, some essential lines seemed to be missing.
With a creaking roar, as if the heavenly pillars had snapped,
The sky of the Xuanhuang Realm dropped down slightly.
Chapter 1296