A desperate scene unfolded deep within the Tianyu Dao Palace.
No matter how many times they killed the enemy, they could swiftly "reborn."
The speed of this rebirth was truly inconceivable. It seemed that creating twelve peak Dao Integration realm cultivators at once cost the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace nothing at all.
Fang Dingge's hands trembled as he gripped the Burning Dao Furnace, his eyes bloodshot. He desperately wanted to advance further, but was ultimately helpless.
Even though everyone had deployed their sects' immortal artifacts, they still could not breach this last line of defense.
"Only by destroying the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace is there any hope of completely crushing these twelve Dao Integration realm cultivators. But to destroy the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace, one must first surpass these twelve figures..."
The eyes of everyone from the Ten Sects were filled with gloom.
Before they were completely spent, someone finally spoke: "Fang Sect Master, this cannot be done. Let's retreat for now!"
"As long as the green mountains remain, we need not fear lack of firewood. As long as we can return alive, there will be hope. If we die here... the Xuanhuang Realm is doomed!"
Fang Dingge was not an indecisive person.
Despite so much reluctance, he knew that what they planned today simply could not be done.
"Go!" he said hatefully.
The Burning Dao Furnace held the last of its scarce milky-white flames to open a path. They charged straight out of the Tianyu Dao Palace, which had been sealed off watertight by the Taiyuan Realm's cultivators on the defensive.
However, coming was easy, going was hard.
As if they had received orders to kill them, all the cultivators on the Taiyuan battlefield began to swarm and attack them.
Like continuous dark clouds, they covered the sky and blotted out the sun. Disregarding their own lives, they sought only to land an attack on the Ten Sects' group.
Already near exhaustion, they still had to carve a bloody path through layer upon layer of encirclement.
Thus casualties were unavoidable.
When they finally broke through the defenses and returned to the last territory of the Xuanhuang Realm, more than half of the assault group had been killed or wounded, and even Jiang Yixing, one of the Ten Sects' leaders, had been submerged by the endless tide of cultivators.
His fate was unknown.
The Xuanhuang cultivators still fighting on the battlefield naturally saw their group return in sorry shape.
They had originally thought the plan to destroy the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace had succeeded.
But after waiting a long time, no news came. Unease began to spread across the battlefield.
Especially when they saw the Taiyuan cultivators who had been killed return from hell once more and charge at the Xuanhuang defense line again.
The unease in their hearts slowly turned into despair.
Even the Ten Sects' leaders working together could not destroy the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace, which meant their enemies were endless. What was the point of continuing such a war? It was just sending themselves to die for nothing!
Gloom spread, propagated, and engulfed the Xuanhuang cultivators on the battlefield at incredible speed.
They had been holding on by a breath, but once that breath leaked out, their resistance quickly collapsed.
"Kill!"
And the Taiyuan Realm cultivators seized the opportunity to launch a general attack on the Xuanhuang Realm's last stronghold.
Seeing the endless enemies swarming up like locusts, the Xuanhuang cultivators completely collapsed.
"Run!"
"Go back, I want to go back to the Xuanhuang Realm!"
"What about the others in the Xuanhuang Realm? Why is it always us here!"
The Sky-Spanning Golden Lock leading to the Xuanhuang Realm was temporarily concealed by the Ten Sects; there was no retreat behind them. But they still instinctively wanted to flee, panicking and choosing paths recklessly. In the chaos, there were not a few who killed their own.
The Taiyuan Realm cultivators seemed to have received a unified command and did not rush to charge at the last occupied patch of land.
Instead, they kept compressing the encirclement.
As if they wanted the surrounded Xuanhuang cultivators to endure unimaginable despair before death.
"Fang Sect Master..." Situ Yao, his face covered in blood, looked at the Xuanhuang cultivators collapsing and howling around him, his eyes showing reluctance.
Fang Dingge opened his mouth, but finally said resolutely: "Although the Sky-Spanning Golden Lock cannot be severed, the Xuanhuang Realm still has formation protection on the other side..."
"The Taiyuan Realm cannot break through in a short time. We must use this opportunity to discuss countermeasures."
"But..." Everyone understood what Fang Dingge meant, but psychologically they still couldn't accept it.
"The protective formation absolutely cannot be closed. Otherwise, what falls will not be this position, but the entire Xuanhuang Realm. If there are important disciples in the sect, bring them back quickly. We only wait for ten breaths..."
In Fang Dingge's icy voice, the illusory shadow of the Sky-Spanning Golden Lock slowly solidified.
Everyone stopped objecting. In a flash of movement, they had all brought back important disciples from their respective sects.
"Let's go."
Taking one last look at this sorrowful land, they were about to leave.
"Are you all going to abandon the passionate Xuanhuang children on the battlefield?"
Suddenly a voice rang out. Everyone heard it and froze in place.
"Though I could live by cowardice, I will not."
The speaker was the recently famous Dao Integration cultivator from Changqing Valley, Li Ping.
He looked at the Ten Sects' leaders and elites who were about to flee, his eyes filled with contempt. He bowed with clasped hands, raised his blade, turned, and went back.
"Where are you going!"
Among those present, only Jiang Yingyue and Li Fan were somewhat familiar. Knowing that returning now was a dead end, although the question was rather foolish, she still hurriedly asked.
Li Fan didn't look back, only coldly said: "Kill enemies!"
Fang Dingge sighed softly: "A true warrior. Let him be."
His figure merged into the golden lock, and he was the first to return.
Actually, Fang Dingge's decision was not wrong. As the leader of the Ten Sects, they needed to return to the Xuanhuang Realm as soon as possible to report what had happened in the Taiyuan Realm and respond to the Taiyuan Realm's possible counterattack.
But the Ten Sects' leaders fleeing the battlefield, disregarding the lives of other Xuanhuang cultivators, was too different from Li Fan's fearless march to death.
They were all ashamed, covering their faces as they left.
Seeing that the elite disciples had impulses to return and follow Li Fan, fighting to the death, the Ten Sects' leaders sighed. Before they could make reckless decisions, they forcibly brought them away.
"This expedition to the Taiyuan Realm was a major strategic mistake by our Ten Sects. As long as the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace exists, we cannot defeat them in their homeland."
"But the situation has not yet completely spiraled out of control. The power of Taiyuan Resurrection cannot take effect in the Xuanhuang Realm. Though we have withdrawn, they may not dare attack us."
They spoke to comfort their disciples' emotions. After a series of journeys, everyone finally returned to their familiar homeland.
Once the high-tension state on the battlefield was released instantly, the immense pressure between life and death, and the guilt of abandoning and leaving—all these emotions burst forth at once.
Many people burst into tears on the spot.
But the crying did not last long. The sorry group from the Ten Sects was shocked by the phenomenon above their heads.
The Sky-Spanning Golden Lock, originally hidden by formations, actually presented a solid form out of control.
Stretching across the sky.
Like a crack appearing on the dome of the Xuanhuang Realm.
And within this crack, faint light burst forth.
A battlefield scene filled with killing intent and bloody aura was projected onto the sky.
"That is... the Taiyuan Realm?"
"How could it appear on the Xuanhuang Realm's sky?"
The Ten Sects' survivors, who had narrowly escaped death, were naturally familiar with the scene displayed in the sky, making them even more bewildered.
Fang Dingge and the Ten Sects' leaders' expressions changed drastically. They tried to desperately manipulate the Sky-Spanning Golden Lock, but found that the Floating Crossing Grand Array seemed to have failed.
They could not control it at all and could only watch the scene be revealed.
"Is this the Taiyuan Realm's doing?"
"Are they demonstrating to us..."
Recalling how the Sky-Spanning Golden Lock had previously solidified in the Taiyuan Realm, and now the scene projected before all living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm—Xuanhuang disciples being surrounded and slaughtered by Taiyuan cultivators—the Ten Sects' faces turned ashen.
They knew this matter could not be hidden.
It seemed that to retaliate against the Xuanhuang Realm's invasion, the Taiyuan cultivators had slowed their slaughter. It was even like tormenting and playing with them.
Watching one Xuanhuang cultivator after another die tragically after failing to break free.
Different emotions began to arise in the two cultivation realms.
In the Xuanhuang Realm.
"What's happening?"
"Ba Hongyi? That's Ba Hongyi! My Futu Sect's top disciple of the third generation, how could..."
"That's my Qingmu Sect's Zhang Yufan!"
"I recognize that figure too. Taiyan Sect's Wan Ruohong, Senior Brother Wan. I've met him once. I heard he went on an expedition to a foreign realm to establish unparalleled merit."
"Shouldn't they be killing enemies in the Taiyuan Realm right now..."
Soon, the Xuanhuang cultivators recognized the identities of the sacrificed.
And thus became even more panicked, confused, and fearful.
The Xuanhuang Realm, powerful in their past understanding, seemed to have no power to resist before the Taiyuan Realm.
They were toyed with and slaughtered.
Some were angry, some were extremely sad, some were heartbroken.
Amidst countless intertwined emotions, sudden exclamations rang out one after another.
"Who is that, facing the siege of so many people, yet still fighting!"
"Though covered in wounds, still holding his own!"
Compared to the other slaughtered Xuanhuang cultivators, there was a figure like a war god, especially prominent.
Even though surrounded by layers of encirclement, he had not given up hope.
With surging sword light, each strike took the lives of dozens of Taiyuan cultivators.
This made the Xuanhuang beings, originally stifled beyond words, secretly cheer.
"Unfortunately, he can't hold out much longer."
At the same time, they felt a sense of gloom.
"The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao have just retreated like that. Why don't they save him? Why don't they save him!"
All living beings under heaven felt it was unjust for this figure still fighting to the death.
Those looking up at the sky included not only the beings who had originally been unaware, but also the Ten Sects' cultivators who had fled in sorry shape from the Taiyuan Realm. Watching Li Fan's fighting figure now, their faces felt as if they had been lashed hard by a whip smeared with chili oil.
They wished they could rush back into the Taiyuan Realm and fight side by side with Li Fan.
But thought was thought. Thinking of the fact that Taiyuan Realm cultivators were endless and impossible to kill, a sense of helplessness arose in their hearts. Their feet felt as if filled with lead, unable to take even half a step.
After all, those with true blood and backbone had already been buried on that battlefield.
Everyone silently looked up, watching this Xuanhuang hero depart.
Originally, they thought he couldn't hold out much longer.
After all, there were far too many Taiyuan cultivators around him.
But unexpectedly, a full half a day later, Li Fan still had not died.
He was still fighting.
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay and began to carefully observe.
"I clearly saw that numerous Taiyuan Realm spells, divine abilities, and even immortal artifact attacks all struck him. Why is he as if uninjured?"
"Could it be an illusion caused by light and shadow crossing realms?"
"No. Wait..."
The Dadao Sect disciples seemed to think of something and cried out in unison: "Great Dao Like Me!"
"Do you see that blazing sword light he occasionally strikes out? It's simply too powerful. Even against a Dao Integration realm cultivator, they cannot withstand its edge! Even the sky seems to be severed by it!"
"If you say that, it seems to have a hint of our Heavenly Sword Sect's [Shatter Heaven One Sword]?"
"And there's that mysterious, unfathomable escape art. Even surrounded on all sides, he handles it with ease..."
"It's our Wuding Prison's [Ethereal Divine Travel]!"
...
Right now, on the battlefield, Li Fan was displaying great power. It turned out that the vast majority of the techniques he used were true transmissions of the Ten Sects.
How could this not shock them?
Moreover, the divine abilities Li Fan unleashed seemed even stronger than the original versions.
"Fang Sect Master, what do you think?"
The shock in the hearts of the Ten Sects' leaders was no less than that of their disciples.
Fang Dingge narrowed his eyes, watching the slaughter in the sky, and sighed.
"I had heard before that this person broke through several times in life-and-death battles, possessing an innate Conquest Holy Body. I originally didn't believe it, thinking it was exaggerated. Now it seems it is indeed true."
"In a short time, not only has he fully integrated and mastered all the arts we transmitted, but he has also deduced further advancements on his own? What kind of talent is this?"
The leaders of the Ten Sects all lost color.
Everyone's minds went blank, and they fell into silence.
After a long while, someone sighed: "Unfortunately, such a genius is destined to fall on that battlefield."
"If only he had a bit more time, perhaps he could..."
"Perhaps we can organize forces to bring him back? With such a true heaven's pride, one could match dozens of Dao Integration cultivators!"
"But we originally planned to bring him back. He was unwilling." Fang Dingge's words left everyone silent.
They could say nothing and could only watch the final performance in the sky.
No matter how talented the performance, it would eventually come to an end.
Li Ping was powerful, but Taiyuan Realm cultivators simply could not be exhausted.
No matter how many were slaughtered, after a while, more would quickly arrive from deep in the Taiyuan Realm.
After being tightly surrounded and fighting to the death for three days and three nights, Li Ping seemed to have finally reached his limit.
His figure was no longer agile, his sword light no longer sharp.
His movements became increasingly slow.
Even the absorption characteristic of Great Dao Like Me began to gradually fail.
Wounds continually appeared on his body, blood spurting out.
This Xuanhuang War God, watched by countless beings of both realms, eventually froze in place.
However, he still did not fall, still stood straight.
One man, facing countless Taiyuan cultivators ahead.
The Taiyuan Realm side also showed full respect to this powerful cultivator.
They did not advance to attack again but silently waited for his death to arrive.
Li Fan's body remained motionless for a long time.
Just as everyone thought he had perished body and soul...
He suddenly lifted his head again.
A strange aura began to emanate from him.
The projection on the Xuanhuang Realm's sky thus produced inexplicable ripples and distortions.
Chapter 1540