Putting on an Act

"Number one in the Ancient Immortal Realm?!" With a flicker of his figure, Immortal King Zhongyan instantly tore through the blockade of Immortal King Nizhuan and the others, catching up to Yaoguang and falling in alongside Immortal King Yuankun and his cohort. "Did you ask me first?" Immortal King Taiyi and the others felt a chill in their hearts. Neither Yuankun's Great Chaos Art nor Taiyi's own Great Limitless Art were immortal arts suited for frontal clashes. The Grand Daos they mastered were likewise not the sort specialized in raw combat. Immortal King Zhongyan, however, was different! His primary path was the Grand Dao of Destruction! The Grand Dao of Destruction, renowned as supreme in head-on slaughter! Moreover, his share of the Grand Dao of Destruction approached four thousand! Beyond that, his other path, the Grand Dao of Death, also held more than two thousand shares. The two Grand Daos complemented and reinforced each other. Therefore, setting aside external factors and judging solely by frontal combat power, if Immortal King Zhongyan claimed second place, no one would dare claim first. "Good! Zhongyan, let us join forces and see what this Yuxiao, hailed by Taiyi as the foremost Immortal King, is really made of!" Immortal King Yuankun laughed heartily. His Grand Dao of Chaos continued to surge, relentlessly eroding the collapsing void around Yaoguang to tie down his spatial power. As for Immortal King Zhongyan... He did not reject Yuankun's proposal to join forces. Given the current situation, the priority was naturally to take Yaoguang down as quickly as possible. Delay could invite disaster. Right then, this Immortal King lunged forward. Just as Yaoguang's Great Void Art took form, his Great Destruction Art descended right behind it. That pure power of destruction was vast and tempestuous; even without the computational boost of the Lord of Yuanxi, it displayed an exquisitely balanced stability. Yet behind this stability lurked a silent, all-consuming destruction. Even the current Yaoguang felt a pang of trepidation at such destruction. He immediately cast the Great Void Art, using the all-encompassing power of the Void to envelop this wave of pure destruction. Yet the moment the two clashed, everything crumbled into nothingness before that destruction, and his Great Void Art was no exception. At the epicenter of their collision, a hole seemed to have been annihilated out of existence. It was as though the void had been completely punched through. This level of power... Yaoguang was somewhat speechless. He glanced back toward Immortal King Taiyi and the others. *You promised to protect me and provide a stable environment to comprehend the Gate of Karma, and this is what you deliver?* He silently complained to himself, *Too bad that in order to accelerate the evolution of the 'Chaos World', I reverted the Grand Dao Pagoda back into over a hundred Grand Daos and merged them into it. Right now, the only thing available to me is the River of Time...* Yaoguang reconjured a new Great Nihility Art. Without the Grand Dao Pagoda, contending simultaneously against Yuankun, Zhongyan, and two other ordinary Immortal Kings was already taxing. He was already considering whether to unleash his Dao Master-level power. *However... the people from the Ancient Immortal League haven't jumped out yet. If my prediction is correct, guided by fate, the Ancient Immortal League will definitely take advantage of this chaos, jumping out when both sides are locked in fierce combat to strike a fatal blow against the seven major groups...* This was entirely foreseeable. Yet right now, why hadn't anyone from the Ancient Immortal League shown up? *Where are they? If you don't show up soon, I'm done playing along! If I get into a foul mood, I'll rewrite the script entirely!* As Yaoguang thought this, his perception continuously swept the surroundings, trying to figure out where the members of the Ancient Immortal League were hiding. Having already begun evolving the Chaos World, even if he completely ruined Fate's master plan, the worst-case scenario was simply running away. If playing this protagonist felt unpleasant, he simply wouldn't do it. Pondering this, he faintly guessed why the Ancient Immortal League had yet to reveal themselves. The Immortal Kings of Brahma Group and Aoshu Group were still watching from the sidelines. If the Ancient Immortal League leapt out at this moment, the Immortal Kings of those two groups would definitely not sit idly by. In the end, their ambush might accomplish very little. So... Where was the Fate Dao Ancestor? Hurry it up! Put some muscle into it! ... "Zhongyan! Yuankun! Have you no shame?! Two old fossils who have lived for hundreds of millions of years, ganging up on a young man like Yuxiao who is barely ten-odd million years old?!" Seeing Yaoguang clearly on the back foot and looking around for a way to break the deadlock, Immortal King Taiyi resonated with divine sense. "As the chairman of Creation Group, Yuxiao is fully worthy of such respect from us." Immortal King Yuankun remained indifferent to the mockery. Seeing this, Immortal King Taiyi gritted his teeth and abruptly turned his gaze toward Brahma Group. "Immortal King Fanjing, please lend us a hand! I agree to the third proposal you offered!" "The third proposal, is it? Paying two level-nineteen permission slots in exchange for Brahma Group intervening to pin down five Immortal Kings from your opposition." Hearing this, Immortal King Fanjing smiled. "We accept." "Brahma Group, do you intend to intervene in this battle?" Immortal King Yuankun's gaze swept over, cold and sharp. "We have no choice. Xiyu Group put up the money, and we can't very well turn down profit, can we?" Immortal King Fanjing said with a chuckle. At this point, an Immortal King from Aoshu Group stepped forward as well. "Chairman Yuankun, Taiyi hired Brahma Group, but you can always hire us at Aoshu! Our Aoshu Group has plenty of Immortal Kings present. Mobilizing five Immortal Kings to offset Brahma Group's five won't be an issue at all." "You..." Looking at the smiling Immortal King of Aoshu Group, who was plainly taking advantage of the fire to loot, Immortal King Yuankun's expression darkened. "Chairman, you'd better decide quickly. Otherwise, if Immortal King Fanjing leads five Immortal Kings to free Taiyi's hands, allowing him to tie down one of you, Chairman Yuxiao might go on another killing spree," the Immortal King of Aoshu Group said with a smile. Immortal Kings Yuankun, Zhongyan, Yongsheng, and Huanyin exchanged glances. Although they detested this blatant extortion by Aoshu Group and Brahma Group, still... Between adults, only results mattered, not grievances. For greater benefits, sacrificing minor interests was unavoidable. "We agree as well. Execute according to Option Four, as previously discussed." "Done." The Immortal King of Aoshu Group accepted with a smile, then turned to Immortal King Fanjing of Brahma Group. "The battle here is a bit too intense. How about the two of us switch battlefields and settle things over there?" "My thoughts exactly," Immortal King Fanjing agreed with a chuckle. This spectacle caused the faces of chairmen like Taiyi, Yuankun, and Zhongyan to turn rather dark. Aoshu Group and Brahma Group... Could their extortion be any more transparent? They had discarded all semblance of shame. For Brahma Group and Aoshu Group to loot while the house was burning like this... They had better not blame the other groups for settling scores once the dust settled. However... They had evidently overlooked one point. In this great war, regardless of who claimed ultimate victory, heavy casualties and exhaustion were inevitable. Whether the victor could still muster enough strength to wage war against Brahma Group and Aoshu Group—both remaining at full strength—was far from certain. ... "Brilliant." Yaoguang almost applauded. He could not help but glance toward the Gate of Fate. Impressive! This Fate Dao Ancestor was truly delivering. He had effortlessly cleared away the greatest obstacle for the Ancient Immortal League. With Aoshu Group and Brahma Group gone, once the Ancient Immortal League launched a surprise attack, they could completely become a game-changing force. The key now was guessing where they were hiding. If they were hidden deeply but too far away, even a sudden ambush might not achieve much. Yet if they were hidden nearby... How had they concealed themselves from his perception, as well as the perception of the other Immortal Kings? *Should I take a look with 'Higher-Dimensional Cognition'?* Yaoguang felt the itch to act. Still, Fate had already written the script; using "Higher-Dimensional Cognition" directly to peek would feel a bit like cheating with a full-map hack. How did the saying go again? The outcome wasn't what mattered; what mattered was enjoying the journey... *No! I am a vulgar person. I want to see the results right now!* With that thought, Yaoguang prepared to channel a portion of energy into the [Artifact Refining] branch to activate his "Higher-Dimensional Cognition" vision. Just then, however, the Chairman of Changsheng Group abruptly waved his hand. A world teeming with life expanded outward with him at the center, rapidly enveloping everyone on the battlefield. Ripples of soul power radiated from within, seemingly showcasing the most beautiful wonders in existence, compelling anyone who saw it to plunge inside. For a moment, let alone ordinary Immortal Kings like Alpha, Nizhuan, and Shenyu, even Immortal King Taiyi—Chairman of Xiyu Group and a level-nineteen permission holder—had his soul perception disrupted. His gaze involuntarily drifted toward that vibrant, wondrous world. "Huanyin, Yuanchu, go assist Yuankun and Zhongyan! Suppress Yuxiao, finish this quickly!" This Immortal King's divine sense vibrated with authority. Even as that vibrant world manifested, it had already begun to burn, bringing out, to the utmost, the poignant beauty of life being shattered and destroyed. "Is this the Elegy of Life?! The remnant slough left behind when the Life Dao Ancestor fell? I thought all of it had been collected by the Lord of Yuanxi and the Sovereigns..." Immortal King Huanyin was shaken to his core. These were treasures that even Sovereigns coveted intensely. Yet he knew now was not the time for distraction. Seizing this precious window where the Chairman of Changsheng Group "forcibly controlled" most Immortal Kings from Xiyu Group, Creation Group, and Dusk Group, a full six Immortal Kings broke away from the battlefield and charged straight toward the figures of Yaoguang, Yuankun, Zhongyan, and the other Immortal Kings clashing beneath the Gate of Karma. Faced with such an imposing lineup, even Yaoguang furrowed his brows. *The Ancient Immortal League still hasn't made a move?* A hint of irritation stirred in his mind. A moment later, however, he realized something: this didn't seem to have reached the limit of the power he had displayed when suppressing the five Immortal Kings including Immortal King Tianming last time. With this thought, he channeled the Grand Dao of the Void, directly driving his control over it to the absolute threshold just beneath "Dao Master." Not only the Grand Dao of the Void, but the Grand Dao of Time in his hands was also wielded with sublime mastery approaching a Dao Ancestor's level. However, because the share of the Grand Dao of Time he possessed was limited, its raw might could not match that of the Grand Dao of the Void. Yet combining the two, coupled with the resonance of forces such as the Grand Dao of Destruction, an unprecedented Spacetime Collapse Art crashed downward with a thunderous roar. Seeing Yaoguang unleash this near full-strength immortal art, the ten Immortal Kings, including Yuankun and Zhongyan, also erupted with their strongest attacks. In an instant, dozens of Grand Daos roared and intertwined across this stretch of void. The violent turbulence threw everything around them into disarray, almost reducing it back to primordial chaos. And just as both sides engaged in this ultimate confrontation, Yaoguang sensed something. He abruptly looked up, gazing directly at the Gate of Karma in the firmament. At some point, a full fourteen Immortal Kings had manifested beneath the shrouded radiance of the Gate of Karma. Like falling stars, they descended in an instant, plunging into the white-hot battlefield to kill!