Chapter 1383: Bonus Chapter 1382: The Final Act
https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/151892066/8e1263918674451093f9020dc1ebee19/eyJ3Ijo2MjB9/1.png?token-hash=HqJblCE2H_eOUnUKV0MTuyIyGlk6i1LagLXumtyaTbY%3D&token-time=1787356800
Bonus Chapter 1382: The Final Act
Within the pitch-black Endless Abyss Marsh, golden light blazed in ten thousand rays.
A Divine-Sense body, its entire form radiating golden light, skin white as jade, appeared within the pitch-black Endless Abyss. Its majestic golden radiance dispelled the surrounding darkness.
The Strange Daoist’s expression froze.
Even the Profound-Hollow-Void old ancestors who had been imprisoned by the Strange-Dao runes were illuminated by this golden light, their faces filled with shock.
They had never expected that when the Strange Daoist’s pitch-black giant hand grasped down, it would seem to pull a “god” out from within a body of flesh and blood.
The instant Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense body manifested in the world, killing intent flashed within his eyes.
Then the Five Elements began to circulate, a sword formation condensed, and the golden, incomparably sharp Divine-Slaying Sword cut through the air.
The pitch-black palm gripping Mo Hua’s forehead was instantly severed and fell to the ground.
Mo Hua broke free from the restraint and stood opposite the Strange Daoist, his expression indifferent.
Between the two of them lay the severed hand.
The Strange Daoist was briefly stunned, then he grinned. The hand on the ground dissolved into Strange-Dao runes, while from his broken wrist another hand grew out again.
“Very good…”
On the Strange Daoist’s shadowy and indistinct face, the corner of his mouth split even wider, as if smiling. His voice was hoarse like that of a wailing specter.
“As expected of my… Martial Nephew.”
Then the Strange Daoist pointed forward with a single finger. His Strange will disassembled, and dense strange runes surged from his fingertip.
Those strange runes were like living spiders, crawling toward Mo Hua’s body.
Mo Hua likewise pointed forward. His Divine-Sense formed a formation, transforming into layer after layer of Melting-Fire Formations, burning those strange-rune “spiders” one by one to death.
But he had only just formed his Golden Core. His mastery of Five Elements formations was still of too low a grade. Although these formations were constructed from his powerful Divine-Sense, their power still fell short.
Before long, the fire formations were covered by strange runes.
Each strange rune crawled like a spider onto Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense body, gnawing while attempting to seep into his Divine-Sense.
However, Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense body had already undergone Dao-Transformation. Its substance was like pure gold, impervious to blades or spears.
For a short time, the Strange Daoist’s strange runes could not penetrate it. Instead, under the crushing force of Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense, they shattered into pieces.
The Strange Daoist seemed half-smiling.
Then he grabbed the air, extracting fierce ghosts and refining them into dense hellfire spheres. Amid the shrill wails of vengeful spirits, he hurled the savage ghostly fireballs toward Mo Hua one after another.
Mo Hua’s expression changed. He also mobilized his Divine-Sense, condensing Fireball Technique, forming crimson fireballs of Divine-Sense mixed with a trace of baleful qi to meet the Strange Daoist’s ghostly fireballs head-on.
The Divine-Sense fireballs and ghostly fireballs collided in midair.
Crimson Divine-Sense flames and black Strange-dao flames shook violently against each other. Divine-Sense intertwined, and vicious aura spread everywhere.
But Mo Hua’s fireballs were ultimately no match for his martial uncle’s, whether in number or power.
Very soon, the Strange Daoist’s fierce Strange fireballs broke through Mo Hua’s barrage, passed through the center of the explosions, and detonated on Mo Hua one after another.
Mo Hua was blasted backward repeatedly. Yet his golden Divine-Sense body was extraordinarily tough, those fireballs simply could not break his defenses.
Seeing Mo Hua forced backward by the ghostly fireballs, the Strange Daoist gathered his fingers and pointed again, condensing a pitch-black Strange-Dao sword intent that slashed toward him.
Mo Hua’s gaze turned cold. He also pointed a finger, condensing the Great Void Divine-Slaying Sword, clashing against the Strange-Dao Divine-Sense formed sword.
Even more violent Divine-Sense fluctuations surged back and forth through the Endless Abyss Marsh, raising waves of black fire that spread like wildfire, terrifying countless strange slaves.
But afterward… nothing happened.
Mo Hua did not cut down the Strange Daoist.
Nor did the Strange Daoist cut down Mo Hua.
Their sword intents had actually fought to a draw.
The Strange Daoist seemed increasingly pleased, and even more entertained. Taking another step forward, he approached Mo Hua. Amid swirling ghostfire, he threw a punch straight toward Mo Hua’s face.
Caught off guard, Mo Hua was punched flying by the Strange Daoist. He crashed to the ground more than ten steps away. Just as he barely steadied himself and looked up, the Strange Daoist had already stepped forward again, and the second punch was crashing toward his face.
After being struck once, fury surged in Mo Hua’s heart. He clenched his fist and threw a punch back with all his might.
Their fists collided. One large and one small, one black and one white.
The powerful force of Divine-Sense exploded outward like a gale.
That was the first punch.
Then in an instant, Mo Hua unleashed divine strength. His fists moved like wind, raining down like a golden storm toward the Strange Daoist.
Before such punches, even a Fourth-Grade Dao-Sin Calamity would certainly be smashed to pieces.
Even a newly born Evil-god embryo might not withstand such brutal Divine-Sense strikes.
But the Strange Daoist’s fists were like ferocious dragons, roaring as they faced all of Mo Hua’s punches head-on.
One god and one demon, locked in close combat for a long time.
Mo Hua never landed a single solid hit on the Strange Daoist.
Instead, he himself was struck in the shoulder by the Strange Daoist’s fist, causing his Divine-Sense body to tremble in pain.
Under the corrosion of the abyss, Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense had already been somewhat affected.
Yet that pain did not make him fearful… instead, it ignited his ferocity.
Mo Hua’s movements grew faster, his attacks more ruthless. Using both hands and feet, he viciously struck at the Strange Daoist.
For a moment, even the Strange Daoist seemed slightly unable to hold on. His chest was torn open by Mo Hua’s claws, leaving a pitch-black crack.
His shoulder was also kicked by Mo Hua.
The Strange Daoist’s eyes turned cold. Opening his mouth, he spat out a storm of black wind. Countless wronged souls and vengeful ghosts surged toward Mo Hua.
Mo Hua responded by opening his mouth as well.
Like the roar of a Heavenly Azure Dragon, he blasted apart all those wronged souls and vengeful ghosts, together with the black wind itself.
The Strange Daoist stopped smiling, seeming to grow somewhat serious.
His aura suddenly changed. A powerful Strange-Dao pressure instantly enveloped the area.
Amid the cold majesty of Strange-Dao Thoughts, he resembled a sovereign commanding tens of thousands of vengeful ghosts.
The Strange Daoist pressed a hand downward. A terrifying pressure descended from the heavens, fiercely suppressing Mo Hua.
This unknown Strange Dao pressure was frighteningly powerful and even contained a certain kind of law.
Under the oppression of that law, Mo Hua was forced to the ground on all fours. Gritting his teeth, he resisted the Strange Daoist’s law-based pressure.
Just as it seemed Mo Hua could no longer hold on and was about to kneel on the ground in submission to the Strange Daoist, a different dazzling golden light suddenly lit up on his forehead.
A golden Pixiu horn grew out from his brow.
The Strange Daoist was slightly startled.
After Mo Hua grew the Pixiu horn, it seemed as if a certain Great Dao law descended upon him, granting him the power to resist the Strange Dao laws.
Mo Hua let out a fierce roar, broke free from the suppression of the law, suddenly sprang up from the ground, rushed before the Strange Daoist, and threw another punch.
This punch was both fast and vicious, it actually blasted the Strange Daoist’s head apart.
But after the Strange Daoist’s “head” was blown apart, he showed no injury whatsoever. Instead, the Strange-Dao runes burst upward like black blood, causing his entire body to distort.
The headless Strange Daoist, seemingly enraged by Mo Hua, released an even more terrifying aura.
His body transformed into a mass of black Strange-Dao runes woven into a grotesque monster. His right arm turned into an enormous flood dragon, like a gigantic whip. It lashed down with tremendous force and sent Mo Hua flying.
Mo Hua was struck far away. His soul throbbed with intense pain. When he opened his eyes again, he discovered that the Strange Daoist had already arrived before him. The enormous arm, like a flood dragon opening its maw, clamped down and bit Mo Hua in its jaws.
Vast Strange-Dao runes, like a plague, began seeping into Mo Hua’s body.
This time the Strange-Dao runes were thicker and stronger than before, like swarms of scorpion-like worms frantically gnawing at Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense body.
Mo Hua struggled with all his might, but the monstrous Strange Daoist possessed overwhelming strength. The flood-dragon arm was like a gigantic iron clamp, biting down on him tightly.
The worm-like strange runes chewed through Mo Hua’s skin and seeped into his body.
The Strange Daoist seemed intent on completely “transforming” Mo Hua.
He wanted to turn Mo Hua into his vessel.
But at that moment, another sudden change occurred.
The Strange-Dao runes that had seeped into Mo Hua’s body triggered a certain instinct within him… and were instead absorbed by Mo Hua.
At the same time, black Taotie patterns began to grow across Mo Hua’s skin.
A ferocious expression, like that of a Taotie, also appeared on Mo Hua’s face.
The aura of a ferocious Taotie beast spread from his body. Then he opened his huge mouth and bit off the Strange Daoist’s arm, swallowing the Strange Daoist’s “flesh and blood” into his belly.
The Strange Daoist’s eyes turned savage. He abruptly flung Mo Hua away, retracting his arm as it restored itself to its original state.
Mo Hua, who had been thrown away, landed on all fours. Like a ferocious beast, he let out a roar. With Taotie patterns writhing across his body, he turned into a streak of black shadow and charged toward the Strange Daoist to kill him.
The Strange Daoist decisively abandoned his human form as well, transforming into an indescribable black monster. The two of them clashed violently.
Deep within the Endless Abyss, this was the first time Mo Hua had confronted his Martial Uncle head-on.
One divine and one demonic—two powerful Divine-Sense bodies fought fiercely, their battle unimaginably brutal.
…
At the bottom of the abyss, violent waves of Divine-Sense fluctuations erupted. The ancient evil creatures and strange slaves there trembled in fear.
The seven Profound-Hollow-Void ancestors were also shaken to their cores.
Having lived for over a thousand years, they had never witnessed such an unbelievable Divine-Sense battle.
They had never imagined that anyone could fight the Strange Daoist like this.
They were Profound-Hollow-Void ancestors, able to perceive heavenly secrets and karmic causality. Their cultivation was unfathomable. Even so, when dealing with the Strange Daoist, they had to be extremely cautious, guarding against Strange Dao Thoughts’ contamination, infiltration, and transformation by every possible means.
But the boy before them seemed utterly fearless.
He was not afraid of being contaminated, not afraid of infiltration, and not afraid of Strange Dao pressure. With masterful Divine-Sense spells, formations, taboo-like Forbidden Divine-Sense sword techniques, he resisted the Strange Daoist… and even transformed into a ferocious beast to engage him in close combat.
What kind of terrifying little monster was he?
Old Ancestor Hua, the Old Ancestor Yang, and the others all felt a chill in their hearts.
They also understood that in order to refine the seven of them, the Strange Daoist had already expended a massive amount of cultivation. The one fighting this little monster was likely only a clone close to his true body.
But don’t forget… this boy was only at the Golden Core stage.
A young man at the early Golden Core stage being able to fight a clone of the Strange Daoist’s true body head-on to this extent was simply unimaginable.
Moreover, the aura of his Divine-Sense was extremely complex.
Human, divine, Pixiu, dragon, Taotie…
These completely unrelated things were intertwined together for the first time.
“What kind of terrifying Great Dao species is this…?”
Looking at Mo Hua’s figure, Old Ancestor Hua’s gaze turned cold despite his astonishment.
The Yang Clan’s Old Ancestor frowned, as if deep in thought, and silently sighed.
…
Meanwhile, Mo Hua and the Strange Daoist continued fighting without pause.
Both of them had almost completely abandoned human form, and their battle became increasingly violent.
Mo Hua’s body was like that of a god. His horn resembled a Pixiu’s, his voice roared like a dragon, and his limbs manifested as Taotie. With a single breath from his mouth, thousands of spells erupted.
Wherever his gaze reached, formations manifested. With his bare hands he tore through the air, releasing Divine-Sense sword intent.
Under the immense pressure of fighting the Strange Daoist, all of Mo Hua’s individual Divine-Sense techniques gradually merged with his instinct for battle, naturally becoming one.
Mo Hua seemed to have transformed into a young Taotie beast, embodying all the cultivation methods of humanity within himself.
But as the battle continued, no matter how desperately Mo Hua fought, the Strange Daoist always seemed able to surpass him.
Whether spells, formations, or sword intent, every time Mo Hua grew stronger, the Strange Daoist grew stronger as well.
Even giving it his all, Mo Hua could not transcend the Strange Daoist’s range of power. Instead, his Divine-Sense grew weaker as it was consumed.
Even the peak Divine-Sense strength of a Twenty-Nine-Pattern Golden Core could not possibly compare to the Strange Daoist of the Profound-Hollow-Void realm.
If this continued, he would truly be worn down and killed by the Strange Daoist.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
The Strange Daoist smiled faintly, his grin ferocious. It seemed he was no longer holding back as his Divine-Sense strength rose another level.
At the same time, Strange-Dao runes condensed in his hand, forming a pitch-black longsword, deep in color and radiating a terrifying aura.
Seeing this sword, Mo Hua’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Then a flash of black light crossed his vision. A savage and eerie sword light slashed across.
At the same moment, a wound was violently cut into Mo Hua’s shoulder, damaging his Divine-Sense body.
Even stronger Strange Dao power began corroding into his body.
Enduring the pain, Mo Hua used his divine marrow to heal the wound. Suddenly, alarm bells rang in his mind. Looking up, he saw the Strange Daoist’s longsword descending straight toward his head.
This strike seemed intent on taking his life.
In that critical moment, Mo Hua clenched both hands, mobilized his Divine-Sense, and condensed a gigantic Divine-Slaying Sword to meet the black strange-patterned longsword.
The Great Void Divine-Slaying Sword collided with the strange-dao rune sword. Gold and black forces twisted together, but after holding for only a moment, the Great Void Divine-Slaying Sword shattered instantly.
Mo Hua was blasted back dozens of steps by the remaining force. His Divine-Sense trembled violently as he spat out black blood, severely injured.
“So even the Divine-Slaying Sword… isn’t enough…” Mo Hua’s gaze turned icy.
The Strange Daoist gave him no chance to breathe. Taking a step forward, he appeared before Mo Hua again, raising the strange-patterned longsword high and saying in a low voice:
“If you can’t block this… you’ll die.”
Mo Hua’s heart tightened. He decisively stopped holding back. Mobilizing nearly all his Divine-Sense, he fused every law he had learned in his life into the Divine-Slaying Sword.
The Mountain-Splitting Sword Formation, the Severing-Gold Sword Formation, the Gui-Water Sword Formation, the Li-Fire Sword Formation, along with the ancient Great Void Sword Intent.
He even fused a trace of Heavenly Demon Dao: Supreme Severing Emotions sword intent.
The Strange Daoist held his sword aloft, patiently waiting as Mo Hua condensed layers of Divine-Slaying Sword Intent. Only when he sensed the Heavenly Demon Dao: Supreme Severing Emotions sword intent did he show a trace of startled vigilance.
But he made no other move. He simply allowed Mo Hua to finish refining this final strike.
This truly was Mo Hua’s last—and strongest—sword. After his Divine-Sense reached the peak of twenty-nine patterns, it was the full culmination of his strength and the understanding of his entire life.
But the one standing opposite him was his martial uncle, the terrifying Strange Daoist.
Mo Hua had no certainty he could slay the Strange Daoist.
Thus he had no choice but to rack his mind, pouring even more laws and insights into the sword.
A wisp of Taotie intent was also fused into the laws.
The vast and majestic Divine-Slaying Sword suddenly grew darker, the sword-light turning deeper and more somber, even carrying a savage ferocity, like a peerless weapon of slaughter.
But that was all.
This kind of fusion was extremely crude. Mo Hua had no time to temper or refine it further, nor to let the laws and sword form completely merge as one.
After fusing the Taotie law, the Divine-Slaying Sword became stronger, but such last-minute fusion could never produce ideal power.
After the brief surprise, a cracked smile appeared at the corner of the Strange Daoist’s mouth.
Mo Hua had no other options. Pouring out the last thread of his Divine-Sense, with a will almost at the end of despair, he unleashed the Great Void Heavenly Demon Divine-Slaying Sword imbued with a trace of Taotie law, cleaving it toward the Strange Daoist.
And at the very instant he swung that sword…
A primitive broken sword suddenly appeared in Mo Hua’s hand. A far more vast, yet ethereal and silent Divine-Sense sword intent flowed into his palm and merged into his Divine-Slaying Sword Form.
Mo Hua froze.
The Strange Daoist’s smile stopped.
When the Profound-Hollow-Void ancestors saw the broken sword in Mo Hua’s hand, they seemed to recall its origin, and their expressions trembled with shock.
At the moment the broken sword manifested in Mo Hua’s hand, his “Great Void Divine-Slaying Sword Form” immediately began to undergo a deeper transformation.
Within the Divine-Slaying Sword, all sword formations, sword intents—even the Heavenly Demon Dao and Taotie Dao—every law and principle was erased and re-melted together by that broken sword.
Mo Hua’s Divine-Slaying Sword Form also seemed to become purer, clearer, and more transparent.
It looked simple.
Yet it contained a far more powerful force of “annihilation.”
Then this purer, annihilation-filled sword intent followed Mo Hua’s Divine-Slaying Sword, slashing toward the Strange Daoist.
With a thunderous boom, it was as if heaven and earth were split apart. The Endless abyss was cleaved in two, and even the black sea of flames was sliced open.
This full-power strike was unimaginably terrifying.
When the fluctuations of Divine-Sense finally settled, the Strange Daoist’s body had been forcibly split into two halves.
Moreover, the severed portions seemed to have lost the ability to fuse back together. Even his Strange divine sense was rapidly withering toward death.
The sight of that single sword strike shocked all the Profound-Hollow-Void ancestors to the point they could barely breathe.
A stunned expression froze on the Strange Daoist’s face.
After a moment, the Strange Daoist—split cleanly into two—smiled faintly and said:
“Not bad.”
After speaking, he rapidly withered away. His strange divine sense extinguished, and he “died” before everyone’s eyes.
But no one felt any relief.
Because the “Strange Daoist” had died, but the Strange Dao itself still remained. The oppressive gloom in the entire space did not lessen; instead, it only grew heavier.
Sure enough, not long after, a cluster of strange-fire ignited upon the ground. Within the flames, flesh seemed to grow, condensing into a human body.
A brand-new “Strange Daoist” appeared before everyone once again.
He felt slightly different from before, yet of the same origin… only his aura had grown a bit colder.
The new Strange Daoist slowly raised his hand. The strange-patterned longsword that had been severed by Mo Hua’s Divine-Slaying Sword Form once again condensed within his grasp.
His divine sense was slightly weaker than before.
But the Mo Hua standing opposite him had already exhausted his Divine-Sense completely. His face was ashen white, and he no longer had the strength to fight.
The Strange Daoist walked up to Mo Hua and pointed the pitch-black sword at the center of his brows. His voice sounded cold and hoarse, like something from the Nine Netherworlds.
“My little martial nephew… remain forever at the bottom of this abyss…”
The Strange Daoist’s sword was about to pierce Mo Hua’s glabella when he suddenly froze, as if he had noticed something.
At that moment, on the other side, the Yang clan’s ancestor—still bound by Strange-Dao runes—saw that Mo Hua had exhausted himself and could only await death.
He suddenly sighed.
His face pale, he began murmuring softly:
“Lin… Bing… Dou… Zhe…”
“Great Circumference… Immortal Soldier Dharma Manifestation.”
The origin power of the Military Dao burned frantically.
The aura around Ancestor Yang suddenly surged. A pure, glass-like Immortal Soldier Dharma Manifestation appeared in the world, erupting with dazzling brilliance.
This manifestation was even stronger than the military manifestation he had used before.
Yet at the same time, the Strange Daoist’s Strange runes were like maggots smelling fresh flesh, madly burrowing into the interior of the manifestation.
But the Yang ancestor could no longer worry about that.
With a sharp shout, he cried:
“Kill!”
The Immortal Soldier Dharma Manifestation held a long spear. Like a celestial general descending into the world, it thrust a spear toward the Strange Daoist.
The power of this spear was terrifying. The Strange Daoist’s pupils shrank, forcing him to evade its edge while conjuring strange sword radiance to block the strike.
True Profound-Hollow-Void realm fluctuations began to erupt at the bottom of the abyss.
That spear not only pierced through the Void Realm… it forcibly reversed the boundary between illusion and reality.
The surrounding space twisted violently. The transformations of reality and illusion were forcibly distorted.
Chaos erupted everywhere. Heavenly secrets tangled together, and the boundary of illusion and reality shattered completely.
Not long after, when the turbulence subsided, the Strange Daoist opened his eyes again.
He found that everything before him had vanished. On the level of Divine-Sense, the “illusory realm” had been disrupted by the Immortal Soldier’s spear.
Mo Hua’s Divine-Sense had been forcibly dragged out of the Illusory Realm.
And in the real world, Mo Hua’s physical body was nowhere to be seen.
At the same time, the Yang ancestor’s physical body had also vanished, leaving behind only a spatial fracture from void transfer.
The Strange Daoist’s dark eyes condensed, his aura turning icy.
…
Meanwhile, within the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court that had already been entirely devoured by the Endless abyss.
A spatial rift had been forcibly torn open by the Dharma manifestation.
The Yang ancestor, carrying the severely damaged body of Mo Hua, stepped out of the abyss.
Beneath his feet lay the ancient Grand Heavenly Astral Great Teleportation Formation.
When he had previously been bound, the Yang ancestor had already calculated that this was the only path of survival.
Now the entire Great Wilderness Ancestral Court had become a sea of abyssal power, everywhere pitch black, filled with filthy evil thoughts.
No one could escape.
Not even those in the Profound-Hollow-Void realm.
The only remaining chance of survival was this ancient stellar formation.
But now the formation had already been corroded by abyssal power. More than half of it was damaged, and the stellar energy could no longer circulate.
A trace of bitterness rose in the heart of Ancestor Yang. He knew time was running out. And forcing the Dharma manifestation just now had nearly exhausted his origin power.
The Yang ancestor glanced at Mo Hua, who was on the verge of death. Carefully placing him at the center of the formation, he set up a spatial barrier around him.
Then he clenched his teeth.
Using his own blood essence as ink, he began repairing the formations upon the ancient stellar formation.
And with the last of his remaining origin power, he activated the formation core.
Finally, he used the remaining Void power of the Profound-Hollow-Void realm within his body to replace the stellar force, forcing the Grand Heavenly Astral Great Teleportation Formation to reverse its operation.
Light once again began to flow across the Ancient Stellar Formation.
Above the heavens, the stars started to shine.
Only this time, the order of the formation patterns was reversed, and the direction indicated by the stars was also completely opposite.
The violent fluctuations of the formation awakened Mo Hua.
In a daze, he slowly opened his eyes. Everything before him was blurry, and only after a long moment did the scene finally become clear.
He saw the Ancient Stellar Formation shining once more.
He also saw the Yang Clan Ancestor, whose aura was nearly exhausted.
Unable to help himself, he murmured weakly:
“Ancestor…”
Hearing this, Ancestor Yang turned his head and looked at Mo Hua. The aged eyes softened slightly.
“I’ll send you away. Remember…”
He coughed violently, spitting blood.
“Before reaching the Profound-Hollow-Void realm… never come back. No matter what, avoid that Daoist…”
With every sentence he spoke, his aura weakened further, and his face grew paler.
Pain stabbed through Mo Hua’s heart.
“Ancestor… you… aren’t leaving?”
Ancestor Yang gave a bitter smile.
His origin had already dried up. strange runes had pierced deep into him, there was no saving him now. At the same time, his face had begun turning pitch black.
This was his death calamity.
The Great Wilderness Royal Court was his place of death.
Ancestor Yang said nothing more, only shaking his head.
“We can all die… but you cannot.”
“You… absolutely cannot die…”
They had all misjudged it.
The Strange Daoist was a world-destroying demonic fiend. His terror was far beyond anything ordinary cultivators could imagine.
“The only one in the future who might oppose him… may be this child before my eyes…”
“So you absolutely must not die…”
The Ancient Stellar Formation had reached its limit. The Kun–Li positions had already been reversed.
Ancestor Yang consumed the last trace of his spiritual power, using himself as the “kindling flame” to supply energy for the formation, forcibly reversing the direction of the formation.
Mo Hua quietly looked at Ancestor Yang, his eyes filled with pain.
He wanted to say something, but his throat had been corroded by the abyss. Not a single word could come out.
The Ancient Stellar Formation continued to operate. The light of teleportation slowly brightened.
Space began to shift.
Mo Hua’s shattered body gradually faded…
But at that very moment… A pitch-black crack suddenly appeared above the Ancient Stellar Formation.
A black strange-patterned longsword tore open the spatial barrier set by Ancestor Yang.
The figure of the Strange Daoist appeared in the sky like a ghost.
A dark palm filled with dense laws suddenly reached down toward Mo Hua.
Ancestor Yang was horrified… but powerless.
Mo Hua’s body was ruined, and he was equally powerless. He could only watch helplessly as his Martial Uncle’s black fingers reached toward his forehead, intending to keep him forever within this Endless abyss, to accompany the abyss and eventually become its slave.
But at that moment…
On Mo Hua’s glabella, a mysterious white Heavenly Secret rune suddenly flashed.
Within that ethereal white pattern was hidden another incomprehensible Heavenly Secret sword intent.
Several streaks of white light flashed…
And actually severed the Strange Daoist’s finger.
Within the Strange Daoist’s chaotic pupils, a sorrowful expression appeared.
While he stood momentarily stunned, Mo Hua’s battered figure disappeared into the shifting void along with the teleportation, vanishing within the Ancient Stellar Formation.
Afterward, the Ancient Stellar Formation completely collapsed, and the stellar force dispersed.
The Strange Daoist remained standing where he was.
The finger severed by the white sword light had still not recovered even after a long time.
Looking at that sword light—one he had once been extremely familiar with, yet had not seen for a very long time—the Strange Daoist stood froze in a daze.
Somewhat incredulously, he murmured:
“So that’s how it is…”
After a moment, he restrained all emotions and turned to look at Ancestor Yang, whose aura was on the verge of extinction.
Slowly, he asked:
“Was it worth it?”
Ancestor Yang’s origin had already completely dried up.
Originally, it would not have come to this.
With Profound-Hollow-Void cultivation, even after being infected by the Strange Daoist, he could have resisted for a very long time.
Over the endless years, he would have been slowly eroded by the Strange Daoist bit by bit.
But as long as his origin remained, there might still have been a chance of turning things around.
As long as the origin remained, the Dao remained… and life remained.
But he had unleashed his Dharma Manifestation, consumed his origin power, and saved Mo Hua.
That was equivalent to exchanging his life for Mo Hua’s chance of survival.
As a result, the strange corruption instantly pierced deep within him… his oil exhausted and lamp extinguished.
Seeing Mo Hua leave, Ancestor Yang’s face turned pale as paper, and he seemed to age many years in an instant.
He slowly sighed.
“This… was only right.”
“For generations, the Yang Clan has strictly followed the ancestral teachings, cultivating for war, guarding the Dao Court, and protecting all living beings.”
“But I… allowed greed to arise in my heart.”
“I wanted the Yang clan to take another step forward. I wanted to secure a broader future for my descendants in this grand game of the Great Wilderness…”
“But I forgot… once war begins, living beings suffer devastation. Countless innocent lives will perish.”
“I should have known… no… in truth, I always knew…”
“I simply pretended not to see.”
“I pretended not to see the devastation of living beings. Not to see the tragic deaths of the people. I stopped treating the people of the Great Wilderness as human.”
“All of this… was caused by my greed and selfishness. I abandoned the righteous Dao-heart… and thus stepped into your scheme.”
“This is my karma.”
“My retribution…”
“This Great Wilderness… is where I die.”
“And what I must do… is die here.”
After speaking, Ancestor Yang’s face was filled with bitterness. At the same time, strange runes had already crawled across his aged face.
His aura weakened little by little, nearly extinguished.
The Strange Daoist silently looked at him, then nodded.
With a hoarse voice, he said:
“In that case…”
“You will become, within this ghostly cycle, within the Heavenly Dao Guixu Heavenly Burial…”
“The first shattered Profound-Hollow-Void strange slave.”
The Strange Daoist walked closer to Ancestor Yang, raised the black strange-patterned longsword, and stabbed it into Ancestor Yang’s heart.
Even more dense strange runes poured into the Profound-Hollow-Void level body of Ancestor Yang.
“This heaven… should change.”
…
At the same time.
Outside the Great Wilderness Royal Court, Dao soldiers from various forces of the Dao Court were retreating from the Great Wilderness according to orders.
Inside the military camp, the Feathered Ascension-realm General Commander Yang, who was coordinating the army’s movements, suddenly felt a violent palpitation in his chest. His expression changed at once, and he hurriedly took out a jade talisman from his robes.
At this moment, the jade talisman had already shattered.
Commander Yang was first stunned and confused. Then his pupils trembled violently. Unspeakable shock and terror instantly filled his heart.
“Ancestor… has fallen?!”
Commander Yang felt his entire body begin to tremble uncontrollably. Boundless cold spread through him.
The Ancestor… how could he possibly fall?
“Our Yang Clan’s Profound-Hollow-Void Ancestor… how could he…”
Commander Yang suddenly raised his head and looked toward the deepest part of the Royal Court. An even greater terror spread wildly outward from his heart, causing his expression to change drastically.
“Pass down the order! Everyone, withdraw from the Great Wilderness! Quickly!”
“Not a moment of delay!”
The order was forcibly transmitted down the ranks.
The Dao soldiers were anxious and bewildered, unable to understand what was happening. But just as they stood there in confusion, they saw that although it was clearly daytime, the distant sky suddenly began turning black.
It was as if night had descended, the heavens and earth turning completely dark.
A darkness more extreme, more despairing than anything before.
“An indescribable great terror seemed about to envelop the entire world… and every heart within it.”
…
Meanwhile, within the Endless Abyss.
The Profound-Hollow-Void strange slave became a powerful driving force, causing the entire Heavenly Burial to operate even faster.
The Strange Dao grand formation covered the heavens and earth. The sea of black flames within the Endless Abyss began boiling even more violently.
The powerful Abyssal Force suddenly became extremely savage, like a wild beast crashing violently against the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court. Before long, it shattered every seal completely.
After that, the Endless Abyss began spreading outward.
The power of the abyss poured toward the Great Wilderness Royal Court.
Terrifying evil thoughts that had been sealed away for countless tens of thousands of years surged forth like a world-destroying flood, rushing toward the vast heavens beyond.
And this time…
The Great Wilderness Royal Clan was destroyed.
The Great Wilderness Ancestral Court was shattered.
Even the restrictions of the Dragon Pool were broken.
No race and no method could any longer stop the Endless Abyss from spreading into the present world.
Like black abyssal waters and ghostly flames bursting through a broken dam, it flooded past the Ancestral Court, swallowed the Dragon Pool, surged across the Dragon-Bone Path, entered the Great Wilderness Dragon Palace, and continued spreading throughout the entire Great Wilderness, devouring every living being it encountered and transforming every corpse it found.
The vitality of heaven and earth was reversed.
The living would die.
And the dead… would “live” again.
Across the Great Wilderness, corpse after corpse was contaminated by Strange Thoughts, turning into strange slaves and crawling back to their feet.
The already dead Demonic Flood Dragon Mountain Lord suddenly opened his eyes. His eye sockets were pitch black, and his mountain-like body became even more grotesque and terrifying.
Silver Corpse Elder transformed into a Strange corpse, his face pale as death and wreathed in black qi.
The Ghost-Child Wanderer’s seven orifices began to bleed black blood, filled with resentment like a vengeful ghost.
Inside the Dragon Palace, Shentu Ao—whose body had been burned halfway by the Blazing Flame Formation, was nourished by the abyssal black water. His flesh slowly regenerated, and with the resentment of a fallen nation, he transformed into something else entirely… a far more terrifying abyssal monster.
The flames of the abyss spread to the Divine Maiden Palace.
Inside the palace, the priestess were either dead or had fled. It had already become utterly silent.
Only atop the divine tower did the Female Divine Official—the one who had once guided Mo Hua—still stand quietly watching.
Watching the Great Wilderness Royal Court that had become like hell.
Watching the sunless sky.
Watching the black ghostly flames burning on the horizon.
Her voice was low, carrying a trace of relief.
“The nightmare of the Great Wilderness… is over.”
Black Strange runes had already crawled across her cheeks, and her pupils had also turned pitch black.
“The nightmare of the Nine-Provinces cultivation world… begins.”
…
From that moment onward.
The Guixu Heavenly Burial began to operate.
The Strange Dao descended.
Year 20,047 of the Dao Calendar, end of the year.
The Great Wilderness Royal Court was destroyed.
The Dao Court armies were defeated.
Prosperity turned into decline.
Darkness descended upon the world.
The flames of the Endless Abyss ignited from the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court—the ancient land of Li Province—and began devouring heaven and earth.
Countless living beings were annihilated.
The Nine Provinces of the cultivation world fell into great chaos from that moment onward.
Yet at this very moment, most cultivators remained completely unaware.
…
At this time, Kun Province was flourishing like brocade, filled with songs and dances celebrating peace and prosperity.
Within a certain fifth-grade great sect.
Several imposing sect masters, together with a noble formation masters wearing the robes of Heavenly Pivot Pavilion, were obeying the Dao Court’s orders and strictly guarding an ancient formation.
But right then…
The ancient formation suddenly trembled.
The star patterns on the formation unexpectedly began rotating in reverse.
Violent formation power twisted space itself. The formation structure could no longer bear the strain and began collapsing bit by bit.
Everyone’s expressions changed in shock.
“This is bad… someone is forcibly reversing the formation?!”
“The formation is about to self-destruct!”
Before they could react, as the starlight of broad daylight hung inverted, an extremely powerful stellar force descended from the heavens and struck directly into the formation’s core.
A heaven-shaking explosion rang out.
Space was torn apart, the foundation of the formation completely collapsed, and a powerful shockwave spread in all directions, destroying everything around it.
The sudden upheaval of the void, containing an immense spatial disturbance, alarmed the entire great sect, even the various forces throughout the entire Fifth-Grade Prefecture realm.
When the smoke and flames finally dispersed, the sect master and the formation masters—injured by the formation’s backlash, blood at the corners of their mouths—gathered together once more. When they looked toward the remains of the ancient formation, their expressions were filled with extreme astonishment.
Inside the shattered ancient formation lay a young boy, his body mixed with flesh and blood.
Only now, the youth was gravely wounded, and within his flesh and blood was mixed a terrifying power that made people tremble in fear… as if he were a demonic god embryo that had descended from the heavens.
“…”
At the same time, not far away, in another corner of Kun Province.
Above a pavilion within a certain cloud-shrouded grotto-heaven.
A woman—who was drawing a formation, like Nüwa kneading earth to create beings, her green flames peerless—suddenly felt her heart tremble. She raised her golden-phoenix-like eyes and looked toward the place where the void had undergone its upheaval, where the starlight had fallen…
(End of Fire Volume)