Chapter 679: Clash Between the Human Path and the Heavenly Path
“Although I don’t know which kind soul gave me this system, this Celestial Ascension Ladder fragment is truly a huge help.”
Jiang Li arrived in the Immortal Realm, his Mahayana stage aura like an abyssal flood dragon, the dragon emerging from the abyss, roaring in all directions.
The Divine Vault Sovereign was using every means at His disposal to control the Immortal Realm, fleeing from Jiang Li at breakneck speed. He had never imagined that Jiang Li would actually use the Celestial Ascension Ladder to arrive in the Immortal Realm once again.
“Where did that Celestial Ascension Ladder come from!” The Divine Vault Sovereign roared, unable to comprehend the current situation.
If Jiang Li had possessed the Celestial Ascension Ladder all along, why hadn’t he used it before? If he hadn’t had it, then where did the current Celestial Ascension Ladder come from?
“It’s the system, it must be that thing called the Counterattack System!” The Divine Vault Sovereign gnashed His teeth. He had seen Jiang Li’s past, knew the system’s name, and also knew there was a task called “Search for Celestial Ascension Ladder Fragments” within the system.
“Who created this system!” The Divine Vault Sovereign dared to guarantee it definitely wasn’t His future self, but this system felt so familiar. How was that to be explained?
Regardless, the most urgent matter right now was to escape quickly.
“Transposition…”
Just as the Divine Vault Sovereign was about to use the grand spatial divine ability, He met Jiang Li’s fist head-on and was sent flying backward.
“You think I’ll let you run away again?”
Seizing the moment before the Divine Vault Sovereign could react, Jiang Li grabbed Him by the collar and slammed Him forcefully onto the ground. The shockwave spread out in all directions, like a hurricane sweeping through. Wherever the shockwave passed, immortal palaces collapsed, celestial trees snapped, and the immortals caught in its wake were swept up by the blast, smashed against the Immortal Realm’s dimensional barriers. The immortals coughed up great mouthfuls of blood, their hearts filled with terror. An attack that couldn’t even be considered the aftermath of the main clash had left them in such a sorry state. How much force must the Divine Vault Sovereign, who was being directly attacked by Jiang Li, be enduring?
Boom—
This First Heaven seemed to react belatedly, only shattering now. Large chunks of immortal soil and stars plummeted, crashing into the heaven below.
“Cough, cough.” The Divine Vault Sovereign had never been in such a sorry state before. From the moment His consciousness was born, He was inherently sacred, omniscient, omnipotent.
Even the Dao Ancestor, hailed as the pinnacle of the immortal path, was not His match. He Himself was the faith of the immortals. When immortals saw Him, they all trembled with fear, prostrating themselves in worship.
“You really think I can’t defeat you!” The Divine Vault Sovereign flew into a rage. With escape hopeless and pushed to this point by Jiang Li, the only path left was a fight to the death.
“Showing disrespect to Heaven, mortal, you shall bear the wrath of the firmament!”
The Divine Vault Sovereign no longer reserved any energy for escape. With His back against the wall, He fought, stimulating all His latent potential.
At this moment, the Divine Vault Sovereign was wreathed in the charm of the Dao, omnipotent. He held the Dao Sword in hand, His mouth contained the heavenly mandate, uttering the sound of the Dao. Every gesture and movement was the embodiment of rules. Countless immortals who witnessed the Divine Vault Sovereign in this state immediately entered a state of enlightenment. The originally obscure and incomprehensible “Dao” became clear and visible.
The Immortal Emperor, the Buddha, and the Confucius Sage, these three Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortals, stood far away in the beyond the heavens, gazing at the enraged Divine Vault Sovereign and the composed, unruffled Jiang Li.
In the entire Immortal Realm, only these three were qualified to observe the battle, yet they dared only to stand in the farthest beyond the heavens.
Immortals and deities were like straw dogs. At this moment, immortals and deities were no different from mortals; they all had to await the outcome of this battle.
The Dao Sword glowed, countless Dao patterns, dense and intricate, interwoven and branded upon the sword’s body.
The Dao Sword was immeasurable, and under the Divine Vault Sovereign’s use, its own might was unleashed to the extreme, even more formidable than when the Dao Ancestor wielded it!
“Slash!”
The Dao Sword emitted a dazzling light, like billions of great path golden lotuses blooming, filling heaven and earth, seeking to sever Jiang Li’s head.
This sword strike had already transcended the swordpath, becoming part of the spatial rules.
What is a sword? A sword is an object that slashes people. No matter how sharp the sword, no matter how sublime the swordpath, in the end, as long as it can sever the opponent, it is a good sword, a good swordpath.
The sword strike swung by the Divine Vault Sovereign was the materialization of spatial rules, capable of severing anything!
This sword strike was sharp to the extreme, and fast to the extreme. Whether it was the host of immortals fleeing for their lives or the Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortals observing from beyond the heavens, they all felt their vision blur, experiencing a momentary loss of awareness.
No one clearly saw this sword strike!
Facing this sword light that transcended the swordpath, Jiang Li threw a punch at it.
The sword light was originally an intangible entity, but after colliding with Jiang Li’s fist, the sword light transformed from intangible to tangible.
This was not the Divine Vault Sovereign’s intention; it was the result of the power of Jiang Li’s punch!
Crack—
The tangible sword light broke, snapping into two pieces.
Although the sword light was broken, the sword energy remained. The sword energy struck Jiang Li’s face like a gentle breeze, unable to even make him squint.
The remaining sword energy landed behind Jiang Li, forcibly cleaving off a corner of the Immortal Realm!
“My Great Sun Tathagata Sword Technique is far inferior to this sword strike.” The Buddha pressed his palms together. He had delved into the spatial Dao, spending countless eons in research, only to find it fell short of this ultimate sword strike in the end.
Jiang Li threw punches in rapid succession, his footsteps crisscrossing, rapidly closing in on the Divine Vault Sovereign.
Hum—
Jiang Li’s final punch landed on the source of the sword light, the Dao Sword. The Dao Sword emitted a humming sound, then disintegrated, transforming into great Dao runes.
“Primordial Death Talisman!” The Divine Vault Sovereign used Dao patterns to draw a talisman. The talisman was complex; a single glance would make one dizzy.
Dao patterns were the highest-level material for talisman drawing. Even the immortal most proficient in the talisman path in the Immortal Realm could only use Dao patterns to draw simple talismans.
Drawing such complex patterns as the Divine Vault Sovereign was like a fantasy.
“Talisman, come!”
The talisman formed naturally, flawless and perfect, containing the rules of life, death, and reincarnation. The entire Immortal Realm was plunged into an eerie, chilly atmosphere. The immortals felt a chill run down their spines, as if their time was up, their souls ready to leave their bodies at any moment.
“Human, die!”
The Divine Vault Sovereign hurled the talisman, seeking to drag Jiang Li into the Underworld. Facing a rule-level attack, Jiang Li didn’t even need to move. His body radiated boundless hidden virtue, its brilliance shining ten thousand feet, silently dissolving the Primordial Death Talisman and sweeping away the gloomy atmosphere enveloping the Immortal Realm.
“Hidden virtue achieving sainthood, lifespan increasing!” The Divine Vault Sovereign was shocked, instantly recognizing Jiang Li’s hidden virtue and lifespan.
If Jiang Li died, the rules of life, death, and reincarnation would directly force Houtu Huangqi to abdicate, and Jiang Li would become the master of the Underworld!
If Jiang Li did not die, then his lifespan would keep increasing, with the consumed lifespan far less than the increased lifespan!
“Is the 2400th Heavenly Dao here?”
“Why is no one answering? Asking again.”
“Is the 2400th Heavenly Dao here?”
“Still no one answering.”
The irritable voice of the Parallel World Heavenly Dao rang out. The Divine Vault Sovereign absolutely dared not let His focus waver. Facing Jiang Li, even a moment’s distraction would mean death without a burial place.
Only by fighting to the death with single-minded focus was there a sliver of hope for survival!
The Divine Vault Sovereign severed the connection with the Parallel World and engaged Jiang Li in battle.
One side represented the Heavenly Dao, the other represented the Human Reincarnation Path. Their collision was like an instant, yet also like eternity, their radiance illuminating countless ages.
The commotion from their clash was so great that not only did the myriad heavens and worlds tremble, it even transcended time, affecting the River of Time.
At this node, the River of Time suddenly surged with turbulent waves, churning violently, disrupting past, present, and future, causing a halo of light to become utterly lost!