Chapter 91: The Forbidden Land Makes Its Move, Heaven’s Mandate Appears
Chapter 91 – The Forbidden Land Makes Its Move, Heaven’s Mandate Appears
Facing Chen Changsheng’s demand, A-Li did not hesitate in the slightest, entirely relinquishing his bodily defenses.
In such a vulnerable state, had Chen Changsheng harbored even a sliver of malice, the commander of the Seventy-Two Wolf Smokes would be crippled, if not outright killed.
Swish!
A sword-finger struck A-Li’s lower abdomen with blinding speed, driving a fine, golden needle straight into his flesh to violently puncture his Dantian.
The moment the deed was done, Chen Changsheng’s hands blurred, instantly laying down a Formation to seal the surrounding dwelling.
Hum!
As Chen Changsheng withdrew his hand, A-Li’s robust physique suddenly began to wither away, his flesh desiccating at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Witnessing this horrifying decay, Gongsun Huaiyu cried out in panic, “What have you done to him?!”
Chen Changsheng ignored her frantic questioning, his ageless eyes locked unflinchingly onto A-Li’s spasms.
On this arduous path of cultivating both the inner vessel and the outer shell, A-Li had tread further than Chen Changsheng himself.
The only reason he had remained shackled to the Sixth Realm was a missing keystone—a fatal flaw that Chen Changsheng had just ruthlessly corrected.
A sudden, catastrophic release of power built over seven long centuries; Chen Changsheng was genuinely curious to see what heights this profound accumulation would propel A-Li toward.
“Guard your Dao Heart! Do not panic!”
“Do not force it to stop, and do not try to guide it. Surrender to the breaking of your vessel; your own flesh will forge the truest path.”
Hearing those commanding words, A-Li severed his grip on the torrential chaos ravaging his body.
As he yielded control, the raging maelstrom within him inexplicably began to circulate according to an ancient, primal rhythm.
Spiritual Qi, vital blood essence, and the strength of his very soul—all of it was voraciously devoured by his starving flesh.
Devoured, compressed, and funneled back into the Dantian, only to erupt violently from the newly shattered wound.
A blood-gold radiance gushed forth endlessly, swirling within the ruined Dantian to form a vast, tumultuous ocean.
When this strange, primordial tide flooded back through his Meridians, A-Li’s physical form underwent a harrowing rebirth.
Boom!
A boundless shockwave threw Gongsun Huaiyu to the ground, causing even the Dao-array Chen Changsheng had established to tremble under the pressure.
The withered husk of his body rapidly swelled with explosive vitality.
Though his new skin appeared as pristine as a newborn’s, it harbored a terrifying, tyrannical toughness that eclipsed his former state a thousand times over.
An instant later, an ethereal projection swallowed both Chen Changsheng and Gongsun Huaiyu.
Standing amidst the illusion of a boundless, golden sea, Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but sigh. “Girl.”
“This path of cultivation… it is as if the Heavens tailored it solely for your master. Look over there.”
Still reeling from the sheer scale of the phenomenon, a bewildered Gongsun Huaiyu instinctively followed his pointed finger.
She saw nine ephemeral figures materialize above the surging golden tide, a blinding, radiant sun suspended above their heads.
Then, an impossibly vast bridge arched out of the void, spanning the width of the roaring ocean.
The moment the bridge settled, the golden sea below it violently churned, throwing apocalyptic waves into the heavens.
Boom!
A supreme, crushing pressure evicted the two of them from the vision, shattering Chen Changsheng’s Formation in the process.
A towering phantom, possessing a majesty that dwarfed even the Law of Heaven and Earth, manifested within the valley.
At its center stood A-Li, his pitch-black hair whipping in the gale, every single strand radiating a blinding, celestial luster.
Rumble!
Without a cloud in sight, a heaven-rending thunderclap shattered the firmament, and every cultivator under the sky felt a profound shift in the very laws of the Dao.
…
Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
A pitch-black mountain range shuddered into wakefulness, and an ancient, monolithic eye tore open the void above the forbidden expanse.
“Thirty thousand years… At long last, a vessel has unsealed the Heaven’s Mandate.”
The voice, heavy with the dust of ages, echoed across the desolation. A heartbeat later, a second voice pierced the gloom.
“Hmph!”
“What does it matter if the Heaven’s Mandate is opened? Only a true sovereign is fit to bear its weight.”
“Without a Dao Protector to guard their path, even the chosen bearer shall be reduced to ash!”
With those chilling words, an ancient, bronze coffin erupted from the depths of the forbidden earth.
The heavy lid slid open, revealing an impeccably handsome young lord, his eyes snapping open to reveal stars collapsing within his gaze.
Inhaling the scent of the mortal realm like fine wine, the youth flashed a predatory smile. “What a glorious era of chaos. What a tantalizing Heaven’s Mandate.”
“This Mandate belongs to none other than me!”
Leaving the words to linger in the wind, the young lord stepped out of the desolation, striding directly toward the Middle Heavens.
…
Sacred Ruins.
Boom!
A massive chunk of God Source, easily the size of a grand hall, violently detonated. From the amber shards, a man bearing a pair of majestic wings lifted his gaze to the firmament.
“In this era, the Heaven’s Mandate shall return to the Ancient Clan!”
As his decree echoed, a silver lance and a radiant page of a golden scripture tore through the depths of the Sacred Ruins, hovering obediently before him.
“Five thousand years of slumber, all for this very day. The bearer of the Heaven’s Mandate reeks of the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art.”
“Seize the Heaven’s Mandate, and pry the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art from their dying hands.”
Acknowledging the sovereign voice echoing from the deepest abyss of the ruins, the winged man sneered coldly. “Wherever I tread, I am invincible. A mere Mandate bearer is nothing but a stepping stone.”
…
A-Li’s breakthrough had provoked a Heaven-and-Earth Resonance, waking a myriad of ancient terrors buried in the darkest corners of the world.
Yet, the sole architect of this apocalyptic shift stood quietly in his courtyard, admiring his handiwork.
“Girl, do you finally comprehend the essence of Body Cultivation?”
“It is not merely a crude thickening of muscle or the mindless hoarding of Spiritual Qi. It is the ruthless excavation of one’s own absolute potential.”
“Spiritual Qi, blood essence, and the power of the soul. These three pillars must be tempered in the furnace of the flesh, fusing into an entirely distinct, sovereign force.”
“Once forged in the body and tempered by the mind, a cultivator’s mastery over this force becomes absolute.”
“By borrowing fragments of the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art, the perennial curse of Spiritual Qi failing to reinforce the mortal shell is entirely severed.”
“In this manner, the physical flesh, the cultivation base, and the Divine Sense… not a single aspect is left behind.”
“This is true Body Cultivation. The absolute union of the inner and outer Dao.”
Hanging onto every word of Chen Changsheng’s lecture, Gongsun Huaiyu stared in utter awe at her transformed, peerless master.
Only now did she truly understand the profound reverence her master held for this man.
It was not a fear of raw, destructive power, but a deep-seated awe for his unfathomable intellect.
Just what kind of heaven-defying monster could weave together such a flawless, supreme paradigm of cultivation?
Without a single blind spot to exploit, this path was, in the truest sense of the word, invincible.
Marshalling an immense amount of willpower to claw her way out of her stupor, Gongsun Huaiyu swallowed hard.
“Sir… I have no words left to praise you. How could a mortal mind ever conceive such a method?”
Meeting her reverent, starlit gaze, Chen Changsheng merely chuckled and waved a dismissive hand.
“I dare not hoard such glory. The crude foundation of this path was clawed out of the dirt by your master.”
“I merely smoothed the jagged edges and provided a single, insignificant key.”
“The phenomenon of the Nine Immortals Arching the Sun is an epoch-shaking omen. Your master will carve a path so deep and so far, no soul in this realm will ever match his stride.”
“Not even I.”
As the ancient words left his lips, A-Li retracted his celestial aura and collapsed to both knees before Chen Changsheng.
“To think… that the mad, absurd ramblings of my youth were kept so securely in Sir’s heart.”
“I know my meager fate disqualifies me from being Sir’s formal disciple, but I shall revere Sir as my true teacher for all of eternity.”
With a heavy heart full of boundless gratitude, A-Li slammed his forehead against the earth, kowtowing three resounding times.
Moved by the solemnity, Gongsun Huaiyu hastily dropped to her knees to follow suit.
“Though I am unworthy to be called Sir’s grand-disciple, I will forever honor you as my Grand-master!”
Looking down at the master and disciple prostrating before him, Chen Changsheng neither rejected their devotion nor formally accepted it.
To mold such an exceptional practitioner from the clay of the world—it would be a lie to say his weary soul felt no pride.
The only reason he withheld his verbal decree was tied solely to the cursed, solitary nature of his own existence.
Yet, some truths in this vast world did not require the blessing of spoken words to be real. Their resolute hearts were enough.
…