Chapter 584: Completed Palace
"Eternal Damnation!" This was the heaven's most horrifying decree! Images of myriad tribulations appeared, such as an Immortal Monarch suffering his Life Reduction, the demonic tribulation of a True God, and other terrible disasters from the heavenly dao…
All of these stunning tribulations appeared at once. Some of them had never been heard of or seen before. Any of these alone would be enough to shatter someone.
The Life Reduction was of a magnitude that even an Immortal Monarch's blood energy would wither, turning him into a dying old man. The demonic tribulation of a True God created a terrifying heart devil that could devour all things and break even the toughest of dao hearts. Even the strongest True God would not be able to withstand this devil and would suffer a terrible backlash, resulting in insanity.
If any cultivators were here, even Heavenly Kings and Virtuous Paragons would be scared out of their wits and wet their pants! Even Virtuous Paragons had never undergone such terrifying tribulations. Any of the above tribulations would require a Virtuous Paragon to muster all of their strength to survive.
But right now, Li Qiye was facing Eternal Damnation, making everything else seem so insignificant.
Inside the myriad images were dying True Dragons, blood spilling from Godkings, an Immortal Monarch with one foot in the grave, and True Gods being driven to insanity. These images would carve themselves into the minds of spectators and wake them up at night for the rest of their lives.
"Villainous Heavens, even your Eternal Damnation cannot stop my determination!" The firmament above Li Qiye's head strengthened its will after his cry. He turned into the ruler of the nine heavens and used the firmament's power to stop the myriad tribulations.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Great detonations came one after another. The myriad tribulations acted as if countless Immortal Emperors were assaulting Li Qiye's supreme will.
With another blast, Li Qiye was blown away with blood spurting everywhere.
"Rumble!" The blaring myriad tribulations became faster and louder. At this time, even Li Qiye's firmament couldn't handle it, causing him to be wounded.
"Crack!" At this point, his body was cracked with blood running down. The divine light inside his meridian was flickering as if it could go out at any moment.
It wasn't only his body, his meridian and the outline of the palace were unable to withstand the force. If his meridian shattered, then the thirteenth palace would follow suit. At that point, Li Qiye would become mere ashes.
He knew that the disaster was imminent so he took out his secret move, an item. The moment it came out, a radiance filled the sky as endless immortal laws appeared.
This was a book, the defining treasure that Li Qiye obtained from the grave's secret realm.
"The Death Scripture is here!" Li Qiye cried out: "Regardless of whether you agree or not, I will borrow this pond to open up a miracle, or else I will seal the pond!" Li Qiye then pressed down on the scripture as the book spewed out boundless primordial chaos like the opening of a new and indistinct world.
The Death Scripture, one of the Nine Grand Heavenly Scriptures, was comparable to the Physique Scripture. It had been hidden inside the lake in the grave's secret realm.
The nine scriptures had always been a legend, and many cultivators didn't believe in their existence. How could they know that Li Qiye not only had the Physique Scripture, but also the Death Scripture? Back during his days as the Dark Crow, he had expended numerous efforts because he knew of a secret, that the defining treasure of the grave might be the Death Scripture.
Although it was only a speculation, Li Qiye had always been researching it and he was finally successful in this generation. The defining treasure was indeed the scripture that he had been yearning for.
With his hand pressed against the scripture, unparalleled ancient runes appeared then slowly sank into the pond as if they had their own consciousnesses.
"Boom!" A flash appeared in the primordial chaos as it was torn apart, creating an extremely moving and majestic spectacle.
This light that signaled the start of a new world suddenly fell into the thirteenth palace. It was a brilliant ray from before even the start of time, the first of its kind. This was the beginning of myriad dao, the source of a new era.
Only with this light would the world be able to have its own dao; it was the foundation for myriad dao!
"Boom!" This light allowed the thirteenth palace to fly out from Li Qiye's meridian with a deafening blast. In just a moment, the palace had left its cocoon.
It was finally successful. The thirteenth palace, at this time, jumped into the nine heavens and achieved a never-changing eternality. It emitted a powerful seal that flew into the sky and left its will as a mark in the heavens.
"Rumble!" With resounding blasts, a mark had been carved on the heavens by the palace. The myriad tribulations then receded like a tide.
Inside the Prime Ominous Grave at the Earth Realm above the Heavenly Cemetery, the Ancestral City had erected four gigantic altars right below the lost island, one in each corner.
Each of them was protected by the experts from the city along with other ghost cultivators, including those of the ancestor level.
This was beyond being forced by the Heavenly God Decree; many great powers wished to contribute and earn some merits as well as praise from the Ancestral City. Maybe they could receive the supreme origin arts. Because of this, they worked hard and volunteered to carry out the decree.
In just one short day, the great powers had returned from their hunts and gathered cultivators and mortals from the other races all over the Nether Border.
The Divine Guard Captain commanded after seeing their return: "Throw all of them into the altars. Once we have enough, we'll commence the blood ceremony."
In just a short moment, the prisoners were thrown into the altars that resembled gigantic urns, falling down like "human rain." Each of these altars had their own independent space that could accommodate tens of millions.
"Grandpa, where are you? Grandpa, Grandpa…" Screams for the adults rang across the altars.
"Mother, Father, do you not need Wan'er anymore?" Children cried out for their parents.
"Zhu'zi, Zhu'zi, are you okay?" Parents were also trying to find their children among the sea of people.
They were powerless to stay together with their families amidst this disaster.
"Son, Shi'er, where are you? Are you still alive?" A gray-haired old man cried out painfully for his child.
The ocean of people emitted many miserable screams. There were also desperate pleas and prayers mixed together, creating a gloomy and sorrowful atmosphere.
Earlier, most great powers from the other races had already left the Prime Ominous Grave, but some ancestors were still hiding behind in the shadows right outside of the Heavenly Cemetery. Seeing such a scene shook them since they understood what the Divine Guard Captain wanted to do after capturing these millions of mortals.
"The Ancestral City is insane! They actually want to sacrifice the mortals!" The pupils of a great character from another race were about to burst open from anger after seeing this scene.
Someone else, in their fury, wanted to rush out but was stopped by an ancestor that stood right next to them. The ancestor gravely said: "Are you going just to die? Not to mention that the city lord and the captain alone are enough to kill us old men, there are also a bunch of great powers and their ancestors and even legendary masters from the ghost race. Even if you try, you won't be able to accomplish anything!"
Despite their rage, they were powerless and could only keep hiding in the dark. All of the ghost masters were here; it was a force capable of sweeping through everything in this world. Even an imperial lineage would have a hard time opposing them.
"Open!" A cultivator screamed while within the gourd-like altar. There were some cultivators that were captured along with the mortals; among them were famous Heavenly Kings.
Alas, they had no chance to show their prowess since there were ancestors here as well. They had to obediently accept their captivity.
"Boom!" A few explosions occurred. Some cultivators used their strongest merit laws to attack this ceremonial prison, but it was useless.
This altar was personally created by the Divine Guard Captain to become a powerful prison; ordinary cultivators couldn't break it.
"Use my blood to lead the glory of my ancestors. May the laws of the myriad ages enter my body…!" A trapped Heavenly King used his strongest forbidden law along with his flesh and True Fate to empower this art.
584 Teaser [collapse]Chapter 585: Blood Ceremony
At this point, for the Heavenly Kings trapped inside the altar, they had to do something. If it wasn't for themselves, then it was for their own race. They would sacrifice themselves to open a hole in this powerful prison.
"Bang!" Blood spewed out after a loud blast. The Heavenly Kings used their blood to channel a great forbidden law and used an incomparable momentum to attack this prison. Although the altar shook back and forth several times, it did not break.
The cultivators inside screamed out in despair after seeing the failure of these Heavenly Kings: "No!!!"
Heavenly Kings were the strongest existences inside the altar, and now, even their strongest attack couldn't shake the prison, so how could people not cry out in anguish?
The mortals felt even more hopeless. They could only wait for their deaths in this place. A forlorn atmosphere swept over the four altars. Everyone sat straight down on the ground and only awaited their death.
"It is time!" Seeing as how all the sects and lineages came back and the four altars now had enough people, the Divine Guard Captain gravely declared: "All experts, guard the altars, including the ancestors. I do not want to see anything unexpected happen during the ceremony."
The great powers answered the command of the captain. In an instant, the experts all rushed towards the altars. A few ancestors were unwilling, but they had no choice.
The atmosphere became extremely heavy. Right outside of the cemetery, the hidden ancestors had no courage to try and save the people since there were hundreds of thousands of ghost experts there, including some ancestors. Even the most mighty ancestor wouldn't be able to save the mortals inside.
"Hmph! Are you ghosts not afraid of the punishment from the heavens by doing this?" At this time, a snort could be heard.
A person walked in the sky as light pulsed around his body.
"Xian Fan!" The ghost experts were quite alarmed to see this person donned with armor around their body.
People have reputation just like how trees have shadows. Xian Fan was the descendant of the Immortal Kingdom, a genius comparable to Di Zuo. 1
"This is not a place for a junior like you to interfere. Leave, now!" A big character from the ghost race shouted after seeing Xian Fan.
Xian Fan fearlessly went to the altars protected by hundreds of thousands of experts and several dozen ancestors of the ghost race. Such a powerful alliance didn't care for the might of any imperial lineage.
Moreover, the Immortal Kingdom immediately left the grave after obtaining the treasure from the Wood Realm. Meanwhile, Xian Fan stayed behind in the Earth Realm and entered the graves to train.
In the eyes of the ghosts, although Xian Fan was peerless among the younger generation, they still weren't enough to cause any trouble before so many ancestors and experts.
Xian Fan didn't want to waste words so he cried out: "Die!" An immortal sword flew out with a superb speed towards the eastern altar.
"Ahh!" The slash of the sword resulted in blood spurting everywhere as Xian Fan killed several hundred ghosts. Although they were numerous, not all the ghosts here were unbeatable. The majority were Royal Nobles up to Heavenly Sovereigns; there were very few Heavenly Kings. Existences of the ancestor level numbered only a few dozen.
With the successful initiation, Xian Fan drew closer to the altar.
"Dinngg!" The Five Element Immortal Armor on Xian Fan's body turned into two long swords as Xian Fan rushed forward, sweeping through everything in their path.
"Ahh!" Wherever the two swords crossed, heads would fly and blood would erupt. At this moment, Xian Fan courageously went forward without fearing anyone.
"Die!" The guarding ghosts shouted as countless treasures rushed forward to kill Xian Fan.
However, Xian Fan didn't try to dodge. Any oncoming treasures would be stopped by the immortal armor, resulting in loud explosions. None of them could hurt Xian Fan.
The armor was extremely heaven-defying and nearly impossible to break through. Only emperor's weapons might be a threat to it.
Xian Fan created a rain of blood in his wake as heads flew everywhere with spurting blood.
Some Heavenly Kings couldn't sit still after seeing how other experts were unable to interrupt Xian Fan's unstoppable momentum.
"Halt your haughtiness!" One of them shouted and attacked with a Virtuous Paragon True Treasure.
However, Xian Fan replied in the most domineering manner with a surging imperial aura: "Scram!" Xian Fan activated a powerful emperor's law as the immortal armor turned into a gigantic hammer that slammed down like punishment from the heavens.
"Boom!" The Heavenly King was blown away, and his Virtuous Paragon True Treasure flew all the way to the horizon after losing to the gigantic hammer.
Xian Fan was unbeatable with the Five Element Immortal Armor. Ordinary weapons couldn't break through the armor, thus they were unable to defeat him.
The other Heavenly Kings were shaken and said: "Junior, you are too arrogant!" A bunch of people protecting the altar were actually miserably defeated by a junior.
Xian Fan remained unperturbed against the combined offense of several Heavenly Kings. With loud battle cries, the elemental armor shifted into different weapons such as a pike, a heavenly saber, a battle hammer…
Although the kings were powerful, they couldn't break through the armor since they had no emperor's weapons. At best, they could only slow down Xian Fan's advance.
Xian Fan alone fought against several kings till the sky collapsed, but slowly, Xian Fan became furious from not being able to win, so he unleashed a cry: "Scram!"
"Pluff—pluff—pluff!" Amidst the action, the elemental armor turned into countless blade edges like scattering flower petals, drowning both the world and the opponents.
Screams suddenly resounded. The combined effort of the kings was not enough to dodge the tide of blade edges, resulting in all of them getting wounded.
An ancestor stepped in and shouted: "Enough!" He raised his hand to begin suppressing Xian Fan with a palm seal.
"Boom!" Xian Fan was forced to take several steps back from this blast.
An ancestor was indeed different; they were showing the gap between the king realm and the paragon realm. His first attack had already managed to repel Xian Fan.
Xian Fan had the elemental armor and also cultivated the best emperor's laws. A Heavenly King without an emperor's weapon wouldn't be a match for him, but an ancestor was a different story. They could effortlessly suppress Xian Fan without an emperor's weapon. With one, Xian Fan would have already been heavily injured.
"Junior, out of consideration for the Immortal Kingdom, I will pretend that nothing had happened today if you leave now." The ancestor was still full of confidence with his overpowering aura despite not using an emperor's weapon.
It made sense. Unless it was someone as devilish as Li Qiye, other young geniuses couldn't compare to an ancestor.
However, Xian Fan boldly declared: "Is that so? I actually want to try fighting a Virtuous Paragon!" No longer retreating, Xian Fan roared as the elemental armor emitted a bright light.
"Boom!" All the lights on the armor shot up high. Different wonderful images appeared around Xian Fan's body, including a divine tree, a heavenly fire burning the sky, a vast ocean, and the opening of a sacred treasury…
"Die!" Xian Fan let out another cry as the tree gave its protection, the heavenly flame burned brighter, and the treasury completely opened. All kinds of heavenly weapons came down; Demon-refining Bottle, Myriad Pagoda, Nine-dragons Cup, Immortal-rending Mirror…
All of these divine weapons came out from the treasury as Xian Fan, using an invincible emperor's law, went to kill the ancestor.
Such a powerful attack caused the ancestor's expression to sink. He didn't dare to be careless lest something unexpected happens. "Open!" He let out a cry as well and took out his true fate weapon to stop the onslaught.
In just a second, the two exchanged blows with each other. Although Xian Fan didn't have the advantage, he became fiercer as the fight went on. Having the elemental armor was the same as having myriad divine weapons as it continuously unleashed them for Xian Fan's offense.
Those of the ghost race that were guarding the altars were angry seeing the young Xian Fan fighting evenly against an ancestor of a great power.
Not long ago, Li Qiye had already lorded over the ghost race and killed their geniuses and ancestors. And now, Heavenly Kings couldn't stop Xian Fan either. Plus, this person was strong enough to challenge even Virtuous Paragons! How heaven-defying was this?
"Die!" While Xian Fan was fighting against the ancestor, a cry interrupted the battle.
A shadow rushed out, causing the Heaven's Will to flow with imperial aura as waves of halos came slashing down.
"A Heaven's Will Secret Law!" A person startlingly exclaimed.
The ancestor tried to block it with a treasure, but he was too late to shield himself against the halos.
"Pluff!" Blood spurted out as his head flew into the air.
A Heavenly King immediately recognized the great technique and shouted: "Cyclical River Of Fate!"
A woman was standing among the crowd, radiating an alluring beauty. It was Lan Yunzhu of the Thousand Carp River!
"Kill!" She didn't say too much before using an amazing speed to rush towards the altar to save those inside. However, how could the guarding ghosts let her achieve her wish?
A bunch of Ancient Saints and Heavenly Sovereigns instantly mobbed her. In this moment, Lan Yunzhu cried out as the Heaven's Will shone and carried an imperial aura as it swept through all of them, creating a rain of bloody heads.
Trees have shadows that can shield people from the sun; people also have prestige/fame/reputation that weaker groups can rely on as well. It is just saying that Xian Fan is famous. Another interpretation is that a good person living a virtuous life will have a good reputation, just like a tall and stout tree would cast a tall shadow. ↩