Chaos-colored mist seeped from the jagged crack in the meditation cushion, winding through the cold, deathly still Zixiao Palace. Dao Ancestor Hongjun sat upon his cloud couch, his blurry Dao form actually trembling slightly. A trace of fury, like metal scraping against metal, was clearly audible in his eternally indifferent voice:
"Evil obstruction! You dared damage the foundations of the Heavenly Dao!"
"Please quell your anger, Dao Ancestor!" The four figures seated upon the cushions below bowed in unison. Their Sage's Might surged mightily, yet it could not conceal their alarm.
Taishang Laojun's expression was as dark as water. His fly whisk trembled faintly, while disbelief and icy killing intent churned deep within his eyes. "The shackles cracked, originating from the mortal world of Xianyang! The variable has become a festering disease, yet it has shaken the pillar of heaven! This child... cannot be allowed to live!" Clear radiance flowed all over him, and a Taiji Diagram Phantom appeared behind his head as he attempted to deduce the variable's origins and the means to destroy it. Yet the escaping Chaos Aura and the disorderly variables leaking from the crack threw every divination into chaos.
Primordial Heavenly Venerate's face turned livid. The radiance of his Jade Ruyi flickered unsteadily, and his voice carried barely suppressed rage and arrogance. "That bastard spawn of the lower realm colluded with barbaric witches, recklessly disturbed the earth veins, and stirred Chaos Fiendish Qi! This is the beginning of overturning order and causing chaos in the Primordial Era! Jade Void Divine Thunder must descend to cleanse away the filth, and that royal city of Xianyang... must be erased along with it!" He regarded Heavenly Dao Order as the ultimate standard; any disturbance to it was blasphemy.
Accepter Daoist looked even more anguished. The prayer beads rolling between his fingers nearly snapped, while the phantom of the Twelve-Petaled Golden Lotus swayed uncertainly. "The Great Tribulation... this is an omen of the Great Tribulation! A Heavenly Dao Crack means demons rise and the Dao declines! Even the Western Pure Land may not escape unscathed... Dao Ancestor, we must swiftly set things right, suppress and kill the variable, and mend the heavenly rift! My Western Teachings are willing to offer our full support, deliver this evil karmic fate, and guide its fiendish qi into extinction!" A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he calculated how to seize the greatest benefits from this calamity.
Cundi Daoist brushed the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree through the air, sending trails of seven-colored radiance flowing forth as he attempted to soothe the agitated Heavenly Dao aura. His voice was urgent. "Dao Ancestor! The heavens have split and Chaos is invading—this is a critical moment for the Survival of the Primordial Era! Please use the Jade Disk of Creation to stabilize heaven and earth, then command all Saints to emerge and sweep the enemy away with thunderous force! Delay will breed further changes. Outer Realm Demon Gods may exploit this opening to enter!" He was the most alert among them, having already caught the dangerous scent of the boundless Chaos Sea beyond the crack.
"Enough!" Hongjun's Dao voice was like ice, instantly suppressing the four Saints' chaotic arguments. The Chaos Aura leaking from the cracked cushion was forcibly drawn back in, and Zixiao Palace returned to its deathly silence. Yet the jagged rift running through the cushion remained glaringly visible.
"The heavenly rift has appeared, and the calamity is set. Forcibly suppressing it will only invite backlash and waste our origin." Hongjun's voice returned to its indifference, though it now carried an even deeper chill. "This variable... has become the Eye of Tribulation. Kill it, and it may trigger an even greater backlash. Trap it, and it will become a whetstone."
The four Saints were astonished.
Hongjun's indistinct gaze pierced through endless void, falling upon the Primordial Earth, upon the source where the rift's aura was strongest—the Imperial Medical Office within Xianyang Palace—upon Cheng Xi, whose aura was chaotic and who bore Chaos Earth Fiend within him, and even upon the ancient locust tree whose demonic eye had just opened deep within its roots.
"Transmit my decree:"
"Heavenly Court, seal the South Heavenly Gate. None may descend to the lower realm without an order!"
"Underworld, reinforce the Six Paths of Reincarnation and isolate yin from yang!"
"You..." Hongjun's gaze swept across the four Saints below. "Return to your respective Dao Fields and seal your mountain gates! Whoever acts without my command... shall be stripped of their Sainthood and cast into the Ruins!"
"Dao Ancestor?!" Primordial Heavenly Venerate blurted out, his face filled with unwillingness. Taishang Laojun frowned deeply, seeming to grasp something. Accepter Daoist and Cundi Daoist exchanged looks, their eyes flickering with uncertainty and shock.
"This calamity is not for you to control." Hongjun's voice allowed no doubt. "Watch quietly as events unfold. When the Eye of Tribulation flickers... the time for reckoning will come." As his words fell, the Dao form atop the cloud couch swayed faintly before vanishing completely into the endless Heavenly Dao Rules. Only that shocking crack and the four Saints' uncertain figures remained.
Zixiao Palace returned to its deathly stillness. At the Heavenly Dao Crack, the Chaos Aura alone flickered like breathing.
Ancient Locust · Demonic Eye Locks the Soul
At the northern foot of Mount Li, deep within the roots of the Demonic Ancient Locust Tree.
That newly born dark gold vertical eye had opened completely! It was the size of a fist, condensed like dark gold crystal. There was no impurity in its pupil, only the most primal chaos and desire to devour, coldly reflecting the entire world. It greedily sucked in the nourishment drawn by the ancient locust's roots from the contaminated earth veins. With every bit it consumed, the pupil grew darker, and the demonic might it exuded increased by another measure.
Buzz!
The vertical eye suddenly "turned"! Two Demonic Thought Chains, condensed to the extreme, formless and intangible yet capable of Soul Freezing, instantly pierced through thick layers of earth and rock, ignoring the barriers of space!
One stabbed viciously toward Cheng Xi within the Imperial Medical Office of Xianyang Palace. He had just forced back the demonic shadow and was weak, his aura in disarray! Its target pointed directly at the newly born mass of Chaos Earth Fiend within his dantian, a mass filled with violent temptation! Carrying the purest will of pollution and assimilation, the Demonic Thought Chain sought to completely detonate and devour that power at his weakest moment, turning it into its own!
The other was like an ice spike steeped in poison, viciously stabbing toward Yan Lingji. She sat cross-legged before the cliff face of Mount Li's main peak, blood seeping from her seven apertures, her mind connected to the Purifying Fire deep within the earth veins and already pushed to the extreme! Its target was the orange-red flame of the heart lamp protecting her chest! Carrying the utmost filth and desire for destruction, the Demonic Thought Chain sought to extinguish this light of order it despised and contaminate her pure Zhurong Bloodline!
"Ugh!" Cheng Xi had only just suppressed the violent backlash of the Chaos Earth Fiend within his body when an icy, bone-piercing thought filled with greedy malice stabbed into his sea of consciousness like a poisoned needle! The Chaos Earth Fiend vortex in his dantian, which had just calmed down a little, became like a deep pool struck by a boulder and instantly boiled with renewed violence! Gray, gold, and azure energies collided madly, while the agony of his meridians tearing apart doubled! He let out a muffled groan, his vision darkened, and the sliver of clarity he had just gathered was swallowed by chaos once more!
Before the cliff face, Yan Lingji's delicate body shuddered violently! Maintaining the Purifying Fire had already left her like a spent arrow. This Demonic Thought Chain stabbing straight at her heart lamp was the final straw! The tiny orange-red flame at her chest swayed violently, its radiance dimming at once! The call of Pangu Hall was disrupted by the demonic thought and became blurred and indistinct! An icy, filthy sensation surged madly into her bloodline along the Demonic Thought Chain, attempting to ignite the dormant Dark Gold Demonic Markings once more!
"Don't even think about it!" Yan Lingji bit down so hard that her silver teeth nearly shattered. Blood overflowed from the corner of her lips, while the orange-red flame in her eyes erupted with one final burst of defiance! She forcibly severed part of her connection to the Purifying Fire deep within the earth veins, drawing back all her remaining mental strength to hold fast to her heart lamp! The orange-red flame desperately resisted the demonic thought's corrosion, like a candle in the wind, on the verge of collapse!
The side hall of the Imperial Medical Office was still thick with settling dust.
The demonic shadow of Lu Buwei—or rather, a shell dominated by the will of the Demon Lizard's Severed Skull—had been forced back by Cheng Xi's Chaos Earth Fiend sword finger. The scales in its palm had corroded and peeled away, exposing dark gold flesh. Agony and shocked anger made it release a savage roar! Its cold vertical eyes locked onto Cheng Xi, its greed and urge to destroy growing stronger! This newly born force of chaos was even more delicious than it had expected!
"Roar—!" Ignoring the recessed section in its chest and abdomen left by Meng Tian's iron fist—its scales shattered and dark gold blood seeping out—the demonic shadow swept its massive tail like a steel whip, forcing back Meng Tian as he pounced towards it again! It kicked off the ground, its huge body carrying a fetid wind as it lunged at the couch once more! This time, it opened its enormous jaws. Dark Gold Demonic Qi churned deep in its throat as it attempted to swallow Cheng Xi and the source of Chaos Earth Fiend in a single bite!
"Stop it!" Hou Yi's eyes nearly split with rage as the second bone arrow left the bowstring with a piercing shriek! This time, the blood qi wrapped around its arrowhead condensed into a spiral and shot directly into the demonic shadow's exposed throat!
Ignoring the severe pain from being struck by the demonic tail, Meng Tian roared and pounced again. He spread his arms, intending to use his flesh and blood to lock around one of the demonic shadow's legs and create an opening for Hou Yi's arrow!
Just at this instant between life and death!
Cheng Xi's sea of consciousness was in turmoil from the Demonic Thought Chain's impact, and his meridians felt ready to burst. Yet the faint gray gleam deep in his eyes erupted with unprecedented savagery and clarity beneath the extreme pain and threat of death! Deduction! Analysis! The violently conflicting Chaos Earth Fiend within him, the Demonic Thought Chain invading his sea of consciousness, the trajectory of the demonic shadow's lunge, the essence of the demonic qi coiling around its claws and fangs... all information was madly broken down and reorganized within that gray gleam!
Earth Fiend... as a foundation... Chaos as the blade... Severing Heaven... as the guide!
He no longer attempted to suppress the violent Chaos Earth Fiend within him. Instead, using his remaining will as a guide, he forcibly directed the boiling, conflicting gray, gold, and azure energies in his dantian through several of his main meridians. Though riddled with holes from corruption, they had unexpectedly been widened and strengthened by Chaos Earth Fiend. The energies surged madly toward the sword fingers of his joined right hand!
Hiss, hiss, hiss—!
The skin of his sword fingers instantly split apart, and his blood was vaporized by the violent energy! Gray, gold, and azure light gathered, compressed, and entwined wildly at his fingertips! A terrifying aura of destruction suddenly erupted, bearing both the heavy brutality of the earth and the disorderly sharpness of Chaos! Even the space around his sword fingers twisted!
The demonic shadow's enormous mouth had already enveloped the space above his head, and fetid demonic qi rushed at his face! Hou Yi's bone arrow shot into the demonic shadow's throat, and the exploded blood qi made its movements stall! Meng Tian locked his arms around the demonic shadow's right leg, his bones groaning beneath unbearable strain!
This was the moment!
"Sever—!!!"
A roar like tearing metal burst from Cheng Xi's throat! His right-hand sword fingers, gathering all his strength and mad will, carried that mass of Chaos Earth Fiend Sword Qi compressed to the extreme. Rather than defending, they turned into a gray-gold bolt of lightning that tore through the gloom, thrusting fiercely upwards at the demonic shadow's descending, snapping maw! Its target—the central node where demonic qi gathered deep within the upper palate of its open mouth!
Splurt—!!!
The sword fingers pierced the demonic shadow's tough dark gold upper palate without resistance! The Chaos Earth Fiend Sword Qi gathered at his fingertips exploded violently!
Before you continue