"Stillness."
A cold, dry syllable, devoid of all emotion, emerged from the Saint Ancestor's hunched frame.
As that syllable fell, the laws throughout the Demon Realm, and even those extending into Chaos, seemed to have every concept of "motion" forcibly stripped from them.
Time, space, energy, matter—everything collapsed toward absolute deathly stillness.
The thirty-thousand-meter Chaos Divine Ox Phantom formed from Niu Ben's fist intent began slowing sharply while it was still fifty kilometers from the Saint Ancestor.
Its azure-gold radiance dimmed visibly. The immense blood and vital energy composing the phantom was forcibly erased, assimilated, and reduced to nothing by a higher order of rules.
This was power beyond the Heavenly Dao Realm.
Word of Law—a single word to command heaven and earth!
"Senior Disciple Brother!"
"Brother Niu Ben!"
Behind him, Xuandu, Zhu Rong, the Three Xiaos, and the others cried out in unison.
They could clearly feel that the instant the gray-robed elder uttered that word, their connection to the Great Dao had weakened by more than ninety percent!
Their magical power circulated at a snail's pace. Divine abilities that normally carried them thousands of kilometers in an instant were now agonizingly difficult even to invoke.
And they had only been grazed by the aftershocks. What terrifying pressure must Niu Ben have endured as he faced the Saint Ancestor's might head-on?
The Three Pure Ones exchanged glances, their expressions graver than ever.
"This man already has one foot beyond the Heavenly Dao Realm. He has touched the threshold of Hunyuan Wuji," Saint Taishang said slowly, a trace of wariness in his voice.
"What a word, 'Stillness.' It erases an opponent's existence at its very source. Such a method approaches the Dao itself." The Pangu Banner trembled faintly in the Primordial Heavenly Lord's hand. Even its divine radiance, which manifested