Chaos Reversal

Before the stone gate, azure clouds drifted.

Li Yan stood at the edge of the high platform, the Chaos Reversal sword hanging at his side, its tip three inches above the ground. The blue-gray Vertical Pupil slowly turned, peering at the world around it.

His Spiritual Sense was not obstructed by the Mountain Protection Array. It spread outward like quicksilver spilling across the ground.

Beyond the Central Continent Immortal Realm, the land had already become a battlefield of carnage.

The Four Ancient Gods' minions had completed their encirclement.

To the east, Bloodline Emperor Lord's Blood Legion remained, with endless Blood Corpses and aberrations filling every ravine.

To the west, Vast Void Dao Ancestor's Sitting Forget Believers had built one Illusory Pavilion after another, countless indistinguishable real and false figures darting through them.

To the south, within Joyful Union Dao Mother's Pink Mist, seductive music drifted out—the Desire Demonic Obstacle, capable of melting metal and stone.

To the north, Wondrous Mercy True Lord's Corrupted Legion was spreading plague. The earth oozed pus, and plants withered.

These four forces had sealed off Central Continent so completely that not even a drop of water could escape.

The air reeked of sulfur, rotting flesh, rouge, and burnt paper all mixed together.

Under the erosion of these forces, the Mountain Protection Array's barrier groaned as if it could bear no more, flickering on and off.

Li Yan withdrew his gaze, his expression calm.

He turned around and looked at the disciples still kneeling behind him.

Longyue, Jin Mie, Ao Jiao, Ao Yan, Purple Micro Star Lord, Xuan Yue War Marshal, and Ye Qinghan, who had just returned.

Every one of them had their eyes fixed on the long sword in his hand.

The entire blade was dark red, with golden Divine Blood flowing inside it as though it were alive.

The Vertical Pupil at the guard gave off a chilling aura that made their hearts tremble.

This was a living weapon.

It constantly radiated an oppressive presence of a higher order, the majesty of an Ancient God, forcibly melded with and subdued by an even more domineering power.

"Is this... Emperor Lord's Arm?"

Ao Jiao murmured under her breath. The True Dragon Bloodline within her trembled.

Having once faced the Emperor Lord's might head-on, she was especially sensitive to this aura.

Even though it had already been refined into a sword, the fear that came from deep within her soul could not be completely erased.

"It's more than just an arm."

Longyue's gaze was sharp as she stared at the blue-gray eye on the blade.

"There's also a trace of Vast Void Dao Ancestor's aura in there."

"Master actually melded the power of two Ancient Gods into one."

The several female disciples exchanged glances, their eyes filled with shock and curiosity.

They were speculating about the sword's might.

Would it use Bloodline's domineering power to shatter the void, or Vast Void's cunning to twist reality?

Or perhaps it was some Forbidden Method they could not begin to understand?

Their hushed whispers did not escape Li Yan's ears.

Seeing the undisguised curiosity and anticipation in his disciples' eyes, he let the corner of his mouth lift slightly.

"What is it?"

Li Yan spoke, his voice clear.

"Are you all waiting for your master to make a move?"

The disciples' bodies jolted. They hurriedly lowered their heads, yet could not help sneaking glances at him from the corners of their eyes.

"Disciple... is indeed curious."

Ao Jiao, a little bolder than the others, answered through gritted teeth.

"With a divine weapon like this brought into the world, those minions of the Four Gods will surely be reduced to ashes."

"We want to see Master split open the heavens with one sword and Reorganize Mountains and Rivers."

Li Yan smiled.

There was no killing intent in that smile. Instead, it held a depth that made him impossible to read.

He raised his hand and gently flicked the dark red blade.

Clang.

The clear sword chime rang out again. The Vertical Pupil at the guard snapped open, shooting out a beam of gray light.

"Reduced to ashes?"

Li Yan shook his head.

"Killing is the most elementary method."

"Since you want to see, then watch closely."

"See why this sword is called 'Chaos Reversal.'"

Li Yan walked slowly to the very front of the high platform.

At that moment, the assault outside the Mountain Protection Array grew even fiercer.

Several enormous Flesh Puppets were ramming into the barrier. Each impact shook the earth and mountains.

Li Yan summoned neither earth-shattering spiritual power nor vast celestial phenomena.

He simply raised the long sword in his hand, casually.

The sword tip pointed at the densely packed enemy forces outside the array.

"Reverse."

Two simple words.

There was no earth-shaking explosion, no sword qi ripping apart the sky.

Only a faint gray ripple, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, spread out in every direction, centered on the sword tip.

The ripple passed through the Mountain Protection Array, through rock and air, and gently swept over the hideous monsters.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

At the forefront, one Flesh Puppet halted with its raised bone hammer suspended in midair.

Its hideous body, stitched together from countless corpses, did not fall apart when touched by the gray ripple.

Instead, something even more bizarre happened.

The wounds oozing pus across its body began to heal rapidly.

Its twisted limbs rearranged themselves, returning to the shape of an ordinary human.

The eyes that had once been filled with slaughter and savagery slowly grew clear.

The red glow in them faded, replaced by bewilderment and lucidity.

Then—

The ripple spread across the entire eastern battlefield.

The Blood Corpses, who had completely lost their minds and become nothing but biting beasts, began to shed great swaths of dead skin.

Beneath it, their new skin was rosy and lustrous.

They stopped howling.

They looked at their hands, then touched their faces.

Their memories surged back like a tide.

"I... what happened to me?"

"Didn't I die in Xianyang?"

"Where is this?"

This was only the beginning.

The gray ripple continued to spread, sweeping across the demonic cultivators of the Great Qin Immortal Kingdom.

Their bodies had once been filled with frenzied deathly Bloodline energy. Using it would cost them their lifespans and could even rob them of their reason.

But beneath the sword's aim—

The deathly Bloodline energy in their meridians reversed in an instant.

Deathly energy became vitality.

Frenzy became gentleness.

Their dantians, once on the verge of running dry, now brimmed with pure immortal power.

A Golden Core Cultivator whose face had been covered in tumors and who had been attacking the array like a madman suddenly felt his entire body grow light.

The tumors fell from his face, revealing the handsome features he had once had.

He stared blankly at the Magic Treasure in his hand, feeling the long-lost, peaceful aura of the orthodox immortal path within him.

"My Dao heart... is back?"

Trembling, he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

The shock of coming back from the dead was far more overwhelming than death itself.

The ripple continued to spread.

It swept across the Pink Mist in the south.

The eyes of the beings trapped in a mire of desire and slaughtering one another instantly cleared.

They looked at the indecent scene around them, covered their faces in shame, hurriedly put their clothes back on, then sat cross-legged and recited purifying incantations.

The lascivious laws planted by Joyful Union Dao Mother were forcibly reversed into a pure will for ascetic cultivation.

It swept across the Plague Land in the north.

The pus-filled earth instantly sprouted tender green shoots.

The dead trees grew branches and leaves once more.

The sores on the diseased, whose bodies had been covered in festering wounds, scabbed over and fell away, leaving their skin smooth and clear as before.

The decay and decline spread by Wondrous Mercy True Lord were reversed into flourishing life and hope.

It swept across the Illusory Pavilions in the west.

The mirage-like buildings collapsed with a roar, revealing the barren wasteland beneath.

The believers lost in false visions awoke as if from a dream.

The dazed look in their eyes vanished, replaced by reverence for the real world.

The labyrinth of lies constructed by Vast Void Dao Ancestor seemed so feeble before this one sword.

Beyond Central Continent, everywhere—

Millions of puppets, believers, and monsters controlled by the Four Gods.

In a mere ten breaths—

They were all reborn.

This was no longer a living hell.

It looked instead like a grand ascension ceremony.

There was no blood, no corpses.

Only countless beings kneeling on the ground, weeping and weeping as they were given new life.

They faced Central Continent, toward the blue-robed figure standing atop the high platform, sword pointing to the sky, and bowed deeply.

Their gratitude and worship came from the depths of their souls.

It was more genuine and intense than the might of any deity.

On the high platform, silence reigned.

The sword nearly slipped from Longyue's hand.

Ao Jiao stood with her mouth agape.

Though Ye Qinghan could not see, her Mind's Eye sensed the vast vitality, and her whole body trembled.

They had imagined their master slaying a million enemies with one sword.

They had imagined sword qi stretching thirty thousand miles, wiping out every last minion of the Four Gods.

But never in their wildest dreams had they imagined—

That this sword of their master's—

Would not take lives.

It had severed "control," "corruption," and "despair."

He had turned enemies into people.

He had turned hell into the human world.

"This..."

Dragon Lord stood to one side, watching the Great Qin people, now clear-eyed across the mountains, and wept bitterly.

He had once thought these people beyond saving.

He had once prepared himself to slay his former comrades with his own hands.

But now—

Li Yan had needed only one sword.

He had accomplished what even the Four Ancient Gods could not.

Reversing cause and effect, reshaping the source.

Li Yan slowly lowered his sword.

The Vertical Pupil at the guard slowly closed, and the red glow of the blade faded with it.

He turned and looked at his disciples, who stood frozen in shock, his tone still calm.

"Killing is easy. Saving people is hard."

"Destruction requires only power, but redemption requires laws."

Li Yan looked up at the sky.

The four Ancient God wills that had once been so arrogant now showed the first hint of retreat.

They had discovered—

The very foundation of their existence—their believers and negative energies—

Had been "won over" by a single sword from Li Yan.

That was even more painful than being killed.