Kunlun Mountain, Jade Void Palace.
The moment Shi Ji disappeared from the skies above Chen Tang Pass with Nezha in her arms—
"Pfft!"
Venerable Yuanshi suddenly spat out a mouthful of golden Saint's blood. His body swayed, and he nearly toppled off his cloud bed.
He wasn't angry. His Dao Heart had suffered an unprecedented shock, triggering a backlash from his own Great Dao.
"Shi Ji... Shi Ji..."
He repeated the name over and over, his eyes bloodshot and wild.
"How dare she! How dare she!!!"
Venerable Yuanshi let out a scream of fury.
It was filled with boundless rage and humiliation, and with a hint of something he refused to acknowledge even to himself... fear!
A demonic immortal from the Interception Sect, whom his disciple had killed until her body and spirit were both destroyed, had not only come back to life, but had also snatched away the vanguard of the tribulation that Sect of Explanation had claimed, right in front of everyone!
What was this?
It was a brazen slap in the face!
It was as if they were rubbing Venerable Yuanshi's face into the ground again and again!
He could almost hear countless great powers across the Primordial Era mocking him in secret.
"Look! That's Venerable Yuanshi, who can't even protect his own grand-disciple!"
"Exactly! A dead person snatched him away. What a huge joke!"
"Sect of Explanation is finished. Its destiny has run out!"
"Aaaaaah!"
Venerable Yuanshi clutched his head, feeling as though the imagined taunts were tearing his soul apart.
"Senior Brother! Calm down! Hold on to your Dao Heart!"
Seeing this, Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's expression changed dramatically. He immediately pointed a finger, sending a stream of pure, inactive Taiqing immortal light into Venerable Yuanshi's brow.
Venerable Yuanshi shuddered. At last, some reason returned to his frenzied eyes.
But the aura around him remained violently turbulent.
"Senior Brother! You saw it! You saw it!" He pointed at the void, looking like a madman. "Tongtian absolutely couldn't have done this! Bringing back someone whose body and spirit were both destroyed—even the Dao Ancestor might not be able to do it easily! There must be some terrifying being we don't know about, targeting Sect of Explanation!"
Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's face had turned grave as well.
How could he not understand how serious this was?
The dead had come back to life and stolen the child of destiny.
This was no longer a simple struggle over the tribulation. It was clearly an attempt to sever Sect of Explanation's lineage at its roots!
"Stay here. I'll be back shortly!"
After leaving these words behind, Grand Supreme Elder Laozi vanished from the Jade Void Palace.
In the next instant, he appeared before Zixiao Palace, beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
No matter how he called out or bowed, the ancient palace's gates remained firmly shut. There was no response at all.
Dao Ancestor Hongjun seemed to have completely cut himself off from the world.
A moment later, Grand Supreme Elder Laozi returned to the Jade Void Palace with a face like water.
"The Dao Ancestor... didn't answer."
Those words fell like a basin of icy water, dousing the last trace of hope in Venerable Yuanshi's heart.
Even the Dao Ancestor wouldn't intervene?
Was Heaven's Way really going to destroy Sect of Explanation?
"No! I refuse to believe it!"
A wild flame reignited in Venerable Yuanshi's eyes.
"If the Dao Ancestor won't act, I'll investigate it myself!"
"I refuse to believe I can't dig that rat out of its hiding place!"
He slapped the cloud bed and shot into the sky, hovering above the Jade Void Palace.
"Pangu Banner, appear!"
With a furious shout, an ancient, chaotic banner appeared in his hand, radiating an endless aura of slaughter that could split heaven and earth.
It was none other than his Dao-Proving treasure, the Innate Supreme Treasure, Pangu Banner!
"Heaven's Way above! In the name of Pangu's Orthodox Lineage, I command all the heavens: turn back the flow of time and reveal the truth!"
Venerable Yuanshi poured all his Saintly power into the Pangu Banner.
Humm—
The Pangu Banner shook violently. Chaotic currents churned across its surface, and bolts of divine lightning flashed, cleaving open the heavens.
An invisible force powerful enough to rip through time and space surged from the banner, flowing upstream through the river of time!
He would force his way through the fog of the Heavenly Secrets and see how Shi Ji had come back to life!
A Saint using his Dao-Proving treasure to divine the truth with all his power—what a terrifying sight!
The whole of Kunlun Mountain, along with nearly half of the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, began to fall into temporal chaos.
Countless living beings witnessed bizarre and shifting scenes.
The sky blazed with the midday sun one moment, glittered with a river of stars the next, then reverted to the primordial chaos before the world was divided.
All the great powers were startled by this force.
In Huoyun Cave, the Three Sovereigns opened their eyes at the same time, their faces filled with shock.
"It's Saint Yuanshi! Has he gone mad? He dares to disturb the river of time like this!"
Deep in the Northern Sea, inside Demon Master Palace, Old Ancestor Kunpeng was so frightened that he hid in the deepest part of the palace.
"Everyone's gone mad! This tribulation is too terrifying!"
In the Sea of Blood, Ancestor Minghe's expression changed as well. He hurriedly activated the Karmic Fire Red Lotus to shield the entire Sea of Blood.
Meanwhile, inside the Investiture of the Gods Space—
Shen Zhaochi sensed the terrifying force trying to peer into the past and couldn't help but sneer.
"Yuanshi, you old bastard. Finally pushed to the point of turning the table over, are you?"
"Trying to turn back time with the Pangu Banner? Did you ask whether I'd let you use the Investiture of the Gods in my hands?"
Shen Zhaochi's gaze sharpened.
He was only a newcomer who had just gained control of the Investiture of the Gods, but its rank was that of a genuine Chaos Treasure!
In terms of origin and essence, it even surpassed the Pangu Banner!
"Primordial Violet Qi, transform!"
At Shen Zhaochi's thought, the Primordial Violet Qi Converter began to operate at full power.
Streams of pure, primordial divine power poured continuously into the Investiture of the Gods itself.
"By the authority of the Lord of the Divine Dao, I command: confuse the Heavenly Secrets! Reverse cause and effect! The past and the future are all illusions!"
Humm!!!
The Investiture of the Gods, suspended in the center of the divine realm, erupted with a light more dazzling than ever before—even brighter than all its previous bursts combined.
An invisible, formless yet supreme force of divine law spread from the list, instantly covering the river of Heavenly Secrets across the entire Primordial Era.
Venerable Yuanshi was pouring all his strength into the Pangu Banner, trying to see the past, when his vision suddenly blurred.
The river of time before him instantly became a chaotic mess.
The past surrounding Shi Ji's resurrection had been a mere fog. Now that fog had become a black hole that swallowed everything!
His force, powerful enough to tear through time and space, vanished without a trace the moment it probed the black hole, like a stone sinking into the sea.
Worse still, a backlash powerful enough to make even him shudder rushed back along his connection to the Pangu Banner!
"Not good!"
Venerable Yuanshi's face changed. Without a moment's thought, he tried to sever his connection to the Pangu Banner.
But it was already too late!
"Pfft—"
He spat out another mouthful of Saint's blood. Like a kite with its string cut, he plummeted from the sky and slammed into the Jade Void Palace's unimaginably hard white jade floor, smashing a huge crater into it.
The Pangu Banner in his hand let out a mournful cry and fell nearby, its light dimming.
"Master!"
"Senior Brother!"
Grand Supreme Elder Laozi and the remaining nine Golden Immortals were so terrified they nearly lost their souls. They rushed forward at once.
Venerable Yuanshi lay in the crater, disheveled and utterly drained. Golden blood seeped from all seven of his orifices.
He had actually... suffered a grievous injury from the backlash of the Heavenly Secrets!
A Saint had actually been gravely wounded by a backlash from the Heavenly Secrets!
If that news got out, the entire Primordial Era would be in an uproar!
"How... is this possible..."
Venerable Yuanshi struggled to sit up. Looking at his trembling hands, he showed an emotion he had never felt before: despair.
He had lost.
He had lost completely.
He didn't even know who his enemy was.
His opponent had merely obscured the Heavenly Secrets, yet that alone had caused such a severe backlash against a Saint wielding an Innate Supreme Treasure.
Just how terrifying was the opponent's true strength?
Could it be... a being on the Dao Ancestor's level, or even one who surpassed him?
At the thought, Venerable Yuanshi shuddered.
He had completely lost the courage to fight back.
"Senior Brother..." He grabbed Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's sleeve, his voice hoarse. "I was wrong... I really was wrong..."
"Seal the mountain... seal it at once!"
"Pass on my decree: no disciple of Sect of Explanation may leave Kunlun Mountain! In this tribulation, Sect of Explanation... will take no part!"
After saying this, he seemed to have been drained of all his strength and vitality. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
The Jade Void Palace fell into deathly silence.
The remaining nine Golden Immortals looked at their unconscious master, then at Venerable Taishang, whose expression was so dark it seemed he could drip water. They all held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
They knew the sky had fallen for Sect of Explanation.
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