Whoosh!
The water surged onward. The River of Destiny stretched endlessly, its source unknown.
It ran through Huang Tian's physical body and continued on without end, its destination just as unknown.
The River of Destiny bore the fates of nearly all living beings.
Grand Luo Golden Immortals had leaped beyond the Three Realms and were no longer bound by the Five Elements, yet a trace of them could still be found in the River of Destiny.
With a Sage's power, one could retrace time and space to find any Grand Luo.
Only those who became Primordial Golden Immortals through Dao-sowing, or Quasi-Saints Who Sliced the Corpse, could be considered to have transcended the River of Destiny. From then on, their fate was their own.
The fundamental difference between a Martial Saint (Quasi-Saint) and a Martial Emperor (Grand Luo) was that the former found their corresponding Destiny Star, shattered it, refined its origin, and forged their will into an eternal star, suspended high in the Primordial Starry Sky.
From then on, a martial artist's fate transcended the River of Destiny. Their fate was their own.
Yet because their will had condensed into an eternal star, they still existed within the Prehistoric World.
One could say that the fate of a Martial Saint was everywhere, yet impossible to trace.
Hiss!
"What in the world did I just see?"
"Destiny... Is that the River of Destiny?"
"What divine being could summon the River of Destiny?"
The sound of rushing water rang throughout heaven and earth, as if it were right beside every living being's ears.
And the River of Destiny, whose source and destination were unknown, appeared across the boundless sky, as though it were right before the eyes of every living being.
Laozi, Tongtian, Yuanshi, Minghe, Di Jun, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Hong Yun, Zhenyuanzi, and the other top Great Divine Powers all drew in sharp breaths.
Their eyes were wide, and for a long while, they couldn't recover.
In theory, whether one became a Primordial Golden Immortal or a Quasi-Saint Who Sliced the Corpse, they had escaped the shackles of destiny and erased a trace of themselves from the River of Destiny.
Yet since the Prehistoric World had first come into being, no one had ever stirred the River of Destiny and spread it across heaven and earth during a breakthrough.
It wasn't just top Great Divine Powers like Di Jun who were utterly shocked.
Even Dao Ancestor Hongjun at Jade Capital Mountain and Holy Mother Nuwa at Wa Huang Palace gazed at the River of Destiny in astonishment.
Anyone powerful enough tried to sense the River of Destiny at once. This was a rare opportunity.
In an instant, every Great Divine Power in the Prehistoric World sank their minds into the River of Destiny.
"With my true body, I enter the River of Destiny. Break!"
Huang Tian's gaze was cold. The Blood Qi Smoke behind him transformed into a Martial Dao Dharma Image, fifteen hundred million zhang tall, and strode fearlessly into the River of Destiny.
Plink!
Faint ripples spread across the River of Destiny's surface. The Martial Dao Dharma Image sank into it and vanished in an instant, like a tiny pebble.
Whoosh!
Before long, a section of the River of Destiny began to boil, radiating boundless purple light. It illuminated an area stretching for trillions of miles, filling it with a sacred, misty purple aura.
The phantom of an eternal star emerged from the River of Destiny, surrounded by an incredibly dense purple aura.
"The Purple Emperor Star!"
Huang Tian couldn't hide his delight.
Once Human Race martial artists reached the Martial Saint (Quasi-Saint) realm, they could invariably draw their own Destiny Star from the phantom of the River of Destiny.
They had to shatter their Destiny Star and fuse with it before they could truly reach the Martial Saint realm and unleash their terrifying power.
The stars in the River of Destiny were the original eternal stars, not the ones that had been born anew after the stars of the Primordial Starry Sky were destroyed.
In essence, however, there were still 365 main stars and 129,600 secondary stars.
Among them, the most supreme and exalted was not the Sun or Moon, but Ziwei!
The Purple Emperor Star stood at the center of the northern heavens, eternally unmoving. It was the Lord of All Stars and the master of Dou Shu!
It lay at the heart of the Ziwei Enclosure in the central palace. The Big Dipper and all the stars of the celestial firmament circled around it.
Those born beneath the Purple Emperor Star were destined to be emperors, signs of a rightful Heavenly Emperor.
It embodied the core of imperial authority, rulership, Dou Shu, and the Heavenly Mandate. It commanded the Myriad Stars and governed Imperial Destiny.
That was the Purple Emperor Star.
The Purple Emperor Star's destiny was so immense that it was exceedingly difficult for living beings to be born there.
Living beings had appeared on the Sun and Moon stars as early as the Desolate Ancient Era.
The Sun Star's emperor was named Sun Emperor Zhuzhao.
The Moon Star's empress was named Moon Empress Youying.
They established the Star Spirit Dynasty and commanded the Star Spirits of the heavens. Later, they fought the Three Heavens Dynasty and the Fierce Beast Dynasty. In the final battle, the starry sky was destroyed.
It wasn't until the End of the Ancient Era that living beings were born again on the Sun and Moon stars of the starry sky: Demon Emperor Dijun, Eastern Emperor Taiyi, and the moon goddesses Wangshu, Changxi, and Xihe.
Yet the Purple Emperor Star still showed no sign of giving birth to a living being.
That alone showed how vast the Purple Emperor Star's destiny was.
"Haah!"
His gaze blazing, Huang Tian kept gathering his vital essence and channeling it into the fist of his Martial Dao Dharma Image. He struck the phantom of the Purple Emperor Star with all his might.
The Purple Emperor Star was exceedingly difficult to shatter. If he failed, his attempt to break through to Martial Saint would fail as well.
But if he managed to shatter it, he would attain the strongest Martial Saint realm in the Martial Dao!
Rumble!
Under the attack of Huang Tian's fifteen-hundred-million-zhang Martial Dao Dharma Image, the star merely trembled slightly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Huang Tian's expression remained unchanged. His vital essence surged forth as if it cost nothing, continuously bolstering his Martial Dao Dharma Image.
His fists fell in an unbroken barrage, like a torrential downpour, pounding the phantom of the Purple Emperor Star.
The phantom blazed with light, yet Huang Tian's vital essence swiftly overwhelmed it.
Crack!
The surface, which had been utterly still, began to split with a web of crisscrossing cracks.
"I am the Martial Ancestor of the Martial Dao, the Human Emperor of the Human Race!"
"You think you can stop me?"
"Break!"
Huang Tian clenched his fists, his gaze blazing. His Nascent Soul radiated brilliant light as his Martial Dao Domain spread outward.
Rumble!
The fifteen-hundred-million-zhang Martial Dao Dharma Image forcibly grew another hundred million zhang, reaching a full sixteen hundred million zhang, then sank into Huang Tian's spine. His towering Blood Qi Smoke spread across everything within trillions of miles.
Hiss!
Countless living beings felt Huang Tian's boundless, terrifying vital essence. They collapsed to the ground, trembling in fear. Even Grand Luo Golden Immortals were not spared.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each fist, charged with immense vital essence, pierced through the void, extinguished the Nine Heavens Gang Wind, and shattered the phantom of the Purple Emperor Star!
Crack!
A breaking sound rang out as the Purple Emperor Star burst apart.
Boundless purple light bloomed, then condensed into a fist-sized, intensely purple radiance that sank into Huang Tian's brow.
Whoosh!
The shockwave from the Purple Emperor Star's destruction stirred enormous waves in the River of Destiny.
Pfft!
Pfft!
Pfft!
The Great Divine Powers of the Prehistoric World who had tried to comprehend the River of Destiny suffered sudden spiritual injuries. They spat blood, their Nascent Souls shuddering as their faces turned pale and their auras weakened.
"Why is this happening?"
"The River of Destiny has appeared for the first time. Any anomaly is to be expected, but that won't shake my resolve to comprehend it!"
"Comprehend it! Comprehend it! This is my opportunity!"
"Ah!"
Unwilling to accept defeat, one Great Divine Power after another immediately released their Nascent Souls and plunged them into the River of Destiny again.
Screams rang out one after another. The Nascent Souls of many Grand Luo Golden Immortals—and even Quasi-Saints—were extinguished, leaving only their empty bodies.
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