Winner Takes All

"Ha ha ha, splendid, splendid!"

Azure Parasol Ancestor burst into laughter. A sword cry rang through the clouds, divine light blazing as all things withered.

"Ha ha, One Sword Opens Heaven!"

Then, Azure Parasol Ancestor grasped the Azure Parasol Sword and struck with One Sword Opens Heaven, shattering the void and cleaving open an immensely terrifying spatial rift that swept across the eight directions.

Streams of sword qi rang out with sharp clangs.

The Azure Parasol Sword cut across the Nine Heavens Astral Layer, raining down endless astral winds. Its sword qi arced like a rainbow, its ferocious might soaring to the heavens.

Runes imbued with divine charm emerged, like a galaxy exploding as they evolved the scene of a universe being born.

Watching this, Red Cloud's expression remained unchanged. His five fingers curled like claws as he reached for the sword qi.

Suddenly, Red Cloud's five fingers became like jade-white pillars holding up the heavens. The power of the Four Symbols circulated across them, evolving into a world, while one phantom after another appeared in hazy glimpses.

Towering spirit mountains, verdant peaks, divine waterfalls plunging down in streams, rosy clouds scattering across the sky, auspicious beasts and rare birds appearing and vanishing, Divine Dragons and colorful phoenixes dancing, Vermilion Birds and Qilins suppressing the world...

This was practically an immortal realm!

Red Cloud transformed his palm into a world, using that world to block Azure Parasol Ancestor's heaven-cleaving, earth-rending sword strike.

As endless Nine Heavens astral winds swept toward him, Red Cloud's long black hair danced wildly, as though he were facing raging ocean waves. Yet his body did not move in the slightest, still as a boulder.

Red Cloud evolved a world with one palm.

The world became a cage, billions of zhang in size, suppressing all spirits, imprisoning all immortals, and refining heaven and earth.

The cage was entirely formed from the power of the Four Symbols, with the strongest Four Symbols Laws flowing across its surface.

Azure Parasol Ancestor's sword qi fell into the cage. Even separated by an entire world, one could still sense its sharpness.

The sword qi broke through layer after layer of space, yet every time it shattered one layer, even more layers appeared.

Thus, although the sword qi was clearly moving, it was like a mosquito trapped in amber, like the monkey in Tathagata Buddha's palm, suspended motionlessly in Red Cloud's hand.

"Senior, be careful as well."

"This is this junior's ultimate divine ability."

As soon as he spoke, Red Cloud made a grasping motion with his right hand, and the world in his palm condensed into a simple, ancient axe.

Azure Parasol Ancestor's sword qi became the axe blade, emanating an ancient and supremely powerful Dao aura.

"That is the Pangu Axe? How is that possible?"

Azure Parasol Ancestor found it unbelievable. The axe Red Cloud had condensed actually contained a trace of Pangu's true intent when he created heaven and earth. It already possessed a fraction of the Pangu Axe's likeness in spirit.

One had to know that the more powerful a treasure was, the harder it was to evolve. For a treasure like the Pangu Axe, few in heaven and earth could evolve it at all. Even achieving a fraction of its spiritual likeness was immensely difficult.

Red Cloud smiled faintly without explaining.

His ability to evolve the Pangu Axe had also come from the Earth Demon God's inheritance. The Earth Demon God had truly been split apart by Pangu and possessed the most genuine impression of it.

"Three Heaven-Opening Forms, One Axe Shatters Chaos!"

Ignoring all else, Red Cloud swung the Pangu Axe forged from the power of a world at Azure Parasol Ancestor.

The Pangu Axe cleaved apart heaven and earth, split open laws, and evolved space. Yin-Yang was suppressed and extinguished, while earth, water, fire, and wind surged forth, transforming into divine beasts such as Vermilion Birds, White Tigers, Azure Dragons, and Black Tortoises.

The clear rose to become heaven, while the turbid sank to become earth.

Above the Nine Heavens, sun, moon, and stars evolved. Upon the earth appeared mountains, rivers, vegetation, lakes, streams, metal, stone, and beautiful jade.

A brand-new world formed in an instant, enclosing Azure Parasol Ancestor within it and seeking to evolve him along with it.

Before Azure Parasol Ancestor could react, the world collapsed with a thunderous roar. The sun and moon shattered, the earth crumbled, and the spectacle of an era ending in great annihilation appeared within that world.

Azure Parasol Ancestor's face changed drastically. From that vision of an era's end, he sensed a crisis of life and death.

At that moment, Azure Parasol Ancestor wanted to resist. He wanted to activate the Azure Parasol Palace to block this axe strike.

The world collapsed in an instant, forming a dazzling Destruction Divine Light. The surroundings abruptly fell silent. Space seemed to stagnate, and even time slowed.

"Pfft!"

In the next instant, the Destruction Divine Light tore through the void.

Then, before Azure Parasol Ancestor could mount any defense, the Destruction Divine Light devoured him.

The instant he was swallowed by the Destruction Divine Light, Azure Parasol Ancestor's body projected into the future began to collapse and disperse.

"Ha ha, little friend, you have won."

Azure Parasol Ancestor's expression returned to calm. Smiling, his figure dissipated between heaven and earth.

"Senior let me win."

Red Cloud let out a long breath of turbid air, a glint of excitement flashing through his eyes. He had finally won the transaction.

Moreover, killing a great expert who appeared to be a Taiyi Golden Immortal but was actually a Hunyuan Golden Immortal had tested his own methods. To Red Cloud, this was a rare opportunity for practical experience.

It gave him even greater insights into the Literary Dao.

Red Cloud put away the Water Spirit Pearl and turned his gaze toward Azure Parasol Ancestor's relics: the Supreme-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure Azure Parasol Palace and the Superior-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure Azure Parasol Sword.

With a sweep of his hand, Red Cloud drew the Azure Parasol Palace and Azure Parasol Sword from the air and directly imprinted them with his mark.

Azure Parasol Palace: Supreme-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure, 45 Acquired Restrictions, metal attribute of the Five Elements, possessing the power to suppress the universe.

Azure Parasol Sword: Superior-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure, 36 Acquired Restrictions, metal attribute of the Five Elements, possessing the power of Heaven-Splitting Earth-Rending.

"Eh? These two spiritual treasures actually carry Azure Parasol Ancestor's Dao. I never expected such an unexpected gain."

Red Cloud murmured in surprise.

The Azure Parasol Palace and Azure Parasol Sword left behind by Azure Parasol Ancestor had been refined using his own Great Dao insights. Their value exceeded that of the spiritual treasures themselves.

Red Cloud briefly refined the Azure Parasol Palace and Azure Parasol Sword. After refining three or four restrictions, he directly stored them within his Primordial Spirit's sea of consciousness, intending to slowly refine them later with divine fire.

Then, Red Cloud looked toward the final relic.

It was an azure crystal, the essence of cultivation left behind after Azure Parasol Ancestor's projection dissipated.

This was the complete crystallization of the cultivation of Azure Parasol Ancestor's past projection, and it could be used directly to raise one's cultivation.

But after considering it, Red Cloud did not refine it. He worried that Azure Parasol Ancestor might have left some hidden measure within it.

If a Hunyuan Golden Immortal wished to leave behind a hidden measure, it would be difficult for a Taiyi Golden Immortal like Red Cloud to detect it.

This was different from a magic treasure. A magic treasure was ultimately an external object, whereas this crystal could merge into his body.

"I'll save this thing for alchemy in the future!"

After some thought, Red Cloud made his decision. Once he broke through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, he would use the crystal directly as alchemy material and refine it from the very foundation.

Whether it contained any schemes or hidden measures did not matter. If he destroyed its foundation outright, none of them would be of any use.

Then, Red Cloud saw the utterly ruined mountain range. Not a blade of grass grew there, the earth was torn apart, and earthfire churned beneath the ground. This place was practically a hellscape.

"Uh? This mountain range is ruined."

A trace of helplessness appeared on Red Cloud's face.

For a battle at the Taiyi Golden Immortal level, such devastation was perfectly normal. Destroying heaven and earth was commonplace.

This was only because the Primordial World was of such a high level. In a lower-level world, even Heavenly Immortals could destroy the world.

The stronger the world, the more stable its space-time and the less destructive power cultivators could exert. If anyone in a world could casually reverse space-time, then that world was nearly at the point of collapse.

"Fortunately, the outer formation wasn't damaged."

Red Cloud said with some relief, beginning to sort out the Earth Veins, summon clouds and rain, nourish all things, and restore the environment.

He also bore karmic ties to this place becoming like this.

Seeds of grass and trees sprouted from beneath the earth, growing into towering trees in the blink of an eye. The trees became spirits, spiritual herbs spread everywhere, hundreds of herbs flourished, and the fragrance of flowers filled the air.

The shattered valley recovered at a visible speed. In only a short while, the once utterly ruined valley became lush with trees and babbling streams.

"Next is Azure Parasol Ancestor's inheritance."