Heaven and earth lost their color; sun and moon gave no light.
The gray clouds swiftly darkened to lead-black, layer upon layer, heavy as a congealed sea of ink, like hundreds of millions of black iron peaks rising from the earth and hanging upside down above the Nine Heavens, swallowing every inch of daylight with irresistible, tyrannical force.
Daylight was forcibly pressed into dusk.
The distant mountains were reduced to undulating, blurred silhouettes. Even the nearby trees had shed their living colors, leaving only their resilient outlines standing silently in the wind.
The wind became an invisible tidal surge.
It howled down from the cloud peaks, carrying an overwhelming force as it swept up dust and fallen leaves that filled the sky, like hundreds of millions of invisible fierce steeds galloping across the plains.
The air was stagnant and heavy. It was as though they stood on the seabed, invisible pressure squeezing their chests from every direction.
True thunder brewed deep within the clouds. No longer scattered crackles, but an unbroken roll of low, majestic thunder.
The sound was like a sleeping giant turning over, and like countless enormous war drums beating at once beyond the Nine Heavens.
It was not an enraged roar, but the pure force of energy built up over time and bursting forth—the most primordial, most majestic rhythm between heaven and earth.
Every low rumble made the ground beneath their feet tremble faintly, as though the heart of the earth itself resonated with it.
The heavens above Soaring Cloud Heavenly Palace changed in an instant.
The suffocatingly immense pressure between heaven and earth cowed every disciple of Heaven Sect.
The pressure of heaven and earth was abyssal as the sea. Wild wind and torrential rain ravaged and howled, as though they would tear all things in the world to shreds.
A low hum rose from the earth veins beneath the mountains, like the heartbeat of an ancient colossal god, heavy and brimming with power.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Eighteen vast torrents of light, as if capable of piercing through the Nine Heavens, erupted fiercely and shot straight into the firmament!
The eighteen beams that soared into the heavens were like the spine holding up heaven and earth, instantly tearing apart the heavy leaden clouds and the raging curtain of rain!
Their radiance was so dazzling that it turned the black clouds filling the sky into a rolling sea of golden mist.
The rain was completely evaporated and scattered a hundred zhang away from the beams, forming enormous, rotating vacuums!
The raging storm twisted and collapsed around the beams before ultimately being forcibly suppressed by that irresistible energy field!
When the beams reached a certain spatial node, they interwove and fused, instantly weaving into an incomparably enormous and immensely complex three-dimensional golden net that covered the skies above the entire Heavenly Sect Mountains!
Every node of the net corresponded to a curved beam of light, while all the beams eventually converged in the skies above the very center of the mountain range.
An incomparably enormous, flawless hemispherical barrier suddenly descended!
The barrier bore a warm yet sturdy jade-gold hue, with countless fine and profound runes flowing across its surface, flickering in and out like breaths.
Within the barrier, the wind ceased, the rain stopped, and the thunder retreated into the distance.
The violent pressure of heaven and earth was completely shut out, leaving behind only stable, pure, abundant spiritual energy.
The Profound Dao Celestial Sect's mountain-protecting grand formation—the Nine Heavens Divine Light Imperial Heaven Formation—had been completed!
Dong Lin had long since climbed onto a glazed roof tile high atop Soaring Cloud Heavenly Palace.
Together with the many elders and disciples, he witnessed this heaven-shaking change.
"Soaring Cloud Heavenly Palace already stands above the clouds. What kind of mighty power could summon wind and rain, and obscure the daylight amid the Nine Heavens Astral Wind?"
"What is that?!"
A disciple was the first to notice something amiss high above.
Dong Lin looked toward the high heavens.
He saw two figures flickering in and out of sight among the clouds, slowly flying toward Heaven Sect's Heaven Hall.
To the naked eye, they seemed exceedingly slow.
Yet within only a few breaths, they were already suspended above the formation barrier protecting Heaven Hall.
The two figures seemed to carry the weight of the entire empire as they stepped into the heartland of this cultivation world colossus.
Hu Zhencai, elder of the Execution Pavilion, had a withered face and eyes so sharp they seemed capable of piercing the soul.
He wore an ink-black official robe embroidered with savage Prison Tiger totems, emanating a cold, bone-piercing Hell-Prison Killing Intent that made souls tremble.
Standing there, he was like an eternal iceberg, freezing all life.
Zhao Ting, elder of the Civil Office, was slightly plump, fair-faced, and beardless, with what even appeared to be a gentle smile on his face.
Yet his narrow eyes held an authority and calculation deeper than the Abyss.
He wore a dark purple official robe embroidered with immortal cranes and auspicious clouds, representing the supreme order of the empire's bureaucratic system.
In his hands, he held a bright yellow scroll. It was no ordinary object; golden dragon aura faintly flowed across it, radiating a grand and righteous yet terrifying pressure that stood above all things—it was the Tianyan Sacred Scroll!
Though Zhao Ting's aura was not as sharp and exposed as Lai Zong's, it was deeper and vaster, like a boundless ocean.
Simply holding the imperial decree and standing there, he seemed to represent the laws of heaven itself, instilling an irresistible sense of insignificance in all who saw him.
This vast, grand pressure carried the killing aura of clashing spears and iron steeds, along with the unquestionable will of law. It even triggered the grand formation's instinctive response, spiritual lights flickering unsteadily along its walls as though facing a great enemy.
Xuan Sheng, the Heaven Sect Master, wore a plain white Daoist robe. His long beard drifted elegantly, making him appear immortal and otherworldly, but his hands behind his back had silently formed a hand seal, and his broad sleeves fluttered without wind.
Behind him, several inner sect elders wore grave expressions. Their auras were still and deep as an abyss, their gazes locked tightly ahead.
"Li Huo."
Elder Hu's voice was not loud, yet it clearly pierced through the wind and the formation's hum. Every word was like a jade chime being struck, bearing unquestionable authority.
"This official has come under imperial edict. The purpose is to apprehend the wanted criminal, Chen Jinzhi!!"
He raised his hand slightly. The "Edict" token flashed faintly, and a vast force instantly spread out, making even the light barrier of the mountain-protecting formation surge violently.
Xuan Sheng's expression did not change, but a deep shadow flashed through his eyes.
He slowly spoke, his voice calm yet imbued with profound magical power, offsetting the other party's pressure:
"Without warning, you bring the Tianyan Sacred Scroll and display the Nine Abyss Lightning-Calling Heaven-Tilting Edict. Before my hall, you intend to seize my holy son?!"
Xuan Sheng sneered.
"You two truly do not hold my Heaven Sect in the slightest regard!!!"
As Sect Master Xuan Sheng's voice fell, an ancient, desolate, terrifying aura instantly spread between heaven and earth.
From deep within the silent Soaring Cloud Heavenly Palace below came neither warning nor furious shout. Instead, without any warning, a bell rang out!
This bell was unlike any ordinary sound in the world!
It was not thunderously loud. Instead, it carried a desolation and gravity that pierced through eternity, as though it had come directly from the primordial chaos at the beginning of creation.
The sound was not loud, yet it ignored the barriers of space and the jade dome's golden shield, spreading through the entire high-heaven expanse in an instant like a tangible, viscous current of time!
Dong—
One sound! Only one sound!
Yet that single note seemed to contain the first strand of Dao sound that understood heaven and earth, while also resembling the universe's final sigh before its extinction!
Buzz!
The unfathomable smile on Zhao Ting's face instantly froze!
The rounded, unhurried aura around him shook violently like a mirror lake struck by a massive boulder!
The protective spiritual light that could repel the Nine Heavens Astral Wind emitted an overloaded sizzle the instant the bell reached it, as though eroded and stripped away by the invisible force of time!
He felt an irresistible heaviness rise from the depths of his soul, as though hundreds of millions of years had instantly settled upon his shoulders, causing even his upright figure to sway almost imperceptibly!
Clang!
Elder Hu's reaction was even more intense!
For the first time, a ripple appeared on his withered, cold face—his pupils abruptly contracted to needlepoints!
The Hell-Prison Killing Intent surrounding him like shadows of the Abyss emitted a piercing, teeth-aching sound of dissolution the instant the bell touched it, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun that was its nemesis!
The sound resembled the shrieks of countless nether souls being purified!
His hands behind his back clenched abruptly, and his broad black sleeves stirred without wind, snapping loudly!
A dim light instantly interwove into a net before him, attempting to block the invisible assault of the bell.
Yet upon touching those desolate bell ripples, it unleashed dense, crackling pops like exploding beans. The frigid laws contained within it were forcibly neutralized and dismantled by that ancient, vast Dao Rhyme!
Elder Hu let out a muffled grunt and staggered half a step back.
For the first time, alarm and gravity surfaced in his hawk-like sharp eyes!
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