Shrouding the Heavens: The Years of Being the Empress's Strictest Master, Chapter 42

Whoosh...

The Human Emperor Banner was also struggling violently. Within it, the battle souls of countless soldiers and generals from the Primordial Era shouted the Human Emperor's name, gathering their strength upon the deity formed from the true soul fragment. Together, they exerted force from within the banner, trying to break free and fly into Tan Lin's hand.

Boom...

Amid this mutual rush, the restriction centered around the Heaven-Suppressing Runes shattered inch by inch. Tan Lin was just about to succeed!

"Fellow Daoist Suiren, why the hurry?"

At that moment, an eerie voice rang out from afar, filled with ancient vicissitudes.

From the direction of the Sea of Reincarnation, a gray-robed figure strode through the air. It was Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's Dao Body!

In the end, he had still been drawn here by the disturbance!

In truth, only one or two breaths had passed since Tan Lin appeared at the Human Emperor Hall. Everything had happened in the blink of an eye.

One had to know that Undying Daoist had not even had time to strike with the Undying Heavenly Blade before a shocking upheaval occurred beyond the domain, forcing him to withdraw.

Tap...

Ripples spread through the void.

Though Xiaoyao's Dao Body appeared slow, a single step carried him across boundless distance. Nine Secrets: Xing had been created by him, so his speed naturally stood at the absolute peak. In the span of a finger snap, he appeared directly above the Human Emperor Hall and pointed a finger at Tan Lin!

Whoosh!

This finger looked ordinary, yet it contained the profundities of the laws of time. It returned to simplicity; wherever it passed, time nearly flowed backward, and all things returned to ruin!

"I have awaited you for quite some time, Dao Brother!"

Tan Lin had already anticipated this.

Facing that terrifying finger, he advanced instead of retreating. His incomplete soul completely fused with the briefly returned imperial might, and all ten fingers moved in rhythm as he lightly drew a line before him!

Boom!!!

The two polar forces of the Lunar Holy Emperor and the Solar Holy Emperor gathered in his palms, collided, and finally merged through a clever method!

Yet this was not a simple addition. It truly evolved a portion of chaos's mysteries, forming the phantom of an enormous Yin-Yang Millstone.

Rumble...

As the millstone turned, the heavens and void collapsed layer by layer before the Yin-Yang Millstone. Wherever it passed, all laws were ground away, and even spacetime seemed to be crushed!

Yin-Yang Upheaval, Grand Millstone Grinds the Heavens!

Bang...

The Yin-Yang Millstone slammed fiercely into the temporal finger radiance of Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's Dao Body!

There was no earth-shattering explosion. Even the ground around the Human Emperor Hall did not tremble in the slightest.

There was only a bizarre interplay of light and shadow, where laws were annihilated and spacetime fell into disorder.

Hum...

Amid a soft sound from the high sky, the finger radiance of Xiaoyao's Dao Body rapidly dimmed beneath the Yin-Yang Millstone before finally vanishing. The millstone phantom, too, became covered in cracks, and both dissipated into nothingness!

Crack!

In the void, Xiaoyao's Dao Body shuddered violently. His expression changed slightly, and his figure instantly became far more illusory.

Though this Dao Body was not his true body, it was far from ordinary. It was likewise infused with the immense power of the world's Dao marks, and even received the remote support of part of his true self's Dao Fruit.

Who would have thought that he would suffer a loss in a direct clash?

His true body had completed the ultimate leap and merged with the Heart of Heaven, becoming a mythological Heavenly Venerable. Later, he had successfully seized the body of a Dao Attainer, forcibly taking all of that person's Dao Fruit and Dao marks.

He was far beyond an ordinary Dao Attainer from the Primordial Era like this opponent!

"Sacrificing all traces of your Dao... so that is it. You are drinking poison to quench your thirst. This time will be your final return..."

Xiaoyao's Dao Body sneered.

"Even if you can still escape with a wisp of your remaining soul, you will be weaker than an ant. You will have no strength to borrow, no power to support you, and you will never rise again. Or do the great secrets upon you allow you to return to your peak once more?"

As they faced each other, his words remained sharp, probing and testing his opponent's secrets from every angle.

"Once I slaughter you, Dao Brother, and bathe in a Heavenly Venerable's blood, I will naturally return to my peak... So today, this Dao Body of yours ends here! Let your true body get out here! Don't begrudge the loss of your vitality and origin. Without paying a price, how can you reap anything?"

The depths of Tan Lin's eyes flickered as he casually spun the same sort of lie.

Before his words had faded, he seized the Human Emperor Banner, which had finally erased every restriction on the Dao platform and was shooting toward him!

The instant the banner entered his hand, the "deity" nurtured within it—the largest true soul fragment he had scattered outside—throbbed violently. It instantly flew from the former battle banner and fused with his remaining soul!

Boom...

At that moment, Tan Lin's remaining soul, already more than half solidified, began to rapidly restore itself at a visible pace.

The most fundamental soul aura within the Human Emperor phantom towering between heaven and earth rose steadily, nearly returning to its peak. How could it possibly be only several times stronger than before?

At that very moment, upon the barrier of the All-Causes Soul Pearl, the Causal Lines from his previous life that had continued to the present yet remained dim and lifeless lit up one after another with his return.

And firefly lights began to emerge from some of them!

In an instant, the third Deep Crimson Light Point, which had just become an empty shell, was once again filled with a thin foundation of firefly light.

"Die..."

Xiaoyao's Dao Body radiated killing intent, yet he did not allow Tan Lin to fuse with the true soul fragment unchallenged. Seizing this critical moment, he attacked once more!

Whoosh!

He took a step forward, his figure blurring as the laws of time coiled around his fingertips. Then he pointed outward.

Yet this finger was not aimed directly at Tan Lin himself. Instead, it targeted the phantom of imperial laws circulating around him, intending to throw its local flow of time into chaos and disrupt the fusion of his true soul.

It might even cause him to suffer backlash!

This strike was incomparably vicious.

Yet beneath the phantom, Tan Lin's face was as still as an ancient well, his heart as calm as water.

The fusion of the true soul would have taken only an instant, but Xiaoyao was even faster. He had indeed chosen an excellent opportunity to strike.

However, the fusion between Tan Lin's remaining soul and true soul fragment had already reached its final stage. Facing this strange temporal killing art, a thought stirred in his mind. Rather than confronting it head-on, he decisively activated the All-Causes Soul Pearl!

Hum...

In an instant, amid shifting light and shadow unseen by Xiaoyao's Dao Body,

the thin layer of firefly light that had just accumulated within the third Deep Crimson Light Point in Tan Lin's palm suddenly ignited!

Boom!

This time, he no longer begrudged the firefly light. He pushed the dual states of [Inverted All-Causes Vision] and [All Causes Barrier], along with all their miraculous effects, to their absolute limits!

At that moment,

Tan Lin did not merely vanish from Xiaoyao's Dao Body's field of vision. His remaining soul drifted with the crimson mist before ultimately transforming into a wisp of crimson mist itself.

His body became crimson mist, while the All Causes Barrier's "materialized crimson" served as an invisible buffer. He reduced the interference caused by Xiaoyao's Dao Body's finger to the bare minimum!

Xiaoyao's Dao Body's pupils abruptly contracted.

His attack, containing the essence of the laws of time, had been neutralized so easily?

"What a fine method... The great secret upon you truly is no longer as simple as it was in the Primordial Era..."

After a brief moment of shock, he spoke in a sinister tone.

His strike had failed, and in that instant, the fusion between Tan Lin's remaining soul and true soul fragment was completely finished!

Boom!!!

The next moment.

A vast and condensed power far greater than before erupted like a volcano dormant for eternity. It was as though the Human Emperor's Dao-proving might from the peak of the Primordial Era had truly returned!

At that moment, the Vision of Lunar and Solar polar forces entwined above the entire Central Plains completely materialized.

They intertwined into a Primal Yin-Yang Grand Millstone capable of crushing all heavens. This Dao-proving artifact seemed to return from nothingness as well, slowly turning as if it could grind away the Great Dao!

Whoosh...

Above the great hall, a wisp of crimson drifted about, and Tan Lin's nearly complete true soul reappeared in the world.

At the same time, his Primordial Spirit, which had long fused with his soul, condensed anew and nearly recovered in full as well!

With soul and spirit united and almost fully restored, a single ripple of thought stirred within him. The immense power returned through sacrificing the Dao traces of his previous life surged forth, and the sky above the Central Plains suddenly split open with a massive hole.

Immediately afterward, he devoured the boundless essence of the starry sky beyond the domain, while countless auspicious rays and multicolored lights descended over him.

He was reforging his body!

The origin and blood essence required to reforge a body?

At this moment, he had sacrificed everything from his previous life. Strands of origin, blood essence, and Dao Fruit emerged from nothingness, as though crossing an endless river of time to briefly reappear in the present age.

As Xiaoyao's Dao Body had said, since he had already drunk poison to quench his thirst and drained the pond to catch the fish, why not go all the way?

His previous self had long fallen. That lifetime had already ended. He no longer cared...

What was the solution?

He would simply begin the next Lifetime!

Today, he would finally free the thoughts that had accumulated in his heart after being forced into slumber for a million years, after shedding blood across the skies in the Primordial Era!

Everything was for the sake of his stronger self in the next Lifetime—for preparation!

Hum...

Boundless essence from beyond the domain poured in, churning within the Human Emperor phantom. A body of flesh and blood writhed into being, finally taking shape and emitting an imperial aura that made all who sensed it wish to kneel.

The sacrifice of his past Dao traces was irreversible. Xiaoyao's Dao Body's face darkened. His opponent's aura now seemed to have truly returned to the day in the Primordial Era when he passed the Dao-Proving Tribulation and stood on the verge of making the ultimate leap.

He was merely a Dao Body, with neither the means nor the strength to interrupt him.

Whoosh!

Soon, the Human Emperor's eyes opened and closed within the phantom.

His eyes were like two chaotic golden lamps, one yin and one yang, suddenly illuminating the entire void beyond the domain.

At that moment, he said nothing further. He looked toward Xiaoyao's Dao Body, and everything was understood without words!

Today would be the time for the two of them to begin settling their old debts!

Taking one step forward, Tan Lin reduced the void beneath his feet to dust and appeared directly above Xiaoyao's Dao Body, throwing a simple, direct punch!

Bang...

This punch contained his deepest understanding of the Great Dao of Lunar and Solar polar forces from when he attained the Dao in his past life. All the profundities of the laws condensed into this single fist!

Wherever the fist passed, the void transformed entirely into yin and yang. This was not mere suppression through force, but an evolution of the Dao itself!

Although he had only barely fused the powers of yin and yang through a clever method in his previous life, it was still a unique form of yin-yang harmony. After the Human King Battle Body continuously evolved, he attained the Dao through it, and his combat power became even more terrifying.

"You really have gone mad..."

Outside the high heavens, at their standoff in the void, Xiaoyao's Dao Body was both shocked and enraged.

Naturally, he would not wait helplessly for death. His hands moved as well, and ripples of time overlapped layer by layer, seeking to form a spacetime cage of eternal exile and transfer the power of that punch elsewhere.

Unfortunately, it was all destined to be futile!

Crack... crack...

The yin-yang fist seal crushed down, and the spacetime cage shattered inch by inch like porcelain!

It was not that Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable was weak. It was merely that this Dao Body could only possess what fraction of his true body's combat power?

Moreover, no matter how powerful he had once been, he had long severed himself and no longer possessed the supreme strength he had wielded as a Heavenly Venerable, dominating the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands and looking down upon the universe.

The power his Dao Body could unleash was simply far too pale and weak before a Dao Attainer whose yin and yang were in harmony!

Bang!

The yin-yang fist seal Tan Lin had unleashed struck Xiaoyao's Dao Body squarely in the chest.