The latter was sent flying backward like a kite with its string cut, his body gradually disintegrating and fading away high in the sky.
In the end, he became a wisp of Origin, then burst apart with a crash, shattering into a rain of light that scattered between heaven and earth!
Thus, Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's Dao Body fell!
Boom...
Almost at the very instant that Dao Body was destroyed, an incomparably terrifying aura awakened completely from deep within the Sea of Reincarnation Restricted Area—a mythic giant that had slumbered since prehistoric times.
The aura it unleashed shook the entire Five Regions of the Big Dipper, and even the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Domains throughout the universe!
Powerful divine senses from within and beyond the domain crossed endless distances and focused upon this place.
Bang!
The sea of clouds outside the Sea of Reincarnation Restricted Area exploded.
A vague figure, seemingly shrouded in endless laws of time, stepped out.
Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's true body!
Before the Ancient Era, he had successfully seized everything from a Dao Attainer. As his primordial spirit changed with his body, he had become young once more, and his vitality had flourished again.
Naturally, he had not emerged from the Restricted Area now because he was hungry.
Having slashed himself, remained dormant for countless ages, and now even expended Origin to truly unseal himself and emerge—what secret did the Human Emperor carry that made him so persistent even after a million years?
Within the various Restricted Areas, the lingering divine senses of one terrifying existence after another stirred slightly as they contemplated in silence.
Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's true body flickered. Holding a jade bottle, he stood suspended high in the sky.
The unnatural destruction of his Dao Body had cost him a wisp of Origin before he had even fully unsealed himself.
His gaze was as cold and sinister as black ice from the most frigid lands. He locked directly onto Tan Lin beyond the skies of the Central Plains and struck out with his palm!
Rumble!
This palm strike—
Suddenly drew forth the phantom of the universe's most fundamental River of Time. The laws of the Great Dao of Time manifested in the world, rushing toward Tan Lin like a vast celestial river invisible to ordinary people.
At that moment, it was as if a corner of the universe had been compressed and refined within Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's palm.
It was a miniature universe racing toward its end, filled with an annihilating aura that made one's expression change.
The moment he emerged from the Restricted Area, he struck with his full strength. His combat power far surpassed the limit his Dao Body could display. He sought to end the battle swiftly and reduce the depletion of his vitality and Origin.
Under this strike, any cultivator below the Ninth Heaven of Quasi-Emperor realm would be reduced to dust, body and soul destroyed.
"Good! Let us have a proper battle!"
Beyond the skies of the Big Dipper, beneath countless watching eyes, Tan Lin's battle intent soared to the heavens. Without the slightest fear, he thrust both hands forward.
The Yin-Yang Millstone instantly surged upward against the attack!
Rumble, rumble...
Boom!!!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two foremost supreme beings of the Humanity Domain battled all the way from the high skies of the Big Dipper to a Silent Star River in the Outer Domain in the blink of an eye!
Wherever they passed, stars shattered, starfields dimmed, and laws wailed!
This was a true clash at the Supreme Being level. Just a trace of Imperial Dao aftershock spreading through the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Domains made countless living beings tremble, as though the heavens themselves had collapsed.
At this moment, an apocalyptic terror grew within the hearts of all living beings!
At this moment, almost no one... not even those of other races, wished for the Human Emperor to lose.
In this era of the Ancient Era, the Restricted-Area Supremes had long become utterly infamous throughout the universe.
Every time they emerged, it was a great calamity for all living beings. Blood flowed through the universe, and lives were harvested like chives to slow the decline of their vitality.
At this moment, the living beings of the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Domains dared not imagine what would happen if the Human Emperor lost.
Even though some experts above the Great Saint realm could vaguely sense Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's still relatively vigorous vitality, and there were no records of him having launched any dark turmoil over these long years, no one wished to gamble on what a Supreme Being might do.
"Is this Master's strength...?"
Outside Yaoguang Village in the Ancient Yan Kingdom of the Southern Region of Eastern Wasteland, a beautiful figure in a black dress raised her face toward the sky.
She watched that towering figure charge out beyond the skies of the Big Dipper, and for a long time, she remained standing silently where she was.
She simply held that skyward-looking posture, standing stiffly in place.
In truth, after her master and Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao had fought into the Outer Domain, only wisps of Imperial Dao Law fluctuations could now reach her through the void. With her current cultivation, she could not see the scene beyond that distant starry sky.
Yet because of that, because she could not see her master's figure or the battle itself—
Her heart felt as though something had seized it, hanging empty in the air.
Somehow, a feeling seemed to tell her that after this battle, regardless of the outcome, her master might leave her for a very long time.
Thus, this might be the last time for a long while that she would see her master or feel his aura.
Even from so far away, even before that figure had rushed beyond the skies, she had not been able to see him clearly...
Rumble!!!
Bang... Bang...
The clash between Tan Lin and Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao shattered the tranquility that had endured for countless ages within the Silent Star River.
Before the Primordial Era, a divine battle had erupted here. All around were lifeless stars and belts of meteorites.
Since then, this place had become a ruin of cosmic stars. The deathly aura filling it had not faded even after a million years, and no new life had been born here to this day.
Boom!
During the clash—
Though Tan Lin had only briefly returned to his peak and paid the price of sacrificing every trace of Dao from his past lives, his soul was now nearly whole, and his fleshly body had been "remolded" and restored.
His peak combat power had returned in a fleeting instant. He once more wielded some Imperial Dao Laws, and his command over the polar forces of Lunar and Solar had reached the utmost height of his previous life.
The Yin-Yang Millstone revolved before him, uniting offense and defense, invulnerable to all techniques.
Although Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's laws of time were strange and unpredictable, impossible to guard against, and though he had once reached the peak of the Humanity Domain and witnessed the scenery at the summit, he had already slashed himself.
Under such circumstances—
Even if he could occasionally gain the upper hand against Tan Lin, it was still difficult for him to suppress and kill him, much less capture him and obtain the great secret upon him.
Dong...
In the blink of an eye—
The two exchanged dozens of blows amid the endless sea of stars, overturning this Silent Star River and shaking a corner of the universe!
"Xiaoyao, you were once a Heavenly Venerable, yet you have clung to life until now. Is this all you can do? You do not even dare use Ultimate Sublimation. Are you waiting for me to offer up the great secret myself?"
Amid their battle, Tan Lin deliberately provoked him.
He knew his own state could not last, but he also knew Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao was absolutely unwilling to use Ultimate Sublimation. The price was simply too great.
If the secret obtained after sublimating could not allow him to live another Lifetime, then only extinction awaited him...
During their clash in the Primordial Era, the other party had not been absolutely certain he could seize Tan Lin's body, so he had not sublimated and had retreated after suffering a setback.
Even if the other party sublimated today, there was no longer a Dao Attainer's body for him to seize.
Tan Lin's current state was destined to fade away. As the saying went, the barefoot feared no one wearing shoes!
"..."
During the standoff, Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao offered no reply.
His face was gloomy. There was no need for him to say anything now, just as Tan Lin had been certain he would not respond.
He... would not sublimate!
Ultimate Sublimation could indeed allow him to crush his opponent, but what then?
For the sake of a soul about to perish and an uncertain "great secret," it was not worth it!
Yet Tan Lin seemed tireless, constantly changing methods as he provoked him. In the end, his resounding voice even spread through vast stretches of starry sky beyond the river of stars.
"Stop trying to win with your tongue!"
Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's expression shifted unpredictably. His opponent's words had indeed struck directly at his sore spot.
After slashing himself, his spirit was far inferior to before, and his peak strength was no longer his own. Yet he had still once looked down upon the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, having climbed step by step to the summit along a path of invincibility.
Now, he could not even suppress a mere Dao Attainer who had returned only briefly. Naturally, he felt stifled, his thoughts blocked and his spirit unsettled.
Ultimate Sublimation... no, for Eternal Life, for immortality...
Boom!!
Rumble...
The great battle continued.
As time slowly passed and he still could not defeat Tan Lin, Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao gradually developed thoughts of retreat. His attacks began to slow.
After unsealing himself, his vitality and Origin were constantly being depleted, far faster than they had drained while he was self-sealed. Moreover, his "ally," Undying Daoist, had already departed...
All these factors combined made him realize that he likely could not capture his opponent and obtain that great secret today. Continuing the battle would only waste Origin.
He could vaguely sense a resolve in Tan Lin that truly seemed willing to perish together.
Since the other party was destined to fade away anyway, he would surely rather bury the great secret with himself than leave it behind for Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao.
Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's thoughts churned.
Boom...
Within the Silent Star River, after exchanging another blow with the Human Emperor and scattering hundreds of millions of starry dust particles, he borrowed the force of the collision to flee. His deep voice echoed through the sea of stars:
"Human Emperor, our battle today is already known to all. If you do not die after this and can still return, then when that time comes..."
Before he finished speaking, his figure vanished into the depths of the starry sky and returned to the Sea of Reincarnation.
Amid the ruins of the star river, Tan Lin's deep gaze flickered slightly.
Naturally, he knew the meaning behind the words the other party had left unfinished.
But how could the other party understand the wondrous changes of the All-Causes Soul Pearl after its transformation?
Unless Tan Lin exposed it himself in his next life, who would know he was the Human Emperor?
Besides, by then, he would not be as isolated and helpless as when he had been hunted in the Primordial Era...
As his thoughts turned, Tan Lin looked around.
With the battle over, this river of stars returned to its deathly silence.
After the brief calm, just as he was preparing to return to the Big Dipper as well—
From the distant other end of the universe came a heaven-shaking voice that rang through the starry sky, causing an uproar among cultivators in many Life Lands. Even from where he stood, he faintly heard it:
"Undying Heavenly Emperor!!! You truly are not dead..."
Hearing this, Tan Lin froze for a moment.
Then he could not help but laugh.
So there really was a hardheaded Supreme Being?
He just did not know which great Restricted Area it came from. Did it have some old grudge against the Undying Heavenly Emperor?
Or had the disturbance from when he controlled a pawn and self-destructed the formation diagram at the core of that Ancient Star alerted some wild Supreme Being lurking in an unknown corner of the universe?
Before you continue