Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Empress's Strictest Master

The latter flew backward like a kite with its string cut, his body gradually disintegrating and vanishing beyond the high heavens.

In the end, he turned into a wisp of origin essence and, with a crash, shattered completely, breaking into a rain of light that dispersed between heaven and earth!

Thus, Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's Dao body had fallen!

Boom...

Almost at the exact instant that Dao body was destroyed, an utterly terrifying aura rose from the depths of the Sea of Reincarnation restricted area. A mythic giant who had slumbered since prehistoric times had completely awakened.

The aura that erupted further shook the entire Five Regions of the Big Dipper, and even the myriad domains of the universe!

Powerful divine senses from within and beyond the regions crossed endless distances and fixed upon this place.

Bang!

The sea of clouds outside the Sea of Reincarnation restricted area exploded.

A blurry figure, seemingly shrouded in the laws of endless time, walked out.

Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's true body!

Before the Ancient Era, he had successfully seized everything from a Dao Attainer by force. Along with the changes in his body, his primordial spirit had become young again, and his vitality had flourished once more.

Naturally, he had not emerged from the restricted area at this time because he was hungry.

He had slashed himself, then lain dormant for ages. Yet today, he did not hesitate to expend his origin essence to truly unseal himself and emerge into the world. What secret did that Human Emperor possess, one that kept him so obsessed even after a million years had passed?

Within the various restricted areas, the divine consciousnesses left in the outside world by terrifying beings stirred faintly, all silently pondering the matter.

Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable'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 essence before he had even fully unsealed himself.

At this moment, his gaze was as cold 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—

It suddenly summoned the phantom of the River of Time, the universe's most fundamental essence. The laws of the Great Dao of Time manifested in the world, surging toward Tan Lin like a vast, invisible galactic river.

At this moment, it seemed as though a corner of the universe had been compressed and refined within Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's palm.

It was the reflection of a universe accelerating toward its end, filled with an annihilating aura that made one's face change.

The instant he emerged from the restricted area, he attacked with his full strength. His combat power far surpassed the limit his Dao body could wield, as he sought to end the battle swiftly and reduce the depletion of his vitality and origin essence.

Under this strike, any cultivator below the ninth level of the Quasi-Emperor realm would be reduced to dust, body and Dao destroyed.

"Good! Then let us have a proper fight!"

Beyond the skies of the Big Dipper, beneath countless watching eyes, Tan Lin's battle intent soared to the heavens. Fearless, he thrust both hands forward.

The Yin-Yang Millstone instantly surged upward against the attack!

Rumble...

Boom!!!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, these two first-rate supreme powerhouses of the Humanity Domain fought all the way from the high heavens above the Big Dipper to a Silent Star River beyond the regions!

Wherever they passed, stars shattered, starfields dimmed, and laws wailed!

This was a true clash at the Supreme Being level. Even the slightest remnant might of imperial Dao spreading across the myriad domains made countless living beings tremble, as if the heavens themselves had collapsed.

A doomsday-like fear began growing in the hearts of all living beings!

At this moment, almost no one... not even the other races, had many beings who wished for the Human Emperor to lose.

During this Ancient Era, the Restricted-Area Supremes had already become infamous throughout the universe.

Every time they emerged, it was a great calamity for all living beings. Blood flowed across the universe, and living creatures were harvested like leeks to delay the decline of their vitality.

At this moment, the beings of the myriad domains did not dare imagine what would happen next if that Human Emperor were defeated.

Even some powerhouses above the Great Saint realm could vaguely sense Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's still relatively abundant vitality, and there were no records of him ever launching a dark upheaval throughout these long years. Yet 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 graceful figure in a black dress raised her head to look upward.

She watched that towering figure rush beyond the skies of the Big Dipper, yet remained standing where she was in silence for a long time.

She simply maintained that skyward-looking posture, standing there stiffly.

In truth, after her master and Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable had fought beyond the regions, only wisps of imperial Dao law fluctuations could now pass through the void. With her current cultivation, she could not see the scene beyond such distant stars.

But precisely because she could not see her master's figure or the state of the battle—

Her heart felt as though something had gripped it, left hanging 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 she would see her master or sense his aura for a long while to come.

Even from so far away, even before that figure had first rushed beyond the heavens, she had not been able to see him clearly...

Rumble!!!

Thud... Thud...

The clash between Tan Lin and Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable shattered the ancient silence of the Silent Star River.

A divine battle had erupted here before the Primordial Era. All around were lifeless stars and belts of meteorites.

Since then, this place had become a ruin of celestial bodies within the universe. 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!

Amid the clash—

Although Tan Lin had only briefly returned to his peak, and had paid the price of sacrificing every trace of his Dao from his past life, his soul was now nearly complete, and his body had been "reforged" and restored.

His peak combat power returned in a fleeting bloom. He once more controlled part of the imperial Dao laws, and his command over the dual powers of lunar and solar had reached the pinnacle of his past life.

The Yin-Yang Millstone spun before him, combining offense and defense as one, impervious to all techniques.

Although Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's time laws were unfathomable and impossible to guard against, and although he had once reached the peak of the Humanity Domain and witnessed the scenery from the summit, he had now slashed himself.

In this state—

Even if he could occasionally gain the upper hand against Tan Lin, it was difficult for him to suppress and kill him, much less capture him and obtain the great secret on his body.

Boom...

In the blink of an eye—

The two exchanged dozens of blows amid the boundless sea of stars, fighting until this Silent Star River reversed and a corner of the universe shook!

"Xiaoyao, you were once a Heavenly Venerable. You've dragged out your miserable existence until now, yet this is all you're capable of? You don't even dare to undergo Ultimate Sublimation. Are you waiting for me to offer up the great secret myself?"

While fighting, Tan Lin tried to provoke him.

He knew that his own state could not last, but he also knew Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable would never willingly undergo Ultimate Sublimation. The price was simply too great.

If the secret he gained after sublimating could not allow him to live another lifetime, then only extinction awaited him...

During their clash in the Primordial Era, Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable 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 he sublimated today, there was no longer a Dao Attainer's body for him to seize.

Tan Lin's current state doomed him to perish. As the saying went, barefoot men feared no shoes!

"..."

During the confrontation, Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable did not respond with a single word.

His expression was gloomy. There was no need for him to say anything now, just as Tan Lin had been certain he would not respond.

Welcoming the Human Emperor's Triumphant Return

He... would not sublimate!

Ultimate Sublimation could certainly allow him to crush his opponent, but what then?

It was not worth it for a soul that was about to perish and an uncertain "great secret"!

Yet Tan Lin seemed tireless, constantly changing his methods to provoke him. By the end, his resounding voice even spread through vast stretches of starry sky beyond the river of stars.

"Enough with your sharp tongue!"

Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's expression darkened and brightened unpredictably. Tan Lin's words had indeed stabbed directly at his sore spot.

After slashing himself, his spirit had greatly declined from what it once was, and his peak strength was no more. Yet he still looked down upon the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands. He had climbed to the summit step by step along an invincible path.

Now, he could not even suppress a mere Dao Attainer who had only returned temporarily. Naturally, he felt stifled, his thoughts obstructed and his spirit unsettled.

Ultimate Sublimation... no. For immortality, for becoming an immortal...

Boom!!

Rumble...

The battle continued.

As time passed bit by bit and the battle still could not be decided, Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable gradually began to consider retreating, his attacks slowing.

After unsealing himself, his vitality and origin essence were continuously depleting at a rate far exceeding their loss while he remained sealed. Moreover, his "ally," Undying Daoist, had long since departed...

With all these factors combined, he realized that he likely could not capture his opponent and obtain that great secret today. Continuing the fight would only waste his origin essence.

He could vaguely sense a strand of resolve from his opponent, as though Tan Lin truly intended to perish together with him.

Since his opponent was destined to die, he would surely rather bury the great secret with himself than leave it to Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable.

Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable's thoughts churned.

Boom...

Within the Silent Star River, he exchanged another blow with the Human Emperor. After scattering hundreds of millions of star-dust particles, he borrowed the force to flee, his deep voice echoing 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, returning to the Sea of Reincarnation.

Within the ruins of the star river, Tan Lin's deep gaze flickered faintly.

Naturally, he knew what Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable had meant with the unspoken second half of his sentence.

But how could the other man understand the wonders of the All-Causes Soul Pearl after its transformation?

Unless Tan Lin took the initiative to expose himself in his next life, who would know he was the Human Emperor?

Besides, by then, he would no longer be as isolated and helpless as when he had been hunted during the Primordial Era...

As his thoughts turned, Tan Lin swept his gaze over his surroundings.

With the clash ended, this river of stars returned to its deathly silence.

After a brief pause, 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 reverberated through the starry sky, causing an uproar among cultivators in countless inhabited places. Even from where he stood, he could vaguely hear it.

"Undying Heavenly Emperor!!! You truly aren't dead..."

Hearing this, Tan Lin froze for a moment.

Then he could not help but laugh.

So there really was a foolhardy Supreme Being?

But which great restricted area had he come from? Did he have some old grudge against the Undying Heavenly Emperor?

Or had the commotion from Tan Lin's earlier use of a pawn carrying the formation diagram to self-destruct within the core of that ancient star alerted some wild Supreme Being lurking in an unknown corner of the universe?