Silence blanketed the gathering; a falling pin could have been heard.
The Three Pure Ones' faces twitched slightly.
The corners of Di Jun's and Taiyi's eyes jerked wildly, frustration clogging their chests.
As for Zhunti and Jieyin, their hearts practically bled,
and they felt so aggrieved that they nearly spat blood on the spot!
They had exhausted every scheme and thrown away every shred of dignity,
only to scrape off a few scattered chips of stone.
Yet Li Qingxiao,
without a word, had swept up the pot and everything in it,
packing away the entire parent body of the Treasure Distribution Rock!
Just then, mystic radiance blazed through the void.
Dao Ancestor Hongjun's figure quietly materialized from nothingness.
The Dao Ancestor's Heavenly Dao Eye of Law, which saw through countless ages,
slowly swept across the empty chaotic void,
before his gaze lingered briefly on the perfectly composed Li Qingxiao.
This first Saint, who held sway over the Heavenly Dao,
revealed a flicker of something unusual in his eyes.
Yet his merging with the Heavenly Dao was already an arrow loosed from its bow, impossible to reverse.
The great course of heaven and earth had its ordained destiny,
and in the end, the Dao Ancestor offered no rebuke.
Dao Ancestor Hongjun's expression returned to indifference, and the grand, majestic voice of the Great Dao resounded through all the heavens:
"The three sermons are complete, and the distribution of treasures has ended."
"From this day forth, the Heavenly Dao is me, yet I am not the Heavenly Dao. Unless the great course changes, Hongjun shall not emerge."
"Return to your respective sanctuaries, and conduct yourselves well."
As his words fell,
the Dao Ancestor's form dissolved into hundreds of millions of radiant divine chains of the Heavenly Dao,
which slowly merged into the empty firmament.
Clang—!!
A vast, muffled crash reverberated through the chaos.
Everyone gazed into the distance,
where the Purple Heaven Palace's two heavy, ancient doors had shut completely,
and the entire sanctuary within chaos gradually vanished into the depths of the endless laws of the Heavenly Dao,
leaving not the slightest trace to be found.
The Dao Ancestor had merged with the Dao, and the Heavenly Dao was complete!
The boundless might of the Saint that had shrouded the chaotic void
disappeared entirely at that moment.
As the Saint's heavenly might receded, the bloodlust suppressed in the immortals' hearts erupted like a volcano.
Thousands of divine senses intertwined and collided in the void, their crimson greed and frenzy no longer concealed.
Every gaze pierced the void in unison and fixed upon Ancestor Hong Yun.
Here was a Sage Position whose holder had yet to attain the Dao!
Here was the Primordial Purple Qi, enough to drive the gods and demons of heaven and earth mad!
"Screee—!!"
A vicious bird's piercing cry abruptly tore through the deathly silence.
Ancestor Kunpeng of the Northern Underworld was the first to strike.
His form flickered, revealing sky-draping wings that spanned tens of millions of miles.
Violent Northern Underworld baleful mystic energy rose with the howling gales of the nine heavens,
forming layers of black storms that sealed every escape route through the void behind Hong Yun.
On the other side, a thick, pungent stench of blood spread out of nowhere.
Ancestor Minghe stood clad in blood-red robes,
as a vast netherworld river of blood silently unfurled beneath his feet.
Hundreds of millions of asuras and evil spirits rolled and roared within its waves,
forming a blood-red heavenly chasm stretching ten thousand miles across and blocking all of Hong Yun's retreats.
The two veteran mighty figures struck without hesitation, forcing Hong Yun straight into a desperate corner!
Throughout the surrounding void, dozens of unaffiliated Daluo Golden Immortal experts also revealed vicious gleams in their eyes.
They each activated their bonded treasures, divine radiance pulsing as they began to form an encirclement.
Fierce winds howled, and chaotic turbulence scraped through the void like blades.
Watching from the front of the Yao ranks, Eastern Emperor Taiyi's eyes blazed with surging Golden Crow true fire.
The Chaos Bell in his arms trembled incessantly, emitting a deep, powerful hum.
Taiyi stepped forward, his Quasi-Saint fighting spirit rising around him,
ready to unleash his supreme treasure, sweep aside everyone present, and forcibly seize that strand of Primordial Purple Qi.
"Taiyi, wait."
A steady voice suddenly sounded through divine sense within Taiyi's sea of consciousness.
Heavenly Emperor Di Jun wore a stern expression as he reached out and pressed down on Taiyi's arm.
He secretly used the River Chart and Luo Writing to divine heaven's workings, his gaze as deep as an abyss.
"Brother, why stop me? That is a heaven-ordained foundation for Sainthood!"
Taiyi's voice transmission was urgent, his expression brimming with domineering ferocity.
Di Jun shook his head slightly, his gaze passing over Kunpeng and Minghe to settle on the calmly composed figure in white robes.
"Look at who stands beside Hong Yun."
Di Jun transmitted in a low voice:
"Zhen Yuanzi holds the Earth Book. His defenses are unmatched."
"And the unfathomable Li Qingxiao is there to protect him as well."
"Back at the Treasure Distribution Rock, a casual strike from Li Qingxiao shook the waves of your supreme treasure's bell,
and no one can see how many trump cards he is still hiding."
"Our Yao Heavenly Court is the rightful authority of all the heavens. We must not be the first bird to stick its head out."
"Let Kunpeng, Minghe, and these unaffiliated cultivators lead the charge and probe Li Qingxiao's true depths."
"Once both sides have battered each other, we shall strike like thunder with the full might of the Heavenly Court. That is the best course."
At those words, the restlessness in Taiyi's eyes slowly subsided,
and with a cold snort, he restrained the Chaos Bell in his hands and watched coldly from the sidelines.
At the center of the battlefield, killing intent had already climbed to its peak.
"Hong Yun! Hand over the Primordial Purple Qi, and we will spare your life!"
Several unaffiliated Daluo cultivators, their hearts consumed by greed, shouted fiercely,
unleashing seven or eight low-grade and mid-grade innate spirit treasures.
Divine lights of various colors cleaved through the chaos, carrying violent, destructive magical power,
and rained down upon Hong Yun's head!
Faced with the overwhelming assault, Hong Yun's face paled slightly.
"Do not harm my friend!"
A resounding cry rang out like a great bronze bell.
Zhen Yuanzi, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, stepped forward, his expression solemn.
He raised the supreme-grade innate spirit treasure [Earth Book] in his right hand, pouring all his magical power into it like surging rivers.
"Humm—!!"
The Earth Book's ancient scroll swelled in the wind, expanding to span tens of millions of feet.
Spiritual patterns of the earth shone dazzlingly upon the ancient scripture.
Boundless amounts of dense, pure mystic yellow earth essence soared into the sky,
weaving into an earthbound net that blotted out the heavens and the sun.
Rumble!!
Several innate spirit treasures slammed hard into the mystic yellow barrier,
erupting in deafening clangs of metal.
Ripples spread across the earth fetal membrane, yet it remained as steady as the divine mountain Buzhou,
dissipating every bombardment of magical power.
Holding his horsetail whisk, Zhen Yuanzi stood proudly behind the mystic yellow barrier,
his early Quasi-Saint pressure sweeping in all directions and forcibly driving back several unaffiliated cultivators at the front.
"Zhen Yuanzi, you alone cannot protect him!"
Above the void, a vicious gleam flashed in Ancestor Kunpeng's eyes.
Confident that his speed was unmatched throughout the Primordial World, he made no attempt to clash head-on with the Earth Book.
"Boom!"
An ancient palace forged entirely from ten-thousand-year mystic ice and Yao supreme yin divine metal came crashing down from the void,
none other than Kunpeng's bonded supreme-grade innate spirit treasure, the [Demon Master Palace]!
The bitterly cold Northern Underworld baleful mystic energy froze the chaos currents for ten thousand miles around.
Kunpeng left an afterimage in the void as he skirted the Earth Book formation's frontal defenses.
His right hand transformed into a pitch-black demonic claw that blotted out the heavens and the sun,
its fingertips wreathed in soul-rending demonic baleful energy of the Nine Netherworlds as it lunged straight for the crown of Hong Yun's head!
The wind from his claw was sharp and venomous; he intended to tear open Hong Yun's sea of consciousness by force and strip out that strand of Primordial Purple Qi!
"Dao Brother Qingxiao..."
Alarm surged in Hong Yun's heart, and he instinctively moved to unleash the Ninety-Nine Soul-Scattering Red Gourd.
Yet a tall, slender figure had already appeared before him, as though shifting positions in an instant.
Li Qingxiao's moon-white Daoist robes snapped in the wind, his expression as placid as water.
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