Each black hole was bottomless, suffused with an ancient, boundless aura. The mysteries of birth, destruction, and reincarnation surged within them, as though they had coexisted with heaven and earth, unchanged since time immemorial.
"Roar!" The True Dragon roared. In the instant of collision alone, one of his claws was forcibly torn apart, dissolving into streams of runes.
Ultimately, he was not flesh and blood, but merely an imprint. He could not truly bleed. Otherwise, Xi Yue would have liked nothing better than to bathe in dragon blood today and accomplish the magnificent feat of slaying a dragon.
Six black holes rested in the palm of a colossal hand that blotted out the sky. The power of reincarnation surged, dark light flashed, and the void howled in fury. The aura it released seemed powerful enough to crush space and time across the ages.
Trapped within that great hand, the True Dragon roared incessantly, shaking heaven and earth. Endless runes erupted from his mouth, forming a torrent that swept across the world as he sought to break free!
At that moment, Xi Yue stood bathed in blood, gazing proudly at the heavens. As her eyes opened and closed, wisps of chaos seemed to swirl within them. She truly resembled a female battle immortal, looking down upon the ages, eternally undefeated!
"Into reincarnation with you!" she growled, abruptly clenching her lustrous white hand.
At that instant, the great hand high in the sky clenched as well. A terrifying divine radiance spanning heaven and earth erupted from its palm, sweeping across the wilderness and surging through the world.
Endless Order Divine Chains spread from the palm, bearing boundless pressure as they bound the True Dragon fast. Chaos churned ceaselessly, as though they truly intended to cast him into an endless abyss, trapping him in reincarnation forever!
With an explosive crash, heaven and earth fell silent. The True Dragon dissolved into streams of runes that drifted through the air, vanishing at last.
"Whew..." Xi Yue let out a long breath. Her body trembled, and she nearly collapsed.
The successive battles had long since exhausted her essence, energy, and spirit. Now she swayed on her feet, her consciousness growing somewhat hazy.
Even she had not expected her innate Six Paths of Reincarnation ability to be so extraordinary, its divine might so unfathomable.
It seemed she had exchanged only a few moves, but that was far from the truth. The dangers involved defied description. That had been a True Dragon-how could he possibly have been so easy to suppress and kill?
If she had to fight another battle, even she could not say whether she would still win.
Even so, this was astonishing enough. She had cultivated for only a few years, yet she had defeated a True Dragon in a battle at the same cultivation realm, even slaying him. It was a heaven-defying, terrifying achievement!
After all, this was not a young True Dragon, but a True Dragon in youthful form. The two might have seemed almost identical, but in truth, the difference was as vast as that between heaven and earth!
The latter possessed supreme insight. Although his cultivation was restricted and many of his methods could not be used, his comprehension remained unaffected, to say nothing of the battle instincts imprinted within his body.
Throughout this time, she had been fighting the supreme beings here. Toward the final stages, she had even begun fierce battles against beings such as the Qilin and the True Phoenix. She had already encountered several of the Ten Fiends alone.
She defeated her opponents again and again, gaining considerable insight from every battle. Through careful contemplation, she ultimately achieved sublimation at the utmost limit.
In fact, the gateway had appeared long ago, and she could have left at any time. She simply felt she had not yet reached her limit and stubbornly refused to leave.
The Kunpeng King told her that every cultivation realm had its corresponding trials. This was merely the Cave Heaven Realm, where the wondrous nature of cultivation only began to reveal itself. It was not enough to justify pride.
Xi Yue nodded. She had not become so arrogant over this that she forgot the immensity of heaven and earth.
For some time afterward, she sat cross-legged here, carefully digesting the insights she had gained.
Numerous phantom figures rose around her, all of them supreme beings she had defeated. Even the True Dragon and the Heavenly Horned Ant were among them.
At that moment, pale golden mist continuously swirled around Xi Yue, flowing through her bones, flesh, and even her internal organs, turning her entire body into a divine embryo.
Meanwhile, every part of her body crackled. Her sinews and bones rang together, and even the Dao bone within her resonated.
This was the resonance of Dao laws, a baptism of magical power!
It was a world-shaking opportunity, one scarcely found throughout the ages, enough to remake a person from the inside out and forge a supreme foundation!
These beings had died countless years ago, but their lingering wills had never faded. They had become heroic spirits, leaving behind imprints of their battles.
If someone from a later age could defeat those imprints and earn their recognition, that person would receive a baptism of their Dao laws. This was a supreme gift.
The pale golden mist grew ever deeper in color, until it turned pure gold. As though she had been cast from divine metal, her entire body became a brilliant divine sun, illuminating all worlds!
Every inch of her flesh shone. Her body seemed to undergo some form of reconstruction, growing ever more perfect as old skin, bone fragments, and tainted blood continually fell away.
The laws of heaven and earth were incomplete. This was true of the lower realm's Eight Regions, the Ten Earths that included the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, and even the Nine Heavens that included Boundless Heaven.
This realm had originally been known as the Primordial Ancient Realm. At the end of Immortal Ancient, however, it had been shattered in battle, and the World Tree had been felled, resulting in the present Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
Without the World Tree, the laws were naturally incomplete. Even the path to immortality had been severed, and no beings could attain eternal life anymore.
These heroic spirit imprints all came from the Immortal Ancient Era, and some could even be traced back to earlier ages, when heaven and earth were whole and their laws flawless.
Clearly, they were now using their supreme magical power to baptize Xi Yue and make up for her deficiencies.
Although they could not restore all the missing laws and could only make up for part of them, even that was astonishing enough. If word got out, there was no telling how many people would turn green with envy.
Ten thousand rays of rosy light shone amid a vast profusion of auspicious colors. Accompanied by the harmonious cries of dragons and phoenixes and Qilins treading the clouds, countless showers of light took shape, swirling around Xi Yue before sinking into her body.
Faintly, grand chanting arose, as though it came from endless ages past. Ancient and boundless, accompanied by an indescribable grief, it echoed softly through this world, as though mourning the tragedy of an era.
After an unknown length of time, Xi Yue's long, delicate lashes trembled slightly. Then her eyes snapped open, and two beams of divine light shot from them, scattering into the void.
"I feel wonderful!" She rose to her feet and stretched her waist. Only then did she realize that her body had undergone enormous changes without her noticing.
She had grown taller. Her figure was graceful and exquisitely proportioned, her waist slender enough to encircle with a hand. The rise and fall of her curves were breathtaking, as though she were the most perfect piece of jade ever sculpted by heaven and earth!
Pale golden mist wreathed her body, lending her the air of an immortal banished to the mortal world, or a goddess descending among mortals. Her peerlessly beautiful face appeared all the more transcendent and sacred.
Beyond that, she could feel divine power surging within her, vast and boundless. Her vital essence was incomparably vigorous, having risen more than a single level above what it had been before.
Her physical body was even more astonishing, having reached an unimaginable level. World-shaking energy lay hidden beneath her seemingly slender frame. Even a True Dragon or Heavenly Horned Ant at this realm might not have been her equal.
This
could be called a rebirth through nirvana. Not only had she shed her old body and gained new life, but her Dao bone had also been reconstructed and some of the laws restored. Her combat prowess was now world-shaking, enough to call her invincible among her peers.
"I still can't get too arrogant. The last one who called himself invincible was beaten until he screamed '...save me,'" she murmured, patting her lovely face and repeatedly reminding herself not to become too complacent.
As for those two words, she hastily swallowed them just as they reached her lips. They were extremely dangerous!
"A king must not be insulted" was no empty saying. If she truly spoke them and stirred karma, there was no telling whether it would trigger a world-shaking upheaval.
She lightly swept her sleeve. Nine cave heavens, like blazing suns, circled her body, dazzling and incandescent as they poured forth tremendous streams of vital essence.
Earlier, during her continuous battles, she had gained an insight and opened her eighth cave heaven.
And during the baptism just now, she had seized the opportunity to open her ninth cave heaven in one stroke.