Peach Mountain's seal was cracking apart.
A fissure tore open halfway up the mountain, and golden array patterns flashed wildly.
For the first time, Yang Jian had pushed the edict laid down by the Heavenly Emperor himself to the brink of collapse.
Halfway up the mountain.
Yu Ding Zhenren watched the array patterns continuously emerge within the mountain, his expression darkening to the extreme.
"Peach Mountain's seal has three foundations."
"The earth veins supply power, the stars replenish the array, and the Heavenly Emperor's edict anchors its core."
"If you bombard it blindly, the array will only grow stronger with every blow."
Yang Jian stood beside him, his gaze fixed on the depths of the sheer cliff.
Clouds and mist churned there.
Above the main peak, a golden talisman flickered in and out of sight.
Every time the talisman shone, a faint trace of a weakened presence drifted from deep within the mountain.
That was Yao Ji.
His mother.
Yang Jian slowly clenched his fingers.
"What do I need to do?"
Yu Ding Zhenren raised his hand, sending Jade Purity Immortal Light into the mountain.
In an instant, densely packed golden array patterns emerged.
Those patterns ran through the rocks, earth veins, and sheer cliffs like chains, locking all of Peach Mountain firmly in place.
"There are three array cores."
"The earth vein core must not be touched, and the convergence of the stars must not be disturbed."
"The only thing you can strike is the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Edict Talisman on the main peak."
Yu Ding Zhenren's voice was low.
"The moment it shatters, Lingxiao Treasure Hall will know."
"From that moment onward, you will have no way back."
Yang Jian's gaze did not waver in the slightest.
"I've had no way back since the day my family was destroyed."
Yu Ding Zhenren's heart trembled.
Looking at the youth before him, he suddenly found himself unable to voice any further objections.
According to the original workings of fate, Yang Jian should have entered Jade Void Palace, where Yu Ding Zhenren would have taught him and protected his cultivation.
But now.
Another hand had already pushed this youth onto an entirely different path.
A path that split destiny open with his fists.
Yu Ding Zhenren drew a deep breath.
"I can only tear open a path to the golden talisman for three breaths."
"Within those three breaths, you must shatter it."
"Once the golden talisman breaks, the array will briefly stall. That will be your chance to split the mountain and rescue her."
Yang Jian looked at the sheer cliff.
His voice was frighteningly calm.
"Begin."
Yu Ding Zhenren hesitated no longer.
He brought down two joined fingers, and Jade Purity Immortal Light suddenly blazed between his brows.
"Jade Purity Edict, draw upon the power and open the hidden way."
A nearly transparent strand of immortal light swept out, silently embedding itself in the weakest point of Peach Mountain's array.
Hum!
All of Peach Mountain jolted violently.
On both sides of the mountain path, countless golden runes blazed wildly.
The next instant, a warped fissure was forcibly torn through the impenetrable curtain of restrictive light.
At the end of the fissure.
Lay the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Edict Talisman atop the main peak.
Yu Ding Zhenren's face paled.
At his cuffs, the Jade Purity Immortal Light dimmed considerably.
"Go!"
The moment the word left his lips.
The mountain path beneath Yang Jian's feet collapsed with a thunderous crash.
His figure shot into the fissure.
No streak of evasive light.
No immortal arts.
Only the speed unleashed by pushing his physical strength to its limit.
He moved so fast that even Yu Ding Zhenren's immortal perception could catch only an afterimage.
One breath.
Yang Jian had already charged onto the main peak.
The Heavenly Emperor's Golden Edict Talisman suddenly blazed.
Boom!
Golden light bore down on Yang Jian's shoulders, spine, and knees.
A lofty, imperious will thundered down from the talisman.
"Kneel!"
Yang Jian's body abruptly sank.
The rock beneath his feet shattered on the spot.
Fifteen divine elephant particles trembled in unison, stubbornly resisting the Heavenly Emperor's overwhelming pressure.
But in the next instant, Peach Mountain's earth veins surged back.
The power of the entire mountain range pressed down through the golden talisman, as though seeking to grind him into the main peak.
Yang Jian's knees crackled.
He raised his head.
Blood-red fury surged in his eyes.
"You imprisoned my mother."
"Killed my father."
"Hunted my sister."
"And now you want me to kneel?"
Yang Jian spoke each word distinctly.
"Are you worthy?"
Boom!
Deep within his dantian, the Hell Furnace suddenly opened.
The earth vein power pressing down on him was forcibly swallowed into his body by the furnace.
Dark-gold divine flames burned furiously.
The earth vein power was refined into pure essence, which slammed into the dormant divine elephant particles.
The sixteenth awakened!
The seventeenth awakened!
The twentieth awakened!
The twenty-fifth!
The thirtieth!
The thirty-fifth!
Yang Jian's vital energy surged, forcibly pushing back the golden light weighing down on him.
The Heavenly Emperor's Golden Edict Talisman trembled violently.
The will in the void seemed to realize something was wrong.
More golden chains burst from the talisman, coiling toward Yang Jian's arms, neck, and back.
Yang Jian did not dodge.
The flames of the Hell Furnace burned even fiercer.
The harder Peach Mountain's earth veins pressed down, the faster he refined their power.
The fortieth divine elephant particle blazed to life with a thunderous burst.
The forty-fifth!
The fiftieth!
Fifty divine elephant particles trembled simultaneously.
At that moment.
Yang Jian's vital energy completely overpowered Peach Mountain's seal.
He raised his right fist.
The golden chains snapped apart inch by inch.
"Shatter!"
He unleashed a punch.
The strength of fifty divine elephants compressed into a single point and smashed head-on into the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Edict Talisman.
Crack!
The center of the golden talisman split open.
The Heavenly Emperor's edict inscriptions exploded one after another.
Boom!
The entire golden talisman shattered into golden fragments that filled the sky.
Not even one breath had passed.
The Heavenly Emperor's edict shattered!
Yu Ding Zhenren's pupils abruptly contracted.
He had seen it clearly.
Yang Jian had not only withstood the crushing backlash of Peach Mountain's earth veins, but had also refined that power into his own cultivation.
What kind of cultivation art was this?
It could actually devour the Heavenly Emperor's seal and refine the essence of the earth veins?
Hum-
The array encompassing all of Peach Mountain briefly fell into
deathly silence.
Every flowing rune dimmed at that moment.
Deep within the mountain, that weakened presence finally became distinct.
Yang Jian abruptly lowered his head.
"Mother!"
The instant the golden talisman exploded, he shattered the clifftop beneath his feet, turned, and plunged straight toward the seal within the mountain.
Fifty divine elephant particles trembled in unison.
The Hell Furnace spun with a thunderous roar.
He compressed all his vital energy into his right palm.
Yang Jian stared into the deepest reaches of the mountain, his voice tearing through the smoke and dust.
"Mother."
"Your son has come to bring you home!"
The next instant.
He brought his flattened hand down in a cleaving strike.
The strength of fifty divine elephant particles was compressed into a single line by the Hell Furnace.
"Divine Elephant Suppression of Hell, split this mountain!"
Boom!
Peach Mountain's main peak split down the middle.
Rows of sealing runes snapped apart.
A shaft of daylight was forcibly cleaved into the pitch-black mountain interior.
Crack!
Crack, crack!
The fissure rapidly widened.
The mountain walls on either side shifted outward.
The shattered stones were swept into powder by the lingering restrictions.
The Heavenly Emperor's seal lashed back wildly, its remaining golden light turning into chains that tried to pull the mountain back together.
Yang Jian's eyes were blood-red.
"Open!"
He let out a low roar and drove the edge of his palm farther down.
Boom!
The mountain split apart completely.
The prison sealed deep within it was finally exposed to daylight.
Daylight spilled into the mountain's heart.
It illuminated the prison that had been sealed away for years.
At the center of the hollow mountain, a woman in white was bound by battered golden chains.
Her face was pale, her breath weak, and burns left by the seal streaked her body.
Hearing the commotion, she raised her head with difficulty.
The next moment, she froze.
A youth descended from the sky through the cleft in the mountain.
His features still bore traces of his childhood face.
But blood stained his shoulders and back.
Those eyes no longer held any of their former innocence.
Only longing and killing intent, compressed to their utmost limits, remained.
Yao Ji's lips trembled.
She tried to reach out, but the chains jerked her off balance.
"Jian'er..."
Her voice was faint.
Yet it sent a tremor through Yang Jian's entire body.
He landed in the center of the mountain's hollow.
Looking at his mother, so haggard he could barely recognize her, the blood-red fury in his eyes instantly gave way to tears.
"Mother."
Yang Jian knelt before her, his hands shaking.
"Your son came too late."
Yao Ji looked at the wounds covering him, and her tears finally fell.
She did not ask how he had come.
Nor did she ask how he had managed to cleave Peach Mountain apart.
She simply raised a trembling hand and reached for Yang Jian's face.
"Jian'er, you've suffered so much."
Those words seemed to shatter the last hard shell around Yang Jian's heart.
He clenched his teeth, his eyes reddening.
"Mother, I'll take you out of here."
Yang Jian reached up and seized a golden chain.
The chain was formed from the Heavenly Court's seal. The instant he touched it, golden lightning patterns erupted and struck his palm viciously.
His flesh charred black.
Yang Jian did not so much as furrow his brow.
Yao Ji's expression changed.
"Jian'er, don't force it."
"These chains are connected to the Heavenly Court's edict. They'll damage your primordial spirit!"
Yang Jian tightened his grip on the golden chain.
Dark golden flames from the Hell Furnace surged out through his palm.
"So what if they can?"
"They've kept you chained for all these years."
"Today, they must break."
Crack!
He tore the first golden chain apart by brute force.
The mountain's hollow shook violently.
The remnants of the Heavenly Emperor's Edict turned into lightning and raced along the chains toward Yang Jian's divine soul.
The Hell Furnace shuddered with a thunderous rumble.
Dark golden flames swept upward, swallowing that strand of edict lightning in a single gulp.
Yang Jian's aura climbed once more.
He seized the second chain.
"For every year they kept you chained."
"I'll tear apart another chain today."
"I'll collect everything the Heavenly Court owes you, debt by debt."
Crack!
The second golden chain snapped.
Yao Ji stared at him in a daze.
The child before her was clearly still the Jian'er she remembered.
Yet he could already stand before the Heavenly Emperor's seal and hold open a patch of sky for her.
Crack!
The third golden chain snapped.
Crack!
The fourth golden chain snapped.
Peach Mountain's seal collapsed into utter chaos.
Outside the mountain's hollow.
Yu Ding Zhenren stood on the split mountain path, silent for a long time.
He suddenly understood that he had already come too late.
This youth no longer waited for the Jade Void Palace to grant him a technique.
Beneath his feet, there was already a path that could cleave through the Heavenly Emperor's seal.
Yu Ding Zhenren raised his head and looked toward the Thirty-Three Heavens.
He knew very well.
The instant Peach Mountain was cleaved apart, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall must have seen it.
This matter could no longer be kept under wraps.
The Thirty-Three Heavens.
The Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
The Haotian Mirror suddenly blazed with dazzling golden light.
Within the mirror, Peach Mountain's main peak split down the middle, and the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Edict Talisman shattered into fragments.
The scene of Yang Jian cleaving the mountain with a single palm strike was reflected clearly before every immortal and god.
Haotian Shangdi slowly rose to his feet.
His imperial robes billowed.
The jade steps of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall cracked inch by inch.
Every immortal in the hall lowered their head, suppressing even their breathing to the faintest whisper.
Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Following Ear turned deathly pale, their knees weakening.
Li Jing's fingers abruptly tightened around his pagoda, and the immortal light surrounding it flickered chaotically.
Taibai Jinxing gripped his fly whisk tightly. His gaze settled on Yu Ding Zhenren's figure in the Haotian Mirror, and his expression grew uglier still.
Peach Mountain's seal had shattered.
The Heavenly Emperor's edict had shattered as well.
Besides Yang Jian, Yu Ding Zhenren was also in the mirror.
One of the Jade Void Palace's Twelve Golden Immortals.
Yu Ding Zhenren.
The atmosphere in the hall turned utterly frigid.
An immortal official spoke in a trembling voice.
"Your Majesty, Yu Ding Zhenren is also at Peach Mountain..."
As those words fell.
The entire Lingxiao Treasure Hall instantly went silent.
Haotian slowly raised his head and stared at the bloodstained youth in the Haotian Mirror.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
His imperial might spiraled completely out of control.
Crack!
A deep fissure split the jade steps within the hall.
Haotian spoke each word distinctly, his voice chilling the Thirty-Three Heavens.
"Yang Jian."
"Yu Ding."
"Transmit my edict!"
"Thunder Department, Dipper Department, Heavenly River Navy, descend to the mortal realm at once!"
"Seal off Peach Mountain, sever its earth veins, and suppress Yang Jian."
Haotian's gaze settled on Yu Ding Zhenren in the mirror, his voice cold enough to pierce bone.
"If the Jade Void Palace wishes to intervene..."
"Then today, I shall personally demand an answer from Yuanshi, the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning!"