When the last wisp of dark-gold divine fire died out, silence fell over Guanjiangkou.
A thousand celestial soldiers had all been reduced to ash.
The ruined formation, immortal armor, broken halberds, and even the divine blood Giant Spirit God had spilled across the mountainside had all been refined by the Hell Furnace into the purest essence.
Yang Jian hovered in midair, his eyes closed.
Inside him, thunderous booms erupted one after another.
The eleventh divine elephant particle awakened!
The twelfth awakened!
The thirteenth!
The fourteenth!
Only when the fifteenth divine elephant particle lit up completely did that savage power slowly subside.
Fifteen currents of primordial mammoth power surged through the depths of his flesh.
His bones and sinews trembled incessantly, while dark-gold patterns flickered beneath his skin.
Every breath carried the crushing pressure of his blood and vitality.
Yang Jian slowly opened his eyes.
Divine light shone clear within them.
At this moment, he was far stronger than he had been a few hours ago.
If Giant Spirit God stood before him again, Yang Jian was confident he could overpower the Mountain-Splitting Giant Axe head-on and pound the god's body apart, fist by fist.
"So this is power..."
Yang Jian spoke softly, slowly tightening his fingers.
The next moment, he turned his gaze east.
Beyond the night, the mountains stood silent.
But he knew there was a mountain there.
Peach Mountain.
His mother, Yao Ji, was imprisoned beneath that cold divine mountain.
"Mother."
The sharpness in Yang Jian's eyes faded for a moment, replaced by profound longing.
But that tenderness soon turned to resolve.
"Wait for me."
"Your son is coming to save you."
He could not remain in Guanjiangkou any longer.
Giant Spirit God had fled in defeat, and a thousand celestial soldiers had been annihilated.
The Heavenly Court's next assault would surely be fiercer.
Golden Immortals.
Precious treasures of the Heavenly Court.
Even beings of a higher order might appear.
With his current strength, he could not protect Xiao Chan while forcing his way through Peach Mountain.
But if he kept waiting, Peach Mountain's defenses would only grow tighter.
He had to reach Peach Mountain before the Heavenly Court fully reacted.
Yang Jian landed.
He walked to the mountainside and glanced at the deep crater Giant Spirit God had left.
Among the shattered rocks, the divine blood had already dried.
A fragment of the Mountain-Splitting Giant Axe jutted from the ground, its cold gleam not yet entirely faded.
Yang Jian raised his hand and drew the fragment into his palm.
He had not pursued Giant Spirit God.
Since his master had allowed that divine general of the Heavenly Court to escape back to the South Heaven Gate, there had to be a deeper plan.
He only needed to follow it.
Yang Jian placed the axe-blade fragment at the ruined temple's entrance.
It was a trace left behind by the Heavenly Court's vanguard general after his defeat and flight.
It was also a warning for the Heavenly Court.
Once everything was done, he entered the ruined temple.
Yang Chan was still asleep beneath the altar.
The little girl lay curled up, clutching that worn outer robe tightly in her hands, her brows faintly furrowed, as though she dared not feel safe even in her dreams.
Yang Jian's heart ached.
He crouched beside her and smoothed the tangled hair at her temples.
"Xiao Chan, your brother will be back soon."
His voice was very soft.
So soft that almost no one but he could hear it.
Then Yang Jian turned and knelt before the altar.
The divine statue stood silently.
Faint golden patterns flowed across the surface of the divine embryo, ancient and silent, yet they brought Yang Jian an unprecedented sense of peace.
"Master."
Yang Jian touched his forehead to the ground, his voice respectful.
"This disciple wishes to go to Peach Mountain and rescue my mother."
"The journey will be perilous. I dare not take Xiao Chan with me."
"I beg you to shelter Xiao Chan, Master."
Upon the altar, Gu Changqing had already anticipated this scene.
Saving his mother was an obsession Yang Jian could never escape.
This journey to Peach Mountain would inevitably draw in greater karmic entanglements as well.
Gu Changqing spoke calmly.
"Granted."
That single word fell.
At last, the tension in Yang Jian's heart eased a little.
In all the Three Realms, there was nowhere safer than his master's Divine Realm.
"This disciple thanks you, Master!"
Yang Jian kowtowed heavily.
When he rose, he glanced back at Yang Chan once more.
That glance held reluctance, concern, and a ruthlessness compressed to its limit.
He had to grow stronger.
Strong enough to rescue his mother.
Strong enough that Xiao Chan would never again have to hide trembling in a ruined temple.
The next moment, Yang Jian turned and stepped through the temple doors.
All fifteen divine elephant particles vibrated at once.
Boom!
The ground sank slightly.
His figure became a streak of light, tearing through the night as he raced east.
Silence returned to the ruined temple.
Yang Chan slept beneath the altar, her breathing gradually settling.
Outside the temple entrance, the fragment of the Mountain-Splitting Giant Axe stood slanted in the earth, its lingering celestial light fading little by little.
Within the divine statue.
Gu Changqing's consciousness swept over Yang Chan.
The blood of immortals and gods flowed through this little girl as well.
Her innate foundation was pure, and her fortune was considerable.
If he took her in someday, he might well nurture another promising seedling.
But for now, the time had not yet come.
Gu Changqing's gaze passed beyond the temple doors and settled in the direction Yang Jian had gone.
Peach Mountain.
He chuckled inwardly.
That cage the old Jade Emperor built for your mother is just waiting for you to tear it open with your own hands.
And let that heaven-appointed master see whose arts the disciple he has yet to take in now cultivates.
Yu Ding Zhenren.
If you meet Yang Jian, I wonder whether you will still recognize this karmic bond between master and disciple.
Kunlun Mountain.
Within the Jade Void Palace, immortal mist hung low, and the spiritual radiance of Yuqing lingered in the air.
Yu Ding Zhenren, one of the Twelve Golden Immortals, sat in his cave abode, contemplating the mysteries.
Suddenly, something stirred between his brows.
A ripple disturbed his formerly tranquil state of mind.
Yu Ding Zhenren opened his eyes and raised a hand to perform a divination.
A moment later, his brows furrowed.
"Strange."
"Why has the karma of my destined disciple become so violent?"
According to the heavenly secrets, Yang
Jian should have escaped his pursuers at this moment and entered Kunlun's karmic orbit, becoming his disciple and cultivating the Chan Sect Guardian Mystical Art.
When the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation arose in the future, Yang Jian should have achieved fleshly sainthood and rendered great service to the Chan Sect.
Yet now, the once-clear karmic bond between master and disciple was being battered into uncertainty by a savage aura.
That aura was domineering, heavy, and blazing.
It possessed none of the upright purity of the Jade Purity Immortal Method.
Nor the sharp edge of the Interception Sect's divine abilities.
Still less did it bear any trace of the Western Heretical School's vow power.
It conveyed only one word.
Power.
As though it sought to suppress every art in all the heavens through flesh alone.
Yu Ding Zhenren's expression gradually grew grave.
"Someone has tampered with Yang Jian's fate."
Anyone who could alter Yang Jian's foundation before he sensed it, and throw the heavenly secrets into such chaos, was no ordinary figure.
The Interception Sect?
The West?
Or was there another anomaly within the tribulation?
Yu Ding Zhenren hesitated no longer.
He took a single step, and his figure vanished from his cave abode.
When he appeared again, he was already standing above Guanjiangkou.
The mountain woods below lay devastated.
Tattered Cloud Banners lay scattered everywhere.
The celestial soldiers' auras had been refined away almost completely, leaving only faint bloodlust and fragments of immortal armor.
Yu Ding Zhenren swept his gaze over the scene, and his expression shifted slightly.
"The battle formation of a thousand celestial soldiers was refined into nothing?"
His gaze fell on the ruined temple's entrance.
A fragment of the Mountain-Splitting Giant Axe stood embedded there.
Beside it lingered Giant Spirit God's divine blood.
Yu Ding Zhenren recognized that aura at a glance.
"Giant Spirit God was defeated too."
A young man of the Yang family who had yet to join the Chan Sect had actually grievously wounded the Heavenly Court's vanguard general and refined a thousand celestial soldiers to nothing?
This had already surpassed his original fate.
Yu Ding Zhenren's gaze slowly settled on the dilapidated Mountain God Temple.
The little temple looked utterly unremarkable.
Its walls were mottled, its doors and windows rotten.
Yet when he extended his divine sense toward it, it was as though he had touched an invisible barrier.
The heavenly secrets had been severed.
So had karma.
The temple seemed to form a secluded world of its own, cut off from outside scrutiny.
Yu Ding Zhenren's gaze darkened slightly.
He, a Golden Immortal of the illustrious Chan Sect, could not see through a dilapidated mortal temple.
Something was wrong with this place.
And the change in Yang Jian's fate had most likely begun here.
Yu Ding Zhenren raised his hand.
A wisp of Jade Purity Immortal Light gathered at his fingertip. He was just about to probe the karma within through the temple doors.
Suddenly.
A violent disturbance surged from the eastern horizon.
Yu Ding Zhenren jerked his head up.
At the edge of the night sky, a streak of light hurtled at tremendous speed, bearing raging blood and vital energy as it charged straight toward Peach Mountain.
He had just seen that very aura in the heavenly secrets.
"Yang Jian!"
Yu Ding Zhenren's expression changed.
"He's actually going to Peach Mountain?"
Peach Mountain was a place where Haotian himself had laid restrictive wards.
The seal within the mountain was bound to the Heavenly Court's decree. Any attempt to shake it by force would inevitably alert the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
Though Yang Jian's fortune now blazed fiercely, his foundations were not yet secure.
If he forced his way into Peach Mountain, he would surely bring down the Heavenly Court's thunderous suppression.
Yu Ding Zhenren could no longer spare a thought for the ruined temple before him.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he transformed into a streak of Jade Purity Immortal Light and raced eastward in pursuit.
He had to stop Yang Jian before he threw a punch.
Otherwise, once Peach Mountain's wards were disturbed, today's unforeseen turn would tear a hole clean through the Three Realms!