The outer, causally distorted space was still oppressive when suddenly someone at the forefront of the crowd roared, their voice filled with almost frenzied greed and urgency, "Charge! If we don't go in now, all the opportunities will be snatched up by the Lineage!" That shout was like a fuse igniting gunpowder, instantly shattering the previously oppressive balance. Hundreds of thousands of Rogue Cultivator erupted with their auras almost simultaneously.
The light of their Fate Soul exploded like stars, surging wildly towards the entrance of the Azure Wood Divine Forest. Space collapsed beneath their feet, cracks were forcibly shattered, and paths were carved out of the void. Countless figures rushed into the forest of symbols like a torrent.
At this moment, the formations of the Lineage ceased to stand still. On the Hua Lineage's side, Hua Jingmeng's gaze turned cold. Before she could speak, a calm yet absolutely authoritative voice rang out. Hua Yanzhi, and the fragments of rules behind him suddenly unfolded, like a cross-section of the universe. With a wave of his hand, his voice was deep yet brooked no disobedience, "Everyone, follow me into the forest. The formation must remain intact, and your energy must be connected. Anyone who dares to move will be expelled from the ranks."
As soon as the words fell, the Hua Lineage and Shangguan Lineage's formations advanced simultaneously. The carrier made of the rule book pages completely disintegrated at that moment, turning into countless flowing rune fragments that enveloped the two thousand disciples, forming a massive mobile array.
The moment they stepped into the Azure Wood Divine Forest, the surrounding symbolic leaves vibrated in unison, as if responding to the intrusion of some higher-level rule. On the other side, the River of Cause and Effect suddenly accelerated, and Ju Anran's voice was steady yet tinged with suppressed vigilance, "After entering the forest, use cause and effect as the chain, do not break it. Immediately transmit any abnormalities."
As soon as the words fell, the two thousand disciples from the Chi Lineage and Ju Lineage stepped into the forest at the same time. The Ninghe River split into countless streams beneath their feet, each stream connecting to a disciple, as if locking everyone onto the same cause and effect, preventing them from losing their coordinates of existence in this eerie forest.
The Lineage and countless Rogue Cultivator simultaneously surged into the Azure Wood Divine Forest at this moment, and the instant they stepped into the forest—
The entire forest suddenly came to life.
The towering trees trembled violently, the symbols on their leaves flashing wildly: "Life," "Death," "Name," "Nothingness," "Fire," "Water"... all the characters began to overlap and distort. Symbols that had lost their meaning seemed to be forcibly "awakened" by some force, yet they could not maintain a stable meaning, causing the rules themselves to backfire on everything that touched them.
A rogue Rogue Cultivator at the forefront had just stepped into the forest, his footsteps barely firm, when a leaf above him bearing the character for "life" suddenly shattered, transforming into countless points of light that fell upon him. His aura instantly surged to an unbelievable height.
The next moment, the light spot suddenly reversed, turning into black lines with the word "death" written on them, directly covering his Fate Soul Nucleus. Before he could even struggle, his body turned into a silent, vanishing phantom in front of everyone.
Even more bizarre changes erupted simultaneously from all directions. When the leaf inscribed with "fire" dripped down, the surrounding temperature froze instantly, as if the space itself had been pierced by the cold. Meanwhile, the leaf inscribed with "water" exploded upon touching the ground, creating cracks in the void.
Hundreds of cultivators were caught in the blast, and before they could even utter a scream, their existence was stripped away layer by layer and they vanished completely.
The arrays of the Lineage also began to bear the impact. The rune arrays of the Hua Lineage and Shangguan Lineage trembled violently, with countless symbols attempting to invade, only to be forcibly analyzed and repelled by the arrays. Meanwhile, the causal chains of the Chi Lineage and Ju Lineage emitted a low, resonant sound.
As if resisting some force attempting to sever the "connection of existence," once the chain loosened, the disciples' auras instantly became disordered, and they were almost swallowed by the symbols.
Just as the chaos reached its Ultimate, the "Symbol Graveyard" deep in the forest suddenly erupted.
Countless tombstones, each containing obsolete writing, lit up simultaneously, and beams of dark light shot into the sky. The forgotten words slowly emerged from the tombstones, twisting into incomplete shapes in the void. The next moment, they seemed to have found a "host."
The demon lunged madly at the cultivators who had entered the forest. A God Clan cultivator had just raised his hand to try and suppress it when a long-forgotten ancient character was imprinted directly into his forehead, freezing his divine body in an instant.
The next moment, his name was forcibly "stripped" from his own Fate Soul. The two words turned into specks of light and floated towards the graveyard. He stood still for a moment, and then—disappeared.
It did not crumble, it did not annihilate, it left no trace of flesh or blood, as if it had never existed.
Everyone around instinctively tried to recall his identity, but found their minds blank. Even the thought that "someone was standing there just now" became blurry, leaving only an indescribable sense of unease spreading wildly in their hearts.
At this moment, panic began to truly spread.
The order among the Rogue Cultivator completely collapsed. Some fled frantically, while others charged even more violently into the depths. Meanwhile, the God Clan cultivators had begun to form an array to suppress the floating ancient characters, but they still could not completely stop the "name stripping" from happening. One after another, existences disappeared Pre-Nonbeing, as if they had been wiped from the world by some unseen hand.
At the same time, a chaotic battle broke out.
Some fought for a piece of land that had not yet collapsed, while others tried to seize fragments of opportunity wrapped in symbols. The light of Fate Soul essence exploded continuously in the forest. At this moment, rules and cause and effect completely went out of control. Space was torn apart and then quickly healed. Time was briefly displaced, and some people even disappeared into the "unexpected" fragments the instant they made their move.
At this moment, the entire Azure Wood Divine Forest was completely transformed into an Asura field that devoured everything.
In the deepest recesses of that chaos, the light of the Symbol Graveyard continues to spread, as if some ancient and terrifying being is awakening little by little from the abyss through these "forgotten words."
The space surrounding the Azure Wood Divine Forest had begun to collapse layer by layer. Symbolic leaves exploded wildly in the air, only to be crushed into powder and dissipated in mid-air as they fell. The first group of Rogue Cultivator who rushed into the forest didn't even have time to scream.
The person's "name" and "existence" were forcibly torn apart, turning into streaks of gray-white light that drifted toward the Symbol Graveyard. The annihilation that made even death unrememberable sent a chill down the spines of all the cultivators who still had consciousness.
Just as the chaos was almost completely out of control, the stewards of the Lineage issued commands almost simultaneously.
Hua Jingmeng took a step forward, the void beneath her feet exploded, and she hovered in mid-air. Her voice, like a sharp blade, cleaved through fear, "Disciples of the Hua Lineage, heed my command—Seal the formation! Lock the soul! Use your life as a pen, write the formation as a wall! Anyone who dares to move a single step will be personally executed by this steward!"
Before he finished speaking, his hands suddenly formed a hand seal, and crimson light crisscrossed wildly between his ten fingers, spreading outwards like an overwhelming net of killing intent. "First column, suppress karma! Second column, solidify life patterns! Third column, hold up the book curtain for me!"
Below, a thousand disciples of the Hua Lineage roared in unison, "Yes, sir!" Without the slightest hesitation, they stamped their feet in unison, causing the earth to tremble violently. Simultaneously, their Fate Soul was drawn out of their bodies, and streaks of blood-gold patterns exploded from their chests.
The runes converged upwards, forming a massive canopy of runes. A disciple's voice trembled, but he gritted his teeth, "Hold on! The life runes cannot dissipate! If they do, we'll all die!" Another roared, "Don't retreat! Retreating means being wiped out, not even death!"
The runic canopy rose in layers in the air, each layer like a page of an ancient book forcibly torn open. As the pages turned, billions of causal characters flowed wildly, forcefully suppressing the destructive waves emanating from the two divine beasts on the outside. The canopy trembled violently, and cracks continued to spread, but it never completely collapsed.
Almost simultaneously, the Shangguan Lineage's formation was fully deployed. Shangguan Jinyan's gaze was icy, yet his voice was exceptionally clear, "Everyone—lock dimensions! Fault lines! Whoever's space collapses, they must fill it themselves!"
With a flick of his sleeve, thousands upon thousands of silver rays of light emerged from the depths of the void, rapidly constructing a multi-dimensional spatial structure like a skeleton. "Xingci, you guard the third layer! Shuheng, you nail down the seventh layer!"
Shangguan Xingci his teeth and replied, "We've already locked down three layers, but one more attack and we won't be able to hold out!"
Shangguan Shuheng plunged his hands into the void, his entire arms being twisted and swallowed by space. Veins bulged on his forehead. "Hold on for ten more breaths! I can finish within ten breaths!"
The thousand disciples of the Shangguan Lineage attacked simultaneously, their figures constantly shifting and overlapping, as if existing in multiple spaces at the same time. They forcibly embedded their Fate Soul into the spatial structure, constructing folded walls of heaven.
The incoming feather light and mystic fire were split, twisted, and thrown into different dimensions the moment they entered the celestial wall. However, the power was still too terrifying. Space continued to collapse and recombine. Many disciples coughed up blood, but they still held on to the structure.
On the other side, Chi Chengyu's face was grim, but his voice was terrifyingly steady, "Everyone in the Chi Lineage, listen to my command—guard the cause and effect! Lock your existence! Do not disturb your Fate Soul, as long as you stabilize your Fate Soul, you can guard it, disciple, hold on!!!" He pressed one hand into the void, and the entire space seemed to be pressed into the water, rippling Karma Ripple, "Ruoyao, control the central core! Yueyin, seal the outer ring! The rest of you—nail your existence to this moment!"
Chi Ruoyao stepped forward, placing her palm on the center of the causal wheel, and said in a low but firm voice, "Everyone, synchronize with me, don't panic, align your Fate Soul frequencies!"
Chi Yueyin coldly shouted, "No one is allowed to be distracted! Guard your sea of consciousness and stabilize your Fate Soul and foundation!" The Chi Lineage disciples responded in unison, "Understood!"
The next moment, the auras of a thousand people Return to One simultaneously, and an enormous wheel of cause and effect unfolded beneath their feet, spreading outwards in layers like a rotating Fate Array, forcibly locking the Fate Soul of each disciple within it.
When that terrifying pressure from the Azure Wood Divine Forest pressed down, the roulette wheel trembled violently, yet it maintained its core structure of "unbreakable existence." A disciple's throat bled, but he still hissed, "Don't panic! If you panic, you'll be wiped out!"
The Ju Lineage formation rapidly unfolded on the other side. Ju Anran shouted coldly, "Everyone—start your voice! Calm your minds! Stabilize your respective Dao foundations!" He spread his hands, and countless invisible strings instantly appeared in the void, densely covering the heavens and earth. "Jun Yao, set the main tone! Mu Yao, suppress the final note!"
Ju Junyao closed his eyes and whispered, "The main note is set, everyone follow the rhythm!" Ju Muyao's voice was cold, "The final note is locked, no one is allowed to break the rhythm!"
A thousand Ju Lineage spoke simultaneously, some chanting, some tapping their fingers, some trembling with their breath. Waves of sound intertwined in the air, layer upon layer, advancing forward to form a sea of sound almost invisible to the naked eye, yet incredibly heavy.
The destructive shockwaves crashing against the sea of sound were gradually ground down, weakened, and dissolved. Yet, the sea of sound itself was also frantically crumbling. A disciple, his voice hoarse but still determined, cried out, "Don't stop! If we stop for even a moment, we'll all be wiped out!"
The Lineage' four grand formations were simultaneously activated in the same space.
The blood-gold book curtain, the silver-white space, the causal wheel, and the invisible sea of sound interlocked, forming a defensive line that stretched across the heavens and earth. The Symbol Graveyard of the Azure Wood Divine Forest rioted, crashing against this defensive line wave after wave. Each impact caused the formation to twist, collapse, and recombine violently. Disciples of the Lineage kept spitting blood, kneeling down, and being forcibly pulled up to fill in, but none of them dared to truly retreat.
Outside this defensive line, the scene for other cultivators was like purgatory.
The divine light of the Holy Clan shattered one after another, and large numbers of cultivators crumbled into ashes in the brilliance; the demonic form of the Ancient God Clan expanded wildly, but was torn into particles in the next instant; the star map of the Profound Heaven Clan dimmed in patches, and their Fate Soul were almost shaken out of their bodies; and the rogue Rogue Cultivator disappeared in large numbers, without even having time to leave behind a scream.
In the span of a few dozen breaths, tens of thousands of cultivators out of hundreds of thousands were wiped out. The remaining cultivators struggled frantically at the edge, their various supernatural powers flashing and extinguishing in the sky. The entire outer perimeter of the Azure Wood Divine Forest resembled a painting being constantly erased.
Only the four massive formations of the Lineage held firm amidst this destruction, like four nails embedded in the apocalypse, barely managing to hold back this collapsing world.
But at that very moment, the void ten miles away was suddenly dented by an indescribable wave, as if two beings beyond the Limit of this world were slowly emerging from a deeper cosmic cross-section. In that instant, all cultivators first heard a near-deafening buzzing in their ears, followed by two roars that exploded in succession.
As the first sound fell, Emptiness the Azure Wood Divine Forest shattered simultaneously, as if the air was being torn apart in pieces. Large swathes of multicolored light fragments fell from the void, but those multicolored fragments were not gentle; instead, they resembled cosmic debris splashed up after the "boundary" itself was smashed.
Those cultivators at the Realm Breaking Realm whose cultivation had not yet truly stabilized had more than half of their souls instantly shattered by that roar. Before their bodies even collapsed, the boundaries between them began to crumble. The boundaries between life and death, physical body and Fate Soul, existence and destruction were simultaneously pierced through their bodies.
Multicolored fragments of light peeled away from them, like an excessively dazzling fireworks display in the forest, leaving nothing behind. A second roar followed immediately, its pressure deeper and more profound than the first, a Space Silence pressing down from "above existence and non-existence."
Many of the remaining cultivators who had barely managed to hold on immediately collapsed to their knees, their Fate Soul struck as if by a heavy hammer, blood gushing from their throats. Some even had half their names shattered in their minds on the spot, their vision instantly losing focus, their entire bodies frozen in place, unable to move an inch. At this moment, someone shouted, "Look! What's that? Something is approaching us from ten miles away!!!"
After those two roars, everyone's gaze was forced to turn to a place ten miles away.
The first thing that catches the eye is a sea of feathers burning with Ultimate colors. The sea of feathers tumbles in the void, each feather so large that it obscures a whole area of the world. Five-colored patterns flow across the surface of the feathers, but each color is like a collapsing cosmic wall, and each feather is like a law of heaven and earth that has been forcibly broken.
Immediately afterwards, the sea of feathers slowly rose, and the outline of a divine bird beyond common sense emerged from the collapse and dissipation. It still retained some remnant of a "Di bird," but it had become so enormous that a single feather could overwhelm all realms, and even the act of "spreading its wings" carried a terrifying implication of tearing the surrounding boundaries to shreds. It had no eyes; where its head was, there was only a blank space burned to its Ultimate.
It has no beak, for even the concept of an "organ for vocalization" has become ineffective in it; all that remains are its wings, burning with the radiance of ultimate splendor. Multicolored flames flow along its feathers, and with each gentle tremor, the surrounding space cracks like glass, forcibly tearing apart the boundaries between them, which then crumble inch by inch. That is none other than the Phoenix of the Boundless Realm Splendor and the End of Peace— the Realm Breaking Luan Emperor.
Behind and to the side of that phoenix, a form so difficult to look directly at slowly rose into the air. At first glance, no one could be sure whether it was a "bird," or even whether it could still be called a "living creature." It was a dark shadow that resembled fire, light, and yet transcended both, with five indescribable dark colors surging and overlapping within it.
Like a wisp of "mystery" remaining after even the colors themselves have been burned away, the five ancient Dao traces of virtue, righteousness, propriety, benevolence, and trustworthiness have been stripped away into five extremely heavy tombstone-like afterimages, quietly hanging outside its body, as if these foundations that should have sustained civilization could only be forced to become exiled relics in front of it.
It has no head, no wings, no physical boundaries, because the concept of "part" was already burned through at its level. It is merely a continuously Annihilation, continuously Mystic Void, continuously transcending existence and non-existence —Ultimate being. Upon its appearance, all surrounding sounds become distant, and even the thought of "fear" begins to seem sluggish and powerless. That is the Phoenix, whose true name cannot be written, which the world forcibly calls the Nameless Mystic Emperor, the Lord of Mystic Void Nirvana.
However, what truly stunned the Lineage and all cultivators was not the two Primordial Chaos Origin Beast Huang themselves.
Beside and behind the Luan Emperor and the Mystic Emperor, the void suddenly cracked open layer by layer, as if countless cosmic curtains were being lifted simultaneously. From the cracks, countless figures silently emerged. They stood in an endless army formation, so numerous that they could not be seen at a glance. Each figure was nearly two zhang tall, with slender and fluid bodies, like humanoid soldiers forcibly outlined by the interwoven Dao Flame of reality and illusion.
Their faces lacked facial features; their heads were simply a ball of golden-blue Dao Flame slowly burning. This Dao Flame was not like fire, but rather like a core of primordial light of the Dao—calm, silent, and devoid of any superfluous emotion. Their bodies were composed of translucent energy streams, with countless intricate runes flowing across their surfaces. Ancient characters such as "Dao," "Return," and "Source" within these runes flickered in and out of focus, like a set of combat logics that transcended conventional laws constantly operating within their bodies.
They were clad in armor as light as gauze yet as liquid as metal, with gold and silver ripples flowing slowly along the shoulder armor, breastplate, and arm armor, both light and awe-inspiring, yet carrying an unshakeable and supreme pressure.
Each soldier held an Origin-Returning Blade in their hand. The blade had no fixed form, but appeared as a constantly flowing stream of light. A deep Dao chant came from the edge of the blade, as if with a single swing, it could directly "revert" all the enemy's power into the most primordial particles.
They densely covered the entire sky behind the Luan Emperor and the Mystic Emperor. Each one exuded a terrifying aura of the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme, and all the auras interlocked without the slightest disorder. The silence, order, and calmness were so chilling that it made one's scalp tingle.
They made no roars, no announcements, and no probing moves. But it was precisely because of this that the entire army formation appeared even more terrifying, like a torrent that could flatten the entire universe, leaving behind the longest period of deathly silence for all living beings before awakening.
For the first time, the ranks of the Lineage truly fell silent.
The sinister glint in Hua Jingmeng's eyes froze instantly. Her lips parted slightly, but nothing came out. Hua Feiting and Hua Yanzhi were also frozen in place. The Fate Soul pressure they had barely maintained seemed as fragile as paper in the face of this Dao Shadow Soldier Corps. The three leaders of the Shangguan Lineage turned pale. They had seen countless grand scenes, top-tier God Clan, and the remnants of ancient gods from the depths of the universe, but this entire army of otherworldly warriors at the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme was nothing compared to this.
This was far beyond their comprehension. Chi Chengyu clenched his fist, his arm trembling slightly. Chi Ruoyao and Chi Yueyin were also frozen in place, their pupils filled only with the boundless reflection of the golden-blue Dao Flame. Ju Anran, Ju Junyao, and Ju Muyao stood on the River of Cause and Effect, their entire being seemingly frozen in that moment, the shock in their eyes even surpassing their fear.
As for the other cultivators, they were completely dumbfounded.
The powerful members of the God Clan had been protecting their ranks with their own laws, but now those laws were all frozen in mid-air, as if they had forgotten how to continue operating. The Holy Clan and the Ancient God Clan, who had come with their own confidence and ferocity, could only stare blankly at the Dao Shadow Soldier Army formation, regardless of whether they had transformed into demons or not, or whether they possessed divine bodies or not.
Some instinctively tried to send a telepathic message, but upon closer inspection, they realized they couldn't even think of what to ask. Many more Rogue Cultivator and sect disciples were completely terrified. Some stared blankly ahead with their mouths agape; some had their legs go weak and couldn't even maintain their levitating position; some had their Adam's apples bobbing violently, their foreheads covered in cold sweat, yet they couldn't utter a single cry of alarm.
Because none of them knew that they had never seen such a legion before, and they had never heard of the "Dao Shadow Soldier".
They had no idea why these densely packed otherworldly creatures had suddenly appeared in the Azure Wood Divine Forest.
At this moment, the entire world fell into an absurd and Ultimate silent stillness.
Two Primordial Chaos Origin Beast Huang stood at the forefront, the Luanhuang scattering five colors and the Mystic Emperor with Nameless mysterious fire, while the boundless Dao Shadow Soldier Army was like an Ultimate shadow that had already pressed down on the Fate Soul, hanging there silently, waiting for someone to let out the first gasp of collapse.