Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast

The moment the starlight from the Deep Root entrance swept the disciples of the three weaker sects into the abyss, they thought they would be swallowed by darkness. But when the light faded from their sight, what came into view was a magnificent palace world so grand that even their souls trembled slightly. Countless streaks of crimson light, as if falling from the depths of space, floated in mid-air. The light dust, like an inextinguishable ember, slowly churned deep within the palace's dome. Each flash cast unfathomable shadows of light onto the vast, sea-like pillars. The ground was a mirror-like expanse flowing with shimmering light, like a whole sea of stars polished to Ultimate, sealed beneath their feet by invisible rules.

The elder of the Primordial Chaos Dao Court was the first to regain his footing. Gazing at the towering pillars that seemed to pierce the void, he forgot to breathe. "This... this is actually the first world at the Deep Root Lower Layers... Could this be... the ruins of the Annihilation Star Divine Temple?!"

No one answered; his disciples were speechless, overwhelmed by the magnificence before them. Each of the palace pillars was like an almost endless river of light, its walls engraved with countless ancient and indistinct patterns, as if someone had once carved rules into the chaos with the fingertips of a god at the very beginning of the world's creation. The palace roof was like the sky torn into fragments by the Purple Radiance light source, carrying an indescribable majesty, as if every ray of light held a gaze overlooking all worlds.

The disciples of the Ten Thousand Domains Supreme Sect, usually so proud and arrogant, were now pale-faced. Standing in the center of such a magnificent hall, they felt as if they were under the gaze of a colossus, being scrutinized, oppressed, and bound by invisible rules. Some even murmured involuntarily, "Can... can a small sect like ours really survive in a place like this...?"

No one laughed at him, for even the elders wore equally solemn expressions. The Deep Root Lower Layers and the surface of the Void Obliteration Domain were completely different worlds; this place resembled the ruins of a divine palace that had long since severed its narrative and detached itself from cause and effect. Even the dust floating in the air seemed to contain fragments of some incomprehensible rules.

The members of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect remained silent the longest. They were martial arts practitioners, skilled in swordsmanship, and shouldn't have been so terrified. Yet, at this moment, they saw a purple light flowing like a river deep within the hall, with shattered sword intent, broken weapon shapes, and fragmented Dao traces floating in it—like the aftershocks of a heaven-defying battle from countless ages ago, frozen in time, constantly flashing and disappearing. A core disciple of the Sword Sect felt a tightness in his throat as he stared at the river of sword intent, as if seeing his own future. "Here... even the remnants of broken sword intent are enough to kill us all."

"Don't move." The old elder of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect had a grim expression. He stared at the red feathers of light that were slowly falling like nebulae deep within the hall. "This place... if you take one wrong step, you might not even leave behind your bones."

The disciples of the three major sects dared not step out of their seats for a moment, and could only look up at the Purple Radiance Palace, which resembled a divine realm lost to time. Dust swirled on the palace ceiling, like flames and stars converging; the darkness surging between the pillars was like an invisible abyss, as if the whole world was waiting, watching, and judging these insignificant newcomers.

A disciple of the Primordial Chaos Dao Court suddenly gasped, "You... did you hear that? It sounds like... something is breathing deep inside."

The elder of the Ten Thousand Domains Supreme Sect frowned deeply. He too sensed that behind the blinding purple light at the end of the hall, something enormous was quietly sleeping—not a beast, not a soul, and certainly not a living being, but rather like a sealed narrative, waiting for someone to awaken it.

An elder of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect whispered, "Everyone, don't scatter. The Deep Root Lower Layers won't give the weak a chance to make mistakes."

The people from the three major sects finally realized that they were no longer on the battlefield of the Void Obliteration Domain, but on a path of life and death forgotten by the Void Obliteration Domain and swallowed up by ancient rules.

They looked up at the abyssal temple bathed in purple light, a light that flowed like a sacred fire in the eternal night, or the final flame in a tomb, and the same emotion was reflected in everyone's eyes—

Fear, disorientation, longing, and... a madness for unknown opportunities.

The purple light deep within the hall surged like a tide, and the people from the three major sects moved forward cautiously in the frozen silence, each step feeling as if they were stepping on a silent judgment. Just as everyone's mind was stretched to its Ultimate, the Purple Radiance dome suddenly trembled slightly, as if something was breathing heavily on the surface of the light.

Immediately afterwards, a deep, resonant howl, seemingly spanning an era, echoed from the depths of the hall. The lingering sound was not a sound wave, but rather like the soul vibration of some ancient being, transmitted from the very edge of the earliest spacetime. The purple-red light fragments that were slowly falling above the hall instantly froze, then rapidly reversed, as if drawn by some invisible divinity.

Light fragments converged, merged, and burned in the air.

This eventually formed a huge black shadow that covered half of the dome.

Those weren't wings; they were the sky being torn apart.

As the myriad particles of light flowed back, the dark shadow finally unfolded completely.

An ancient demon beast slowly raised its head from the depths of the purple light, its form surpassing all imagination: its entire body of wings seemed to be forged from starlight and divine fire, each feather tip shimmering with a fusion of abyssal purple and heavenly fire red, the overlapping patterns of the feathers resembling ancient celestial inscriptions, constantly flashing within the hall. When its wings spread, the hall's dome was directly illuminated as if it had split open into a purple-red sea of stars, with nebula-like divine vortices flowing on its wings, within which one could even vaguely see the reflection of the myriad worlds.

Its size was much larger than anyone had imagined. It didn't resemble a phoenix at all, but rather the primordial spirit that was the first ray of light to take form in the universe. With just a slight flap of its wings, the flap stirred up a silent hurricane deep within the hall, tearing apart all the shards of light, dust, and remnants of sword intent on the ground and scattering them into the air, where they were absorbed into its wings and transformed into new light dust.

Its eyes were not eyes, but two swirling Purple Radiance star cores, burning with the final flames of an ancient era. Once you looked into them, it was as if you were being pulled into an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth. Its first step did not touch the ground, but it caused ripples of light to spread across the floor of the hall, hundreds of feet high, as if the whole world was making way for it.

The elder of the Primordial Chaos Dao Court turned pale, his Adam's apple bobbing. "This... this... it's actually the Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast... wasn't it extinct... how... how could it be here--"

The disciples of the Ten Thousand Domains Supreme Sect's legs went weak, one hand gripping a sword trembling so badly it could barely hold it. "This... this... this kind of being... aren't we supposed to die just by getting close to it...?"

The disciples of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect, who should have been the most resolute, were now all deathly pale. With each gentle tremor of the ancient beast's wings, swathes of sword intent shattered in the air. The elder of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect stared intently at the outline of the colossal wings, which resembled a god's gaze, cold sweat trickling down his brow. "Everyone... retreat... that's not a demonic beast... it's a remnant of a rule from the ancient war..."

The wings of the Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast fully unfurled in the next moment, and a sea of purplish-red light swept across the entire hall. With a soft whistle, the light and darkness of the entire world instantly reversed, and the ancient patterns on the hall walls lit up as if awakened. A divine pressure from the Primordial Era slowly descended.

That's not intimidation.

That is--

"Seeing you mortals, I wouldn't mind wiping you out."

Its wings fluttered again, and the light and dust from the depths of the hall surged toward it like a tide, as if countless souls were being sucked into an abyss.

The moment when everyone from the three major sects felt their legs go weak—

The gaze of the Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast suddenly fell upon them.

For a moment, it was as if the whole world had stopped.

When the Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast looked down at the disciples of the three major sects, its eyes, formed from the core of the Purple Radiance Star, were completely devoid of emotion. It was not the gaze of a living being, but rather like the random fall of the laws of heaven and earth onto a few grains of sand. The instant it gently raised its head, all the light in the depths of the hall dimmed by half, and the purplish-red burning feathers slowly fell from its giant wings. Those light feathers spun and scattered in the air, each containing an annihilation flame enough to wipe out a world.

The next instant, the wings of the Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast merely fluttered slightly.

There was no wind, no sound, and not even any spiritual energy fluctuations.

But suddenly the air in the hall seemed to be "emptied," violently compressed, and then exploded instantly. A purplish-red annihilation light curtain swept across the hall for hundreds of feet at an almost invisible speed.

Before a disciple of the Primordial Chaos Dao Court could even scream, his body turned into a silent cloud of dust the instant the light barrier touched him. From head to toe, not a drop of blood was spilled, and the process of his annihilation was not even recorded by the world. It was as if he had never existed here.

Following closely behind, three or four more disciples were swept by the light barrier and vanished instantly, leaving no trace.

A disciple of the Ten Thousand Domains Supreme Sect cried out in anguish, "Elder!!! Save me--"

The sound stopped abruptly; the person had already turned into dust.

The disciple of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect desperately released his sword intent, but the sword light had only shone for half a finger's length before it was torn to shreds by the annihilation flame fragments. The disciple was engulfed in the light, and his entire body was as if cut into nothingness by an invisible blade, leaving not even a remnant soul behind.

Fear spread like a plague among the disciples of the three major sects. They finally realized that this was not a creature they could fight against at all—it was a living annihilation.

"Everyone—retreat!!!"

The Grand Elder of the Primordial Chaos Dao Court roared, his cultivation instantly exploding. The power of the Annihilation Dawn Realm · Supreme like a surging sea of stars. Several Hongmeng Dao patterns flickered around him. He forcibly erected an ancient Hunyuan Dharma Seal, trying to block the purplish-red Annihilation Flame.

The Grand Elder of the Ten Thousand Domains Supreme Sect followed suit, unleashing his ultimate cultivation at the Annihilation Dawn Realm · Supreme. Golden patterns of myriad realms appeared behind him, and he forcibly expanded the golden domain by a hundred feet, forming a supreme domain.

The Grand Elder of the Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect took a deep breath, and countless sword marks appeared beneath his feet. The sword intent of the Annihilation Dawn Realm · Supreme, at its peak, swept out like a raging tide. He unleashed a sword strike, the sword light as sharp as a blade that could cleave the sky, slashing straight down from beneath his feet towards the Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast.

When the three Annihilation Dawn Realm · Supreme attacked simultaneously, countless cracks of light rippled throughout the entire Purple Radiance Hall.

But the Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast didn't even turn its head; it simply looked down at them with slightly lowered eyes.

His gaze was as cold as when the world was first created and people looked at a speck of dust.

The next moment, its wings fluttered gently again—

The annihilating waves were silent, yet they seemed as if time had been suddenly stretched straight and then broken.

The Grand Elder of the Primordial Chaos Dao Court's Primordial Chaos Seal shattered into light fragments after only one breath. He was struck by the Annihilation Flame Barrier, his chest instantly caved in, not even leaving a trace of his bones, and his physical body turned into a cloud of light dust and dissipated.

The Golden Domain of the Grand Elder of the Ten Thousand Domains Supreme Sect collapsed even more completely, like a piece of glass shattered by a giant hammer. The fragments flew back to his entire body, and in the next instant, he froze, turning ashen as if stripped of his right to exist, not even having time to fall.

The "Heaven-Slaying Sword Sect -Splitting Sword Light" of the Great Elder of the Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast. The sword intent was violently reversed, and he himself was blasted dozens of feet away by the backlash, spitting blood from his mouth. The next instant, the Annihilation Flame Dust rushed towards him, and half of his body was instantly annihilated. His entire arm turned into dust in the air. He roared in terror, but his voice was swallowed by the light, leaving no trace.

Three Annihilation Dawn Realm · Supreme--

Before this ancient beast, they were crushed like three ants.

The entire hall fell into a deathly silence.

Countless disciples' pupils contracted to their Ultimate, their throats felt dry as if burned by flames, and their legs were so weak that they couldn't even run away. The Primordial Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast stood there silently, the purple-red light emanating from its wings seeming to scrutinize this world, as if asking:

"These weaklings... also want to establish themselves in the Deep Root?"

Just as this Ultimate silence was about to crush everyone—

The eyes of the Annihilation Flame Divine Feather Beast slowly lit up again.

That means the second attack is about to begin.

The distance between life and death is only the time it takes for a wing to flutter.