The Fall of the Purple Mansion Cultivators

The war raged in the Great Void, and all the Purple Mansion cultivators of the Wind Abyss Ruin Realm had taken the field.

The two emperors, Jian Yiyuan and the Sword Sect's two grand elders, the Flood Dragon Wang, the Azure Luan Clan leader, and two Purple Mansion Rogue Cultivators.

Relying entirely on the advantage of fighting on their home ground, the nine of them had managed to contend with Cangxuan's thirteen Purple Mansion cultivators for a long time.

For a time, the people of the Wind Abyss Ruin Realm had even glimpsed hope.

"Fellow Daoists, what are you hoping for?!"

Then that figure appeared.

He was a young Daoist in a black-and-gold Daoist robe and a Daoist crown, walking slowly out of the depths of the Great Void.

He did not attack or even release his presence. He simply stood at the edge of the battlefield, his gaze calmly sweeping over the entire Wind Abyss Realm.

At the same time, Cangxuan's thirteen Purple Mansion cultivators abruptly vanished, their presence gone as though they had never existed.

Wherever the Daoist looked, a Golden Crow rose, and all things grew.

Fusang Radiance. It was unmistakable: the Golden Crow and Fusang.

With Fusang wood, he governed the workings of life and flourishing, drawing on the Golden Crow's yang Qi to turn decay into vitality. That vitality nourished all living beings; its birth was an eternal beginning, and all living beings were the foundation of its flourishing.

At that moment, all of Wind Abyss's Purple Mansion cultivators, whether the emperors still locked in fierce battle or the gravely wounded Jian Yiyuan regulating his breathing, felt an uncontrollable tremor rise from the depths of their souls.

It was an overwhelming suppression at the most fundamental level of existence.

It was the instinctive terror a Golden Core cultivator felt before a Purple Mansion cultivator, like an ant looking up at the firmament.

"Golden Core... True Lord." Flood Dragon King Situ Ze's dragon eyes went wide, and his voice trembled.

The Daoist finally spoke. His voice was gentle, yet it rang across the entire battlefield. "I am Zhang Chen of Cangxuan's Great Peace Temple, the Radiant Dawn Heaven That Saves the World."

"Fellow Daoists of Wind Abyss, cultivation is not easy. I do not wish to bring more killing upon myself. Besides, two among you should bear Mingyang's blessing, and thus share a bond of fate with me."

"Let this battle end here."

As he spoke, he lightly brushed his sleeve.

There was no radiance from a Divine Ability, no surge of Principles.

But the space around Wind Abyss's nine Purple Mansion cultivators froze in an instant. The Law Power circulating within them, the sword intent they had gathered, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi they had summoned... all froze.

They had not been sealed. Rather, a higher level of power had forcibly smoothed them into stillness, like an adult holding down a child's flailing arms.

Absolute suppression.

Absolute helplessness.

"I will give you two choices." Zhang Chen's tone was gentle, as though he were offering terms for discussion.

"First, release the restrictions on your souls and let me plant spirit contracts in them. From this day forth, submit to Cangxuan. Once matters in this realm are settled, your Dao Paths to longevity may continue, and the legacies of your sects and dynasties shall endure."

"Second..." He paused, his gaze sweeping across nine faces, some furious, some despairing, others resolute.

"Your bodies die and your Daos perish. Your souls return to the netherworld and bathe in my Great Peace. All your legacies end here."

Silence.

Deathly silence.

"Kill me if you wish!" Azure Luan Clan leader Luan Tian was the first to roar in anger, struggling to spread their wings, only to be held fast by an invisible force.

"The Azure Luan Clan would rather die than submit!"

"Fellow Daoist Luan Tian, please be patient." Zhang Chen smiled faintly, but his gaze fell on the two emperors.

"Fellow Daoist Li Heng, Emperor of Qi, and Fellow Daoist Yin Xuan, Emperor of Yin, you are the emperors of your dynasties, bearing the lives of countless beings and a thousand years of national fortune on your shoulders. Your choices carry greater weight."

Li Heng and Yin Xuan exchanged a glance.

The two had fought all their lives, yet now each read the same resolve in the other's eyes.

"The living beings of Wind Abyss may die fighting, but they will never live on their knees," Li Heng said, word by word.

"Very well." Zhang Chen actually nodded, a glimmer of appreciation flashing in his eyes before turning to regret. "Just as the deductions showed... so be it."

He swept his sleeve again.

This time, all nine Purple Mansion cultivators felt an indescribable agony in the depths of their souls, as though something fundamental to their very being were being forcibly torn away and shattered.

Those were their Purple Mansions, their Divine Abilities.

Purple Mansion cultivators condensed Divine Abilities within themselves, refining them until they merged with their souls. When a Divine Ability was destroyed, the Purple Mansion would collapse, their cultivation would be utterly crippled, and their souls would suffer grievous damage. Death was certain.

But an instant before their Dao foundations were completely shattered, Zhang Chen flicked two specks of faint light from his fingertips into the spots between Li Heng's and Yin Xuan's brows.

As for the others, all were gathered into his robes.

"As I said, we share a bond of fate. I also esteem the strength of your character, so I grant you three days of returning radiance. Your names have already been entered in the netherworld's register. At midnight three days hence, your souls will return to the netherworld, your true spirits will be shrouded in ignorance, and Great Peace will guide them."

"Use these three days... to put your affairs in order."

As his voice fell, the True Person's figure faded away.

At that moment, within the Wind Abyss Ruin Realm.

There was no thunder and lightning across heaven and earth, nor did the sun and moon shine together and fall. Instead, something grander and more mournful unfolded.

In the skies of the Eastern Region, over the lands of Great Qi.

The dark red clouds stained by the fires of war now seemed to be stirred by a great invisible hand, slowly turning as a pure but dim golden light shone through their center.

The light was not fierce. Rather, it resembled the last glow of a setting sun, solemn and grave, with an air of decline that would not be dispelled.

Faintly, the phantoms of countless people appeared in the golden light, worshipping, tilling the fields, reading aloud, going to war... They were a miniature of Great Qi's thousand years of kingly rule, yet now they wavered like a mirage, as though a wind might scatter them at any moment.

In Great Yin of the Northern Region, the scene was entirely different. Heavy leaden clouds seemed to have become iron-gray military formations, rank upon rank, bearing down on the city as though to crush it.

Within the clouds came the illusory clang of clashing blades, the tragic, stirring echoes of warhorses neighing, and the killing wind that snapped the banners.

A matchlessly domineering will, one that would break before it bent, soared into the sky. Yet as it reached its peak, a soundless crack rang out, as though something indestructible were slowly coming apart.

The two emperors had fallen, and heaven and earth mourned with them!

This was an omen beyond those that accompanied the deaths of ordinary cultivators, the wailing of Principles brought about by the fall of this realm's strongest figures, beings who bore part of the world's origin and the fortunes of their dynasties!

In the Eastern Region, the Northern Region, and indeed throughout the entire Wind Abyss Ruin Realm, every cultivator whose cultivation had reached a certain level felt it, no matter where they were or what they were doing. It was as though a heavy hammer had struck their hearts, leaving them with an unspeakable grief and emptiness.

It was as though two great pillars supporting heaven and earth had partly collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Father!!!" Li Tian, crown prince of Great Qi, rushed out of his palace and looked up at the sky, where the golden light was fading and the air hung heavy with decline. He cried out hoarsely, tears streaming down his face.

"Your Majesty..." The crown prince of Great Yin gripped the secondary imperial sword so tightly that his knuckles went white. Looking at the phantom of the domineering military formation dispersing in the northern sky, he clenched his teeth, the taste of blood filling his mouth.

His imperial father, who had ruled so domineeringly all his life that the entire dynasty could scarcely breathe, had actually... truly been defeated? Fallen?

Yet the omen did not last long.

Just as the mournful scenes in the skies above the two regions were about to vanish completely.

A barely perceptible trace of spiritual resonance, which only those of certain bloodlines or those bearing special missions could sense, silently pierced the chaotic barriers of spacetime and Principles, descending toward two particular locations.

Somewhere unknowable in the void of the Cangxuan Ancient Realm.

Several indistinct figures sat cross-legged amid the chaos, their presences as deep and unfathomable as an abyss.

Before them, a water mirror reflected everything happening in the Wind Abyss Realm: the omens spread across the world and the scenes of every kind.

"A three-day deadline to put their affairs in order... Heh, Zhang Chen, you are rather merciful to these people of the Ruin Realm," an indifferent voice said.

"What use is their tragic heroism? It merely lets the fruit ripen a little more," another voice said coldly.

"The kingly Dao, the hegemonic Dao, the sword Dao, and the Demon Race... The core legacies of this realm have all been passed on in an orderly fashion.

"Once the presence of the Purple Mansion cultivators has completely dissipated in three days, when the realm's origin is at its calmest and most docile... The preliminary arrangements are all in place. As for that suspected Mingyang Decoy Tomb... I'm afraid the one from the Sima Clan must be getting anxious."

"What a fine scheme the Ye Clan has devised!"

"That little brat of Sima Huanyu's controls the Great Qi court. He's impatient and foolish beyond measure. The Ye boy, on the other hand, knows how to hold his nerve."

"Let the juniors play their games and contend as they please. In the end, everything will belong to Cangxuan. This realm's origin shall be merged into ours."

"Sima Huanyu... lured into the trap, heh heh heh..."

In the water mirror, golden rain, black snow, gray light, dragon roars, and green shoots... intertwined to form a tragic, beautiful, and heroic picture of the end of an age.

Beneath that picture were countless beings of Wind Abyss: bewildered, grief-stricken, despairing, or quietly kindling the flames of hatred and hope.

Daoist Zhang Chen, however, said nothing.

With a beckoning gesture, he summoned a Golden Crow that shone in his hand.

[Fusang Radiance]...

"My mercy... is different from Senior Brother Zhang Xuan's [Decay of the Other Shore]."

"So be it."

He formed a Method Formula with his fingers. Seven faint lights flickered restlessly within his robes, and Zhang Chen gently stroked them, seemingly to soothe them. They ceased their restless movements.

Two swords emerged from Cangxuan's Great Peace Temple and stood before Zhang Chen.

With a gentle tap, he turned them into two streaks of light that likewise flew into the Wind Abyss Ruin Realm.

"The kingly Zhanlu... the hegemonic Tai'e?"

"They are only two subsidiary swords, not the originals. Still, they will do nicely as vessels."

The others offered a few comments before their voices gradually faded, disappearing into the turbulent currents of the void.

All was calm, as though nothing had happened.

Sleep. When you wake, the Wind Abyss Ruin Realm will still be the same Wind Abyss Ruin Realm.

The workings of heaven were chaotic, obscure, and difficult to discern.

In the eyes of the world.

Outside the Wind Abyss Realm, Cangxuan's thirteen Purple Mansion cultivators were still locked in battle with Wind Abyss's nine Purple Mansion cultivators.

They fought until heaven and earth grew dark, neither side able to break away. The ten-year period continued.