Chapter 299: Chapter 167: A Sword to Open the Heavens, Suppressing the Heart of Heaven with the Heart of Man
"A sword strike that split the heavens! Has the Celestial Destiny Emperor proven his Dao and become an Immortal Venerable?!"
"An Immortal Venerable! The first Immortal Venerable in all of history has been born!"
"But where did the Celestial Destiny Emperor go? I don’t think I can sense his presence anymore."
"Did he... did he really succeed in slaying the heavens?!"
"Perhaps it’s more fitting to say he buried the heavens with his own body."
"Burying the heavens with his own body..."
The group of Immortal Emperors gazed at the spectacle before them, a scene akin to a primordial deity sundering Heaven and Earth, and a tremor ran through their Heart Spirits.
This scene would be seared into their minds, impossible to erase, even in death.
In the next moment, these Immortal Emperors, who had lived for a hundred thousand, even close to a million years, suddenly discovered their bodies were aging rapidly, the decay visible to the naked eye.
The life force within them began to drain away just as quickly.
’Am I going to die?!’
Feeling the changes in their bodies, the Immortal Emperors couldn’t help but feel a sense of melancholy.
However, their eyes also held a hint of relief.
The Invincible Road, for them, was a life-extending Supreme Treasure, but it was also a prison.
Now that they had broken free, they had, in a sense, gotten their wish.
’While I still have a little time, I should go see what the Cultivation Immortality Realm has become.’
The Immortal Emperors abruptly transformed into streaks of light, flying toward the world outside the Celestial Gate.
A moment ago, the process of this realm’s Heaven plundering the Immortal Emperors’ Spirit Roots had been interrupted, first by Mu Tiange and then by Wang Xiao.
Therefore, although these Immortal Emperors’ Realms had fallen, they still possessed power no less than that of an Earth Immortal.
"Amitabha. This humble monk shall accompany you."
Xuan Mi chanted the Buddha’s name.
He was worried these Immortal Emperors might do something reckless before their deaths.
So, naturally, he couldn’t let them leave just like that.
With his current strength, he was still capable of suppressing this group of Immortal Emperors whose lives were drawing to a close.
"The road ahead is long and has no end; I’ll seek my heart’s desire, up and down, far and wide. Now that I understand the mystery of the Invincible Road and have witnessed the true breadth of Heaven and Earth, this old man has nothing left to ask for. I shall accompany you all on this final journey!"
Kong Xuansheng gazed at the heavens, a sense of melancholy in his heart.
He truly hadn’t expected the Celestial Destiny Emperor to end things this way.
Such unprecedented talent, yet he used it to bury the heavens with his own body...
Kong Xuansheng finally realized that the difference between himself and the Celestial Destiny Emperor wasn’t just a single Immortal Emperor’s Law.
"Ruyuan Institute Director, is the Celestial Destiny Emperor truly dead?!"
Meng Yi still found it hard to believe that the Celestial Destiny Emperor—the one who dominated the world and stood unrivaled—would fall just like that.
Kong Xuansheng let out a rare sigh.
"Perhaps he is dead, perhaps not. Your Majesty’s Realm has far surpassed our own. Any guess we make now would be like a frog gazing at the sky from the bottom of a well."
"However, one thing is certain: Your Majesty has forged a path forward for us. We must follow it."
"One day, we might find the answer to this question."
Meng Yi was silent, but his eyes grew ever brighter, his will to cultivate stronger than ever.
Kong Xuansheng’s gaze shifted to the white-haired Mu Tiange not far away.
At this moment, the corners of Mu Tiange’s eyes showed the traces of age, and his face had grown much older.
However, his eyes had become even more profound!
He gazed at the sky, which had been split by the sword and was now gradually healing, his expression silent, not saying a word.
"Senior Brother, now that the Invincible Road has vanished, our struggle for the Great Dao is likely pointless. Why not travel the world together?"
Kong Xuansheng looked at Mu Tiange.
In the world today, he feared no one would ever be able to reach the Celestial Destiny Emperor’s heights again.
The struggle for the Great Dao would forever be beneath that one man.
Mu Tiange’s tone was calm, his gaze seeming to pierce through the endless river of time.
"The struggle for the Great Dao has nothing to do with the existence of the Invincible Road. If your conviction for the Dao still remains, you should not be saying such things."
"The Celestial Destiny Emperor is not dead. One day, he might just return."
Without another word, Mu Tiange took a step, bringing An Ruosu and Ye Wanzhou with him, and strode into the boundless void, vanishing in an instant.
"Senior Brother, did you see or sense something?"
"Alas, in the end, I am still no match for you."
Kong Xuansheng sighed, and also left with Meng Yi.
In the blink of an eye, the Invincible Road, which had existed for millions, even tens of millions of years, was completely deserted.
The world no longer had an Invincible Road!
...
Time flew by. With each passing year came growth and decay.
The River of Time will not stop for anyone’s disappearance.
「Ten years after the disappearance of the Invincible Road.」
A magnificent tremor echoed from the heavens.
The light of the Celestial Gate, which had stood for a century, receded as it began to collapse rapidly.
It seemed to form a fist-sized black hole that could devour everything.
Finally, the black hole also completely vanished.
The Celestial Gate, which had existed for untold millennia, seemed to have dissipated completely, never to appear in the world again.
Just then, two figures fell from within the Celestial Gate.
Liu Yuzhen held the unconscious Shangguan Xiyue and sighed softly.
"Xiyue, don’t blame me. I believe that if Ninth Brother ever comes back, he would never want you to spend your whole life waiting for him in the world behind the Celestial Gate."
Ever since the Invincible Road disappeared, the group of Immortal Emperors who had been gone for hundreds of thousands or millions of years returned to their respective Immortal Sects.
This event caused a massive uproar throughout the Cultivation Immortality Realms of the various domains.
Shangguan Xiyue immediately went to find the Ruyuan Institute Director, Kong Xuansheng.
When she learned that Wang Xiao had apparently sacrificed himself to bury the heavens, Shangguan Xiyue didn’t question it, nor did she say another word. She turned and entered the world behind the Celestial Gate without looking back, using the Immortal Treasure Wang Xiao had left her to sense his presence everywhere.
This search lasted for ten years.
Seeing that the Celestial Gate was about to close, Shangguan Xiyue still had no intention of leaving, as if she wanted to be buried here along with Wang Xiao.
With no other choice, Liu Yuzhen could only take the opportunity to knock Shangguan Xiyue unconscious and carry her out.
"Alas, Ninth Brother... are you really dead?!"
Liu Yuzhen looked up at the sky, where the great sun hung high.
She, too, couldn’t believe that her seemingly omnipotent Ninth Brother, who had once dominated the world, would simply vanish like this.
’But if he’s not dead, why hasn’t he shown himself in ten years?!’
’If his opponent was truly ’Heaven,’ then Ninth Brother might actually be...’
Liu Yuzhen shook her head, not daring to think about it any further.
She didn’t even realize that she was also intentionally avoiding this question.
Time continued to flow. Heaven and Earth, and all things within, continued their endless cycle of change and transformation.
「Another twenty years passed since the closing of the Celestial Gate and the Cultivation Immortality Realm’s return to normalcy.」
During these twenty years, those Immortal Emperors who had returned passed away one after another, leaving behind only legends.
Everyone was also surprised to find that it seemed no more Cultivators with Spirit Roots appeared in the world.
In their quest to grow stronger, the people of the world instead turned to vigorously practicing the Martial Arts that the Celestial Destiny Emperor had passed down!
This, in turn, allowed the Yongchang Kingdom to flourish, its status soaring past that of the major Holy Lands, becoming the world’s only superpower where immortals and mortals coexisted.
Following the Celestial Destiny Emperor’s disappearance, his former Maid, Shangguan Xiyue, began to take control of the entire Yongchang Kingdom.
Although Shangguan Xiyue did not formally ascend the throne, she was still respectfully called the Empress by the people of the world.
The Empress inherited the rules and laws established by the Celestial Destiny Emperor, managing the entire Yongchang Kingdom with perfect order.
...
「In the dim and distant void.」
Wang Xiao’s consciousness gradually awoke.
His consciousness stirred, but he could not feel the existence of his body.
He only felt his Divine Will rising infinitely, reaching the highest point of the heavens.
Although he couldn’t feel his body, he could sense the changes in all things.
Mountains and rivers, cities, plants, insects, and fish—everything in the world was within his perception.
At this moment, he seemed to have become ’Heaven’!
As if residing high above the nine heavens, he looked down upon all living things and the world’s endless transformations from a unique perspective, feeling neither joy nor sorrow.
’So this is what it feels like to refine a planetary consciousness. Using a human heart to suppress the heart of Heaven. The ’human heart’ here doesn’t just refer to Divine Thought, but also one’s own energy, willpower, and other such things.’
’Of course, the most important things are the Dao Fruit and Grotto Heaven. The more and stronger the Dao Fruits, the larger the Grotto Heaven one can open, and the more planetary consciousness it can contain!’
’Although I failed to refine the planetary consciousness before, I also assimilated with it.’
’So, the current me is also a part of Heaven...’
Wang Xiao’s Divine Thought circulated.
Just then, within his consciousness, the Book of Space-Time emitted a faint golden glow. Its pages fluttered gently before settling on one that displayed an image of this very world.
’Can I return now?’
A thought stirred in Wang Xiao’s Heart Spirit.
