In the sky, the corpses of celestial gods fell like rain, burning as they plummeted, their flames illuminating the night sky and stealing the luster from the bright moon.
These were the corpses of successive sect leaders from the Thirteen Great Clans, disintegrating as they fell.
The divine power accumulated over thousands of years collapsed in that moment, reverting to the righteous energy and resentment of heaven and earth, nourishing the world on one hand while polluting it on the other.
At the same time, the Upper Realm itself began to crumble.
That magnificent world, composed of over 1,900 Realms of Emptiness, collapsed under the influence of an unimaginable force. Mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, suns, moons, and stars—some flew away to distant places, while others plummeted from the sky, creating a thunderous spectacle.
"Boom."
A sun, shaped like an eyeball, fell from the sky and crashed not far from the mountain peak where Chen Shi stood. Flames raged, quickly igniting the surroundings and turning them into a sea of fire.
Another celestial god's head, trailing flames, flew diagonally over the mountain peak. Chen Shi could have reached out and touched that enormous head if he'd wanted to.
The god's face was still frozen in an expression of terror, but its color quickly faded, losing all signs of life.
It crashed down more than ten li away, and the surrounding vegetation grew wildly, soon becoming as dense as a primeval forest.
Chen Shi gazed into the distance and saw that the plants, affected by this head, were actually writhing as if they had gained consciousness.
This was a form of demonic energy pollution.
These celestial gods had been sect leaders of the various great clans in life, usually at the Great Ascension Realm Great Perfection. The higher their cultivation, the closer they were to demonic transformation. They had accumulated vast amounts of demonic energy in their bodies during their lifetimes, but since they hadn't become immortals, they hadn't undergone that change. After death, they became gods. Although their physical bodies decayed, their Primordial Spirits were bound by Golden Bodies, preventing demonic transformation.
Now, killed and with their Golden Bodies destroyed, the demonic energy within them overflowed uncontrollably, affecting the surrounding animals and plants.
Chen Shi stood on the mountain peak, watching the ceaselessly collapsing Upper Realm, and let out a low sigh.
"Yang Bi, I told you before: we cultivators must derive all power from ourselves. The Upper Realm merely raised a pack of wolves. It would have been better to concentrate all the energy of incense offerings into raising a single tiger, a single true dragon. What use are these seemingly powerful celestial gods?"
He shook his head gently and waved his sleeve. Countless withered branches and fallen leaves rose into the air, transforming into birds that flew in all directions across the mountains and fields.
"Without a pillar-like figure, how could your personal intelligence alone contend with Despair Slope? How could it contend with the Celestial True God? The Upper Realm was nothing but a dream, a bubble, a shadow."
He quickly located the temple in the mountains and hurried toward it.
The turmoil in the sky grew even more intense. Massive Realms of Emptiness were constantly shattered, and chunks of land, trailing flames, fell toward the mortal world with thunderous impacts.
Although the Upper Realm was merely a void world created by cultivators at the Return to Emptiness and Great Ascension realms, those cultivators had turned the false into the real. The mountains, rivers, and earth were as real as the tangible world, and their collisions were terrifying.
Waves of shockwaves stirred up hurricane-force winds, and wind and fire swept across every direction.
Many fist-sized stars fell from the sky, streaking across the night sky, burning, turning into shooting stars.
The sky grew even brighter, now dotted with many more suns and moons. They hung low in the sky like strange eyes, some high, some low, but none touching the ground.
After sealing the gods, Chen Shi called out to Black Pot and the Wooden Cart, preparing to leave for the next newly formed mountain peak.
This collapse of the Upper Realm sent many of its mountains crashing into the mortal world, causing him great trouble and making it even harder to find the temples of the Chinese deities.
Just then, the sky turned an unusually vivid color. Chen Shi looked up and saw nine ancient immortal halls erupting with terrifying immortal light, carrying immense power from heaven and earth as they struck in the same direction!
Scholar Zhu and Little Duan Immortal were also alarmed. They flew out of the small temple, looking up at the breathtaking scene.
That was the Nine Halls of the True King!
During the metropolitan examination, Little Duan Immortal had seized the chance to emerge from the sealed minor world within Qixia Taoist Temple, attempting to return to the mortal world. That was when she was attacked by the Nine Halls of the True King.
In that battle, she was severely injured and fell unconscious. Even now, her old wounds continued to torment her.
That time, it was the thirteen cabinet ministers who had driven the Nine Halls of the True King.
Most of those thirteen ministers were at the Return to Emptiness realm, with only two or three having reached the Great Ascension realm.
But this time, it was thousands of gods at the Great Ascension realm, channeling their boundless divine power to drive the Nine Halls of the True King!
Wenyuan Pavilion, Wuying Hall, Huagai Hall, Dongge Hall, Wenhua Hall, Zhengyi Hall, Zhongji Hall, Jinshen Hall, Jianji Hall—nine immortal artifacts, each like an immortal, their energy connecting heaven and earth, carrying the supreme Dao power of the universe as they crashed toward the same location.
Lightning streaked across the sky, thunder roared, and wind and fire raged.
Beyond the Nine Halls, a Parasol slowly unfurled, covering thousands of acres in the next moment. Beneath it, a green sun rotated and pulsed, crackling with lightning.
A pair of rings, one purple and one green, fluctuated in size, smashing everything they encountered.
Two jade pearls streaked rapidly through the air, then transformed into a sun and a moon that revolved around each other. The moment the sun and moon collided, they unleashed an incomparable force. When they separated, everything caught between them was torn apart!
Besides these, there were dazzling sword lights, bloodthirsty blade glints, and all kinds of strange immortal artifacts streaking across the sky, all converging on the same target!
The Upper Realm had deployed not only the Nine Halls but also over a dozen immortal-level treasures.
Suddenly, Chen Shi, Little Duan Immortal, and the others saw Wuying Hall shatter into pieces in the Upper Realm. Then, Zhengyi Hall exploded, and Wenyuan Pavilion was pierced by an invisible force.
Their hearts pounded violently. They stood frozen, staring in shock at the horrifying scene unfolding in the Upper Realm.
Jianji Hall crashed into Jinshen Hall. Both immortal artifacts were struck by the enemy's power. Green tiles scattered, jade pillars snapped, and foundations shattered.
Dongge Hall collapsed. Zhongji Hall and Huagai Hall went out of control, crashing through the Upper Realm, smashing into over a dozen celestial gods, and pinning their limbs as they fell from the sky.
Then, Wenhua Hall, arriving later, was hurled by an unimaginable force, striking Zhongji Hall and Huagai Hall in succession, pulverizing those dozen or so celestial gods into dust.
"Despair Slope only sent one person," Little Duan Immortal suddenly said.
Chen Shi nodded.
Judging by the attack direction of the celestial gods and ancestral masters in the Upper Realm, Despair Slope had sent only one person.
One person, challenging the entire Upper Realm alone, challenging the ancestral masters of the Thirteen Great Clans, their second and third ancestors, and over 1,900 celestial gods!
This person's strength far exceeded what an ordinary immortal could achieve!
"Little Duan Immortal, that immortal who invaded the Upper Realm is much more powerful than you," Scholar Zhu suddenly said.
Little Duan Immortal replied, "Indeed, he is stronger than me. But my cultivation level has fallen, preventing me from achieving Dao Unification. If I could achieve Dao Unification..."
She furrowed her delicate brows slightly and continued, "I would still be inferior to this person."
A doubt arose in her heart.
"Achieving Dao Unification leads to demonic transformation. How did this Despair Slope immortal manage to achieve Dao Unification while avoiding that transformation?"
She herself had achieved a form of Dao Unification now, but it was merged with Chen Shi's small temple.
Her unified Dao could only extend as far as the space within the temple. Any further, and she risked demonic transformation.
In the Upper Realm, the battle continued.
It was less a battle and more a one-sided massacre.
That immortal from Despair Slope was reaping the lives of celestial gods at will, shattering their Golden Bodies and killing them. Even with the ten ancestral masters and the second and third ancestors of the great clans joining forces, they could not stop him from claiming lives!
The celestial gods of the Upper Realm were fleeing. Their will to fight had been shattered, and they tried to escape from the Upper Realm into the mortal world!
Under such a one-sided massacre, no one could retain their fighting spirit.
But fleeing only hastened their deaths.
"Black Pot, let's go!" Chen Shi called out.
Black Pot, who had also been looking up, withdrew his gaze and ran to the front of the Wooden Cart, preparing to head to the next location.
Chen Shi thought to himself, "The minor heaven isn't safe either. It's also a Realm of Emptiness, and its secrecy is even worse than the Upper Realm. More people know about the minor heaven than know about the Upper Realm. It would be even easier for Despair Slope to find it. But then again, there's no one in our minor heaven, so there's not much to worry about. Besides, the Celestial Court is still very weak; Despair Slope wouldn't bother with us..."
As he was thinking, various wondrous sounds came from the sky, like celestial music playing. It was pleasing to the ear and soothing to the five viscera and the Primordial Spirit. Chen Shi even felt as if every corner of his being, from his soul to his Dao Field, had been smoothed over by this melody, bringing an indescribable comfort.
Then, another piercing sound came, like a sharp needle stabbing into his brain, or like fingernails scraping violently across glass. It made his soul tremble, his five viscera twist, and even every inch of skin, every pore, and every drop of blood felt as if they were trying to expand outward to resist this harsh, grating noise!
Chen Shi quickly looked up and saw that within the shattered Upper Realm, immortal qi rose gracefully and descended from the sky. Radiant light surged from the surrounding heavens and earth, vibrating like the strings of the universe, as if the Great Dao itself was playing a celestial melody.
"An ancestral master from the Upper Realm has achieved Dao Unification with heaven and earth!" Scholar Zhu exclaimed.
Chen Shi stared fixedly at the sky. Black Pot and the Wooden Cart also stopped. Suddenly, one thick, bloody, fleshy tentacle after another pierced through the void, hugging the sky and growing wildly, transforming into a rolling sea of flesh and blood!
Demonic energy filled the heavens and earth. The range of those demonically transformed fleshy masses grew wider and wider, as if two enormous, bloody wings had sprouted from the back of that Upper Realm immortal!
The immortal was undergoing demonic transformation!
Chen Shi's heart pounded. He had met the thirteen ancestral masters of the Upper Realm before. They were all half-immortals, already possessing the cultivation to achieve Dao Unification. But precisely because achieving Dao Unification would lead to demonic transformation, they had never done so.
Now, facing the collapse and destruction of the Upper Realm, one ancestral master had finally chosen to unify with the Dao.
He strained his eyes but could only vaguely make out a tiny figure, unable to tell who it was.
Suddenly, that tiny figure leaned backward, and a mass of bloody light exploded from behind its head!
Chen Shi was stunned.
In the sky, the sea of demonically transformed flesh and blood suddenly began to collapse and disintegrate, falling from the Upper Realm into the mortal world!
That demonic immortal who had just unified with the Dao was dead.
Killed in a single blow by the Despair Slope immortal, before he could even fully complete his Dao Unification. His body died, and his Dao vanished!
Chen Shi watched the fleshy mass above him, undulating like a continuous mountain range, and hurriedly shouted, "Move!"
Black Pot snapped to his senses and sprinted wildly, the Wooden Cart's wheels smoking as it roared to follow.
The fleshy mountain in the sky fell downward, countless tentacles writhing and flailing, as if struggling, unwilling to accept death.
The Wooden Cart followed Black Pot for several hundred li. Then, a rumbling shockwave arrived from behind, nearly flipping the cart.
"Whoosh—"
The Wooden Cart raised its Huagai to block the hurricane. Only after the storm passed did it retract the canopy.
Chen Shi looked back and saw that a mountain range made of flesh and blood had appeared out of nowhere on the earth, covering a hundred li in scope and stretching for thousands of li.
The flesh occasionally twitched, as if that Upper Realm immortal were not yet dead.
"Can this demonic flesh be eaten?" A strange thought suddenly popped into Chen Shi's mind.
A terrifying thought.
This was the demonically transformed flesh of an immortal!
It contained the ultimate demonic energy. Wouldn't eating it cause serious problems?
But if it could be eaten, it could save countless lives!
Scholar Zhu said, "There will definitely be people so starving they can't resist eating this flesh. For ordinary people, they can only digest the flesh; they can't digest the immortal essence contained within, so they won't be demonized. But if cultivators consume it, they will almost certainly undergo demonic transformation."
Chen Shi was slightly relieved.
Suddenly, an incredibly thick, fleshy tentacle plunged from the sky into the earth. Everyone looked up and saw that in the Upper Realm, the ancestral masters, second ancestors, and third ancestors of the Thirteen Great Clans were all forcibly achieving Dao Unification, trying to break through and become immortals, to fight the Despair Slope immortal to the death!
"The Upper Realm is finished," Chen Shi said, shaking his head.
It was too late to unify with the Dao now.
The enemy's strength was far too great, and he didn't have to worry about demonic transformation. Even if all these clan ancestral masters, second ancestors, and third ancestors achieved Dao Unification and became immortals, they would be no match for him.
Once the Upper Realm was found, its destruction was inevitable.
In the sky, one mountain of flesh and blood after another fell, crashing into various parts of the Western Ox New Continent. The Despair Slope immortal was slaughtering the demonic immortals of the Upper Realm one by one. Even if they wielded immortal artifacts, they were no match for him in a single exchange.
Just then, above Chen Shi and the others, a purple ring and a green ring whistled as they spun through the air and flew away.
"An immortal artifact from the Upper Realm!"
Chen Shi's eyes lit up, and his breathing quickened. He immediately leaped into the air, chasing after the Purple-Green Double Qi Rings.
At that moment, a thunderous roar came from the sky. Fleshy mountains fell one after another, blocking his view.
By the time that fleshy mountain had landed, the Purple-Green Double Qi Rings had vanished.
Suddenly, another streak of immortal light flew past, carrying a cyan glow, shaped like a canopy. Beneath it, a great sun revolved around the stem, moving at incredible speed.
Chen Shi immediately stepped on lightning and chased after the Qingyang Parasol, gradually picking up speed. The parasol drew closer and closer. Then, as if sensing someone approaching, it let out a "whoosh" and vanished into the distance, disappearing without a trace.
Chen Shi was dumbfounded.
Scholar Zhu lazily drifted over, shaking his head. "Immortal artifacts all have spirits. When their master dies, they automatically choose a new one. They won't choose you."
In the sky, clusters of immortal light exploded. These were the signs of the Upper Realm's immortals dying and their artifacts flying away.
Scholar Zhu said, "These immortal artifacts will definitely seek out the descendants of the Thirteen Great Clans. They won't follow you. Stop looking."
Before he finished speaking, a red light streaked through the air, "whoosh," like a bloody waterfall descending from the sky. The bloody aura stretched for dozens of li before abruptly stopping.
The red light converged, and a long blade plunged into the earth at Chen Shi's feet. Waves of bloody qi flowed into the blade.
Within the blade, yin and yang qi swirled, forming a small sun and moon that revolved around the blade's body.
The Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.
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