The five City Lords of the Ancient Wasteland found themselves trapped within the Cauldron Realm, and the moment they realized their proud divine mark techniques couldn't be used smoothly, their first instinct was to break through the Cauldron Realm and return to the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm outside.
But Chen Yi and his four companions weren't about to give them that chance.
"Qiankun, Stabilize!"
The Qiankun Mirror burst forth from the Star Source with a mighty splash, its divine light shooting toward the four corners of the Cauldron Realm, transforming into four towering white jade pillars that bolstered the realm's stability by a whole level.
Da Chun shouted out loud.
"Kun Brother is so amazing!"
The Qiankun Mirror flicked its "bangs."
"Of course, of course!"
Then, a bunch of circles appeared on the mirror's surface, and the Qiankun Mirror muttered something under its breath before crashing down and tumbling into the Star Source.
The Qiankun Mirror had burned out again.
But it had reinforced the Cauldron Realm, making it impossible for Yi Chengsheng and his four companions to break through quickly.
That meant they were done for.
Without their divine mark techniques, what they had to face was—
The current Guardian, the Great Achievement master of the Shaman Dao, Hua Wuyan!
An emperor of an era, founder of the two-thousand-year Great Qian Dynasty, the Ancestor Dragon, Li Wentian!
The peerless Demonic Cultivator who roamed the human world unimpeded, traversing heaven and earth with none to stand against him, the ultimate being of the Demonic Path and the former Guardian, the Great Demon!
A scholar of vast erudition, a master of eighteen different paths, the first Guardian of the human world since the Ancient Era, the one who dominated the Starry Domains alone and established a separate branch of the human Shen Family, the Shen Family's Founding Ancestor, Shen Yang!
Having lived through five lifetimes of experience, breaking through to the Martial God realm at twenty, with connections spanning the entire human world, a body full of game-breaking trait tags, the Most Severe Father to Non-Humans externally, and the Civil War God internally, teaching the living the meaning of a Serious Punch and the dead the principles of materialism, overflowing with perfect luck, the one and only protagonist of this era, Chen Yi!
This battle had become a foregone conclusion.
Chen Yi and his four companions subdued Yi Chengsheng and his four fellows, the latter now heavily wounded and powerless to continue fighting.
"Sp-spare us..."
Yi Chengsheng caved.
Chen Yi, now gigantic in size, had one of his toes pressing down on Yi Chengsheng, rendering him completely immobile.
"I thought you had some backbone and would rather die than surrender, but it turns out you can beg for mercy too!"
Yi Chengsheng could tell that begging Chen Yi was useless. He turned his gaze to the softest-hearted among the five Martial Gods present, Hua Wuyan.
"G-Guardian... we were wrong, give us a chance... we're willing to share everything we've learned from the Real Realm... our people are willing to be slaves and servants to the outside world..."
Hua Wuyan shook her head.
"I already advised you just now. Your regret at this moment isn't acknowledging your mistakes—it's knowing you're about to die."
Yi Chengsheng panicked.
"Yes! We don't think we were wrong at all! So what?! Is it only allowed for this Shen guy to monopolize the entire Starry Domains, and not for us Ancient Wastelanders to claim the Path to Immortality?!"
Chen Yi, who had some understanding of the Shen Family, couldn't help but smirk at that and looked toward Shen Yang.
"Founding Ancestor Shen, he's saying you're just like them. What do you have to say about that?"
Shen Yang remained utterly unflustered by Yi Chengsheng's accusation.
"When I went to the Starry Domains, it was a barren wilderness where ordinary humans couldn't even survive. It was me and my clansmen who cultivated and developed habitable land, acre by acre.
The resources within the Starry Domains were also discovered and extracted through my family's efforts.
Now the Starry Domains are thriving and rich in resources precisely because my Shen Family has spent thirty thousand years slowly accumulating and cultivating them. How is that 'monopolizing'?
Does that mean the resources I discovered should be given away freely to everyone?
Furthermore, I preserved the techniques of various paths for humanity, forcefully promoting their practice within the Shen Family, even when many were unwilling to learn—all to preserve the heritage.
The regularly held Starry Conference also shares these techniques with the powers on the ground.
It's just that the current heaven and earth environment has changed, making many techniques less effective, so they haven't spread widely on the surface."
Shen Yang's words left Yi Chengsheng red-faced.
Compared to the Shen Family, the Ancient Wasteland Secret Realm was practically gutter trash on a moral level, utterly unworthy of comparison.
Yi Chengsheng then turned to Li Wentian.
"And what about this Li guy? Doesn't he monopolize the imperial throne of the world? How many years has it been since the continent saw a dynastic change? Why do they get to hoard their royal status and enjoy all the luxury?! And we can't have the Path to Immortality?!"
Chen Yi looked at Li Wentian with an amused expression.
"Senior Li, it's your turn."
Li Wentian let out a cold snort.
"My time is running out. I'll leave the rest to you. I hope the next time I regain my form, the Path to Immortality will be right before us!"
Li Wentian's power restoration had a time limit.
Today had already far exceeded the limit, and he was barely holding on.
Now he slowly collapsed into a hideous ball of flesh.
As for Yi Chengsheng's accusation, he didn't even deign to acknowledge it.
Yi Chengsheng wanted to keep preaching from his moral high ground, but Chen Yi stomped on him so hard he nearly scattered his soul to the winds.
"Enough, stop with all this nonsense! You should know very well that the only chance to survive is to hand over the Path to Immortality!"
Yi Chengsheng sighed.
"The Path to Immortality isn't with me..."
"Oh? There's another big shot?"
Just then, Da Chun noticed something unusual through the Cauldron's external field of vision.
"Yi Brother, these Ancient Wasteland Survivors are acting really strange."
"What's wrong?"
"They're committing suicide."
Shen Yang said, "Chen Yi, you and the Great Demon go out and take a look. Hua Wuyan and I will watch these five."
Yi Chengsheng and his four companions had bodies basically reduced to rubble.
The only reason they hadn't died yet was due to the Martial Gods' absurd vitality.
Hua Wuyan and Shen Yang watching over them was naturally no problem, especially Shen Yang, who had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve.
Before obtaining the Path to Immortality, these City Lords had to be kept alive.
Otherwise, if they died and the Path to Immortality self-destructed or became inaccessible, the consequences would be dire.
Chen Yi left the Cauldron Realm and saw Ancient Wasteland Survivors falling in pools of blood, batch after batch.
As they drew their swords to slit their own throats, they used their blood to draw divine marks before dying.
Their mouths chanted bizarre incantations.
"Soul sacrifice, return to heaven, summon our ancestors!!"
Watching this absurd scene, Chen Yi was baffled.
"What are they doing? Suicide to return to heaven?"
Chen Yi swept his gaze over the situation around the Nine Provinces Cauldron.
While the ten Martial Gods were locked in battle inside the Cauldron Realm.
Outside the Cauldron, the fight was just as fierce.
The Nine Provinces Cauldron had become the central prize in the struggle.
Led by the Sword Lord, the human world's martial artists fought desperately to protect the Nine Provinces Cauldron.
Facing wave after wave of Ancient Wasteland Survivors surging in like locust swarms, countless human martial artists bled in battle until their last breath.
Corpses piled up layer upon layer around the Nine Provinces Cauldron.
Some were human martial artists, others were Ancient Wasteland Survivors.
But what puzzled the Sword Lord was that although the Ancient Wasteland Survivors were winning and advancing their attack lines closer to the Nine Provinces Cauldron, they suddenly stopped, withdrew en masse.
And then began committing suicide to return to heaven.
Seeing Chen Yi emerge, the Sword Lord asked.
"What are they doing?"
"It's probably similar to Li Wentian's situation. They're using divine marks and sacrifices to try awakening some ancient ancestor."
"Then we have to stop them!"
"I'm afraid it's already too late."
Chen Yi's gaze lifted upward.
In the sky, divine marks flew up from the bodies of the dead Ancient Wasteland Survivors, mingling with the blood of the fallen to form a massive, blood-colored face.
This face had its eyes tightly shut, and an overwhelming sense of oppression from the Ancient Era seemed to pierce through endless time, enveloping the entire Cauldron Realm!
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