The heads separated from the bodies, scattered across the sky, amidst the corpses Chen Liang could even see the head of a True Being still bearing an expression of horror.
"So, Immortals can die too!"
...
High above, the Darkness-Light Sword, having slain over a hundred cultivators, returned to its sheath, Shen Yuan watched with a brooding expression the vast fields beyond Chaofeng County City.
The wilderness outside the County City had been cultivated into acre upon acre of Spiritual Farms, and in the mountains and forests, spirit farmers nurtured spirit materials, at a glance everything seemed so harmonious.
But as the master of Unimpeded Netherworld Divine Power, the Fengdu Emperor of the Primal Chaos Realm, Shen Yuan could immediately see the heavy aura of death lurking beneath the Spiritual Farms that stretched for dozens of miles outside the County City.
These seemingly orderly Spiritual Farms had all been developed from the wilderness after the resurrection of the world, with countless corpses buried within them.
The spirit farmers among these fields, due to the long-term extraction of their Spirit Energy, led to the depletion of their life force and a substantial reduction in their lifespan.
Gazing upon everything before him, Shen Yuan suddenly spoke:
"Before the resurrection of the world, how many people did Chaofeng County have?"
Before Xia Yunqiu could respond, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s Superintendent proactively stepped forward and replied softly:
"Before the resurrection of the world, the Imperial Court had recorded a population of 17 million within Chaofeng County, over 9 million of whom were in Chaofeng County City, with the remaining 8 million spread across the five counties under the County’s jurisdiction."
Shen Yuan fell silent. He had just surveyed Chaofeng County City with his divine sense; the remaining population within the city was already less than 5 million, and this was after people from various counties had actively converged to the city following a great calamity.
Although Chaofeng County had experienced an invasion by demons, it was impossible to massacre over a million people, and where the missing population had gone was now clear.
His gaze sweeping across the fields outside the city dense with the aura of death, a voice tinged with hidden anger slowly rose:
"Dongling True Sky, you deserve to die!"
The original plan for Shen Yuan, under the pretext of inquiring about True Monarch Zhu Heng, was to confront Dongling True Sky, just to serve notice to this Dongling True Sky. He never expected to encounter such a scene within Chaofeng County.
In Ancient Times, there were monster tribes that fed on humans, later slaughtered almost to extinction by powerful members of the Human Clan. Even with the rise of the monster tribes, there were few instances of cannibalism; they were more inclined to invade the Human Clan and occupy their Spiritual Land.
However, here in Chaofeng County, Dongling True Sky’s actions were no different from feeding on the populace.
First, they lured the monster tribe to attack the city and seize control of Chaofeng County, then they abolished currency to plunder the savings of the people. When the people were destitute, they offered incentives, driving the populace to develop the wilderness and deplete their own life force to cultivate Spiritual Wisdom.
Buried in every acre of cultivated Spiritual Farm outside the city were the bones of a large number of Chaofeng County’s people, the entire Dongling True Sky was established atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Behind Shen Yuan, Xia Yunqiu, witnessing such a scene, was also filled with anger. She had heard reports from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s Superintendent about the situation in Chaofeng County, but she had never imagined it would develop to this extent.
At this moment, the other twenty or so Void Refining True Monarchs from various forces showed even more interesting expressions.
Some were shocked at Dongling True Sky’s ruthless exploitation, some were furious at the deaths of so many members of the Human Clan, others felt guilty and averted their eyes in silence, and still, others remained indifferent, with a look of disdain.
Each great grotto heavens blessed land has its own system for governing the regions they control.
Some still operate as they did under Great Xia’s Imperial Court’s rule, while others exploit far more than Dongling True Sky did.
After all, Great Xia needed the willingness of the people and the fate of humanity to avoid shaking the foundation of the populace; however, the major powers might not consider so much. Discover stories with freewebnovel
Just as thoughts were stirring within various parties, a full moon seemed to rise from behind the mountains and swiftly descended upon the skies above Chaofeng County, which was one of the 36 Little Grotto Heavens, the Dongling True Sky.
Soon afterward, an angry voice emanated from within Dongling True Sky.
"Who are you, and why have you slain my Dongling True Sky’s disciples?"
The speaker was also a Void Refining True Monarch, and between his words, the Dongling True Sky, like a full moon, manifested a streak of blood light, carrying an ominous aura.
The majority of grotto heavens blessed lands, after being constructed for tens of thousands of years, are filled with countless ritual altars and spirit arrays, and combined with the high mobility of the grotto heavens, they surpass the Taixu Ship as a weapon of war.
The Void Refining True Monarch inside Dongling True Sky clearly sensed Shen Yuan’s hostile intentions, so he did not appear in person, but instead, he controlled the grotto heavens to come and question him.
Many True Monarchs, seeing this, couldn’t help but step back; a True Monarch who controlled a War Grotto Heavens was not the same concept as an ordinary True Monarch.
Only Shen Yuan stood proudly, his gaze fierce as if he could see through the grotto heavens to the two Void Refining True Monarchs inside who were mobilizing their disciples to control the formations.
Shen Yuan’s voice was cold as he spoke.
"Who came up with the idea to force ordinary people within Chaofeng County to reclaim the wilderness, causing countless deaths and injuries?"
"Ordinary people? You come storming in with such a fierce attitude for such a trivial matter?"
The Dongling True Sky True Monarch, who had been on guard, was immediately taken aback, his expression noticeably relaxing.
"A trivial matter?"
"They are but mere mortals. Given that you have cultivated to your current level, you must have long understood that life and death, reincarnation, is the way of Heaven and Earth Dao.
If among the dead there are those of your blood and kin, I, Dongling True Sky, am willing to offer compensation.
But if you seek to use these mortals as an excuse to pressurize me, Dongling True Sky, then I am afraid you have mistaken your target. Dongling True Sky does not succumb to such tactics!"
Within his words, the blood color upon that full moon grew even more intense.
"Is this Dongling True Sky’s answer?"
Shen Yuan’s gaze was icy; he had no intention of continuing to argue with the people of Dongling True Sky.
He knew all too well that it wasn’t only Dongling True Sky in the entire Primal Chaos Realm doing this. To prevent such incidents from happening, there was only one word—kill!
Kill until all powers are frightened, kill until all cultivators dare not act recklessly.
With this thought in mind, Shen Yuan stepped toward the full moon before him.
"Thud!"
A sound reminiscent of a heartbeat emanated from within Dongling True Sky, and before the two Void Refining True Monarchs could comprehend what had happened, they saw the originally stable space within Dongling True Sky suddenly distort, swallowing them whole.
Next moment, the space transformed, and the two Void Refining True Monarchs overseeing the War Grotto Heavens appeared directly in the present world.
"How is this possible!"
A voice of astonishment rose above Chaofeng County City, followed by the sight of an incredibly radiant sword.
That sword seemed to carry the weight of a realm, effortlessly crushing the Taoist artifacts, manifestations, and spirit souls of the two Void Refining True Monarchs.
Blood, like red crystalline jade, splattered, and two heads of shock fell from the sky into the earth.
In an instant, the two Void Refining True Monarchs were beheaded.
"You deserve to die!"
An enraged roar came from that crimson full moon, and an unstoppable powerful aura emerged from Dongling True Sky, and at that moment, the crimson War Grotto Heavens unfolded completely.
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An immense formation that blotted out the sky covered everything within a thousand miles, with formations nesting as if they merged into this part of the world, the vast grotto heavens like a profound gaping maw ready to swallow heaven and earth.
Many True Monarchs present revealed a hint of surprise on their faces at the development of the War Grotto Heavens by Dongling True Sky, which exceeded their expectations, igniting a flicker of anticipation they had never felt before.
"Could this Taoist Doyen of Dongling True Sky, utilizing the War Grotto Heavens, possibly have a chance..."
But in just the next instant, Shen Yuan gave them the answer.
Outside of the War Grotto Heavens, in a higher dimensional layer of space, a colossal hand slowly reached down, grasping that crimson full moon with the ease of picking up a marble.
More than twenty Void Refining True Monarchs widened their eyes trying to discern the secret, yet without traversing the boundaries of dimensions, lower-dimensional beings could never understand higher-dimensional existence, and all they could see was a partial projection lowered from the Great Tao Manifestation.
The Pot’s Heaven Divine Power, evolving towards the Fifth Realm in Shen Yuan’s hand, forcefully knocked down the dimensionality of the colossal Dongling True Sky.
From three dimensions to two, Dongling True Sky turned into a painting, most of its life force erased, with only the Taoist Doyen, whose body was merged with the Dao, attempting to break through the barriers with the Major Path’s true intent.
The dimensions reduced further; everything fell into the order of lines, like laws engraved within the grotto heavens, the lines of disruption entangled in Shen Yuan’s palm.
The fingers clenched, the one-dimensional lines fell to zero dimensions, turning into infinitely small points.
Then, with a light wave of the hand, the zero-dimensional points quietly dissipated, and thus, a certain grotto heavens was completely erased!