Once Xuanhe Zhenren's primordial spirit had been completely consumed by the Guixu Blade, the forbidden area behind the mountain finally succumbed to the intense killing intent, collapsing with a deafening roar.
Space itself shattered, cracking and splintering. The 'Great Evolution Zhou Tian Formation', which had been protecting the area, shattered like fragile glass, pulverised from within by a pale yet heavy force. Amidst the swirling fragments of the formation, a man wearing a white feather cloak and with a face as handsome as jade slowly emerged.
He appeared to be no more than thirty years old, yet his eyes held a profound wisdom that had seen through the cycles of reincarnation. With each step he took, ice lotuses bloomed from the ruins beneath his feet — a 'lotus blossom at every step' effect caused by the extreme concentration of spiritual energy, a sign of the Mahayana stage.
He was Lu Qingyun, the standard-bearer of the Immortal Alliance for three thousand years and the only True God in the cultivation world.
Lu Qingyun paused in the void and looked down at Xiao Wuchen, whose tattered body exuded an aura of world destruction.
'Three thousand years ago, when I beheaded you atop the imperial city, I foresaw your fate.' Lu Qingyun's voice was calm and undisturbed, yet it stirred thunder in everyone's minds. 'The divination said your soul would "return to nothingness", but I never imagined you would crawl back from the Void of Death, armed only with mortal iron.'
Leaning on his Void-Slaying Saber, Xiao Wuchen spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with lightning and laughed hoarsely.
'Lu Qingyun, your divination was wrong. The wronged souls of the Great Qian Dynasty do not enter reincarnation. They are inside my armour, waiting to hear the sound of your neck breaking.'
Lu Qingyun gently shook his head, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes. However, his right hand ruthlessly formed a sword with his fingers and lightly slashed downwards.
In an instant, Xiao Wuchen felt the surrounding space freeze. It was more than just a suppression of spiritual energy; it was a physical 'erasure'. The Thunder Dragon Rider armour surrounding him began to disintegrate like sand.
[System Highest Warning: 'Law Correction' Detected]
[Judgement: The opponent is tampering with the physical constants of this area.'
[Warning: Synchronisation rate decreasing; armour structure stability reduced by 30%.
'The power that mortals pursue is nothing but a sandcastle on the beach before the laws.' Lu Qingyun said calmly, 'Disperse.'
'Laws, is that it?' Xiao Wuchen suddenly looked up. The purple flames under his helmet contracted violently and transformed into two deep black holes.
'Since you use the laws of Heaven to correct me, then I will use these three thousand years of resentment to pollute your Heavenly Dao!'
Instead of retreating, Xiao Wuchen advanced. His armour twisted wildly under the pressure of the laws, revealing the lightning-infused Thunderous Demon Bones within. He took a step and the ice lotus beneath his feet instantly turned dark purple and withered.
'Leng Wuxue, all troops enter "Return to Nothingness State"!'
At this moment, the three thousand Thunder Dragon Riders let out a shrill roar in unison. They willingly relinquished their newly acquired dragon vein bodies, transforming into three thousand pure negative energy fluctuations. Like a thousand arrows piercing the heart, these fluctuations converged into Xiao Wuchen's Guixu Blade.
Guixu Forbidden Sword, Second Form, God-Slaying!
The previously wailing Xuanhe Primordial Spirit was instantly devoured by these three thousand army souls on the longsword, which transformed into an unbearably dark crescent moon.
Xiao Wuchen's legs suddenly propelled him forward, and he transformed into a streak of black light rising against the heavens. Within this pure white domain of laws, he tore open an unhealable rift.
'Lu Qingyun, come down from the clouds!'
Lu Qingyun's expression changed. Since advancing to the Mahayana stage, he had been able to manipulate the spiritual energy, space and time of this world at will. But in the face of this crescent-shaped, pitch-black blade of light, his proud 'Heavenly Principles' were like a piece of white paper pierced by concentrated sulphuric acid, emitting an ear-splitting 'sizzling' sound.
'Impossible... you actually conceal the origin of "Return to Nothingness" within this mortal iron?'
[Eye of Truth: Logic Alteration Completion 85%]
[Current status: selfless sacrifice]
[Warning: The host's core is collapsing due to overload. Estimated remaining battle time: three minutes.] Xiao Wuchen did not answer, for he could no longer speak; his vocal cords had been charred beyond repair in the clash of laws long ago. It was only the overwhelming hatred that had built up over three thousand years that sustained his charge: 'Thunder Flash – Void Leap!'
Xiao Wuchen's figure flickered continuously in the white light. With each flicker, Lu Qingyun's protective aura shaved away a layer of his armour. By the time he was three feet away, his prized black-gold armour was shattered, revealing the cracked, purple-lightning-filled demonic bones beneath.
"Seeking death!" Lu Qingyun snorted coldly, forming a sword-like gesture with his right hand and unleashing a golden sword aura powerful enough to cleave stars. It was aimed straight for Xiao Wuchen's heart.
However, Xiao Wuchen neither dodged nor evaded. Instead, he shifted his body slightly, using his hard left shoulder to collide directly with the sword aura!
The sword aura, at the Mahayana stage, instantly pierced Xiao Wuchen's shoulder, tearing his entire left arm and half of his shoulder into a cloud of blood and metal fragments. But, in this desperate moment, Xiao Wuchen's right hand finally moved.
Coiled with the souls of three thousand soldiers and having devoured Xuanhe's primordial spirit, the Void-Slaying Horse-Slaying Blade plunged into Lu Qingyun's untouched right shoulder in destructive silence.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only an extremely subdued, corrosive sound.
Jet-black cracks rapidly spread from the blade's edge across Lu Qingyun's flawless immortal body — the 'Poison of Cause and Effect', the final curse of the Great Qian people slaughtered three thousand years ago.
'You... you actually used your own soul as a catalyst just to hurt me?' Lu Qingyun's pupils trembled violently. For the first time, he saw terror in those purple, fiery eyes.
It was the madness of 'pulling a god down with you'.
Xiao Wuchen gripped the blade with one hand. Despite half his body having vanished and his energy leaking wildly from his body, he leaned close to Lu Qingyun's ear and let out a silent, cold laugh.
At that moment, three thousand overlapping voices exploded simultaneously in Lu Qingyun's mind: 'Lu Qingyun, do gods also feel pain?'
Lu Qingyun panicked. For the first time, his eyes, which had once surveyed the vastness of the world, reflected utter horror. He attempted to destroy Xiao Wuchen's broken body with a single blow, but found that the Guixu longsword embedded in his shoulder was like a demonic tree deeply rooted in the earth, sprouting countless dark red tentacles. These tentacles forcibly locked their primordial spirits together along his meridians.
"Madman... you madman!" Lu Qingyun frantically channelled his Mahayana-stage primordial spiritual power, trying to expel the poison of cause and effect from his body. 'You're destroying your own reincarnation, destined for eternal damnation!'
Xiao Wuchen's remaining right hand gripped Lu Qingyun's nape tightly. Within his semi-transparent demonic bones, the 'Cold Iron Core' trembled at an extremely high frequency — the final cry of a furnace about to explode.
[System Ultimate Command: Raider – Return to Ruins Co-Death Mode]
[Judgement: Mahayana Stage Life Source Locked]
[Energy clash: 300%... 600%... Activate 'Gravity collapse'].
Under the despairing gaze of the remaining tens of thousands of cultivators on Lingxiao Peak, the once invincible golden dharma image collapsed with a deafening roar.
Xiao Wuchen, dragging Lu Qingyun, transformed into a dark red meteor and smashed directly through the foundation of the Lingxiao Palace, plummeting into the deepest, coldest abyss of the earth's veins at the base of the peak.
The space along the way was continuously annihilated by the clash of two extremely powerful forces. Lu Qingyun's white feather cloak turned to ashes in the lightning and fire. His immortal body cracked open, covered in shocking bloodstains, due to Xiao Wuchen's near-suicidal spiritual energy self-destruction.
They crashed heavily onto the 'Foundation of Luck' at the bottom of Lingxiao Peak — the core where the Immortal Alliance had suppressed the remnants of the Great Qian Dynasty and gathered spiritual energy.
The two figures crashed heavily onto the 'Foundation of Luck' at the bottom of Lingxiao Peak. This was the core where the Immortal Alliance had suppressed the remnants of the Great Qian Dynasty for three thousand years, gathering the world's spiritual energy in the process. Xiao Wuchen used his last ounce of strength to drive the Guixu Longsword deep into the heart of the earth.
'Lu Qingyun, didn't you want the fortune of the Great Qian Dynasty?'
Xiao Wuchen's voice echoed in Lu Qingyun's mind as a savage laugh echoed from three thousand soldiers.
'Today, I will repay you for all the blood debts you've swallowed!'
[Guixu Forbidden Sword: Ultimate Style — Burial of All Things]!
A black sphere with a radius of ten thousand feet instantly expanded, centred on the two of them.
Within the area covered by this sphere, there was no sound, light or shadow. All matter was forcibly reduced to its most primordial particles. Lingxiao Peak crumbled from its base, the immortal mist was swallowed and the formation erased.
Lu Qingyun let out a final, piercing scream. His Mahayana Dao Fruit melted away like snow under the scorching sun in the face of the power of 'Guixu'.
As he lost consciousness, Xiao Wuchen seemed to see the banners of the Great Qian Imperial City fluttering in the darkness once more.
'Master... we're home.' Leng Wuxue's voice faded into the distance over the communication cable.