The Great Qian flag rose once more, the black-gold dragon and shattered gears on its surface imbuing the northern winds with a chilling metallic intensity. The gates of Shengjing City swung open and 3,000 'Undying Dragon Guards' marched out in perfect unison. Their footsteps were no longer the clatter of flesh against earth, but the resounding boom of thousands of tons of dark gold armour. Behind each guard were three 'Immortal-Slaying Crossbows', crackling with eerie purple arcs of electricity and with arrowheads that distorted the surrounding space.
'System log: Final War Mode activated.'
'Current Synchronisation Rate: 99.9% (Will and National Destiny completely anchored).'
[Strategic Objective: Eliminate all Immortal Sect forces on the surface and establish the 'Spirit-Slaying Order'. Dimensional Slaughter — The Battle of Changping Plains
Southern Edge, Changping Plains.
This was once the last gathering place of the Immortal Alliance. Dozens of sects joined forces to assemble an army of cultivators, claiming they numbered 'millions'. They unleashed thousands of defensive magical artefacts, layer upon layer of light screens dyeing the sky with vibrant colours in an attempt to block the black torrent.
"Release!" Leng Wuxue's voice was icy and merciless.
Three thousand dark purple arrows tore instantly through the air. There were no earth-shattering incantations, only sharp whistling sounds. Those defensive barriers, which were supposedly capable of withstanding meteorite impacts, were like fragile soap bubbles in the face of the 'Immortal-Slaying Crossbows'. The 'Law Stripping' attribute on the arrowheads eradicated their underlying logic the moment they touched the light screen.
A Nascent Soul-stage elder was stunned to find that his protective divine light, which he had always been proud of, vanished instantly when the arrows grazed him. Before he could react, his body and golden core disintegrated into primordial carbon dust under the scorching black flames. This was an unequal war.
The cultivators were horrified to discover that their prized flying swords would fall inexplicably mid-flight, that their incantations had become dry and ineffective within the domain of the 'dark gold man', and that the ironclad armour of the Great Qian Empire was advancing relentlessly, crushing and reaping all before it.
Meanwhile, Xiao Wuchen sat atop the 'Return to the Void Dragon Chariot', pulled by the remains of a nine-headed dragon. He gently rotated the 'Nine Dragons Return to the Void Seal', transforming the scattered soul power and spiritual energy of the battlefield into the driving force for the ever-expanding Shengjing City.
'This era no longer needs gods.' Xiao Wuchen looked at the defeated so-called 'high immortals' before him, his eyes filled with indifference. After the last banner of an immortal sect was engulfed in flames, he led his army back to the former site of Lingxiao Peak, once the pinnacle of order and now a bottomless pit leading to the abyss. He walked to the centre of the pit and plunged the Return-to-the-Void Horse-Slaying Blade deep into it.
With the final tremor of the Nine Dragons Return to the Void Seal, a black-gold grid covering the entire globe rose from the earth. From that moment on, all spiritual energy and laws on this continent would be subject to the supervision of the Great Qian Law.
'Long live the Emperor! May the Great Qian prosper forever!' Three thousand Dragon Guards and tens of millions of Yin Soldiers knelt simultaneously, their shouts shattering the dark clouds stretching for miles. Xiao Wuchen raised his head and looked at the 'Upper Realm' above the clouds. That once inaccessible place seemed to tremble.
'Lu Qingyun, can you see this?' He stroked his dragon-patterned armour, his voice deep and powerful. 'From this day forward,' he continued, 'there are no gods, only humans.'
On the ruins of Lingxiao Peak, black-gold spiritual pressure manifested as solid chains, completely sealing off the space within a ten-thousand-mile radius. Xiao Wuchen did not rush to pursue the rogue cultivators who had fled into the mountains. Instead, he stood at the edge of the abyss and launched the Nine Dragons Returning to the Void Seal into the sky.
The jade seal expanded wildly in the air and eventually transformed into nine black-gold cauldrons, each one thousand feet tall. They fell to the ground in nine different locations across the continent.
[System Command: All-Dimensional Anti-Magic Protocol Activated]
[Underlying logic rewritten: Spiritual energy conductivity reduced by 99%; willpower resonance increased by 500%.'
[Judgment: From this moment forward, only the 'willpower' of the Great Qian people can drive the energy of this world.'
As the nine cauldrons landed, a muffled hum reverberated throughout the world.The once-invincible sword cultivators now lie fallen, lined up like stray dogs and stripped of their magnificent robes, wearing heavy work clothes instead. Supervised by the Great Qian, they used their remaining magical power to mine ore, forge gears and build the 'Return to the Void' railway, which spans the continent.
Xiao Wuchen returned to the heart of Shengjing. Instead of taking his place on the golden dragon throne, however, he entered the furnace at the core of the Black Gold Tower. As his body merged with the 'Return to the Void', he gradually lost the characteristics of carbon-based life. Liquid purple lightning flowed through his veins and his heart became an inexhaustible gravitational singularity.
'Master, the Southern Border is secured, and the Immortal-Slaying Crossbows have been deployed to the city defence forces of every province.' Leng Wuxue knelt beside the furnace, his voice filled with fervour unlike anything before. Xiao Wuchen closed his eyes, sensing the breaths of millions of mortals on this land. They no longer feared the lightning of the gods, nor did they humbly beg for rain, for the Great Qian Dynasty's advanced technology was transforming rivers and controlling the climate for them.
'Not enough.' Xiao Wuchen opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the heavy tower and striking directly at the 'True Immortal Realm' still hidden behind the void.
'They are still watching from above. As long as the Immortal Gate remains closed, the mortals of this world will forever be parasites that they keep.' He gripped the Guixu Longsword tightly, his black-gold wings unfurling once more, each feather gleaming with a cold, rebellious light.
'Now that this world has returned to the mortals, the next step is to dismantle the Lingxiao Palace and use it to pave the roads.' Xiao Wuchen's voice deepened like an abyss.
In the heart of Shengjing, the black-gold tower had been transformed into an enormous dimensional engine. Xiao Wuchen stood on top of it, holding the Nine Dragons Returning to the Void Seal, which had been reforged from the 'Heaven-Stabilising Ruler'. As the resonance of the Nine Cauldrons of the Northern Territory reached its peak, all the spiritual energy on the continent was concentrated into a single point by force. The system issued its highest command: 'Activate the "Southern Heavenly Gate" capture program.'
[Current Synchronisation Rate: 100% — Host Life Form: Returning to the Void Emperor'.
[Warning: This action will completely tear apart the dimensional barrier, provoking a full-scale counterattack from the True Immortal Realm."
'Counterattack?' A cruel smile curled the corners of Xiao Wuchen's lips. 'I've been waiting for your counterattack.'
Above Shengjing City, the colossal flagship 'Returning to the Void', formed from the wreckage of countless immortal sect spirit ships, slowly ascended. Covered in dark gold armour, it was no longer a weak magical artefact driven by spiritual energy, but a war machine equipped with hundreds of 'Returning to the Void Collapse Cannons'.
Three thousand Undying Dragon Guards stood in perfect formation on the deck, their Immortal-Slaying Crossbows locked onto the golden rift in the sky. 'Lu Qingyun and you self-proclaimed high and mighty gods...' Xiao Wuchen abruptly pressed the Nine Dragons Returning to the Void Seal into the core slot at the top of the tower.
'Open the gate!' A dark purple energy pillar shot into the sky from Shengjing, striking the golden rift in the heavens precisely — a resounding slap from mortals to the celestial realm.
Golden clouds crumbled like shattered mirrors to reveal a magnificent, sacred palace complex, exuding an aura of decay. At the entrance stood a massive stone tablet inscribed with the three ancient characters 'Southern Heavenly Gate'.
'All soldiers, heed my command!' Xiao Wuchen drew his longsword and his black-gold wings unfolded instantly, their vast span obscuring half of Shengjing. 'Three thousand years ago, they slaughtered my people and cut off my lineage! Today, we will use their immortal blood to wash away the banners of the Great Qian!"
'Kill!' Three thousand iron cavalrymen transformed into dark purple meteors and soared against the current, reaching the heavens and, for the first time, planting a black flag before the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Great Qian. The roar of the Immortal-Slaying Crossbows echoed through the sky, and with each bolt an 'Immortal General' fell. Xiao Wuchen led the charge, his Guixu Horse-Slaying Blade leaving black marks in the pure air of the Immortal Realm. No one knew how long the battle lasted.
All they saw was the golden sea of clouds in the sky gradually turning dark purple and the Southern Heavenly Gate, once a symbol of absolute rule, collapsing under the bombardment of the Guixu Collapse Cannon. Half a plaque fell into the ruins of Shengjing, providing mortals with gossip. After Xiao Wuchen had trampled the last True Immortal underfoot and stripped him of his immortal status, he stood on the highest point of Lingxiao Palace and looked back at the mortal realm. Instead of sitting on the golden immortal throne, he cleaved it to pieces with a single stroke of his sword.
'From this day forward, there will be no more Immortal Realm in this world,' Xiao Wuchen's voice echoed across the land.
'The fate of mortals rests solely in their own hands.'