Chapter 717: Chapter 145: The Moon Rises Above the Sea, All Things in Heaven and Earth Perish!
Eight middle-aged men, bearing pairs of light wings like fierce beasts, suddenly descended and surrounded Wan Jian Tian without a word and launched their attack.
Each of these winged middle-aged men had vast and abyss-like vigor, and their bodies were adorned with manifest combination array patterns, with ancient beast rune symbols flickering. Perhaps their realms were not comparable to Wan Jian Tian’s, but together, their strength was remarkably astonishing.
“Pfft—”
“Rumble—”
The void was directly pierced through, but this particular space, as if under restriction, was very peculiar and extremely strong; the moment it was ruptured, it immediately healed, as if endless divine power was constantly repairing the void.
Endless slaughter energy poured down like a torrent, overwhelming Wan Jian Tian.
Wan Jian Tian stood unmoved, like a pillar supporting the heavens. He merely waved his hand and produced a light screen that instantly sent Zhou Gucheng into an unknown void, disappearing from sight.
This was a technique of grasping spatial nodes, instantly protecting Zhou Gucheng within a spatial node, impervious to any Shattering Void force, safe from harm.
Such a technique alone was enough to shock anyone to their core.
Wan Jian Tian had performed this action in but a moment. While he tended to Zhou Gucheng, allowing him to observe the battle and gain enlightenment, he left a small opening in the spatial node to spy on the outside world—a detail unknown to anyone but Zhou Gucheng himself.
Zhou Gucheng realized that Wan Jian Tian wanted him to observe and learn from the battlefield, to Enlightenment through it.
Thus, touched by Wan Jian Tian’s gesture, Zhou Gucheng immediately concentrated and held his breath, peering through the spatial node, sensing the outside and encompassing the entire Heavenly Pool within his range.
At that moment, a torrent of energy flowed down, engulfing Wan Jian Tian like a great flood.
But the flood suddenly reversed, and Wan Jian Tian’s body emitted boundless Sword Light, like ten thousand swords roaring, suddenly bursting forth with a dazzling brilliance, annihilating the relentless onslaught with endless Sword Light.
“Puff puff puff—”
“Ah…”
Screams erupted in that instant, with four of the winged men dying on the spot, their bodies impaled and penetrated by Sword Light, disintegrating into blood mist, meeting their end right there.
The remaining four immediately retreated, but they couldn’t escape the peerless killing intent. Intense Sword Lights screamed through the air, unleashing the destructive power of the Sword Dao.
“Pfft pfft—”
In an instant, the remaining four turned to dust, likewise disintegrating into mists of blood.
At the same time, endless Sword Lights converged and shot out a ray of Sword Light bearing a terrifying Soul Killing aura, as if light reflected from a mirror.
The light beamed forth, and in the void ahead, five men in white scholarly robes appeared out of nowhere. These five, suspended in the void in their scholarly robes, didn’t even have the chance to dodge nor to deploy their killer moves. They were illuminated by the light, their bodies instantly pierced by the Sword Light like hedgehogs, spraying blood mist as they fell from the void, not disintegrating but instead falling dead like rigid corpses.
Witnessing this scene, Zhou Gucheng couldn’t help but gasp in shock. The ferocity and the ruthlessness of the massacre, although brutal, made his blood boil with excitement, wishing he could join the fray immediately.
However, Zhou Gucheng knew that if he went out there, he would only hinder Wan Jian Tian, rather than killing to his heart’s content.
Everyone who died here was far, far stronger than him, and yet, they had all died.
The reality of ‘human life being as insignificant as grass’ became starkly apparent in this moment.
The impact on Zhou Gucheng was profound, but he also understood that if weaklings were on his side, the ones dying wouldn’t be the enemies, but themselves!
There was no reason to lament the insignificance of life; only by growing stronger could one treat others as insignificant, rather than being the insignificant one in the eyes of others.
…
Zhou Gucheng was momentarily distracted when Wan Jian Tian once again faced a mad assault.
But this time, more than a dozen people encircled Wan Jian Tian, unleashing various fierce, cruel, bizarre, evil, and vicious Holy Artifacts and decayed ancient weapons, constantly attacking him.
The offensive was dense like a furious storm, incredibly ferocious and cruel.
“Boom!”
Wan Jian Tian’s body trembled as he released boundless Soul Killing aura from behind. The aura soared skyward, like a blood moon rising over the sea, manifesting nearly Divine Power.
The Soul Path aura, Soul Killing will!
Vast Qi like the sea, Soul Killing like the moon!
When the moon rises above the sea, all Heaven and Earth, all creatures perish!
Killing Spirit Divine Dao!
This was Lei Yan King’s supreme art of slaughter—the Killing Spirit Divine Dao, nearly Immortal.
The peerless and invincible Killing Spirit Divine Dao, known to Wan Jian Tian, seemed to shock everyone present.
The Killing Spirit Divine Dao burst forth, hitting a vast Void, enveloping an endless extent, covering all Cultivators within.
The number of Cultivators that came to this place was far more than imagined. Cultivators from the Heavenly Que Sacred Land and the Demon Soul Palace swarmed like endless streams. When the Divine Light enveloped them, Zhou Gucheng sensed the teeming Cultivators, dense as locusts, numerous as cow hairs.
A massive swarm of enemies was swept up, suppressed by the Killing Spirit Divine Dao, and in an instant, Wan Jian Tian unleashed a stunningly beautiful sword strike, cutting swaths of Cultivators in half at the waist, with splashes of blood flowing everywhere, a literal river of blood.
Corpses appeared one after another; the entire Heavenly Pool transformed into a crimson Blood Pool. Wan Jian Tian’s hair was disheveled, whipped into frenzied tangles by the wind.
The sword in his hand, unbloodied, radiated a formidable and terrible intent to slaughter.
He was like a god of slaughter, his gaze fierce as a wild beast’s, starkly different from the indifference and cruelty he had displayed in the Thunder Expansion Sacred Land before.
“Shh, shh—”
Suddenly, a woman emerged from the Void, her entire being manifesting mystical anomalies.
She was dressed in pale yellow gossamer robes, her demeanor shrouded in mystery. Her body shimmered with a divine light, mysterious yet pure as an immortal spirit. With every step she took, it seemed as though she made no movement at all, as if everything were an illusion.
“Ten Thousand Swords Heaven, we meet again.”
The woman spoke with a voice as indifferent as snow.
“Xiao Ziyi, it’s you again! Back then, it was you who got me suppressed by the king, and now you’ve sprung out again! The king treated you well too, you, you are truly disappointing!”
Ten Thousand Swords Heaven’s face darkened as he rebuked her coldly.
At that moment, the cultivators who were besieging him dissipated like smoke, the Void returned to its desolate silence, and in an instant, the endless Blood Sea and the scarlet Heavenly Pool both vanished.
The changes in the Void were strange and inscrutable.
Zhou Gucheng was utterly bewildered, one moment there was a sea of blood engulfing the sky, the next everything was back to normal—could it all have been an illusion?
That was impossible!
Zhou Gucheng pondered doubtfully but was also paying attention to the conversation between Ten Thousand Swords Heaven and this mysterious woman.
“Some of the king’s orders can be obeyed, but some should not be heeded.”
The woman sighed as she spoke.
With a casual wave, she summoned the Killing Spirit Divine Dao, materializing a space where many people were imprisoned.
Among these people were Hou Ling’er, Zhou Xian, Zhou Qianqian, and Li Wuxian, but none like Zhuge Chunqiu, Jia Yongheng, or Zhuge Jiayue who possessed special constitutions.
However, every person who appeared in this space seemed to be tormented, their souls extracted as if they were undergoing some cruel trial.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Ten Thousand Swords Heaven’s face grew icy, his killing intent more intense.
“Don’t you understand? The king’s plan was almost ruined once before. Apart from the brainless woman Mu Qingyan, there was another woman involved with the king, but he abandoned that memory.
The king gave up, but I haven’t given up on that woman, heh heh.”
The woman sneered, and after a brief silence, she continued, “Let’s not talk about that for now, you know, there’s been a change in the Sword Burial Ancestor Star. The king reached his end in his past life; if he is to rise in this life, I will certainly remove all the dangers for him! He’s bound to have a few pawns by his side, but who these people are, nobody knows. So I might as well capture them all using Soul Killing Chains to imprison them. I’d rather wrongfully kill countless people, even collaborate with the enemy, just to capture them all!”
“And besides, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.”
“You’re insane! If you do this, the king, the current Saint Master, will be very angry once he finds out!”
Ten Thousand Swords Heaven shouted in anger.
“Insane? No, we just see things from different perspectives. I simply do not wish to see him suffer anymore! Do you know? Those people, heh, they never think, did the king not save them because he was hurt, was he constrained in his cultivation, could he have been in Enlightenment?
The king is so good to them, but what about them? Dissatisfied here, dissatisfied there!
Even though the king can sometimes become extremely violent or even abusive and torturous toward us due to the mishaps with the Demon Heart Sword Body, after each incident, he is very remorseful and treats us even better, imparting us superior Tao to compensate.”
“But I can’t stand it; I don’t want the king to take on everything himself. He does not deserve to toil and bear everything; nor does he need to take on what he shouldn’t! Responsibility? That’s just a joke! Besides Divine Fist Li, is there really anything in this world worth the king’s treasure? As for the brainless woman Mu Qingyan, with all her capabilities, she’s really disappointing!
So, because of the king’s kindness to me, I want to bear everything for him. What’s wrong with becoming a demon? I just need to fulfill my goals; nothing else matters.”
“This is the meaning of my life!”
The woman said somewhat maniacally.
Though her words were somewhat paranoid, they left Ten Thousand Swords Heaven speechless.
And Zhou Gucheng, who heard all this, felt a great deal of empathy.
Hadn’t he felt powerless against the Heavenly Destiny plan and chosen to attack the young master Zhou Yan with the same mindset? And wasn’t his thirst for mad strength the same?
“I know the purpose of your coming here, Ten Thousand Swords Heaven. However, I won’t fight you—you’re no match for me! But rest assured, I’ll soul-interrogate all the geniuses in Nine Origin Heavenly City to identify the suspects.”
“Additionally, my Demon Soul Palace is different from the Heavenly Que Sacred Land. You’ll understand how later. But if this trip is due to that incident, I can only say you’ve underestimated me.
The daughter of the king—the Saint Master—I will not touch, but I can deduce this much: No one abducted her; instead, she went to the Netherworld Life and Death Illusion Realm with an endless killing intent. That is the dwelling of the Netherworld Palace, and her going there likely means the Demon Heart is acting up, making her want to slay the Saint Master.”
“We are powerless in this matter.”
“Also, what has become of the Evil King and others, I do not know! Their situation is very peculiar; no one knows why these Saints suddenly disappeared. I am also investigating this.”
The woman spoke in a cold voice.
With that, she turned her head to look at the winged men hiding in the Void, still intending to take action, and said, “Have your leader of Heavenly Que come to me; I, Xiao Ziyi, will give him an explanation!”
With a casual remark, the winged men immediately bowed and said, “Yes, Palace Master Xiao.”
Having said that, the cultivators dispersed, truly leaving without daring to linger for a moment.