Chapter 464 - 188: The Book of Reincarnation is Born, Celestial Punishment Descends

’A craving...’

Su Bai’s heart stirred, but he didn’t rush to make a move.

He clutched the book in his hand and surveyed his surroundings.

He stood upon the altar, and the Netherworld Giant City was set within it.

Atop the city walls, the Venerable Hei Bai remained seated back-to-back, both quietly watching him.

These two old monsters had allowed him to take the Book of Reincarnation without making a move, as if they had anticipated this outcome all along.

"The Book of Life and Death cannot be taken lightly. Once you take it, you must bear everything the Venerable Lord once shouldered!"

Bai You gazed at the Daoist on the altar clutching the book, a complex emotion flickering in the depths of his eyes.

’The Book of Reincarnation, or rather, the Book of Life and Death, is not something just anyone can take.’

’Even I, after meditating for thousands of years and communicating with it day after day, was completely unable to gain its acknowledgment.’

’This was certainly the Venerable Lord’s choice, but it was also the choice of the Book of Life and Death itself.’

Even with his steady Mental Realm, he couldn’t help but feel a ripple of emotion at this moment.

"Venerable Lord..."

A trace of sorrow passed through Venerable Hei Ming’s eyes.

’In the end, did you truly not have faith in us...?’

’This book is no simple thing to take...’

Su Bai glanced at the book in his hand and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

’This Book of Reincarnation is, of course, Gu Tianyun’s wondrous treasure, but it’s more than just that. It also contains the Netherworld Venerable Master’s lifelong inheritance, his insights, and even his power.’

’What is taken must be repaid.’

’But I have no choice but to take it.’

’Otherwise, even with my current Cultivation, I won’t be able to accomplish what I must do.’

’But taking this book is by no means a simple matter.’

RUMBLE!

Before his sigh had even faded, peals of thunder seemed to erupt from within everyone’s hearts, instantly shaking the entire Netherworld.

It even reached the many Cultivators in the mortal realm.

"This is..."

"Heaven’s wrath! This is heaven’s wrath!"

"The Celestial Punishment is descending! Is it because of the Netherworld Venerable Master’s Book of Reincarnation?"

At this moment, everyone—from the Netherworld to the mortal realm, from cultivation titans like the Venerable Hei Bai to the newly cultivating Nianxin Daoist Child—involuntarily looked up at the sky.

High in the firmament, in a place even the dense, gloomy fog could not obscure, thunderclouds had appeared at some unknown time, roiling and roaring with fury.

Serpentine bolts of lightning and Thunder Dragons soared within, brewing a heart-stopping Power of Destruction.

"The wrath of Heaven and Earth..."

All across the mortal realm—in the Endless Sea, the boundless swamps, deep beneath the mountains and earth, within countless cities, and even in the vast, starry sky—

—powerful consciousnesses began to slowly awaken, one after another, amidst a chorus of whispers.

As intangible energies, invisible to ordinary people, spread and surged, the various sealed lands finally began to tremble.

A certain balance was about to be broken.

WHOOSH!

Over the Da Yu Capital City, fierce winds swept across the land as dark clouds blotted out the sky.

On the towering God-Sealing Platform, Cui Yanliang watched with a grave expression, his eyes fixed on the sky. He saw a terrifying Celestial Punishment, countless times more ferocious than any Celestial Tribulation!

For a moment, he couldn’t help but feel a suffocating pressure.

Thunder. It was Supreme Yang and Firm, containing an endless Power of Destruction!

It was a destructive force even more absolute than Netherworld Death Qi.

And this Celestial Punishment was different from a Celestial Tribulation.

The latter still contained a sliver of Vitality—it was this world’s final act of mercy for its children.

The Celestial Punishment, however, came from the unseen heavens of the Golden Yuan Great World.

It came only for slaughter, only for destruction, with no trace of Vitality whatsoever.

’Teacher, just how confident are you...’

Cui Yanliang murmured to himself, his gaze seemingly piercing through the void to see Su Bai in the Netherworld.

He could not act rashly.

Because with the appearance of the Celestial Punishment, he could already faintly sense that under this immense pressure, the God-Sealing Platform beneath him had begun to undergo some kind of transformation.

"Amitabha Buddha..."

「In the Northern Continent, amidst endless glaciers.」

The Rebirth Buddha Venerable stood atop a high platform as black as ink, softly chanting a mantra:

"Fellow Daoist Su, was it worth it? To trigger the descent of the Celestial Punishment, all for these five God-Sealing Platforms..."

The platform he stood on had been forged by him on the glaciers of the Northern Continent, using ten-thousand-year-old Profound Ice mixed with the Essence of Ten Thousand Waters. Amidst the endless glaciers, its dark form was indescribably jarring and conspicuous.

Like Cui Yanliang, he too felt a tremor run through his God-Sealing Platform, the stirrings of an unimaginably immense transformation.

And this transformation had only begun after the Celestial Punishment descended.

Or perhaps, it had been waiting for the Celestial Punishment to strike elsewhere before it could begin its own transformation.

SCREECH!!

Amidst the roiling dark clouds, the Cangying King spread its wings and flew. It didn’t dare to pause for even a moment, even as the ambient Thunder Essence Qi made every feather on its body stand on end.

It flew toward the far distance, toward the high God-Sealing Platform that stood upon the glacier like a towering volcano.

WHOOSH!

On the God-Sealing Platform, the Huaisheng Daoist suddenly rose to his feet. His voice boomed across an unknown distance as he asked:

"Brother Cangying, did everything go smoothly?"

"Two in the east, two to the west, a great Monk in the north—all four continents are ready!"

The Cangying King let out a piercing cry.

Suddenly, it gave another strange shriek as it weaved through the gaps between falling bolts of lightning, its body zapped black and wracked with excruciating pain!

"That is good..."

The Huaisheng Daoist, completely relieved, sat down cross-legged once more. He silently recited scriptures, urging the God-Sealing Platform’s transformation onward.

He had rushed about for a full eight years in preparation for this day.

Now, his efforts were finally about to bear fruit.

TSSSK!!

In the Netherworld, the moment the thunderclouds of the Celestial Punishment appeared, the entire realm began to sizzle like water in a scorching-hot pan.