Chapter 240: Death of Purple Eyes

At the entrance to the Xuande Grotto-Heaven, dead silence reigned.

Whether top-tier or ordinary Great Cultivators, everyone instinctively looked toward the black-robed figure. With absolute, tyrannical dominance, he pulverized stars and warped space wherever he passed.

The stars in the Starry Layer ranged from tens of thousands to millions of li across. Having endured endless years, they were exceptionally sturdy. An ordinary Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator would have to slowly grind them down with their own dharma power just to take away a small fragment.

Shattering one directly? A top-tier Great Cultivator might manage it with a desperate, all-out strike, but they would certainly need to rest afterward. Yet this black-robed figure hadn't paused for a moment from the time he entered the Starry Layer until he reached the grotto-heaven entrance. He casually shattered dozens, if not hundreds, of towering stars without his aura diminishing in the slightest...

What kind of strength was this?

Was this still a Nascent Soul Stage true lord?

If the black-robed figure hadn't lacked that unique aura of merging with heaven and earth, some of the Great Cultivators present might have thought a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch had arrived in person.

"A Black Gold Mask... True Monarch Golden Face?"

Great Cultivator Doujian felt a wave of shock and dread. He had just noticed that after True Monarch Golden Face's Nascent Soul spirit body fled, the physical body that plummeted was different from a normal human body. It looked like a puppet.

But before Great Cultivator Doujian could confirm it, another perfectly intact True Monarch Golden Face arrived in person, radiating an aura far superior to the previous one.

The newly arrived True Monarch Golden Face raised his hand and collected the fleeing Nascent Soul spirit body, proving this suspicion.

"So the True Monarch Golden Face that True Monarch Chashi and the others went to such great lengths to barely defeat was merely an avatar of the real True Monarch Golden Face? No, not even an avatar—just a Second Nascent Soul controlling a puppet vessel..."

Great Cultivator Doujian's heart churned like a stormy sea.

Judging by the intensity of his aura, the True Monarch Golden Face who had just arrived in person was far more than just a little stronger than the previous one. Simply shattering dozens, if not hundreds, of towering stars along the way was completely beyond the imagination of all the Great Cultivators present.

Great Cultivator Doujian wasn't the only one to react; the other top-tier Great Cultivators had also realized part of the truth.

It couldn't be helped. With two True Monarch Golden Faces appearing one after the other, it wasn't hard to guess.

At the level of a Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator, Second Nascent Souls and possession vessels were not particularly rare methods. Great Cultivators stood at the pinnacle of the Human Realm; obtaining high-quality soul-path treasures was not too difficult for them.

However, while condensing a Second Nascent Soul was easy, cultivating it to the same strength as the primary Nascent Soul was no simple task.

The dharma cultivation resources required would multiply exponentially.

Normally, a Second Nascent Soul was weaker than the primary Nascent Soul.

But in the scene before them, the difference in strength between True Monarch Golden Face's primary Nascent Soul and his Second Nascent Soul was simply too vast.

You stowed away the Second Nascent Soul. With a slight shift of your thoughts, the Fourth-Tier Late-Stage Puppet that had fallen nearby also flew into your hand.

When the Xuande Grotto-Heaven opened this time, you hadn't wanted to interrupt your cultivation. Instead, you had the Second Nascent Soul take control of the Fourth-Tier Late-Stage vessel to retrieve the opportunities within the Xuande Grotto-Heaven on your behalf.

Combining the Second Nascent Soul with the Fourth-Tier Late-Stage vessel allowed it to unleash the strength of a legendary Great Cultivator who had broken the Nascent Soul Stage limits on the soul level. Logically speaking, no top-tier Great Cultivator should have been able to resist.

However, you still underestimated the pressure your existence exerted on the top-tier Great Cultivators of the Human Realm. Uncertain whether you would participate in the scramble for the Xuande Grotto-Heaven, these top-tier Great Cultivators from the Major Supreme Factions had all brought Quasi-Tier-5 foundations.

As a result, a Second Nascent Soul that had only broken the limits on the soul level struggled to crush them. Moreover, almost all the top-tier Great Cultivators reached an unspoken agreement to join forces and eliminate you first.

That was why the Second Nascent Soul's spirit body had to abandon the puppet vessel and flee.

Of course, since you shared consciousness with the Second Nascent Soul, you naturally knew the moment it sensed something was wrong. You immediately halted your cultivation, and your true self rushed over.

"There's nothing wrong with the puppet..."

You casually inspected the Fourth-Tier Late-Stage Puppet. Crafted from numerous peak-grade Tier 4 raw materials, it was not easily destroyed.

The Second Nascent Soul had abandoned the puppet and fled for two reasons: first, it feared being trapped inside the puppet by those top-tier Great Cultivators wielding Quasi-Tier-5 foundations; second, it wanted to regroup with you.

"And as for you all?"

You looked at the seven top-tier Great Cultivators who had just besieged you.

By now, your true self had long since activated the incomplete True Dragon Transformation. Your physical body naturally shattered the Nascent Soul Stage limits. Coupled with your soul and dharma power, your comprehensive strength far exceeded that of the Fourth-Tier Late-Stage vessel controlled by your Second Nascent Soul.

Physical body, divine soul, and dharma power—all three had broken through the limits of the Nascent Soul Stage, and not just by a narrow margin. Even in ancient times, you could have been called the strongest beneath the Heavenly Monarchs.

"Run!"

True Monarch Chashi and the other top-tier Great Cultivators retreated explosively without hesitation.

Setting aside the fact that dealing with your Second Nascent Soul had nearly drained their dharma power and soul strength—leaving them unable to recover in the short term—

Even if they could recover, facing your true self, which was vastly superior to the Second Nascent Soul, not a single top-tier Great Cultivator felt there was any hope of winning.

Some Great Cultivators even felt an intense, lethal threat coming from your true self.

Hum—

Space-compressing soul power and Nascent Soul dharma power intertwined, sweeping toward six of the frantically fleeing top-tier Great Cultivators.

In an instant, you unleashed twelve strikes—six soul attacks and six dharma attacks. Every fleeing top-tier Great Cultivator was locked onto by one dharma strike and one soul strike.

"This is—"

True Monarch Chashi only felt his soul roaring. Even among soul power that broke the Nascent Soul Stage limits, there was a difference in strength. Empowered by the incomplete True Dragon Transformation, your true self's soul power surpassed the Second Nascent Soul's.

Whoosh—

A small cauldron floated above True Monarch Chashi's head, spilling down layers of soul barriers.

Under your soul strike, the soul barriers violently shuddered before finally collapsing. The residual soul power slammed into True Monarch Chashi.

True Monarch Chashi's soul was weakened by a third. At the exact same moment, the dharma strike that surpassed the Nascent Soul Stage limits crashed down.

Suffering a grievous physical blow, True Monarch Chashi violently coughed up a mouthful of essence blood. His figure blurred as he fled downward toward the Human Realm at an even more incomprehensible speed.

"No—" Facing your soul and dharma strikes, Great Cultivator Mangu's physical body radiated indestructible golden light. He used his Indestructible Golden Body to repeatedly wear down the attacks, ultimately plummeting toward the Human Realm below at the cost of severe injuries to his flesh and soul.

Great Cultivator Suqi, True Monarch Wugan, and the other two top-tier Great Cultivators also suffered heavy injuries in the face of your full-powered strikes.

But no matter how severely injured they were, not a single top-tier Great Cultivator dared to linger; they all plummeted toward the Human Realm below.

You glanced at the six top-tier Great Cultivators whose auras were rapidly fading. With your current strength, if you chose to pursue one of them, you had the ability to kill them outright.

Since the near-ancient era, unless a Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch intervened, a top-tier Great Cultivator had never fallen in battle. Defeating a top-tier Great Cultivator and killing one were entirely different matters.

However, you had no interest in killing those six top-tier Great Cultivators. Even without your intervention, these six would gradually die off over the next few centuries—either of old age or from the fatal backlash of failing to break through to the Deity Transformation Stage.

Now heavily injured by you, even if they survived, their lifespans would be drastically reduced. They would likely all be dead within a hundred years.

Thus, they weren't even worth your attention.

Except...

You looked not far away at the frantically fleeing Purple-Eyed True Monarch.

Only this Purple-Eyed True Monarch, who had successfully stepped into the Deity Transformation Stage during your fifth simulation, was your primary target.

Even though you had snatched away his Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands opportunities in previous encounters, the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's growth rate hadn't slowed down in the slightest. Because of this, you suspected that even if he failed to obtain the Xuande Grotto-Heaven opportunity this time and was heavily injured by you...

...he would still recover once he returned to the Great Snow Mountain and successfully break through to the Deity Transformation Stage, just like in the fifth simulation.

The Purple-Eyed True Monarch was a competitor on your path to the Deity Transformation Stage, so he had to die.

Even if he managed to escape again this time, you were prepared to secretly notify Heavenly Sword Peak and use the Human Realm's strongest faction to erase both the Great Snow Mountain and the Purple-Eyed True Monarch.

"Why... why are you chasing me?"

The fleeing Purple-Eyed True Monarch was terrified to find you constantly closing the distance.

He couldn't understand why you had only struck the other six top-tier Great Cultivators once and ignored them, but specifically targeted and personally hunted him.

It wasn't fair!

The Purple-Eyed True Monarch palpably sensed the aura of death. For the opening of the Xuande Grotto-Heaven this time, he had prepared fully and brought along a Quasi-Tier-5 foundation.

Even if you did show up again, the Purple-Eyed True Monarch was confident he could retreat in one piece.

But he never expected your strength to have grown so much compared to the last time you acted—so much that he felt despair rising from the very bottom of his heart.

"True Monarch Golden Face, I admit your strength is unprecedented through ancient and modern times!"

As he fled, plummeting toward the Human Realm below, the Purple-Eyed True Monarch roared, "But if you think it is impossible for you to kill me!"

An eerie purple aura swirled around the Purple-Eyed True Monarch. The vertical eye between his brows closed, and intricate purple patterns spread, faintly threatening to cover his entire face.

"Then let's test that."

Your physical qi and blood faintly began to boil.

Body cultivation divine ability Eruption!

With a boom, your physical body and divine soul spiked once more, touching the very ceiling of the Human Realm.

"Go."

You launched another soul strike. This was a full-power attack; the soul fluctuations sent heavy ripples through space as it instantly landed on the Purple-Eyed True Monarch.

The Purple-Eyed True Monarch's soul roared, and his consciousness blurred.

Before he could recover, your physical speed surged. Compressing space, you left a long spatial tear in your wake that refused to dissipate for a long time.

Then, arriving beside the Purple-Eyed True Monarch in a flash, you reached out and slapped toward him.

Terrifying dharma power fluctuations fused with physical qi and blood. Though it didn't tear space apart, the resulting pressure was enough to suffocate an ordinary Great Cultivator.

Right at this moment—

A transparent barrier surfaced over the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's body, blocking your palm.

"Still have a life-saving trump card?"

You weren't surprised, recognizing that the defensive power of this transparent barrier reached the Quasi-Tier-5 level.

Rumble!

With a lift of your hand, you unleashed dozens of strikes. Every single one was at full power—fusing physical qi and blood, Nascent Soul dharma power, and soul power into an earth-shattering trinity.

Ultimately, the transparent barrier floating over the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's body rapidly collapsed.

The Purple-Eyed True Monarch had already recovered from your soul strike, but there was nothing he could do. His soul was heavily injured, and you were at close quarters. He could only watch helplessly as you smashed his life-saving barrier to pieces.

"A Quasi-Tier-5 life-saving method only lasted a few breaths..."

A trace of mockery appeared on the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's face. Immediately after, under your next strike, his physical body disintegrated and his Nascent Soul spirit body melted away.

"Dead?"

To ensure the Purple-Eyed True Monarch died without a doubt, you held nothing back, stopping just short of using the complete True Dragon Transformation.

Currently, the complete True Dragon Transformation was your final trump card, capable of unleashing attacks at the threshold of the Deity Transformation Stage. Unless absolutely necessary, you wouldn't use it.

Furthermore, it involved a top-tier true spirit immortal beast like the True Dragon, which was different from other methods. Until you understood the attitudes of the Human Realm's Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarchs toward True Dragons, you were unwilling to expose it.

You feared drawing a Heavenly Monarch's interest.

"Dead?"

"The Purple-Eyed True Monarch is dead?"

You collected the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's Storage Ring, feeling his soul consciousness dissipate into heaven and earth, momentarily stunned.

In your eyes, the Purple-Eyed True Monarch wasn't just a top-tier Great Cultivator; he was a future Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch. In other words, a future Deity Transformation Heavenly Monarch had died by your hands?

"He's definitely dead."

You secretly calculated, using the art of Divination to capture the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's karma.

No matter what heaven-blinding methods the Purple-Eyed True Monarch possessed, he had formed significant karma with you during your recent contact. With your Divination skills, even if you couldn't calculate his hidden secrets, you could at least lock onto whether his karma still existed.

Karma was the foundation of living beings. As long as a living being was alive, they would have karma.

The dissipation of karma meant complete death.

And at this moment, the karma belonging to the Purple-Eyed True Monarch had completely dissipated.

"The Purple-Eyed True Monarch didn't cultivate a Second Nascent Soul?"

You thought to yourself. If he had a Second Nascent Soul, even if his primary Nascent Soul died, as long as the Second Nascent Soul lived, he wouldn't be considered dead.

In the Human Realm, Great Cultivators could generally cultivate a Second Nascent Soul if they wanted to, but a large portion of them were unwilling to practice Second Nascent Soul secret arts.

A Second Nascent Soul required splitting off a portion of the primary Nascent Soul's soul consciousness, which would negatively impact Great Cultivators whose souls weren't strong.

Moreover, at the Great Cultivator level, falling in battle was virtually impossible—unless a Heavenly Monarch took action.

A Heavenly Monarch taking action? If things really reached that point, even having a Second Nascent Soul wouldn't save them.

Back at the entrance to the Xuande Grotto-Heaven, Great Cultivator Doujian and the various ordinary Great Cultivators had also witnessed the Purple-Eyed True Monarch turning to ash under your hand.

"A top-tier Great Cultivator has completely died..."

Great Cultivator Doujian and the ordinary Great Cultivators plunged into speechless shock.