Chapter 454 - 403: Indestructible

In the All Marvelous Heaven, the newly born Blood Sea Fruit Position hung quietly in the vast void, like a blood-red moon.

Its appearance caused a faint ripple to spread across this eternally unchanging, jade-like heaven.

The ripple was so light, as subtle as a speck of dust falling into the ocean, or a gentle breeze brushing across the river of ages.

But it was this imperceptible, subtle influence...

...that became the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

It became the catalyst—

—that awakened the True Monarchs.

On the battlefield below, high above the Celestial Vault.

Among the ranks of the Vast Sacred Land, the eyes of an old man with white hair and a beard, dressed in a simple scholar’s robe, suddenly focused. His eyes, though murky, held the wisdom of all ages.

The pause lasted but a moment.

But in that instant, the madness and killing intent in his eyes receded like a tide, replaced by a vast, spreading clarity!

"This is..."

Saint Wang’s lips trembled slightly, a sliver of incredulous horror flashing through his newly cleared eyes.

He looked up at the True Monarchs still locked in a standoff across the Celestial Vault, at his own right hand that had been on the verge of striking, and at the terrifying killing intent that permeated Heaven and Earth, an intent potent enough to drive any True Monarch to madness.

A chill rose from the bottom of his heart.

At the same moment!

In the direction of the Sword Pavilion, the eyes of Qingyuan Dao Seeking True Monarch—as clear as an infant’s, yet as deep as a chasm of swords—also focused sharply!

His pause was even quicker than Saint Wang’s, sharper, like a flash of sword light cleaving through chaos!

The Sword Intent around him, which had been soaring to the heavens, threatening to sever all things, suddenly retracted at this moment!

He lowered his gaze to his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword, at the blade that had been on the verge of being drawn.

His knuckles were white.

Yet he himself hadn’t even noticed.

’This isn’t right...’

Qingyuan Dao Seeking True Monarch muttered to himself. His voice wasn’t loud, but it possessed the clear, ringing quality of a sword.

He looked up toward True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law, toward Nine Revolutions Undying True Monarch, toward Nine Nether Sun-devouring True Monarch, toward all the figures who were still in a standoff, but were now beginning to show subtle changes.

The clarity in his eyes grew ever stronger.

And from the direction of the Wuji Holy Sect, the world-freezing eyes of the True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law also trembled violently in that same instant!

In that tremor was the bewilderment after madness receded, the heart-pounding panic after bewilderment, and after the panic—a bone-deep chill!

He recalled the words he had just spoken.

’Sink the Profound Yellow Origin Realm?’

’Would I, the True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law, really say something like that?’

The clarity in his eyes was completely restored!

"Someone..."

He spoke slowly, his voice low and heavy with incredible gravity:

"...is influencing us!"

***

At almost the exact same instant that the three True Monarchs awakened—

In the All Marvelous Heaven.

In the depths of the vast, boundless, and eternally unchanging void, within an ultimate darkness that not even the light of the Fruit Positions could illuminate...

...the silhouette of a person slowly emerged.

The silhouette was exceedingly faint, so faint it was almost imperceptible.

It flickered in and out of existence, as if it were nothing more than a lingering wisp of regret, or perhaps a projection from a place even more ancient and fundamental than the All Marvelous Heaven itself.

He stood there quietly in the void, leaking no aura, circulating no Dao Rhyme.

He was clearly within the All Marvelous Heaven, standing right among the suspended Fruit Positions.

And yet, those Fruit Positions—the fundamental anchors of this realm’s Supreme beings—

—paid him no heed whatsoever.

The moment the three True Monarchs awakened.

A pair of eyes slowly opened on the silhouette’s face.

They were the color of pale gold.

It was as if they contained all the heavens and universes, encompassing the Grand Thousand Worlds.

As they opened and closed, suns, moons, and stars rose and set within them, thousands of worlds were born and destroyed, and endless threads of causality intertwined, tangled, and snapped.

He just watched.

He watched the newly risen Blood Sea Fruit Position in the All Marvelous Heaven, which was now trembling slightly.

He watched the blood-colored figure anchored within the Fruit Position, who had just completed his ascension.

His lips did not move.

But a voice rang out directly upon the Blood Sea Fruit Position, echoing in the depths of Nether Spring’s True Spirit.

It was ethereal and illusory, yet as heavy as a Divine Mountain of antiquity:

"You ruined my game..."

"I cannot let you live..."

The moment the voice faded!

The next instant!

Nether Spring’s True Spirit, which had just been anchored in the Fruit Position, suddenly felt an indescribably immense crisis!

The danger did not come from a specific direction, nor from a specific entity, but from...

...all directions!

From the entire All Marvelous Heaven!

It was as if the whole of Heaven and Earth had suddenly deemed him a mortal enemy!

"BOOM—!!!"

An indescribably terrifying force crushed down from the void!

The power was vast, horrifying, and utterly irresistible.

It made Nether Spring, who had just ascended, feel a tremor originating from the deepest part of his True Spirit!

It was a suppression of Status!

It was the absolute suppression of a newly ascended True Monarch by an existence higher and more fundamental than a True Monarch!

He didn’t even have time to react, to summon Ah Bi and Yuan Tu, or to mobilize the Power of the Blood Sea.

The boundless force had already descended!

"PFFT..."

A soft sound.

It was so faint it was almost imperceptible, yet it echoed clearly throughout the All Marvelous Heaven, across every Fruit Position, and in the depths of every True Monarch’s True Spirit.

In that one instant, the newly ascended Blood Sea True Monarch had been erased by some ineffable existence!

This drastic change, happening in the blink of an eye,

...was like a basin of ice-cold water poured over the heart of every True Monarch who had not yet fully awakened!

An unprecedented, brilliant divine light erupted from the world-freezing eyes of the True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law!

The Sword Intent around Qingyuan Dao Seeking True Monarch soared to the heavens, and his never-before-drawn Ancient Sword let out a clear, ringing cry!

Behind Saint Wang, the illusory Ancient Scroll of the Vast Sacred Land unfurled with a great roar, and countless sagely texts transformed into golden light, illuminating half the Celestial Vault!

Three Fruit Positions simultaneously blazed with brilliant light in the All Marvelous Heaven!

Like three suns rising at once, they illuminated that eternally dark, Supreme void.

Wherever the light passed, the bizarre aura shrouding the All Marvelous Heaven was forcibly torn apart, revealing numerous fissures!

And under the impact of this grand display of power,

...the other True Monarchs, who had not yet fully awakened, were finally startled into full consciousness!

They looked at each other, seeing the madness that had not yet fully faded from one another’s eyes, and looking at their own postures, which had been on the verge of attack.

A bone-deep chill exploded in the hearts of all the True Monarchs at once!

’They had actually...’

’...fallen into a trap without even realizing it!’

***

In the All Marvelous Heaven.

The silhouette watched the Fruit Positions blaze with light and the True Monarchs’ True Spirits fully awaken. A faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation flickered in the depths of its pale golden eyes.

Within that fluctuation was surprise, gravity, and also a trace of—inexplicable regret.

Then, the silhouette began to slowly fade away.

As if it had never appeared.

As if it were just an illusion.

But in its final moment, those pale golden eyes remained fixed upon Nether Spring’s Blood Sea Fruit Position.

As if to memorize the existence that dared to ruin its game.

And then—

—it dissipated completely.

***

In the All Marvelous Heaven, the brilliantly shining Fruit Positions gradually calmed down.

But the True Spirits of all the True Monarchs remained immersed in the soul-stirring scene from moments ago, unable to find peace for a long time.

"[Above the True Monarch]..."

Qingyuan Dao Seeking True Monarch spoke slowly. His infant-clear eyes stared in the direction where the silhouette had vanished, and his right hand, gripping his sword hilt, tightened slightly.

"To think that we... would one day become pawns on a chessboard."

The True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes like stagnant water, holding nothing but a bottomless calm.

But beneath that calm, an undercurrent was surging.

He spoke slowly:

"It seems our previous speculations were all wrong..."

He paused for a moment, and a faint, almost solemn light flashed in the depths of his eyes.

"Welcoming ’Them’ back..."

"...is clearly a path to ruin. A complete and utter path to ruin."

Hearing this, Saint Wang nodded slightly.

A look of emotion appeared on his aged face.

He looked at the still-spinning Blood Sea Fruit Position in the All Marvelous Heaven, at the erased figure within it, and a complex light flashed in his murky old eyes.

"Alas..."

He sighed softly.

"A pity about that fellow Daoist..."

"If he hadn’t sacrificed his life to awaken us..."

"...the Profound Yellow would have been finished."

As soon as these words were spoken, silence fell over the All Marvelous Heaven.

All the True Monarchs, as if by unspoken agreement, turned their gazes to the Blood Sea Fruit Position.

The Fruit Position that had just been attained, that should have been enjoying eternal glory.

Silence.

A long silence.

"A pity..."

Nine Revolutions Undying True Monarch muttered to himself, a complex light flickering in his golden eyes.

Nine Nether Sun-devouring True Monarch said nothing, but his ghostly green eyes gave the Blood Sea Fruit Position a deep look.

The other True Monarchs also remained silent.

Yes, a pity indeed.

A pity that the newly ascended Daoist friend had paid such a heavy price to awaken them.

A pity that they couldn’t even see the face of the one who had struck.

A pity...

Just as everyone was lost in silent lament,

A clear voice, powerful enough to pierce clouds and shatter stone, rang out majestically throughout the All Marvelous Heaven!

"Heaven’s wrath and Earth’s judgment prove my worth,

With Ah Bi and Yuan Tu, my true Dao given birth.

Through a thousand trials, my spirit is refined,

Nine deaths, one life, the Mystic Sect I find.

In All Marvelous Heaven, a Monarch’s seat I claim,

On the River of Ages, I forge my Dao’s flame.

Though gods and demons may strike with venomed hand,

So long as the Blood Sea flows, I shall forever stand!"

The moment the verse ended, the entire All Marvelous Heaven trembled!

The illusion of the Blood Sea roared and expanded violently. As it surged, it seemed on the verge of breaking through the confines of the All Marvelous Heaven, threatening to spread down toward the River of Time and into every corner of the Profound Yellow Origin Realm!

And in the center of the Blood Sea,

...the figure of the new True Monarch, who had been forcibly erased, was now re-forming at a visible speed amidst the frenzied surge of blood!

Bit by bit, inch by inch, piece by piece—

What was erased, had returned!

What was stripped away, was reborn!

What should have dissipated, now—

...stood in the All Marvelous Heaven, Ah Bi in his left hand, Yuan Tu in his right, the phantom Blood Sea churning endlessly around him as he looked down upon all living things!

Nether Spring stood upon the Blood Sea Fruit Position, restored completely, with bloody light flowing around his body.

He lowered his gaze slightly, looking down at the battlefield where the standoff continued, though now without madness, and toward the deep blue figure standing with his hands behind his back.

That figure still stood quietly in the void, his Deep Blue Daoist Robe utterly still.

But his vast, Cyan Gold eyes were now slightly raised, meeting Nether Spring’s gaze across the endless void.

A savage grin slowly spread across Nether Spring’s lips.

He raised the twin swords in his hands.

Ah Bi rang out, and Yuan Tu howled.

He stared in the direction where the silhouette had vanished, at the ultimate darkness that was even deeper and more unfathomable than the All Marvelous Heaven.

An unprecedentedly brilliant, bloody light burned in his crimson eyes.

"Today’s events."

"This Monarch has remembered them."

"There will be a time for reckoning, Nether Spring—"

"—will surely repay this favor in full!"

***