Chapter 953 - 677: Shocking Upheaval

Great Feather Grotto Heaven.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism billowed like mist.

At the mouth of the volcano deep within the Grotto Heaven, lava surged like a golden ocean, waves of heat set the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi rolling, turning into rings of Spirit vortexes visible to the naked eye.

Chen Sheng sat cross-legged atop a piece of dark black boulder at the summit of the volcano.

He closed his eyes and calmed his Heart Spirit, turning his awareness inward; one Technique after another slowly flowed through his Sea of Consciousness.

"From Qingqing, I obtained the ’Record of Azure Waves Walking upon Water’, of the Chariot-Water Great Dao, moistening all things in silence, yet also able to overturn seas and rivers."

"From Mother Yun, I obtained the ’Three Volumes of the Peacock’, which secretly contains the principles of the rise and fall of Yin Yang."

"From Meng’er, I obtained the ’Qingqiu Atlas’, an ancient Secret Technique of the Fox Race—bewitching souls, escaping form, seizing fortune—all hidden within a single painting."

"From Huamei’er, I obtained the ’Cloud Crane Divine Techniques Brief’, the crane’s cry resounds through the Ninth Heaven, light and transcendent; it can ride the long wind and communicate with the Great Void."

...

Each and every one of these was proof of the emotional ties he had sown over the years as he traveled the world, as well as the wondrous chances he had gained.

Chen Sheng had never laid aside his Cultivation because of sowing seeds; on the contrary, he used all these opportunities from every side to constantly complete his own Great Dao.

Fortunately, those confidantes all understood the Great Dao in his heart. Not only did they never complain, they instead poured out all they had to teach him, lending him their full strength.

Chen Sheng’s eyes opened slightly, his gaze clear and cold as starlight:

"These Techniques, though not complete and flawless Purple Mansion–level inheritances, each has its own subtlety."

"They are just right for verifying and deducing my own Purple Mansion Divine Techniques!"

As his words fell, he closed his eyes once more. In his Sea of Consciousness, one scripture after another circulated without end, colliding, merging, and being deduced together.

Meanwhile, far away in the depths of the Spirit Realm.

His main body also sat upright in the endless starry sky, cultivating and comprehending in unison with the avatar in Great Feather Grotto Heaven.

...

Spirit Realm, Azure Wave Pool.

The pool water was clear as jasper; beneath the water, the Dragon Palace’s jade towers and coral pavilions shone with pearls and treasures, making the rippling waves glimmer with flowing light.

A clam maiden, dressed in plain white gauze, moved lightly on her feet as she stood guard beside a cradle carved from millennia-old coral.

Within the cradle lay two swaddled infants. Their human faces were like carved jade, yet atop their heads grew two pairs of small, lustrous white Dragon Horns; at the center of their brows, a single azure scale faintly showed, emanating noble Innate Spiritual Qi.

"Princess, the two little Crown Princes are simply too lovable. Looking like this, in the future they will surely be peerless prodigies who shake the Spirit Realm."

The clam maiden lowered her voice, full of joy.

Ao Qingqing leaned against a coral couch, dressed in a water-green long dress. Gentle as water, her brows and eyes were filled with a mother’s tenderness.

She stretched out jade-like slender fingers and lightly brushed the azure scale at her child’s brow; at her fingertips, Water Attribute Spiritual Qi gently wrapped around the infants.

Yet in the next instant, a trace of reproach flashed through her eyes, and in her mind she could not help but conjure up that figure who had left to go into seclusion, attacking the Purple Mansion Realm.

Inwardly she grumbled:

"That wretch just had to choose the time when I was pregnant to go into seclusion. Those rumors outside—do they really think I don’t know? Dallying with flowers everywhere, utterly rotten."

But beneath the reproach was a deeply hidden concern and longing.

"Still, as the saying goes, good men die young while the wicked live a thousand years. Being this bad, you’ll certainly step over that threshold safely."

"Once you achieve Purple Mansion Divine Techniques, the children and I will truly have something to rely on."

She gently gathered her robe around herself and silently prayed.

...

Peacock Mountain.

Five-colored Immortal radiance shrouded the mountains year-round, ten thousand strands of auspicious Qi rising.

In a quiet chamber halfway up the mountain, Kong Yunniang’s face was slightly pale, a trace of postnatal weakness on her brow, yet her bearing remained cold and beautiful.

She walked slowly out of the quiet room and gazed down the slope of the mountain.

There, an Immortal egg about one zhang in size lay quietly amidst a cluster of five-colored Immortal grasses. Its shell was black and white, Yin Yang flowing, divine light restrained within. Faintly, a vigorous pulse of life could be felt beating inside—that was the child she had just given birth to.

Yunniang’s jade hands clenched slightly, and a thin trace of anger swept across her cool features.

"That heartless man."

"He only left one sentence about attacking the Purple Mansion, then went into seclusion without even looking back."

"At such a critical life-and-death moment when I was about to give birth, he was nowhere to be seen."

She gave a cold snort, her gaze resolute:

"Since that’s the case, this child will take my surname Kong. Don’t even think of making him acknowledge any other ancestry!"

At the same time.

Ten Thousand Fox Cavern, Crane King Mountain...

One pregnant woman after another was silently circulating the prenatal nurturing Techniques personally passed down by Chen Sheng.

...

Time passed in silence; in the blink of an eye, six years.

Great Feather Grotto Heaven.

At the mouth of the volcano, Chen Sheng slowly opened his eyes. For an instant, the alternation of Yin Yang and the crossing of the Netherworld flashed in his gaze, then returned to calm.

He spoke softly to himself; though his voice was not loud, it echoed within the Grotto Heaven for a long time:

"Dao Foundation at Perfection, merits fulfilled and form forgotten, reborn and remade—only then can one ascend to Immortality..."

"Initiate the Purple Mansion ritual, elevate the Dao Foundation, raise Yang into the Void, sense Heaven and Earth, and gestate Divine Techniques..."

He sank his Heart Spirit into his Dantian.

There was an ancient, desolate ferry—black wood for piles, White Bone paving the road, Yin Fire flickering dimly, the ferryboat rising and sinking in silence.

One end connected to the Yang-side Qi Sea of his mortal fleshly body; the other led to the endless darkness of the Netherworld Yellow Springs.

On the shore of the ferry, it seemed as though countless phantoms of Ghost Soldiers stood in formation, awaiting.

The wind blew past, carrying the mournful cry of distant Yan, as if it could ferry the dead, and could also bear a Cultivator’s Divine Soul, linking the two poles of life and death.

As the Dao Foundation revolved, Netherworld Qi and Innate true Qi merged, turning into ripples of black and white circles, terrifying yet profound.

This was the Dao Foundation [Nether-Chiming Ferry].

"Normally, given my Cultivation Technique and true Qi foundation, even with a Dao Foundation at Perfection, the Purple Mansion and Divine Techniques would still be far out of reach."

"Even with the blessing of the Purple Mansion ritual, my chances of success would be no more than twenty percent."

"Only by borrowing other Techniques to strengthen the manifestations of my Dao Foundation would there be a chance."

"For example, back then Master Great Feather used a Blood-Dye Secret Technique, slaughtering his own clan to augment the phenomena of his Dao Foundation before he broke through the bottleneck and achieved Purple Mansion Divine Techniques."

"However, with my Cultivation backing me, my foundation is brought to the uttermost extreme. I have no need to seek additional manifestations; as long as the ritual is flawless, everything will naturally fall into place."

"Let’s begin."

With that single word, Chen Sheng hesitated no longer.

Boom——!

The Purple Mansion ritual roared into motion!

Within his Dantian, that Nether-Chiming Ferry spanning Yin Yang suddenly contracted. Ten thousand Netherworld phenomena, Ghost Soldier phantoms, and the Dao Rhyme of life and death all compressed into a single point of light so dazzling it reached the utmost extreme.

The Dao Foundation soared, Yang Qi shooting into the sky, rising straight to the Ninth Heaven, resonating with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth...

...

Heaven and Earth changed color, wind and clouds rolled backward.

High above the vast firmament, a crack suddenly tore open, and a star so dazzling it hurt to look at manifested out of thin air.

At the same time.

Deep within the Divine Land, inside an ancient Immortal Mansion.

In the previous instant, the Immortal Palace was towering, jade towers and celestial pavilions gleaming, Immortal Cranes soaring, immortal music drifting, a scene of Immortal Family prosperity.

In the next instant, heaven and earth flipped, the Immortal Palace collapsed, a sea of blood surged, White Bone piled into mountains, Demonic Qi pierced the sky, and a gloomy, uncanny power swept across the Shi Fang.

At the core of the Immortal Mansion, a Yellow Robe Daoist sat cross-legged.

His Daoist Robe was neither gold nor black, embroidered with a Yin Yang double fish and a Kuimu waning moon; his features at times as fair as jade, gentle as an immortal, fully displaying a man’s noble bearing, at times skin like congealed fat, naturally seductive bones, transforming into the delicate visage of a woman.

Gender indiscernible, Yin Yang unfixed, the aura about him was chaotic yet terrifying to the extreme, like a deformity and pollution of the Great Dao itself.

In that very instant.

The Yellow Robe Daoist suddenly opened both eyes.

One pupil was cold as a bright moon, one pupil grim as the Kuimu star; his gaze pierced through time and space, directly locking onto the Great Feather Grotto Heaven.

The corners of his mouth hooked into a strange yet elegant smile, his voice neither male nor female, ethereal and terrifying:

"Golden Position reflects, elevates the Position, enlightens the Purple Mansion, nurtures Divine Techniques!!"

"At last... I’ve caught you."

He took a single step forward.

Time and space folded, dimensions leaped.

In the previous fraction of a moment he was still in the ancient Immortal Mansion; in the next, he was already standing atop the volcano of the Great Feather Grotto Heaven, suspended before Chen Sheng.

The Yellow Robe fluttered, Yin Yang circulated.

He stood high above, looking down at Chen Sheng, who had just initiated the Purple Mansion ritual, his smile gentle, yet his eyes icy to the bone, filled with the playful intent of a predator.

A sense of utmost danger, rising from the depths of his soul, abruptly surged in Chen Sheng’s heart!

As though he had been locked onto by some unspeakable, irresistible existence.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide and lifted his gaze.

With just one glance, a terrifying honorific title that spanned ages and shook an entire dimension exploded uncontrollably in the depths of his Divine Soul:

"[Taiyin Fuwei Xianjun]!!"

"This is bad!!"

Chen Sheng’s Divine Soul trembled violently, his face drastically changing.

Almost at the instant he saw the other party, a power of lethal pollution silently spread over.

Chen Sheng only felt the Yin Yang within his body reverse; his entire person, at a speed visible to the naked eye, shifted from male to Yin—his bones becoming slender, his skin turning lustrous white, even his Divine Soul being forcibly twisted and assimilated.

The Power of Taiyin was not nourishment, but pollution, rewriting, occupation!

Taiyin Fuwei Xianjun smiled lightly; the laughter, neither male nor female, was pleasant to the ear yet chilling to the marrow:

"Daoist friend from another dimension, to find you... I truly went to great pains..."

"I deliberately muddled the Celestial Secret, altered the contemporary Purple Mansion Techniques..."

"Let me see your Golden Position; you deliberately enlightened the Taiyin, cultivated Vulnerable Moon—surely an enemy of my Dao..."

...

Dimension!

He actually knew of dimensions!

He had been waiting all along for the moment he attacked the Purple Mansion!

Spirit Realm.

Chen Sheng’s main body suddenly opened his eyes wide; fragments of dimension flickered madly in his pupils, and the aura around him almost lost control.

"Mahayana Loose Immortal!!"

"The True Monarch of that small world is actually a genuine Mahayana Loose Immortal!!"

"Moreover... he already has understanding of dimension travel and guests from beyond, and even laid out a scheme of so many years!"

Instinctively, he wanted to operate the Power of Origin of the [Dimension Demon God] to perform a contraction.

But the instant the thought moved, he forcibly pressed it down.

If the other party followed the trail back and directly locked onto the location of his main body, that would be true annihilation!

He could contract his self-and-other to escape the current situation, but he must not involve his main body!

"I can only contract half!!"

In an instant, a plan formed in Chen Sheng’s heart; with a stir of his main body’s thought, backed by the Power of Dimension, the contraction forcibly began.

However, it only proceeded halfway and did not return to the main body.

Boom——!!!

In that moment.

The avatar’s essence, energy, and spirit, Dao Foundation, True Qi, Divine Soul... all exploded at once!

A black-and-white terrifying shockwave swept in all directions; the volcano collapsed, lava poured back, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism was thrown into utter chaos.

At the same time, the [Hundred Generations Book] quietly unfolded a page, emitting a single glimmer of light; his self-and-other fled into it and vanished without a trace.

...

Taiyin Fuwei Xianjun was slightly taken aback; this place was originally his dimensional home field.

He had clearly frozen time and space, and frozen the other party’s thoughts and intentions.

He shook his head lightly:

"You do have a few tricks, self-destructing right before me!"

"But... it’s useless."

The Immortal Monarch’s expression was indifferent as he raised his hand and gently waved.

Immortal light rolled back like a long river in reverse; time and space were forcibly solidified and twisted. He sought to reverse time, trace back causality, and forcibly seize the other party’s True Spirit, Golden Position, and dimensional coordinates!

Yet.

The immortal light swept through all the remnants of the self-destruction, scoured every ripple of time and space, only to... gain nothing!

As if this person had never existed in this dimension at all.

So clean it was uncanny, so complete it was terrifying.

For the first time, a loss of control appeared on the Immortal Monarch’s face.

That face as gentle as jade turned instantly pitch-black as ink; Yin Yang went into complete disorder, the male form suddenly shifted to female, her features twisted, pupils blood-red, voice piercingly sharp and shrill:

"Impossible——!!"

With his fury.

High above the firmament, two stars suddenly flared and flickered madly!

[Vulnerable Moon]

[Kuimu]

Across the Divine Land Continent.

Countless Purple Mansion True Masters who cultivated the [Vulnerable Moon] and [Kuimu] inheritances, at the same moment, froze in a daze; their eyes went vacant, and their bodies, beyond their control, turned into streaks of Spirit Light, shooting straight into the sky, rushing directly into those two stars.

The two stars were like black holes opening their giant maws, madly devouring these Purple Mansion True Masters’ life force, Cultivation, Divine Souls...