Chapter 286: The Overall Situation Settled, The Reason for the Sword Battle

'It's over.'

Drifting down from the sky, Wang Ping silently sensed the changes in his body. He felt a mix of joy and worry, unable to untangle exactly what he felt.

The joy was obvious. Both his Martial Dao and Divine Intent had undergone qualitative breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor had grown even more profound. He had no doubt that even if he relied solely on his Martial Dao, he could fight a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer to a standstill.

As for his worry—his Martial Dao was locked as well.

'Something happened to the First Seat. The source of the Martial Dao has been broken. Not only has its imposing presence plummeted, it has turned into a pool of stagnant water. Even the Great Rebellion Exploits cannot lift it anymore.'

This was incredibly frustrating.

This meant that even if he could still kill Brahma Cultivators to continue accumulating Great Rebellion Exploits, he could no longer use them to overturn the locking divine power on his body.

'Looking at it this way, the only use for the Great Rebellion Exploits on me right now is to threaten Mingyou...'

Hmm, it didn't seem completely useless after all.

Thinking of this, Wang Ping felt much better. And even though he had just thought Mingyou's Daoist name, Mingyou showed absolutely no sign of looking his way.

Sigh, their bond had thinned.

It seemed he would have to nurture their master-disciple bond more in the future.

Just as Wang Ping was pondering how to deal with Mingyou moving forward, Xianfu and Kunlun floated over from a distance, wearing very different expressions.

Xianfu looked extremely satisfied. After all, they had not only severely injured Wu Chi but also captured Jin Hai alive—a full two Brahma Nation true transmissions comparable to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer. If Jin Hai hadn't caused such a massive mess inside his Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices earlier, disrupting the circulation of his divine power...

...he figured he could have kept one more.

Kunlun's expression, on the other hand, was rather complicated—not only because Wang Ping's strength had grown so rapidly, but also because of a sudden change in himself.

'Senior Brother Gan is gone.'

Just a moment ago, the Heaven-Stealing Thief—who had been closely observing the battle from within his sea of consciousness—had suddenly vanished. Kunlun had no idea what had happened.

But clearly, it couldn't be anything good.

'Just now, a True Person must have interfered... Otherwise, given this guy's imposing presence earlier, he would have definitively overturned the divine power and broken through to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer.'

In that case—

"This sudden Daoist struggle should be coming to an end."

Xianfu chuckled lightly.

Wang Ping also looked up at the sky. Since killing Brahma Cultivators was now useless, he wanted to return to Great Shun and check whether the First Seat was dead or alive, rather than lingering here.

Furthermore... under the forced intervention of Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang, his ideal and moderate plans for breaking through to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer had ended in complete failure. The only method left was his worst option: Heavenly Yin Metal. To pursue that, he also needed to make a trip back to Great Shun to see if he could find any inspiration.

A second later, Wang Ping suddenly felt a stir in his heart.

Inside the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, Jin Hai—who had been continuously channeling the Smooth Benefit Self-Regulating Vow—suddenly let out a sigh and then brought his palms together.

"Such bitterness!"

As his words fell, the Buddha light surrounding his body rapidly dimmed. The Smooth Benefit Self-Regulating Vow, which had been pushed to its absolute limit with invisible empowerment, spectacularly shattered.

The reaction within Wang Ping's body was that the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart returned to the judgment range of the Great Rebellion Exploits once more. The divine power that had been clinging by a thread, pulled halfway out, was stuffed back in by him. As for Jin Hai, after his shout, his eyes rolled back, and he fell into a dead faint.

Seeing this, Wang Ping immediately understood.

'The Great Golden Wheel Wisdom King has stayed his hand.'

'A ceasefire?'

...

In Cosmic Deep Space.

Twenty-four-colored rays of rosy light fluctuated like the ebb and flow of the tide, no longer striking out against the four Wisdom Kings. The four Wisdom Kings also took the initiative to retreat, pulling back to create distance.

Moments later, the rosy light faintly flickered, and a heavenly voice drifted down.

"Let it end here."

The four Wisdom Kings did not reply. Instead, another voice—one that even Qi Refining practitioners could not hear—rumbled and reverberated from a higher dimension.

"Benefactor, what a grand display of power."

"For the sake of a lowly cultivator, you abruptly charged into the pure Brahma lands. Not only did you kill an Ascetic Monk, but out of four Opening Wisdom Brahma Cultivators, you heavily wounded one and captured another alive."

"And now you say it ends here, so it just ends?"

Behind the Wisdom Kings, the golden body of an arhat coiled with dragons and snakes faintly emerged, majestic and vast. However, the rosy light remained completely unfazed. The voice sneered.

"What else?"

"To be able to enter my game, and even have the chance to win a round against me, is already a supreme stroke of heaven-sent fortune for you... Asking for more is pushing your luck."

That was right. In this sudden incident orchestrated entirely by the First Seat, the one who truly lost was him. Because Mingyou couldn't solve the problem, he had been forced to take action personally. That was the only way he managed to suppress Wang Ping's cultivation again, but doing so exposed to everyone just how much importance he placed on this pawn.

In this regard, the Brahma Nation had actually turned a massive profit.

After all, discovering the most crucial pawn in the hands of a True Person was strategic intelligence. Used well, it could completely ruin the opponent's plans.

And what did the Brahma Nation pay for this?

A few Opening Wisdom Brahma Cultivators—they produced those every year; it wasn't even worth mentioning. The only one who died, the Ascetic Monk Xianming, was a defector who had fled from the Immortal Gate anyway.

Rounding it out, they hadn't lost a thing!

Arhat Shengle was naturally well aware of this. The reason he acted so aggressively was mainly to try his luck with a casual remark—who knew, he might just manage to squeeze out more.

Seeing that Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang wasn't backing down, he didn't press the issue. He dispersed his golden body, and the four Wisdom Kings subsequently faded into nothingness one after another. Since the True Person and the arhat had shaken hands and made peace, the battle between the Qi Refining practitioners below naturally stopped before going too far. Bukong and Mingyou each occupied a corner of the Cosmos.

"Benefactor, are you truly not going to reconsider the Brahma Nation?"

Bukong pressed his palms together and smiled.

"I see that you, Benefactor, have no more than three hundred years of lifespan left. Even if you truly manage to wield the Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi, you might not have enough time to cultivate and become a True Person."

Cultivating to the True Person realm was not so easy. Aside from gathering three streams of Heaven and Earth Qi and assembling the Eight Trigrams, one also had to complete a corresponding exploit.

Without an exploit, possessing three streams of Heaven and Earth Qi would at most allow one to borrow a fraction of the Eight Trigrams' profundity.

Although among Qi Refining practitioners, such a cultivation level could be hailed as 'Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, Five Qi Converging at the Origin,' it was still worlds apart from a True Person or True Monarch.

"I won't trouble you to worry about it, fellow Daoist."

Mingyou spoke calmly. "Three hundred years is more than enough for me to attain the Dao and reach the True Person realm. Moreover, what matters in cultivation is the process. I have no interest in extending my lifespan."

At those words, Bukong nearly lost his composure.

What a stubborn mouth.

With that thought, he lost the desire to continue tangling with Mingyou and took a step back. "I look forward to meeting you again, Benefactor, in the next Daoist struggle."

"If one day you change your mind, you can contact me."

With that, Bukong's figure rapidly disappeared.

Seeing this, Mingyou merely twitched the corners of his mouth. He shifted his gaze, taking a deep look at Wang Ping inside the Eight Treasure Table, before finally vanishing from where he stood.

Immediately after, back on the grasslands of the Heavenly Demon Royal Court inside the Eight Treasure Table, Wang Ping, Xianfu, and Kunlun all felt an intense fluctuation.

"This is...?" Wang Ping frowned.

"Junior Brother Dousheng doesn't think the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle was just that fight just now, do you? That was merely a prelude—the equivalent of picking sides before the official start."

Xianfu gave a light chuckle.

"We won just now, so in the upcoming sword battle, we are the defending side and hold the initiative. Next time, it will be those bald donkeys' turn to attack."

Rumble!

Right then, the upheavals between heaven and earth grew even more violent. Struck by a sudden intuition, Wang Ping turned his head and looked toward the edge of the vast grassland.

There, at the edge of the expanse that had previously been completely empty, light and shadow suddenly emerged. As he gazed into the distance, it manifested into a majestic, towering mountain pass. Every inch of the pass's ramparts was engraved with countless talismans that interlinked with one another, ultimately transforming into a magnificent grand formation that stretched across the edge of the grassland.

Jingyuan Pass.

"This is... Great Shun?"

Wang Ping instantly recognized the fortress city. It was said to be located in the northernmost part of Great Shun, adjacent to the Northern Plains, acting as the greatest pass in the world to block the barbarians from marching south.

The Eight Treasure Table and the Eight Trigrams Furnace had connected?

So that was it. This was the sign that the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle had officially begun—the docking of two magnificent worlds to capture cities and seize territory, thereby deciding the ultimate victor!

"Follow me."

Xianfu took the lead, riding a beam of escaping light. Wang Ping and Kunlun followed closely behind. The journey was completely unimpeded, and they landed from the grassland right onto the fortress city that towered like a mountain.

"In the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle, battling back and forth, we are actually fighting over three things."

"Heavenly Mansions, Earthly Stoves, and Human Firewood."

Xianfu explained in a low voice, "I suppose Junior Brother Dousheng can guess what the Earthly Stoves and Human Firewood are. They are the territories within the Eight Trigrams Furnace and the populace under our rule."

"Whatever territory the Brahma Nation occupies before the sword battle ends will be carved away, integrated into the Eight Treasure Table, and taken by the Brahma Nation."

"The same goes for the Human Firewood."

"This Human Firewood isn't just the residents inside the cities of Great Shun, but also those black-headed commoners. The Brahma Nation is also very interested in the phantoms forcefully left behind by the Great Rebellion."

"As for the Heavenly Mansions..."

Here, Xianfu paused. Instead of continuing, he looked toward his side with a smile. "Junior Brother Kunlun, it's better if you explain this one."

The corners of Kunlun's eyes twitched slightly. He seemed somewhat reluctant, but ultimately spoke in a deep voice. "Heavenly Mansions is just an abbreviation. The full name should be the Old Mansions of the Six Heavens."

"Back when the Great Rebellion Purged the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens, the five important ministers of the Great Rebellion who spearheaded that exploit each had a cultivation Cave Abode within the Eight Trigrams Furnace. After the six streams of Qi were eradicated, those five Cave Abodes vanished along with the Heaven and Earth Qi, no longer manifesting. And so, the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle emerged."

"The Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle uses the Eight Trigrams Furnace as a battlefield."

"This is the immortals and the Brahma practitioners recreating the exploit from the past when the Great Rebellion fought against both factions single-handedly. By using this as bait, they are attempting to fish the vanished Old Mansions of the Six Heavens back out into the world."

"The goal is to allow the Ancient Qi of the Six Heavens to reappear in the world."

"Correct."

Only then did Xianfu chime in. "There are successful precedents for this. In a past sword battle, they managed to force the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode to manifest."

"Because of that, the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi reappeared in the world. Whoever snatched the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode could take that stream of qi back to their respective domains."

"For this reason, they slaughtered each other until the heavens collapsed and the earth tore asunder during that sword battle. Not only did rivers of blood flow from the Tribulation Transcending disciples, but the Qi Refining practitioners and Ascetic Monks of both factions also fought fiercely over it. True Persons and arhats took the field one after another, nearly devolving into a full Daoist struggle. In the end, however, the Immortal Gate came out slightly on top."

"As for that Heavenly Craft Cave Abode..."

Finishing his words, Xianfu pointed at the majestic fortress city beneath their feet and smiled. "It's right beneath our feet right now. How about it, Junior Brother Dousheng? Care to take a look?"