Chapter 485 - 426: The Great Cataclysm Has Arrived

Sword Sect, Nameless Peak.

A middle-aged scholar in Confucian robes sat before a stone table, head lowered, gazing at the endgame of Go he had set out himself.

It seemed that even with the Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe imminent, he still wasn’t the least bit agitated.

A streak of flowing light descended from the heavens. The Sword Venerable lifted his eyes to glance at it, then rose to go meet it.

"Sect Leader." he called out.

The newcomer was the Sword Sect’s Sect Leader, by the name of Li You.

His cultivation was at the Second Heaven of the Ninth Realm.

"Sword Venerable, come with me to the Martial Arts Arena." Li You said.

The Sword Sect’s elite disciples would soon be gathered at the Martial Arts Arena.

As Sect Leader, he was going to inform them of the Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe.

On hearing this, the middle-aged scholar hastily waved his hands. "Sect Leader, you know me—I’m afraid of crowds."

"But you ought to know even better that I’m only the Sect Leader of the Sword Sect, while you are the Sword Venerable of the Sword Sect." Li You’s expression involuntarily grew a few shades more solemn.

He continued, "Only with you there can we rouse their morale!"

"But... I’m no good at that sort of thing." The middle-aged scholar looked troubled.

When it came to stirring people up like chickens on stimulants, he’d always felt his junior brother was better at it.

"You don’t need to say anything. You’ve always been a dragon whose head is seen but tail never shown; even the sect’s disciples can hardly catch a glimpse of you. All you need to do is show up at the Martial Arts Arena." Li You said helplessly.

Seeing the middle-aged scholar still hesitating, he could only give a bitter smile. "I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk you around."

"Forget it, forget it, don’t force me to use this trick."

He immediately sent a Transmission to Situ Cheng, saying, "Situ, come over to Nameless Peak for a bit, bring your senior brother along, and later accompany me to the Martial Arts Arena."

Not long after, another streak of flowing light cut across the sky.

Situ Cheng, hair half white, descended beside the stone table.

His brows tightly knit, he started cursing right away. "Senior brother, what are you dithering about again!"

"Hurry up and come with me to the Martial Arts Arena."

"You don’t act like a Sword Venerable at all!" He eyed the other up and down with open disdain.

Seeing that the Sect Leader had even dragged Situ Cheng out, the middle-aged scholar had no choice but to say, "Then... then all right."

"Sect Leader, could you at least change up your tricks next time?" The Sword Venerable said with a wry smile.

"Can’t do. When it comes to dealing with you, this is the only trick that works." Li You chuckled.

When the hour arrived, the three of them immediately stepped onto the air and headed for the Martial Arts Arena.

On the way, Situ Cheng even started barking orders.

"In a bit you’d better give me a proper performance and get their morale up."

"The Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe is no trifling matter. Not everyone is like you, looking like this even if the sky falls."

Their master had always said his senior brother’s temperament was outstanding, but Situ Cheng just couldn’t stand this lukewarm demeanor of his!

He didn’t look like someone who practiced the sword at all!

Hearing him pile on the pressure, the middle-aged scholar immediately sank into thought, as though pondering a solution.

After a while, he finally said, "Then junior brother, you’re not allowed to get mad later."

"What would I get mad about?" Situ Cheng was speechless. "You just stand off to the side like some good-luck charm every time—of course that makes my blood boil!"

"All right, your senior brother was wrong; junior brother, don’t blame me." The middle-aged scholar hurriedly admitted fault.

By the time the three arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, the Sword Sect’s elite disciples had long since gathered there.

The moment they saw the Sword Venerable appear, the atmosphere on-site instantly changed.

He was a man whom countless Sword Cultivators venerated and worshiped.

The object of reverence for the vast majority of Sword Cultivators.

The Sword Sect’s disciples all took pride in the Sword Sect having a Sword Venerable!

And all this had reached its peak after he displayed Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root in the Imperial Capital.

The Sword Sect’s disciples all began to bow one after another.

Once they had finished saluting, Li You, standing upon the high platform, finally began to speak.

His style was similar to Xiang Yan’s—he didn’t bother with excessive preamble, but directly told this group of young people about the world-shaking matter that would soon stun the realm.

The scene instantly fell into deathly silence.

Everyone looked at each other, trying to digest this piece of information that carried an enormous amount of weight.

Only an extremely small number of disciples like Geng Tianhe already knew of this beforehand.

Seeing this, Situ Cheng couldn’t help but bump the middle-aged scholar lightly.

Indicating: your turn.

If not for the crowd, he might not have been able to resist kicking him.

Still the same old act, dithering around!

The middle-aged scholar smiled at him, then began to walk forward.

He didn’t do anything extra; he didn’t say anything more.

He simply stopped standing in line with Li You and Situ Cheng on the high platform.

The Sword Venerable walked forward on his own, coming to the very front of the platform.

Then he raised his right hand, and a longsword flew into his grasp, which he held level before him.

All the Sword Sect disciples who revered him lifted their heads to watch this scene.

Just this single act of gripping his sword was enough to set the entire arena boiling!

It was hard to imagine what kind of prestige this man held within the Sword Sect!

"This disciple is willing to follow the Sword Venerable into battle!" No one knew who shouted that first.

Immediately after came a chorus of voices, one following another.

"This disciple is willing to follow the Sword Venerable and jointly resist the Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe!"

"..."

You had to know, as for what kind of temper sword practitioners had—that was known the world over.

In less than a moment, the entire Martial Arts Arena was in an uproar.

All the Sword Cultivators held their swords in hand, raising their Lifebound Swords high.

Standing at the back, Situ Cheng looked at his senior brother, who still hadn’t said a single word, and felt so jealous his teeth itched.

He really wanted to kick him off the platform!

....

....

A similar scene unfolded at Spring and Autumn Mountain and Luotian Valley.

Some other first-rate Major Sects were carrying out the same thing in secret.

Everyone would officially inform the whole world of this matter three days later.

The three days passed in a flash.

News of the Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe began to spread like madness throughout the entire Profound Yellow Realm.

All sides, naturally, reacted differently.

Among them, there were of course no few who felt fear.

Only, as everyone knew—

Humanity could never truly unite as one.

But courage was often humanity’s hymn.

The ones who stepped forward would always only be a portion of the people.

The days passed one after another.

Some were actively making preparations; some hadn’t even finished digesting this matter.

But whether it was the Four Great Sects or the Court of Moon Country, they were already actively arranging everything.

Orders were issued one after another, and the regions each side was responsible for were delineated.

This kind of fear of the unknown was in fact extremely wearing.

No one knew whether the Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe would truly arrive in the coming days.

And if it really did come, where these Cultivators would descend—no one knew that either.

Thus, they still couldn’t make meticulous and precise deployments.

Before they knew it, of the one-month deadline Ming Xuanji had mentioned, only the last five days remained.

Xiang Yan and the others actually couldn’t help harboring doubts in their hearts.

"Can that Old State Preceptor really calculate it accurately?"

When everyone discussed this matter, they couldn’t help feeling rather helpless.

Not even having a concrete time—this truly was tormenting.

"If his calculations really aren’t accurate, we’ll just treat it as a drill." Li Chunsong said.

Xiang Yan turned his head to look at him and asked, "Is Huaixu still in seclusion?"

"Yeah." Li Chunsong nodded.

Three days ago, Chu Huaixu, having just barely managed to scrape together enough Experience Points, had gone into seclusion to break through to the Fifth Realm.

But for some reason, this breakthrough of his was taking far more time than usual.

In the past, his Realm Breakthroughs had been as simple and casual as eating and drinking water, and his efficiency was incredibly high, as though bottlenecks didn’t exist for him.

However, the Fifth Realm was special, after all.

So Xiang Yan and the others didn’t think too much of it.

In the Training Room, Chu Huaixu sat on a meditation cushion.

Spread out before him was a Jade Scroll.

It was the fifth volume of the Dao Scripture.

Ever since the Dao Ancestor’s passing, no one had ever cultivated this fifth volume to completion.

Three days earlier he had had the system level him up, then entered into a certain profound state.

At this moment he didn’t even have a sense of time.

The words "single-minded, without distraction" perfectly captured his current state.

He had even forgotten about the impending Heaven-and-Earth Catastrophe.

Because his mind simply wasn’t thinking about anything at all.

It could be said to be a complete blank.

Meanwhile, that wisp of Power of Origin within his body had become unusually active.

As mentioned before, the Power of Origin only shows its strength once a Cultivator reaches the Fifth Realm.

If one has not entered the Fifth Realm, one simply cannot draw out its energy.

And the Fifth Realm itself is a qualitative transformation.

If that Fifth Realm is one that possesses the Power of Origin, then it is yet another qualitative transformation.

Because he was currently so utterly absorbed, Chu Huaixu hadn’t noticed in the slightest the sudden abnormality outside.

—The sky of the Profound Yellow Realm had suddenly cracked open.

....

(ps: End of month, asking for monthly tickets.)