Chapter 688 - 377: Purge (Part 2)

’Still not dead?’

Yang An admired Hai Shu’s tenacity, but he had to be killed.

HUMMM!

A strange ripple emanated from Yang An’s body. The flesh on his forehead, between his brows, split open, directly revealing the Forbidden Artifact, Golden Sun.

A torrent of light poured out from the Forbidden Artifact. From a distance, it looked as if Yang An’s third eye was releasing a brilliant radiance.

The light gathered high above the Great Virtue Temple, forming a dazzling golden sphere. It expanded at an ever-increasing rate, and in just a few blinks of an eye, it had grown to the size of a sun, like a blazing star hanging in the sky.

Under the intense radiance, the bodies of the trapped Demon Fiends and Monks within the Great Virtue Temple rapidly withered. Vast amounts of black energy evaporated, and in an instant, they crumbled into ash.

This was likely the closest they would ever get to the sun, but it was also their most painless death.

Yang An drew massively upon the Golden Sun’s Power of Rules to coalesce a true sun. As one of the Three Spiritual Lights created by the Golden Sun Daoist—the ultimate evolution of Spiritual Power—its Power of Rules seemed inexhaustible. However, the Mana within Yang An’s own body was being consumed at a tremendous rate.

He paid it no mind. Mana could be recovered, but he could not allow Hai Shu to recover.

Bigger!

Bigger!!

BIGGER!!!

The expanding sun even caused a massive black ring to appear in the sky above the Great Virtue Temple—a terrifying phenomenon of collapsing space, a chain reaction triggered by the light and heat.

At this moment, Yang An hovered in mid-air with his arms outstretched, seemingly connected to this colossal sun, like a god.

"Look! What is that?!"

Hundreds of miles away from the Great Virtue Temple, an incredibly brilliant light suddenly appeared beneath the heavens. A sun was rising over the temple, and its terrifying, scorching aura drew everyone’s attention.

The Golden Thread Pavilion Cultivators, who had been rapidly approaching the Great Virtue Temple unimpeded, all came to a halt. They stared, dumbfounded, in the direction of the temple.

For some unknown reason, all the Insect Dao practitioners within the Great Virtue Temple had bizarrely vanished, allowing them to arrive here so quickly.

But the events now unfolding at the Great Virtue Temple had caught everyone completely by surprise.

Even the Pavilion Master, Thirty Flow, and the Internal Affairs Elders were left gawking, feeling the heart-stopping vibrations from this power.

The death of Wen Zhao was still fresh in their minds. They all knew in their hearts that only one person could unleash such an intense light, but they couldn’t bring themselves to believe it.

’This is too damn ridiculous!’

Setting aside how Elder Mu could possibly be at the Great Virtue Temple, he had now conjured a blazing sun.

This was different from a sphere formed of countless rays of light that merely looked like a sun.

What they were seeing now gave them the genuine feeling of facing the sun up close.

’Is this truly something a Cultivator can do?’

In another direction, the members of the Golden Soul Sect, who had come to reinforce the Great Virtue Temple, had no idea what was happening.

They had received news from the Dao of Celestial Being and Qiangui Mountain that the Golden Thread Pavilion’s most powerful Immortal Platform expert was already surrounded. All they needed to do was help the Great Virtue Temple, and they could seize the opportunity to quickly take down the Golden Thread Pavilion.

But the scene before them now struck terror into the hearts of the arriving Golden Soul Sect Cultivators. An intense urge to desert the field washed over them—every single one of them, including their Sect Leader, Non-Birth, who was personally leading the charge.

He suddenly regretted the decision to reinforce the Great Virtue Temple. For this expedition, he had even summoned most of the Golden Soul Sect’s high-level combatants, all to play a major role and claim a share of the spoils after successfully entering the Central Continent.

The Golden Soul Sect was the weakest power in the Four Domains and held little influence. Therefore, he had to use this opportunity to strengthen his sect.

But now, he was suddenly struck by the impulse to back out.

’No!’

In the end, Non-Birth forcibly suppressed the urge. No matter what happened at the Great Virtue Temple, even if it was annihilated by the Golden Thread Pavilion, he had to provide support. Otherwise, he would fail to keep his promise. He would have no way to answer to the Dao of Celestial Being and Qiangui Mountain, and his Golden Soul Sect would become a sacrificial pawn.

This war might seem like a conflict between the Great Virtue Temple and the Golden Thread Pavilion, but because it concerned the Command Token for entering the Central Continent, it was actually a war between the Four Domains and the Golden Thread Pavilion.

With the Dao of Celestial Being and Qiangui Mountain involved—two major powers with multiple Immortal Platform experts presiding—the Golden Thread Pavilion was doomed to fail in the end.

Therefore, he could not retreat. He had to bite the bullet and press on, regardless of the casualties.

Gazing at the sun suspended over the distant Great Virtue Temple, a sense of powerlessness washed over Non-Birth for the first time, causing his breathing to become rapid and heavy.

「Inside the Great Virtue Temple.」

The power of the Golden Sun had been condensed to its absolute peak, and the sun it formed had finally reached its limit.

This newborn sun, with a diameter of tens of thousands of meters, completely enveloped the entire Great Virtue Temple.

At this moment, Hai Shu, who was being pierced and broken apart by countless rays of light, was still resisting. He, too, felt the terrifying power looming above him.

The collapse of his Dharma Body and Yang An’s assault had caused several of the Insect Dao beings fused within him to die completely. This triggered a chain reaction: the Forbidden Artifacts inside these dead beings became masterless and rioted, inflicting even greater damage and backlash upon Hai Shu.

Of the twenty-seven strands of the Power of Rules he once controlled, only twelve remained in an instant. And he had only managed to hold onto those by forcibly swallowing several heads.