Chapter 463 - 410: Battle of the True Monarchs

The Celestial Vault suddenly overturned.

It was not a gathering of dark clouds, nor the descent of night.

Rather, a more fundamental aspect of "existence" was being forcibly altered, erased.

The void, once flowing with astral winds and thin Spiritual Mechanism, was now stained and covered by a pure, heavy "nothingness."

This "nothingness" was not a simple absence of things.

It was an ultimate annihilation that devoured all light, heat, sound, and color—even the very concept of "existence" itself.

The four Bodhisattva Dharma Aspects, once entrenched in the four cardinal directions, had each manifested their own glorious domains: Pure Lands, Buddha Countries, the wrathful forms of Vidyārājas, and the mighty Dragon Elephant Divine Techniques. Their might had once suppressed the land for thousands of miles. But now, under the shroud of this annihilating Celestial Vault, they were like snowflakes cast into sizzling oil, their edges silently melting and peeling away.

The Buddha Light dimmed and the Brahma Chanting grew hoarse. Their towering, sacred, and magnificent aura was being slowly but irresistibly eroded and dissolved by a force of "nothingness."

From within the annihilation, a figure in a black robe slowly stepped forth.

He was not surrounded by glorious light, nor did he exude any oppressive might. He seemed like a piece cut from the deepest night, yet as he walked, he carried a detached Dao Rhyme that silenced the Ten Thousand Laws and returned all phenomena to nothingness. It was none other than the True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law.

Merely by standing in the void, the spreading Dao Domain of "nothingness" made the Buddha Light barrier jointly established by the four Bodhisattvas groan as if overburdened, cracking inch by inch.

The Golden Body Dharma Aspect of the Dragon Elephant Wisdom Bodhisattva—a towering figure with muscles gnarled like coiling dragon veins—was the first to feel the irresistible pressure.

He suddenly raised his head, locking his gaze on the solitary black-robed figure in the void. His giant mouth opened and closed, his voice like the trumpeting of a hundred million dragon elephants, yet it carried an undisguisable trace of shock.

"You... you’re close to the Perfection of the Middle Realm?!"

At these words, the other three Bodhisattva Dharma Aspects all trembled slightly.

’The Perfection of the Middle Realm... that’s the threshold to the absolute peak of the Profound Yellow World.’

’How did this fiend, Wu Dao, reach this stage without anyone knowing?’

Hearing this, the True Monarch of No Dao Extreme Law’s lips slowly curled into the faintest of smiles. It was a cold curve, devoid of any warmth.

It held only the indifference of one who sees all and controls everything.

His gaze swept over the four Bodhisattva Dharma Aspects, whose auras were churning restlessly. His voice was flat, yet each word landed like a shard of Ten Thousand Years Profound Ice:

"Otherwise, how could I have dared to lure you into this trap?"

The moment the word "trap" left his lips, the Dao Domain of annihilation that filled Heaven and Earth suddenly collapsed and condensed, transforming into four "Threads of Nonexistence" that seemed ethereal but were heavier than the ancient stars.

Ignoring the barriers of space and time, they stabbed directly toward the Four Great Bodhisattvas!

"How dare you, Demon!"

The Dragon Elephant Wisdom Bodhisattva roared, his six arms forming the "Dragon Elephant Prison-Sealing Seal." Behind him, the phantom of an Ancient Dragon Elephant carrying the blue sky on its back appeared. Its long trunk curled around an immense Sumeru Mountain Shadow, and with the purest path of power, it brazenly smashed into a black thread!

"Burn away all evil!"

The Red Lotus Karmic Fire around the Vidyārāja Bodhisattva blazed fiercely, transforming him into the true body of a destructive Wisdom King with eight arms and twenty-four heads. Wielding Magical Artifacts like the Vajra Pestle, the Sin-Cutting Sword, and the Demon-Subduing Rope, he summoned a monstrous wave of slaughtering Karmic Fire that took the form of a furious, coiling red dragon!

"By the solemnity of my Buddha!"

The Treasure Tree Adornment Bodhisattva’s expression was solemn. Behind him, the phantom of a heaven-piercing Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree appeared. Its branches were like liuli glass and its leaves like gold and jade. It cascaded down a myriad of Yingluo Light Curtains, flowing with eternal Buddha Light of protection and guardianship. Wherever its brilliance reached, the void itself became a Pure Land, attempting to isolate the corrosive annihilation.

"Pure and unstained!"

The World-Purifying White Lotus Bodhisattva stood upon a White Lotus and held a Purification Bottle. A point of white light bloomed from between his brows, transforming into a slowly spinning, purifying White Lotus. As its petals scattered, they rained down a sweet dew of purifying light. Wherever it passed, the Ten Thousand Laws were clarified and filth could not exist. He intended to use the ultimate power of purification to eliminate the Dao Rhyme of "Nonexistence."

Four majestic, vast, and distinctively different streams of True Monarch Level power collided thunderously with the four black threads of annihilation!

BOOM—CRACKLE—HISS—HUMMM—

A terrifying scene that words could not accurately describe blossomed in an instant!

At the core of the collision, the roiling Earth Fire, wind, water, and chaotic turbulence behind it were exposed.

Time grew disordered. At one moment, afterimages of the Dragon Elephant phantom shattering and reforming countless times in a hundred-millionth of a second could be seen. The next, time seemed to freeze almost completely, allowing one to clearly see every minute detail of the process as the Treasure Tree’s cascading Yingluo Light Curtain and the black threads of annihilation eroded and destroyed each other.

The Laws wailed, and the Great Dao trembled.

Where the Dragon Elephant Prison Suppressing Power entangled with the black threads, a tremor that struck the very Divine Soul erupted—the shudder of "power" being devoured by "nothingness."

As the Red Lotus Karmic Fire intertwined with the black threads, the flames that could incinerate all things began to show a desolate, "deathly still" color.

The Yingluo Pure Land of the Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree was stained by the Dao Rhyme of annihilation, and pieces of its liuli-like Buddha Light flaked off like a weathered fresco.

The rain of light from the purifying White Lotus fell upon the black threads like water into boiling oil, provoking an even more violent backlash of annihilation. The White Lotus’s petals curled slightly.

The Four Great Bodhisattvas, each unleashing their world-shocking Divine Techniques, were suppressed by Wu Dao alone from the very first exchange!

Those four "Threads of Nonexistence" seemed faint, but they contained a terrifying Dao Rhyme that brought an end to the Ten Thousand Laws. Like maggots clinging to bone, they continuously eroded and wore down the Bodhisattvas’ Golden Bodies, Buddha Light, and Dao Foundations.

In the center of this apocalyptic tableau, where the four Dharma Aspects’ Buddha Light flickered in a desperate struggle against the black threads of annihilation, and their aftershocks churned thousands of miles of void into a chaotic slurry, a tiny speck of light quietly appeared.

At first, it was as faint as a mote of dust. Then, Infinite Light, endless heat, and boundless brightness spread out, gentle yet firm.

At the source of the light, the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch manifested.

He walked barefoot upon the void, and a Pure Dao Lotus bloomed beneath his feet.

He wore a simple white robe, his face was gentle, and a supreme Dao Rhyme that stabilized the present and protected this shore flowed around him.

He did not look at the earth-shattering battle. His gaze fell downward, past all the chaos, and landed with perfect precision on the deep blue figure below—Qi Yun.

The True Monarch raised his hand, his thumb and forefinger forming an ancient Dharma Seal.

A wisp of incomparably condensed light, as clear as liuli glass, flowed from his fingertips. It transformed into a supple yet eternal ribbon of light that ignored all obstacles and instantly wrapped around Qi Yun.

The ribbon’s ends joined, and it slowly spun, forming a perfect, flawless cocoon of light.

Within the cocoon, an eternal Pure Land formed.

Time was constant, space was stable, the Ten Thousand Laws could not invade, and no evil could approach.

No matter how the outside world collapsed, how the Laws crumbled, or how annihilation and Buddha Light turned everything into a chaotic abyss, within this cocoon of light, there was only absolute tranquility and peace.

Qi Yun stood inside the cocoon, his Daoist Robe still, his expression as calm as an old well, peacefully observing the climactic battle that surpassed the limits of mortal imagination.

Only after doing this did the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch slowly raise his eyes to look at the black-robed figure who was fighting four opponents at once, his Dao Rhyme of annihilation spreading in all directions. The True Monarch’s gentle eyes were unperturbed, holding only the calm of one who sees all.

A battle between True Monarchs could bring disaster to millions.

Without the protection of the Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch, Qi Yun could have been obliterated by a casual strike from one of these great figures.

Inside the cocoon of light, time seemed to stand still.

The terrifying impacts of Dao Rhyme and the annihilation of Laws outside—enough to make stars fall and continents sink—still looked magnificent and horrifying when viewed through the cocoon, but they were now separated by an eternal distance.

It was like watching a silent shadow puppet play.

Qi Yun stood with his hands behind his back, his profound gaze piercing the cocoon of light to rest on the five magnificent figures entangled in battle within the chaotic void.

The black threads of annihilation wrapped around them like a spider’s web. The Buddha Light of the four Bodhisattva Dharma Aspects flickered as they unleashed their heaven-shaking Divine Techniques in a desperate struggle to hold on.

And yet, Wu Dao’s black robe remained the deepest, most stable core of that destructive tableau.

"In this battle," Qi Yun began slowly, his voice calm and betraying little emotion, "who do you think will win?"

The Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch stood quietly to the side, his gentle gaze also fixed on the battlefield. Hearing the question, he answered peacefully and without a moment’s hesitation:

"Wu Dao will be victorious, of course."

"Oh?" Qi Yun tilted his head slightly, a hint of inquiry in his eyes. "So certain? The combined might of the Four Great Bodhisattvas is extraordinary."

"Their might is great, but their foundations are already shaken." The Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch shook his head slightly and swiped a hand through the air before him.

Instantly, the scene inside the cocoon changed. It no longer reflected the chaotic battlefield outside, but instead showed a far more mysterious and fundamental "domain."

It was a projection of the All Marvelous Heaven, the place where the Great Dao manifested and where True Monarch Dao Fruits were anchored.

In the center of the projection, a Black Lotus Dao Fruit, shaped like something carved from black jade with layers of deep petals, hovered quietly.

It was not stationary, but was rotating slowly.

With each rotation, wisps of pitch-black Daoist Intent—imbued with the meaning of annihilation, nonexistence, and finality—drifted out like living things, as heavy as ancient stellar remains and as cold as the eternally silent void.

Beneath this Black Lotus Dao Fruit was not empty space.

Seven points of brilliant light, though small, were exceptionally stable and resilient. Like seven invisible heaven-propping pillars, they supported and bolstered the Black Lotus in a mysterious formation, making its foundation incredibly solid and its Status loftily suspended, exuding a pressure that surpassed that of ordinary Dao Fruits.

And in the four directions slightly below the Black Lotus Dao Fruit, four Bodhisattva Fruit Positions of different forms were enduring the continuous crushing pressure and erosion of the Black Lotus’s Dao Rhyme:

One was a phantom Golden Body with three heads and six arms, its muscles gnarled like dragons. It stood on Sumeru Mountain, shouldered the blue sky, and emanated an aura of pure power and suppression.

One was a blazing ball of Red Lotus Karmic Fire, constantly burning and changing shape. Within the flames, the wrathful form of a Wisdom King with eight arms and twenty-four heads could be faintly seen roaring, its aura of slaughter and destruction soaring to the heavens.

One was a miniature Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree, its branches as translucent as liuli glass and its leaves as brilliant as gold and jade. It cascaded down an Yingluo Light Curtain, flowing with the Dao Rhyme of eternal protection and a solemn Pure Land.

One was a slowly spinning, holy and flawless Twelve-Grade White Lotus. Its heart bloomed with a gentle, purifying light that seemed capable of cleansing all filth.

Under the heaven-heavy crushing pressure of the Black Lotus Dao Fruit’s Dao Rhyme of annihilation, all four Bodhisattva Fruit Positions showed varying degrees of trembling and unstable radiance!

"Do you see?"

The Great Sun Purple Extreme True Monarch’s voice was peaceful, yet it carried the certainty of one who perceives the essence of things.

"Above the True Monarch realm, Magical Combat is merely the surface. The foundation lies in the contest of Fruit Positions, a struggle of Daos to determine superiority.

"Wu Dao already has seven Great Masters supporting his Fruit Position, making the foundation of his Black Lotus Dao Fruit incredibly stable. Its Status is naturally superior to that of these Bodhisattvas.

"They cannot gain the upper hand in Magical Combat with their true bodies.

"And their Fruit Positions, which are anchored in the Great Dao, are being continuously suppressed and eroded."

He pointed at the four Bodhisattva Fruit Positions with their flickering radiance in the projection:

"If this war of attrition continues, their Fruit Positions will tremble and may even flee. The four Bodhisattvas’ defeat is inevitable."

Qi Yun stared silently for a moment at the scene of the Fruit Position contest in the projection of the All Marvelous Heaven, where the distinction and hierarchy were clear at a glance. He slowly nodded, then spoke softly.

"I see. I just never expected that Wu Dao would already have seven Great Masters under him...

"I have never seen or heard of them within the Holy Sect.

’So... are they hidden within the Divine Court?’

Thinking of this, Qi Yun couldn’t help but recall how Nan Dou Master had also disappeared after Desolate Halberd True Monarch’s departure.

’He must have been one of Desolate Halberd True Monarch’s Disciples, which is why he was taken away as well.’

...