Chapter 486 - 429: One Against Many!

Before the South Celestial Gate, the astral winds howled bitterly.

That dark blue figure stood with his hands behind his back. His clothes remained completely Immovable, as if he had merged into one with this towering Celestial Gate.

The lingering echoes of his words could still be heard. The Loose Cultivator Great Master who had been reduced to ashes had not left even a single trace behind.

More than ten Great Masters, carrying more than ten of this realm’s peak auras, froze simultaneously. Their gazes fell upon that dark blue figure, upon that young yet endlessly composed face, and upon those Cyan Gold eyes that were so calm they bordered on indifferent.

Shock.

Apprehension.

These emotions flashed through their eyes, but they were soon replaced by something much stronger.

Indignation!

The fall of that Loose Cultivator Great Master was indeed shocking. But—the Celestial Court was right behind them. The opportunity was right before their eyes.

The chance to reach the heavens in a single bound was within arm’s reach.

They had cultivated for a thousand years and survived countless tribulations to reach this day. How could they shrink back just because of one man’s might? How could they hand over this once-in-an-eon opportunity just because of the power of a single move?

But the might of [Execution] was far too terrifying. One move. Just one move, and an existence at the Great Master Peak was instantly reduced to ashes, without even a chance to resist.

If that move had landed on them... no one could guarantee they would be able to block it.

Just as the silence grew heavier and the atmosphere more taut, a peaceful voice slowly rang out.

"Do not be afraid, everyone."

The voice was not loud, but it carried a certainty that seemed to see through everything, transmitting clearly into the ears of every Great Master.

The crowd looked toward the source of the sound. They saw Celestial Master Chen, the Deputy Sect Leader of the Celestial Secret Sect, standing in the void, holding a purple-gold Compass in his hand.

The Compass was only the size of a palm. On its surface, countless tiny phantom stars slowly circulated. With every rotation, countless threads of celestial secrets and karma wove, tangled, and snapped within it. Celestial Master Chen’s originally murky eyes were now shockingly bright. Deep within his gaze, countless lights and shadows were rapidly flickering, shifting, and reassembling.

He spoke slowly, enunciating every word with absolute clarity. "Qi Master’s Divine Technique...

"It can only be used once a day.

"Within twelve hours, it certainly cannot be used again."

As his voice faded, the atmosphere before the South Celestial Gate abruptly changed. Those frozen gazes suddenly lit up! The greed that had been suppressed reignited once more!

Celestial Master Chen’s words were like a clap of thunder, tearing through the suffocating deathly silence and cleaving apart their fear of that [Execution].

Qi Yun looked at Celestial Master Chen, who was holding the Compass with countless lights and shadows in his eyes. He looked at the confident smile on the man’s face, as if everything was under his control. He also smiled. His smile was gentle and indifferent, even carrying a hint of appreciation.

"Celestial Master Chen, your calculations are truly divine," he nodded lightly, his tone sincere, as if he were genuinely praising a worthy opponent.

"I invite the Celestial Master to calculate once more."

Qi Yun’s voice rang out again, still gentle and plain, as he raised his right hand and pointed lightly at Celestial Master Chen. Within those Cyan Gold eyes, there remained a bottomless tranquility.

"After twelve hours..." He paused, the gentle smile on his lips slowly widening by a fraction. "Will you still be alive?"

The smile on Celestial Master Chen’s face instantly froze. The knuckles of the hand gripping the purple-gold Compass turned slightly white. Within those shockingly bright eyes, an extremely brief moment of chaos appeared.

"Heh."

A very soft chuckle broke this fleeting stillness. The laughter came from the direction of the Sword Pavilion. A figure in a green robe slowly stepped forward.

He held an Ancient Sword in his arms. Its scabbard was plain and unadorned, and the hemp rope wrapped around its hilt was frayed to the point of breaking. He stood there casually. Not a single trace of Sword Intent leaked from his body, making him look like an ordinary scholar who knew nothing of cultivation.

But the moment he took that step, the Celestial Vault spanning ten thousand miles sank heavily.

"Qi Master’s Divine Technique is indeed profound," Dragon Slayer Sword Master slowly said.

His voice was not loud, even gentle. Yet with every word he spoke, an invisible sword mark materialized out of thin air in the Celestial Vault above. The sword marks were as thin as strands of hair but bottomless, as if space itself was being silently sliced apart by the Sword Intent infused within his words.

"But Master, you really—take us too lightly."

As his voice faded, he raised his right hand and gently pressed his thumb against the hilt of his sword. Just that single action—

BOOM!!!

An indescribably terrifying Sword Intent explosively erupted from his body! In an instant, countless massive sword marks that spanned Heaven and Earth appeared across the ten-thousand-mile Celestial Vault!

Those crisscrossing sword marks resembled countless giant dragons tearing through the firmament, slicing the entire sky until it was completely Broken! Deep within every sword mark surged terrifying Sword Aura capable of severing karma and destroying Ten Thousand Laws!

The Celestial Vault wailed.

The void trembled.

And this was only the beginning.

The moment the Dragon Slayer Sword Master made his move, the Ancient Sword behind San Si Master released a clear and resonant ring. He did not draw his sword, but that condensed, unreleased Sword Intent had already formed an invisible barrier that enveloped the entire area before the South Celestial Gate.

Lady Jiu Li made her move. She raised her right hand and gently rubbed her fingers together. A red-gold flame ignited at her fingertips. The flame was only the size of a bean, but it seemed to contain the blazing might of an entire sun.

As the flame danced, the Nine-headed Red Gold Golden Simurgh behind her tilted its heads back and unleashed a long cry into the sky! Nine torrents of red-gold flames erupted from its mouths, transforming into nine giant flame dragons that stretched across the firmament! Wherever the flame dragons passed, the void melted away, turning into pools of boiling magma!

Master Revolving Wheel did not speak. He merely raised his withered hand and gently pressed forward. With this press, the gray fog behind him suddenly surged!

From within the gray fog, countless pale ghost hands reached out. Each hand was as large as a mountain, its joints jagged, exuding a sinister coldness capable of freezing one’s Divine Soul! Wherever the ghost hands passed, the void decayed, withered, and returned to deathly stillness!

The three Crown Princes of the Dragon Palace stepped forward simultaneously!

Behind the Crown Prince of the East Sea, the phantom image of a boundless ocean emerged! Within that ocean, towering waves shot into the sky, and countless phantoms of flood dragons churned and roared!

Around the Crown Prince of the North Sea, a deep blue cold current surged forth like physical matter! Wherever the cold current passed, the void was frozen into countless tiny ice crystals that refracted piercing cold glints in the sunlight!

Behind the Crown Prince of the South Sea, crimson flames and deep blue seawater intertwined into a bizarre spectacle! Fire burned within the water, and water churned within the fire. The blending of fire and water surprisingly evolved into an unprecedented, terrifying might!

Behind Yan Ji Great Master of the Vast Sacred Land, phantom images of countless texts by ancient sages emerged! These phantoms overlapped layer by layer, transforming into a towering mountain of books. Upon this mountain, every single character radiated a blinding golden light!

The burly old man from the Tyrant Sect, armed with nothing but his bare fists, merely took a single step forward! As his foot landed, the void stretching for ten thousand miles violently sank! That pure, ultimate physical strength forcibly compressed the Law of this Heaven and Earth until it twisted and deformed!

Arhat Mola Pill of the Overseas Pure Land pressed his hands together in prayer! Behind him appeared the phantom of a Wisdom King with three heads and six arms. The phantom’s body burned with dark red Karmic Fire, and each of its six arms wielded a Demon-Slaying Magical Artifact, exuding a terrifying aura capable of incinerating all things!

The Talismanic Great Master of Nine Kings Mountain waved his hand! Countless Talismans flew from his sleeves like a sky full of dancing snow. Every single Talisman contained a terrifying might capable of sealing mountains and rivers, and rendering the void Forbidden!

There was also the old man in the starry robes, and those ancient existences from other hidden Sects. One figure after another simultaneously stepped forward!

One peak aura after another explosively erupted!

In the Celestial Vault above, countless anomalies appeared in unison!

Sword marks crisscrossed, fire dragons roared and writhed, ghost hands tore the void apart, oceans hung upside down in the sky, cold currents froze the firmament, fire and water merged to evolve chaos, Star Maps shrouded ten thousand miles, the mountain of books suppressed all directions, physical flesh collapsed the void, the glaring Wisdom King incinerated the heavens, and Talismans danced wildly in the air.

These anomalies intertwined, clashing, fusing, and resonating with one another! The Celestial Vault spanning over a hundred thousand miles had completely turned into a bizarre and terrifying spectacle!

The intensity, the ferocity, the sheer terror of that pressure—it was enough to cause the Heart and Spirit of any Foundation Establishment Cultivator to fracture!

This was the combined pressure of more than ten Great Masters!

This was the convergence of the most supreme peak of power below the True Monarch level in this realm!

This was a terrifying torrent—capable of obliterating the Star River and overturning the world! With unstoppable momentum, that torrent surged fiercely toward the dark blue figure standing with his hands behind his back!

Below the South Celestial Gate, the astral winds had long since stopped. Because even the eternally flowing astral winds had been forcibly suppressed into freezing midair by this unimaginably terrifying pressure, unable to move a single inch.

That dark blue figure stood quietly in place. He simply stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the terrifying, world-covering anomalies descending upon him.

"Very well," he said softly, yet his voice clearly echoed through this void that had been completely frozen by the pressure.

"Today, Qi shall..." He paused slightly. An unprecedented, resplendent divine light suddenly ignited within those Cyan Gold eyes! "...experience all of your Techniques!"

Before his voice could fade—the ground beneath Qi Yun violently shook!

The tremor was initially incredibly faint, as light as a fallen leaf dropping into an ancient well, as delicate as the first snow blanketing a barren wasteland. But in the very next moment, that tremor transformed into a terrifying roar capable of shaking the heavens and tearing through the eons!

Immediately after—

Ten beams of light explosively shot out from beneath his feet! Those ten beams of light had different colors and contained countless Dao Rhymes, yet they were all equally resplendent and terrifying to the extreme! They soared into the sky, piercing straight into the highest heavens, puncturing the boundless pressure jointly created by the dozen-plus Great Masters!

After soaring straight into the highest heavens, the ten beams of light suddenly froze! They hung in the Celestial Vault, standing quietly like ten pillars supporting the sky.

Then, those ten beams of light began to change.

Ten gates!

Ten absolute arrays!

They were distributed across ten directions, guarding the ten extremes! Between the gates, countless Array Patterns wove and intertwined, transforming into a supreme Grand Array that covered ten thousand miles of the firmament!

Within the Grand Array!

Heavenly Extremity, Earthly Ferocity, Howling Wind, Freezing Ice, Golden Light, Blood Transformation, Blazing Flame, Soul-Snatching, Red Water, and Red Sand!

Ten distinctly different yet equally terrifying Powers of Absolute Slaying linked together, echoed one another, and cycled endlessly!

Heavenly Extremity covered the firmament, while Earthly Ferocity tore apart the land! Howling Wind scraped bones, while Freezing Ice solidified everything! Golden Light scorched, while Blood Transformation dissolved! Blazing Flame incinerated, while Soul-Snatching seized spirits! Red Water corroded, while Red Sand buried!

Ten forms of absolute slaughters, ten layers of Hell! Overlapping layer upon layer, endless and inexhaustible!

Standing before this boundless Grand Array, the dark blue figure let out a clear, light shout. One profound and majestic sound after another entered the ears of the Great Masters:

"Heavenly Extremity and Earthly Ferocity hide profound mysteries; Howling Wind and Freezing Ice bring bone-chilling cold.

"Golden Light and Blood Transformation scatter the soul; Red Water and Red Sand shake the four directions.

"Ten arrays interlink as ten gates open; ten forms of absolute slaying bring ten kinds of disasters.

"Celestial Spirits and Earth Fiends all bow their heads; countless tribulations and thousandfold calamities, enter the array!"

...

In the Celestial Vault above.

The dozen-plus figures standing at the absolute peak of this realm, the gazes of those dozen-plus Great Masters, landed on the Ten Extremes Array that covered ten thousand miles.

Their gazes were complex and difficult to read!

Below the South Celestial Gate, the dark blue figure stood with his hands behind his back. He quietly stood before the ten array gates, right in the center of the ten Powers of Absolute Slaying, right in the heart of that terrifying pressure capable of shattering the soul of any Great Master.

"This array is called [Ten Extremes]!

"Which fellow Daoist is willing to step inside and experience it?"