Chapter 3907: Breaking the Nether Realm with His Body
The return of the Fate Ancestor shocked the entire world.
The news spread rapidly through the Hell Realm, from Infinite Realm divine kings and divine venerables to great gods and ordinary true gods, and then to saint realm cultivators.
Even the mortal world of the Heavenly Court Universe heard the news.
In the Hell Realm, there were countless fervent believers of fate, all kowtowing toward the starry sky, eager to behold the Fate Ancestor's majestic form.
The active flow of fate rules caused fate auspicious light to appear across the Yellow Spring Star River. Some great rivers turned into twelve-colored streams, sacred springs flowed from within certain planets, and towering divine trees grew in the starry sky.
For the low-level cultivators, they had no idea what was truly happening, let alone the dangers involved.
"Bang! Bang..."
Although the Karma Calamity Emperor possessed the Fate Ancestor's divine source, he was suppressed by Gong Nanfeng's twelve-colored fate divine eyes, unable to mobilize the ancestral divine qi within. His physical body had been shattered seven times, until it was completely worn away.
Before the Fate Ancestor, using the Fate Ancestor's divine source was clearly a wrong decision.
By now, the Karma Calamity Emperor no longer had a flesh-and-blood body, only spiritual will thoughts, much like Yunshen Daozhu when he was imprisoned in the Destiny Temple.
The Karma Calamity Emperor's heart trembled with fear, even more than when he had encountered Hao Tian at Haishi Stone Star Dock.
The Fate Ancestor clearly intended to drag him along as a sacrifice in his final moments, recklessly determined to take his life.
At any other time, even if the Fate Ancestor were stronger, completely killing him would not be easy. His spiritual will thoughts were as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, not something that could be erased in a short time.
But today was different. The Fate Ancestor could drag him into the calamity clouds and take him away through the Eon Calamity.
The Karma Calamity Emperor's heart was heavy. He gazed into the depths of the starry sky, as if expecting something, perhaps hoping someone would appear to rescue him.
But no one did.
"They are all selfish and self-serving, completely failing to understand the principle that when one prospers, all prosper, and when one falls, all fall. If I fall today, figures like Heavenly Mother and Hao Tian will have more energy to deal with you all. Thunder Punishment and Beixi will be your fate."
The Karma Calamity Emperor transmitted his spiritual will across the ten directions of the star sea.
Then, he actively sought to save himself, repeating his old trick. His body exploded, transforming into twelve rivers of spiritual will thoughts, flying toward all corners of the world.
Naturally, this included Lihentian and the Void World.
But the Fate Ancestor's perception of fate power was clearly far superior to Hao Tian's back then, and with the Celestial Pivot Needle as his true body, the Karma Calamity Emperor's tactic was completely ineffective.
"You are seeking death."
In an instant, the Fate Ancestor precisely locked onto the river of spiritual will thoughts containing the Karma Calamity Emperor's divine heart, ignoring the other eleven rivers that had fled, and chased directly after it.
Once the divine heart was lost, no matter how many spiritual will thoughts remained, he would not survive the next Eon Calamity.
And with a large portion of his spiritual will thoughts split off, the Karma Calamity Emperor's strength was greatly diminished. How could he still contend with Gong Nanfeng?
Zhang Ruochen followed closely behind the two, glancing at the eleven fleeing rivers of spiritual will thoughts. He saw that Feng Tian had already made a move, suppressing one of the rivers. Then, she chased after a second river.
A ninety-second-level spiritual power cultivator, comparable to an Indestructible Infinite peak existence, each split river of spiritual will thoughts contained infinite value.
Zhang Ruochen ignored these fleeing spiritual will thoughts of the Karma Calamity Emperor and continued looking ahead. He saw that the Karma Calamity Emperor's true body, containing his divine heart, had already fled to the edge of the Santu River region, entering Wangming White Bone Ridge.
"What a cunning old fox, stopping at nothing. Is he planning to drag the Yellow Spring Great Emperor into this?" Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
The Karma Calamity Emperor knew very well that he had a way out.
The fourth Eon Calamity had already fallen, and the subsequent calamity thunder would only grow stronger.
How could the Fate Ancestor both withstand the calamity thunder and kill him at the same time?
Now, he could only drag more people into the mess, buying as much time as possible.
The Karma Calamity Emperor and Gong Nanfeng successively charged into Wangming White Bone Ridge. The gray mist in the mountain range was scattered, the roar of battle rang out, and then the mountain collapsed.
Bones that had been deposited for over a hundred million years were thrown into the sky, drifting in the void.
"Clatter."
The Yellow Spring Great Emperor's furious roar rang out, and then the Life and Death Double Coffin flew out from the endless white bones, rushing toward the pitch-black, boundless Void World.
Clearly, he did not dare to provoke the Fate Ancestor, nor was he willing to be a scapegoat for the Karma Calamity Emperor.
"Bang!"
Gong Nanfeng struck out with his palm, severing the orderly patterns in space, landing on the Life and Death Double Coffin. He deformed the coffin body, grinding away countless ghost qi.
He did not continue pursuing the severely injured Yellow Spring Great Emperor. Instead, he smashed through Wangming White Bone Ridge, carrying the momentum of toppling mountains and overturning seas, blocking the Karma Calamity Emperor's path.
In panic, the Karma Calamity Emperor brought out the Life-Death Lamp.
"Bang!"
The Life-Death Lamp was struck by Gong Nanfeng's fist, its light extinguished, and it fell into the Santu River.
Then, he unleashed the power of emptiness and solidity from the Twelve Phases of Fate, reaching out a hand a hundred thousand miles, and grabbed the Karma Calamity Emperor from afar. "Come with me!"
No matter how powerful one's cultivation, facing life and death, one could not remain calm.
Terror filled the Karma Calamity Emperor's eyes. He struggled with all his might, but his body was still rapidly pulled toward Gong Nanfeng.
"No, I will never accept this..."
...
"Whoosh!"
The fifth calamity thunder, bright and scorching, fell from the clouds, striking Gong Nanfeng.
Gong Nanfeng was engulfed by the calamity thunder, and the Celestial Pivot Needle, his true body, emitted a faint cracking sound.
The destructive force was so immense that the thunder light flooded the entire Wangming White Bone Ridge, leveling this mountain range that had existed for over a hundred million years almost to the ground.
The Hell Realm had lost an important forbidden land.
One could imagine just how fierce this calamity thunder was.
The invisible great hand that had been grasping the Karma Calamity Emperor was blasted apart, allowing him to escape and fly into the distance.
"Haha! Heaven has not abandoned me, Heaven has not abandoned me! Fate Ancestor, how can you contend with Heaven? You think you have mastered fate, but in truth, you have always been toyed with by fate."
The Karma Calamity Emperor laughed wildly in the void, a joy of surviving a disaster and a merciless mockery of the Fate Ancestor.
He felt that from now on, he must respect the heavens and earth even more and have even greater faith in fate.
Wangming White Bone Ridge was so named because, standing at its peak, one could gaze into the distant Netherworld Purgatory in the starry sky.
The Netherworld Purgatory was like eighteen overlapping great worlds, shrouded in netherworld qi, resembling a giant tower in the starry sky. The lower one went, the broader the worlds became, and the thicker the netherworld qi.
The last two or three layers of worlds almost merged with space, becoming blurry, and no amount of cultivation could allow one to see through them with divine eyes.
Here, the Santu River split into eighteen branches.
The eighteen tributaries surged mightily into the eighteen layers of netherworld worlds, disappearing into the mist.
This was the place where cultivators of the Middle Three Clans transformed into nether beings, the most sacred site of the Nether Clan, and the divine nest that nurtured Nether Clan cultivators. Of course, this referred to the upper nine layers of netherworld worlds.
The lower nine layers of netherworld worlds were filled with all kinds of unknowns and dangers.
Suddenly, the Karma Calamity Emperor noticed a pair of eyes watching him. He turned his head and saw that, as the thunder dissipated, Gong Nanfeng's figure reappeared.
He had not died in the calamity thunder.
"How is this possible? Even this couldn't kill you?"
The Karma Calamity Emperor no longer dared to laugh. He activated the formation inscriptions all around him and fled toward the Netherworld Purgatory.
Gong Nanfeng climbed onto the broken mountain ridge, gazing at the majestic and magnificent Netherworld Purgatory Eighteen Realms in the starry sky. His expression was complicated and hard to read. He muttered to himself, "After wandering my entire life, I have returned to this place in the end. Is this truly the mockery of fate?"
"Shua!"
A bright arrow light flew out from space.
In that instant, space violently trembled, producing ripples of energy that spread out for hundreds of millions of miles.
Zhang Ruochen, standing below the broken mountain ridge of Wangming White Bone Ridge, could feel the world-destroying power contained in this arrow, as if it were a strike from the heavens against the mortal world, meant to annihilate this region of the starry sky.
Many stars above shook, on the verge of falling.
The Karma Calamity Emperor, flying toward the Netherworld Purgatory, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Baer had made a move.
When a half-ancestor acted, they were invincible in the world.
How could an End Times Fate Ancestor withstand the attack of a half-ancestor?
The Karma Calamity Emperor stopped above the Netherworld Purgatory, regaining his composure. His hair and beard flew wildly as he shouted, "Half-Ancestor, help me seize the Fate Ancestor's divine soul, and I will surely repay you handsomely in the future!"
But this spirit of the Karma Calamity Emperor was quickly scared away.
He saw that the Hongtian Arrow flying toward the calamity clouds was blocked by the Selfless Lamp. Layers of Fate Gate light shadows flew out from the Fate Ancestor's palm, passing through the Selfless Lamp, and clashed with the Hongtian Arrow.
After a moment, the Hongtian Arrow's power was neutralized, and its artifact spirit seemed to fall asleep.
Gong Nanfeng lightly waved his hand and took it into his possession.
To take away a half-ancestor's divine artifact, such a feat was enough to shock the world. The Selfless Lamp would surely be elevated to the first chapter of the "Tai Bai Divine Artifact Canon" because of this battle.
"Today is my final limit. Whoever comes, I will kill them. I ask, among the gods of today, who has such courage?"
The Fate Ancestor's divine voice resounded through the starry sky, each word like a thunderclap.
In the depths of the starry sky, on a small green wooden boat, Lady Shiji released her half-ancestor aura and said, "Today, the Karma Calamity Emperor must die. Whoever dares to interfere, I will cut down their souls until they are completely gone."
The star sea fell silent, and the insects and birds of all realms dared not speak.
Only the calamity clouds thundered and flashed with lightning.
The Karma Calamity Emperor, suspended above the Netherworld Purgatory, had no physical body, yet he felt a chill at his back and a piercing coldness in his body.
Gong Nanfeng glanced at Zhang Ruochen below the mountain. His sharp gaze turned into a carefree smile: "No need to see me off any further. The road ahead is mine alone! I'm off!"
Zhang Ruochen silently responded, taking out a wine gourd and tossing it over.
Gong Nanfeng caught it, bit open the lid, took a long drink, and then threw it back to Zhang Ruochen.
He raised his hand above his head and waved, stepping on the void without looking back, striding toward the Netherworld Purgatory: "Coming from the ancient times, I have walked countless paths in this life, seen all kinds of mortal fireworks and myriad charms. A mere ten feet of red dust, a thousand ages of floating life, in the end, it is just a handful of yellow earth burying this grand dream!"
"Dare not look back, for looking back is nothing but suffering. One day, I met a bright mirror, and only then did I know that I am me."
"Boom!"
When the sixth calamity thunder fell, Gong Nanfeng had already reached the sky above the Netherworld Purgatory. He grabbed the Karma Calamity Emperor by the neck and lifted him above his head.
The thunderbolt first blasted apart the Karma Calamity Emperor's spiritual will body and divine heart, then pierced through Gong Nanfeng's body.
The thunder struck the ground, flooding the first layer of the Netherworld Purgatory's netherworld world, turning it into a boundless sea of thunder, filled with destructive qi.
The heavens and earth shook. Zhang Ruochen, carrying the gourd, climbed step by step onto the mountain ridge, gazing into the distance.
The Celestial Pivot Needle had been destroyed in the calamity thunder, turning into fine powder, blooming like fireworks, extremely brilliant.
Faced with such terrifying calamity thunder, even divine artifacts could not withstand it.
At this moment, Gong Nanfeng reformed his shattered soul body, showing no joy at killing the Karma Calamity Emperor. He glanced at Zhang Ruochen on the distant mountain ridge, grinned through gritted teeth, and then gathered all his divine power, charging headfirst into the Netherworld Purgatory below.
"Boom!"
His body turned into a beam of light, piercing through the first netherworld realm, and the world collapsed.
"Boom!"
He pierced through the second netherworld realm, dust and smoke billowing outward.
...
"Boom!"
By the time he pierced through the ninth netherworld realm, the seventh calamity thunder in the calamity clouds above chased after him.
"Boom, rumble!"
Amid the rising and falling sounds of destruction, Zhang Ruochen lifted the gourd, took a sip, but could taste nothing.
How could the wine of life-and-death parting have any flavor?
Whether it had flavor or not, Zhang Ruochen drank deeply, and finally, he poured the remaining wine onto the ground, bidding his final farewell to Gong Nanfeng.
A farewell between men required no tears, nor any sentimental words.
A pot of turbid wine to toast a lifetime!
Eighteen layers of the Netherworld Purgatory were pierced through fifteen layers. Fifteen netherworld qi great worlds were shattered and broken, like fragments of earth suspended in a nebula.
The calamity clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, meaning the seventh calamity thunder had ground away all of Gong Nanfeng's spirit and divine soul.
The Fate Ancestor was no more in the world.
Zhang Ruochen naturally knew the dangers of the Netherworld Purgatory and had never dared to set foot there, but now, he landed on a piece of broken earth in the first layer of the netherworld realm.
He waved his sleeve to scatter the dust and smoke, but could detect no trace of Gong Nanfeng or the Karma Calamity Emperor.
The heavens and earth were merciless. No matter how powerful one's cultivation, they were like grass and trees on the mountain, falling to the ground and turning to mud.
Dying in the Eon Calamity, not even a single bone remained.
Zhang Ruochen's ears unconsciously echoed with the voice of that "Chen," and a bitter smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of his mouth. No one would ever call him that again.
He tore off a piece of his robe, grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, and wrapped it up.
The cold wind howled, carrying the sobbing cries of a child.
Zhang Ruochen looked over and saw the Selfless Lamp, like a child who had lost its mother, flying through the netherworld qi dust, searching for Gong Nanfeng, constantly calling out "Master."
It caught up to Zhang Ruochen, who was about to leave, and said, "Where are you going? Master fell because of you, and you just leave like this?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "What is lost will eventually be lost. I have seen too much, and I have become at peace. Rest assured, I know the unwillingness in his heart, I know what he wants to do. As a friend, I will help him fulfill his last wishes. As an enemy, I will also do it."
The Selfless Lamp said, "Master said the same thing earlier, but I didn't believe him. He said that if I didn't believe him, I should follow you and see if you can walk the talk. Zhang Ruochen, I will supervise you on behalf of Master!"
"As you wish."
Zhang Ruochen had more important matters to attend to and had no time to tangle with a lamp. He quickly flew out of the Netherworld Purgatory.
"Wait for me! Master still has a few relics for you, or rather, for you all, but you need to take them to those people. Why are you so heartless?"
The Selfless Lamp chased all the way to the banks of the Santu River.
Zhang Ruochen released his spiritual power, walking through various river sections, but could not find the Life-Death Lamp.
And in the distant starry sky, the shattered fifteen layers of netherworld qi worlds were being pulled by an inexplicable force, rapidly reforming.
"There is indeed something wrong."
Even if there was a problem, Zhang Ruochen currently dared not investigate. He suppressed his curiosity and said, "The Karma Calamity Emperor has not been completely killed. Come with me, let's go cut down all his spiritual will thoughts."
Each of the Karma Calamity Emperor's rivers of spiritual will thoughts possessed terrifying power.
These spiritual will thoughts indeed could not survive the next Eon Calamity. But in this era, the rules of heaven and earth were loosening. The Karma Calamity Emperor could completely seize the body of his direct descendant and be reborn.
How much turmoil would that cause the Rakshasa Clan?
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power had already reached the ninetieth level. If he wanted to quickly improve, how could he not refine a furnace of spiritual power pills? The Karma Calamity Emperor's spiritual will thoughts would serve as the perfect main ingredient.
Hearing this, the Selfless Lamp's killing intent surged. "The Karma Calamity Emperor must be completely ground away. This is Master's last wish. Also, the Fate Ancestor's divine source must be retrieved, and must not fall into others' hands again."
...
On the small green wooden boat, Lady Shiji's jade-like fingers gently parted the gauze curtain as she stepped out of the boat.
Graceful like an immortal, her eyes like misty clouds.
Her beauty gathered the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, and the ancient scrolls that had been passed down through the ages could not compare to even a tenth of her true self.
Lady Shiji's starry eyes held ripples as she gazed at the Netherworld Purgatory. "Breaking the nether realm with his body, his ambition lies with the Nether Ancestor. What a pity. Even with his final desperate strike, he could not pierce through the eighteen layers of the Netherworld Purgatory, could not break the shackles in his heart. That resentment and unwillingness still drift through space. Is this the only end for an ancestor?"
Only Lady Shiji was on the boat, with no sign of the black-robed woman.