Chapter 4023: Both Become Half-Ancestors
White Clothes Valley.
The Ten Thousand Buddha Forest burned, the divine realm worlds of all the gods fully unfolded, countless divine throne planets suspended above the Void Nether Realm sky. Divine qi and rule divine patterns converged, the battlefield was spectacular, yet it presented a scene of apocalyptic devastation.
The Heavenly Mother used rules and demonic qi to execute divine abilities, condensing seventy-two demon god stone pillar light shadows, suppressing the seventy-two petal worlds of the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus.
"Thousand Spirit Blood Fiend!"
The bell rang loudly, piercing straight into the soul.
The Blood Fiend Bell, like a bizarre blood sun, appeared above the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus, shaking incessantly and pressing downward.
Her divine soul was injured, the scenes around the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus vanished, leaving only a vast expanse of blood mist before her eyes.
Every wisp of blood mist was like a rope, coiling around her body.
The sound of the Blood Fiend Bell grew closer and closer. The seventy-two petal worlds continuously shattered. The Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus had long lost her former dignity and elegance. Her hair was disheveled as she roared at the sky: "Want to suppress me? It's not that easy."
"Whoosh!"
She raised the Nine-Headed Mark with both hands.
The Nine-Headed Mark spun, slowly rising, growing larger and larger, until it clashed with the Blood Fiend Bell.
After a stalemate for a moment, the nine-headed pattern on the Nine-Headed Mark began to flicker with strange colors, rapidly absorbing the demonic qi and demonic dao rules condensed from the Heavenly Mother's "Thousand Spirit Blood Fiend," forming a massive vortex storm.
"This is…"
The Heavenly Mother had a bad premonition. Stepping on the void, her true body charged into the vast blood mist, heading straight for the Nine-Headed Mark.
"Too late!"
After the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus uttered these two words, her eyes regained clarity. Her previous anger and madness were all feigned.
The Nine-Headed Mark fell from the sky, crashing into her brow, merging with the lotus mark there.
The lotus was at the center, the nine heads in nine directions.
Mysterious and infinite ancestral rules and dao essence continuously surged from the nine heads, nurturing the central lotus.
The brow of the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus shone with brilliant light, undergoing constant dao evolution. Lotuses were born and died, flowers bloomed and withered, as if she had experienced countless millions of years in an instant.
The Heavenly Mother stepped through the shattered seventy-two petal worlds. At a position ten zhang from the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus, she was blocked by the ancestral rules erupting from the Nine-Headed Mark, able only to advance slowly with difficulty.
The Heavenly Mother now understood everything. The Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus's purpose in coming to White Clothes Valley was never to rescue the Dark Hand, but to target her.
Because for the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus, nothing was more important than breaking through to the Half-Ancestor realm.
And precisely the Nine-Headed Ancestral Mark of the Great Demon God could help her achieve this.
Although the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus had obtained the Great Demon God's Nine-Headed Mark, she could not refine it at all, unable to absorb the ancestral dao methods within.
In the current world, only the Heavenly Mother, the number one in the demonic dao, along with the Blood Fiend Bell and the Thousand Star Blood Fiend's divine abilities, could assist her.
She had predicted that the Heavenly Mother would not kill her, only use the Thousand Star Blood Fiend's divine ability to imprison her. Hence, today's actions.
Even the Dark Lord was merely a pawn she used.
From the beginning, the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus knew that sending Lao Mo and Xue Tongling to kill the Ice King would never lure the Heavenly Mother there.
The aura on the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus grew stronger and stronger. Nether light and Buddha light alternated and flickered. Time and space trembled incessantly. The entire Void Nether Realm, the entire Dark Abyss defense line's heaven and earth rules were boiling.
The Heavenly Mother's gaze was calm as she closed the distance step by step: ten steps, nine steps, eight steps…
Of course, the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus knew how profound the Heavenly Mother's cultivation realm was. At this moment, she had no intention of competing with her. She said: "Buddhism speaks of cause and effect. Thank you, Heavenly Mother, for helping me break through to the Half-Ancestor realm. In the future, I will spare your life once."
The Heavenly Mother certainly had ways to shatter the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus's rules and order with thunderous force, but that would also reduce White Clothes Valley and the Void Nether Realm to ashes.
This point was undoubtedly within the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus's calculations.
The Heavenly Mother's fingers were like swords, slowly piercing through the ancestral rules and myriad time-space, only a chi away from the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus's true body…
"Boom!"
The Nine-Headed Mark and lotus mark on the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus's brow rushed out of her body together, erupting with surging Half-Ancestor divine power.
The next moment, like an arrow from a string, she lifted off the ground, breaking through the suppression of the broken Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, and shot straight out of the Void Nether Realm into the heavens.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…"
In the sky of the Void Nether Realm, seventy-two divine throne planets that had been extinguished for many years were lit up by the Half-Ancestor aura emanating from her body, restoring light.
Like lamps one after another, the great dao never extinguished.
These were precisely the seventy-two divine throne planets of Kong Fannin from back then, preserved by the Nutian Shenzun until today.
The Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus's divine throne planets converged from all directions, merging with the seventy-two shattered petal worlds, like a cosmic divine lotus dominating time and space, flying into the depths of the starry sky.
The Heavenly Mother sighed softly. She was about to pursue when the earth suddenly shook violently.
A magnificent and grand Nether River, like a waterfall flowing in reverse, rushed up from a certain sea area of the Void Nether Realm, releasing unparalleled Half-Ancestor aura, chasing straight after the Seventy-Two-Petal Lotus.
The Heavenly Mother clearly saw the figure of the Nutian Shenzun within the Nether River.
The Heavenly Mother pondered for a long time before finally giving up the idea of pursuing. To resolve this grudge, the Nutian Shenzun, Hao Tian, and Zhang Ruochen were all more suitable than her.
White Clothes Valley and the Dark Abyss defense line still had greater crises awaiting her.
"Shua!"
Her figure flickered, drawing a curved red light, shuttling through the Ten Thousand Buddha Forest.
Then she entered a series of divine realm worlds, heavily striking down with one palm, clashing with the Dark Lord's right hand.
Demonic qi and dark qi collided, rules interweaving. In an instant, both entered a different time-space battlefield.
…
The battle of the emperors punched through three realms, forming a terrifying heavenly and earthly hole that would take no less than several thousand or ten thousand years to recover on its own.
A battle that only existed in legends, and a legendary era, had already appeared, leaving a heavy mark in future generations.
The Divine Martial Envoys "Wu Ying" and "Wu Yan" stood in the colorful Lihentian, at the edge of the heavenly and earthly hole.
Wu Yan held a chi-long treasure box, collecting the endless flying Divine Martial Marks from the heavenly and earthly hole.
These Divine Martial Marks shone brilliantly, containing powerful blood qi and soul spirits, like countless medicinal light points.
This melee had destroyed too many great worlds and life planets. Who knows how many trillions of cultivators had fallen. Their Divine Martial Marks, carrying blood qi and soul spirits, flew continuously toward Lihentian, entering Wu Yan's treasure box.
Some living beings, after death, had their bones and bodies enter the Santu River.
The entire Santu River was filled with floating corpses and severed limbs, converging from various great worlds and planets.
The river water had changed from turbid and foul to blood red.
That former era was coming to an end. Greater turmoil had already arrived. Any great world could turn to ashes in an instant. No matter how powerful a god was, they might not see the next day's sunrise.
For the God Realm, this was a grand feast.
The seeds of Divine Martial Marks sown had grown into cultivator medicine. Without needing them to personally harvest, the cultivators had already fought each other to the heavens and earth, killing endlessly.
They only needed to watch from the sidelines and reap the benefits.
Wu Ying peered into the countless tributaries of the Santu River in the endless time-space, saying: "The True Arbiter said that the God Realm uses Divine Martial Marks to nurture all living beings, while the Nether Ancestor created the Santu River to greedily devour, nurturing the dead and destroying the God Realm's layout. Now it seems the True Arbiter is right. The Nether Ancestor is using the Santu River as a medium, silently absorbing the nutrients of this universe."
Wu Yan used hand signs: "In this battle, if the Dark Lord cannot reclaim his left hand, he will lose the qualification to contend with the God Realm and the Nether Ancestor. Now it seems his chances are getting slimmer and slimmer."
"Ten million years ago, he had already lost. If he weren't still of some value, would the True Arbiter have kept him until now?" Wu Ying said.
Wu Yan said: "Next will be the ultimate confrontation between the God Realm and the Nether Ancestor faction. All other opponents are not worth mentioning."
"After eliminating the Nether Ancestor and the Corpse Demon, all living beings in this world will lose their value for existence. No, they do have value. The God Realm has nurtured them for many years. At that time, they will sacrifice themselves to help the God Realm survive the great tribulation and enter a new era."
"At that time, the God Realm will be the prehistoric civilization site of the new era. After we absorb the power of heaven and earth's destruction, we will be the primordial beings of the new era."
Wu Ying seemed not to agree with Wu Yan's words, saying: "Eliminating the Nether Ancestor is no easy task. The three Immortals have been dueling for no less than ten thousand eons, and none can do anything to the other. Back then, defeating the Dark Lord and dismembering him was only achieved by the God Realm and the Nether Ancestor joining forces, and they also borrowed the power of the contemporary ancestor."
"In the battle ten eons ago, there was a chance of success. Unfortunately, everything was seen through by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, leading to all three sides being injured. Otherwise, the war would not have continued until now."
"So, it may not just be the God Realm and the Nether Ancestor dueling."
Wu Yan's eyes flashed with surprise, and he signed: "Impossible, is the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable still alive? Even if he sacrificed his life, being able to injure an Immortal was already his limit. I don't believe he is still in the human world!"
Wu Ying gently shook his head, saying: "Even if the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable is dead, the God Realm still needs to borrow the power of the contemporary ancestor to overpower the Nether Ancestor and achieve final victory."
"Contemporary ancestor!"
Wu Yan's eyes gazed at the heavenly and earthly hole, seeing Zhang Ruochen in the starry sky below the hole.
Undoubtedly, Zhang Ruochen was one of the best candidates for the contemporary ancestor.
"The person the God Realm wants to choose can never be him. His relationship with the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable is too deep, and his independent ideology is too strong. How could he stand on the God Realm's side?"
Wu Ying looked toward the direction of the Dark Abyss defense line, seeing the divine lotus rushing into the sky, feeling the intense time-space fluctuations, and said: "She has merged with the Great Demon God's Nine-Headed Mark and has already broken through to Half-Ancestor. I dare to guess that she is the God Realm's first choice. She can absolutely never stand on the Nether Ancestor faction or the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's side."
Wu Yan was lost in thought. Suddenly, he looked at that heavenly and earthly hole and signed: "The three old clan emperors have escaped. Zhang Ruochen doesn't seem to intend to pursue. Should we make a move?"
Wu Ying said: "There's no need. Since Zhang Ruochen is close to the Twelve Ancient Clans, let him handle it. The deeper his grudge with the Nether Ancestor faction, the more beneficial it is for us."