# Chapter 4130: No One to Rely On, Then Rely on Yourself
Heavenly Punishment Divine Light and Heavenly Ordinance Order, known as the strongest foundations of the Heavenly Court, once activated, could substitute for heaven and earth, judging all cultivators in the world.
The power source of Heavenly Punishment Divine Light was the Heavenly Punishment Divine Armor currently worn by Hao Tian.
Legend had it that it was the armor of the Ancestor of Truth, the "Truth Great Emperor," nurtured by the Saint Realm for billions of years. It had protected the Saint Realm from destruction during the Medieval Minor Calamity.
It was no less than the Houtu Wedding Garment!
Clearly, Hao Tian had come to the Gray Sea well-prepared, mentally prepared for the situation to develop in the worst possible direction.
The triple divine light on his body, together with the Eight Manifestations of the Nether Book surrounding Meng Huangni on the opposite side, divided the heavens and earth, each occupying one side.
Hao Tian had saved Yan Huanyu, but he had failed to save Cihang Venerable.
Cihang Venerable had disappeared into the Love Mountain.
Meng Huang'e secretly glanced at Meng Huangni floating in midair, her heart filled with immense worry. That younger sister of hers was only at the peak of Qiankun Infinite cultivation—how could she possibly withstand the power of the Nether Ancestor?
This was definitely a curse, not a blessing!
"Xuan Yuan Hao Tian, you finally dare to raise your halberd against me. I did not misjudge you! That year at the Void Exhaustion Sea, each of you claimed to be the strongest of your era, but even burning your blood qi and lifespan, summoning the power of several Ancestors of Truth, you could not harm me. That was my weakest moment!"
A muddled voice emerged from the lotus mark on Meng Huangni's brow, sounding like billions of voices superimposed together, impossible to distinguish whether it was male or female, old or young.
The voice sounded again: "The River of Time has been severed. No one can come from the past to the present anymore. Not the Demon Ancestor or the Dragon Ancestor, not the Empress Wa or the Truth Great Emperor. Who else can you rely on?"
Dozens of eons ago, the unprecedented Ancestor War that erupted in the Jade Desolate Realm was led by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable.
According to Hao Tian's speculation, the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable had used the Witch Cauldron to break the rules of time and space, summoning several Ancestors of Truth to his era.
This was to stop the Minor Calamity initiated by the Immortal.
In that battle, no one knew which Ancestors of Truth participated, nor how many Immortals fought.
But that battle had not ended.
Because the Nether Ancestor was severely wounded by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable and several Ancestors of Truth, cast into the future, cast into the Void Exhaustion Sea.
This time, it was the Inverse God Heavenly Venerable, leading the Sixth Patriarch, Hao Tian, Yan Huanyu, the Evil Emperor, Beixi, the Dragon Multitude...
One era has the backbone of one era!
One generation has the responsibility of one generation.
They knew they were moths flying into the flame, yet they had to embark on the path of death without hesitation. Because if they did not act, to further severely wound the Nether Ancestor, once the Nether Ancestor's injuries healed, future generations would have no chance at all!
Not even a single chance to fight.
According to Hao Tian's description back then at the Divine Fall Sect, before the expedition, the Inverse God Heavenly Venerable had borrowed the Witch Cauldron from Xumi Saint Monk, and also summoned the power of several Ancestors of Truth from the Ancient Desolate Era.
But their cultivation was far inferior to that of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable. To summon the power of the Ancestors of Truth, the descendants of those Ancestors had to burn themselves.
To summon the power of the Truth Great Emperor, the Inverse God Heavenly Venerable had to burn himself.
To summon the power of the Dragon Ancestor, the Dragon Multitude had to burn themselves. This was the fundamental reason he could participate in the expedition. For this, Panyuan Ancient God, who was stronger than the Dragon Multitude, harbored resentment.
This battle was a continuation of the Ancient Desolate Ancestor War between the Ancestors of Truth and the Nether Ancestor. Of the Twenty-Four Heavens, only two and a half returned alive.
But it successfully bought tens of thousands of years of breathing room for the myriad worlds of the universe.
Until the end of the Medieval Era, when the Heavenly Court Universe and the Hell Realm fought until gods fell, and the Nether Ancestor's injuries recovered somewhat. Finally, in rage, he initiated the Minor Calamity.
All the great worlds of the universe were wrapped in fireballs, burned and refined, lasting a full three months.
Countless great worlds were destroyed, countless living beings turned to ash.
The Saint Clan, to which the Inverse God Heavenly Venerable belonged, was annihilated. The Saint Realm was nearly destroyed. From then on, only the Heavenly Court, built on the ruins, existed in the universe.
This was both the world-destroying calamity initiated by the Nether Ancestor and his revenge for the battle at the Void Exhaustion Sea.
The Immovable Bright King Great Venerable was certainly hateful, but he was after all an Ancestor, one of the most powerful Ancestors in history. Fighting him was endlessly enjoyable.
But the Inverse God Heavenly Venerable—merely a Half-Ancestor—dared to lead the Heavens to intercept Him. Where did he get the courage? Where did he get the boldness?
The Immortal looked down upon billions of years of history, using the universe as a rice field, raising all living beings as the five grains. He could not tolerate the provocation of a group of weaklings.
Fear was the best weapon to tame all living beings.
Hao Tian recalled the events of the past, images of the Inverse God Heavenly Venerable, the Sixth Patriarch, the Evil Emperor, Yan Huanyu, Beixi, the Dragon Multitude, and others constantly flashing through his mind.
None of them had fear or sorrow on their faces. They all talked and laughed freely.
The Sixth Patriarch and the Evil Emperor had the brightest smiles.
Everything was in the past. When he, the Sixth Patriarch, and Yan Huanyu escaped from the Void Exhaustion Sea, everyone else had burned up, charging repeatedly toward that mass of Nether Light, self-destructing their divine sources.
That kind of absolute resolve and desolation was unforgettable even now.
Hao Tian and Yan Huanyu exchanged a glance, both showing bitter smiles, smiles with tears. Clearly, Yan Huanyu also missed those old friends!
Yan Huanyu said, "There is no one left to rely on, but we can still rely on ourselves."
His gaze was resolute and firm. If the tragedy of the Void Exhaustion Sea was to repeat itself, this time he would not leave. He would go to chase those old friends.
Crossing tens of thousands of years of time and space, walking the same path, doing the same things.
Perhaps this was his destiny!
Hao Tian looked at Meng Huangni and said, "The Empress Wa, the Dragon Ancestor, the Xuan Emperor, the Demon Ancestor, Yin, the Truth Great Emperor... although they can no longer cross the River of Time to descend upon this era, nor can they send their power here, and can no longer protect future generations..."
"But after the battle at the Void Exhaustion Sea, they sent the Empress Wa Palace, the Demon Ancestor Ridge, the Dragon Nest, the Kongming Ruins, the Ancestral Blood Wings, and the Heart of Truth to this era."
"Each generation produces its own talents. Today, even if Xuan Yuan Hao Tian dies in battle at the Gray Sea, there will still be an endless stream of new forces in the universe. They inherit the will of the various Ancestors of Truth and the Great Venerable, and will surely protect the world, joining forces to attack you."
"Look at your billion-year layout, stirring up enmity and slaughter everywhere, yet outstanding talents and heavenly prodigies have never been cut off."
"You sent cultivators to seize the Saha World, the Ultimate Bliss World, the Lamp of Life and Death, and the Book of Life and Death. You must be planning to launch another Minor Calamity, using the living beings of the world to nourish your still-unhealed injuries, right?"
"This time, indeed, there is no other reliance. Then let me stop you!"
"Count this old man in," Yan Huanyu said.
Shang Tian said, "And me! Back then, I wasn't qualified. Today, I barely make up the numbers."
Desolate Tian said, "Shi Bei Ya said that after the defeat of the Twenty-Four Heavens, the cultivators of later generations have grown weaker and weaker, completely collapsed, without any heroic spirit. Then today, let me vindicate the name of this generation's cultivators!"
The courage of Shang Tian and Desolate Tian broke through the suppression of the Nether Ancestor's ancestral might, their tiger eyes staring straight at Meng Huangni.
The figures of the Two Lord Heavens appeared behind Hao Tian and the others. Feeling the will to face death on them, they sighed inwardly.
If these people self-destructed their divine sources and fought with their lives, how many present could survive?
Could the Nether Ancestor stop them from self-destructing their divine sources?
Just the fact that Hao Tian could shatter the Nether Ancestor's void hand with a single halberd strike showed that the power of the projection the Nether Ancestor had descended onto Meng Huangni was limited.
Zhang Ruochen, who had been knocked flying, stood at the foot of Love Mountain, very close to the Eight Divisions Followers army. He said, "Your ancestral might cannot suppress those who are fearless in their hearts! Nether Ancestor, your true body is not in the Gray Sea. It should still be in an extremely distant place, right? Because it is too far away, the power you can project is limited, forcing you to choose the weaker Meng Huangni to bear it."
"If you had chosen a Great Unbound Infinite, you probably couldn't even seize their spiritual consciousness."
"Right now, you are merely putting up a bluff using the power of the Gray Sea. When your ancestral might can no longer suppress us, your inner weakness is already exposed."
Zhang Ruochen's words awakened all the cultivators present who were prepared to fight to the death.
Their fear diminished further, and they had more confidence to fight heaven and earth in this Gray Sea.
Only cultivators with higher cultivation could bear greater power.
Choosing Meng Huangni clearly did not match the Nether Ancestor's status.
The only explanation was that the Nether Ancestor was very far from the Gray Sea, not even in the Heavenly Desolate. The earlier attack was entirely a projection of a soul thought on Meng Huangni's body, mobilizing the power of the Gray Sea to manifest.
Hao Tian could naturally see through the Nether Ancestor's true situation, but there was no joy on his face. His figure shook and disappeared from where he stood.
The next moment, he appeared directly above Meng Huangni. The Heavenly Punishment Divine Light erupting from his body twisted into hundreds of lightning bolts, like flood dragons and horned dragons, attempting to tear apart the Eight Manifestations of the Nether Book.
As long as he tore apart the Eight Manifestations of the Nether Book, he would break the myth of the Nether Ancestor's invincibility in the hearts of the Eight Divisions Followers and shatter their morale.
At the same time, he held the Xuan Huang Halberd and struck straight down at Meng Huangni's head.
"Want to fight the Nether Ancestor? First pass through this old woman."
Gandharva shifted her form, flying toward the sky, raising a Love Character Divine Talisman. She said, "Xuan Yuan Hao Tian, you only know that my formation skills are profound, but have you ever thought that your understanding is too one-sided? This old woman's attainments in talisman arts far surpass formations. This Love Character Talisman is a love prison that has been built for a hundred thousand years."
The Love Character Divine Talisman enveloped all the power erupting from Hao Tian's body, including the hundreds of Heavenly Punishment lightning bolts.
The talisman patterns were denser than even Ancestral Order.
The supremely yang and rigid Xuan Huang Halberd struck into the endless love threads, its power continuously being dissolved.
"These old fellows are deep and cunning, each one hiding more than the last! The Nether Ancestor is certainly terrifying, but it's just a projection. The truly fearsome ones are Gandharva and the Two Lord Heavens."
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Meng Huangni, then looked toward the burning starry sky that blocked their retreat. In that starry sky stood the Two Lord Heavens in golden armor.
Further away, gray mist rivers intertwined, trapping heaven and earth.
Next, there really was no other way but to self-destruct divine sources and fight to the death.
Yan Huanyu, Shang Tian, and Desolate Tian had divine flames appear on their bodies, either burning blood or burning lifespan. Mutual destruction was right before their eyes.
Hao Tian had already made it very clear.
No matter how difficult, they had to at least stop the Nether Ancestor from launching the Minor Calamity.
Even if it meant destroying the Book of Life and Death, the Saha World, the Ultimate Bliss World, and the Lamp of Life and Death, it was worth it. Everyone behind them had something worth protecting.
Zhang Ruochen also burned the blood in his body, his gaze like a torch.
If it came to the worst, he would have no choice but to stop hiding, using the Wuji Circle to absorb the power of the entire universe, instantly restoring his cultivation to its peak.
That's right.
If Zhang Ruochen wanted to restore his cultivation, he only needed a single thought.
The Wuji Divine Dao, from the moment he cultivated the First-Rank Sacred Intent, had existed in every corner of the universe, born together with the entire universe.
The Wuji Circle was the universe!
Back then, when Mortal Dust asked him why he wasn't in a hurry to restore his cultivation, Zhang Ruochen didn't answer, only saying it was very difficult. The difficulty wasn't that he couldn't restore his cultivation, but that he didn't dare to restore it, didn't dare to create fluctuations.
What he could restore was definitely not just his former realm, but a higher realm.
But doing so would cost him everything—abandoning all previous efforts, being found by the Ancestors and the Immortal.
He would directly face the Immortal, with no more time to hide in the shadows, comprehending the Dao and growing stronger. He would never be able to reach the Ancestor Realm, and would completely lose the chance to challenge the Immortal.
The Immortal would not give him that chance!
There was no absolute strategy in the world, and no one could foresee everything. Since he happened to be here, how could he stand by and do nothing? He had never been an absolutely rational person!
Absolute rationality meant having no emotions.
Meng Huangni's gaze suddenly shifted to Zhang Ruochen, her eyes carrying a penetrating scrutiny.
Just a moment ago, she had sensed a trace of killing intent from this Daoist. The heavenly mechanism presented by that killing intent seemed, faintly, to be an even greater threat than Hao Tian's.
Zhang Ruochen knew that this was a flaw caused by the fluctuation of his thoughts just now.
This was a leak of heavenly mechanism!
Zhang Ruochen grinned at Meng Huangni, the blood in his body burning even more fiercely. Life and death qi flowed on his body, his form like a drawn bow, full of ferocity.
A change occurred.
From the formation world above Love Mountain came a low murmuring sound.
Very faint.
Gradually, the sound became clear. It was an ancient, vast voice reciting: "For humans, it is called vast righteousness, filling the blue firmament."
"This qi is majestic, awe-inspiring through the ages."
The vast righteous qi seeped out from the formation world, strand by strand, wisp by wisp. In a slow transformation, it actually wrapped around the formation world.
The light of the vast righteous qi gradually grew intense.
Meng Huangni remained unperturbed, her gaze calmly looking toward the sky.
"Boom!"
The formation world was shattered by a dragon claw.
Clearly, Gandharva, locked in combat with Hao Tian, had no remaining strength to suppress those within the formation.
"Meng Weiyang, thank you for helping this old man take a step further, successfully integrating vast righteous qi into my spiritual power, reaching the peak of ninety-fourth level spiritual power. This is the righteous path I have sought for years but could not attain!"
"Boom!"
The formation world completely collapsed.
A dragon head emerged, majestic, with nine claws sharp.
A dragon roar resounded through the Gray Sea.
This ancestral dragon did not attack Gandharva, but Meng Huangni.
Affected by the spiritual power, the Eight Divisions Followers army guarding Meng Huangni fell in waves. A single dragon roar was more than they could bear.
At the same time, the Love Prison was broken through by Hao Tian.
The Xuan Huang Halberd also struck toward Meng Huangni.
The Love Prison woven by Gandharva with love thread talisman patterns, under normal circumstances, could trap any cultivator below the Ancestor level for at least several days.
No matter how strong Hao Tian was, he was still below the Ancestor level. He should not have been able to break out so quickly.
The essential reason was that he wore the Heavenly Punishment Divine Armor.
The Heavenly Punishment Divine Armor, like the Heavenly Mother's "Houtu Wedding Garment" and Fengdu Dadi's "Yellow Spring Seal" and "Yellow Spring Ancestor Divine Source," could achieve a qualitative improvement in combat power.
Hao Tian hadn't worn it before because he didn't need to.