Chapter 4198: Defeat Is Certain
The Xuan Yuan family was the absolute ruler of Wanxu Realm and the entire Northern Universe, originating from one of the Nine Great Witch Ancestors, Xuanyuan Xuandi, and continuing unbroken from ancient times to the present, preserving a clear lineage of inheritance from Xuandi that had never been severed.
In comparison, the Yama clan's lineage had been interrupted, and the Wind clan could not maintain long-term prosperity without decline.
Only the Holy Clan, which once shook the universe, could stand alongside the Xuan Yuan family as the only two such lineages throughout history, ancient and modern.
Xuan Yuan City had been expanded countless times, its population dense, with cultivators numbering in the billions.
Its core inner city had been a Divine City-level structure since the Xuandi era. Whenever times of chaos arose, the inner city would vanish from the world to avoid calamity, and even an Ancestor would find it difficult to locate.
But in this era, the Xuan Yuan family could no longer hide from the world!
The inner city still stood tall, brightly lit with lamps, temples upon temples, and floating islands as dense as formation platforms.
A bright moon hung in the sky, and azure clouds raced swiftly.
Before the ancient and majestic city gate, a ten-zhang-wide bluestone road stretched into the night mist.
It was empty, with no pedestrians in sight.
Only the autumn wind rustled.
Amidst singing,
From afar, a tall, thin figure in a gray-white robe walked forward, his jet-black long hair trailing to the ground. If one looked closely, they would see that beneath the long hair was a skeletal face.
The hands within the sleeves showed not a trace of flesh or blood.
On each bone finger was a ring of different shape, color, and texture, gleaming with jeweled light.
This was a Bone Clan cultivator!
The piercing song, like the cry of a duck, did not come from his mouth.
But from the Destiny Bone.
The white hair on the Destiny Bone was a full three zhang long, somehow twisted into a bun, making the person look like a dandelion, with a hairstyle even larger than his body.
He was captured.
His body was tightly bound with chains, his legs unable to spread apart, forcing him to hop along.
On the chains were dense Ancestor Rune patterns, the handiwork of Murong Overlord.
The Destiny Bone looked at the towering city gate ahead, very surprised: "Isn't this Xuan Yuan City? I thought you would take me to Eternal Heavenly Kingdom first, asking Murong Overlord to strip me of the Bone Emperor Heavenly Dao Esoterica and Bone Emperor Dao Esoterica."
Eternal Day spoke in a calm tone: "Now is your last chance! If you voluntarily hand over the two Esotericas, I can spare your life."
Eternal Day was the name of the Bone Clan's Ten Bone Seas, the "Eternal Day Bone Sea," and also the name of the only true Ancestor in Bone Clan history.
The "Eternal Day" who captured the Destiny Bone was one of the Ten Thousand Generations Nine Ancestors of the Divine Realm, possessing an Ancestor Bone Body.
His cultivation level was inferior to Dragon Scale, Hidden Corpse, and Headless Kasyapa, not reaching the Half-Ancestor peak.
But he was not a possessor; he was a new spirit born from the Eternal Day Ancestor's bone body, so he was more attuned to the Ancestor's power than the others, and his combat power could rank in the middle among the Ten Thousand Generations Nine Ancestors.
If he obtained the over fifty percent of the Bone Emperor Heavenly Dao Esoterica and Bone Emperor Dao Esoterica that the Destiny Bone held, breaking through to Half-Ancestor peak would be effortless.
At that time, among the Ten Thousand Generations Nine Ancestors, except for Murong Overlord, who had already reached the Ancestor level, he would fear no one.
More importantly.
He would have the opportunity to compete for the "Desolate Moon" and "Xuandi Battle Soul" in the hands of Eternal True Ruler.
Obtaining either one would make the Ancestor realm attainable.
But the Destiny Bone was the bone body of the former Destiny Ancestor, and had also obtained the Ancestor Life Gate of the Destiny Ancestor's second life, "Gong Nanfeng."
Through this Life Gate, Eternal Day had exhausted all his skills and could not extract the Esoterica from within him. What was even more troublesome was that the Destiny Bone's bones were harder than his Ancestor bones, unbreakable and unshatterable.
Eternal Day had to admire the Destiny Ancestor's skill, as if he had long seen through fate and knew that the Destiny Bone would face this calamity.
If he truly had to rely on Murong Overlord or Eternal True Ruler to seize the two Esotericas, then his image in the eyes of the Divine Realm's Ancestors would surely suffer greatly, and his abilities would certainly be questioned.
Would there still be a share of "Desolate Moon" and "Xuandi Battle Soul" for him?
Would that mysterious, immortal, and indestructible supreme being still help him charge into the Ancestor realm?
Thinking of this, Eternal Day added: "Now is your last chance. Otherwise, once I obtain the Xuan Yuan family's Xuandi Golden Seal, I can shatter the Destiny Ancestor's Life Gate with one seal."
He was ordered to come and destroy Xuan Yuan City, and if possible, even to refine and solidify the entire Wanxu Realm to annihilate the Xuan Yuan family to the greatest extent.
Taking the Xuandi Golden Seal was just a side task.
Although Xuan Yuan City's defenses were strong, and Wanxu Realm had many gods standing, Xuan Yuan Taihao and Xuan Yuan Taizhen were dead, leaving the Xuan Yuan family without a single worthy opponent.
Without a strong figure to sit in command, even the strongest formations could be dismantled with a wave of the hand. No matter how many cultivators, they were all just a pot to be cooked.
"Heh, I'm not stupid! If you truly believed that with the Xuandi Golden Seal you could seize the Esoterica, why would you give me a chance?" The Destiny Bone's skull grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth, as if mocking Eternal Day's foolishness.
Eternal Day's murderous aura surged greatly, and then he also began to laugh.
The laughter was so chilling, growing angrier and louder.
The sound waves spread outward at the speed of light.
Shaking heaven and earth, boiling the rules.
In the end.
All living beings in the entire Wanxu Realm heard this eerie and deafening laughter.
Cultivators, mortals, birds and beasts, ants and fish, barbaric beasts and spirits—countless beings clutched their heads in agony, wanting to tear their scalps apart. The higher the cultivation, the greater the impact.
Wanxu Realm had been passed down through countless ages, filled with the bloodline of Xuandi, spreading to all races.
Eternal Day intended to refine all living beings in Wanxu Realm, extract the blood of Xuandi, and prepare to control Kongming Ruins and the Xuandi Battle Soul.
At the same time, he also wanted to take the opportunity to achieve the Divine Realm's strategic goals in the Heavenly Court Universe.
Rumors were spreading that the Life-Death Heavenly Venerable was likely Xuan Yuan Taihao. When Xuan Yuan Taizhen died, he remained unmoved.
So when Xuan Yuan City fell, the Xuan Yuan family was in imminent danger, and Wanxu Realm turned into a dead world of fire. Could he still hold back?
"Hua!"
In Xuan Yuan City, a beam of light dozens of miles in diameter shot into the sky, illuminating the night.
The light beam pierced through the clouds, activating the city-protecting grand formation and the larger realm-protecting grand formation.
Countless billions of formation patterns and rune patterns flew around the light beam.
While all living beings in Wanxu Realm were tormented by the Half-Ancestor's sinister laughter, cultivators in Xuan Yuan City could withstand the Half-Ancestor's sound waves, showing the strength of the Divine City's defenses.
"To refine Wanxu Realm, first flatten Xuan Yuan City"—this strategy was clearly correct.
Illuminated by the light beam, Eternal Day saw figures of gods flying rapidly within the city, rushing to various places to activate the sub-formations of the realm-protecting grand formation.
His laughter gradually ceased, and his body turned into a blinding white light, charging straight into Xuan Yuan City.
"Boom!"
All of Xuan Yuan City's defenses were as if nonexistent before the Half-Ancestor.
The city walls were like tofu, the formations like bubbles.
The Destiny Bone looked closely and saw that after Eternal Day charged out, Xuan Yuan City began to collapse. The earth cracked, buildings flew up, streets shot into the sky, and then shattered into pieces.
An ordinary great world could be shattered by a Half-Ancestor with a wave of the hand. Wanxu Realm and Xuan Yuan City were different, and Eternal Day gave them due respect.
"Swear to defend Xuan Yuan City to the death; where the people are, the city stands."
"All gods, hear my command: live or die with the city."
From the inner city, five figures with white hair flew out.
Two were Indestructible Infinite, three were Great Unbound Infinite. Charging out of the inner city walls, the five gods' bodies ignited simultaneously, like fireballs, like eternal suns, executing the self-destruction of their Divine Sources in a mutual destruction method. Eternal Day's white light form moved like lightning, breaking through everything in its path. Seeing the five predecessors flying from five different directions, he let out a laugh even more piercing than before.
"Bang!"
With a flick of his sleeve, he sent two of them flying.
This sleeve strike contained the sacred power of space, sending the two who were about to self-destruct their Divine Sources into the vast universe.
As the Divine Sources exploded, two star regions not far from Wanxu Realm were annihilated, tens of thousands of stars disappeared, space ceased to exist, turning into two dark voids.
Eternal Day grabbed a Great Unbound Infinite, crushed him into a blood ball with his bone hands, and threw it into his mouth.
He couldn't even self-destruct his Divine Source before being digested and absorbed.
The remaining two Indestructible Infinite were frozen in midair by him, the surrounding space turning into ice crystals.
Within the space ice crystals, the two emitted bright and blazing light, their bodies already covered in countless cracks, at the limit of self-destructing their Divine Sources.
"Since you two seek death, then self-destruct your Divine Sources within Wanxu Realm, and vanish together with this eternally enduring great world."
Eternal Day was about to send them to the north and south of Wanxu Realm when, with a "boom" above his head, the clouds were pushed apart by nine enormous dragon heads.
Nine dragon heads, nine long and ferocious necks, seemed to probe in from the universe, emitting earth-shaking roars.
In Eternal Day's eye sockets, two flames of bone fire ignited, and he muttered: "Snow Charcoal Dragon Steed."
"Boom rumble!"
Above Wanxu Realm, the pitch-black clouds suddenly became dense with divine qi rivers of light.
The light rivers flowed wildly, spreading everywhere.
As the clouds completely exploded, the Snow Charcoal Dragon Steed with nine dragon heads fully appeared.
On the dragon steed's back was a headless war god, holding a battle axe, with a majestic physique towering over ten thousand miles. Under the starlight and moonlight, he appeared even more domineering and unparalleled, like a war king ruling the universe.
Eternal Day shouted: "Pan Yuan, you dare to show yourself?"
With his head severed, Pan Yuan Ancient God had vanished from the world, never appearing again.
Everyone thought he had been scared out of his wits.
"Thirty thousand years ago, Headless Kasyapa beheaded me. Today, I will return the favor by beheading you. The Divine Realm should know that the Heavenly Court Universe is not a place where you can do as you please. Kill!"
Pan Yuan Ancient God used his navel as a mouth, his killing cry shaking the heavens.
It wasn't that he couldn't grow a head, but he refused to grow one, to constantly remind himself of the humiliation he had suffered.
Eternal Day acted first, sending the two Indestructible Infinite frozen in space ice crystals flying into the high sky.
The space ice crystals gradually shattered, releasing terrifying and violent energy.
The destructive power of an Indestructible Infinite self-destructing their Divine Source was absolutely extraordinary; even a Half-Ancestor had to take it seriously. More importantly, the self-destruction of two Indestructible Infinite would cause unimaginable damage to Wanxu Realm.
Eternal Day naturally didn't expect this move to severely wound the aggressively returning Pan Yuan Ancient God, but rather to use it to tie him down, allowing him to first flatten Xuan Yuan City and destroy Wanxu Realm. After completing the Divine Realm Ancestor's task, he could then contend with Pan Yuan Ancient God.
These two Indestructible Infinite old hidden strongmen were beyond saving. Pan Yuan Ancient God used the space divine ability "Change Heaven and Earth" to shift the space where they were located to Lihentian, a light-year away, flying toward the direction of Eternal Heavenly Kingdom.
These two naturally couldn't reach Eternal Heavenly Kingdom; their Divine Sources exploded in Lihentian, releasing two destructive storms.
Using this brief time, Eternal Day swung the bone knife in his hand.
Where the knife light passed, the outer city of Xuan Yuan City was split, extending to the end of the sky.
The earth, formations, space, heaven and earth rules... all were cleaved apart by this knife.
Looking from the universe, one could see that the knife light was tens of millions of miles long, splitting Wanxu Realm in two.
The great world was divided, the earth fissures rapidly spreading, growing wider.
Eternal Day stood in the crack between the two halves of the world, his gaze fixed on the inner city of Xuan Yuan City ahead.
This knife split the great world but failed to split Xuan Yuan City.
The legend was true: the inner city of Xuan Yuan City was the "Xuandi Golden Seal."
Eternal Day released his divine qi and rules, turning them into a hundred thousand chains, about to lock the inner city that was about to fly away. But he heard a whistling sound from above.
Pan Yuan Ancient God, riding the Snow Charcoal Dragon Steed, swooped down and heavily swung his battle axe.
The battle axe was as large as a divine mountain. Eternal Day blocked with his bone knife but was sent plummeting by the unparalleled force.
"Such strong power! Has Pan Yuan reached Half-Ancestor peak? How is that possible? How could his cultivation speed be so fast?"
He fell all the way out of Wanxu Realm before gradually stopping his descent.
Then, a strong sense of crisis came from above. Looking up, he saw that the bound Destiny Bone had also fallen with him, the Ancestor rune patterns on the chains blazing brightly.
"Bang! Bang! Bang..." The chains were snapped, breaking apart section by section.
"You really thought a few chains could lock a Half-Ancestor?"
The Destiny Bone grinned slyly, moving with extreme agility. While Pan Yuan Ancient God's axe edge suppressed Eternal Day, he formed a claw with his fingers, pierced through Eternal Day's chest, and pulled out an Ancestor rib.
Eternal Day used an Ancestor forbidden technique, retreating explosively, breaking free from Pan Yuan Ancient God's rule order field suppression.
He had long suspected that the old fox Destiny Bone was not at the Heavenly Venerable level, but the Destiny Bone was too good at hiding, always emphasizing that he was very weak and only survived thanks to the Destiny Ancestor's Life Gate.
Now, acting at the critical moment, he immediately put Eternal Day in the dangerous position of being attacked from both sides.
"Not a bad bone!"
The Destiny Bone played with the Ancestor rib, then mobilized the Bone Emperor Heavenly Dao Esoterica and Bone Emperor Dao Esoterica, using the power of the Esoterica to absorb the Ancestor rib into his body.
Instantly, his bone body strengthened slightly.
Eternal Day had long known the wonders of the Bone Emperor Heavenly Dao Esoterica and Bone Emperor Dao Esoterica, and was furious, wanting to claim them for himself. So he swung his knife at the Destiny Bone.
He was certain that once he lost ground, Murong Overlord would not stand idly by.
The Destiny Bone and Pan Yuan opposing the Divine Realm was simply seeking death. Even if they gained a temporary advantage, the final outcome would not change.
Under the Seventy-Two Layer Tower.
Murong Overlord dispersed the aftershocks of the self-destructing Indestructible Infinite's Divine Source, peering toward Wanxu Realm, and snorted coldly: "Eternal Day was too careless. Even with a mere Destiny Bone, an accident could happen."
One of the former Four Divine Martial Envoys, Silent Word, gestured with hand signs: "I'll go to Wanxu Realm to help him."
Murong Overlord thought for a moment, then shook his head: "The one who cut off Pan Yuan's head was meant to shatter his confidence, to break his fighting spirit, to make him collapse and never recover, to let the Heavenly Court's divine group fall apart. Unexpectedly, after suffering this heavy blow, Pan Yuan's cultivation actually soared, reaching Half-Ancestor peak. Although your cultivation has made some breakthroughs, you are far from his match."
Silent Word gestured: "The space divine ability Pan Yuan just used had traces of Myriad Forms Formless. Perhaps the Dark Lord helped him."
"He is deliberately misleading us. Myriad Forms Formless is only mastered by the Dark Lord. The one who helped Pan Yuan quickly break through to Half-Ancestor peak is more likely the Life-Death Heavenly Venerable or Zhang Ruochen... or perhaps the Fake Zhang Ruochen." Murong Overlord sneered.
Silent Word showed a worried expression, gesturing with ten fingers: "The Heavenly Palace and the Western Buddha Realm are both facing resistance from the Hell Realm. If Wanxu Realm fails, the Divine Realm might lose this round. Won't the Overlord go there personally?"
Murong Overlord said: "This round, Eternal True Ruler is playing the black stone. He said beforehand that if the hidden Ancestors don't act, the Divine Realm's Ancestors absolutely cannot act. If we lose, it only shows that he, a chess master who proves the Dao through chess, is too undeserving of his reputation."
"Let's watch slowly and see how he cleans up."
The Heavenly Palace.
As Feng Tian blocked the Ancestor Talisman Fire, the three giants of the Undying Blood Clan, together with Void Heaven, beat Hidden Corpse until he could only defend. The Divine Realm's situation worsened, with gods continuously falling in pools of blood.
After Xuanyuan Lian used the Xuan Yuan Halberd to nail Ji Tian to the plaque of the Central Divine Temple, the Heavenly Court Universe gods who had sided with the Divine Realm surrendered one after another, no longer daring to resist.
Seeing this defeat, Murong Dui Ji could no longer care about the backlash from the Heaven's Will World-Burning Divine Talisman. He directly flew into the talisman, and under the guidance of his spiritual power, the power of "Heaven's Will" erupted.
The attack path of Heaven's Will surpassed time and space, able to bypass the Heavenly Order and the Demon Ancestor Ridge, directly targeting the divine soul, capable of grinding away a cultivator's consciousness.
This was the spiritual power path of Eternal True Ruler! Although Feng Tian had reached Half-Ancestor peak, his accumulation was not deep. His divine soul strength lagged behind old-school Half-Ancestor peaks like Lady Shiji, Gandharva, and Headless Kasyapa. Compared to his Ancestor physical body and mastered Ancestor Dao methods, this was a weakness.
Suffering the attack of Heaven's Will, his spiritual consciousness immediately fell into chaos, making it difficult to continue controlling the Demon Ancestor Ridge.
At that moment, the six volumes of the "Fate Heavenly Scripture" flew out, erupting with Fate Divine Light, repelling the attacking Heaven's Will.
"He has written words in the Heavenly Scripture." Feng Tian sensed the power fluctuations of the Life-Death Heavenly Venerable within the "Fate Heavenly Scripture."
Murong Dui Ji's entire body was burning. Seeing Feng Caiyi's eyes instantly regain clarity, he realized that the "Fate Heavenly Scripture" must contain Ancestor power. Because cultivators below the Ancestor level could not block Heaven's Will.
"Since the Heavenly Venerable has already left seclusion, why not show yourself?"
Murong Dui Ji shouted loudly.
He couldn't be sure whether the Ancestor power in the "Fate Heavenly Scripture" was left by the Life-Death Heavenly Venerable after leaving seclusion, but he always had to bluff.
"Why would the Heavenly Venerable need to act? Murong Dui Ji, I'm afraid you won't leave the Heavenly Palace today."
Xuanyuan Lian, holding the Radiant Divine Sword, charged into the starry sky derived from Murong Dui Ji's spiritual power, intending to break this starry sky and gather the power of the entire Heavenly Court.
"Even if I die in the Heavenly Palace, I will make the entire Heavenly Court accompany me in death."
Murong Dui Ji, a step ahead of Xuanyuan Lian, withdrew the starry sky derived from his spiritual power, stirring the Ancestor Talisman Flame, turning it into a sky full of fire rain, flying toward the four continents of the Heavenly Court. This was truly about to burn the world, killing the sacred cultivators of all realms.
Xuanyuan Lian and the gods in the Heavenly Palace all changed color. They wanted to stop it, but it was already too late.
Many gods looked toward the Heavenly Punishment Divine Mountain. Perhaps only the Heavenly Venerable, using a great divine ability, could dissolve Murong Dui Ji's mad act.
Otherwise, the Heavenly Court was in danger!
Even if they won today, they would pay a heavy price.
"Want to drag the Heavenly Court into death? Have you asked the leader of the Earth Officials?"
Gai Mie flew out of the Five Elements Temple, raising the vast Nether Sea with both hands, covering the wide heaven and earth, colliding with the Ancestor Talisman Flame falling from the sky.
The Nether Sea was brought back by Zhang Ruochen from Biluo Pass after the Fourth Confucian Ancestor's death.
"Ao!"
A long roar came from the Truth Divine Temple. Meng Ge rode rolling demon clouds, soaring into the sky, blocking another part of the Heavenly Court's heaven and earth.
At the Space Divine Temple, Heavenly Marsh God Venerable and Zhuo Fang God Venerable, among other strong figures, activated the Star-Swallowing Divine Formation and the Heaven Round Earth Square Divine Formation.
At the Time Divine Temple, Feng Qianqiu led the gods, activating the Time Divine Sea Ancient Formation.
The Formation Destruction Palace, the Red Cloud Flying Immortal Valley, the Red Dust Unparalleled Tower, all the heavenly domains and sacred domains, all the formations of the Heavenly Court, under the leadership of countless gods and Great Saints, were activated simultaneously, with beams of light shooting straight into the sky.