Chapter 674 - 49: Celestial Stele Refined

With a melodious cry, a beam of sword light arced through the sky and flashed past the five of them.

The beautiful woman from the Mystic Sky Saint Sect’s almond-shaped eyes went wide. She stared in disbelief at the Profound Gold Spiritual Mechanism Body that had leisurely appeared in the void, and at the face that was almost identical to Fang Cheng’s, save for the temperament.

"You’re Fang—"

Before she could finish her words, her head slid from her neck.

The same happened to the other four.

On the three Floating Islands below, the assembled Cultivators watched this scene, dumbfounded. For a moment, there was dead silence.

Five highly respected and deeply cultivated seniors had joined forces to ambush the Dragon Elephant Wanderer, only to be slain mid-air with a single sword strike, as easily as slaughtering chickens or cutting grass. It was unbelievable.

The tall and imposing Profound Gold Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation looked down upon the Cultivators. A chilling, murderous aura spread out, making their very souls tremble.

Fang Cheng looked at the Dragon Elephant Wanderer and asked, "Senior, I assume these were the ones?"

The Dragon Elephant Wanderer gave a bitter smile and nodded silently.

Fang Cheng looked outside the Profound Yellow Treasure Pagoda. The eight Heaven-Supporting Demon Aspects and the withered giant hand were still attacking the Sealing Array.

In the distance, endless Celestial Demons surged forward, faintly forming a Grand Array of their own. They intended to surround the Treasure Tower Array and use an array to break the array.

He sneered. The Boundless Flying Sword transformed into an ethereal beam of sword light and gracefully flew out of the Treasure Pagoda.

The sword light vanished in a flash, passing through the eight Heaven-Supporting Demon Aspects as if they were nothing.

The bodies of the eight Heaven-Supporting Demon Aspects stiffened. A wisp of Demonic Intent drifted out from each before dissipating into nothingness.

Their colossal, mountain-like demonic bodies disintegrated like shifting sand and dust, scattering into the sky as black sand.

Then, the sword light gently turned, transforming into a hundred-zhang-long rainbow that shot toward the high heavens before abruptly slashing down.

The entire sky seemed to have been split apart, cleanly cleaved in two by a single, thin, straight beam of sword light!

The sword light swept over the withered giant hand and the massive, bluish-black serpent without a sound.

The giant hand and the serpent were instantly bisected, dissolving into endless Demonic Light.

The Boundless Flying Sword erupted with a light as brilliant as the blazing sun and slashed down once more.

This strike was even more terrifying than the last. It carried a faint, world-suppressing pressure that caused the surging Demonic Qi between heaven and earth to still, as if obeying a king’s command.

"A Tier Six Flying Sword..."

The white-shirted youth’s expression turned grim. He slapped his hand forward, sending a swirling mass of dark, spectral wind to collide with the sword light.

CLANG!

The Boundless Flying Sword suddenly soared, coiling like a dragon. It tore through the void with a dull clap of thunder, leaving a thin white scar in the air.

With an invincible, tyrannical might that could cut through anything, the sword light cleaved through the Nine Nether Magnetic Wind and Fire, then swept past the Demon Lord.

The Demonic Qi around the Demon Lord’s body boiled as he was sliced in two by the sword light!

The next moment, the white-shirted youth dissolved into an endless expanse of Demon Fog.

Within the pitch-black Demon Fog, Demonic Lights of all colors danced and transformed into brilliant, indescribable radiances. The scene was a kaleidoscope of bizarre and fantastic phenomena.

The endless Demonic Light gathered into a massive, powerful, sky-covering hand. It gently opened, clenched into a fist, and finally collapsed and condensed, reforming into the white-shirted youth’s appearance.

The Demon Lord stared at the Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation inside the Treasure Tower Array, speechless for a long time.

Fang Cheng said coolly, "Demon Lord, as long as I am here, you can forget about taking that left arm."

As his voice fell, a Broken Ancient Bell materialized. With a slight tremor, a long, resonant toll echoed between heaven and earth.

Wherever the sound wave passed, countless Celestial Demons disintegrated into flying ash.

The area for several hundred li around the Sealed Ancient Land fell deathly silent.

The Demon Lord stood beneath the massive, hideous rift in the void, his expression cold. "It seems that in the years this one was trapped by the Demon Buddha, you’ve had quite a few fortuitous encounters across the heavens!" he said in a frigid voice.

’Not only has his true body cultivated a powerful physique comparable to a True Spirit Giant Beast, but his Magical Power and Divine Techniques are also astonishingly powerful, not the least bit inferior to my own.’

’Now, even a single incarnation of his wields a Tier Six Flying Sword and a Tier Six Fragmented Artifact. Furthermore, his Sword Technique is completely different from mine, but it is just as sharp and is also a Spirit Immortal’s legacy.’

’Just as Fang Cheng said, with this Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation here, I will surely be unable to break this place’s Spirit Immortal Sealing Array.’

The Demon Lord pondered for a moment, sighed softly, then turned and vanished.

*

*

*

「Chixiao Domain.」

「Sealed Ancient Land.」

Billowing Demon Fog stretched from the earth to the sky, as colossal as a mountain range. It was like a giant black wall pushing horizontally toward the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Treasure Tower Formation.

The white-shirted youth stood in the void as eight Heaven-Supporting Demon Aspects closed in to attack him from all sides.

This time, he didn’t bother with any probing attacks and directly launched a full-scale assault on the Sealed Ancient Land.

Just then, from within the Golden Radiance Treasure Pagoda, an enormous solar wheel emitting ten thousand golden rays flew out. RUMBLE! The void shook with continuous loud bangs. It was like a giant fireball, shooting out strange rays of light so dazzling one could hardly open their eyes.

The Great Sun Essence Wheel spun rapidly, smashing straight toward the eight Heaven-Supporting Demon Aspects. It struck them so hard that Demonic Light scattered and the void shattered, its vast and astonishing momentum like the might of the heavens.

BOOM!

Wherever the Great Sun Essence Wheel passed, the eight Demon Aspects disintegrated one after another. The Demonic Light they transformed into dissipated like a raging torrent.

Then, the Great Sun Essence Wheel hurtled toward the white-shirted youth.

"Another Sixth-rank Magical Artifact...!"

Even with the Demon Lord’s composure, he couldn’t help but curse.

With a shake of his body, he transformed into a sky-covering demonic hand and slammed it down viciously on the Great Sun Essence Wheel.

BOOM!

The two collided, producing an earth-shattering tremor. Demonic Light and fiery radiance exploded in unison, turning into millions of black and gold strands of light that shot across the sky.

The encroaching Demon Tide of Celestial Demons was swept by the aftershocks of their battle, and countless were instantly annihilated.

The Great Sun Essence Wheel was sent flying back, and the sky-covering hand had also mostly dissipated.

The Demon Lord reverted to his white-shirted form and looked into the Golden Radiance Treasure Pagoda. He saw a Spiritual Mechanism Incarnation clad in simple wooden armor and a Dark Golden Robe standing there, its aura as deep as the sea and not the slightest bit weaker than his own.

"Demon Lord, as long as I am here, you will not take—"

Before the Golden Crow Incarnation could finish, the Demon Lord departed in a rage.

...

「A few days later.」

The Demon Lord’s incarnation visited the Sealed Ancient Lands in the Thunder Domain, the Celestial Wind Domain, and the Formless Realm.

To his shock and fury, he discovered that Fang Cheng had incarnations guarding these three Sealed Ancient Lands as well.

The difference was, although these three incarnations didn’t have Sixth-rank Magical Artifacts, they each possessed a set of Sixth-rank Talismans.

When the nine Golden Crow Talismans formed a Talisman Array, their might was in no way inferior to a Sixth-rank Magical Artifact.

His Demon Aspects and Divine Techniques dissipated the instant they touched this Golden Crow Array. Only his Nine Nether Magnetic Wind and Fire could contend with it.

Outside the Golden Tower Array, a sky full of golden flames burned the heavens and boiled the seas, their wild arrogance seemingly mocking his incompetence.

Only then did he realize that although he had greatly overestimated Fang Cheng’s combat strength, his opponent’s power still far exceeded his expectations.

In the end, even he began to wonder with alarm, ’Just how many more Spiritual Mechanism Incarnations does Fang Cheng have that haven’t shown themselves?’

When the Demon Lord thought of the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele that the Red Profound Association was currently forging, his heart burned with even more rage.

’The only way to contend with this brat now is to forge the Ten Thousand Demon True Body.’

’Even if the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele is successfully forged,’ he mused, ’it will be difficult to completely purge the Demonic Intent from this realm’s Celestial Dao Origin.’

’At worst, the Red Profound Association will only manage to purge the Celestial Dao Demonic Intent from a few regions, giving them a chance to successfully pass their tribulations.’

’Once Fang Cheng ascends, I can act at my leisure, break the five great seals, retrieve my fragmented body, and return to my peak strength.’

For now, the only thing he could do was unleash the Celestial Demon parasites.

From that day on, countless rifts in the void appeared throughout the Red Profound Realm. Trillions of Celestial Demons poured into the World Heaven from the Outer Void, devouring endless living beings, multiplying, and infesting the realm.

Across the entire Red Profound Realm, aside from the five Sealed Ancient Lands, only a few scattered locations managed to hold out against the Demon Tide, relying on their protective Arrays.

Every other place was transformed into a Demon Realm.

The final calamity of the World Heaven had finally arrived, right on schedule.

*

*

*

「One year later.」

「Mingxiao Domain, Heaven Crossing Hall.」

Inside a resplendent, golden palace within the Grotto Heaven Secret Realm, Fang Cheng sat cross-legged in the main hall. The Immortal Copper Treasure Box floated before him, overflowing with spiritual light.

His Netherworld Giant Kun Dharma Aspect was still exploring within the Returning Ruins Vortex, but it had found very little.

To a behemoth like the Returning Ruins Vortex, a distance of ten thousand li was insignificant against its immense scale.

But for Fang Cheng, it was a long and perilous journey.

’It’s still not enough.’

Sensing someone outside the hall, Fang Cheng sighed softly and retracted his Dharma Aspect. The hall doors swung open on their own.

Beiming Cang Xue stood outside the hall and said gently, "Husband, the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele has been successfully forged."

Fang Cheng’s expression brightened, and a smile appeared on his face. "As expected of a Spirit Immortal Incarnation, truly extraordinary."

With that, he rose and walked out of the hall, accompanying Beiming Cang Xue to the Taihuo Cave Heaven.

Amidst endless flames, a colossal stele stood motionless. Numerous Tribulation Realm Cultivators hovered in the air around it, gazing at the culmination of over two hundred years of hard work, now finally complete.

At this moment, the forty-nine Divine Prohibitions on the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele shone brilliantly, their divine light dancing. A continuous cicada-like hum filled the void, endlessly reverberating in everyone’s souls.

Surrounding the Stone Stele, a Spirit Gathering Array drew in endless Spiritual Qi, which cascaded into the stele like a celestial waterfall.

Venerable Jiayin, Feng Yan, Beiming Qingqiu, Mo Liushang, Ascendant Dun’an, and the others were all present.

After Fang Cheng appeared, he clasped his fist in thanks to the crowd. "Everyone, thank you for your hard work. Today, we have forged this treasure. It will surely sweep away the demonic atmosphere of our Red Profound Realm, restore order to the universe, and extend the destiny of our World Heaven for another ten thousand years."

Although the Red Profound Realm was in its final calamity, there were still over ten thousand years until the end of this cosmic epoch. There was still hope to defy the heavens and change their fate, to win another ten thousand years of peace for the realm’s Cultivators.

"Fellow Daoist Fang, you should be the one to refine this treasure!"

Venerable Jiayin now held supreme authority within the Taihuo Cave Heaven and was deeply revered and respected by all the Cultivators.

Now that she had spoken, no one else had the slightest objection.

Fang Cheng nodded to her, ascended, and arrived at the top of the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele. With a wave of his great sleeve, a vast and mighty torrent of Magical Power poured into the Celestial Stele.

A high-pitched cicada cry echoed throughout the Grotto Heaven.

Divine light flickered on the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele. Rainbows flew and lightning danced as colorful clouds scurried about. The massive, three-thousand-zhang-tall Celestial Stele suddenly shrank to the size of a few feet and, amidst a glow of divine light and colorful clouds, came to rest in Fang Cheng’s hand.

"Today, I will test the power of this Celestial Stele."

Fang Cheng’s figure flashed, and he appeared outside the Heaven Crossing Hall with the Demon-Suppressing Celestial Stele.

...