Chapter 695 - 666: Invasion of the Upper Realm

"Path to Immortality!"

Saint Taichu stood with his hands clasped behind his back. When he looked toward that Heaven-Reaching Ancient Road, scenes from the ages immemorial seemed to replay before his eyes.

Path to Immortality.

Heaven-Stepping Ladder.

That was supposed to be the ladder by which all beings of the Lower Realm ascended to a higher plane, yet later it evolved into a kalpa of annihilation for the Lower Realm's beings.

A battle in ages immemorial.

The Taichu Immortal Court suffered a crushing defeat.

But now, Saint Taichu beheld the scene of washing away that ancient humiliation.

This battle.

He would avenge the devastating defeat of ages immemorial.

After tempering himself for three hundred thousand years, and then joining the Divine Kingdom Chat Group to witness all manner of fortunes, although Saint Taichu had not taken that final step to attest to the Unity Realm, he had nonetheless gone a step further upon his original foundation.

If one had to force a label upon his realm, he should now be considered half a step into Harmonization.

That half step taken, though it had not completed the final metamorphosis.

Yet.

Even so, it was enough to distinguish Saint Taichu from ordinary Saint Immortal Kings.

Afterward, Saint Taichu looked toward the other Star Ancient Cities. Now the Divine Court's great army had assembled, hundreds of millions of cultivators with momentum like rainbows; that terrifying battle intent shook the Void and the cosmos. Even Saint Immortal Kings found it hard to meet that edge head-on.

Such elite troops.

Not even the Taichu Immortal Court of old had ever possessed them.

Before this battle even began, in Saint Taichu's view, the Cyan Yang Divine Court had already won.

"If the Taichu Immortal Court back then had possessed such elites, that ancient kalpa of the eons might not have ended in such a miserable defeat!"

This thought had barely arisen when Saint Taichu shook his head and dispelled it.

The Taichu Immortal Court's defeat in that ancient kalpa was precisely because in every respect their strength was inferior to the Upper Realm, particularly at the very pinnacle of combat power. Their side had not a single Unity Realm Immortal Venerable to sit in town; the gap with the Upper Realm was not just by a little.

Just as Saint Taichu was pondering in silence, he suddenly saw billions of rays of rosy light unfurl, three thousand Daos following in their wake. The Starry Sky and cosmos quaked as though ten thousand spirits were offering homage. A lofty, ethereal blue-robed cultivator walked over step by step. His terrifying pressure pervaded the four directions, making all cultivators instinctively lower their heads.

"We pay respects to the Divine Emperor!"

Billions of cultivators bowed in unison, their voices shattering the Azure Sky.

Shakyamuni Buddha and the other Saint Immortal Kings, when they looked upon that towering figure, were all inwardly shaken to the core.

Having stepped into the Immortal King Realm of Saint Immortal Kings, they considered themselves already standing at the peak of heaven and earth. Yet even so, at the instant they faced Gu Qingyang, the faint threads of aura that spilled from him alone made their hearts palpitate endlessly.

A single wisp of aura.

Was enough to suppress a Saint Immortal King.

Such strength naturally left one utterly astonished.

"His strength is even greater than in the past!"

Saint Taichu's expression changed slightly.

He had thought that, after a separation of three hundred thousand years, he would be able to narrow the gap between himself and Gu Qingyang. But when he actually met him again, only then did Saint Taichu realize how naïve that thought had been.

Back then, when he stood before Gu Qingyang, Saint Taichu still had the courage to fight. But now, he no longer possessed even the qualification to make a move in front of the other party.

It was as if the other only needed a single glance to directly suppress him.

Such strength.

Left Saint Taichu deeply shocked.

"All cultivators, follow this Emperor to wage war upon the Upper Realm!"

Gu Qingyang looked at the Heaven-Reaching Ancient Road before him. Without any extra heroic speeches, with just this simple sentence he directly announced the opening of this war.

As his words fell.

They saw him take the lead, stepping through the Void and entering the Path to Immortality.

The other high-level figures of the Divine Court saw this as well and immediately led their armies onto the Path to Immortality.

Since the appearance of the Path to Immortality, this was the first time cultivators of the Cyan Yang Divine Court had stepped into this place.

From the outside.

The Path to Immortality appeared to be nothing but a Heaven-Reaching Ancient Road.

Yet only upon entering the Path to Immortality could one discover that this so-called Heaven-Reaching Ancient Road was in fact a vast, boundless battlefield.

Severed limbs and shattered bones!

Broken Divine Soldiers!

There were corpses piled into mountains, and blood that had not dried for hundreds of thousands of years.

A strange and murderous aura pervaded the entire battlefield, delivering a fierce shock to the senses.

One could easily imagine.

What kind of brutal war must have erupted on the Path to Immortality in bygone days to forge such a scene.

"Back then, His Majesty the God Emperor stood here, blocking countless powerhouses of the Upper Realm by his strength alone!"

Gu Fang sighed in emotion.

One man severed the Path to Immortality, leaving the Upper Realm's powerhouses utterly helpless.

Such strength and such a feat—just thinking of it made his heart tremble endlessly.

...

In the Chaos Void.

A great army of powerhouses was stationed.

This was the entrance to the Path to Immortality on the Upper Realm's side.

Ever since the cultivators of the Divine Teachings had been suppressed, the various top-tier forces of the Three Thousand Cosmos had all dispatched powerhouses to guard this place. Some had even sent Saint Immortal Kings to personally sit in town, all to prevent the Divine Teachings from breaking through the defenses again, entering the Lower Realm directly, and throwing themselves under the banner of the Cyan Yang Divine Court.

At the same time.

It was also to prevent the Cyan Yang Divine Court from one day using the Path to Immortality to invade the Upper Realm.

Yet for hundreds of thousands of years this entrance had remained utterly calm, with no sign of invasion from the Lower Realm. Gradually, many cultivators began to grow lax in their hearts.

In their view, the Lower Realm's strength could not compare to that of the Upper Realm. There was simply no possibility of them invading the Upper Realm.

Guarding this place, rather than saying they were defending against an invasion from the Lower Realm, it would be better to say they were intercepting the remnants of the Divine Teachings.

Even the Immortal King powerhouse stationed here had never truly taken the Lower Realm's issues to heart, merely sitting in town and silently comprehending the Chaos Dao in cultivation.

One day.

The Immortal King who was in seclusion opened his eyes, looking toward the entrance of the Path to Immortality, a flicker of doubt and astonishment in his gaze.

Before he could figure out what exactly was happening, he saw the entrance of the Path to Immortality quiver. A blue-robed figure stepped through the Void, majestic heavenly might sweeping across the Chaos Cosmos like an overwhelming tide.

At the sight of that figure, the Immortal King's face instantly changed dramatically.

"Gu Qingyang—"

Divine Emperor Gu Qingyang!

This Immortal King seemed to recall that scene from hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Eternal Immortal Venerable had been beaten to death by him, and their Saint Immortal Kings had been as weak as ants before him.

Thus.

The moment he saw Gu Qingyang appear, the nightmare within the Immortal King's heart was completely awakened. Without pausing for even an instant, his body turned into a streak of rainbow light as he fled, wanting to escape this battlefield.

As for facing him head-on, the thought never even crossed his mind.

What a joke.

This was the peerless fiend who had hammered the Eternal Immortal Venerable to death—how could a mere little Immortal King like himself possibly stand against him?

Yet.

Just as the Immortal King turned into a rainbow light to flee, he realized that the scene before his eyes was rapidly rewinding. In the next instant, he appeared right in front of Gu Qingyang.

"Gu…"

A twisted smile pulled at the Immortal King's face. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Gu Qingyang extend a single finger. The expression on his face froze, and in the next moment he turned to ash and scattered away.

Boom—

The Immortal King fell.

Blood rained from the sky.

Heaven and earth wept.

The other cultivators guarding the entrance to the Path to Immortality only then realized what had just happened.