Chapter 436 - 435: The Three Emperors Enter the Barrier Realm, The Supreme Ancestor’s Array

"Tianxu! Nanheng! Beiming!"

His voice exploded directly within their spiritual seas.

The transmission carried the absolute authority of Body Integration, causing the three Emperors to stiffen as the overwhelming pressure passed through their consciousness. Even with their cultivation suppressed, they could recognize the difference between the power of a Peak Void Refinement cultivator and the presence of someone who had crossed into an entirely higher realm.

"The Nine Provinces cannot sustain my existence!" the Supreme Grand Elder continued. "The laws are too broken, and my ascension is temporary. Follow me to the Barrier Realm immediately! Its transitional laws remain complete enough to support my current cultivation. We must make our stand there!"

Before the three Emperors could respond, he raised his right hand.

The surrounding space folded beneath his fingers, revealing the faint outline of a passage that connected the Nine Provinces to the Barrier Realm. Rather than relying on a conventional teleportation formation, he seized the damaged dimensional structure and forced it apart with his newly acquired power.

The opening widened rapidly, its edges trembling beneath the pressure of his unstable Body Integration aura.

He stepped into the passage.

The spatial rift closed behind him almost immediately, leaving only a few fragments of gray light suspended above the ruined chamber. His destination was clear, and every moment he spent hesitating would bring him closer to the collapse of his borrowed cultivation.

He needed the Barrier Realm’s complete laws, the three Emperors’ remaining strength, and the Supreme Ancestor’s Array if he hoped to challenge the power descending from the Hollow Beyond.

?

In the ruined Grand Court, Emperor Tianxu’s golden eyes widened as the Supreme Grand Elder’s transmission faded from his consciousness. He had spent countless years preparing for the possibility that the Supreme Grand Elder might one day emerge from seclusion.

But he had never imagined that his awakening would come under such desperate circumstances.

The aura that had accompanied the transmission was unmistakable.

"He did it," Emperor Nanheng whispered, her scorched Vermilion Bird fan trembling in her hand. The damaged artifact released a faint flicker of red light as she struggled to process what she had sensed. "The Supreme Grand Elder has actually crossed into Body Integration."

Emperor Beiming’s heavy face split into a strained grin. His Black Tortoise armor remained cracked, and blood had dried along the edges of his jaw, but a spark of hope returned to his exhausted eyes.

"A Body Integration cultivator! If the Supreme Grand Elder can fight, then perhaps we still have a chance to stop the Demon Emperor who just emerged."

"Do not celebrate yet!" Emperor Tianxu roared.

His voice cut through the brief moment of excitement, forcing the other two Emperors to confront the danger they had almost forgotten. Tianxu’s expression remained severe as he examined the shattered sky and the enormous demonic hands continuing their descent.

The Supreme Grand Elder had achieved a breakthrough, but the cost of that achievement was already clear from the unstable aura that had accompanied his transmission.

"He used a forbidden method," Tianxu said, tightening his grip around his golden halberd. "That gray aura was filled with the decay of the Underworld. His breakthrough is temporary, and the energy sustaining it is consuming his lifespan. We must not waste a single second of the time he has purchased with his life."

Emperor Nanheng’s expression grew solemn.

She had sensed the same thing, although the excitement of hearing that a Body Integration cultivator had emerged had briefly obscured her judgment. The Supreme Grand Elder’s aura was powerful enough to overwhelm the suppressed Emperors, but it had carried a disturbing instability that no genuine breakthrough should possess.

Whatever strength he had gained, it would not last indefinitely.

"Then we must reach him before his cultivation collapses," she said. "If the Barrier Realm can support his power, we should have enough time to form the Supreme Ancestor’s Array."

Emperor Beiming nodded and shifted his damaged shield into position.

"The array requires all three of us to serve as its anchors," he said. "If we remain here, the world will continue suppressing our cultivation, and we will be useless when the time comes to support him. We should leave immediately."

Tianxu raised his head toward the sky.

Above the Grand Court, the colossal demonic hands continued their harvest with terrifying efficiency. One had already closed around the Whispering Mirage Woods, gripping the vast emerald expanse of ancient trees as though it were a small object.

The forest’s countless roots had been torn from the earth, and its immense body was being dragged toward the bleeding rift that connected the Nine Provinces to the Hollow Beyond.

Another hand had plunged deep into the planetary crust, reaching toward the Primordial Volcanic Forge.

Its molten core blazed with the light of a star, but even that immense concentration of heat could not resist the pressure of the descending fingers. Rivers of magma stretched into glowing strands as the hand tightened around the forge, while the surrounding tectonic plates groaned beneath the force being exerted upon them.

The remaining hands were moving toward other foundational structures.

Each movement sent tremors through the Nine Provinces. Entire mountain ranges split apart, rivers changed their courses, and cities that had stood for thousands of years collapsed into the widening fissures.

The destruction was not limited to a single region, because the force pulling at the Wonders was transmitting its pressure through the very structures that sustained the world.

Sects and mortal empires were being swallowed by the spreading devastation.

Tianxu understood that they could not prevent every loss. Even if the Supreme Grand Elder succeeded in stabilizing his cultivation, the three Emperors would have only one opportunity to strike at the force responsible for the harvest.

They needed to preserve their remaining strength and prepare for the moment when that opportunity appeared.

"To the Barrier Realm!" Tianxu commanded.

The three Emperors ignited their remaining imperial bloodlines, forcing their exhausted bodies into motion. They did not waste time searching for Barrier Tokens, since the dimensional walls that had once separated the realms had already collapsed.

With the Nine Provinces and the Barrier Realm overlapping, they only needed to cross the distorted boundary.

Emperor Tianxu moved first, his golden halberd cutting through the turbulent air. Emperor Nanheng followed with her damaged fan held close to her body, while Emperor Beiming gathered the remaining power of his Black Tortoise bloodline around his cracked armor.

Their figures rose above the ruined Grand Court and plunged toward the swirling astral currents.

The transition took only a moment.

The instant they crossed into the Barrier Realm, the oppressive restriction of the Nine Provinces vanished from their bodies. Complete Dao laws rushed through their meridians, restoring the power that had been suppressed since the collapse of the Nine Heavens Ward.

The difference was so immediate that all three Emperors felt as though enormous weights had been lifted from their shoulders.

VROOOOOOM!