Chapter 442 - 393: Bloody Battle of the Righteous and Demonic

The moment the [Mystic Heart Zhengyi Forbidden Technique] came crashing down—

It was as if an invisible string spanning Heaven and Earth had snapped.

The golden barrier of light that had separated the Righteous and Demonic Daos, once an impassable chasm, had forcefully held back two immense powers, each strong enough to sunder mountains and rivers.

But now, the chasm was shattered. The barrier was broken.

The last buffer zone was gone.

"ROAR—!!!"

Before the roars of a million Demon Cultivators had even faded, roiling demonic clouds had already surged into the Central Plains like a flood bursting through a dam!

What a magnificent spectacle it was!

The pitch-black demonic clouds blotted out the sky, like a boundless, colossal hand reaching out from the Northwest to slam down upon the Fertile Land of the Central Plains!

As the clouds churned, countless ferocious figures howled as they shot out from within.

There were Evil Cultivators who trod upon a Blood River, its viscous, crimson waves surging forward. Everywhere they passed, the air was tinged a faint red. Within the river, countless phantoms of twisted faces rose and fell, their shrill screams promising to drag all they saw into eternal defilement.

There were assassins hidden in the shadows. They did not travel with the main army, but moved like countless strands of black silk, silently slipping through the cracks in the void to infiltrate and lie in wait behind the Righteous Cultivators.

There were Ghost Cultivators who commanded Infant Souls, their bodies wreathed in the shrieking phantoms of babies. With every step they took, a blood-red Karma Fire Red Lotus bloomed in the void. The instant a lotus blossomed, all life force for hundreds of feet around was stripped away...

This was the Demon Dao!

This was the torrent of the Demon Dao from the Northwest Land—a power that had been building, suppressed, and fermenting for ten thousand years, now finally and utterly unleashed!

And on the flank of this demonic torrent, another immense power surged in with equal ferocity!

On the East Sea Shore, the ocean level suddenly dropped by hundreds of feet!

Countless members of the Sea Race took to the sky at once, siphoning away more than half the water in that part of the ocean!

The East Sea Dragon Race led the charge, their azure draconic might blanketing the heavens!

Their leader was a formidable young member of the Dragon Race with a dragon’s head and a human’s body. His aura was immense—he was none other than a Crown Prince of the Dragon Palace, a cultivator at the Great Master Realm!

Behind him, countless Cultivators of the East Sea Dragon Race followed close behind, each one exuding the immense aura of the Foundation Establishment Realm or higher!

The North Sea Dragon Race followed, their deep blue, icy currents freezing the very air!

The Crown Prince of the North Sea Dragon Palace had a cold and severe expression, his body wreathed in a chill powerful enough to freeze anything. He lifted his gaze slightly toward the Central Plains, his eyes betraying no emotion—only a frigid killing intent.

The South Sea Dragon Race brought up the rear, their crimson flames burning a boiling path through the seawater!

The Crown Prince of the South Sea Dragon Palace was stunningly handsome, with an almost demonic charm. An arrogant smile played on his lips. Flames and seawater intertwined around his body, yet he seemed utterly comfortable, creating a strangely harmonious sight.

Three draconic auras, three different colors, intertwined, collided, and merged in the sky, forming a power so immense it could change the very color of Heaven and Earth!

The Three Seas Dragon Race surged forth!

The torrent of the Demon Dao came from the Northwest, a black tsunami blotting out the sun!

The great army of the Dragon Race came from the East Sea, a raging tide of azure, blue, and crimson that swept across the land!

The two great powers, one from the left and one from the right, were like a pair of giant blades capable of tearing Heaven and Earth asunder, and they slashed down viciously upon the Fertile Land of the Central Plains!

And what met them was the counterattack the Central Plains Righteous Dao had been building for ten thousand years!

DONG—!!!

A deep, booming drumbeat, like the sound of the heavens collapsing, echoed from deep within the heart of the Central Plains!

The sound was ancient and heavy, as if it had traveled from a time before memory, and it resonated in the heart of every living being!

Immediately, countless streaks of Escape Light shot up from the immortal mountains, blessed lands, and grotto-heavens all across the Central Plains!

In the Vast Sacred Land, seventy-two Scripture Towers simultaneously erupted in brilliant light!

Countless Cultivators in scholarly robes stepped out on beams of light. They held Scripture Scrolls and recited the words of the sages. Each word they spoke transformed into a ray of golden light, merging into the immense tide of Vast Righteous Qi that was sweeping across the land!

In the Sword Pavilion, nine Sword Peaks trembled in unison!

Countless beams of sword light shot skyward from their summits. Each beam was impossibly sharp, impossibly fierce. They intertwined and converged in the sky, forming a great river of Sword Qi that stretched across Heaven and Earth!

At the Celestial Secret Sect, countless beams of starlight descended upon the towering, cloud-piercing Observatory Platform, shrouding the entire Sect in a hazy glow. From within the Starlight, figures slowly emerged. Their auras were ethereal and unfathomable, as if they had merged as one with the stars in the heavens.

The Tyrant Sect, an ancient Sect hidden deep within the mountains, finally bared its ferocious fangs!

Cultivators as burly as mountains stepped forth from the Sect’s gates.

They wore no Magic Robes and wielded no Magical Artifacts—only their own rippling, muscular bodies, which glowed with a faint golden light.

Their bodies were their ultimate weapons!

This was the Central Plains Righteous Dao!

This was the true power of its four great hegemons!

However—

Those charging at the forefront were not the Foundation Establishment Masters, but countless disciples of the Qi Refining Realm.

Their faces were grim. Their eyes held fear, grim resolve, and a calm acceptance of death, but not a single one of them retreated even half a step.

The first clash between the torrent of the Demon Dao and the army of the Righteous Dao erupted upon the plains!

It was a slaughter of flesh and blood!

A clash of Magic and artifacts!

It was countless vibrant lives, all at once, erupting in a final, brilliant flash!

Screams, roars, the clang of Magical Treasures, and the thunder of Magic all merged into a seething cacophony!

Blood rained down like a torrential storm, dyeing the earth a shocking, dark crimson!

Severed limbs flew through the air, and fragments of Magical Treasures scattered in all directions. Countless figures exploded into a mist of blood at the moment of impact, dissipating into nothingness!

This was a battle with no right or wrong, only life and death!

This was the release of ten thousand years of pent-up animosity—

A blood sacrifice!

...

And while rivers of blood flowed across the land and the din of slaughter shook the heavens, another battle—far more terrifying and fundamental—was just beginning in the vast Celestial Vault above.

Innumerable auras of the Foundation Establishment Realm rose into the sky simultaneously from within the demonic torrent, the Dragon Race’s army, and the Righteous Camp!

They were like countless meteors streaking in reverse, trailing flames of every color as they raced toward the highest point of the Celestial Vault!

That was the battlefield of the Foundation Establishment Masters.

It was their unspoken agreement.

When Foundation Establishment Masters fought, their clashes could easily affect an area hundreds of miles wide.

If they were to join the melee on the ground, forget deciding a victor—the aftershocks of their battle alone would be enough to destroy most of the fertile land below.

They were fighting to claim the Fertile Land of the Central Plains.

Not to destroy it.

So, they ascended.

They rose to the Celestial Vault, to that lofty place where they could fight without restraint and decide matters of life and death, without causing the slightest harm to the lands below!

WHOOSH—WHOOSH—WHOOSH—!!!

Countless streaks of Escape Light shot skyward, weaving a dense web of light across the sky!

The dark crimson of the Demon Dao, the azure, blue, and red of the Dragon Race, and the vast golden light of the Righteous Dao.

The myriad colors mingled as they soared into the heavens!

But just as those countless Foundation Establishment Masters ascended,

Four auras.

Four auras more terrifying, more immense, and more suffocating than all of the Foundation Establishment Masters combined.

Slowly rose from the very heart of the Righteous Camp.

The first to appear was a vast, golden light.

The golden light was pure, immense, and majestic, like a sun rising from the earth itself. From within it, an old man wearing wide-sleeved scholarly robes and a scholar’s cap stepped forth upon a beam of light.

His face was thin and ascetic, with three long wisps of a beard. His eyes were as deep as an ancient well, yet they seemed to see through all the falsehoods of the world.

He held a Bamboo Scroll in his hands. The scroll was made of neither gold nor jade, yet it exuded an ancient aura, a timelessness that had weathered countless ages.

Mr. Da of the Vast Sacred Land—the Confucian King, Huangfu Qianqiu.

He lifted his gaze slightly, looking toward the overwhelming demonic torrent and the three intertwined draconic auras. His eyes held neither joy nor sorrow, only a bottomless calm.

The next to appear was a beam of sword light.

The sword light was impossibly fierce and sharp, as if it could sever the threads of worldly karma and pierce through any falsehood. From within the light, a figure in green robes emerged, standing upon a sword.

He was a middle-aged man with a plain face. Only his eyes were extraordinary—as clear as a newborn’s, yet so profound they seemed to contain the essence of all Sword Dao throughout history.

The Acting Sect Leader of the Sword Pavilion—the Dragon Slayer Sword Master!

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze sweeping over San Si Master at the forefront of the Demon Dao’s ranks. A complex glint flashed in his eyes.

The third to appear was an expanse of Starlight.

The Starlight was hazy and vast, seeming to encompass the very Circulation of the celestial bodies.

From within the Starlight, a figure in a black Daoist Robe, holding a Star Disc, slowly walked forth.

His face was ancient and unadorned, and his brow held an air of otherworldly detachment, as if he did not belong to this Heaven and Earth but had descended from the depths of the cosmos.

The Star Disc in his hand rotated slowly. With each revolution, the trajectories of countless stars would appear and then vanish upon its surface.

The Deputy Sect Leader of the Celestial Secret Sect—Celestial Master Chen!

He closed his eyes slightly, as if divining something.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked toward the Dragon Race army. His gaze swept over each of the three Crown Princes of the Dragon Palace in turn before finally settling on a seemingly empty point in the sky.

There was nothing there.

But his eyes seemed to see something all the same.

The last to appear was a ray of golden light.

This golden light was different from the majestic Righteous Qi of the Vast Sacred Land; it was purer, more tyrannical, a light that seemed capable of suppressing and crushing all in its path. From within this light, a figure as burly as a mountain stepped out into the air.

He was a middle-aged man, powerfully built with muscles like knotted steel. His skin had a faint golden sheen, and every inch of his body seemed to contain a terrifying power capable of tearing Heaven and Earth apart. He was bare-chested, wearing only an animal hide around his waist, and his bronze skin was covered with profound Dao Patterns.

The Acting Sect Leader of the Tyrant Sect—Guan Si Hai!

He rolled his neck slightly, producing a grating sound like stone grinding against metal.

His golden eyes swept over the Demon Dao’s ranks and the Dragon Race’s great army before he broke into a wide grin.

His smile held not a hint of solemnity, only an eager, almost manic excitement.

Four figures, four great Daos, four completely different auras, lined up in the empty sky.

Behind them lingered the afterglow of Vast Righteous Qi and Sword Intent, left in the wake of the countless Righteous Dao Foundation Establishment Masters who had ascended.

Before them was the roiling demonic torrent, the three intertwined draconic auras, and the impending battle of the century.

In the vast Celestial Vault, astral winds howled, yet they could not stir these beings who stood at the absolute pinnacle of power.

They simply stood there in the void, watching one another.

In their standoff, there was a killing intent that had festered for ages, the gravity of facing a worthy opponent, a mutual scrutiny of each other’s Daos, and even a sense of relief that this day had finally come.

Below, upon the earth, the slaughter of flesh and blood raged on, the screams, roars, and clang of Magical Treasures converging into a seething cacophony.

Farther above, in the vast Celestial Vault, the auras of countless Foundation Establishment Masters were rapidly ascending, about to begin a slaughter of their own.

And between the two,

Four Great Masters of the Righteous Dao stood with their hands clasped behind their backs.

They were waiting.

Waiting for the Foundation Establishment Masters to finish their ascent. Waiting for the Great Masters of the Demon Dao and the Dragon Race to reveal themselves. Waiting for the war to truly enter their turn.