Chapter 445 - 395: Banner, Come

Above the Celestial Vault, a dead silence reigned.

The ashes of Guan Si Hai, who had exploded into dust, still drifted through the void.

Faint specks of golden afterglow, like a final sigh, swiftly dimmed and vanished in the astral winds, ultimately returning to nothingness.

And yet, the figure in deep blue, hands clasped behind his back, remained standing quietly in the same spot.

His deep blue Daoist robe was perfectly still. His ink-black hair cascaded like a waterfall, and his expression was as placid as a ten-thousand-year-old well.

It was as if the one who had just been turned to dust was not the Acting Sect Leader of the Tyrant Sect, not one of the four titans of the Central Plains Righteous Dao.

But merely an insignificant speck of dust.

Those vast, cyan gold eyes did not even spare the drifting ashes a single glance.

He just stood there quietly, his calm gaze sweeping over the figures frozen like statues across the Celestial Vault.

The gazes of San Si Master, Lady Jiu Li, and Master Revolving Wheel were sharp as needles.

They had seen Qi Yun act before—they had been there when he’d used Execution to suppress and kill a Netherworld Master.

But that time, the one who died was only a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Master.

Though shocking, it was still within the realm of comprehension.

But this time...

It was a Great Master.

A Great Master at the same Realm as them, one who had gathered the Two Profound States and was only a single step away from knocking on the door of the True Monarch Realm!

Masters and Great Masters, though both in the Foundation Establishment Realm, were as different as heaven and earth.

A Foundation Establishment Master merely hangs their Dao Foundation in the Foundation Establishment Heaven, like one of countless stars in the night sky. One more or one less makes little difference.

But a Great Master is different. With the Two Profound States gathered, they are only a single, compatible Dao Fruit away from attaining a golden nature and ascending to become a True Monarch.

From then on, they would be suspended high above the river of time, looking down upon the changing of epochs.

What an immense distance that was.

A distance hundreds, even thousands of times greater than the one from mortal to Foundation Establishment!

And yet, it was such a titan, a Great Master whose very existence made the entire Central Plains Righteous Dao take notice.

Under Qi Yun’s hand, he hadn’t even lasted a single move.

Flames danced wildly in Lady Jiu Li’s phoenix eyes.

The nine-headed Red Gold Golden Simurghs behind her were all prostrated in the void, their heads bowed and feathers tucked in, not daring to let out a single cry.

The gray mist around Master Revolving Wheel churned violently, and his eerie green eyes flickered madly.

He wanted to say something, to curse, but only a strangled, wheezing sound came from his throat.

The Crown Prince of the East Sea Dragon Palace’s ten-thousand-zhang dragon body coiled in the void, and the two blazing cyan suns in his dragon eyes pulsed violently.

He involuntarily retreated half a step.

Though that half-step was minuscule, it said everything.

The Crown Prince of the North Sea Dragon Palace’s face remained grim, but the deep blue, wintry currents coiling around him were now trembling slightly.

The arrogant smile on the face of the Crown Prince of the South Sea Dragon Palace had long since vanished without a trace.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to ease the tension, but found his voice was stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out.

Qi Yun could kill Guan Si Hai.

That meant he could kill any one of them.

This thought, like the coldest venomous snake, burrowed deep into the Heart and Spirit of every Great Master present.

If it were them facing Guan Si Hai, who would dare claim they were certain of victory?

That body, which would remain even if Heaven and Earth perished; that fist, powerful enough to tear the void asunder.

No one dared make such a claim.

Yet such an existence hadn’t even survived a single breath against Qi Yun.

’Below True Monarchs...’

’Below True Monarchs...’

A single thought surfaced in the minds of all the Great Masters simultaneously:

The number one Demon below the True Monarchs!

This was a title they never thought they would apply to a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator.

But now, gazing at the deep blue figure with his hands clasped behind his back, they felt it couldn’t be more fitting.

...

Qi Yun slightly raised his eyes.

His vast, cyan gold eyes swept calmly over each rigid figure in the Celestial Vault.

The solemnity of San Si Master, the terror of Lady Jiu Li, the sinister gloom of Master Revolving Wheel, the wary apprehension of the three Crown Princes of the Dragon Palaces—he took it all in.

He lifted his chin slightly, his gaze taking on a quality of looking down upon them all.

’This is the effect I wanted.’

’Killing is always more direct and effective than any other method.’

’Next—’

He was about to speak, intending to use this display of power to solidify his advantage and force the Righteous Dao into further concessions.

However, at that very moment.

"Sigh..."

A very faint sigh emerged from deep within the ranks of the Vast Sacred Land.

The sigh was not loud, yet it carried a sense of both relief and gravity, born from experiencing the vicissitudes of countless ages.

It was like a venerable elder at the end of his life, finally making a decision he was reluctant, yet compelled, to make.

Huangfu Qianqiu slowly raised his hand.

He turned his palm over.

An ancient scroll materialized in his palm.

The ancient scroll was only about a foot long, its body a pale yellow. Its edges were slightly frayed, as if it had been baptized by countless years.

On its surface, densely packed characters were faintly visible. Each character was minuscule, yet radiated a gentle and eternal light.

Huangfu Qianqiu gazed at the ancient scroll in his palm, a complex look flashing in his eyes.

Within that look was reverence, reluctance, resolve, and a trace of indescribable pity.

Then, he raised his hand and flicked it upward.

The ancient scroll soared into the air!

SHHHHHHH—!!!

The ancient scroll suddenly unfurled in mid-air!

The sound of it opening was not the sound of ordinary paper turning, but like the stampede of ten thousand horses, the surging of an eternal river, the chanting of countless sages reciting scriptures in unison!

One length, two lengths, three lengths...

The ancient scroll seemed endless, constantly extending and unfurling in mid-air!

Ten zhang, a hundred zhang, a thousand zhang!

Finally, it transformed into a magnificent, boundless scroll that stretched across the entire Celestial Vault!

Upon the long scroll, countless characters shone with dazzling brilliance!

Every single character contained a Great Dao, a principle, and a form of Vast Righteous Qi that had endured through the ages, indestructible.

"The way of great learning consists in illustrating illustrious virtue..."

"What Heaven has conferred is called The Nature; an accordance with this nature is called The Path..."

"A just cause enjoys abundant support, while an unjust cause finds little..."

"Neither riches nor honors can corrupt him, neither poverty nor humble status can make him swerve from principle, and neither threats nor force can bend him..."

Countless articles from sages and virtuous men, countless essences of Confucianism, transformed into a clear, resonant reading that echoed between Heaven and Earth.

The sound was so immense, so vast and righteous, that it seemed to want to wash away all the evil and filth in the world.

And amidst this clear and resonant reading—

From upon the long scroll, from within the light of the countless characters, figures emerged one after another, walking out with measured steps.

The first to emerge was an old man in a simple, ancient Confucian robe. He had a gaunt face, three wisps of a long beard, and held a bamboo scroll. His gaze was gentle yet profound, as if it could see through all the illusions of the world.

Following him was a middle-aged scholar with a longsword at his waist, his brow radiating an awesome righteousness.

The third was an elderly woman, nearing the end of her life, holding a ruler and exuding the solemn air of one who enlightens the masses.

A fourth, a fifth, a sixth...

One after another, after another...

The figures emerged from the light of the characters in an unending stream!

Some were young, some were old; some were burly, some were gaunt; some held books, some wore swords; some had their heads bowed in thought, some looked up at the sky.

But all of them radiated the same kind of aura.

A vast, solemn, and indestructible aura that had endured through the ages—the aura of a Great Master!

"The Sages and Virtuous Forebears?!"

Master Revolving Wheel was the first to react. His eerie green eyes widened abruptly, and the gray mist around him churned so violently it was about to explode!

"Pah! Those shameless bastards—pulling this trick again!!"

The Sages and Virtuous Forebears!

A Dharma Gate of the Confucian Dao that could only be described as "cheating"!

This Dharma Gate was incomparably profound. With it, a Confucian Dao True Monarch could preserve a wisp of their Essence, Qi, and Spirit in the form of an essay.

When these essays were recited by the common people of the world, empowered by their will and worship, their reputations could be passed down through the ages and eventually coalesce into physical form.

The most crucial part was that these "Sages and Virtuous Forebears" who emerged from the essays, though manifested by the power of a True Monarch, did not possess a borrowed Fruit Position and therefore did not reach the Status of a True Monarch!

Therefore, other True Monarchs could not intervene and stop them on the grounds of "rule-breaking"!

And since the birth of the Confucian Dao, for how many long years had this technique of the Sages and Virtuous Forebears been passed down?

One generation, two, ten, a hundred...

Those essays, one, two, ten, a hundred...

The figures that emerged—

One, two, ten, a hundred...

Master Revolving Wheel raised his head and stared at the figures still emerging in an endless stream from the light in the Celestial Vault, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

One, two, ten, twenty, fifty...

Eighty, ninety, a hundred...

A full—

Over one hundred!

Over a hundred figures, each radiating the aura of a Great Master!

They stood quietly upon the Celestial Vault, before the vast and righteous scroll, amidst the clear and resonant reading.

Some had their heads bowed, as if still pondering their texts;

Some raised their heads to the sky, as if observing the state of the world countless ages later;

Some gazed down quietly, their eyes gentle and profound, as if looking at a group of disobedient juniors.

Over a hundred figures, a hundred different postures, a hundred gazes—all fell upon the lone, deep blue figure standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

High in the Celestial Vault, the astral winds abruptly ceased.

The clear, resonant reading still echoed.

But now, the sound held a hint of judgment.

Qi Yun slightly raised his eyes.

His vast, cyan gold eyes calmly swept over the hundred-odd figures and their hundred-odd Great Master auras.

"A True Monarch’s Magic Intent, constantly reinforced and sublimated by the hearts and minds of the masses, to the point where it can even withstand the erosion of the River of Heaven and Earth Years."

"For such a sacred object... I am truly unworthy."

Hearing Qi Yun’s words, the Confucian King Huangfu Qianqiu’s heart suddenly tightened, and a faint sense of foreboding arose within him.

The next second!

Qi Yun thrust out a hand, and a vast Daoist Intent soared into the heavens.

"Banner, come!"

...