Chapter 526 - 463: Might of the Void Proof

The tombstones of over a hundred True Monarchs gathered together...

What a terrifying, oppressive, and heavy sight this was!

Every tombstone represented a Supreme Being who once stood at the peak of the Profound Yellow, a glorious and dazzling Dao that once suppressed an entire era! But now, they had all been reduced to these cold stone monuments before his eyes, quietly narrating a silent death and finality.

A terrifying atmosphere—a mixture of solemn tragedy, unwillingness, anger, despair, and an eternal, dense aura of death—permeated every inch of the void in the stone forest like a tangible mire.

Even with Qi Yun’s current state of mind and Cultivation, he felt an inexplicable sense of heaviness and icy cold.

"Over a hundred True Monarchs..." Qi Yun’s gaze slowly swept across the towering, dark red stone monuments before him, a multicolored light swirling in his eyes. "Who could possess such grand means to erect tombstones... for over a hundred True Monarchs? And who," his voice grew deep, carrying a trace of a piercing chill, "could kill these True Monarchs?"

Killing a True Monarch was inherently as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

True Monarchs had already entrusted their True Spirits onto their Dao Fruits. As long as the Dao Fruit remained undestroyed, even if their bodies and Dao perished, they still had a chance of rebirth. However, the aura permeating these tombstones clearly indicated a complete and utter fall—one that severed any possibility of resurrection!

What was more, there were over a hundred of them! This could absolutely not be explained by an ordinary struggle or accident!

"It seems... I will have to find the answer myself." Qi Yun thought no more of it and slowly closed his eyes.

The next instant, a speck of chaotic multicolored light, radiant to the extreme, suddenly lit up between his brows! Immediately after, endless multicolored divine light surged out like a bursting Star River. It intertwined and circulated in the void before him, transforming into a continuously evolving colorful Star Map that contained the supreme deducing Dao Rhyme!

Qi Yun intended to use his own Primordial Dao to forcibly deduce the origin of this bizarre forest of monuments, tracing back to the truth that had been obliterated in the eternal river of time!

Trace the source, manifest the cause and effect!

He gave a low shout and extended his right index finger, gently tapping the colorful Star Map before him.

BUZZ!

The Star Map trembled violently. The countless starlights and Dao Patterns within it began to frantically circulate, combine, and deduce at an unimaginable speed!

Vague, illusory Cause and Effect Threads, representing different timelines and karmic connections, extended from the Star Map. Like living tentacles, they slowly and tentatively reached toward the vast forest of monuments ahead, trying to "grasp" the veins of truth hidden beneath the eternal dust.

SIZZLE!

Right at the moment when those Cause and Effect Threads were about to touch the monuments, just as they were about to flow upstream and trace back to the source, a pitch-black "crack" appeared out of thin air on the level of cause and effect!

It lay horizontally in front of all the Cause and Effect Threads that attempted to trace back!

Every Cause and Effect Thread that touched this pitch-black crack, without exception, let out a soft sizzling sound before snapping and returning to nothingness!

The colorful deducing Star Map in front of Qi Yun suddenly dimmed and swayed violently, nearly collapsing!

"Hmm?" Qi Yun abruptly opened his eyes. The multicolored light in them flashed explosively as a trace of surprise was revealed. "What overbearing means... Severing cause and effect, isolating the heavenly secrets... This is absolutely not something an ordinary True Monarch can do! It seems... the waters here are deeper than I imagined."

Since it could not be deduced, he would go in and investigate personally!

Qi Yun withdrew his gaze and glanced at the Westward Journey Error Map in his hand, which was still emitting a faint glow. The illusory arrow of light indicated by the scroll pointed directly to the deep center of this forest of monuments.

"Let’s go. We’ll head inside to take a look," he said to Cai Shen beside him. He then took a step forward, entering the vast forest of monuments permeated with endless deathly aura and solemn, tragic will.

Cai Shen hastily transformed into a ray of golden light and re-entered the ancient copper coin ornament at Qi Yun’s waist, leaving only a wisp of Divine Thought connected to the outside world.

One man and one spirit walked slowly through this enormous forest of tombstones.

Their surroundings were filled with an indescribable oppression and heaviness. Every tombstone was like a dormant volcano, containing a Seal on the lifelong Dao Rhyme, memories, emotions, and the unwillingness and obsessions of a True Monarch at the time of their fall.

These chaotic and powerful residual wills, even after countless years had passed, still intertwined and clashed here, forming an extremely bizarre and dangerous force field. Walking through it, one could almost hear countless faint murmurs, roars, weeping, and long sighs in their ears...

Broken battle scenes and apocalyptic sights occasionally flashed before his eyes.

"This won’t do..." Cai Shen’s voice was transmitted through his Divine Thought, carrying a trace of solemnity. "The Daoist Intent here is too mixed and too chaotic! The residual Great Dao wills of over a hundred True Monarchs are all mixed together, clashing and interfering with each other, forming a completely chaotic swamp of Daoist Intent! I can’t calm my Heart and Spirit, let alone sense the auras of other Imperial Soldiers!"

Hearing this, Qi Yun paused slightly. He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding massive stone monuments that emitted various Dao Rhymes and tangled, conflicting forces, a trace of understanding flashing in his eyes.

"That’s simple," he said lightly. His voice was calm but carried an unquestionable dominance.

The next moment—

BOOM!

Qi Yun’s figure suddenly soared into the air!

Like a colorful Flowing Light charging against the nine heavens, he rushed straight above this vast forest of monuments to the absolute heights of the void! He sat down cross-legged in the air, like a chaos deity descending upon this realm.

At the same time, that speck of resplendent, chaotic multicolored light between Qi Yun’s brows lit up once more! This time, it was far more blazing and majestic than during his previous deduction!

BUZZ!!!

Endless multicolored divine light, like an erupting supernova, madly spewed out from every pore of Qi Yun’s body! In an instant, it illuminated him like a chaotic great sun suspended in the void!

In a split second!

RUMBLE!

Two Chaos Hands, composed of multicolored light with immense might that could not be described with words, slowly reached out from the nothingness behind Qi Yun!

These two massive hands were incomparably gigantic. When their palms were fully extended, they could easily stroke the dead stars floating in the void! By slightly curling their five fingers, they could directly grasp a vast great sun in their palms! The lines on their palms were surging Star Rivers! The multicolored light circulating at their fingertips was the primordial light that split heaven and earth!

The moment they appeared, the entire void wailed and trembled! The astral winds that could tear apart Masters were instantly annihilated, and the massive star wreckage floating nearby silently turned into dust!

"Suppress!" Qi Yun spat out a single syllable.

The next moment, those gigantic hands that could stroke stars and grasp the sun and moon slowly closed over the boundless forest of monuments below!

BOOM!

The palms of the two giant hands steadily held up the entire forest of monuments, completely enveloping and supporting it within the chaotic world formed by their palms!

Within the palms, the Primordial multicolored light began to frantically circulate, permeate, and spread! All the mixed and chaotic True Monarch Daoist Intents, residual wills, and auras of death instantly became tame and stable in the face of this absolute Primordial Power.

Ruling over ten thousand Daos! All laws submitting!

Above the void, Qi Yun sat cross-legged with his eyes slightly closed, entering a profound state of Refinement.

Above the void, the Primordial hands supported the forest of monuments.

Cai Shen "looked" at the terrifying scene outside that was enough to make any True Monarch lose their voice. He couldn’t help but twitch his lips slightly. Even as an Emperor’s Weapon Spirit who was accustomed to the grand spectacles of the Golden Tang Dynasty, his heart still surged with violent waves.

"A True Monarch proving the Dao from the void..." he murmured softly, his voice carrying an unhideable marvel and a trace of complexity. "As expected... it’s unreasonably overbearing!"

As one of the Imperial Soldiers who had once served the Golden Tang Dynasty, he had seen far too many unparalleled geniuses and knew many secrets regarding the path of the True Monarch. For ordinary True Monarchs, the Refinement of a Fruit Position meant facing a heavenly tribulation with every step. The time and hardship required for this process might not be fulfilled even with a lifespan of three lifetimes.

However, Qi Yun, with his stance of "proving the Dao from the void", had stepped onto an unprecedented path of proving the Dao through the Golden Core. Transforming the fruit into a core, carrying the Great Dao with him!

This level of achievement meant that from the moment he stepped into the Realm of True Monarch, he had naturally leaped over the long ladder that ordinary True Monarchs had to painstakingly climb for endless years. He stood right there as a Great Success True Monarch!

"What’s more..." Cai Shen’s gaze stared intently at those two Chaos Hands. "His Primordial Dao is also truly... ridiculously strong! Ruling over ten thousand Daos..."

Just the potential and terror represented by those few words alone—if Qi Yun truly grew into it... Cai Shen had no doubt that he would definitely become a Supreme Being capable of suppressing all the heavens and making the myriad Daos tremble!

He thought to himself, "Fortunately... he’s a friend and not an enemy." At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of pride in his own judgment for "investing" in Qi Yun back then.

Just as Cai Shen’s Heart Thoughts were tumbling, outside, the Refinement of those two Primordial hands had already produced significant results.

Within the world of the palms, the mixed Daoist Intents and True Monarch residual wills—which were originally as chaotic and conflicting as a boiling cauldron of oil, filled with countless shrill shrieks and wails—had mostly been refined. It was like an angry sea ravaged by a raging storm being suddenly smoothed out by an invisible giant hand, returning to a state of calm. Although it remained deep beneath the surface, the surface of the water had regained its clarity and could reflect the sky’s light.

"Now is the time!"

Without the interference of those crazily tangled and conflicting mixed Daoist Intents, Cai Shen’s spirits lifted. He immediately restrained all his Heart and Spirit, raising his perception to the limit, and carefully discerned his surroundings, which had become much "clearer".

Auras, some strong and some weak, some bright and some dim, flowed past. Most of them were unfamiliar, carrying an ancient and deathly flavor.

Just as his perception touched a relatively "short" giant monument located in the Northwest direction of the forest, which displayed bizarre dark gold patterns on its body...

"Hmm?" Cai Shen’s Divine Thought suddenly trembled!

An extremely faint, yet abnormally familiar aura fluctuation was suddenly captured by him, like a wisp of dim light piercing through the eternal fog!

That aura... contained a strict legal code amidst its majestic uprightness, and it carried a charm of the Imperial Soldiers that originated from the same source as him—both stemming from the brilliant National Fortune and supreme imperial might of the Golden Tang Dynasty!

It was just that this aura had now become extremely obscure, layered and suppressed by a thick sense of sorrow, unwillingness, and a certain profound sense of being placed under a Seal.

"This is..." A look of joy appeared on Cai Shen’s face. "Brother... Fourteenth Brother?"

...