Five Phoenixes Continent.

  Three overwhelming auras suddenly flared to life, as if a storm were about to crush the heavens. The oppressive pressure spread across the entire sky.

  It was divine sense refined to its utmost limit—one step away from condensing into a true primordial spirit.

  Du Longyang, Ye Shoudao, and Ni Chunqiu snapped out of their comprehension before the Dao Stele. Their energies surged as they rose into the void and stared toward the blood-colored battlefield.

  “Another enemy.”

  Ni Chunqiu, red robes fluttering, spoke gravely.

  Du Longyang nodded solemnly. Ye Shoudao’s single arm whipped in the wind; thin lips pressed tight, he did not hesitate—he slung the long blade Gongshu Yu had forged across his back and shot toward the battlefield.

  Ni Chunqiu and Du Longyang followed without a word, streaking toward Heaven’s Gate.

  In the Northern Prefecture, Tantai Xuan was reviewing memorials when he suddenly shivered. He looked toward the battlefield, worry creasing his brow.

  “Old Jiang… you have to survive.”

  Mo Beike and Mo Ju entered the hall.

  “Your Majesty, do not worry. The man who single-handedly pioneered military formations will not fall so easily,” Mo Beike said with a chuckle, his aged face trembling slightly.

  The world’s transformation had breathed new life into him.

  “Let’s hope so.”

  Tantai Xuan set down the scroll, hands clasped behind his back, and walked slowly to the palace corridor.

  Snow fell from the sky, carrying a faint scent of blood.

  A flake landed on his palm and melted.

  His gaze grew distant.

  Though the world had ascended, the shadow of doom still hung over everything—suffocating, despairing.

  “Your Majesty, these are the latest reports of anomalies across the realm.”

  “Mountain folk accidentally ate rare spirit fruits and broke into Body Storage Realm with a single thought…”

  Mo Ju placed the scrolls on the desk.

  “This ascension is different from before. The Great Xuan Academies report that countless geniuses have emerged. Some bathed in the spiritual rain and entered Body Storage without ever cultivating. The most monstrous directly reached Body Storage perfection—one step from Golden Core or Heavenlock.”

  Mo Beike continued summarizing the changes.

  After a long silence, Tantai Xuan sighed.

  “The best of times.”

  The hall fell quiet.

  The age when immortal destiny rained upon the land.

  Outside Wolong Ridge, at the Nine Phoenix Institute.

  Bai Qingniao leaned against the fence. Nine phoenix chicks bounced and played on the ground.

  The Nine Phoenix Transformation circulated slowly in her mind. Vast energy shrouded the entire institute; the spiritual rain had triggered a massive evolution in her chicks.

  Little Phoenix One grew ever more majestic. Still chick-sized, but once transformed, it could spit tri-colored flames capable of scorching the void.

  “Little Phoenix One, Two, Three… Little Phoenix Nine—hurry and grow strong so I can take you to war.”

  “If any of you slack off, the slowest will be plucked and turned into soup!”

  Bai Qingniao propped her chin, scattering grain mixed with spirit stone dust.

  The newest chick, Little Phoenix Nine, wobbled as it walked. Hearing her threat, it slipped and landed on its rear, staring blankly at its siblings.

  BOOM!

  The distant thunder in the sky made Bai Qingniao’s face tighten. She looked up, gaze piercing the clouds toward the blood-colored battlefield.

  “Uncle Jiang… come back alive.”

  “I’ll have chicken soup ready for your triumphant return!”

  She clenched her fists.

  …

  Blood-colored battlefield.

  Ten thousand cultivators stood in perfect formation, their collective spirit braided into a single rope that poured into Lu Jiulian.

  His aura climbed relentlessly.

  Step by step, he walked the void. Energy lotuses bloomed beneath his feet.

  “A mere Spirit Severing dares court death?!”

  The palace-robed woman stared at the advancing Lu Jiulian with cold disdain.

  Spirit Severing meant nothing to her. She was early-stage Body Integration—primordial spirit born, an entirely higher plane. Add her sacred treasures, and even peers feared her.

  One move. She was certain one move would end him.

  She gripped the Black Heaven Sword, one half of Black-White Sacred Ground’s supreme sacred pair. Its annihilation power was far beyond what Spirit Severing could withstand.

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  “Kneel.”

  Her primordial spirit erupted like a storm. The azure pendant spun, shielding her from Nihility Heaven’s rules.

  BOed to crush Lu Jiulian beneath her spirit pressure.

  Lu Jiulian gritted his teeth. The weight was immense.

  Primordial spirit power.

  Yin Spirit → Yang Spirit → Primordial Unity.

  This woman was Primordial Unity.

  He refused to buckle.

  Behind him, the will of ten thousand soldiers formed a towering war god phantom.

  BOOM!

  He withstood it.

  Step by step, he advanced as if stomping craters into the void.

  Power surged through him like a raging river.

  “This… is the Dao of Military Formations!”

  Wonder flashed in Lu Jiulian’s eyes.

  Jiang Li’s path was truly extraordinary.

  “Fight!”

  He roared and threw a punch. A lotus of pure force bloomed—perfect compression.

  “Die!”

  The woman was startled that her spirit pressure failed.

  No wonder so many holy children had stumbled here—this world birthed true monsters!

  Black Heaven Sword swept out. Annihilation sword light tore reality.

  Lotuses shattered.

  Lu Jiulian coughed blood, staggering.

  Crossing realms was brutal.

  Even with perfect control and Yang God Realm, the gap to Primordial Unity was a chasm.

  He clenched his jaw and met the sword light with disciplined fists.

  Behind him, the war god phantom overlapped with his own figure.

  He had once been lost.

  His cultivation had soared without bottleneck—he seemed born for the Dao.

  Yet something always felt missing.

  He wanted perfection at every realm.

  The more he chased it, the more flaws he sensed.

  Now, using the world ascension, he had stepped into Yang God. His mastery seemed innate and flawless.

  But he refused to believe he was perfect.

  No one was born perfect.

  He would find his flaws in true battle.

  “This power…”

  The woman’s heart trembled as her sword light dispersed.

  Blood sprayed from Lu Jiulian, yet his eyes burned brighter.

  He was using her as a whetstone.

  “Using me to temper yourself?”

  She laughed coldly.

  An ant dared treat her as a grindstone?

  Killing intent flooded her heart.

  Before, she had only wanted to vent anger.

  Now, she needed him dead. A monster like this on the enemy side could not be allowed to live.

  Her pendant spun faster.

  Black sword light slashed endlessly, shattering the void.

  Wounds multiplied across Lu Jiulian’s body.

  Her primordial spirit assaulted his consciousness, trying to crush it.

  Ni Chunqiu, Du Longyang, and Ye Shoudao arrived on the battlefield.

  They watched in stunned silence as Jiang Li’s formation fused ten thousand warriors into one will that flowed into Lu Jiulian.

  They did not interfere.

  Even as Lu Jiulian bled with every step.

  They saw it—he was forging himself against a mighty one.

  “Madman.”

  Ye Shoudao’s evaluation.

  The other two said nothing, eyes complicated.

  BOOM!

  Sword light formed a storm of silent annihilation.

  Lu Jiulian clenched his fist.

  Energy condensed perfectly—no leakage.

  Such control chilled even the woman.

  “I must kill him… or I’ll never sleep soundly again!”

  She no longer held back.

  Brilliant light flashed.

  Her palace robes were replaced by gossamer sacred armor—mid-grade Earth-tier!

  Another treasure!

  Lu Jiulian’s blood-smeared face twisted.

  “Mighty ones are even tougher than I thought…”

  She became a streak of light—too fast to track.

  In an instant, she appeared at his side.

  “One move to end you.”

  She had no time to waste. Her pendant’s energy was draining.

  At first, she had thought Spirit Severing beneath notice.

  But this monster, bolstered by ten thousand ants, had withstood her.

  “Die!”

  Killing intent surged.

  Her armor blazed with seven-colored light.

  Black Heaven Sword carried her sixth-sequence Dao Intent!

  Even among mighty ones, that strike could slay peers.

  On the battlefield, Du Longyang and the others paled.

  “We’re too late…”

  “She’s too strong!”

  They prepared to intervene, though they knew their half-step Primordial Unity power might not be enough.

  Zhao Zixu coughed blood, eyes red.

  Xu Chu roared on one knee.

  Jiang Li leaned on his sword, trembling, blood seeping from eyes, nose, and mouth.

  Yet he stared unblinking at the void.

  Death closed in on Lu Jiulian.

  Cold sweat poured.

  The enemy was too strong—primordial spirit amplification, endless sacred treasures, sixth-sequence Dao Intent.

  Unbeatable.

  The war god phantom shattered.

  On the battlefield, soldiers coughed blood; some collapsed lifeless.

  Lu Jiulian’s eyes bled with regret.

  Why had he been so arrogant?

  He had killed so many with his recklessness!

  His heart bled.

  “Why… do I have no Dao Intent?!”

  For the first time, he felt powerless.

  If he had Dao Intent, he could still fight!

  “An ant like you deserves Dao Intent?”

  The woman sneered.

  Her sword fell.

  The void collapsed under the pressure. With her Dao Intent, it seemed the sword would bisect Lu Jiulian and the entire battlefield.

  Inside the ice pagoda above the Boundless Sea—

  The golden boy and jade girl laughed maniacally.

  “This idiot thought he could challenge Mother?!”

  “Mother is a mighty one!”

  Even the burly holy son shook his head.

  Lu Jiulian was dead.

  “Why… no Dao Intent?!”

  Blood rained—remnants of the shattered war god phantom.

  It splashed across Lu Jiulian’s face like the blood of fallen soldiers.

  He fell into despair.

  Lost.

  For the first time since he began cultivating, he met a wall.

  He teetered on the abyss.

  “Bad… Jiulian’s mind is collapsing!”

  Jiang Li closed one eye, blood streaming down.

  …

  Hm?

  In the void.

  Lu Fan, white robes spotless, chatting amiably with the pale, kidney-deficient mighty one, raised a brow.

  He looked past the Myriad Pattern Cauldron.

  “Heh… the natives got arrogant. Overestimating themselves.”

  “The Holy Consort bore the Holy Lord twins and was gifted countless sacred treasures. Even mid-stage Body Integration experts may not be her match.”

  “Where did this kid get the courage?”

  “One move—he’s dead.”

  The pale expert laughed, commenting while Zuo Xu worked on the array.

  Lu Fan glanced at him.

  He could feel Lu Jiulian’s despair—the first time the man had ever come so close to breaking.

  “To grow stronger, one must first go mad?”

  Lu Fan tapped his armrest.

  “You want Dao Intent?”

  “Then I’ll give it to you.”

  Lu Jiulian had never comprehended Dao Intent for a simple reason:

  He was born with it.

  And not just any—it was extraordinary.

  Lu Fan’s mind stirred.

  Lines crossed his pupils.

  A gentle breeze seemed to pass.

  The pale expert shivered for no reason and glanced around.

  …

  In the midst of battle.

  Lu Jiulian’s body shook.

  The Black Heaven Sword was a hair’s breadth from his neck.

  Every hair stood like steel needles.

  Stars exploded in his mind. Every cell awakened with unimaginable power.

  Everything could be destroyed—and reborn.

  “Dao Intent…”

  His vacant eyes snapped into focus.

  Pfft!

  Blood sprayed.

  The sword carved through half his torso, nearly bisecting him.

  Yet the woman’s expression changed!

  “This…”

  Her pupils contracted.

  Her sacred high-grade sword—infused with Dao Intent—had been caught!

  By a bare, bloody hand.

  “How?!”

  She was horrified.

  A monster!

  This was Spirit Severing?!

  Lu Jiulian turned.

  Terror churned in his eyes.

  His divine sense became an ocean vortex.

  “Dao Intent…”

  “I have it too.”

  His voice was hoarse.

  “Third-sequence…”

  “Annihilation.”

  BOOM!

  The scattered blood reversed course and blossomed into a crimson lotus in the void!

  Lu Jiulian seized the sword embedded in his body with one hand.

  With the other—he punched.

  The woman could not dodge.

  BOOM!

  Her sacred armor exploded.

  The fist sank deep into her abdomen.

  Pfft!

  She released the sword. Her body burst into blood mist, flung through the void.

  Her primordial spirit trembled; her Dao Intent shattered.

  She coughed blood, eyes wide with horror.

  Top-grade… third-sequence Dao Intent?!

  Crack!

  A fracture spider-webbed across her azure pendant.

  The blood-colored battlefield fell deathly silent.

  Everyone stared in shock.

  Inside the ice pagoda—

  The twins’ laughter died as if strangled.

  The burly holy son’s aura erupted, blasting nearby holy children away.

  In the void—

  The pale expert stood frozen.

  He had declared Qi Liuma finished—then trapped a bunch of mighty ones.

  Now he declared Lu Jiulian dead—only for the Holy Consort to be punched through her sacred armor, pendant cracking?

  Was his mouth cursed?!

  Lu Fan, smiling warmly, drifted toward Zuo Xu, who was still breaking the array.

  The pale expert felt thunderstruck.

  He raised a trembling hand and slapped himself.

  He seemed to recall saying Zuo Xu would definitely break Qi Liuma’s formation…