Longevity by Grinding Skills

In that case, Purple Gold Thunder Light erupted from his eyes. He cupped his hands before his chest, and the Divine Sky World Refining Cauldron levitated above his palms. A white flame of Wish Power burned fiercely at its mouth, radiating a terrifying Devouring Power.

"Celestial-Eroding Netherworld, All Laws Return to the Origin! Seize!"

Countless twisting, writhing Heaven-Eroding Talismans erupted in an instant. They precisely pierced the chaotic Energy Field like billions of invisible straws. Ignoring distance and allegiance, they plunged deep into the bodies of the Middle-Rank and Lower-Rank Gods who had been grievously wounded in the chaotic war between the three Pantheons—gods whose Divine Power was nearly exhausted or whose Divine Format cores now lay exposed.

Their Divine Soul Origins, shattered Divine Formats, dissipated and impure Faith Desire Force, and even the soul fragments ripped away by the Dark Pantheon's Shadow Realm—all of it was forcibly extracted by this irresistible suction. It transformed into a surging torrent that poured madly into the Divine Sky World Refining Cauldron.

The cauldron trembled violently, emitting a low hum as the white flame within instantly flared. Like a precision Melting Furnace, it forcibly refined and purified the vast, chaotic, and impure energies.

The ninety-first strand, the ninety-second...

Strands of pure, Immortal Golden Nature lit up one after another within Xu Yunfan's Dantian Grotto Heaven Embryo, like stars illuminating the night sky.

When the ninety-third strand of Immortal Golden Nature completely condensed and merged into the already immense and vast Profound Vault Undying Dao Foundation,

the Main Gods of the three Pantheons finally reacted.

'This is the one who threw Aitira into chaos!'

The furious wills of the three Main Gods, like a tangible storm of Law, instantly froze the space and time of the entire battlefield.

Xu Yunfan lifted his gaze slightly, paying no mind to the three Main Gods' fury. Instead, he fixed his eyes on the vault of heaven above.

'According to what Zhang Ziyang said, the sky will shatter soon.'

Three attacks, each comparable to the full-power strike of a Golden Core True Monarch, locked onto Xu Yunfan from the trinity of Heaven, Earth, and Man, making escape impossible.

"You ant of a thief! Your soul shall be forged in Divine Fire for eons!"

The divine decree of the Main God of Light thundered through the heavens and the earth, carrying the supreme majesty of the Celestial Dao's blessing.

At that very critical moment,

RRRRIP!!!

The sky, as if it were fragile Brocade and Silk, was violently torn open. A massive rift appeared, and a chaotic torrent surged forth.

A towering figure, stepping upon the fragments of the broken world boundary and wreathed in an immeasurably vast Immortal Palace Pure Qi, descended upon the scene.

The newcomer's Daoist robe was slightly worn, with a sharp, eye-catching tear from a sword strike at its hem. But the misty Dao Rhyme flowing around him was as deep as an abyss and as vast as the sea. It instantly brought the blizzards of the entire Frosty North Plains to a standstill, and even the torrent of Divine Power jointly unleashed by the three Main Gods faltered for a moment.

He stood at the zenith of the heavens, his gaze like a sharp sword that pierced the causality of the Ten Thousand Realms, instantly locking onto Xu Yunfan in the center of the chaotic battlefield.

True Monarch Qing Yuan bore the full brunt of the three Main Gods' attack, and the sky-spanning Immortal Palace Pure Qi surrounding him nullified the blows.

Then, a dispassionate voice cut through all the deafening chaos and reached Xu Yunfan's ears with perfect clarity.

"Xu Yunfan, Xu Yunfan,"

The voice of the Pure Source, Wondrous Way, and the Mandate of the Mysterious Vault True Monarch betrayed no emotion, yet it made the hair on Xu Yunfan's arms stand on end.

"You have been quite difficult to find."

Xu Yunfan's heart pounded, and his thoughts raced.

The moment the terrifying ripples from True Monarch Qing Yuan Breaking the Boundary to descend reached him, the last trace of hesitation in his eyes vanished completely.

"Detonate!"

A cold command was instantly issued in his Sea of Consciousness.

PFFT!

"Argh!"

"No!"

On the fringes of the battlefield, the bodies of Rockman, Bosse, and Anya convulsed violently. These three Upper-Rank Gods, whose Divine Soul Cores had been deeply branded with Xu Yunfan's Celestial-Eroding Netherworld Restriction, had been locked in combat with Divine Spirits from the Light and Dark Pantheons.

The Eternal Ice Crystal Divine Armor covering Rockman's body shattered inch by inch, while Bosse's divine body, formed from pure storm, instantly disintegrated into a chaotic maelstrom.

On the surface of Anya's translucent Ice Divine Format, which radiated a dormant aura, dense, writhing Heaven-Eroding Talismans suddenly appeared, twisting together like a spiderweb.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only the silent, utter annihilation that came as their Divine Format cores were forcibly detonated from within.

Three strands of Immortal Golden Nature, each representing the Origin of their respective authorities, melted away in an instant along with their shattered Divine Souls, like residual snow cast into boiling oil.

All that remained were three soul-rending wails as the authority of the Divine Offices they held was forcibly stripped from them and returned to the Aitira Heavenly Dao.

Immediately after, three vast and pure sources of Immortal Golden Nature were drawn by the Divine Sky World Refining Cauldron, instantly plunging into Xu Yunfan's Dantian and merging with the ninety-three seething Purple Gold Divine Dragons within.

'Three Upper-Rank Gods, each with three strands of Immortal Golden Nature. That's nine strands. Even if three are wasted in the process, it's enough to reach a total of ninety-nine strands of Immortal Golden Nature.'

'But under these circumstances, where was the time for meticulous refinement?'

'He had to achieve his goal with sheer quantity.'

'The more Immortal Golden Nature, the better!'

'The three Main Gods and True Monarch Qing Yuan were wary of one another. They wouldn't attack right away. They would probe each other first.'

'This window of time was his chance.'

'Besides, it wasn't as if he couldn't retreat. At worst, he could use the Fake Gold Position.'

'In this Great Realm, so incredibly far from the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, True Monarch Qing Yuan's Power of Dao Fruit would be mostly nullified anyway.'

'This was a chance!'

Seeing Xu Yunfan's utter lack of hesitation, the three Main Gods were enraged. The very heavens and earth seemed to pale at their fury.

'Three of their Subordinate Gods, obliterated right under their noses!'

The Main God of Nature's wrath instantly flared to its zenith.

"Alien Demon! You Dao-stealing maggot!"

The roar of Main God Orion whipped up world-ending gales, instantly shredding thousands of miles of clouds.

"Blasphemous thief! You shall be eternally imprisoned in the desolate Ice Abyss!"

The will of Dark Main God Ymir froze the very heavens and earth. Even stray motes of Divine Power turned into Ice Crystals and drifted down.

The divine decree of the Main God of Light, Solal, manifested as a golden flame that incinerated all it touched.

"Strip his soul! Burn his spirit! Let him be forged in Divine Fire for ten thousand generations!"

The moment Xu Yunfan detonated the restriction, the three terrifying, Main God-level wills connected with this world's Celestial Dao and began to trace events back to their source.

The layered fog of causality and the perceptual distortions created by the Celestial-Eroding Netherworld Talisman were like flimsy veils in the face of the Main Gods' wills, which were now fully empowered by the Aitira Heavenly Dao. They were blown away as if by a gale.

Xu Yunfan's figure, along with all his actions—secretly instigating the Divine War, reaping Divine Spirits, and detonating his own subordinates—were projected with perfect clarity into the minds of the three Main Gods.

An invisible pressure crashed down upon him, like three Ancient Divine Mountains.

Though wary of the sudden appearance of True Monarch Qing Yuan, they did not attack immediately. They merely combined the authority of their Main God positions with the authority of this world's Celestial Dao to crush him.

This pressure alone was enough to instantly obliterate any ordinary Cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment Perfection.

But Xu Yunfan was no ordinary person.

The bones throughout his body cracked and popped. Within his Dantian, the Grotto Heaven Embryo supported by the ninety-three strands of Golden Nature trembled violently, and the Chaotic Qi Flow at its edges threatened to dissipate.

Yet Xu Yunfan showed not the slightest hint of fear. He advanced instead of retreating, the Star Banner in his hand unfurling to conceal the sun.

"Rise!!"

Under a terrifying pressure sufficient to crush a Great Daoist Master at Foundation Establishment Perfection, Xu Yunfan did not shrink back. Instead, he let out a sharp, throat-rending roar.

His sleeves billowed, and an eerie light flared.

Seventy-nine Divine Banner Spirits, each with a unique form, roared as they burst forth from the banner's surface.

The All Heaven Star Formation deployed in an instant.

Brilliant star trails forcibly carved out a domain within the chaotic, raging storm of Divine Power. Though it swayed violently under the impact of the three Main Gods' wills, its light flickering erratically, it nonetheless withstood the first wave of destructive pressure.

On the banner's surface, the stellar points representing Bosse, Rockman, and the other Upper-Rank Gods flickered wildly. They began to passively absorb the Divine Power that had been unleashed across the battlefield by their deaths, feeding it back into the Grand Array and barely managing to keep the formation from collapsing.