Chapter 307 - 291: Robbing [Heaven’s Will]
On the panel, the once-calm text suddenly erupted!
And at the very same moment the Magic Technique Panel was refining the Thunder Talisman at an inconceivable speed—
True terror descended.
The heavens were enraged.
BOOM—!!!
A furious roar, incomparable to any sound in the mortal world, exploded in the deepest depths of Qi Yun’s Divine Soul!
The next instant!
Qi Yun suddenly felt that the stone platform he stood on, the island itself, and even the entire expanse of the sea as far as the eye could see—their very existence seemed to be undergoing a bizarre stripping away.
First was the disappearance of sound.
The sound of the waves, the wind, even the rushing of his own blood and the beating of his heart, all rapidly faded, receding into a kind of absolute, deathly SILENCE.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t hear. It was that the very concept of ’sound’ was vanishing from this place.
Next came the colors.
The blue of the sky, the ink of the sea, the white of the clouds, the gray of the rocks... all colors were visibly fading, growing pale and monochromatic, until they finally became a lifeless, heart-stopping "deathly white."
Then, the sense of existence itself began to blur.
Qi Yun looked down at his hands and saw the edges of his fingers starting to blur.
He even had the absurd thought—’Am I really here?’
’Or am I just an insignificant speck of ink on this gray-white canvas, about to be erased?’
This was not pressure, not an attack, but something more fundamental, more terrifying: a negation.
A denial of the "validity" and "uniqueness" of everything that existed here.
The will of the heavens... was directly stripping Qi Yun... from this world!
Situ Huaji and the Divine Puppet Man were frozen in place, their eyes vacant, completely excluded from the upheaval.
Qi Yun bore the brunt of the pressure.
He felt his "connection" to the entire world being rapidly severed.
His perception of Spiritual Qi dwindled to almost nothing, his resonance with the Heaven and Earth Dao all but vanished, and even the sensation of the ground beneath his feet felt illusory.
But at this moment!
The Magic Technique Panel, floating in the center of Qi Yun’s Sea of Consciousness and blazing with extreme light, completed its refinement and devouring of the last wisp of the original Dao Trace from the half-piece of the Shenxiao Thunder Talisman!
[Magic technique update complete. This is a major version update. Magic technique reworked!]
[Divine Power Skill Removed: Upper Profound Talisman]
[Divine Power Skill Added: Heaven-Reaching Talisman]
[Heaven-Reaching Talisman: Removes casting delay for Talisman Painting.]
The Magic Technique Panel trembled slightly.
A profound, intangible, and formless ripple, capable of severing all connections and reshaping all definitions, quietly spread out like a ripple on water.
CRACK.
A crack, so faint it was almost imperceptible, sounded out.
At almost the exact same moment.
Every Cultivator in the vast world heard this phantom crack.
Those in the Qi Refining Realm thought they had misheard.
Foundation Establishment Masters frowned slightly and looked around. After a careful investigation, they could only shake their heads, having detected nothing out of the ordinary.
Only the living True Monarchs!
They felt it... Someone had forcibly seized the authority of Heaven’s will!
’Who was it?’
’Such audacity! To rob ’Heaven’s will’! Is a True Monarch undergoing the Transformation Dao?’
For a time, countless streams of thought frantically crisscrossed the vast void, attempting to locate the source of the disturbance.
However, the cause and effect of the event had already been reshaped by the Magic Technique Panel. No matter how the True Monarchs scoured Heaven and Earth or ran countless divinations, they could not find a single trace.
In the end, they could only retreat in frustration, their minds filled with suspicion.
The invisible thread connecting the "Thief" and the "Heavenly Authority Owner" had been severed.
And at that very instant—the moment causality was severed and authority changed hands—
The immense talisman in the Celestial Vault above, slowly rotating and emanating world-ending pressure, abruptly froze!
In that cold, indifferent, invisible gaze—like that of the Celestial Dao itself—there seemed to flicker a hint of extreme... confusion?
Or perhaps, it was the bewilderment of having lost its target.
It had lost its causal anchor, lost the basis for assigning blame.
The crushing force that enveloped the Celestial Vault became like a flood that had lost its destination, suddenly growing... hollow.
Then, thick with unwillingness and confusion, it receded like the tide.
The darkness receded, and daylight returned.
The sea breeze blew once more, and the frozen waves began to surge again.
It was as if the world-ending heavenly pressure from moments before had been nothing but a mass hallucination.
Only the peak of the Stone Mountain—with the fading light of the shattered Array, the wreckage strewn across the ground, and a figure covered in mottled bloodstains, swaying yet ultimately standing tall—proved otherwise.
It all silently testified to the brief but heart-stopping reality of the events that had just transpired.
Qi Yun slowly straightened up, raising a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and his face.
His face was still pale and his breathing was somewhat unsteady, but his eyes were astonishingly bright.
They were like the night sky after being washed by the most violent of thunderstorms—clearer and deeper than before.
He looked down and opened his palm.
In his palm, the half-piece of the Shenxiao Thunder Talisman that had once flowed with golden light and teemed with Dao Rhyme was now completely dull, having turned into a small, unremarkable pile of gray ash.
A gust of sea breeze scattered it into the air.
The next second!
With a single thought.
A dazzling golden Talisman condensed from pure lightning manifested before him, exuding a pure and tyrannical thunder Dao Rhyme.
"Heh..." With a relieved chuckle, Qi Yun closed his hand around the Talisman.
At this moment, the Thunder Skill was completely his.
...
"Vice Sect Leader, must you really go this far?"
In Taixu Hall, the Main Hall of the Holy Sect.
Nan Dou Master, who usually sat upon the head Cloud Bed with an aura as profound as the Star Sea, was not present.
The one now perched on the main seat was Black Mountain Master, clad in a dark black robe, his expression indifferent.
One of only two Great Masters in the Wuji Holy Sect, he sat casually, without a single wasted motion.
His indifferent gaze fell upon Qian Xin Master, who occupied the head seat on the left side below.
"Junior Brother Qian Xin seems to... have a strong objection?"
Black Mountain Master spoke again, his voice calm and measured.
The moment his words fell, Qian Xin Master trembled violently, as if an invisible mountain had suddenly slammed down on his shoulders. The ground beneath his feet, harder than iron, even developed several faint, silent cracks!
He let out a muffled grunt, his body swaying as he nearly lost his footing. The words on the tip of his tongue were forced back down his throat, and the color drained from his face, turning from red to white.
You could have heard a pin drop in the Main Hall.
The dozen or so other Holy Sect Masters arrayed on either side—whether they were on good terms with Qi Yun and felt indignant, or were neutral observers watching from the sidelines—all felt a chill in their hearts. Not one of them dared to utter a sound.
The might of a Great Master was simply impossible for Masters in the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage or Early Stage to resist.
Black Mountain didn’t even need to make a move. The suppression from his Dao Realm and Status alone was enough to render an ordinary Master completely immobile.
"Eldest Brother has gone south on the True Monarch’s orders. The True Monarch has commanded me to temporarily oversee the sect’s affairs."
Black Mountain Master withdrew his gaze as if he had just done something trivial. His voice remained steady and placid, echoing through the silent hall.
"Qi Yun has been away from the sect for some time, delving deep into perilous lands. All contact has been lost."
"According to sect rules, when a member’s status is unknown for more than half a year, their designated school, grotto-mansion, and all their allowances are to be temporarily reclaimed by the sect’s treasury. They will be dealt with upon their return or confirmation of their death."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the hall. It lingered for a moment on those on the right who were closer to Qi Yun, such as Chi Yang Master, Qing Li Master, and Ming Yu Master.
"Recently, a newly ascended Master has emerged from seclusion. As is custom, he is to be granted a superior school to facilitate his cultivation."
"There are no other suitable, unoccupied locations. The Cyan Mountain Daoist School, however, has been vacant for a long time. It is a waste."
"To temporarily assign it to this newly ascended Master is both reasonable and logical."
The moment he finished speaking, Chi Yang Master’s thick eyebrows shot up, a searing energy threatening to erupt from his body. Qing Li Master’s face was a mask of frost, her fingertips twitching. Ming Yu Master’s lips parted, as if to argue...
However, Black Mountain Master simply pressed down lightly with the index finger of his right hand, which rested on the armrest of his jet-black throne.
DONG.
It was a soft thud, but it resonated directly in the depths of every Master’s Dao Foundation.
The three, along with several other disgruntled Masters, simultaneously felt a suppressive force—far greater and purer than what had been used on Qian Xin Master—crash down upon them.
It not only sealed the flow of their Magical Power, but it also faintly locked down their Divine Soul fluctuations, making it difficult for them to even communicate via Divine Thought!
Black Mountain Master suppressed nearly ten of his fellow Masters by himself, yet he still appeared completely at ease, his expression unchanging.
The chasm between a Great Master and a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator was on full display.
The atmosphere in the hall was suffocating. All that remained was the omnipresent, grim pressure and Black Mountain Master’s calm, unchallengeable voice:
"Since... no one else has any objections."
He slowly rose from his Cloud Bed, his dark robes stirring without a breeze as he cast his gaze down upon everyone in the hall.
"Then, this matter is sett—"
"Hold."
A clear, calm voice cut through the stagnant, heavy air of the hall.
It interrupted Black Mountain Master’s unfinished sentence.
In an instant, every gaze snapped toward the two massive, tightly shut doors of Taixu Hall, each ten zhang high.
At some unknown point, the doors had silently swung open.
Daylight poured in from outside, outlining a tall, deep-blue figure, as upright as a pine.
The whole of Taixu Hall was utterly silent.
After a moment of silence, an intriguing smile touched Black Mountain Master’s lips. He then spoke, his voice as steady as ever:
"So, you’ve returned..."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the figure at the entrance like a physical touch, as if trying to see straight through him.
Finally, he softly spoke the name:
"Qi Yun."
...