Chapter 233 - 223: Burying Heaven and Earth with a Single Hand
Relying on the Golden Radiance Banner formed by the [Avoiding Tribulation Curse], Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master were like a lone boat in a raging sea, temporarily resisting the annihilating Power of Cause and Effect.
But this was merely a temporary solution.
Both of them knew in their hearts that while the Avoiding Tribulation Curse could block the aftershocks of the Power of Cause and Effect, it could never withstand the true gaze of that Zombie Alliance True Monarch.
Once they were locked on by Its gaze, forget two Avoiding Tribulation Curses.
Even two thousand or twenty thousand would be like thin ice under the sun, instantly vaporizing.
"We can’t stay here. We have to find a way back to the Holy Sect!" Qi Yun’s gaze was heavy, filled with unquestionable resolve.
He had already noticed that the originally stable, circulating Golden Radiance Banner was beginning to show faint, web-like flickers at its edges. The speed at which the talismans were created and destroyed was also accelerating.
Clearly, this [Avoiding Tribulation Curse] was being consumed at an astonishing rate and likely wouldn’t last much longer.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the Nine-Colored Divine Radiance in Qi Yun’s eyes blazed fiercely once more!
[Mastering All Skills]!
Activating the Divine Technique, he brazenly poured his power into the Golden Radiance Banner manifested by the Avoiding Tribulation Curse itself!
He intended to use the Supreme Daoist Intent of his Venerable Dao Foundation to forcefully "master" this temporarily constructed life-saving barrier.
And turn it into a special "Escape Artifact."
BUZZ—!
Empowered by the [Mastering All Skills] Divine Technique, the previously sluggish and passively defensive radiance banner suddenly let out a clearer, more resonant hum!
The myriad golden talismans upon it seemed to be injected with new vitality. Their circulation speed suddenly increased, their light flared, and the entire structure became somewhat more solid and stable.
"Go!"
Qi Yun let out a low shout, pushing his Divine Thought to its absolute limit.
The ten-foot-wide Golden Radiance Banner shuddered violently and ceased its stationary defense.
Instead, it enveloped Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master within and transformed into a golden meteor streaming with countless talismans. It tore through the frozen, dangerous void and charged ferociously toward the Wuji Holy Sect!
Wherever the radiance banner passed, the invisible, annihilating Power of Cause and Effect clung to it like a persistent plague, constantly eroding and battering it. Yet, under the profound mystery of the [Avoiding Tribulation Curse] itself, the force was repeatedly deflected and shed.
Although its speed was greatly hindered and far from their usual Tunneling Speed, it was still steadily moving away from the Zombie Alliance ruins that had become a deathtrap.
"We can make it... At this rate, if we can just break out of this core area enveloped by the True Monarch’s will, we’ll be able to..."
Qian Xin Master stared intently at the chaotic scene outside the banner—the rapidly receding landscape, constantly being annihilated and reformed. As he watched the Zombie Alliance ruins shrink and blur in his vision, a delirious joy of having survived a great disaster appeared on his face.
’As long as we return to the Holy Sect, with Desolate Halberd True Monarch presiding there...’
’What could a mere Zombie Alliance True Monarch of unknown condition do to them then?’
Hope was right before their eyes.
But just as the path to survival seemed within their grasp...
CRACK—!!!
A crack, so sharp it could stop a heart, exploded without warning from the Golden Radiance Banner!
In the area near the top of the banner, a terrifying crack appeared—as thick as an arm, its edges glinting with an ominous, dim gray!
The crack spread rapidly. Wherever it passed, the once-vibrant, flowing golden talismans instantly dimmed and shattered, dissipating into motes of flowing light.
The light of the entire Golden Radiance Banner flickered violently, unstable, like a candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish completely at any moment!
"This is bad!" The joy on Qian Xin Master’s face instantly froze, replaced by sheer horror.
Qi Yun’s pupils contracted sharply as well. He frantically poured the power of his [Mastering All Skills] Divine Technique into the banner, trying to repair the breach, but it was utterly futile.
The crack contained a higher-level, more fundamental power that was brutally dismantling the very foundation of the [Avoiding Tribulation Curse]!
And in that very instant...
A deep, ancient, and icy gaze... descended.
The banner’s collapse was not due to its power being exhausted.
It was because its very existence had finally attracted the attention of the True Monarch within the Suspended Coffin.
"It’s over."
Qian Xin Master’s face instantly turned ashen. All color, all hope, was drained from him the moment that cold gaze fell upon them.
To be personally targeted by a True Monarch... forget them, even a Great Master on the cusp of condensing an immortal golden nature...
...would have no chance of survival before such absolute power. They too would be reduced to dust, their body and soul obliterated!
In their perception, the mottled, ancient wooden coffin suspended high in the sky became the sole center of Heaven and Earth.
The gaze of the withered figure inside the coffin pierced through the Golden Radiance Banner and landed upon them.
It revealed an absolute indifference, like one watching ants struggle.
Then, It moved.
It did not rise, nor did It step forward. The dry, ashen hand resting on the coffin’s edge simply lifted slightly once more.
Towards their direction, It pressed down lightly, almost casually.
And with that single press—
The entirety of Heaven and Earth became Its sarcophagus!
The ten thousand miles of void around Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master froze in an instant.
It trapped them and the nearly shattered Golden Radiance Banner, freezing them in place. Even their thoughts were almost crushed and brought to a halt by the boundless pressure!
Immediately after, a hand of indescribable size slowly materialized in the void above.
It was a chaotic, dark gray, its palm lines like the dried-up Nether River, its fingernails adorned with broken stars.
It was so immense that it seemed capable of covering the firmament with a single hand, grasping the sun, moon, and stars in its palm.
The sky-blotting hand descended, covering all, its advance utterly irresistible!
The palm had not yet made contact.
But the Golden Radiance Banner was already letting out a mournful cry, pushed to its absolute limit!
The arm-thick cracks instantly spread across the entire structure.
Countless talismans flickered madly, then, like a sandcastle blown away by the wind, they disintegrated and scattered in large swathes!
"URGH—!" Qian Xin Master violently spat out a mouthful of blood. The Red Dust Evil Mist surrounding his body evaporated and dissipated in an instant, like snow under a blazing sun.
Qi Yun also shuddered violently, his Daluo Magical Power churning and depleting at an unprecedented rate as he fought against the terrifying, all-pervasive pressure.
He gritted his teeth, the nine-colored light in his eyes flashing desperately as he tried to find a sliver of hope that was all but nonexistent.
The giant hand descended slowly, and wherever it passed, all fell into silence.
It was as if in the next moment, they, along with this forbidden expanse of Heaven and Earth, would be buried in an eternally silent abyss.
The wrath of a True Monarch... burying Heaven and Earth with a single hand!
Beneath the giant hand condensed from annihilating causality, Qi Yun felt more insignificant than dust.
The bones throughout his body groaned under the unbearable weight, and every inch of his flesh was on the verge of collapse from the terrifying, omnipresent pressure.
But the Nine-Colored Divine Radiance in his eyes, under this extreme oppression, instead erupted with unprecedented intensity.
BOOM—!
The [Daluo Heaven] within his body trembled with an unprecedented magnitude.
The law-deriving world within him, which contained the prototypes of the Ten Thousand Laws, manifested behind him as a blurry and distorted phantom.
Though it was only a fleeting silhouette, it exuded a domineering aura that refused to be bound, one that reigned supreme over all eras and all laws.
[Mastering All Skills]!
Reckless! Ignoring all consequences!
Qi Yun desperately activated his Innate Divine Technique, trying to grasp the last thread of life in this absolute deathtrap.
Even if it was as futile as a mantis trying to stop a chariot, he would still create a final spark!
Blood continuously trickled from the corner of his mouth, and countless fine wounds had split open all over his body.
His azure Daoist Robe had long been soaked a shocking deep purple.
’Is this really the end...’
There was no fear in his heart, only an unwillingness so intense it burned his Divine Soul like a wildfire.
He stared fixedly at the massive hand that slowly pressed down, obscuring his entire vision. His eyes narrowed into slits, as sharp as blades.
Yet, just as he was about to burn everything he had for one final, desperate struggle, even if it meant death...
BOOM!!!
A magnificent cyan sword light, as brilliant as the rising sun and pure to the extreme, shot across the sky without warning, coming from the endless, distant void!
This sword strike was faster than thought!
This sword strike was sharp enough to sever all the shackles of the world!
The moment this sword strike appeared, the terrifying aura that had frozen ten thousand miles of void and forbidden Heaven and Earth shattered like ice touched by a red-hot blade!
SHFFT—!
There was no deafening explosion, only a clean, crisp sound, as if something had been sliced cleanly in two!
As the cyan sword light streaked past, the dark gray hand that was about to completely obliterate Qi Yun and his companion dissipated and vanished into nothingness, like mist pierced by sunlight.
The world-shrouding, despair-inducing will of annihilation was forcefully cleaved open, creating a massive rift.
The immense weight pressing down on Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master vanished abruptly.
The suffocating pressure of the True Monarch retreated like a receding tide.
The sudden relief made Qi Yun stagger. He forced himself to stay upright on his weakened legs as his inner qi and blood roiled, causing him to spit out another mouthful of stagnant blood.
But his eyes snapped up, looking toward the source of the sword light.
’We survived...’
There, in the dark red sky cleaved open by the sword light, a tall, aloof figure with a world-defying presence was slowly materializing.
He wore a simple, bluish-gray Daoist Robe, his face obscured by a hazy, pure radiance.
Only his eyes were visible—clear and calm, yet seeming to contain both the boundlessness of a vast sea and the subtlety of fine dust, viewing all of creation as one.
The peerless Cyan Blade Longsword that had just shattered the Zombie Alliance True Monarch’s control over causality and saved them from certain death was now transforming into a streak of flowing light, slowly descending.
It shrank into an ordinary Three-foot Cyan Blade and was casually held in his hand.
The body of the sword was simple and unadorned, yet it naturally exuded a supreme Sword Intent capable of annihilating the Ten Thousand Laws and piercing through all illusion.
"Is that... [Vast Sea Dust True Monarch]?!"
Qian Xin Master struggled to lift his head. The moment he saw the figure clearly, his eyes erupted with incredulous joy and shock, his voice trembling with emotion.
"Yellow Altar, that’s enough."
After [Vast Sea Dust True Monarch], several more figures appeared, each one exuding an aura in no way inferior to the Zombie Alliance True Monarch.
Some were even stronger.
The True Monarchs had all arrived!
It was clear they had joined forces to stop the Zombie Alliance True Monarch from annihilating everyone tainted by the threads of cause and effect.
...