Central Plains, Northern Borders, the Shores of the East Sea...
Amidst the vast mists and the deep, misty abyss, bursts of manic laughter echoed through the clouds.
A lonely moon hung in the sky, and the cold wind grew even more piercing.
A giant Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow reappeared in the mountains, its wings blotting out the sky as it rose through the clouds.
“Nine thousand years... for nine thousand long years, I have finally outlived you! Hahaha!”
An Azure Flood Dragon emerged from its pool, churning the three rivers and stirring up storms to throw the mortal world into chaos once again.
“Jie jie jie! Li Taibai, oh Li Taibai, even you have such a day. This venerable one shall wash the Northern Borders in blood, sever your legacy, and dig up your ancestral graves...”
World-shunning spirits stepped out of their grotto-heavens, raising their hands to blot out the moon, their red eyes shining like blood.
“Dead at last. Wake up, mountain spirits and water monsters...”
By the lakeside of the Long Pavilion, as the night rain fell with a slight chill, a white-haired old scholar watched the withered lotuses and listened to the wind and rain, speaking in a gentle voice.
“A thread of immortal opportunity... this old man has finally waited for it. It was not easy.”
An old Daoist riding a bull flicked his horsetail whisk and performed a quick calculation with his fingers, stroking his beard as he laughed. “The time, the fate... the ten-thousand-year deadlock can finally be broken. After guarding through the clouds, one finally sees the bright moon...”
Above the Golden Scale Pool, a monk gazed at the stars, muttering as he recited Buddhist sutras. “In an age of great contention and a time of much trouble, my Buddha is merciful. This old monk should also take a step further.”
The ancestors of the Three Sects.
The hidden experts.
The world-shunning spirits.
The great demons who had slept for ages.
One by one, they woke today and stepped out of their mountain gates. Their juniors knelt in worship, awestruck by their presence.
“We welcome the Ancestor back from seclusion!”
“We welcome the Ancestor back from seclusion!!”
The moonlight was cool, and a light breeze brushed through the mountain mist!
Tonight, Fanzhou was destined to be extraordinary.
The silent clamor was even greater than the day the heavenly script hung in the sky and the Emperor's Tomb opened.
The fall of the five saints of the Wendao Sword Sect and the return of the eight swords to the peak meant that the Sky Gate was about to appear.
These people had waited far too long.
Years ago.
Li Taibai established the Wendao Sword Sect and reached agreements with the various races.
The Northern Borders were neutral, and the four directions were stable.
For the entire world, this was originally an excellent thing.
But no one expected that Li Taibai would turn around and seal the Sky Gate, locking away the fortune of Fanzhou.
Since then.
There had been no immortals for ten thousand years.
The Sky Gate did not open,
and the Lightning Tribulation did not fall.
Saints and powerhouses had no hope of becoming immortals and could only wait for death.
Yet they knew very well that Li Taibai was no ordinary mortal, and no being in Fanzhou could match him.
For ten thousand years, they could only endure and seek survival, using various methods to evade the inspection and reckoning of the Heavenly Dao, barely clinging to life in the mortal world...
They had been waiting.
Waiting for Li Taibai to die, waiting for the Wendao Sword Sect to be destroyed.
Many of the powerhouses among them had no grievances with the Wendao Sword Sect, but in the path of cultivation, severing one's immortal opportunity was a crime worse than killing one's parents.
How could they not hate him...
...
Beneath the ground of Fanzhou, a giant eye peered at the world, sensing the strange movements in Fanzhou and the impending change.
After many days, the Twilight Emperor was finally in a rare good mood.
He gloated, “Interesting, truly interesting.”
“Xu Xian, oh Xu Xian,”
“It seems the fortune of this world is on my side.”
“Fight. Let the fighting begin.”
“Fight until the mountains and rivers are shattered.”
“Fight until the Great Dao collapses.”
“Use the blood of the common people to strengthen my soul.”
“Hahaha!”
...
That night, the experts of the Wendao Sword Sect prepared for battle, their divine senses monitoring the world.
That night, unrest stirred throughout Fanzhou as legendary existences appeared one after another.
That night, the powerhouses of the Three Sects and Six Schools, as well as the demons, spirits, devils, and humans, met.
Undercurrents surged across the world.
Meanwhile, Xu Xian, who was at the center of the vortex, sat quietly above the flame pool, accompanied by five sets of withered bones.
It would still take some time for the Five Elements Saint Souls to condense.
Xu Xian was waiting, silently calculating and deducing...
The sect-protecting formation had vanished. Next, foreign enemies would surely invade.
Where would the enemies come from?
The East Desolation?
Bai Ze was injured, and few Beast Gods remained. The Sword Qi Great Wall was still there. Although it was a hassle, they couldn't stir up too much trouble.
The Demon Abyss?
Jin Qing had promised him, but a verbal commitment meant nothing in the face of massive interests.
However, Xu Xian thought that with Jin Qing's personality, she would prioritize stability. she would likely stay her hand for now and wait for the right moment.
The North Sea?
That boundary line was still there, and only the spirit body of the demon immortal could come. As for the countless demons...
Ninth Senior Brother has the Ten Thousand Demon Banner; he should be able to hold them off for a while...
After all the calculations, the greatest threat and the biggest unknown came from the Central Plains.
The Three Sects, the hidden experts, and those spirits sleeping within the landscape cliffs.
And what was the combat strength of the Wendao Sword Sect?
There were four saints.
Jiang Wanyin, Lei Yunche, Yao Xiqiao, and Lin Fengmian.
There were three in the tribulation transcendence stage.
Qiaofu, the fisherman, and Ye Xianyu...
There were over thirty in the great ascension stage,
and a hundred thousand disciples?
They could be ignored.
Were there any reinforcements?
Aside from Tu Sisi, he couldn't think of anyone who would help. Even Tu Sisi likely wouldn't act.
After all,
the Sword Ancestor was dead.
At most, she would protect Tu Kongkong.
If a battle truly broke out, as long as the Wendao Sword Sect showed weakness, everyone would swarm them.
Winning?
Absolutely impossible.
Xu Xian's only hope was that everything on his end went smoothly, allowing him to build the Sword Tower as quickly as possible to stabilize the sealing formation.
As long as they could hold out until he came out, everything could be reversed.
At this moment,
he could only place his hopes on his senior brothers and sisters.
He muttered in his heart.
“You must hold on.”
“This is the last time you will have to uphold everything.”
“In the future,”
“I will be the one to write the rest...”
Time flowed quietly. In the blink of an eye, the night began to wake, and the sun reached its zenith once more...
The Northern Borders
had already welcomed many uninvited guests.
They first tested the waters, then crossed the borders, becoming increasingly emboldened.
Yet the Wendao Sword Sect, which had always been firm in the past, chose to tolerate and endure.
This made them even more unscrupulous...
Approaching,
gathering,
cooperating,
plotting with ill intent.
Beneath the Wendao Sword Sect, Xu Xian finally reached the moment when the Five Elements Saint Souls successfully condensed.
Without a moment's delay, he waved his hand, and the Five Elements Saint Souls all entered his grasp.
He meditated on the high tower, and manuals poured out. He flipped to a page and sent the souls into it.
Little Book said, “Master, we have to hurry. Those few sets of skeletal remains might not last much longer...”
Xu Xian naturally knew this and did not respond.
He set to work building the tower.
Fortunately.
Xu Xian had a habit of stockpiling spirit stones.
Before building the fourth floor of the Sword Tower, he had already stockpiled some. On this trip to the Emperor's Tomb, he had collected the storage bags of a hundred thousand corpses and snatched those of over a thousand people.
The number of spirit stones in their bags was not small.
For instance, the dao child of Daoism alone carried millions.
Altogether,
his spirit stone reserves were immense.
Although the surplus wasn't huge, it should be enough.
He took the spirit stones to forge the tower and condensed the souls to infuse them with qi.
Time passed minute by minute. Amidst the sea of clouds in the Sword Tower, Xu Xian was in a frantic rush...
One day,
two days,
three days,
eight days,
ten days...
Outside the world of the sea of clouds.
The evacuation of the Wendao Sword Sect continued. Batches of civilians were being sent to various cities near the Central Plains.
Or they were settled in the mountains and wilds.
The younger disciples of the sect were working intensely to build houses and reclaim wasteland for the people.
Among the mountains of the Northern Borders, countless cloud boats came and went.
Outside the mountain gate of the Wendao Sword Sect, the fleet of cloud boats blotted out the sun in an unprecedented spectacle.
Seeing such a sight, someone who didn't know better might have thought the Wendao Sword Sect was holding its disciple recruitment early this year.
However.
These people hadn't come to besiege the Wendao Sword Sect; they were here to pick people up.
“First Prince, His Majesty said that this old slave must bring you back no matter what.”
“Go back and tell my Imperial Father to act as if he never had me as a son.”
“First Prince...”
The youth was resolute, his voice leaving no room for doubt. “Say no more. I, Xiao Ye, am determined to live and die with the sect.”
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