The Undying Heavenly Blade was like the first ray of light before the opening of heaven and earth. Its blade body was crystalline, its light beams resplendent beyond compare, shaking the souls of all who beheld it. Blade energy spread like the sea, shaking the starry sky of ten thousand ages.

The fame of this blade was immense. Since ancient times, there had always been mythical tales told of it. The Heavenly Blade embodied the meaning of the Heavenly Dao — a reflection of the Undying Heavenly Emperor’s supreme self-confidence, viewing himself as the greatest since antiquity, with no match left in the mortal world!

The Remnant God’s incantation caused it to revive — yet it did not agree with his purpose. Its attitude was cold, and utterly merciless. Why should it go and sweep away the Life Forbidden Zone? It bore no such obligation, nor could it act that way.

On this day, resplendent blade radiance crossed the heavens, cleaving through the boundless cosmos. Darkness and cold were cut open. The Heavenly Blade was of this age — and nothing could stand before it!

The most terrifying sweep of its radiance passed, and even hanging rivers of stars grew dim. Nothing could withstand it. This blade possessed an ineffable divine nature — all brilliance in the world paled before it.

Awakened, it set into motion. It cleaved open the great cosmos and came directly to the star region where the Undying Heavenly Empress was located.

Yet by this time, no Heavenly Empress remained there — only a pile of bones. The woman who had once been so extraordinarily beautiful had already passed from this world.

Death is the most plain and simple law in the cosmos. No matter how great a hero, no matter how peerlessly beautiful a woman, in the end one is nothing but a heap of dried bones. All myths of immortality ultimately reveal themselves to be hollow.

Some may endure for a very long time — but in the end, none can defy heaven forever!

“She hoped you would cut down the Forbidden Zone…” the Remnant God said.

“Absurd!” The voice from within the Heavenly Blade was merciless, cutting off his words.

This Heavenly Blade was truly extraordinary. The deity within was fully lucid — like a living great emperor, looking down upon all four directions, impossible to raise one’s eyes to. All must bow their heads.

“Those who dared to slaughter the Eight Divisions…” The voice from within the Heavenly Blade was ice-cold, and it cleaved open the starry sky once more, vanishing from this place.

The Remnant God let out a long sigh. This was all he could accomplish. At most, he could bury the Undying Heavenly Empress.

He was a divine body forged from the faith of all living beings, later given true life by the Heavenly Emperor — known as the Undying Daoren. During the ancient wilderness era, he was suppressed by Wushi the Great Emperor. Only a thread of remnant god had been preserved within the Phoenix Platform.

And after this day, once those phoenix-blood reserves were exhausted, he too would cease to exist — for he had been summoned forth from the Phoenix Platform.

The battlefield receded into the distance. Ye Fan and the others were withdrawing. The assembled forces constructed star gates, preparing to set out.

Suddenly, Ye Fan felt a wave of unease wash over him — a sense of ill omen enveloped his heart, sending his chest pounding with palpitation after palpitation, a dark cloud that would not disperse.

“Everyone must be careful in the coming days!” he said gravely.

The great battle had ended. The three-sided forces prepared to set foot on the victorious road home.

The Old Woodcutter and the Old God were also uneasy at heart, feeling that something was about to happen. They did not immediately lead their people away, but instead engaged in serious deduction and analysis.

“The Undying Heavenly Emperor may truly still be alive. With his followers and wife slain, if word reaches him, it will surely be a calamity of heaven-shaking proportions!”

“I even killed his son — if he comes seeking me out, I will certainly be the first he destroys!” Ye Fan said.

“Master, the Black Emperor was acting strangely the other day — what he said may truly be worth heeding.” Yang Xi gave a reminder.

“Form formations — the battle is not yet over!” Ye Fan suddenly shouted.

The two great leaders of the Dao Palace and the Divine Organization also swiftly issued orders. They had all been about to withdraw their troops, but the palpitation within their hearts grew more and more intense. At cultivations that had reached their level, instinct and intuition were as keen as a god’s.

Boom!

Without warning, before anyone could react, this stretch of starry sky was cleaved open, and a massive heavenly blade flew out. Stars exploded one after another.

And in that instant, a great swath of the assembled heroes died — this place became an ocean of blood. Magical weapons and shattered bones flew up together, and many people were obliterated before they could even cry out.

The assault came too swiftly. No one could resist. This single strike severed several quasi-imperial weapons, reducing those supreme treasures to powder — shattering them in the very first instant.

“The Undying Heavenly Blade!” the Old Woodcutter cried out in alarm. In those years he had witnessed this weapon guarding a stone egg. Now, in this age, he was seeing it again.

Five colors shimmered and scattered, brilliant light radiating in all directions. Blade energy spread like the sea, rolling up ten thousand great waves, extinguishing rivers of stars, pressing down upon everyone.

“Wuuu wuuu…”

The Imperial War Horn sounded long and deep. The Old God blew it with all his might to resist. The Chaos Azure Lotus crossed the void to block the vast blade energy of the heavenly blade and mount a counterattack.

Two supreme treasures radiated light, protecting the assembled forces. Every army was shielded beneath the curtain of light — yet outside this region, rivers of stars collapsed in ruin, all things were annihilated, and the land was transformed into a field of death.

Everyone was terrified, their entire bodies ice-cold. Who could withstand such a devastating blow?

This was a great catastrophe. A star region was shattered and destroyed. An entire river of stars collapsed and broke apart, turned to cosmic dust — all from a single stroke of the blade. Everything was ruined.

The assembled heroes trembled. Their bodies ran cold. Many were drenched in a cold sweat from head to toe, soaked through — this was too terrifying. A single strike, and these were the results.

Not even a darkness calamity could be worse!

If not for the Azure Emperor’s weapon and the Imperial War Horn of the Venerable One being positioned at the very front, would anyone here have survived? They would all have been reduced to shattered bones — turned to a mist of blood.

“Too… terrifying!” someone swallowed with great difficulty, heart full of bitterness. Was this still human power? A single blow like this — no one in heaven or earth could resist.

“Has the Undying Heavenly Emperor… come?” someone asked in a trembling voice.

At this level of battle, they had not a shred of fighting spirit left. To go up would be pointless death — the gap was too vast.

Whoosh!

Another gleaming white blade radiance slashed across. This time it was even more terrifying, driving the Old God to swirl the Imperial War Horn furiously, its long cry unceasing, flowing with the aura of the Venerable One.

The blade radiance tore open a corner of the defenses — instantly that section erupted into a sky of blood-colored waves, and all the powerful cultivators in that section died, sliced to a pulp alongside the annihilation of stars.

The Heavenly Emperor’s Battle-Summoning Drum sounded with a deep thud, breaking free of its restraints. This spoil of war flew out from the hands of the Heavenly Court forces, its impact making Yang Xi and others cough up great mouthfuls of blood, nearly meeting with a fatal incident.

This secret weapon broke free and returned beneath the Undying Heavenly Blade, joining with that stone egg, both enveloped in swirling chaos energy.

How were they to fight? Every single one of the assembled heroes was overwhelmed with dread. All knew this was the Undying Heavenly Emperor’s weapon. Now that the Heavenly Blade had emerged into the world — would that supreme god appear as well?

“The Undying Heavenly Emperor cannot possibly come. He has been blocked by Wushi the Great Emperor upon the path toward immortality — in this age, he can never appear!” Ye Fan spoke out. He could not allow fear to consume the hearts of the assembled forces.

He had to concede — the Undying Heavenly Emperor’s reputation weighed too heavily. The mere revival of his weapon had drained the color from everyone’s faces and robbed them of their fighting spirit. This spoke volumes about his might.

If this man’s true body were to appear, perhaps only the Venerable One, Wushi the Great Emperor, and those of that level could stop him — otherwise it would be a catastrophe beyond reckoning!

“Engage!” the Old God roared.

He, the Old Woodcutter, and Ye Fan all held supreme weapons, standing in opposition to the heavenly blade. There was no way to retreat now — the only path was to fight to the last drop of blood!

Boom!

The Heavenly Blade was overwhelmingly dominant. No one was controlling it — it had revived on its own, with everything being directed by it alone, conducting slaughter, washing the assembled heroes in blood with ferocious blade radiance.

The Old Woodcutter wielded the Azure Emperor’s weapon to meet it head-on. A terrifying great clash occurred between the two — divine blood immediately flew and scattered. The Old Woodcutter coughed up large mouthfuls of blood, the brilliance of his entire body growing dim, cracks appearing across his form one after another.

This was an extreme-dao great collision. Even with the Azure Emperor’s Lotus as protection, the shockwaves still reached him, leaving him gravely wounded.

The sky behind the Heavenly Blade shattered, while the starry sky behind the Azure Emperor’s Lotus also collapsed — many people died or were wounded in the aftermath. The result was heartbreaking. This blade possessed a demonic quality — it was far too terrifying.

Boom!

A drumbeat rang out. The Heavenly Emperor’s Battle-Summoning Drum released streams of chaos energy, enveloping that stone egg as it flew away, disappearing into the cosmic sea and vanishing from sight.

There was more than one imperial weapon here — even the Undying Heavenly Blade was apprehensive, fearing an unexpected development.

“All of you — fall back immediately!” Ye Fan shouted. The Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar rose and fell above his head as he positioned himself at the front.

Star gate after star gate appeared. They had been under construction before this — now they quickly took shape. The great armies retreated in waves.

But the Undying Heavenly Blade clearly had no intention of letting anyone go. It shrank down to a length of one zhang — no longer so earth-shatteringly enormous, yet even more terrifying than before.

Like a bolt of lightning, it tore open the void and charged forward, preparing to kill in all four directions and annihilate everyone.

Clang!

Ye Fan stepped forward. His blood and qi surged and roiled. The Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar soared into the sky and crashed against the heavenly blade — a deafening impact that shook heaven and earth!

This collision shook the heavens and made demons weep. Ye Fan was drenched in blood and sent flying. Though the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar had blocked the full force of that killing blow, there were still shockwaves.

Hum!

The void shuddered. The Heavenly Blade cleaved open the cosmos and vanished from this place — appearing abruptly at the star gates. This was a great catastrophe.

The allied forces suffered tremendous losses. From a single blade strike alone, twenty percent of their forces were wiped out — gone forever, their bodies and souls completely obliterated, turned to a mist of blood.

And this was already the result of the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar and the Chaos Azure Lotus both pressing down to suppress and protect this realm. Without them, not a single person would have survived — all would have been destroyed.

The Undying Heavenly Blade defied the age — it was far too terrifying, reviving on its own initiative to wage war. No one could stop it!

Pfft!

Pang Bo exploded into fragments. He happened to be near one of the star gates — though not struck by the blade’s edge itself, the shockwaves shattered him apart.

“Ah——” Among the Twelve Saints who were sworn brothers with Long Ma, several also successively fell, turned to a pulp of blood.

Ye Fan watched with eyes splitting wide open in fury and let out a great shout as he charged forward.

“Wuuu——”

The blade howled through the sky. Its edge turned — encountering Ye Fan’s disciple — and slashed straight down toward Ye Tong.

Solar Immortal Light shot forth. Ye Tong transformed into a beam of divine radiance. The Deed-Word Secret allowed him to surpass the utmost speed — yet he was still swept by the shockwave and was shattered apart there as well.

The blade had not directly struck him — the great emperor’s laws had not fallen upon him — yet even this kind of terrifying shockwave was this dreadful.

Ye Fan’s heart wrenched with agonizing pain. He had worked so hard to defeat the Phoenix Nest, thinking he could change the future and avert the great calamity — yet was he still unable to escape this?

Xiao Song was also swept by a beam of dark radiance. Half his body exploded apart. The other half drifted outward. His young face was written all over with pain. His injuries were ghastly.

Ye Fan roared aloud: “Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar — fight! Not merely revival, but truly coming alive — manifest once more the might with which you once swallowed the cosmos, and suppress the Undying Heavenly Blade!”

Boom!

Suddenly, a massive azure lotus erupted and swelled, taking root in the void. The Azure Emperor’s weapon transformed into a living immortal lotus, propping open the cosmos. Jade-blue leaves covered the heavens, submerging this place entirely.

The Undying Heavenly Blade was shaken back — driven out of this stretch of starry sky. The crisis was at last resolved.

“Pang Bo — Ye Tong — Xiao Song!”

Ye Fan charged forward and scooped up Xiao Song — only half his body remaining — channeling all the blood qi in his body to help force out the terrifying thread of killing intent within him.

“Little Ye, I’m fine — still alive!” From the distance, a heroic large man over a zhang in height was reconstituting himself, bathing in divine light, stained with blood. Pang Bo was reappearing.

“Master, I’m also still alive!” On the other side, Ye Tong appeared.

In their hands, clumps of ash scattered down — the remnants of their damaged ancient imperial talismans. These had helped them survive this calamity, but the ancient talismans, already damaged, had this time been completely burned to ash.

“Good — as long as you’re alive, that’s enough!” Ye Fan’s emotions churned within him, his nose stinging, tears very nearly spilling down. He had just felt the agony of life-and-death separation once more — deeply feeling his own helplessness, filled with despair.

“The Undying Heavenly Blade is unlike other weapons. All of you — retreat immediately!” The Old Woodcutter spoke, commanding everyone.

Ye Fan gave the same order. The one fortunate thing was that both the Azure Emperor’s weapon and the Heaven-Devouring Jar were extraordinary — he would join the other two great leaders in facing the Heavenly Blade together.