The power of an Ancient Emperor’s weapon was beyond all doubt. Were they to truly awaken, a single strike could sink the Northern Domain — could sever stars from their orbits.
Yet now a shocking turn had occurred. The Golden Mace rang and trembled, attacking the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell beyond its master’s control — a hundred million strands of golden light blazed forth, immortal radiance, breathtakingly brilliant.
And the purple-gold dragon bell was equally unmatched in ferocity, shattering the void, straining against its restraints, seeking to crash into the greatest treasure of the Golden Cavern.
Both sides were terrified. Were these two to collide, it would be a catastrophe — the Northern Domain might be leveled entirely. They had no idea what was happening, and it had all come far too suddenly.
“Aah…”
The Golden King cried out, expelling a mouthful of golden vital essence blood that splashed across the ancient mace, hoping to rouse the divine spirit within as quickly as possible and halt the assault.
The Great Sage Qianlun also let out a low roar. Streams of purple light poured out of him as the innate primordial essence within his body surged wildly, crashing into the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell to block the vibrating purple-golden edges.
Hum!
The two extreme-Dao Ancient Emperor’s weapons rang out, blazing with increasing brilliance, breaking free of their restraints, vanishing into the clouds — about to unleash the most devastating of strikes!
“No!”
The Golden King was overcome with horror. This reckless, uncontrolled collision seemed as though it would only end when one Ancient Emperor’s weapon was shattered.
These two Great Sages submerged their powerful divine consciousness into the Emperor’s weapons, burning the spiritual fire of their souls, struggling desperately to halt the charge — to awaken the weapon-spirits within the divine artifacts.
Ding!
The Golden Mace and the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell lightly touched. They did not carry out a true, annihilating strike — yet even so, it was nothing short of catastrophic. The vast heavens became a shattered land. Not only did smoke and clouds collapse — even chaotic primordial energy was unleashed, as though creation itself were being sundered.
Had this occurred on the ground below rather than in the sky above, even a light touch between the two weapons would have sunk a great swath of the Northern Domain. Countless living beings were gripped with panic, collapsing where they stood, not knowing what had happened.
When the extreme-Dao mist finally dispersed and the rules of the Great Dao returned to stillness, the Golden King spat blood in mouthfuls — each mouthful golden in color. This was his vital essence blood of the imperial lineage, precious beyond measure.
And the Great Sage of the Ten Thousand Dragon’s Nest had also suffered backlash. Fissures spread across his skin, and a long while passed before he settled. His expression darkened as he fixed his gaze on Gai Jiuyou.
The supreme existence of the Human Race had acted — it had all come so suddenly, and there had been no defense to mount. Even the extreme-Dao Ancient Emperor’s weapons had been momentarily wrested from their control. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
The two of them grimaced, faces ashen. They hauled the extreme-Dao Ancient Emperor’s weapons back firmly into their grasp, every last bit of their focus plunged within — fearing another accident.
“Gai Jiuyou… very well done!” The Golden King’s face was as deep and dark as still water, his voice like that of a night owl. Within his golden pupils, sun and moon submerged and surfaced, rivers of stars blazed bright, mountains and rivers opened — terrifying beyond measure.
Gai Jiuyou was entirely unruffled. He murmured to himself, “As worthy as ever of the title of Ancient Emperor’s weapons — so terrifying. It seems I truly have grown old. I could only allow them to touch lightly for an instant.”
The Great Sage Qianlun and the others were shaken in their hearts. This powerhouse of the Human Race was making them increasingly difficult to deal with — he could not be measured by ordinary standards. Based on everything they knew, his blood essence should have run completely dry long ago — he should not have been able to make any truly forceful move. But here was what he was doing regardless.
Far out at the horizon, several clan elders of the imperial lineage stood with deep furrows in their brows. They had come to observe the battle, yet all felt a growing unease. Gai Jiuyou had even wrested momentary control of the Ancient Emperor’s weapons — were any of their own people to step forward, would they not be struck down instantly?
“The Weapon Rune!” said the Great Sage Huntuo, his pupils shifting with flowing light and interwoven Dao-markings — awe-inspiring. His expression was complex, seeming to hold both admiration and wariness.
The Golden King let out a cold snort. “What does it matter that he has the Weapon Rune? He may catch them off-guard once, twice — but can he truly withstand an Ancient Emperor’s weapon with his bare hands? I think not.”
Within the Great Sage Qianlun’s body, purple energy surged, seeping from his every pore — this was his innate purple essence, his vital divine radiance, which he now poured into the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell. A killing blow was imminent.
“Let us go beyond the domain boundary. I will face your Emperor’s weapons there!” said Gai Jiuyou.
A flash of brilliance, and the three of them vanished from where they stood. Remaining here, there would simply be no room to act freely — the slightest misstep could shatter the earth and plunge countless living beings into disaster. Countless deaths and mountains of bones.
“Unsettling,” said the Great Sage Huntuo, offering a caution to the two primordial Great Sages who now bore Emperor’s weapons.
“Hmph — a single old man with dried-up blood and essence — let me see how long he can endure. He was just bluffing earlier. I can clearly sense the decay of his withered body — he cannot marshal the vital energy of his peak, and is now straining to gather what little remains, fighting through sheer force of will,” the Golden King said coldly.
The Great Sage Qianlun said, “Agreed — I too sensed it. His blood essence within is insufficient, his body has aged nearly to its limits, and he cannot draw upon the vital energy of his absolute prime. What he is doing now is merely forcing himself through sheer will, barely managing a fight.”
“Be careful!” said a distant elder clan-chief of the imperial lineage, brow furrowed.
“No need — this old fellow may truly be approaching his end. Sensing that his remaining lifespan is short, he wants to use his last stretch of life to suppress us!” someone else said.
Several streaks of light shot toward the domain boundary and vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving all the clan chiefs and other figures observing from afar in frantic urgency. They quickly laid down array markings and opened ancient formation observation points to watch the battle beyond the domain.
Beyond the domain boundary, a region of absolute silence. Ye Fan and the Elder Sage stood in the distance, watching the center of the battlefield, where two Great Sages stood firm against Gai Jiuyou.
On the other side, several ancient clan chiefs kept close watch, monitoring with intense focus.
Beyond the domain boundary — a realm of utter silence. Fragments of shattered weapons floated suspended in space. Skeletal remains of all manner of beings drifted — some resembling the legendary divine race.
Even Ye Fan discovered, near several enormous corpse-mountains, a shattered flying vessel — silver-grey in color, as though someone had punched straight through it with a single fist — utterly ruined and mangled.
“Brother Gai, will you truly not yield even a step?” said the Great Sage Huntuo — this Great Sage who so often appeared in the role of peacemaker, now with brow deeply furrowed.
“Gai Jiuyou, you have killed many Ancient Sages. Do you truly intend to strip the ten great royal clans entirely of their Sages? Can you not stop here?” said one very cautious elder chief of the imperial lineage.
“Not a single one can be spared. These ten fearsome clans have killed far too many of the Human Race, and it grows worse by the day. They stormed the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor in a bloodbath — without restraint or mercy. They must all be destroyed!” Gai Jiuyou spoke with grave seriousness.
“What is there to say in all this?” The Golden King held the sacred mace as if he were a divine being himself — his gaze utterly cold and merciless, slightly impatient with Huntuo and the others. He attacked first, driving forward.
This was an extreme-Dao divine might — even smaller stars beyond the domain would tremble at it. The entire expanse of starry space was filled with an unsettling energy, as though the end of all things had come.
At the same moment, the Great Sage of the Ten Thousand Dragon’s Nest also struck. The ringing of bells flooded the star sea with purple light. Ancient Emperor’s Dao-markings interwove and wound around Gai Jiuyou, seeking to grind him to destruction.
In that very instant, Gai Jiuyou vanished. Both strikes hit nothing — yet neither of them was afraid. Wielding Emperor’s weapons, they could sweep all under heaven.
Without a sound or sign, Gai Jiuyou appeared in the distance, watching them quietly, his hands slowly moving through the air.
Swish!
A beam of divine radiance shot forth as though it had sheared through eternity, sweeping across the boundless star void, arriving before the two Great Sages in the blink of an eye — seeking to engulf them whole.
“What — this powerful?!”
Several elder chiefs of the imperial clans changed expression dramatically, all of them struck with dread. A force such as this was utterly beyond anything they could resist — one strike might well take their lives.
Ding-ling-ling!
The Ten Thousand Dragon Bell swayed, its sound deafening, wave upon wave of bell-pulse like purple ripples striking forward — terrifying beyond measure.
Crack!
Far off, one tiny asteroid after another exploded, reduced to powder within the expanding ripples of the bell’s sound — like a brilliant burst of fireworks blooming in the void.
On the battlefield beyond the domain, those watching had long since retreated into the infinite void of time and space, all of them ashen — such methods were too frightful. Even Ancient Sages would be reduced to powder in the face of the extreme-Dao Ancient Emperor’s might.
At the same time, those on the Northern Domain below, watching through the observation points of the ancient arrays, could not help but feel their courage drain away. A reverence like that for a divine being rose from within their hearts.
Gai Jiuyou silently retreated one hundred thousand li. The asteroids behind him crumbled to dust — yet he stood firm and unbroken ahead of it all. A quiet, profound divine sound issued from him, transforming into Dao-waves that echoed across the battlefield beyond the domain.
The divine sound crashed against the wave of vibrations from the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell and scattered it, then pushed steadily forward — and incredibly, it was pressing toward the two Great Sages!
“What — this is… he truly intends to oppose an Ancient Emperor’s weapon bare-bodied, and has blocked the sacred bell’s sound?!”
The elder chiefs of the imperial lineage were stunned!
Boom!
The Golden Great Sage struck. The extreme-Dao Ancient Emperor’s weapon raged and dominated — a blaze of scorching light swept forward, the Golden Mace splitting the cosmos, striking at Gai Jiuyou.
This was an undying immortal light — nothing could withstand it. It broke through all things as though breaking through dead and withered wood, as though it would destroy the entire sea of stars and rebuild a new order — opening a new heaven and earth.
A boundless ocean of Ancient Emperor power swallowed this region, shattering it entirely, turning it into a vast black hole from which primal chaos energy surged in all directions.
Yet when all settled, Gai Jiuyou had retreated another hundred thousand li — his flesh unharmed, standing there like an ancient, archaic divine statue.
Behind him, a field of asteroids shattered — ground to cosmic dust, vanishing forever.
The quiet divine sound carried the Great Dao within — a Dao unlike any other person’s Dao, sweeping across in active assault toward the extreme-Dao Ancient Emperor’s weapon. The flood-like radiance of the Golden Mace was forced to roll backward, retreating again and again, shaken loose from the heavens.
“What immortal sound is this, with such force — can it truly oppose an Ancient Emperor’s weapon?”
“How supremely powerful — how supremely terrifying. This is Gai Jiuyou’s Dao. One could call it a divine scripture — it can shake the divine might of the Ancient Emperor!”
People were struck with dread. The elder chiefs of the ancient imperial clans especially — all wide eyes fixed upon those Dao-markings, listening to the divine sound of the Great Dao.
The Tribulation-Crossing Immortal Melody!
Ye Fan knew it had to be this piece. Long ago, when he had clashed with the arrogant little girl Xia Jiuyou, he had experienced a premonitory version of that melody firsthand.
“His body is drained and his strength falls short. Even if his Dao cultivation reaches the heavens and he has created a divine art that can rival an Ancient Emperor’s sutra — it is useless. He is no longer at his peak. Let us kill him!” the Golden King roared.
The Great Sage Qianlun nodded. He drove the purple-gold Ten Thousand Dragon Bell, unleashing a peerless imperial might that swept across the cosmos, clashing and battling with Gai Jiuyou, seeking to exhaust the supreme existence of the Human Race.
The Golden Mace and the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell each poured forth their radiance — immortal light undying. One blazed with a hundred million strands of golden radiance, the other with a hundred million threads of purple energy. The heavens in this region seemed to boil — surging and crashing downward.
Gai Jiuyou’s expression did not change. He was not playing any instrument, and there was no object before him — yet his body itself blazed with light, strand by strand, becoming immortal sound that permeated outward, charging toward the two Ancient Emperor’s weapons.
The Tribulation-Crossing Immortal Melody!
This was the Dao he had created — perceiving the original source of the world, playing out the divine sound of the Great Dao, listening to the secrets of the immortals, crossing tribulation within this mortal realm.
Who in the world was not in the midst of crossing over? In all the countless expressions of life within this mortal realm — for any being that had thought and feeling — they were all in the act of “crossing.” Whether striving or sinking, they were all in the midst of contending and crossing through tribulation within this heaven and earth.
Simply to live was already to be crossing tribulation.
Gai Jiuyou had created the Tribulation-Crossing Immortal Melody — one that could truly be said to shake the ancient and illuminate the present, nearly comparable to the scriptures of the ancient great emperors. He had forged his own path toward achieving the Dao — yet unfortunately, he had been born in the wrong age.
People crossing, dust crossing, immortals crossing — all living things under heaven, every blade of grass and tree, were all in the midst of contending and crossing…
Once the Tribulation-Crossing Immortal Melody rang out, wave upon wave of Dao-markings rose and fell, spreading far into the distance, confronting the two Ancient Emperor’s weapons — cutting through dead wood, surging onward without cease!