Xuedian, Taiming, and Haoyang — the three great Ancestral Kings — acted together in an instant, pinning down the white-robed God King, while more than a dozen other Ancient Kings also surged forward at the same moment, surrounding him at the center.
There was no blood, no shattered bone — only a single cold legacy Sacred Robe, gleaming brightly. Tengqing had died in battle, his body reduced to dust, leaving nothing behind but his battle armor.
“How could this happen — what kind of strike was that?!”
This was the question on many people’s minds. All the Ancient Kings felt a warning stir within them, their eyes fixed upon the white-robed God King at the platform’s center, as crystalline petals drifted down endlessly, and he appeared like a divine being, transcending the mortal world entirely.
“The Sigh of the Divine!” the Taiming Ancient King said, the bat-like wings on his back flaring, demonic energy surging skyward — he stood tall and imposing, like a Netherworld God.
In the primordial era, when someone had once performed the Divine Melody, it had also produced this same Sigh of the Divine — more terrifying even than a heavenly sword, capable of killing in an instant, though it demanded a considerable price in return.
Ahead, a thin trickle of blood spilled from the corner of the white-robed God King’s mouth — faint and slight, and he was still smiling calmly — yet it filled every human cultivator present with worry.
Even so, the primordial Ancient Kings became even more cautious, their expressions turning grave, as though facing a formidable enemy.
“We were wrong, all of us were wrong. This man did not merely just step onto the path of Sagehood, nor is he merely approaching our level — he is a true Sage-King, one who has few rivals in this world, capable of fighting us to the death!” the Xuedian Queen spoke from the ranks behind, her voice cold and eerie, killing intent surging skyward.
Everyone was stunned, and then their bodies turned cold, especially the great Ancient Kings, whose expressions changed all at once.
The white-robed God King wiped away the thin trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth and rose to his feet, striding forward amid the crystalline rain of petals, causing the Ancient Kings to involuntarily step back. This unmatched bearing of a man standing alone against a host of kings left everyone both awed and deeply troubled — a sight none of them would ever forget.
“Correct — he has already walked far down this path, not far behind the three of us.” The Haoyang Ancestral King nodded, his body radiating boundless divine light, as though the Sun God himself had been reborn, wrapped in a halo too bright to look upon directly.
Many human cultivators were left dazed, not understanding what was happening. Only Ye Fan and a handful of others knew, for they had already vaguely guessed the truth. He still clearly remembered a scene from the past.
At the God City in the Northern Region, the Dark Night Monarch King, clad in his legacy Sacred Robe and wielding the peerless Golden War Lance, had used everything he had learned in his lifetime — only to be slain by the aging God King.
One had to understand that the Dark Night Monarch King had already been a great King four thousand years ago — after so many years, who could say what level he had reached? No one could tell for certain.
And that night, the God King had truly been on the verge of death, having just escaped confinement from the Purple Mountain, his vital force nearly extinguished. His divine power had already run dry, and even living a moment longer was a luxury — what kind of power could it have been, to pierce through the Dark Night Monarch King, armored in his legacy Sacred Robe?
Most crucially of all, the Dark Night Monarch King had said, just before his death: “Jiang Taixu, you… were sealed within the Purple Mountain, your lifespan nearly exhausted — how did you break through to such a level?”
Looking back now, everything became clear. Before he had even left the Purple Mountain, the God King had likely already been a Sage — it was simply that everyone had overlooked it, never having thought carefully about it.
After that, the aging God King had carried the body of the Immortal Fairy Caiyun and walked into the Wilderness, gone for over a decade. According to the Black Emperor’s speculation, he could only be reborn by placing himself at the very brink of death — just as wildfire burns away dead grass, only for it to grow again with the spring!
When that time came, the God King would open his second life, and undergo an even greater elevation at the very end of his Dao, becoming even more powerful!
“So it’s him… it’s actually him!” In the crowd, two Ancient Kings standing beside the Heavenly Prince’s Son revealed shock on their faces, their expressions growing troubled.
The God King had once been trapped within the Purple Mountain for four thousand years, battling all manner of primordial beings, forced into a strange stone wall, enduring immeasurable suffering.
“Back then, when we occasionally awoke, we once struck at him, but were blocked by that strange stone wall — our divine will could not fully enter, though it nearly obliterated him,” an Ancient King said. They were descendants of subordinates of the Undying Heavenly Emperor, ordered by their ancestors to guard the Purple Mountain, sealed within the divine source.
“And yet, when we awoke again, that dying human had already become a Sage. The Ancient Kings who awoke then acted together, pushing him even closer to the brink of death, his oil nearly spent and his lamp nearly extinguished — but in the end, we could not kill him.”
“At that time, it must have been the one beneath Wushi’s Dao Platform who acted — I believe it was him, deliberately tempering this man’s heart, forging his will as hard as iron. Otherwise, we would have had the chance to kill him.” one Ancient King said, his tone filled with deep dread as he spoke of that figure.
“Is that the man surnamed Gu, who guards the mausoleum for old man Wushi? Counting the years, he should have died some time ago!” the Heavenly Prince’s Son sneered.
“I truly never imagined it would be him, still alive to this day. Ever since escaping the Ancient Emperor Mountain, he has grown so powerful that even his fundamental aura is entirely different, as though he has become an entirely different person.” Both Ancient Kings’ expressions changed.
Ye Fan’s ears twitched slightly. Ever since his Origin Spirit had reached Great Perfection at the second heaven of the Immortal Platform, though he had not yet weathered his Heavenly Tribulation, some of his supernatural abilities had already begun to manifest, granting him the Wind-Following Ear, a rare gift seldom seen even throughout history.
This ability allowed him not only to hear voices from great distances, but occasionally even to catch fragments of transmitted divine will. At this close range, he had caught the entirety of these three men’s silent exchange.
You wouldn’t understand — the God King has severed his own origin, like the roots of undying grass beneath the frozen winter soil, reviving when the bitter cold gives way to spring. He has opened a second life, something few in history have ever managed to achieve! Ye Fan murmured to himself.
“Let us step forward as well, to aid them.” The two Ancient Kings could finally bear it no longer, striding forward into the center of the confrontation.
“Boom!”
At that very moment, the God King suddenly launched an attack of his own, transforming into a dreamlike shadow, a streak of white light surging forward with such force that no one could stop him!
“This is the God King’s Skybound Stride, everyone be careful!” one of the Ancient Kings, who happened to be quite familiar with the human race, cried out in warning.
But the white-robed God King was simply too fast, breaking through the confinement of the three Sage-Kings — Xuedian, Taiming, and Haoyang — and bursting free, sweeping all before him.
The Battle-Saint Technique, unmatched in this world, made him unstoppable in this moment, no longer ethereal and graceful, as the white-robed God King let out his first great shout, a sound that shook the nine heavens.
His right hand transformed, becoming a heaven-cleaving sword, unrivaled in sharpness, as though capable of cutting through the eternal heavens — it was none other than the Central Continent’s ultimate Emperor Weapon, the Grand Emperor Sword!
“Puff!”
The peerless heavenly sword swung downward, splitting one of the Ancient Kings from the crown of his head straight down to between his legs, his Origin Spirit obliterated, his body cleaved in two, blood spilling out in a great wave.
The white-robed God King let out a long cry, and his left hand transformed into a green-gold ancient pagoda, its defensive power astonishing, its might enough to overawe the nine heavens and ten earths, as though it could suppress all of time itself, past, present, and future — it was the West Emperor’s Pagoda!
“Puff!”
Another burst of blood erupted, and the tower formed from his left hand crushed another Ancient King, reducing him to a spray of blood and shattered bone, his soul turned to ash.
It happened too fast, all of it unfolding in the space between spark and flint, and no one was able to stop it. Xuedian, Taiming, and Haoyang, the three great Sage-Kings, all cried out, unleashing every manner of great Dao, once again besieging the Heaven-Reaching Platform.
“You…”
The two Ancient Kings who had come from beside the Heavenly Prince’s Son were struck with horror — the white-robed God King’s true target had been them all along; the moment they entered the fray, they had already been marked!
“Dong!”
A bell tolled, resonating with the Dao of Heaven, all things stirring, as though heaven and earth had been turned upside down, the deep, resonant sound of the bell carrying for tens of thousands of miles across the mountains and rivers.
The white-robed God King clasped his two hands together, forming a great bell, upon which were inscribed the sun, the moon, and the mountains and rivers, containing hundreds of millions of miles of land, flowers and birds and every manner of creature, beasts of the wild and fowl of the sky, the stars of the heavens, and even divine beings kneeling in reverence — ancient and majestic, manifesting the secrets of the very beginning of heaven and earth.
Was this Wushi’s Bell? Everyone was astonished — this bell was incomplete, and clearly even the God King himself had never seen it in full clarity.
But its power was more than sufficient — with a single toll, magnificent and awe-inspiring, the white-robed God King’s clasped hands transformed into the great bell and descended, crushing all who stood in its path.
“Ahh…”
The two Ancient Kings cried out, exerting all their strength to resist, but it was entirely useless — in an instant, their bodies were reduced to fragments, turned to blood mist within the bell’s resonating waves, their souls and forms utterly destroyed!
This was the true strength of the Peerless God King — having once exhausted his divine blood to save Ye Fan, and then severing his own origin to save little Tingting, in his twilight years he had, on the verge of death, carried the body of the Immortal Fairy Caiyun into the Wilderness, gone for over a decade, reaching the very extreme of elevation.
The God King swept all before him, sweeping through every obstacle, terrifying the various primordial clans until they trembled, even the Ancient Kings on the platform breaking out in cold sweat — this display of invincibility shook every single person present.
“Enough!” From the crowns of the heads of Xuedian, Taiming, and Haoyang, the three Sage-Kings, three columns of blood surged forth, piercing the heavens, as each of them unleashed boundless light, sealing off the entire Heaven-Reaching Platform.
“Kill!” The other Ancient Kings acted as well, unleashing every manner of divine law, forming a complete blockade, refusing to let the God King break free.
The white-robed God King stood alone at the center of the platform, his robes fluttering in the wind, a fresh trickle of blood now marking the corner of his mouth — this was the price of that single instant in which he had slain four Ancient Kings.
In battles between Sages, sometimes gathering the entirety of one’s Life Essence and unleashing it in a single burst could decide life and death within one strike — and that was precisely what he had just done, though it had also wounded him.
In the distance, the human cultivators were filled with excitement beyond measure — the God King’s dominance over the world was the best news they could have hoped for.
Ye Fan remained silent, deep in thought, a trace of worry lingering in his heart, though he had gained a great deal from what he had witnessed — the Battle-Saint Technique’s manifestation of various Emperor Weapons had struck him deeply, moving something profound within him.
“You have no chance now!” the Taiming Ancient King said coldly.
To have slaughtered four Ancient Kings right beneath the eyes of the three great Sage-Kings was, for them, a humiliation as well — their reputations had taken a severe blow.
“Let us see how you defy heaven in this battle!” the Xuedian Queen said. Though she was a woman, her killing intent filled the surrounding air.
Haoyang, too, stepped forward. The three great experts set up an unbreakable formation, sealing off the area ahead, while the other Ancient Kings manifested their own great supernatural powers, branding them into the void, intending to burn the white-robed God King alive.
The white-robed God King withdrew his battle intent, growing calm once more, sitting cross-legged before his ancient qin, no longer radiating any killing aura — moving, he was like a slaying god; still, he was like a secluded orchid, once again enveloped by the falling rain of petals.
“If you wish to kill me, then either two of the Sage-Kings among you must die, or every single one of the people standing behind the three of you must perish.”
The plain, calm words struck like an earth-shattering thunderclap! They silenced everyone present, and heaven and earth fell utterly still — not a single sound, not even breathing, could be heard.
“You cannot kill even one of us!” the Haoyang Ancestral King said coldly.
At this moment, all the Ancient Kings acted together, unleashing countless divine laws, seeking to burn away the Peerless God King, trapping him within a small world of their own making.
Within this tranquil pure land, petals drifted and scattered, each one stained with blood, bright as crystal, like tears of sorrow falling from the sky, a scene of tragic beauty.
The God King’s hands moved across the strings, playing the true Divine Melody with his very heart — this was his understanding of the Dao, the culmination of his cultivation carried to its utmost peak.
It was a breathtaking, beautiful sight — the God King sat cross-legged in the void, his snow-white robes fluttering in the wind, wrapped in the crystalline rain of petals, untouched by the smoke and fire of the mortal world.
“Puff!”
He opened his mouth and coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining his pure white robes, a shocking sight — and yet, at that very moment, the melody resonated into an earth-shaking, soul-stirring note of slaughter! It shattered the heavens above, bursting free of the confines of that small world.
“Zheng!”
A single clear note rang out, like a divine sword being drawn from its sheath, slashing up against the heavens, and all of creation fell utterly silent.
“You…”
Ahead, cracks spread across the Haoyang Ancestral King’s forehead, blood trickling down, his face filled with disbelief, his blood staining the Dao platform red, and then he toppled backward and fell.
“If you wish to kill me, then pile up your lives as the price to pay.”
The white-robed God King’s mouth overflowed with blood, and once more he began to play the qin, ethereal as a divine being, peaceful and serene.
Heaven and earth grew tranquil, save for the falling blossoms drifting down, glittering brightly, each petal shimmering and crystalline, their fragrance filling the air. In this moment, the Peerless God King seemed to transcend the mortal world entirely.