Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

"Sharp arrow! Pierce the formation! Kill—!" The 30,000 Demon Slayers roared, and under the guidance of Wang Cheng's violent aura, they forcibly condensed the almost scattered Giant Wolf Army.

The giant wolf was engulfed in flames, its claws and fangs wreathed in a gray light that seemed to shatter magic. Ignoring the burning earth beneath its feet and the stray tentacles and thorns that came flying at it, it was like a giant, red-hot drill, right behind Wang Cheng, and it crashed headlong into the core of the ancient ruins' will!
"Purify the node, bless General Wang!" Chen Xueqing's voice was weak, yet incredibly firm. She bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood essence containing the origin of the Azure Lotus onto the Purifying Azure Lotus!
hum!
A surge of azure light erupted from the lotus, instantly suppressing the withered thorns that attempted to retaliate. Countless beams of purifying light, as refined as jade, acted like precise guides, striking first and striking first, accurately illuminating the path ahead of Wang Cheng's charge! Wherever the azure light reached, the surging, foul energy was forcibly pushed aside and purified, and the remaining activated spores on the ground were instantly annihilated, opening a brief but relatively "clean" path for Wang Cheng and the Demon-Slaying Giant Wolf to charge forward!

Furthermore, strands of pure life force, like trickling streams, swirled around Wang Cheng and the front-row Demon Slayer warriors, repairing their injuries eroded by the ancient ruins environment and boosting their nearly depleted vitality!
The Sky Patrol Army pushed its firepower to the limit, turning all the Void Crossbows around and unleashing a torrential downpour of eerie blue death beams into the depths of the basin. In particular, the dark mist swirling around the giant eyeball, attempting to form a new defense, was subjected to the most intense firepower suppression and interference!

"Roar!" The Evil Beast steadied itself in the crater blasted open in the Eternal Night Sea, its deep, beastly eyes fixed on the eyeball that trembled from the loss of power, before suddenly opening its massive maw. This time, it was no longer a barrier, but—devouring!
A chaotic vortex, larger and deeper than before, seemingly capable of swallowing stars, rapidly formed before its gigantic maw. The terrifying suction force ignored space and acted directly on the enormous eye of the vortex!
Although it cannot directly extract its core essence like the Sword of Annihilation, this powerful suction force is like countless invisible giant hands, firmly grasping the eyeball and "nailing" it to the spot, greatly interfering with its attempts to sever connections, condense new attacks, or escape!

"ended."

Yu Changsheng's icy voice was like a final judgment. His arm holding the Sword of Annihilation was as steady as a rock, and the "nothingness" at the tip of the sword had expanded to the size of a fist. The power of returning to nothingness emanating from it formed a visible field of absolute darkness, completely enveloping and devouring the remaining "solidified beam"!
The dark red divine runes on the sword had transformed into a leaping blood flame, and countless newly formed gray runes joined together, giving the entire sword a pure aura of "ending" that made gods and demons tremble!
With a slight twist of his wrist, the sword's edge changed from a "defense" to a "thrust"! The target was the core of the enormous eyeball that had been held back by the evil beast and whose light had dimmed and whose vortex was spinning sluggishly after being drawn out by the Sword of Annihilation!

"Return to the Ruins - Slaughter of Gods!"

Stab out with a sword!
There was no overwhelming sword energy, no dazzling light. There was only an extremely thin, gray line, seemingly formed from the ultimate nothingness of the universe, which pierced through space, ignored distance, and in a fraction of a second, precisely struck the very center of the enormous vortex eye!

Time seemed to truly stand still at this moment.

Immediately afterwards——

"Boom..."

A sound, so faint it was almost imperceptible, yet resonated deep within the souls of every living being in the ancient ruins basin. It was like a giant, filthy bubble being popped.

The enormous vortex eye, formed from chaotic laws, shattered stars, and solidified resentment, suddenly collapsed inward at its core, at the point of the Sword of Annihilation! Countless spiderweb-like gray cracks instantly covered the entire surface of the "eyeball"! Within the cracks, no light leaked out; only the deepest, most primal nothingness spread!

Rumble, rumble—! ! !
This time, it was a true cataclysmic event! The entire Ancient Ruins of the Burial Gods seemed to groan and tremble! Centered on the collapsed "eyeball," an irresistible annihilation storm erupted! All the remaining demon-faced rock mountains, writhing fungal carpets, gray thorns, and enormous tentacles in the basin...

Before this storm, which contained the supreme Dao of Returning to Nothingness, everything crumbled and dissipated silently like a sandcastle, turning into the most primordial chaotic particles! Wherever the storm passed, space was completely flattened, leaving behind a trail of absolute nothingness!
"Form ranks! Hold the line!" Wang Cheng roared, bringing the charge to an abrupt halt.

The phantom of the crimson-gold giant wolf instantly transformed into its heaviest form, the Xuan Turtle. The 30,000 Demon Slayers unleashed their power to the extreme, remaining firmly rooted to the spot. The baleful aura of the army formation merged with the emerald light barrier that Chen Xueqing had desperately erected, together resisting the sweeping aftershocks of annihilation.

The Flame Dragon and the Evil Beast immediately tightened their defenses.

Jinpeng's figure tumbled out from the raging energy turbulence, his feathers charred and dull, his broken wing a void, his aura extremely weak, but Chen Xueqing timely separated a beam of emerald light to guide and protect him.

At the eye of the storm, Yu Changsheng stood holding his sword. The blood-flame divine patterns on the Sword of Annihilation slowly subsided, and countless gray runes receded. The sword returned to the dark color of cosmic dust, yet it seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, exuding a heart-palpitating sense of satisfaction after a full meal and a deeper Daoist charm of annihilation.

As the last wisp of the annihilating storm dissipated, the scene at the center of the basin... no, perhaps it should be called a "giant crater" was breathtaking.

The twisted rocky mountains, the writhing earth, the filthy vegetation... everything disappeared.

All that remained was a huge, bowl-shaped pit, over a hundred miles in diameter, smooth as a mirror, and bottomless.

The pit walls exhibited a glassy crystallization, as if they had been baptized by extreme high temperatures and annihilation forces, emitting a faint grayish-white fluorescence.

At the bottom of the pit, there was absolute darkness, as if even light had been completely swallowed up. It was a "scar of nothingness" left behind after space was completely annihilated, which could not be healed in a short time.

The core of the ancient ruins' will—the Vortex Eye—that once occupied this place, controlled the region, and even made True Immortals wary, has completely disappeared, leaving not even a trace of its existence.

Only the lingering, icy, and deathly Daoist aura in the air, and the all-consuming void at the bottom of the pit, silently testified to the terror of that sword strike.

The world is silent.

Only heavy breathing and the palpitations of survivors filled the air among the Divine Dynasty army.

Wang Cheng stared at the bottomless pit, then at Yu Changsheng, who stood in the void holding a sword, his aura as deep and unfathomable as a prison. He slammed his remaining left fist heavily onto his breastplate, his voice hoarse yet filled with unprecedented fervor and awe: "The Emperor's divine might!"

"May the Emperor's divine might prevail! May the Divine Dynasty prosper forever!"

After a brief silence, a frenzied roar, like a tsunami, filled the ancient ruins with the excitement of surviving a catastrophe and supreme reverence! Yu Changsheng slowly lowered the Sword of Annihilation, his gaze sweeping over the wounded but still fighting spirit-destroying army, over the Jinpeng whose aura was weak but whose eyes were sharp, over Chen Xueqing whose face was pale but who was still supporting the purification domain, and finally down to the bottom of the deep void pit.

His voice was calm, yet it clearly drowned out all the cheers, carrying a kind of indifference that came to an end an ancient nightmare:

"The will of the ancient ruins has been extinguished. However, in the burial ground of gods, bones still remain. Clean up the battlefield and collect the crystallized essence of the ancient ruins. Use this pit as a foundation to erect the 'Return to Ruins Demon-Suppressing Stele'."

His gaze slowly rose, passing over the forcibly leveled basin and casting its light into the depths of the ancient ruins, into an unknown region still shrouded in endless darkness and an even more ancient and profound aura of ominousness. The Sword of Annihilation hummed in his hand, a low and yearning sound.

"The real burial of the gods' remains... has only just begun."

The deathly silence between heaven and earth had not yet dissipated. The bottomless crater of the Guixu was like a hideous wound that had been gouged out of the earth, and the glass-like crystals on the edge shimmered with a cold, grayish-white fluorescence.

Yu Changsheng stood in the void, sword in hand. The blade of the Sword of Annihilation hung low, and beneath its dark, dusty hue, the crimson divine rune pulsed faintly like a lurking blood dragon. His gaze pierced through the absolute nothingness at the bottom of the pit, which devoured light, as if he were staring at a deeper secret concealed by the will of annihilation.

"Your Majesty, the Golden Roc has been injured to its very core and needs immediate treatment!" Chen Xueqing's voice was filled with weary urgency. The jade lotus platform hung above the heavily injured Golden Roc, and the azure light emanating from the Pure World Lotus was trying its best to repair the wounds on its broken wings that had been eroded by the Law of Return to Nothingness. However, the ashen power of annihilation was as stubborn as a malignant tumor, fiercely resisting the life law of the lotus.

Yu Changsheng flicked his finger, and a drop of essence blood, flowing with chaotic purple energy, flew from his fingertip and entered the Golden Roc's brow. "With my imperial blood, I will suppress your wounds. The power of the Void is also your opportunity."

As the essence of blood entered its body, the Golden Roc's withered aura suddenly invigorated. The gray and decaying aura at the edge of its broken wings was forcibly suppressed and assimilated, and it began to slowly regenerate new bone feathers wrapped in the gray light of the void! It let out a long cry of gratitude and ferocity, its single eye fixed on the depths of the giant pit.

"Wang Cheng, take stock of the casualties and hold the edge of the pit. Mo Heng, activate the power of the Imperial Array to forge the prototype of the 'Return to the Ruins Demon-Suppressing Stele'. Use this pit as a base to suppress the remaining foul energy of this world!"

Yu Changsheng's decree was as firm as iron. Wang Cheng accepted the order and led the Demon Slayer Army to quickly construct a ring-shaped defense. The Chaos Battle Banner was inserted into the glass-like pit wall, and the military spirits formed a red-gold barrier.

Ten thousand miles away, the Qingzhou Imperial Array hummed, and a thick pillar of chaotic light traversed space and crashed down to the bottom of the pit. Mo Heng's phantom appeared in the pillar of light, and countless profound runes were imprinted in the void along with the pillar of light. The phantom of a colossal stele that reached the heavens and the earth began to condense. Chaotic divine patterns and Guixu sword marks intertwined on the stele, emitting a vast pressure that sealed the heavens and locked the earth.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
"Buzz—Clang!"

Without warning, the Sword of Annihilation in Yu Changsheng's hand trembled violently, emitting a sharp sword cry filled with extreme longing! The dark red divine rune on the sword blade shone brightly, breaking free from Yu Changsheng's control on its own, transforming into a gray-red lightning bolt that tore through the void, and fiercely stabbing towards the absolute "nothingness" at the bottom of the pit!
"Your Majesty!" Wang Cheng and Chen Xueqing exclaimed simultaneously.

The moment the sword touched the "nothingness," it did not penetrate as expected, but instead struck an invisible barrier! The ear-piercing friction sound was as sharp as the wailing of ten thousand ghosts, and countless tiny sparks containing fragments of different laws burst forth at the point of collision!

Click...click!

A teeth-grinding sound of breaking was heard.

That all-consuming "nothingness" was like a fragile mirror, its surface cracked open by the sharp edge of the Sword of Annihilation, leaving spiderweb-like fissures! Deep within the fissures, instead of deeper darkness, emanated an indescribable, primordial light, like the light of the beginning of chaos!

A terrifying aura, more ancient, more primal, and more vast than the will of the ancient ruins, like the breath of a giant beast that has been sleeping for billions of years, spread out along the crack!

This aura is not purely filth or death, but a power of "chaos" and "creation" belonging to the origin of the universe, encompassing all things yet disregarding all beings! However, at the core of this power, there is a trace of "withered" origin that is so profound that it inspires despair and even makes the Law of Return to Nothingness tremble!
"The Chaos Origin Core?! It was actually corrupted and enveloped by the 'withered' Dao principle of the Ancient Ruins' will, turning into its source of power?" The Chaos Divine Patterns in Yu Changsheng's eyes spun wildly, instantly revealing its true nature.

The unusual movement of the Sword of Annihilation was because it sensed the ultimate nourishment contained within the contaminated source core, enough to allow it to transform once again!

"Stop it! If the source core is devoured by the sword and loses its balance, this world will return to chaos!"

Chen Xueqing's face turned deathly pale. She sensed that if the "creation" and "withering" intertwined in the source core were to erupt out of control, they would be enough to completely obliterate the entire Burial God Ruins and even the surrounding states!
"Stop right now!" Wang Cheng roared, unleashing his full power of the Bloodthirsty Heaven-Burning Domain. His Chaotic Bone Arm swelled up, carrying the immense power to shatter stars, and fiercely grabbed at the out-of-control sword hilt!
However, it's too late!

"Pfft!"

The Sword of Annihilation erupted with an unprecedentedly greedy crimson light, and countless gray runes on its blade lit up, like billions of hungry mouths, tearing through the last barrier and ruthlessly piercing into the slowly rotating, chaotic, and murky source core that was entangled with deathly gray energy!
boom--! ! !
A terrifying explosion occurred that defies description!

But this explosion was not a release of energy; rather, it was a violent conflict and annihilation at the level of "existence"!
Centered on the point of sword penetration, a chaotic vortex of indefinable color and shape expanded wildly! Within the vortex:
Left half: Full of vitality! Chaotic currents surged and evolved into the wondrous spectacle of creation: earth, fire, water, wind, the birth and death of stars, and the rampant growth of vegetation!

Right half: Deathly desolation! A final scene unfolds, with gray mist pervading the air, all things withering, stars extinguished, and time and space frozen!

Creation and destruction, life and death, clashed like two ancient pythons in this chaotic vortex, tearing, devouring, and annihilating each other! At the edge of the vortex, space was like fragile paper, repeatedly crumpled, torn, and reassembled, forming countless bizarre and fleeting fragments of distorted spacetime! A terrifying suction force erupted from it, shattering large swathes of the crystal-clear rim of the pit, which were swept into the vortex and instantly vanished!
"Suppress!" Yu Changsheng's face was ashen, his imperial robes fluttering in the wind. He formed hand seals, forcibly drawing upon the power of the entire Chaotic Myriad Tribulations Imperial Array, transforming it into nine chaotic chains that coiled around the out-of-control vortex, attempting to stabilize and compress it. Simultaneously, the Eternal Night Barrier of the Evil Beast, the Chaotic True Fire of the Flaming Dragon, and the Azure Light of Chen Xueqing's Purifying Lotus also surged forth, forming a triple shackle that tightly bound the vortex's expansion. (End of Chapter)