There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

Chapter 1117 A New Landscape
Zhongzhou Star, Thousand Trees Temple.

Above the winding mountains, the heavy barrier array was now dazzlingly bright. Shen Xiaozhu's body was surrounded by a bright green light, and the 'Spirit Communication Talisman' in front of her frantically absorbed the wood spirit energy of the mountains and forests to charge the barrier array.

Her face was slightly pale, and fine wood spirit runes appeared on her skin, reflecting the spiritual veins in her body. Forcibly presiding over this great formation that covered the entire Thousand Wood Temple Mountain Range with her third realm cultivation was already her limit.

Even so, she could only barely protect the small area centered around Qianmu Temple. Her gaze pierced through the swaying barrier light screen as she looked down the mountain, her eyes reflecting a scene of apocalypse, a scene she had seen before when True Lord Lieyang descended upon Zhongzhou.

At the foot of the mountain, the once bustling Zhonghui City was nearly half destroyed. The urban area near Qianmu Temple was still intact thanks to the protection of the afterglow of the barrier. Panicked mortals crowded the streets, looking up at the strange sky, with prayers and cries filling the air.

However, the city further away was already in ruins. A terrifying chill swept through, freezing everything in its wake. Then, an invisible energy crushed everything, turning it into a wasteland of ice crystals and dust. Many people who did not have time to escape into the protective range of the barrier were frozen into ice sculptures while still in their fleeing posture, and then shattered in the subsequent shock.

"Master, why don't you use the teleportation array to go to Grandmaster's temple first? I'll stay here!"

Yun Liang's voice rang in Shen Xiaozhu's ear.

Just as Shen Xiaozhu was about to answer, the terrifying pressure from deep space suddenly vanished. She gazed at the azure sky, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes, which was then replaced by deeper worry.

She did not respond to Yun Liang, but quickly formed a hand seal, activating a simple observation array, intending to use the puppet she placed to observe the current state of Zhongzhou Star.

When the magic array was fully deployed, she frowned slightly, because of the hundreds of puppets she had placed, only a dozen or so remained, and all of them were puppets hidden in major sects.

Her consciousness immediately became immersed in the observation array, connecting with one of the puppets located on the coast of the Eastern Continent. Through the puppet's blurry vision, the scene she saw almost caused her mind, which had been stable for hundreds of years, to collapse.

The endless East China Sea has now become a vast and desolate white ice field. The sea surface is covered by a thick layer of ice that stretches to the horizon, and the sea level has clearly dropped by tens of feet. Twisted ice ridges hang on the exposed coastline, and some huge sea beasts are frozen in ice blocks shaped like waves, maintaining a struggling posture, lifelike but lifeless.

After a moment of distraction, she regained her composure and quickly shifted her perspective, connecting to a puppet on the edge of the Western Continent.

There used to be a great river that nourished the oasis, but now the riverbed is dry and cracked, and the forests on both banks are frozen under an eerie blue layer of ice.

She then looked at the puppet that connected the central plains of the Central Continent. This was the granary of the Central Continent Dynasty, once dotted with rivers and lakes. Now, all the water bodies had disappeared, either completely dried up or filled with turbid ice.

Upon seeing this, Shen Xiaozhu severed her connection with the puppet, and the observation array around her quickly dissipated. After a few breaths, she looked at Yun Liang and said, "Gather all the Bigu Pills we have stored together. I'm going to Jupiter to take a look. Don't make any rash moves before I return."

As she spoke, her consciousness spread to the surrounding area, focusing on the habitat of the spirit snakes in Sanhe Prefecture. Fortunately, although the spirit snake clan is usually very lazy, building caves is in their nature. When disaster struck, the protective array of the habitat was activated immediately, and the core area did not suffer too much damage.

Just as Shen Xiaozhu was about to leave, a familiar aura rushed towards her, and then a figure appeared—it was Hu Qianqian.

"Senior sister!"

Shen Xiaozhu quickly cupped her hands in greeting.

Hu Qianqian's eyes sparkled as she first looked around to make sure Qianmu Temple was alright before returning Shen Xiaozhu's greeting, "Are you alright?"

As she inquired, her primordial spirit had already observed her original Daoist temple, White Water Lake. The lake was now completely dry, and the familiar ancient beast skeleton at the bottom of the lake was fully exposed to the air, covered with a thin layer of ice. The weeping willows that once surrounded the lake had now turned into ice sculptures, and the pavilions and towers she had carefully tended were also covered with thick frost.

A hint of regret flashed in Hu Qianqian's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. At this moment, she heard Shen Xiaozhu reply, "I'm fine. With the barrier array set up by Master, Qianmu Temple is very safe. It's just that this disaster is even greater than the disaster caused when True Lord Lieyang descended upon Zhongzhou. Was it triggered by the war on the front lines?"

“That’s right. However, the situation at the front has been temporarily stabilized. Senior Sister Yulian has specifically sent word to us to stabilize the situation within the Taiyan Sect as soon as possible.”

Hu Qianqian responded, "Master has been carefully maintaining the situation and providing the people with a prosperous life, but he never expected that in an instant, one-tenth of them would be gone. What we need to do is to preserve the rune technology in each ecological zone as much as possible. This is something that Uncle Yulian specifically instructed us to do."

Shen Xiaozhu looked serious and asked, "Have the various ecological zones also suffered disasters?"

"Yes, this is a disaster that has spread throughout the entire starry sky. Even many core disciples of the Xuanmen and Tianmen at the third realm have had their spiritual veins collapse due to this disaster."

Hu Qianqian said with a sigh, her gaze involuntarily turning towards the edge of the starry sky in the direction of the outer edge.

As the Dragon Lord's aura completely disappeared from Mercury, Wang Ping also vanished without a trace, and this sudden showdown finally came to a temporary end.

The True Lords scattered throughout the galaxy, protecting the ecological zones, whether they were Bai Yan, Di Wen, Quan Xing, Tian Gong, and others, all clearly sensed the temporary cessation of the battle. They took one last look at the devastated core battlefield before silently departing as streaks of light.

After all the beings of the Five Realms left, the starry sky, which had just been ravaged by two supreme experts, finally revealed its true, tragic state.

The already cold and desolate border star field became even more deathly silent. Although most of the water elemental energy that the Dragon Lord had unleashed had returned to the world, the remaining extreme cold rules caused the temperature here to drop to an unprecedented low. Countless tiny, dark blue ice crystals condensed in the void, as if covering this starry sky with an eternal veil of ice.

The spatial structure was riddled with spiderweb-like cracks, from which dangerous aftershocks of water spirits would occasionally flash. Occasionally, fragments of icy celestial bodies caught in the ripples would drift out of the cracks, only to be reduced to dust in the extreme cold.

The most shocking sights were the completely frozen rule zones, where time seemed to stand still, and even the most basic energy flow was frozen. Some places were half vibrant green and half deathly blue, with two completely different rule forces intertwined in the most brutal way.

However, the laws of Heaven still exist, and they are slowly repairing these damages. At its repair speed, it will be restored in a few hundred years. Moreover, the True Lords would not allow such a thing to happen. With human intervention, the repair speed can be increased several times.

...

Extraterrestrial planet.

Emergency arrays lit up at various outposts, and demon cultivators were methodically clearing the battlefield, manipulating specially crafted ice-breaking artifacts to precisely remove the ice from the building surfaces. In the main port area, numerous lesser demons set up temporary rune furnaces, reforging the array cores damaged by the cold.

Li Miaolin, Que Cai, Xia Wenyi, Miao Qing Daoist, Tong Yu Daoist, Luo Feng, and Ke Yue were gathered on a command flagship of the Taiyan Sect, directing the various combat battalions to treat the wounded while repairing the fleet's connecting array.

Once everything had settled down, they all looked at the starry sky where Wang Ping and Long Jun had fought.

Half an hour later, Li Miaolin received a message on his communication token. After reading it, he met everyone's gaze, smiled, and said, "Fellow Daoist Ziluan has sent a message that the battle at the front has come to an end." After saying that, he cupped his hands in the direction of Jupiter and said, "This time, we are fortunate that the True Lord has personally come and saved us from this catastrophe."

His voice was steady, filled with genuine reverence.

Que Cai then solemnly replied, "It is an honor for us disciples that the True Lord has arrived."

Tongyu Daoist stroked his beard and nodded, naturally steer the conversation toward what followed: "After this upheaval, the various factions will likely be re-divided. It is uncertain whether this will lead to peace or greater turmoil. We must be wary of the Vajra Temple's counterattack."

Xia Wenyi nodded upon hearing this: "In that case, I suggest we return to our headquarters on Jupiter as soon as possible to stabilize the foundation of our Taiyan Sect."

Upon hearing this, the others immediately agreed. As the person in charge of this frontline battle, Miao Qing instructed those around her, "Fellow Daoist Wenyi and Fellow Daoist Quecai, go and inform the Star God Alliance that Fellow Daoist Li should negotiate with the allies of the Taiyan Sect."

Upon hearing this, Xia Wenyi, Que Cai, and Li Miaolin immediately transformed into streaks of light and departed. Meanwhile, the fleets of the Vajra Temple and the Underground Gate had already constructed a teleportation channel and left this starry sky before them.

Miaoqing Daoist simply watched without offering any greetings.

As streaks of golden light flashed across the void, most of the Vajra Temple's fleet disappeared in a short time.

Venus.

On the Ascension Platform in outer space, Tiangong, dressed in a yellow, narrow-sleeved monk's robe, gazed at the starry sky where Longjun and Wang Ping had just fought, completely ignoring the chaotic ecological zone and the disorderly fleets nearby.

A dozen or so breaths later, a golden light flashed, and Wang Qing's figure appeared beside him. Following Tian Gong's gaze, he looked at the starry sky and said, "I have cultivated for ten thousand years, and my heart has always been as still as water. Just now, while meditating, I suddenly felt agitated and unable to suppress my emotions. In a daze, I seemed to see stars falling and the world about to collapse."

Tiangong seemed not to hear Wangqing's words. His eyes were still reflecting the starry sky. After a long while, he said, "In the past, we erased Yaoxi's traces and inherited his power. We originally wanted to forge a new path. However, as time goes by, we now realize that when we seized his power, it was not to choose the right path, but because our selfish desires blinded us."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tiangong transformed into a streak of light and flew towards Mercury. Wangqing watched Tiangong's departing figure, put his hands together and said, "The Sage is merciful."

At this moment, Kaiyun descended upon the Ascension Platform from afar and asked, "What... happened to him?" In his memory, Tiangong had always been powerful, but now he seemed somewhat helpless.

Wang Qing maintained the single-handed Buddhist gesture and said softly, "The depth of Changqing Zhenjun's cultivation is beyond the expectations of Master Tiangong. From now on, only the decrees of the Dragon Lord and Changqing can exist in this starry sky."

Kaiyun recalled the cautious Changqing when he first entered the Second Seat Meeting. He wanted to say a few words, but then he remembered the strange phenomenon that the starry sky seemed to be destroyed. He swallowed his words and said after a few breaths: "The progress of True Monarch Changqing's cultivation is really something I don't know what to say. If Dragon Monarch does not break through in time, I'm afraid that in a few years, only the voice of Taiyan Sect will remain under the starry sky."

His words contained envy, as well as jealousy that he dared not express. As someone who had been through it all, he knew all too well Wang Ping's cultivation speed; it was as if the world had changed in the blink of an eye.

After another moment of silence, Kaiyun lowered his voice and said, "Is Master Tiangong going to Linshui Prefecture to seek the protection of the Dragon Lord?" He himself found it unbelievable after saying this.

Master Wangqing said again, "The sage is compassionate."

Mercury.

Tiangong's figure appeared above a deserted island surrounded by azure waters.

The island was small, with only a few reefs covered in dark blue ice crystals in the center. He landed on the largest reef, his body shimmering with metallic light, dispelling the frost on the surface. Then he sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and entered a meditative state, seemingly intending to stay there for a long time.

He chose this place because it was close enough to the Dragon Lord's Xuanbing Palace to show his attitude, yet he maintained a subtle distance to preserve his last shred of dignity.

Meanwhile, at the core of Ryugu, the deepest part of Mercury.

Deep within an absolutely dark and silent palace, the Dragon Lord's enormous true dragon body coiled within endless water elemental energy. This water elemental energy flowed slowly like a living thing, nourishing his damaged spirit and consciousness.

Unlike the rage and madness perceived by the outside world, the Dragon Lord was unusually quiet at this moment. His huge dragon eyes were tightly closed, and the water spirit aura that had been surging around him due to his rampage was being forcibly restrained. However, the crazy obsession and endless guilt deep in his consciousness, like the most stubborn cold poison, continued to erode his humanity.

He needed time to clear away the madness in his mind and the inner demons. Wang Ping's seemingly clever attack actually struck the only and most fatal flaw in his tens of thousands of years of cultivation.

He forcibly shut out the disturbances of the outside world and the changes in the starry sky. Stabilizing his consciousness became the only thing he needed to do at the moment. As for the arrival of the Heavenly Craftsman, he might know about it, or he might not have time to care at all.

Perhaps out of instinctive fear of Wang Ping, when the Dragon Lord entered a deep meditation, a cold thought spread from his massive body.

The next moment, on the orbit around Mercury, the seventy-two ice bases that had been silent for countless millennia simultaneously lit up with a ghostly blue light, transforming into a light curtain covering the entire orbit of Mercury.

The surface of this light curtain is covered with countless intricate runes, forming an absolute 'purification' and 'isolation' domain. As the light curtain completely closes, Mercury seems to be temporarily 'erased' from this starry sky, completely isolated from the outside world.

(End of this chapter)