A journey of survival starting from Zhetian

Chapter 697 The Strange Intrusion Begins
Beyond all the heavens and myriad realms.

The Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld looked at the barrier so close at hand and said in a low voice, "The Emperor has not made a move for some time. In the last few thousand years, this ever-changing composite Immortal Emperor Formation has also lost most of the subtle and profound essence of the path to the end."

"Although the great formation is indeed exquisite and its limits are limited, we have spent a long time breaking it, and have seen through most of its operation and torn apart part of its foundation."

"But the current situation, no matter how you look at it, seems to be that the Emperor's power has declined and been reduced to a limit."

The Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld unleashed a wisp of ominous, pale green corpse energy that continuously pierced through the barrier, tearing through one obstacle after another containing the laws of the end of the road, and eroding into the gray, blank area. He glimpsed the Heavenly Court, the core of the suppression array, and was forcibly obliterated by billions of terrifying, dazzling forces of time.

The Dark Immortal Emperor spoke in a hoarse, withered voice, "This is the sixth time. I have managed to glimpse the location of the Heavenly Court with just a wisp of corpse energy."

"The Emperor did not make a move; it was only the Heavenly Court, which was composed of multiple Immortal Emperor artifacts, that drove the laws of the path to obliterate my power."

His gaze quietly fell upon the high priest who was meditating. As a being who had fought against the Emperor multiple times and even stormed the Heavenly Court several times, this one was the one who understood the Emperor the most compared to the others.

Si Wu opened his eyes and looked at the barrier as well. Apart from continuing to analyze the few remaining obstacles of the great formation, he did nothing else.

"It's nothing more than a conspiracy by the Emperor to lure the enemy deep into our territory. There's no need to pay too much attention to it. Continue to deduce and break His great formation."

"If we really go deeper into it, we might very well fall into the trap of this Heavenly Emperor who is proficient in time."

Throughout these years, Si Wu maintained his past style of action, constantly venturing deeper into the great formation and penetrating into the Heavenly Court. Risking eternal annihilation and the need to return to the ancestral land on the plateau, he used all his might to forcibly obliterate one formation base after another, accelerating the time it took to break the barrier and shortening its lifespan by millions of years, achieving tremendous results.

However, He also occasionally falls into the traps set by the Emperor in the Heavenly Court, which not only makes Him look miserable, but also causes His imperial body to suffer hundreds of millions of negative effects from the cause and effect of time, resulting in a terrifying reduction in His combat power.

Everything was just right. Carrying one wound after another from the path of time, constantly wearing down the fruit of its own path, yet it did not truly let itself go into eternal silence, but was only constantly approaching this end.

As beings at the end of their path, none would willingly enter eternal solitude; it is a terrifying prospect. Even with the ancestral land of the highlands as a safety net, the Dark Immortal Emperor would do everything in his power to avoid falling into that predicament, leading to the increasingly awkward situation we are in now.

The four Dark Immortal Emperors are suppressed in the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit and are now struggling to break free from the Heavenly Court. The Dao Fruit of the Four Extremes Floating Soil has malfunctioned, and its combat power is less than half. Even the High Priest has been repeatedly weakened and is now almost crippled. Only the one from the Ancient Underworld still maintains its full combat power.

It's true that the duration of the Immortal Emperor's Grand Array and the barrier it creates has been shortened considerably, but Si Wu, with a dark face, counted on his fingers again and again, and still found it difficult to figure out whether the current situation was within the Emperor's plan for the future.

Living beings at the end of the road are already scarce, and those who specialize in time are even rarer. Moreover, this mythical Heavenly Emperor is the only one who is skilled in planning and scheming and adept at digging pits to bury people.

Over the years, the losses that Si Wuming suffered in the dark far exceeded the sum of all the schemes he had encountered since embarking on the path of cultivation.

Honestly, He sometimes couldn't understand why Huang, who was also a Heavenly Emperor, fought openly and honestly even when they were enemies, while this Mythical Heavenly Emperor, the Emperor Venerable, used all sorts of methods that were either hidden abysses or were full of schemes and calculations. They were completely two extremes.

The Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld frowned slightly and nodded slowly.

Immediately afterwards, He looked at the Dark Immortal Emperor of the Four Extremes Floating Land and asked, "Fellow Daoist, your wisp of consciousness is currently in the rear. Go and ask again when the support we requested will arrive?"

"It has been over ten thousand years since we last urged them, and yet a large army has still not been assembled in the rear?"

Yongyu's gaze became slightly unfocused, then sharpened again. He stretched out his hands and said calmly, "Fellow Daoist, you know that my combat power has declined due to the impact of my Dao Fruit, and I have lost much of my voice. The replies from all sides are still the same: 'Understood, the army is gathering, just wait.'"

"However, they are also dealing with a lot of troubles. Changye and the Ancestor have gone into eternal silence, and the Ancestor has not yet returned from the ancestral land on the plateau. The rear has also suffered heavy losses in this great war, and the origins of many fellow Daoists who have passed away have also been greatly damaged."

"Judging from their appearance, it may be quite some time before we can obtain sufficient support."

The Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld looked rather grim. "It seems that the trouble that Changye has caused to the rear is not insignificant."

“The progenitor, like us, will eventually return even in eternal silence. But so many years have passed and he has still not returned. It does seem a bit amiss.”

"I have a feeling that nothing has been going right lately."

Breaking through the barriers of all realms and sacrificing them was an order given by the Primordial Ancestor, and a normal grand sacrifice performed over countless eras. However, this event, which had been performed countless times, was now out of control, and even the Primordial Ancestor was affected. This made the three Dark Immortal Emperors present feel inexplicably uneasy.

Silence returned to the heavens and myriad realms. The three Dark Immortal Emperors continued to observe the barrier so close at hand, continuing their deductions and probing.

"Crack."

At a certain moment, a tiny crack appeared in the barrier, and it no longer automatically recovered with the operation of the multiple Immortal Emperor formations. The expressions of the three Dark Immortal Emperors changed instantly.

This was something that had never happened before, and something they had never seen since the Emperor raised the barrier.

Yongyu looked at the unhealed tiny cracks on the barrier and asked in a low voice, "Is this the Emperor's new trick? Is He trying to lure us into infiltrating the Heavenly Court again, making all our hard work over the years go to waste?"

The same thing happened last time. With a single, insidious plot by the Heavenly Emperor of Mythology, most of their efforts to break the formation over the years were wasted, forcing them to start all over again and delaying the time to break the formation by millions of years.

If it's the same again this time.
Si Wu said expressionlessly, "The Heavenly Emperor's Dao Fruit is cursed by my clan. The Emperor's power should decline over time. This may be the beginning of His power falling to a certain low point."

"However, since we began to confront Him, His strength has been steadily increasing, and in the final battle when we met, He won decisively."

“The crack in this barrier is most likely a new trick, an attempt to harm us again.” The two Dark Immortal Emperors standing beside Si Wu nodded slowly, agreeing with his opinion, but still harboring some doubts.

They were all afraid of being tricked by this mythical Heavenly Emperor again, but they were also worried that this was the beginning of the decline of the Emperor's power. They had a perfect opportunity to break the formation, but they failed to seize it for such a ridiculous reason.

After pondering for a few breaths, Yongyu said to the Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld, "Such a tiny crack, even if we launch a full-scale attack, we will not be able to penetrate into the Heavenly Court in a short time. Why don't we first reflect the image of a deceased Supreme Being and let him enter this crack to see the specific situation?"

"If this supreme being does not die in a short time, it means either the Emperor has run into trouble and his strength has declined to the point where he cannot control the great formation, or he wants to launch another big attack, which is a plan to lure the enemy in deep."

"However, no matter how the Emperor intends to harm us, as long as we do not enter it, and as long as we continue to break the formation outside the myriad realms, our hard work over the past tens of millions of years will not be in vain."

The Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld's eyes shifted slightly. The Emperor Venerable had only fought the High Priest tens of thousands of years ago, and his combat power had reached a new level. The possibility that he had declined to the point of being unable to control the Immortal Emperor's Grand Array was almost nonexistent, but it was not impossible.

Thus, reflecting a supreme being and sending it into the crack is indeed a way to probe the Emperor's current state of affairs.

Wisps of corpse energy surged from the desiccated body of the emperor, shaking the long river of time and casting a figure with supreme aura into the void, which continued to solidify.

About fifteen minutes later, a strange and supreme being, dressed in a dark Taoist robe, with a body like a dried corpse, wisps of corpse energy swirling around him, and an aura that was quite powerful even among quasi-immortal emperors, was resurrected at the forefront of the river of time and bowed to the three dark immortal emperors.

His expression was slightly uncertain, but he didn't say much. He immediately walked towards the crack in the barrier and went inside.

Clearly, when this supreme being was resurrected by the reflection, he had already been instructed by the Dark Immortal Emperor of the Ancient Underworld to understand that he was a pawn that could be discarded at any time.

"crash"

Strands of luminous yin energy rippled outwards, echoing before the crack and casting shimmering reflections before the three Dark Immortal Emperors.

Not long after, this strange being of supreme power, without suffering any damage under their watchful eyes, walked to the Heavenly Court and entered the Southern Heavenly Gate, disappearing completely from sight.

In that instant, their gazes changed slightly.

Si Wu's voice froze, tinged with doubt. "They weren't immediately erased, nor did they encounter any obstacles, yet they entered the Southern Heavenly Gate and the Heavenly Court. What does Your Majesty mean by this?"

"Does He not take this supreme being seriously, thinking that the newly promoted quasi-immortal emperors of all the heavens and myriad realms can handle it without expending any effort, or does He simply lack the strength to take action?"

"But it doesn't make sense that we don't have the strength to take action. Our vision has been cut off, and we can't see into the interior of the myriad worlds."

The three Dark Immortal Emperors exchanged glances, communicated silently several times, and quickly reached a consensus.

The Immortal Emperor's Grand Array looks like it will be completely broken in less than three million years, allowing it to invade all the heavens and myriad realms. If it is tricked by the Emperor again, making all these years of hard work go to waste, they will be so frustrated that they will vomit blood.

They preferred to wait a little longer, and after some time, send a few supreme beings in to continue the test.
-
Inside the Heavenly Court.

The Buddha of Nirvana manipulated the Immortal Emperor's array patterns with his own laws, activating one after another trace of time containing the level of the end of the road, stepping into the long river of time, and barely blocking three different gazes from the end of the road.

At the same time, he also activated the power of the [South Heavenly Gate], sending the strange and supreme being sent by the three Dark Immortal Emperors to the depths of the [Spirit Realm], to a space with sealing power that had been specially opened up not long ago, and began to call people.

[Come forth and annihilate the foreign enemy.]
The message was instantly transmitted to Dao Ancestor Yunding and Dao Ancestor Jinfeng, along with a coordinate from the spirit realm.

"My master has only been gone for tens of thousands of years, and this barrier, which is composed of the Immortal Emperor's Grand Array, has been damaged by the three Dark Immortal Emperors. Moreover, with my current cultivation level, I cannot repair it in a short time."

"Moreover, given the current situation, even if it could be repaired, I can't touch the crack anymore; I have to put on a 'willing to take the bait' act."

"This is really unlucky. Hopefully, it can be delayed a bit longer."

The Buddha of Nirvana clasped his hands together, his face filled with sorrow, and he sighed repeatedly from the bottom of his heart.
-
Deep within the spirit world, a battlefield has been constructed.

Dressed in a Taoist robe, the eerie and supreme being, resembling a dried corpse, watched the ever-changing scenery around him, as well as the intricate and complex concepts and logic reflected in it. His expression was extremely vigilant, and his face was even darker.

In this strange place where things were changing at that moment, his power was suppressed, and even the abundant supreme matter within his body was restricted to stagnation, making it difficult to circulate.

"It's eerie and ominous; it's that familiar aura from my memories."

An old man wielding a large cauldron tore open a gap and arrived from an unknown place in front of this strange and supreme being. He casually sighed and immediately used the quasi-immortal emperor weapon in his hand to condense a terrifying flame, full of killing intent, and launched an unparalleled attack.

In an instant, the corpse energy and the firelight collided violently, strands of Quasi-Immortal Emperor techniques crisscrossed, and countless Immortal Laws were arrayed across the sky, like a celestial net, weaving together an astonishing scene.

In less than a breath, the cauldron shrouded in heavy alchemical energy was summoned and clashed with a demonic blade engraved with black feathers, splashing out terrifying beams of light that blasted out the phantom of the River of Time, shattering drop after drop of the river water reflecting the present world.

Two figures, shimmering with the light of quasi-immortal emperors, clashed repeatedly. Strands of blood flowed across the ground, and fragments of bones flew everywhere. Various terrifying Dao wounds gradually spread across the emperor's body, turning into countless charred remains after being burned, along with broken remnants eroded by dark matter, all imbued with the concepts and logic that flowed through this place.

They were all injured, but none of them retreated; they fought with all their might.

(End of this chapter)