World version update

Chapter 301 Turning the Tables, Laying Out a Plan, Memories of the Past
Lu Yan's actions seemed simple, but in fact they contained a high-level intervention in the bizarre rules and even the cause and effect themselves.

He knew very well that the platinum invitation from the seven major righteous churches was no ordinary invitation, but a conspiracy centered on a strange rule that was at least a level zero sealed artifact, and reinforced by the power of the seven angel kings.

Accept the invitation?
That would be tantamount to placing oneself within the rules set by the other party.

At that so-called feast of the resurrection of the gods, there must be a backup plan from the level of a true god. Although Lu Yan can currently conceal his identity from the King of Angels, he is powerless to resist the methods of the only one in this world and is very likely to expose the true information of Fengdu and the Underworld.

This was absolutely unacceptable to Lu Yan, who needed the power of the Underworld and the Emperor of Fengdu to intimidate the seven righteous gods.

As for refusing the invitation?
Leaving aside the bizarre rules behind the invitation from the gods and the dangers hidden within them.

The mere act of refusing conveyed a sense of unease and apprehension, enough to prompt the seven high-ranking angel kings to make a swift judgment, and might even lead them to personally test the waters without any attempt at concealment.

Regardless of whether one is truly capable of resisting the invitation of those bizarre rules, as long as one chooses to resist or evade, the process itself will reveal information, allowing the other party to see through the deception.

Although Lu Yan had just completed his advancement and successfully condensed the Emperor's Dharma Image containing the divine court's order and ancient aura, his strength had made a qualitative leap.

However, he was keenly aware that his current level was still far behind that of the angel kings who truly stood at the pinnacle below the gods, wielded unique authority, and could even bear the descent of a portion of the true god's will.

In a direct confrontation, especially if the opponent might join forces, defeat is inevitable.

Therefore, in this seemingly hopeless situation, there is only one way to go.

Break the rules, reverse the bizarre rules, and take the lead!
Since you've set out a framework of rules and are trying to confine me within it, then I'll break that framework.

Since you've extended an invitation using bizarre rules, I'll reverse those rules, take the initiative, and return the invitation to you.

And Lu Yan happens to have the ability to do just that.

His Emperor Dharma Form is based on the essence of that old corpse, which itself carries the information of countless Great Daos since the birth of the mysterious version, and naturally contains the strange rules that constitute the invitation to the Underworld Banquet.

Using the image of the Emperor as a foundation, and supplemented by the supreme supernatural power of manipulating creation and reversing rules, it was almost a matter of course for him to modify and reverse the strange rules on the platinum invitation.

This is nothing more than a dimensional reduction attack carried out by leveraging one's understanding of higher-level rules.

Only in this way can one demonstrate sufficient strength and mystery without revealing one's core strengths.

This would make it difficult for the seven angel kings to see the truth through the established rules, thus giving them a more advantageous position in future power struggles.

At this moment, within those seven hidden temples—some concealed underground, some standing tall in the cloud-top sanctuary, and some immersed in eternal darkness—seven figures, some exuding lofty holiness, some vast majesty, and some mysterious enigmatic, all gazed upon the invitation that radiated a deep black-gold luster.

Faint whispers accompanied various strange phenomena appearing within the hidden temple.

"interesting!"

Under the eternal, blazing sunlight, the voice of the Sun Angel King was filled with the playful tone of an authority figure.

"What an arrogant fool!"

Under the cover of night, her slender figure spoke indifferently, her voice filled with cold disdain for outsiders.

"The Fengdu family is quite an interesting person."

Amidst a vast sea of ​​books, the recorder slowly raises his quill pen, inscribing the invitation information into the timeless pages of the classic texts.

"Reversing the bizarre rules, it seems that Fengdu has a deep understanding of the old path."

Inside the steam temple, the white-robed youth's gaze pierced through everything, analyzing with a mechanical calm.

Regardless of what the seven archangels think, one undeniable fact remains.

Lu Yan, this mysterious messenger from the underworld, seized the initiative in the first round of covert confrontation in a way that no one had anticipated.

Feeling the complex emotions—surprise, scrutiny, and apprehension—returning from the seven black and gold invitations, Lu Yan stood in the center of the quiet room, but his face showed no joy.

His eyes were deep, and he knew very well that this was just the beginning, an insignificant prelude.

The real contest is yet to come.

His gaze swept to his side, where he remained respectfully standing, but Elizabeth, whose eyes were still filled with shock, spoke in a steady voice:

"I am about to invite the seven angel kings to a banquet. At this moment, the seven great gods have not yet fully awakened, so I can only project my power onto the seven angel kings."

Once the seven angel kings accept the invitation, they will withdraw their attention from the real world. This is the only chance before the seven true gods are fully awakened.

I need you to do a few things for me.

Then, whispers rang out in the quiet chambers of the palace. Lu Yan's voice was calm and clear as he relayed instructions to Elizabeth.

As Lu Yan narrated, Elizabeth's expression underwent a series of dramatic changes.

From the initial shock of hearing about the plan, to the fear of understanding its risks and madness, and then to the dread of imagining the possible consequences.

However, when Lu Yan revealed the entire plan and displayed his strategic confidence and boldness, all the negative emotions eventually faded away, transforming into an unprecedented, almost fanatical, worship.

"As you wish!"

Elizabeth took a deep breath, suppressed the turmoil in her heart, and softly agreed in an extremely firm tone.

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure disappeared silently into the depths of the palace, as if blending into the shadows, to prepare to carry out Lu Yan's orders.

Lu Yan was the only one left in the quiet room. He gazed in the distant direction where the seven major righteous churches were located, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

Lu Yan took a step, his figure seemingly merging into illusion and reality in an instant, stepping into that underworld realm between life and death.

With his second step, Lu Yan entered the Yellow Springs, a place that was both apocalyptic twilight and a place filled with dark starry skies.

Boom! ! !
It felt like an illusion, yet also like reality.

The instant Lu Yan stepped into the Yellow Springs, within those seven hidden temples, all the Angel Kings who had received the black gold invitations simultaneously heard a vast and terrifying surging wave originating from the depths of their souls. This sound was unlike ordinary water; it was more like a torrent rushing down from an infinitely higher dimension, carrying an aura of cleansing all things and ending everything, and ruthlessly descending upon the real world.

Immediately afterwards, within their respective hidden temples, space began to distort, and the phantom of a vast, dark, and profound river, its depth and length unknown, appeared out of thin air.

This river is not a physical entity, existing between reality and illusion, yet it exudes a chilling aura of death and the end. It seems to have pierced through the barriers of space, crossed the dust of history and the long river of time, and forcefully descended upon these seven hidden temples that should have been isolated from the world and sacred and inviolable.

The Hidden Temple, hidden outside the dimensional rifts of this world, is the core and abode of the power of the seven angel kings. Theoretically, no one below the true god can fathom its essence, let alone directly project power into it.

But Lu Yan did it.

Because of his previous act of reversing the bizarre rules to send out invitations, he had established a connection based on rules and causality, which allowed him to capture the vague coordinates of the seven hidden temples.

Using these coordinates as a medium, he can draw upon the Yellow Springs water, which has already devoured the mysterious version of the Styx and whose essence has been sublimated.

The existence of the Yellow Springs today has long transcended the simple geographical concept.

After it devoured and merged with the River Styx that carried the cycle of an ancient civilization, its existence has been intertwined with the recorded history of civilizations in this world. Theoretically, it can appear in any place that leaves a sufficiently profound trace of civilization or the concept of death.

Even these seemingly aloof and secluded temples are no exception.

The seven angel kings, some majestic, some ethereal, some radiant, and some hidden in the shadows, all silently gazed at the phantom of the high-dimensional river that stretched across the temple, existing between reality and illusion, exuding an aura of end and death. Each of them wore a different expression.

The Angel King of the Steam Cult keenly perceived the divine order contained within the Underworld, as well as the traces left across numerous versions.

The Angel King of the Church of Knowledge flipped through the past and glimpsed the history of the Styx River, which was disappearing after being assimilated by the Yellow Springs.

The arrogant Angel King of the Blazing Sun Cult looked down at the illusory nature of the Yellow Springs, a hint of disdain on his lips.

The King of Angels of the Church of the Night did not care about Huang Quan; he was clearly more curious about Lu Yan, who was behind Huang Quan.

Regardless, they all received the invitation, felt the undeniable power of the rules within it, and saw the path to the underworld that traversed the temple before them.

As beings standing at the pinnacle beneath the gods, they possess their own pride and confidence, and would never show weakness in such a silent contest.

Without much hesitation, the seven angel kings stepped into the Yellow Springs, a place between reality and illusion, almost simultaneously.

The next moment, the waters of the underworld surged and engulfed their figures in an instant.

The scene before them changed rapidly, as if time and space were stretched infinitely and then instantly contracted. When the light and shadow stabilized again, the seven angel kings had left their respective hidden temples and appeared in a dilapidated temple.

The place that Lu Yan called the Yellow Springs Temple was not as magnificent as they had imagined, nor did it contain the myriad phenomena of the underworld legends, nor did it have a hall full of divine majesty.

What came into view was a desolate, lifeless scene, marked by the erosion of time and violent destruction.

The temple's beams and pillars were crooked, covered in cobwebs, and the air was thick with dust and the smell of decay.

The golden statues inside the temple, which should have been receiving incense offerings, were already broken and incomplete, some even only half a body remained. What was even more bizarre was that the faces of all the golden statues had become extremely blurry, as if their features had been forcibly erased by an invisible and powerful force.

On the altar, the memorial tablets that should have been neatly arranged were mostly broken and scattered on the ground.

The most eye-catching one is the one in the very center, which is clearly the one with the highest status.

It wasn't completely shattered, but it seemed as if it had been cleaved in two from the very center by a sword imbued with unparalleled sharpness.

The sword mark was smooth and resolute, retaining a trace of chilling killing intent.

On the broken remains of the memorial tablet, only a single ancient character, incomplete yet still exuding a certain transcendent meaning, could be vaguely discerned.

Fairy!
The seven archangels, who had maintained their arrogant attitude, felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave the moment their eyes fell on the incomplete character for "immortal".

It is clearly just a fragment of text, yet it seems to contain the lament of a bygone era, descending upon this place across endless time and space.

"what is this?"

"Immortal? Could it be related to the Great One in the Xianxia version?"

A flood of chaotic information rushed into the minds of the seven archangels. Almost instinctively, they began to consciously suppress their own aura so as not to disturb the "celestial beings" on the broken memorial tablet.

When they withdrew their gaze, they noticed that Lu Yan was sitting leisurely cross-legged below the dilapidated altar, on the only relatively intact futon.

With Lu Yan's current strength, having condensed the Dharma Image of an Emperor, creating a magnificent temple out of thin air within his own Netherworld is a piece of cake.

However, what Lu Yan needed was not just a temple, but a place that could intimidate these seven angel kings who stood at the pinnacle below the gods, a place that could bear the identity of his Fengdu envoy.

A temple built solely by its own power is too weak and will inevitably be easily seen through by these old monsters, becoming a laughing stock.

However, to construct a temple that truly matches their status and even inspires their fear and dread, the required level of power and understanding of the rules far exceeds what Lu Yan can currently comprehend.

After much deliberation, Lu Yan finally abandoned the idea of ​​creating something out of thin air and instead searched his vast memories.

Ultimately, he chose to use his great supernatural power to recreate a scene from his past memories within the Yellow Springs.

The memory that reappeared was the ancestral hall of the Taiyi sect!
I chose this place not because it is so glamorous, but because of the significance it carries.

Within this seemingly dilapidated ancestral hall, the mysterious first true disciple of the Taiyi Sect severed all connections between the past, present, and future with the Changshi Sword, erasing all causal relationships of the founding ancestor in the past time and space, thus killing the ancient Taiyi Immortal.

Here, traces of the killing of immortals remain!
Even if it were just a remnant of the ancestral hall from his memories, with Lu Yan's status and even if he possessed the great supernatural power to manipulate creation, it would not be even a fraction of its essence, let alone be able to replicate the concept of the Taiyi Immortal.

But it was enough to intimidate the seven archangel kings.

With a light wave of his right hand, seven prayer cushions appeared in the Ancestral Hall. Lu Yan said in a calm tone:

"Please take a seat!"

(End of this chapter)