Immortals of the End Times

Time flies, and several months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Deep within the earth's veins, a thousand-foot-deep magma cave boils like a purgatory.

As crimson flames surged, countless bubbles burst and splashed, illuminating the entire space like a furnace.

The intense, distorted heat caused the air inside the cave to ripple like glass.

An ordinary Golden Core cultivator would probably be vaporized instantly if he were here.

In the center of the cave, the two-thousand-foot-tall demon tree avatar sat majestically, its head almost touching the dome of the underground cave.

The roots, like writhing dragons, burrowed deep into the magma, each pulsation causing the subterranean fire to surge.

The tree trunk is interwoven with lapis lazuli and gold veins, and the Daoist charm of the Jianmu tree flows like the tide, forcefully pushing open a vacuum hundreds of feet deep from the scalding magma.

Sudden.

"boom!"

The entire sea of ​​magma suddenly solidified, and the boiling red waves transformed into shimmering amber.

Blood patterns burst forth from the brow of the demon tree clone, and a strange Dao seal rose like the morning sun.

The patterns on the left side resemble the halberd of a warlord cleaving the sky, while the patterns on the right side resemble the branches of a Jianmu tree hanging down like clouds.

The two Daoist styles both clashed and merged.

The burst of divine spiritual power actually shook the thousand-foot-tall rock wall, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear!
Strangely, this seal possesses two completely different Daoist charms.

It possesses both the sharp edge of Xiang Yu's domineering spirit and the profound vitality of the Jianmu tree's Taoist charm.

Each collision unleashed a storm of Daoist energy, tearing the solidified magma into a rain of fire.

If an ordinary cultivator encounters such a situation, either their Dao heart will collapse, making it difficult to condense the Dao seal, or they will have to abandon it in order to attain enlightenment.

However, the demon tree clone defied the heavens and fused the two Daoist principles into one.

"Snap!!"

Just then, the Dao seal between the brows of the demon tree clone suddenly cracked open with three thousand golden marks.

The chains manifested by the Dao Tribulation seemed to hang down from among many tree branches.

Each one is entwined with a completely different profound meaning of the Great Dao.

"Roar!"

A tyrannical roar suddenly erupted from the depths of the tree's heart.

Dark gold battle patterns, like blood vessels, burst forth beneath the tree bark, shattering half of the chains formed by the tribulations.

The remaining chains of the Dao Tribulation seized the opportunity to pierce the Daoist essence of the Jianmu tree, causing the verdant sap to spray out like blood.

However, the demon tree's clone had a deep foundation.

The two Daoist principles merged more and more under the tearing of the chains of tribulation, eventually condensing into a sky-covering Daoist seal above the tree canopy.

"The Dao seal formed by the condensation of two Daoist principles has truly succeeded."

Could it be that the Jianmu tree itself has borne the weight of thirty-three heavens, possessing exceptional inclusiveness? Or is it that Xiang Yu's ambition for dominance was simply too stubborn?

Amidst the magma, Zhao Wuji's figure rose, lost in thought.

On second thought, this clone was originally based on his own primordial spirit, with the Jianmu tree as its body and the bloodline transformed from the remains of Xiang Yu. Its Daoist essence was also a mixture of various sources, making it a rather strange composite.

He had originally planned that if Xiang Yu's domineering will truly could not be integrated with the Daoist charm of Jianmu...

To help the demon tree clone break through to the Nascent Soul stage, the bloodline formed from the remains of King Xiang was extracted from the demon tree clone's body.

Unexpectedly, the two Daoist principles have now harmoniously condensed into a Daoist seal.

"With such a condensed Dao seal, it will likely be extremely difficult for one to achieve Dao in the future."

Just as he was pondering, the lava suddenly exploded, and a figure burst out from the waves—it was Yan Lan.

"Junior nephew, it seems you've successfully broken through to the Nascent Soul stage. That's amazing!"

Zhao Wuji smiled and reached out to embrace Yan Lan, whose clothes were half undone, and together they flew out of the lava.

"Have a rest?"

"Of course! Do you think I'm that frail?"

Yan Lan rolled her eyes. Her red dress was lifted halfway by the heat wave, revealing her snow-white waist. The flame patterns on her collarbone shone brightly under the reflection of the lava, making her skin look even more like snow.

"While these past few months of cultivation here have been enjoyable, it's been incredibly boring. Now that your 'big guy' has broken through, let's find another place."

Yan Lan's eyes sparkled as she traced circles on his chest with her slender fingers. "I've been with you underground for months, and I've had my fill of soaking in this lava."

“You didn’t say that at first. I’ve fed you these past few months, but now you’ve changed your story.”

Zhao Wuji smiled and shook his head, but his gaze remained fixed on the demon tree clone.

The colossal tree, thousands of feet tall, was still undergoing an astonishing transformation. Dark gold patterns and verdant Daoist charm intertwined on its branches, subtly forming a unique balance.

"It seems he has already stabilized at the Nascent Soul stage."

A slight smile played on his lips, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes.

This unprecedented breakthrough in dual Dao seals also signifies that the Dao essence and combat power unleashed by the demon tree clone will be extremely terrifying.

Perhaps they are not much weaker than his original form.

In this way, they will have another powerful ally when they try to conquer the Nine Heavens.

He once promised Xiang Yu that he would take his broken body with him to fight his way to the Ninth Heaven!

Now, I can finally fulfill my promise.

"We're just waiting for the Sword Lord to break through to the Divine Transformation stage."

Zhao Wuji suddenly made a hand seal and unleashed the Ascending and Copying Technique.

He then put his arm around Yan Lan's slender waist.

"Whoosh!!"

Ripples spread across the void, and the two figures vanished without a trace like dream bubbles.

Only the demon tree clone sat cross-legged on the lava, its divine light flickering and flowing on the thousand-foot-tall tree trunk, continuing to solidify its divine transformation realm.

Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, in the vast天地 (heaven and earth), a tall figure sat cross-legged in mid-air, his robes fluttering in the strong wind.

Zhao Wuji closed his eyes slightly, his body swirling with profound Daoist energy, completely immersed in a deep state of communion with the heavens.

His vast divine consciousness, at the Nascent Soul stage, spread and expanded like a tidal wave.

It reaches up to the highest heavens and down to the deepest abyss.

Through this mysterious perception, the crux of the problem in this world gradually became clear.

Deep within the churning tribulation clouds beyond the nine heavens.

The Heavenly Dao's single eye, resembling a colossal creature, seemed to be half-asleep, its turbid pupils flowing with viscous golden liquid.

Each breath caused the tribulation clouds to churn violently, spewing out a vast torrent of spiritual energy, creating this false scene of a flourishing spiritual world.

Even more terrifying was that the one-eyed celestial being was surrounded by chains of calamity and corruption.

Each chain seemed to imprison a figure that was faintly visible.

Those were soulless beings corrupted by the Heavenly Dao, each radiating a terrifying divine power, yet they swayed like puppets on strings.

"With the interaction between Heaven and Man, many secrets of this world are within my sight. No wonder so many Nascent Soul Dao Lords once went to explore the Nine Heavens."

The Dao seal between Zhao Wuji's brows glowed slightly, and a sudden enlightenment occurred to him.

In the blink of an eye, five or six hundred years have passed.

With each exhale, spiritual energy is revived; with each inhale, the end of the Dharma descends. This cycle repeats endlessly.

His gaze turned to the depths of the earth's veins, where he saw the demonic energy of the Nine Netherworlds intertwined with the turbid breath of the Heavenly Dao, and the roars of the six Ancestral Demons echoing in his divine sense.

"What roles do the Nine Netherworlds and the Ancestral Demons play in the world?"

A thoughtful look appeared in his eyes. "Could it be that the source of the Heavenly Dao's past downfall originated from the Nine Netherworlds?"

As his thoughts raced, Zhao Wuji turned to look to the side.

The demon tree clone had transformed into a handsome figure identical to him, except for a head of emerald green hair that stood out as abruptly cascading down like a waterfall, creating a sharp arc in the wind.

As the demon tree clone opened and closed its eyes, its left pupil shimmered with the vast vitality of the Jianmu tree, its azure light like a tide, while its right eye pulsed with the domineering intent of Xiang Yu, its golden light like lightning.

Two divine lights, one blue and one gold, intertwined in the void, stirring up ripples of fine Dao patterns.

"Walk."

With a flick of his sleeves, Zhao Wuji's true form and his clone disappeared into the vortex of the Third Heavenly Space.

The last trace of leaking energy was completely smoothed out by the surging Daoist energy.

Inside the third pot-shaped heaven space.

The void rippled like a mirror, and two figures, like ink spreading slowly on rice paper, transformed from the ethereal into the real.

Although this third Heavenly Space was the most recently created, it has now surpassed the second Heavenly Space in size thanks to the ancient spiritual energy surging out from behind the Gate of Mysterious Female.

Between heaven and earth, which is 1,800 feet high, spiritual mist cascades down like a waterfall, and ancient spiritual energy condenses into a tangible nectar that flows in the void.

What's even more mysterious is that this space has perfectly merged with Zhao Wuji's inner realm.

This caused what should have been an illusory inner realm to manifest a real scene within the pot-shaped heaven.

In the center of the secret realm, a nine-leaf sword grass unfurled its emerald-like leaves, each vein flowing with chaotic sword energy.

The Gate of the Mysterious Female stands majestically, its ancient runes flickering on and off, leading to a place of eternal mystery.

Zhao Wuji and the demon tree clone arrived through the air, their robes fluttering as they both gazed at the towering Xuanpin Gate.

The ancient spiritual energy exhaled by the Gate of Mysterious Female has nourished this world, making it resemble an ancient grotto-heaven.

Its spiritual energy concentration is comparable to that of a level-five spiritual vein in some top-tier immortal sects.

"Let's go and see if our plan comes true today."

Zhao Wuji's eyes flashed, and he flipped his palm to take out the Daoist scripture of the Longevity Daoist Canon that he had obtained from Huang Shang.

In the blink of an eye, he flipped the Daoist scripture to the page of Zhuangzi and instantly unleashed the Butterfly Transformation Seal from the Free and Easy Wandering.

In an instant, his figure became ethereal and hazy like the moon reflected in water, transforming together with his clone into two shimmering, dreamlike butterflies.

With a gentle tremor of its wings, it scattered specks of Daoist charm and starlight, gracefully passing through the ancient restrictions of the Gate of Mysterious Female, as if entering an empty realm.

Upon entering the mysterious land, the dream butterfly that Zhao Wuji had transformed into suddenly came to a stop.

Then she activated the Dream-Wedding Technique incantation again. The butterfly that had been transformed appeared to be casting the spell with the fluttering of its wings.

But then he saw his wings folded as if forming a seal, and the starlight flowing from the tips of his wings suddenly surged, transforming into thousands of silver threads that intertwined into a net.

"Dreams last for eternity! The opportunity to seize the heavens!"

With a faint, almost imperceptible Daoist chant, the entire mysterious land suddenly shone with a brilliant silver light, like moonlight pouring down, and the entire ancient world was enveloped in this hazy dreamlike mist.

That radiance was unlike ordinary moonlight; it was a wisp of celestial secret plucked from the depths of the river of time, a ladle of starlight scooped from the depths of the river of time, which instantly enveloped the ancient world.

The boundary between reality and illusion becomes blurred and indistinguishable at this moment.

In a daze, it was as if Zhuangzi was in a state of confusion and uncertainty when he awoke from his dream.

Zhao Wuji actually integrated the true meaning of the Intercepting Dao into the Dream Butterfly Technique, using the Dream Marriage Technique as a guide to create dreams for eternity.

With each flutter of a butterfly wing, the Daoist principles of the Heavenly Net, the Heavenly Prison, and the Heavenly Eye, once captured, fall like a shower of stars.

Those fragments clearly reflect the laws of heaven and earth from ancient times.

Two dream butterflies fluttered their wings, soaring over this ancient world reconstructed by dreams, their wings scattering starlight.

These are all dust particles of time refined by the true meaning of the Dao Intercepting, representing abilities that once involved the divine core of time and space.

Every grain of dust that falls to the ground reveals a forgotten piece of history.

In the distance, the towering Jianmu tree still stands tall, with thirty-three layers of celestial palaces and jade towers appearing and disappearing among its branches and leaves.

Many leaves were imbued with a Taoist-like golden light.

Fairy maidens carrying gourds occasionally flit among the branches, their skirts billowing up a misty haze like silk gauze.

The butterfly that Zhao Wuji transformed into flew over the summit of Kunlun.

An old Taoist priest with white hair was pointing at the rising sun in the sea of ​​clouds, earnestly instructing the young man in a blue robe beside him: "This purple aura comes from the east for 30,000 miles, which is the best place to cultivate the art of the eye."

"You should circulate the 'Spirit Eye Scripture' and guide the purple energy into the Jingming acupoint."

The boy sat cross-legged as instructed, his eyes flashing with purple light as he opened and closed them. The old man stroked his beard and smiled, then suddenly a jade slip flew out of his sleeve: "Good! Today I will teach you the 'Qi Observation Technique'."

The clone transformed into a butterfly and flew to the shores of the East China Sea.

I happened to overhear several Qi cultivators talking and laughing.

"Brother Lang, did you gain anything from your trip to the East Sea?"

A blue-robed monk held a bright pearl in his hand, within which a dragon seemed to swim.

The barefoot giant opposite him slapped his wine gourd and laughed loudly: "Hahaha! You've only captured a small dragon. But this mirage pearl of yours, brother, must have taken quite a bit of effort, right?"

As the two were chatting and laughing, the waves suddenly parted.

A female cultivator in white robes rode the waves, carrying a crystal-clear coral in her arms. She pleaded, "Fellow Daoists, please spare this mirage pearl. I am willing to exchange it for this thousand-year-old blood coral. This mirage pearl can save my husband's life!"

Like a butterfly fluttering, it glides over many famous mountains and great lakes.

One could see that each medicinal herb was absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, its vermilion fruit as red as raging fire, and its lingzhi mushrooms shaped like auspicious clouds.

A boy carrying a medicine basket moved among them, picking each plant and calling out its name in a clear voice: "Three-hundred-year-old Polygonatum, five-hundred-year-old Polygonum multiflorum."

Suddenly, the butterfly's wings trembled slightly, and it turned towards a certain ominous and desolate place.

There, poisonous miasma hung like a curtain, and several ancient cultivators could be vaguely seen sitting around a stone platform. In the center, an old man in a yellow robe was whispering to his disciples: "When the road to the Yellow Springs opens, the sound of chains can be heard. There is indeed a path to the netherworld in this world, leading directly to the Netherworld."

Last year, when Fellow Daoist Wang passed away, I personally witnessed the Soul-Gathering Messenger appear to take his soul away.”

The young disciples felt a chill run down their spines, but one girl with her hair in a topknot asked in a clear voice, "Master, if one cultivates to the Nascent Soul stage, will one no longer be afraid of the Soul Reaper?"

The old man chuckled upon hearing this, lightly tapping her forehead with his pipe: "Foolish child, even a Great Ascension Celestial Venerable might not be able to escape life and death. Hmm?"

His expression suddenly changed slightly. He abruptly raised his head, made a hand seal, and his old eyes shone with golden light, as if trying to pierce through the dream. "Could it be that a fellow Daoist is spying on me?"

Zhao Wuji was startled.

This old man actually possesses the cultivation level of the Dao Integration Realm; could he possibly even see through the past and present?
The butterfly he had transformed into hurriedly flapped its wings and flew high, disappearing into the clouds in the blink of an eye.

They then discovered that what the old man had been peering at was actually a red-haired monster in the poisonous fog.

He continued to fly, and the world below remained vibrant.

The celestial maidens in the Jianmu tree are still shuttling about, while ancient Qi cultivators either breathe in the morning glow atop Kunlun Mountain or chat about the Great Dao on the shores of the East China Sea.

One after another, spiritual herbs, amidst famous mountains and great marshes, absorb the essence of the sun and moon, like stars falling to earth, making this ancient golden age of cultivation even more brilliant.

This grand dream, a blend of reality and illusion, seems to be exactly what the ancient times were all about.
As Zhao Wuji and his clone, transformed into a dream butterfly, fluttered past, in the brief moment the butterfly's wings swept by, one could vaguely discern that the ancient world was actually a complete immortal universe with three distinct realms.

At that time, not only were there thirty-three celestial courts suspended in the nine heavens, but there were also eighteen layers of underworld palaces guarding the nine springs, standing on equal footing with the human world.

Jianmu seems to be the key hub that connects the three realms and links the past and the future.

"Perhaps, after the great calamity of the Four Celestial Venerables' battle in the outer realms, the Jianmu tree was destroyed, the Celestial Court collapsed, and the Yellow Springs shattered, resulting in the current dilapidated state of this world."

The butterfly that Zhao Wuji had transformed into fluttered its wings once more and used the Dream Marriage Technique.

His body suddenly shone with a silvery light.

The divine consciousness transformed from the dream, like a brush, outlined the lingering image of the Heavenly Venerable seen when the immortals were summoned in the past.

Using his own Daoist thoughts as ink, he copied the terrifying Daoist aura that once clung to the Jianmu tree like maggots.

Using the battle between the Four Heavenly Venerables and the powerful beings from beyond the realm as a starting point, and the terrifying Daoist aura as a clue, a primordial battlefield where reality and illusion intertwine is once again constructed.

"Congeal!"

As soon as the dream was formed, the four blazing, sun-like celestial emanations suddenly appeared, their magnificent divine power almost shattering the dream's barrier.

Suddenly, the sky appeared as if it had been completely dyed black.

Countless eerie black lines intertwined to form a gigantic hand that blotted out the sky. As its claws tore through the air, they created chaotic ripples that collided violently with the four radiant suns.

"boom!"

The dream world shattered like glass.

"Well!!"

Zhao Wuji was shocked and let out a muffled groan. He suddenly opened his eyes, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his lips. It was a clear sign that he had been attacked by the backlash of the marriage dream.

At that moment, the entire ancient and mysterious land suddenly trembled violently.

Inside the Heavenly Venerable Hall atop the Jianmu Mountain, four dazzling divine lights soared into the sky, like pillars piercing the universe and sweeping across the eight wastelands and six directions.

The figure of the black-robed Celestial Venerable emerged from the hall with his hands behind his back, his gaze seemingly able to pierce through eternity.

It actually locked onto Zhao Wuji and the two dream butterflies that were transformed from the demon tree's clone.

"Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly; who was I, and who was the butterfly?"

The Celestial Venerable sighed softly, as if the great Dao's imperial decree echoed in the void.

Before Zhao Wuji could react, the black-robed celestial being had already taken a step forward, his figure suddenly disappearing into the butterfly body he had transformed into.

"boom!"

Zhao Wuji felt a violent tremor in his mind.

An overwhelming and irresistible power of the Celestial Venerable poured in like a galaxy, and an indescribable force swept through the entire body from the base of the butterfly's wings.

This familiar power of the Celestial Venerable.

It was not ordinary spiritual energy infusion, but a Mahayana Daoist charm that transcended the Heavenly Dao, with each strand containing the profound mysteries of Mahayana Daoist methods.

He seemed to see every single scale of his butterfly wings transform into flowing stars.

The power of the Celestial Venerable surged through his meridians, and Zhao Wuji was horrified to discover that his butterfly wings were no longer formed from spiritual light and magic.

Rather, it is a concrete manifestation condensed from pure Dao principles.

The left wing flows with the illusory and real Daoist rhyme of "Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream," while the right wing surges with the creative mysteries of "Free and Easy Wandering."

"This is."

Before he could react, the butterfly's wings fluttered slightly, almost uncontrollably.

"Buzz!"

The seemingly ordinary flapping of wings traced the path of the Great Dao in the void, stirring up a gale containing the mysteries of creation, which even stirred up ripples in the long river of time.

When the wind swept through the Jianmu tree, thousands of branches and leaves rustled.

A seed, sealed away for millennia, suddenly breaks free from the branch, drifts with the current, and falls into the long river of time.

The butterfly wings trembled again, and the gale had already bypassed the summit of Sword Immortal Mountain.

The nine-leaf sword grass swayed gently in the wind. The moment its leaves touched the butterfly's wings, a wisp of clear, cold sword light, like the beginning of chaos, burst forth, piercing through time and establishing a mysterious connection between the present and the ancient world.

When it flapped its wings for the third time, the spiritual energy surged like a raging sea.

In a daze, I seemed to see the young King Yu of the ancient world riding the waves, casting tripods to stabilize the floods of the nine provinces.
"turn out to be."

Zhao Wuji was shaken to his core, suddenly realizing that each flap of his wings seemed to be rewriting a tiny tributary in the long river of history.

What seemed like a minor change triggered a dramatic upheaval in later generations, much like the butterfly effect.

But was it his own dream butterfly that caused these effects, or the Black-Robed Celestial Venerable?
Or are they all?
At that very moment, the butterfly's wings trembled for the fourth time.

The thirty-three heavens atop Jianmu suddenly trembled violently.

"clang!!!"

An ancient, simple medicine furnace, stretching across the sky, suddenly opened with a roar from the top of the thirty-third heaven.

The sound waves from the lifting of the furnace lid shattered the vast sea of ​​clouds, and the rosy clouds gushing from the furnace mouth dyed the sea of ​​clouds golden and purple.

Eighteen dazzling streams of light poured out like a galaxy.

The Nine Yin Pearl was as deep and dark as the eternal night, while the Nine Yang Pearl shone as brightly as the sun in the sky.

They intertwined in the void to form a Yin-Yang diagram.

"Nine Yin Nine Yang Pearls!"

Zhao Wuji was shaken to his core.

The power of the Celestial Venerable within his body suddenly surged.

The butterfly he transformed into took flight, its wings bursting forth with chaotic, clear light, and it pierced through the barrier of the thirty-three heavens in one fell swoop.

In an instant, a scene from beyond the sky came into view.

The spiritual energy was depleted, like a desert, and the laws of the Great Dao flickered like a candle in the wind.

Even more terrifying was the all-consuming void of darkness, which writhed and spread like a living thing.

Even the golden light of the Celestial Venerable's image was eroded, becoming dim and flickering; the divine light visibly faded and dimmed.
(End of this chapter)