Wails echoed incessantly from within the great formation, where Daoist Ziyun’s cultivators and the old guard from the Sun-related faction were falling in droves, annihilated before they could even engage the enemy. They were utterly routed by the ancient Heavenly Court formation, a structure capable of shaking the Three Realms. Yet, as they tried to flee, there was no escape, nowhere to turn. Some cultivators and espers attempted to surrender, but no matter how loudly they screamed, there was no reply from within the formation—only the relentless, continuous assault.

In the next instant, disciples from Jiuyou Dao, Zhongnan Mountain, and Kunlun Mountain joined the attack. Countless poisonous clouds, ghost fires, and artifacts of every imaginable light and design surged up from the ground, plunging into the grand formation.

The disciples from these three sects didn't need to exert much effort; they only needed to channel their Yuanqi into their magical instruments and flying swords and then let go. The Heavenly Soldiers and Generals manipulating the Tianluo Diwang (Heaven’s Net) formation would accurately guide their attacks toward the embattled cultivators and espers. The disciples only needed to slash and hack wildly into the mists.

Gu Xiechen stood smiling amidst the swirling purple fog, his hands clasped behind his back, observing Daoist Ziyun and the six other Loose Immortals positioned a hundred zhang away. His spiritual sense locked onto the seven of them, all his magical treasures primed and ready for a full-force strike at any moment.

Daoist Ziyun and the six Loose Immortals felt like frogs trapped in the gaze of a viper. They perceived a terrifying killing intent enveloping them and dared not make a single move. Even as they sensed the cultivators and espers they brought being brutally slaughtered, they remained frozen in place.

Screams, wails, and groans persisted for a full day and night until the more than one hundred thousand cultivators and espers trapped within the Tianluo Diwang formation were completely slain. Even the cultivators and espers at the Void Realm could not withstand the horrifying lethality of the foremost Heavenly Court formation. Unable to resist the incessant bombardment of countless immortal artifacts, they ultimately perished after stubbornly holding out for over twenty hours, their spiritual energy entirely depleted.

Inside the Tianluo Diwang formation, these Void Realm cultivators couldn't absorb even a sliver of the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Despite having connected with the universe and being able to convert its power for their use at will, they gradually saw their last reserves dwindle. They watched helplessly as a handsome, sinister youth, sprouted with a pair of massive flesh wings on his back, charged toward them while cursing their ancestors, plunging long fangs deep into their necks.

Peng Hua was nearly driven mad with ecstasy. He alone had drained the vital blood essence of over fifty of the several hundred Void Realm cultivators. Having already assimilated a small portion of this essence, he distinctly felt his cultivation level on the verge of another breakthrough.

He stored the remaining essence in his heart, possessing a strong premonition that once he fully digested it all, he would successfully break through the Void Realm and reach the legendary Tribulation Crossing Stage.

Once he passed the Heavenly Tribulation, he would transform into a true Flying Night Yaksha, ascending to the level of a Celestial Immortal!

The slaughter within the formation gradually subsided, and the disciples of Jiuyou Dao excitedly began dividing the spoils of war. Some of the Jiuyou Dao disciples, whose feral nature had not entirely faded, had already gathered up several heavily wounded cultivators, retrieved the aged, potent spirits—like Shaodaozi and Erguotou—they brought from Paradise Star, and were grinning as they headed off to a mine shaft to feast.

The other demons and monsters were considerably more refined. They merely absorbed the vital blood and essence of the cultivators and espers, refraining from the gruesome act of skinning and completely devouring the bodies.

Of course, the most refined were the disciples of Kunlun Mountain and Zhongnan Mountain. They cheerfully approached the fallen cultivators and, without hesitation, claimed all the flying swords and magical treasures from the corpses, adding them to their own arsenals. These cultivators’ artifacts had incorporated numerous Innate-grade materials, making their quality exceptionally high. Even though the refinement techniques used were ordinary—likely only Primary Spirit Tool level craftsmanship—the finished products were of the Supreme Spirit Tool grade!

Especially since the inherent spirituality of these artifacts had not yet fully manifested. If they were re-refined using superior crafting techniques, they might even be recast into Immortal Artifacts. This prospect held immense attraction for the disciples of Zhongnan Mountain and Kunlun Mountain, whose secret refinement arts possessed unique characteristics. With sufficiently high-grade materials and exquisite skill, forging Immortal Artifacts was not an unlikely outcome.

In the formation, only Daoist Ziyun and the seven Loose Immortals remained, facing off against Gu Xiechen.

Sensing the brutal end of every cultivator and esper he had brought, Daoist Ziyun muttered bitterly, "What ruthless methods you employ!"

Gu Xiechen sneered, his voice cold. "Perhaps you expected me to stretch out my neck for you to chop?"

Daoist Ziyun took a deep breath and pointedly admonished him, "Are you not afraid that excessive killing will bring divine retribution from heaven and earth?"

Gu Xiechen burst into laughter, shaking his head. "Afraid? Not at all. If a Heavenly Tribulation truly descends, let it come find me. I will bear all the sins!"

Possessing the Taiyin Secret Treasure, the Taiyin Xuanzhu, and protected by the Haotian Tower shielding his spirit and body, what fear did Gu Xiechen have of a Heavenly Tribulation? Once he absorbed the primordial spirits of Daoist Ziyun and the other six, strengthening his own Innate Primordial Spirit, he could condense more physical bodies for his Heavenly Soldiers and Generals. If he could field the Tianluo Diwang formation with a hundred thousand and eighty thousand figures, this array alone would allow him to completely disregard the Heavenly Tribulations descending from the Six Heavens of Desire!

The so-called Six Heavens of Desire comprised the Taihuang Huangzeng Heaven, Taiming Yuwan Heaven, Qingming Hetong Heaven, Xuantai Pingyu Heaven, Yuanming Wenju Heaven, and Qiyao Moyi Heaven. These six heavens corresponded precisely to the six major realms of Celestial Immortals. Gu Xiechen’s current strength was equivalent to the Celestial Immortal level of the Taihuang Huangzeng Heaven. Ascending one level in this celestial hierarchy increased one’s power by at least tenfold! The strongest Heavenly Tribulation descending from the Six Heavens of Desire was only powerful enough to challenge the early Golden Immortal stage. However, the Tianluo Diwang formation composed of a hundred thousand and eighty thousand figures was sufficient to defend against even a peak Golden Immortal!

Of course, the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals whose physical bodies had only just been reformed lacked peak strength, but a formation comprising a hundred thousand and eighty thousand members was more than enough to withstand the peak Heavenly Tribulation for a Celestial Immortal!

Glaring coldly at Daoist Ziyun and the seven Loose Immortals, Gu Xiechen repeatedly shook his head. "Heavenly Tribulation? I don't fear it! All the karmic slaughter, I alone will bear!"

He declared ruthlessly, "Today I annihilate the disciples and cohorts of Daoist Mu. In the future, I will slaughter every person in the Polaris Empire to repay the debt owed to my compatriots. What can you do to me?"

Daoist Ziyun fell silent.

The surrounding purple and white mists dissipated, and Gu Xiechen’s figure became clearly visible before Daoist Ziyun.

Daoist Ziyun sighed deeply, shaking his head. "Is it truly worth it, all for one woman?"

After this enigmatic sigh, Daoist Ziyun roared fiercely, "Six fellow Daoists, the Big Dipper Demon Slaying Formation, attack!"

Daoist Ziyun took the position of Tianshu (Dubhe) and was the first to shoot out a magnificent purple beam, a hundred zhang long, aimed directly at Gu Xiechen's chest. The six Loose Immortals behind him each took one of the remaining six positions of the Big Dipper stars. Simultaneously, auspicious light and auspicious energy erupted from above their heads, transforming into a swirling, ethereal purple mist that injected itself into Daoist Ziyun’s body. In that moment, the brilliant purple light launched by Daoist Ziyun surged with immense power, dyeing the entire mining star purple with its radiance. This light even penetrated deep into the lower strata, making the star appear as if it were cast from semi-transparent crystal.

Gu Xiechen was momentarily taken aback by Daoist Ziyun’s mention of "for a woman," when the purple beam rushed close to his chest.

"Heh heh," Gu Xiechen laughed aloud, remaining utterly still as he watched Daoist Ziyun. A stream of ashen-white water light shot up from the Taiyin Robe, forming a water wave several zhang thick to block Gu Xiechen. This wave flickered briefly before swiftly drawing inward, solidifying into a crystalline barrier nearly a meter thick encasing Gu Xiechen, continuously venting cold air and showering fine ice crystals.

The purple light fiercely struck the crystal barrier, emitting a crisp shattering sound. The barrier fractured and exploded layer by layer, but as quickly as it broke, it was replenished, with endless white water waves filling the gap. The barrier stubbornly maintained its form regardless of the purple light’s power or the thickness it achieved.

From above Gu Xiechen’s head, three Taiyin Thorns shot heavenward, transforming into three lines of white light that pierced directly toward Daoist Ziyun’s brow, throat, and lower abdomen—vital points. The Five-Water Dragon Beard Fan swept out with full force, unleashing a surging tide of five-colored True Water nearly ten thousand meters high. Within the torrent, faint ashen-white dragon shadows could be seen twisting and boiling, raising waves so massive they seemed about to tear a hole in the very sky.

Except for Daoist Ziyun, the other six Loose Immortals made no move; they were entirely focused on injecting all their cultivation into Daoist Ziyun to amplify the might of his spell.

Daoist Ziyun exhaled a breath of true energy onto the purple beam, which instantly brightened by a third. The long rainbow-like beam gradually coalesced, morphing into a scaled Flood Dragon with a head and feet, spinning rapidly as it stabbed toward the crystal barrier released by Gu Xiechen’s Taiyin Robe.

Another golden censer flew up from above Daoist Ziyun’s head, spewing clouds of multicolored sparks that firmly blocked the Five-Water True Water. The powers of water and fire twisted and clashed in the void, creating deafening roars. The surrounding space shook violently, and the mining star below, spanning over two thousand li in diameter, shuddered. It suffered deep fissures caused by the overflowing five-colored sparks and the five-colored true water, looking as if the entire planet was on the verge of disintegration.

Finally, a white jade whisk, clear as flowing water, was waved from Daoist Ziyun’s hand. He condensed all his true energy into this whisk, from which threads of clear immortal light abruptly shot out. With a casual flick, he swept the dozens of zhang long tail of the whisk toward the three Taiyin Thorns, coiling and wrapping around them. With a sound like ripping silk, Gu Xiechen’s Taiyin sharp weapons were flung tens of li away, and several long, slender, soft filaments were torn from the whisk.

Gu Xiechen’s body trembled. The Taiyin Thorns had sustained significant damage from that blow, which directly transmitted a slight injury to Gu Xiechen as well. This whisk possessed greater power than Gu Xiechen had anticipated, faintly emitting an aura similar to the Qilin Seal and even the Taiyin Xuanzhu.

"An Innate Object!" Gu Xiechen’s eyes narrowed to slits.

Little Zhang Daoist screamed, "That is the Scripture Listening Censer and the Immaculate Whisk left by our Zhongnan ancestor, Yin Xi! They are the legendary treasures safeguarding our Zhongnan Mountain!"

Gu Xiechen roared with laughter, announcing proudly, "Good, Little Zhang! Watch me reclaim the ancestral treasures for the Zhongnan disciples!"

Puff—golden-tinged blood streamed from all seven orifices of Daoist Ziyun. Just as Gu Xiechen predicted, the physical bodies of Loose Immortals could not withstand overly intense magical impact. After condensing the full power of the seven Loose Immortals into their strongest strike using the Big Dipper Demon Slaying Array, Daoist Ziyun, although he managed to inflict minor damage on Gu Xiechen, found his own physical body beginning to collapse first.

Now is the time!

Gu Xiechen’s eyes lit up. He formed a circular seal in front of his chest, shaped like a Taiji symbol, and with a gentle pull and release of his hands, immense Taiyin energy rapidly gathered in his palms. Three overwhelmingly powerful Kui Water Divine Thunders rapidly took shape, accompanied by muffled sonic booms. A wisp of his divine consciousness enveloped Daoist Ziyun, and he swiftly unleashed the three Divine Thunders.

Bang, bang, bang—three colossal explosions shattered one-tenth of the volume of the mining star below. The Taiyin energy within the three Kui Water Divine Thunders rubbed and collided fiercely, generating pure Yang Innate Divine Thunder, akin to lightning born from the friction of two colliding water clouds. This exemplified the principle of extreme Yin generating Yang.

Three blinding white lights gradually enveloped Daoist Ziyun’s body, slowly swallowing him and the six Loose Immortals behind him.

The crushing impact tore away nearly half of Daoist Ziyun’s body into fragments. The true energy inside him became chaotic, violently colliding within his body, causing him to momentarily lose control of his physical form. The cultivation of the other six Loose Immortals was inherently inferior to Daoist Ziyun’s, and more than half of their true energy had already been channeled into him. The three Kui Water True Thunders directly shattered the protective artifacts they had summoned, knocking them so hard that blood streamed from their seven orifices, causing them to fall awkwardly toward the ground.

With a cold laugh, Gu Xiechen reached out toward the ashen-faced Daoist Ziyun and gripped his throat tightly, dragging him before him.

He gave Daoist Ziyun a chilling look, then spat a wisp of Taiyin Profound Flame from his palm, quickly refining Daoist Ziyun into a pure wisp of primordial spirit energy and swallowing it.

All of Daoist Ziyun’s memories and cultivation techniques flooded into Gu Xiechen’s Innate Primordial Spirit. After the time it took to strike a bell once, Gu Xiechen, having absorbed all of Daoist Ziyun’s memories, pulled out a high-capacity Yunshi Bamboo Slip, imprinted all the cultivation techniques and Daoist methods related to the Zhongnan Mountain lineage into it, and tossed it to the excitedly gesticulating Little Zhang Daoist.

The orthodox direct lineage Zhongnan Qi Refining Art, coupled with the forty-nine volumes of the Taishang Dao De Jing—the essence of Grand Supreme Elder Lord Laozi’s Dao teachings, unseen in the mortal world—this haul was more than enough to delight Little Zhang Daoist. Combined with the Shangqing Three Realms Evasion Art, this trip yielded extraordinary riches.

The Zhongnan rare treasures, the Scripture Listening Censer and the Immaculate Whisk, were also carefully cradled by Little Zhang Daoist. Because his internal true essence shared the same lineage as Zhongnan Mountain, these two rare artifacts did not reject him and were willingly held in his arms.

Gu Xiechen swept his broad sleeves and gathered the remaining six Loose Immortals, refining them with the Taiyin Profound Flame into primordial spirit energy which he then absorbed. The flying swords and magical treasures carried by these Loose Immortals were of very good quality, including several Innate objects. Gu Xiechen selected a few to distribute among Peng Hua and the others, tossing the rest casually to the disciples of the three sects.

Everyone was eagerly cleaning up the battlefield. Gu Xiechen stood alone atop the clouds, frowning as he reviewed Daoist Ziyun’s memories.

After a long while, Gu Xiechen sighed with resignation.

In the Polaris Empire, Daoist Ziyun was considered an eminent figure, one who dedicated himself to pure cultivation. He only occasionally eliminated targets too inconvenient for the Polaris Empire to handle publicly, and he had very few friends. Thus, when his only close confidant, Daoist Mu, asked for help, he unhesitatingly brought his entourage to the Hiss Empire.

The unfortunate part was that due to his high status and focus on cultivation, Daoist Ziyun knew very little about the affairs of the Polaris Empire.

He only had a vague understanding of why Daoist Mu sought his assistance: it was for a woman named Mei Lin, due to the daughter they had together. And this Mei Lin was currently the Empress of the Polaris Empire, having controlled its political affairs for over a decade!

What caught Gu Xiechen’s attention was that in Daoist Ziyun’s memories, Empress Mei Lin of the Polaris Empire was also a cultivator, practicing the Kunlun direct lineage technique passed down from Daoist Mu. Mei Lin possessed excellent cultivation foundations, likely having reached the level of the Tribulation Crossing Stage about twenty years ago, though whether she had successfully passed the Heavenly Tribulation remained unknown.

Daoist Ziyun had recently heard rumors that the open internal conflicts among the Polaris Emperor’s sons vying for the imperial succession were intensifying, and the prince born to Mei Lin was involved in the struggle.

Daoist Mu, as the Director of Military Intelligence for the Polaris Empire, and whose family had been one of the great aristocratic houses of the empire for countless years (with his family members traditionally holding the post of Chief Palace Minister), was now facing exposure. During the fight for succession, it seemed someone had discovered the illicit affair between Daoist Mu and Empress Mei Lin and had secretly dispatched large numbers of personnel to capture their daughter, Jin!

Damn court intrigue!

Gu Xiechen cursed internally. He had pieced together the cause and effect: because of the private affair between Daoist Mu and the nation’s Empress, their daughter Jin had become a ticking time bomb threatening Mei Lin's status. If Jin were captured by certain malicious parties, Mei Lin’s position as Empress would certainly be lost, and the families of both Mei Lin and Daoist Mu would face severe punishment.

Therefore, Mei Lin had unhesitatingly dispatched the fleet to annihilate Earth! And Daoist Mu, desperate to save Jin’s life, had resorted to killing Gu Xiechen and his group without mercy.

Daoist Mu, serving as the Director of Military Intelligence for the Polaris Empire while publicly posing as the leader of the 'Broken Hook Capable Group' in the Star Dream, was indeed ruthless, willing to pay any price to achieve his goals!

Gu Xiechen let out a few cold laughs, gritting his teeth.

The internal strife of the Polaris Empire had nothing to do with him; these matters should not have entangled Earth and his friends.

Since Mei Lin and Daoist Mu had committed such acts, they could not blame Gu Xiechen for striking back so fiercely.

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Xiechen summoned Peng Hua and the others, outlining his plan to them.

Everyone agreed without objection and concurred with Gu Xiechen’s strategy.

The majority, including Lily, would remain stationed in the Afik Empire to guard against further surprise attacks or disruptions by other cultivators.

Gu Xiechen, along with Peng Hua and Ducat, would travel to the Polaris Empire to settle old scores and exact revenge where due. (To be continued)