Gu Xiechen and the Ten Heavenly Lords fled at full speed, terrified by the legendary power of the Zhuxian Sword Array, capable of slaughtering gods and Buddhas. They dared not even glance back.

The bodies of the Ten Heavenly Lords, once standing tall like green pines on a cliff, now trembled. Their eyes, once bright as the stars, dimmed. The composed Ten Heavenly Lords had become field mice terrified out of their wits, with an eagle-like figure, flapping ominous wings, pursuing them closely from behind.

Run, run, flee with every ounce of strength you possess! How dare disciples under the command of the Heavenly Master Tongtian face the sect-guarding killing array of the Heavenly Master Tongtian?

Ghosts and resentful spirits from the Three Realms, the Nine Nethers, the eighteen layers of Hell, and the Nine Heavens cursed this damned Wu Su Li. Where did she acquire so many exotic treasures? It seemed she had obtained virtually every famous magical artifact held by the Three Pure Ones Saints. Did the Three Pure Ones Saints discard their prized artifacts like clods of dirt, only for Wu Su Li to happen upon them?

Gu Xiechen’s eyes spun rapidly. He suddenly veered toward the chaotic sea of stars to his side. He could not allow Wu Su Li to enter the Spiral Star Domain; he had to lure her into the Chaotic Star Sea instead. Under the Zhuxian Sword Array, anyone would only face slaughter. Rather than bringing her into the Spiral Star Domain for a massacre, it was better to use the chaotic terrain of the Chaotic Star Sea to maneuver against her; perhaps he might find an opportunity.

Reviewing the trump cards he possessed, the Haotian Tower and the Haotian Mirror had returned to their original forms. He could now manipulate them to unleash about ten percent of their power, which was sufficient for self-preservation. Although the Taiyin Xuan Pearl had not fully recovered its original might, and the Taiyang Xuan Pearl had not fully matured, the Taiyin and Taiyang vital energies born before the Primordial Era possessed considerable power, enough to hold a stalemate for a while.

Coupled with the Chaos Bell and the remnants left by the Kunlun immortals—the Six Pre-celestial Items—Gu Xiechen felt he was not incapable of confronting Wu Su Li.

Leading the Ten Heavenly Lords away from the established route, Gu Xiechen plunged into the tumultuous Chaotic Star Sea. He swept his wide sleeves forward, summoning seven or eight small meteors, each about a thousand meters in diameter, that were whistling past nearby, hurling them toward Wu Su Li.

Wu Su Li let out a few cold, mocking laughs. She shouted sternly, "Where are my father and brothers? Give them back to me!"

A swath of pale-green sword energy erupted from the Zhuxian Sword Array. Even before the energy touched the several planets, the large stones, each a kilometer in diameter, vanished into nothingness as if they had never existed in this cosmic space. The gushing sword energy grazed past Gu Xiechen’s body, slicing a celestial fire stream, nearly a thousand kilometers wide, in half before him. The surging energy flow exploded violently, throwing the surroundings into chaos.

Gu Xiechen was ecstatic. He seized the opportunity presented by the explosion of the celestial fire stream, pushing forward with the Ten Heavenly Lords for several hundred more miles. Wu Su Li, shaking the Zhuxian Sword Array to unleash a strike of sword energy, paled slightly. She gasped for breath before continuing to manipulate the array to give chase. This small hesitation caused her to fall nearly a thousand miles behind Gu Xiechen and the others again.

However, a distance of a thousand miles for a Golden Immortal was but a small step within one's courtyard. A Golden Immortal’s divine sense could cover a void spanning three to five million miles. After Gu Xiechen reached the third rank of the Golden Immortal cultivation, his innate divine sense could sweep across tens of millions of miles casually. This mere thousand-mile distance was truly insignificant. Wu Su Li locked onto Gu Xiechen and his group, continuing the pursuit.

Chased relentlessly, Gu Xiechen constantly hurled meteorites of all sizes, and intermittently disrupted the already chaotic energy flows within the Chaotic Star Sea, transforming them into small bursts of thunderous fire attacks against Wu Su Li. Wu Su Li, controlling the Zhuxian Sword Array, was equally resolute. Facing any incoming attack, she would simply unleash a stream of Zhuxian Sword Qi, reducing all of Gu Xiechen's assaults to dust, like brittle silk being destroyed.

However, every time she launched a powerful strike of Zhuxian Sword Qi, Wu Su Li needed a period to recuperate before continuing the pursuit. Gradually, Gu Xiechen and his group pulled about ten thousand miles ahead of Wu Su Li. At a distance of ten thousand miles, Gu Xiechen and the Ten Heavenly Lords could boldly hurl various small celestial bodies to bombard Wu Su Li, while Wu Su Li’s Zhuxian Sword Qi could not reach that far actively.

A thousand miles—this was the maximum range for the active projection of the sword qi controlled by Wu Su Li.

Discovering this, the Ten Heavenly Lords were overcome with wild joy, and their fear of the Zhuxian Sword Array vanished without a trace. They began kicking aside incoming meteors and shooting stars, large and small, treating them like footballs toward Wu Su Li with near-reckless abandon, battering her into a sorry state.

Wu Su Li also recognized her awkward predicament. She stopped activating the sword qi altogether and compressed the coverage area of the Zhuxian Sword Array, just barely shielding the space about a li around her. Any attack entering the array was instantly pulverized by the fierce sword energy within, saving her considerable effort.

Nevertheless, even though it saved effort, sustaining the Zhuxian Sword Array still demanded a great deal. All the spiritual energy Wu Su Li absorbed from the Chaotic Star Sea daily to restore her Fa Zhen cultivation was poured into the array. For every bit of vital energy expended, her internal mana weakened slightly.

After all, this was the sect-guarding formation of one of the Three Pure Ones Saints; how could a mere Golden Immortal wield it so effortlessly?

As they passed through a meteor stream where impacts created a spray of firelight, Gu Xiechen suddenly halted. After sweeping his divine sense over the ten thousand miles to the relentlessly pursuing Wu Su Li, Gu Xiechen pointed toward this meteor stream, extending tens of millions of kilometers and exceeding three thousand kilometers in diameter, and burst into laughter: "My lords, let us join forces and give that demonic woman a proper showing! Hahahaha, let's see how long she can sustain it!"

The Ten Heavenly Lords understood, and they too laughed aloud.

Their mastery of formations went without saying. The eight Heavenly Lords stood in the eight trigram positions, and the two Heavenly Lords anchored the yin and yang fish eyes of the Taiji diagram. A small Post-celestial Eight Trigrams Formation instantly took shape. Gu Xiechen stood at the center of the formation, subtly aligning with the concept of the Pre-celestial Taiji. The mana of the eleven individuals merged into one through the formation, manifested through Gu Xiechen’s hands.

Vast mana surged within his body. Gu Xiechen rapidly performed hand seals, executing the great divine ability of moving mountains and turning seas. He thrust his hands toward the meteor stream with a commanding gesture. The massive, ceaselessly surging meteor stream, containing countless violently churning meteors, suddenly lifted its head, rising up like an enraged cobra at Gu Xiechen’s beckoning, and then executed a grand turn, slamming toward Wu Su Li.

Like the Yellow River breaching its banks, surging waters flowed down a newly carved channel. The massive meteor stream, consisting of millions of meteors of various sizes, carried immense energy and rushed toward Wu Su Li, who was now only a thousand miles away in the blink of an eye.

These meteors scraped against the stellar dust in the void and collided with each other. Meteors ranging from a few meters in diameter to the size of the moon were already glowing red from the friction, wrapped in searing flames, creating a terrifying spectacle. This was a torrent of destruction, a great river formed from condensed celestial fire. Stirred by Gu Xiechen through the formation, the speed of these meteors hurtling forward increased several times over.

Wu Su Li, who had been charging straight after Gu Xiechen and his group with all her might, suddenly saw a blinding light as countless meteors, large and small, charged toward her like an overwhelming tide. These meteors swept aside the dense stellar dust in their path, kicking up countless sparks and stirring up vast fields of bluish-purple plasma coronas stretching for thousands of miles. The surroundings blazed brightly, causing hundreds of stars to suddenly ignite with light.

Wu Su Li screamed in terror and instinctively poured all her mana into the Zhuxian Sword Array. Hundreds of streams of Zhuxian Sword Qi shot forward. In an instant, hundreds of thousands of meteors were shattered, and Wu Su Li's internal mana dropped sharply, barely maintaining the level of a Fifth Rank Heavenly Immortal. Over-exerted, she could no longer sustain the Zhuxian Sword Qi. The formation diagram, along with the four treasured swords, merged gracefully back into her body.

In less time than it takes to speak, Gu Xiechen’s Chaos Bell, along with the Ten Heavenly Lords’ ten innate supreme treasures, whistled down upon her head.

Before these eleven innate magic treasures, a beam of cold, pale-green light, seemingly capable of freezing the entire universe, shot forth one step ahead. Mao E hovered above Gu Xiechen on a ball of white mist, the Guanghan Mirror glowing brilliantly in her palm. Wherever the mirror light passed, the surroundings froze into a crystal-like world of glaze.

The Plain Colored Cloud Banner and the Light-Flashing Flame Banner rapidly unfurled. Clouds and red lotuses swept across the sky. The cyan light emitted by the Guanghan Mirror spun rapidly on the two great banners, quickly spreading into a luminous disk a hundred li in diameter, yet it could never quite land on Wu Su Li’s body.

Immediately following, the eleven innate magic treasures of Gu Xiechen and his company slammed onto the thick, auspicious clouds and red lotuses. Although they blasted away large swathes of red lotuses and shattered extensive areas of auspicious clouds, they still could not harm a single hair on Wu Su Li’s head. However, this was the combined assault of eleven innate supreme treasures, coupled with the fact that the cultivation of Gu Xiechen and his group was significantly deeper than Wu Su Li's. Wu Su Li was shaken backward several hundred miles by the immense power emanating from the magic treasures.

Seeing this, the Ten Heavenly Lords were both angry and frustrated. Jin Guang Holy Mother was the most outspoken. She roared angrily, "Back then, Jiang Shang of the Chan Sect relied on the Wutu Apricot Yellow Banner, with only the cultivation of a mere Nascent Soul stage, to render the Heaven-Overturning Seal ineffective against him, leaving a host of Grand Unity Golden Immortals helpless! This woman has reached the Golden Immortal realm and is protected by two Five Elements Banners; how can we harm her?"

Gu Xiechen shook his hand, silently shaking his head.

From afar, Wu Su Li gave Gu Xiechen a cold look, suddenly pulled out a golden gourd about the size of a fist, and poured out a pill the size of a soybean, stuffing it into her mouth. In an instant, vast plumes of pure Qi surged out of Wu Su Li's body. The Zhuxian Sword Array erupted once more with tens of thousands of feet of sword energy spraying from above her head. This time, the array quickly spread outward, almost engulfing Gu Xiechen and his group.

With cries of alarm, Gu Xiechen and the others hastily summoned their golden light, fleeing forward in disarray.

Yao Tianjun roared in exasperation, "That is the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir! A single pill that can elevate a mortal to the Golden Immortal realm! This demoness, she actually used it to recover depleted mana! What extravagance, such incredible wastefulness!"

The eyes of the Ten Heavenly Lords turned red, Gu Xiechen’s eyes glazed over with envy, and even the usually placid Mao E was visibly moved—the reputation of the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir was simply too great. Gu Xiechen snarled, "A Nine-Turn Golden Elixir used to recover expended mana? Damn it, think of a way! I don’t care about anything else now; just this Nine-Turn Golden Elixir—can we seize it?"

Gu Xiechen had already reached the Golden Immortal realm, but Peng Hua and the others were still hovering at the Heavenly Immortal stage. Their cultivation techniques were not as potent as Gu Xiechen's, nor did they have his fortuitous encounters. If they were to cultivate step-by-step to become Golden Immortals, it would take tens of thousands of years of arduous effort. If they possessed the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, Peng Hua and the others could instantly become Golden Immortals, greatly increasing their chances of survival in future conflicts.

Fleeing along the way, Gu Xiechen calculated for a moment, then suddenly sent a divine thought message to Mao E.

Mao E was startled, then gave a faint smile, transforming into a streak of moonlight and vanishing into Gu Xiechen's sea of consciousness. The next instant, a wave of cold energy erupted from Gu Xiechen’s body. A figure, bound tightly by five blue chains, the "Wu Shali," emerged above Gu Xiechen’s head. Gu Xiechen seized Wu Shali by the throat and turned to send a threatening wave of spiritual energy toward Wu Su Li, several thousand miles away.

"Give me the gourd in your hand and any similar pills, or I will kill your father!"

A sword gleaming with golden light, its blade engraved with thirty-six vivid, three-legged Golden Crows, was pressed against Wu Shali's neck. Gu Xiechen flicked his wrist without hesitation; the sword edge grazed Wu Shali's skin, and a viscous black fluid dripped down his neck.

Wu Su Li froze, abruptly stopping her pursuit.

Wu Shali weakly raised his head and roared hoarsely, "Wu Su Li, give those things to him! Save me first!"

Wu Su Li hesitated. She glanced at the small golden gourd in her hand, then at Wu Shali, her eyes spinning rapidly. After a full quarter of an hour, Wu Su Li suddenly agitated the Zhuxian Sword Array, unleashing dozens of consecutive streams of Zhuxian Sword Qi that roared down toward Gu Xiechen. Wu Su Li shrieked, "Father! They dare not kill you! If they truly dare to kill you, I swear I will avenge you and my brothers!"

Amidst the chaotic flurry of sword energy, Gu Xiechen barely managed to execute the Mirror Flower Water Moon Taiyin Evasion technique, transforming into hundreds of afterimages to narrowly evade the attacks of the Zhuxian Sword Qi. He glared angrily at Wu Su Li, snatched the "Wu Shali" back into his body, and turned with the Ten Heavenly Lords to flee without a word. As they ran, Gu Xiechen cursed, "This woman is so vicious, she doesn't even care about her own father?"

The Ten Heavenly Lords maintained grim silence. If Wu Su Li had valued her father’s life, she would truly have been fooled. Wu Su Li was far away and could not distinguish the aura, but they were close and clearly perceived that this "Wu Shali" was clearly an illusion conjured by an Yin Spirit.

Yin Spirits were merely refined essences gathered from wisps of Yin Qi; they had no fixed form, so transforming into Wu Shali was easy.

Helplessly, since Wu Su Li disregarded her father’s life, what more could they say? Continue fleeing!

As her father truly fell into the hands of Gu Xiechen and his group, Wu Su Li became somewhat anxious. Ignoring everything else, she repeatedly urged the Zhuxian Sword Qi to strike, regardless of whether the target was hit. She unleashed tens of thousands of streams of Zhuxian Sword Qi, continuously attacking Gu Xiechen and the others. When her mana ran out, she would pull out a Nine-Turn Golden Elixir and swallow it, instantly regaining her vigor to pursue relentlessly.

Watching Wu Su Li’s wasteful behavior, Gu Xiechen’s heart felt as if it were bleeding.

If not for the notorious fame of the Zhuxian Sword Array, and if Wu Su Li had not been protected by the two Five Elements Banners, Gu Xiechen would have dearly wished to turn back and fight her to the death.

While frustrated, a celestial being named Kun Wuzi, among the Kunlun immortals resting in Gu Xiechen’s sea of consciousness for decades without movement, suddenly transmitted a message to Gu Xiechen. A massive stream of data flooded into Gu Xiechen’s innate primordial spirit, detailing a divine ability technique called the "Mustard Seed Nascent Heaven Demon Realm." This was a marvelous technique for manipulating space on a small scale to attack the enemy.

Spatial divine abilities were rare even among ancient Golden Immortals, requiring sufficient comprehension of space and time to be executed. Up to this point in his cultivation, Gu Xiechen had only comprehended the Taiyin Law recorded in the Taiyin True Scripture and some Sun Laws from the Taiyang Xuan Pearl. The laws of Yin and Yang vital energies are fundamentally different from the laws of space and time.

Kun Wuzi’s Mustard Seed Nascent Heaven Demon Realm ability was something he had comprehended through divine methods while forging a new universe. It was refined and unique, and moreover, it differed somewhat from the spatial laws of this universe, possessing a unique subtlety.

Gu Xiechen’s cultivation of the third rank of the Golden Immortal stage was insufficient to activate this divine ability on his own. However, with the assistance of the Ten Heavenly Lords, merging their mana into one, it was barely feasible.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Wu Su Li had once again been thrown back nearly ten thousand miles, Gu Xiechen summoned the Ten Heavenly Lords close to him, pouring all their mana into his body. Then, following the key points of the Mustard Seed Nascent Heaven Demon Realm technique, he used his hands to draw upon streaks of Taiyin and Taiyang vital energies, drawing runes and seals in the void. The Chaos Bell also floated out of his body, injecting several wisps of True Magnetic Two-Essence Light, black and white in color, into those talismans.

When Yin and Yang first separated and Heaven and Earth began to break, using Taiyin and Taiyang energies to guide spatial power, and employing the True Magnetic Two-Essence Light—which could already tear open the void—to isolate the space, Gu Xiechen easily grasped the essence of this divine ability.

With a cold snort, Gu Xiechen’s innate divine sense instantly spread outward, covering a space of one hundred thousand miles in the blink of an eye.

Upon pressing the hand seals he had drawn, the void shook violently. The space spanning one hundred thousand miles seemed to be cut open like tofu by a cleaver, splitting into thousands of irregular spatial fragments ranging from a li to several dozen li in length, width, and height. These cut spatial fragments danced wildly, piecing together, merging, colliding, and slicing one another. The surrounding void was instantly thrown into utter disarray.

Wu Su Li, plunging into the controlled range of the Mustard Seed Nascent Heaven Demon Realm, was caught off guard. She was fully engrossed in urging the Zhuxian Sword Array, having neglected her own defense somewhat. The yellow light emitted by the Exquisite Pagoda above her head also flickered dimly, swaying like a candle flame in the wind.

The space near her body suddenly fractured into dozens of small spatial fragments. The edges of several of these fragments happened to slice across her body.

The yellow light emanating from the Exquisite Pagoda flickered. The pagoda, not operating at full capacity, did not manage to fully shield Wu Su Li. The chaotic space forcibly tore her body apart. Her long tail snapped off at the waist, the mottled serpentine tail torn into three segments. The long tail thrashed wildly within the small spatial fragments, spilling viscous black blood everywhere.

Wu Su Li let out a piercing howl of agony. She glared venomously at Gu Xiechen, frantically waving the two great banners with both hands, pouring all her remaining mana into the Exquisite Pagoda. Yellow light flared brightly around her, auspicious clouds coiled about her, and red lotuses danced. Wu Su Li deployed all her treasures to shield herself. Her other arms worked frantically, hastily crushing two Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs and smearing them onto the wound at her waist.

Gu Xiechen drew another sharp breath. Using Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs to treat external injuries—what an act of extravagance!

However, having seriously wounded Wu Su Li, Gu Xiechen contentedly led the Ten Heavenly Lords to instantly flee into a spatial fragment whizzing past them.

The Mustard Seed Nascent Heaven Demon Realm ability had completely drained the mana of Gu Xiechen and his group; they needed time to recuperate before they could continue maneuvering against Wu Su Li. And where could they recover more safely than within the wildly flying spatial fragments? Ordinary beings would never dare approach such fragments.

The rapidly flying spatial fragments finally began to stabilize after three full days and nights. The fractured void gradually pieced itself back together under the spatial laws of this universe. Wu Su Li endured immense torment during these three days; countless spatial fissures lashed against her protective treasure light, causing her unbearable suffering. If not for the protection of various supreme treasures, she would have been twisted into a pulp of fragmented dust.

Furious and exasperated, Wu Su Li abandoned her serpentine tail, transforming into her normal human shape, though she retained her six arms and the single arm growing from her navel. She looked around furiously, trying to locate Gu Xiechen and his group to vent her rage.

Before she could clearly see where Gu Xiechen and the others were, a colossal force slammed into her from behind. A thick, several-zhang-wide green tree root slammed down fiercely, sending Wu Su Li flying nearly a thousand miles. Fortunately, protected by the Exquisite Pagoda and the two Pre-celestial Five Elements Banners, Wu Su Li only suffered a minor shock and was otherwise unharmed.

Furious, Wu Su Li turned and charged back, only to see Al-Loli standing there, her face etched with shock. The thick tree root was still wrapped around Al-Loli's calf, not yet fully retracted.

After spitting out a harsh breath, Wu Su Li was about to shout a reprimand when Al-Loli spoke first. An unbelievably immense spiritual wave instantly enveloped the surrounding void. This spiritual fluctuation merely trembled slightly, and everything within a radius of tens of thousands of miles turned to smoke and dissipated.

"Foolish and minuscule female creature, did you disturb the space and interrupt my subjects?" Al-Loli’s spiritual wave was filled with rage.

Sagsen stumbled out from behind Eloroli, his robes tattered and his appearance utterly miserable, immediately followed by a vast host of Roman warships, exquisitely crafted to resemble vines, leaves, and blossoms. These beautiful vessels were marred everywhere by jagged cracks; many were missing sections of hull or superstructure, riddled with large, cleanly sliced gaps.

“My dear, we have lost thirteen percent of our people!” Sagsen’s expression was deeply grim.

“Thirteen percent of our people lost?” Eloroli was beside herself! She had led the Roman fleet in a grand, imposing march toward the territory of the Star Alliance, arriving with the intent to conquer the entirety of the Alliance. Yet, while navigating the subspace normally, the fleet had been violently swept into a terrifying spatial fragmentation storm!

With great difficulty, once the spatial storm finally abated, Eloroli charged out, her intent boiling with murderous rage, and immediately fixed her eyes upon Wusuli.

“You are dead! You must pay with your life for my people!”

Eloroli glared fiercely at Wusuli with wide, white eyes, her covetous gaze sweeping over the various treasures adorning Wusuli’s person.

“Of course, if you are willing to compensate me with those insignificant scraps you wear, I might mercifully allow you—”

Eloroli’s attempted extortion was cut short by Wusuli, whose temper had already been dangerously stoked by the mockery of Gu Xichen. With a fierce, guttural cry, Wusuli unleashed the full might of the Zhuxian Sword Array. Four streams of colored sword light shot toward the heavens, instantly enveloping Eloroli, Sagsen, and the entire Roman fleet within the formation.

From behind a distant meteor, Gu Xichen clapped his hands together in pleasant surprise.

Could such a coincidence truly exist? In the boundless, endless cosmos, he had stumbled upon the Roman people right here! And if he wasn’t mistaken, this was the fleet led by the Roman Mother Goddess herself, composed of true Roman direct lineage!

“Ah, when people are unlucky, even drinking cold water can make them choke,” Gu Xichen sighed softly, offering a brief prayer for the Roman Mother Goddess and her people who had stepped forward to take the blame for him.

The Ten Heavenly Lords nodded in profound agreement, their gazes eagerly fixed on the flickering, brilliant lights of the distant Zhuxian Sword Array.

Sword light spun wildly, strange luminescence surged, as Wusuli poured every ounce of her strength into driving the sword array without reservation.

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