Bai Shui, Han He, and the younger Zhang of Zhengyi, the divine souls of the four old Daoists regarded each other tearlessly.

Their physical bodies were destroyed; even with their heaven-reaching magical powers, their strength had plummeted by hundreds of times, rendering them no match for Gu Xiechen and his retinue.

The treasures they carried, those refined within their very souls until they merged with their spirit, were now being distributed one by one by Gu Xiechen. The God-Beating Whip was given to Yan Jiang. The three Innate Supreme Treasures traded long ago with Daoist Zhengyi for the Apricot Yellow Banner were bestowed upon the other senior disciples of the Nine Nether Sect.

Even Mo Tang Long Gen, imprisoned underground for ten thousand years as a super laborer, mining celestial materials daily, was generously showered with countless treasures by Gu Xiechen, arming him to the teeth, purely because he had never harbored a single thought of betraying the Nine Nether Sect throughout the millennium.

It was not just core disciples like Yan Jiang; the over one hundred thousand Nine Nether Sect disciples who had suffered unimaginable hardship over the years were now all arrayed in dazzling splendor by Gu Xiechen.

Complete sets of pinnacle Immortal Artifact-grade celestial armor, complete sets of pinnacle Immortal Artifact-grade protective robes, even complete sets of pinnacle Immortal Artifact-grade undergarments—even the strips binding their feet were binding-type magical artifacts of the highest celestial grade. As for their weapons, they were even more extraordinary, each forged with the divine souls of rare exotic beasts from the Peng Hua Nether Fan, or in some cases, the souls of High-ranking Angels slain long ago, imbued with a spiritual quality superior to even the pinnacle Immortal Artifacts.

The accumulations of ten millennia—Gu Xiechen and the others had prepared a vast trove of good things within the restrictions of the Jade Skill Old Man!

When Gu Xiechen finally lifted the restraints on the Nine Nether Sect disciples, a colossal, surging suction force erupted from within their bodies, causing the spiritual energy of Cloud Splendor Mountain to instantly transform into a torrent, pouring ceaselessly into them.

The Corpse Emperor ascended to the high heavens and settled upon a mass of black clouds. He channeled the Supreme Dao methods he had comprehended, manifesting his understanding of Heavenly Dao rules into blossoms of black lotus, which rained down. As each black lotus merged with the bodies of these loyal disciples, their comprehension of the Heavenly Dao deepened marginally.

As Lord Di Ling had said, suffering the deepest hardships leads one to stand above all others. The disciples of the Nine Nether Sect who had survived the abuse and torment inflicted by Kunlun and Zhongnan for ten thousand years were all individuals of tenacious character and superb aptitude. The millennium of suffering had only served to solidify and sharpen the clarity of their Dao Hearts. Unbeknownst to them, their cultivation had leaped forward rapidly over the ages.

Now, aided by the Corpse Emperor expending massive amounts of vital essence to unleash great divine abilities to boost their cultivation, the realms of these disciples immediately soared—like a breached dam, their power surged upward with unstoppable momentum.

The first to benefit was the ancient demon, Mo Tang Long Gen. Drawing upon the misery of a decade spent away from the sun and a belly full of accumulated resentment and rage, his own energy source was perfectly aligned with Lord Luo Zhu’s Path of Devouring. Three days after the Corpse Emperor finished his sermon, a plume of black-purple smoke shot up from Mo Tang Long Gen, his scales shed, and a new layer of scales immediately sprouted.

After this transformation nine times, the scales shed by Mo Tang Long Gen piled up into a small mountain. Purple-black light surged around him as he successfully stepped into the realm of Grand Unity Golden Immortal. The ambient spiritual energy in the void coalesced into a massive vortex, roaring with immense sound waves as it poured into Mo Tang Long Gen’s body.

Cultivation is the root; magical power is merely the branch. Once the riverbed of cultivation is established, it is only a matter of diverting the river water to form a magnificent, vast river.

As Mo Tang Long Gen’s Grand Unity Golden Immortal Dao Fruit was achieved, the surrounding spiritual energy, once absorbed, instantly converted into his personal magical power. By the time he had entirely consumed the terrestrial energy of Cloud Splendor Mountain, he would stand firmly within the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm.

Alas, the vast, spiritual Cloud Splendor Mountain was sucked dry by the sheer momentum of Mo Tang Long Gen’s singular breakthrough, leaving the entire spiritual mountain a barren wasteland.

Bai Shui, Han He, and the younger Zhang of Zhengyi, the Daoists from Kunlun and Zhongnan, watched, stunned, as gasps of astonishment rippled through their ranks.

Gu Xiechen merely shot them a cold glance, which was enough to silence them entirely. Above their heads, the Heavenly Net Grand Array encircled them, bristling with murderous intent. Who would be foolish enough to provoke Gu Xiechen at a time like this? Did they fear dying too slowly?

Gazing coldly upon the now-desolate Cloud Splendor Mountain, Gu Xiechen suddenly threw back his head and laughed heartily, “The old must pass for the new to arrive. Today marks a great break and a great establishment! My Nine Nether Sect shall reappear in the Three Realms! As for this Cloud Splendor Mountain, if it must be abandoned, then so be it! Hah! A sect gate soiled by so many filthy rats—I have no use for it!”

With a great shout, Gu Xiechen stamped his foot. The planet hosting Cloud Splendor Mountain instantly disintegrated into dust.

The One Hundred and Eight Celestial and Earthly Fiend Star Lords broke free from their confinement and simultaneously bowed to Gu Xiechen. They then transformed into one hundred and eight orbs of starlight, each a hundred miles in diameter, suspended high in the air. The inherent star power of the Celestial and Earthly Fiend Star Lords shot down from the distant cosmos, instantly forming a dense, silvery cascade flowing downwards. After ten thousand years of forced respite, although they were trapped, their confinement had provided an excellent opportunity for their divine powers to recover. Ten thousand years of diligent cultivation, relying on secret methods from their past lives, had long ago allowed the Star Lords to ascend to the Grand Unity realm. With their current strength marshaling their inherent star power, their aura was now tens of thousands of times grander than before!

Yan Jiang was the second to benefit from the Dao preached by the Corpse Emperor. The mass of purple qi between his brows suddenly exploded, transforming into countless threads of purple rain that enveloped his body. Gradually, the purple qi on his body grew denser and thicker, finally forming a purple canopy that held him steady in mid-air.

The stellar energy of the cosmos transformed into a silver column nearly a mile thick, blasting into Yan Jiang’s body. As Yan Jiang achieved his Grand Unity Golden Immortal Dao Fruit, his magical power surged rapidly.

Next was a Golden Armored Corpse General, followed by two Flying Celestial Corpse Kings, and then the senior disciples of the other branches of the Nine Nether Sect. In the span of just half a month, the Nine Nether Sect had gained thirty-six new Grand Unity Golden Immortals out of thin air. Though they were only in the initial stage of Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivation, and their mana was not yet refined, this force alone was enough to shake the four directions.

Even for major powers like the Yuanluo Palace across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, how many nascent Grand Unity Golden Immortals did they possess under their banner?

With the addition of the two thousand-plus Grand Unity Golden Immortals among the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, the current might of the Nine Nether Sect was sufficient to rattle the entire expanse of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

Beneath the thirty-six senior disciples, several hundred disciples achieving the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm emerged. Following them were nearly ten thousand Golden Immortals. As for the remaining Nine Nether Sect disciples, including the little rat demon Xiao Yinzi, who had only cultivated for sixty years, every disciple except for the newly born fledglings—all over one hundred thousand of them—had reached the Celestial Immortal realm.

Empowered by the infinite star power drawn from the one hundred and eight inherent star bodies of the Celestial and Earthly Fiends, all the members and disciples of the Nine Nether Sect achieved physical celestial bodies after twenty-four days. Gu Xiechen’s Vast Heaven Pagoda hung suspended in the void, containing the boundless essence of the Heavenly Primordial and the Yellow Chaos, while over a hundred thousand people simultaneously advanced to the Celestial Immortal, Golden Immortal, Taiyi Golden Immortal, and even Grand Unity Golden Immortal realms—yet the Heavenly Tribulation acted as if it were oblivious, not even sending a single summons.

Furthermore, Gu Xiechen possessed the Heaven-Defying cheat item, the Samsara Eye. He siphoned off all the gravitational pull of the Heavenly Tribulation from the Nine Nether Sect disciples. Even if they left the protection of the Vast Heaven Pagoda in the future, the Tribulation would not descend upon them.

This Tribulation gravity was compressed by Gu Xiechen into a sphere of pitch-black lightning and hidden away—a potent tool for manipulation in the future. Anyone subjected to the concentrated Heavenly Tribulation pull of over a hundred thousand immortals would likely choose to end their own existence immediately.

The elegantly clad Nine Nether Sect disciples, emanating celestial energy, knelt in an orderly fashion upon the cloud mass, bowing deeply to the Corpse Emperor and repeatedly calling him Ancestor.

The Corpse Emperor slowly rose, having expended too much vital essence; his body swayed, and he almost collapsed onto the cloud.

With a slight cough, the Corpse Emperor comforted his disciples a few times before hastily retreating into the Grand Yin Profound Pearl to recuperate. Within the pearl, the Ten Absolute Formations were still trapping the Jade Staff Old Man, whose fierce might remained unchecked. The Corpse Emperor needed the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation ready as a contingency.

Gu Xiechen, Peng Hua, Yan Jiang, and the other fellow disciples exchanged greetings. Then, all the disciples of the Nine Nether Sect turned their attention to the bewildered disciples of Kunlun and Zhongnan standing on the cloud.

Clapping his hands lightly, Gu Xiechen spoke with an air of casual dismissal, “That’s enough. The debt is settled, and there’s no need for more nonsense. Every single scrap on your bodies was produced by the hard labor of my Nine Nether Sect brethren. Therefore, strip down to your last undergarment, and cripple all your cultivation. You are free to leave in peace!”

He smiled genially at Bai Shui, Han He, and the younger Zhang of Zhengyi. “These were your own words. After ten thousand years, any old affection is long gone. So, if you choose to resist, I will be very happy to compress you into medicinal pills for my brothers to consume!”

Outside the alchemy chamber of Cloud Splendor Mountain, the bloodied corpses of one hundred Nine Nether Sect disciples, stripped of their Nascent Souls and Inner Cores, still lay there. The ferocious glare and killing intent on Gu Xiechen’s face as he spoke of crushing the Kunlun and Zhongnan disciples into pills were enough to scare the timid immortals to death on the spot.

With a few gulps and gasps, some of the Kunlun and Zhongnan disciples were so terrified by Gu Xiechen’s horrifying expression that they fainted. Gu Xiechen chuckled mockingly, tilted his head slightly, and a dozen Golden Immortal-level zombies from the Nine Nether Sect swooped forward, dragging the unconscious Daoists away.

Accompanied by shrill wails, these Daoists were stripped bare, all their flying swords and magical treasures confiscated. The speed at which the Golden Immortal zombies sucked vitality was frighteningly fast. Although these Daoists possessed Golden Immortal cultivation, the moment the teeth of the zombies pierced their flesh, their bodies withered at a visible rate.

In less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, several Golden Immortals from Kunlun and Zhongnan vanished like smoke, their millennia of cultivation wasted, their very souls devoured whole.

Bai Shui and Han He glared fiercely at Gu Xiechen. The eyeballs of the two old Daoists darted around frantically, yet they could find no means of escape.

To fight meant certain death. The dozen or so nascent Grand Unity Golden Immortals from both sects combined stood no chance against this group of fiends.

As for sentiment, they had already burned that bridge themselves. The Corpse Emperor had already vanished without a trace, eliminating their last reliance on sentiment.

What other path remained? What other recourse?

After a full fifteen minutes, True Man Bai Shui suddenly seemed to recall something. He suddenly laughed toward the heavens, “Gu Xiechen, you truly dare to act against us?”

Gu Xiechen looked at True Man Bai Shui with feigned surprise. “Why wouldn’t I dare? Don’t speak to me of that drivel concerning respect for elders and teachers. If you utter one more word, I’ll shove your divine soul into the body of an effeminate hybrid, forcing the great Headmaster of Kunlun to sell his backside in a nightclub!”

Gu Xiechen’s words were so vicious that True Man Bai Shui’s face turned green with fear and black with rage. He dared not waste time with platitudes and instead screamed, “Do you know who Zhengyi’s youngest daughter, Qing Zhi, is close to?”

True Man Han He suddenly realized this too and shouted, “Do you know who Zhang’s eldest granddaughter, Hong Zhu, is betrothed to?”

Gu Xiechen rolled his eyes. From the side, Kong Sang Ri suddenly drew his sword and lunged, leaving a streak of light that tore through the divine souls of Bai Shui and Han He.

The two old Daoists shrieked as their divine souls were damaged, causing an immediate, massive loss of their cultivation and magical power. With the force of a single sword strike, the cultivation of the two elders plummeted back to the peak of Taiyi Golden Immortal. Ten thousand years of arduous cultivation were washed away that day.

True Man Bai Shui shrieked, “Have you heard of—”

Kong Sang Ri struck again. True Man Bai Shui’s divine soul suffered another severe blow, his cultivation crashing back down to the Golden Immortal realm with a loud whoosh.

From the side, Monkey smashed down with his staff, nearly shattering Han He’s divine soul. His cultivation and power immediately reverted to the Celestial Immortal realm, and even the origin of his soul almost dissipated.

The two old Daoists dared not make another sound. Gu Xiechen’s cold gaze locked onto the disciples of Kunlun and Zhongnan, and he sneered, “I don’t care what backing or background you possess. I don’t care who your mothers or daughters have seduced. If you strike my Nine Nether Sect disciples, you should have been prepared for this day!”

“Strip your underclothes, leave all your magic artifacts, and cripple your cultivation. I will grant you a path to survival!”

With a wave of his hand, two colossal transport vessels appeared in the void. Gu Xiechen looked at the Kunlun and Zhongnan disciples and sneered, “This is your final chance: strip down to your underpants, leave everything behind, and cripple your cultivation. You can board these transports and go wherever you please! If you refuse—”

The Heavenly Net Grand Array, manned by over a hundred Celestial Soldiers and Generals, roared in unison, “Kill!” The almost tangible killing intent made the faces of everyone from Bai Shui downwards turn pale. They suddenly realized they had no way out.

Daoist Zhang suddenly sighed toward the sky, “As long as the green hills remain, there’s no fear of running out of firewood. At least our lives are spared, Master, Martial Uncle, Senior Brother—we submit. Gu Xiechen, Peng Hua, you can have us cripple our cultivation, but you must provide us with physical bodies!”

Bai Shui, Han He, and the younger Zhang of Zhengyi—their physical bodies were all destroyed. If Gu Xiechen didn't provide them with new bodies, once they crippled their cultivation, even a gentle breeze would suffice to blow them into nothingness.

Hearing Daoist Zhang’s demand, Yan Jiang let out an incredibly malevolent cackle.

With a great grab, four beautiful, young female Daoist acolytes shrieked as they were pulled from the ranks of the Kunlun disciples. Yan Jiang pointed a finger, reducing the acolytes’ shallow magic power to nothing, and forcefully rammed the divine souls of Bai Shui and the others into the four female bodies.

Yan Jiang said with venomous laughter, “Quickly, cripple your cultivation! Without your powers, you won’t be able to leave these precious bodies. Heh heh, sharing a body with a female soul—you are quite blessed in fortune!”

Bai Shui and Han He were so enraged they nearly spat blood, but being mere divine souls, they had no blood to spare. They tried to exert control over their new bodies to spit blood, but the bodies did not obey them. Gaining willful control would be a significant struggle.

Casting venomous glances at Yan Jiang, Bai Shui, Han He, Zhang, and Zhengyi sighed toward the heavens. Thick purple qi billowed out from above the heads of the female acolytes they inhabited. In the blink of an eye, their cultivation, painstakingly accumulated over ten thousand years, dissolved.

Daoist Zhang stared at Gu Xiechen for a long time before coldly stating, “You truly won’t kill us? Hong Zhu will avenge us.”

Gu Xiechen grinned widely and shook his head. “With the power I command now, you think I fear your granddaughter’s fiancé and Zhengyi’s son-in-law?”

The maiden possessed by True Man Bai Shui suddenly let out a sly grin. “How would you know the power of a peak Grand Unity?”

Gu Xiechen shrugged, saying nothing.

Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal? One was Heavenly Venerable Yuanluo. Another was the Jade Skill Old Man, one of whom had already been destroyed at his hands, forging an elite force of a million Heavenly Soldiers for him; the other was currently being dismantled by him, and once all his essence was extracted, his ranks would gain another batch of elite immortals.

The title of Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal truly held no pressure for him now.

With a long sigh, Gu Xiechen scooped up the four—True Man Bai Shui and the three others—and tossed them into the transport vessels. The four old Daoists stared at Gu Xiechen with their heads turned back, their eyes almost leaping from their sockets. Daoist Zhang muttered continuously, cursing who knows what.

Seeing their Grand Ancestor and Headmaster reduced to such states, the disciples of Kunlun and Zhongnan lost all courage to resist.

The two sects had nearly two hundred thousand disciples above the Celestial Immortal realm, and over a million below.

Over a million people destroying their own cultivation simultaneously—the sight was truly shocking. The disciples of the Nine Nether Sect erupted in waves of earth-shattering cheers upon hearing the disciples’ miserable howls.

The two colossal transport vessels were crammed full. The pitiful masses of over a million Daoists from Kunlun and Zhongnan piloted the vessels as they gradually pulled away.

Peng Hua approached Gu Xiechen and whispered, “You just let them go like that? Not cutting the weeds and removing the roots, after all…”

Gu Xiechen shot Peng Hua a look and coldly sneered, “They were your staunch friends back in the day. If I were too ruthless, would you feel right about it?”

He paused, then sighed with faux pity, “Let them enjoy a few happy days, then?”

Peng Hua blinked, then suddenly laughed. Let them enjoy a few happy days? That statement was certainly worth considering.

Seven days and seven nights later, Bai Shui, Han He, and the other Daoists were cursing Gu Xiechen in the command cabin of one of the transport ships. The ship was so barren that a cockroach would starve to death inside; there wasn't a drop of water or a single grain of rice. These former immortals, having crippled their cultivation, were greatly depleted. Although some residual immortal power lingered in their bodies allowing them to endure hunger and cold, seven days and nights without sustenance was pushing them to their limit.

Just as they were cursing happily, swearing oaths to borrow troops from the immortals they had colluded with in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths for revenge, dozens of White Wing-class warships suddenly appeared nearby.

A light screen dropped in the command cabin, revealing a stern-faced middle-aged man with a Daoist bun and wearing a black military uniform.

“Pirates! Great calamity! Hand over all your wealth—don’t even keep a single pair of underpants.”

After a brief pause, the stern middle-aged man sneered, “If you don’t even have underpants left, then you’ll have to go to the mines as slaves!”

The Kunlun and Zhongnan immortals, who truly possessed not a single scrap of clothing, froze. They stared at each other, unable to utter a sound. Gu Xiechen had stripped them down to their bare skin, and the transport vessels were just cold metal; the disciples of the two sects were now completely naked. They wanted to surrender their underpants, but they had nothing to surrender!

However, the supposed pirates offered no chance for explanation. Swarms of fierce-looking ability users boarded the two transport vessels, knocked out the over one million disciples of Kunlun and Zhongnan, and dragged them onto the White Wing-class warships.

The pirate leader approached the four old Daoists—Bai Shui, Han He, Zhang, and Zhengyi—and roughly pinched their smooth, tender little faces.

“Very pretty little lasses, these will fetch a high price. Hmm, treat them well on the journey; make sure they don’t die.”

The middle-aged man glared maliciously at the ashen-faced four Daoists and whispered chillingly, “Those wretched bastards on the ore planets haven’t seen women in a long time. Such delicate little girls can be exchanged for tens of thousands of tons of high-grade ore!”

Bai Shui, Han He, Zhang, and Zhengyi let out soft, weak moans, their eyes rolling back as they fainted.

The pirates burst into maniacal laughter. The pirate leader, who had just mentioned treating the four well, delivered a vicious kick to each of their faces.

Less than a thousand miles away, on a small asteroid, a corpulent monk in an apricot-yellow cassock sat cross-legged. Two strangely featured monks stood behind him. The three great monks watched the White Wing-class warships and smiled without speaking.

After a long while, when the warships had vanished into subspace, a attendant monk with eyebrows three feet long chuckled and asked, “Bodhisattva, should we intervene in this matter?”

That fat-headed, big-eared monk narrowed his eyes and chuckled, "Why bother with him? Even their own founding patriarch pays them no mind; why should we outsiders concern ourselves with such trivialities?" After a pause, the stout monk continued with a warm laugh, "The World-Honored One only asked us to remain here—to observe, to wait. Sooner or later, ha!"

The three monks simultaneously turned their heads, gazing into the vast, boundless starry expanse to their left.

Thousands of li away, seated cross-legged atop three azure lotus blossoms were three elderly Daoists, each possessing a benevolent and gentle countenance.

It seemed they sensed the gaze of the three monks. The three old Daoists merely offered mild smiles, as if they had never materialized at all, then quietly dissolved, vanishing without a trace.

"The Buddha's compassion reigns supreme!"

The three great monks chanted a Buddhist invocation softly, then turned back toward the direction where Gu Xiechen and the others were located. They offered a peculiar smile, turned away, and merged into the void.

"The karma of mortal passion, Gu Xiechen—I, this humble monk, await you at the Great Snow Mountain of the Returning Wild Goose!"

"You will come, won't you? C"