Within a cave beside a lava lake on the nameless mining star. The Daoist Xiao Zhang, clad in a simple azure robe, sat cross-legged on a stone couch. Spiritual light flickered around him, diffuse yet never coalescing, like fireflies on a summer night, constantly waxing and waning.

Staring at this light for too long induced a strange, oppressive feeling, as if one's very soul might be drawn out. Beneath the light that enveloped him, the handsome face of Xiao Zhang—unchanged from before—flickered with countless illusory visions, a spectacle so marvelous and profound it defied description.

Suddenly, countless venomous snakes and scorpions materialized from the void, furiously biting at Xiao Zhang’s body.

His pale skin was torn, tender pink flesh turned black from venom. The vermin burrowed beneath the muscle, gnawing at the bone, even piercing it to feed on the marrow. Yet, the pain—enough to drive a man mad—did not affect Daoist Xiao Zhang in the slightest. His expression remained serene, the light around him continually flashing, until finally, the venomous creatures crawled out of his body, satisfied, and dissolved back into the void.

The spiritual light pulsed, and Daoist Xiao Zhang’s ravaged form swiftly healed, returning to its perfect former state.

Next, roaring flames erupted from beneath him. Within a few breaths, the fire blistered his skin, burned through his flesh and muscle, until his body was charred black, leaving only a scorched husk impaled upon the stone couch.

Daoist Xiao Zhang did not utter a single groan; the spiritual light around him continued to flash with a stable, rhythmic frequency.

The flames could not harm him and eventually condensed into a single point of red light that fled back into his body. New skin, flesh, blood vessels, and meridians gradually regenerated on Daoist Xiao Zhang’s body until he was completely restored, flawless as before.

Then, millions of golden blades erupted from the void, slicing and stabbing at his form. These blades pierced his major acupoints, lacerated his internal organs, and minced his flesh and bone into a bloody pulp. Daoist Xiao Zhang merely offered a faint smile, allowing the blades to penetrate him, immovable as an immortal mountain peak.

Finally, the golden blades shattered. Daoist Xiao Zhang’s tattered body rapidly healed once more, quickly resuming its original appearance.

This was followed by the searing heat of a desert sun, the crushing cold of ten-thousand-year ice, the grinding of a rotating millstone, and every cruel torment the world could devise. Yet, Daoist Xiao Zhang maintained his serene smile, accepting the torment of his physical form without complaint.

At the very end, a pile of bonfire appeared before Daoist Xiao Zhang, into which he thrust his hands and feet, letting the flames reduce them to ash. This bonfire glowed a strange golden-blue, imbued with ineffable, profound power. Daoist Xiao Zhang could endure the preceding infinite agony, but this fire caused him to cry out, losing his voice. His body shook violently, sweat streaming from his brow.

But Daoist Xiao Zhang ultimately endured this extreme pain. Once his hands and feet were reduced to cinders, he gritted his teeth, and a gaping hole tore open near his heart. His heart leaped out, beating wildly, and suspended itself over the bonfire.

A piercing, agonizing shriek tore through the air as Daoist Xiao Zhang’s heart slowly burned to ash on the fire. The heart's veins remained connected to his body within, forcing him to endure every searing particle of pain. Daoist Xiao Zhang gasped, his teeth nearly ground to dust.

With his heart turned to ash, Daoist Xiao Zhang was not yet finished. His internal organs flew out one by one and were placed upon the bonfire.

The bonfire slowly consumed Daoist Xiao Zhang’s body, gradually burning him down to dust.

In the end, only a hollow shell remained. Daoist Xiao Zhang placed his own head onto the bonfire to be scorched.

When the fire had reduced his skull to ash as well, the bonfire suddenly transformed into a beam of spiritual light, soaring up and gradually merging with the spiritual aura surrounding Daoist Xiao Zhang. His body rapidly regenerated; the pulverized ashes of his viscera, limbs, and head were restored one by one. Daoist Xiao Zhang resumed his cross-legged posture on the stone couch, still wearing that inscrutable, strange smile.

With a single, resonant Sanskrit exclamation, two additional heads sprouted from Daoist Xiao Zhang’s shoulders. Likewise, six more arms branched out from beneath his existing pair. The three-headed, eight-armed Daoist Xiao Zhang slowly rose. He waved a hand casually, and flecks of golden light spilled down between his fingers. These faint golden motes pooled and danced on the ground, and from the light, a woman of unparalleled, breathtaking beauty and extreme allure slowly rose to her feet.

“My master, my god!”

The woman kissed Daoist Xiao Zhang’s forehead and knelt before him in devout reverence.

Daoist Xiao Zhang gazed with satisfaction upon the woman whose eyebrows were like autumn water and whose face was as round and flawless as the full moon, a beauty so arresting it stole the breath. He tapped a finger, and a golden blade materialized in his hand. With one swift stroke, he severed the woman’s left arm. She merely chuckled, and another arm immediately grew back in its place.

Under a rain of blades, Daoist Xiao Zhang hacked at the woman hundreds of times with fierce vigor. Yet, no matter how grievous the wounds, the woman only smiled faintly, her injuries healing in an instant.

He swung his wide sleeve and tossed out a piece of refined Earth-Fire Black Stone. This stone was a substance formed after millennia of compression by the spiritual veins of subterranean volcanoes acting upon hundreds of rare metals—a compound of ultra-high density and extreme hardness, against which even ordinary immortal swords struggled to leave a mark.

The woman extended her arm and caught the Earth-Fire Black Stone with a grace like a butterfly unfolding its wings.

She gazed at Daoist Xiao Zhang with eyes as gentle as flowing water, then lightly crushed the black stone between her hands until it pulverized into dust. Her hands, which appeared so delicate and tender, like soft tofu, possessed such terrifying destructive power.

Nodding with increasing delight, Daoist Xiao Zhang uttered a soft Sanskrit command. The woman immediately rolled across the ground, and a lively white rabbit appeared at Daoist Xiao Zhang’s feet. The rabbit, the transformed woman, affectionately nuzzled against Daoist Xiao Zhang’s calf, its tiny mouth twitching softly.

After glancing at the vivid white rabbit, Daoist Xiao Zhang chuckled happily. A plume of black smoke suddenly erupted from within the rabbit; it transformed into a viper several zhang long, covered entirely in bluish-black scales. Its foot-long fangs plunged deep into Daoist Xiao Zhang’s body.

A massive volume of viscous, inky poison surged into Daoist Xiao Zhang, melting the flesh around him, spanning a radius of about a foot, into a pool of putrid fluid.

Daoist Xiao Zhang nodded without changing expression. With a casual tap, the highly venomous viper convulsed and returned to the form of the beautiful woman from before. After a few chilling laughs, the woman reached out, smeared a bit of the pus-like fluid that was Daoist Xiao Zhang’s ruined body, and slowly tasted it, before kneeling respectfully once more.

With a slight tremor, a flash of spiritual light swept over his skin, and Daoist Xiao Zhang’s flesh was restored to its pristine state. He glanced at the woman, and a wave of golden light washed over her, causing her to immediately dissolve into a spray of golden sand, collapsing limply onto the floor.

Daoist Xiao Zhang kicked the golden sand, scattering it into nothingness.

After a few cold laughs, he paced the stone chamber with his hands behind his back, then suddenly looked toward the stone door of the chamber.

A beautiful woman, a perfect illusion of Qing E, whom he had inhabited for a century, stepped silently inside. The heavy stone door seemed non-existent before her; she moved as if passing through the solid rock like a phantom.

“Encountered,” she whispered to Daoist Xiao Zhang, “they came for inspection once this morning; they found nothing unusual.”

Daoist Xiao Zhang stated blandly, “Very good. They will never dream that you are merely an illusion I created!”

With a tap of his finger, the woman's body dissolved into a wisp of green smoke and scattered. Daoist Xiao Zhang sneered, and the spiritual light around him abruptly contracted, allowing a strand of pure immortal energy to diffuse from his body. A white light flashed above his head, expelling three lotus flowers the size of water vats from within the light. Gradually, both the white light and the lotuses transformed into pure violet-gold, and violet qi surged around him, an astonishing and profound sight.

“The Great Overarching Immortal High-Grade cultivation—it’s achieved so easily!”

Daoist Xiao Zhang gazed at the pure violet-gold aura surrounding him and suddenly mused, “The Brahman Sacrifice Secret Method truly possesses heaven-defying profundity! How slow the progress of the Three Pure Ones’ Daoist techniques, and how swift the sacrifice method!”

A streak of spiritual light flashed behind Daoist Xiao Zhang, and a woman emerged from the light. Her entire body was pitch-black, yet her features were exquisitely beautiful, and her figure was curvaceous and alluringly seductive. She moved silently behind Daoist Xiao Zhang, gently resting her hands on his shoulders, and asked in a low voice, “Do you understand our power now?”

Glancing at the hands resting on his shoulders—hands that were as dark as ink yet possessed a fine luster like mutton-fat jade—Daoist Xiao Zhang murmured, “Chāṃuṇḍā, you have come here in person? Does it require such immense power?”

Chāṃuṇḍā lightly stroked Daoist Xiao Zhang’s earlobe, offering only a low chuckle in reply, not answering his question.

Daoist Xiao Zhang stood silently in the stone chamber, allowing Chāṃuṇḍā’s small hands to gently trace his cheek.

After a long, tense silence, Chāṃuṇḍā finally laughed softly, “Expending a little power is irrelevant. I just want to kill.”

Chāṃuṇḍā’s voice was sweet and clear, highly pleasant to hear, but the surging killing intent in her words made Daoist Xiao Zhang involuntarily shiver. This woman had come purely to kill, and she stated it as casually as if ordering a small dish of food.

The stone door of the chamber suddenly opened, and Bai Shui, Han He, and the Daoist Zhengyi filed in. Beside each of them followed an illusion of the young maiden they had inhabited for a hundred years, identical to the originals. Upon seeing Chāṃuṇḍā behind Daoist Xiao Zhang, the three old Daoists erupted in laughter, and the illusions beside them vanished simultaneously.

True Man Han He bowed deeply. “High Immortal, has the time arrived for your descent?”

Chāṃuṇḍā spared the old Daoist Han He a distracted glance, her small hands ceaselessly caressing Daoist Xiao Zhang’s face. She stated coolly, “Your attainment is sufficient. The [Heavenly Law Paths] have been cultivated to the state of being formless, traceless, unborn, and undying. Your so-called Daoist techniques have reached the level of Great Overarching Immortal High-Grade. They are barely usable, I suppose.”

Daoist Zhengyi bowed low. “Our disciples have also achieved success in cultivating the divine arts. Shall we command them to act this time?”

Chāṃuṇḍā licked her lips and said coldly, “I have come personally; why would I need them to act? The four of you will accompany me outside… Hmm, summon all your disciples and have them assemble at the exit.”

Daoist Xiao Zhang and Zhengyi simultaneously formed a hand seal, sending out a message talisman that instantly spread throughout every tunnel of the underground mine.

Chāṃuṇḍā let out a strange, wild laugh, suddenly manifesting her four-faced, six-armed divine form. Her six arms gripped a wine bowl, a conch shell, a long spear, a battle-axe, a long sword, and a dart, and she danced out of the stone chamber.

A bizarre roar echoed. Several disciples of the Nine Hells Dao, who had just stepped in on a cushion of light wind, were struck by the sound. Blood erupted from their seven orifices, their souls violently sucked out of their bodies, only to be instantly smashed into powder by Chāṃuṇḍā’s axe.

Chāṃuṇḍā opened her mouth and completely drained the vital blood of the Nine Hells Dao disciples, then crushed their remaining desiccated corpses underfoot and rushed out of the cave exuberantly. A deep sound, like the continuous roar of thousands of tigers, boomed forth. The wine bowl in Chāṃuṇḍā’s hand spontaneously generated viscous, blood-like Soma nectar, which she drank in great gulps, soaring into the air excitedly toward the Nine Hells Dao disciples stationed on the stone platforms carved into the cave walls.

Thousands of flickering figures materialized in the void around Chāṃuṇḍā. Behind her trailed wisps of smoke and dust, creating countless illusions that appeared almost simultaneously before the disciples of the Nine Hells Dao and the Hadewold mercenaries.

Where the spear passed, Nine Hells Dao disciples, along with their protective artifacts, were pierced through. Where the battle-axe swept by, immortal swords and armor were pulverized. Where the long sword descended, the disciples of the Nine Hells Dao and the Hadewold mercenaries were neatly split in half down the center. Countless darts flew wildly, effortlessly piercing the bodies of the disciples.

Occasionally, Chāṃuṇḍā would cheer and raise the conch shell to her lips, blowing a sound that carried an intoxicating, soul-snatching evil power. Every Nine Hells Dao disciple who heard the conch’s call collapsed where they stood, limbs paralyzed, unable to move even a little finger.

Chāṃuṇḍā slaughtered her way through the tunnels step by bloody step. Whether Heavenly Immortals or Golden Immortals, all were reduced to pulp. Taiyi Golden Immortals turned into pus and blood. Even the one hundred and eight High Overarching Golden Immortal level disciples left here as guards by the Nine Hells Dao were rendered immobile after hearing the conch’s call, and Chāṃuṇḍā casually crushed them into dust.

The Demon-Slaying Goddess Chāṃuṇḍā—she was already known among the [Heavenly Protectors] for her extreme slaughter. The more Nine Hells Dao disciples and Hadewold mercenaries she killed, the more Soma nectar flowed into Chāṃuṇḍā’s bowl, and the richer its color became. Eventually, the potent nectar filled her body and began oozing out through her pores.

The more intoxicated she became, the stronger Chāṃuṇḍā’s power grew, and the more magnificent her divine abilities became. The speed at which she swung her weapons accelerated, and the power adhering to them grew immense. By the time she reached the very last tunnel, the thousands of Nine Hells Dao disciples trapped there were cleaved into mere meat paste by a single swing of her axe.

Tearing through resistance as if walking through an empty field, Chāṃuṇḍā’s strength was outrageously formidable.

Carried away by the slaughter, Chāṃuṇḍā ignored the shouts of Daoist Zhengyi and Daoist Xiao Zhang, merrily turning back and swinging her weapons down the tunnel that ran red with blood. Whether they were disciples from Kunlun or Zhongnan, or the miners captured by the Nine Hells Dao, anyone she saw died by her hand. Endless killing intent churned within Chāṃuṇḍā, gradually emerging from her body to form a monstrous demonic avatar.

Seeing nearly ten thousand disciples from Zhongnan and Kunlun perish under the indiscriminate attacks of Chāṃuṇḍā, Daoist Xiao Zhang reluctantly pointed a finger at her from a distance, sending forth a golden lotus to block her path.

Chāṃuṇḍā let out a raving laugh, bringing her axe down viciously. The golden lotus was easily shattered into dust.

With eyes now scarlet, Chāṃuṇḍā threw her head back and roared toward the sky, then turned, fixing a malevolent grin upon Daoist Xiao Zhang.

Daoist Xiao Zhang barely managed to utter a sound of alarm before Chāṃuṇḍā raised the conch shell in her hand and pointed it at him. A strange shriek issued from the shell, and an otherworldly, soul-sucking power materialized out of thin air. Daoist Xiao Zhang’s ethereal spirit slurped out of his body and rapidly flew toward the conch shell.

Fortunately, Daoist Xiao Zhang had spent decades diligently studying the Brahman Secret Methods, acquiring equally incredible divine abilities.

His primordial spirit having left his body, he showed no panic, instead pointing at the ground. With a dull thud, his soul returned to his physical body, which, having been sucked into the conch shell, had bizarrely transformed into a piece of mineral ore several zhang in diameter.

Chāṃuṇḍā froze, staring at the ore and roaring furiously, “How do you know my Heavenly Divine Arts?”

Shaking her head forcefully, Chāṃuṇḍā seemed to recall something. She abruptly retracted her divine form, flashed to Daoist Xiao Zhang’s side, and began gently massaging his earlobe with her fingertips.

“Mmm, I nearly slaughtered your disciples too, incidentally. It shouldn’t matter, right? The casualties… Chāṃuṇḍā chuckled softly, but there was not a hint of shame in her laughter.

Bai Shui and Han He’s eyes were nearly weeping blood. The nearly ten thousand people Chāṃuṇḍā had turned back to kill were all loyal elite disciples of Kunlun and Zhongnan! They had almost escaped disaster, only to be casually slain here by Chāṃuṇḍā! Truly…

…Truly unbearable, but they had no choice but to endure! Chāṃuṇḍā was an ancient divine being, one of the mightiest protectors of the Buddhist Heavens, and she was backed by several figures too powerful to provoke. Today, Kunlun and Zhongnan possessed no power to argue with her. Even though Daoist Xiao Zhang, Zhengyi, and the others had reached the cultivation level of High Overarching Golden Immortal, if they truly angered Chāṃuṇḍā, she could overturn Kunlun and Zhongnan down to their roots with a single counter-move! Her level of attainment had reached an unbelievable realm.

Weeping, the old Daoists gathered the remains of their disciples killed by Chāṃuṇḍā and walked out of the mine tunnels where they had labored for over a century, arriving on the surface of the mining star. An incomparably massive war chariot, drawn by four gigantic, winged celestial horses, hovered over the planet’s surface.

The entire chariot was cast from black iron, inscribed with countless celestial patterns and embedded with vivid depictions of gods and demons battling. The left wheel was cast from gold, the right from silver, and the traces were forged from bronze. The chariot stretched one hundred li from end to end, rose ten li high, and spanned thirty li wide. Crimson flames and golden gales swirled around it. The charioteers were two deities with skin the color of dark indigo.

These two deities possessed three heads and six arms, a vertical sun etched between their brows, and held whips forged from lightning and fire, constantly lashing the leading celestial horses.

The horses’ pure white manes concealed black scales, and a single horn grew from their foreheads. According to Chāṃuṇḍā’s introduction, these winged horses were descendants of that famous celestial steed born from the primordial sea—their flight speed was the fastest in the Three Realms, impossible even for a Buddha to catch.

The dazed old Daoists of Kunlun and Zhongnan ascended the war chariot, named the ‘Indra’s Thunder Chariot.’ The two charioteer deities shouted fiercely and whipped the horses drawing the carriage. The horses simultaneously beat their wings forcefully, and the chariot vanished without a trace.

Even with their High Overarching Golden Immortal cultivation and their bodies accustomed to the Great Spatial Shift technique, the spatial distortion upon the chariot’s activation caused a tempestuous upheaval within them, nearly making them vomit.

Before the group of old Daoists could even discern the surrounding movement, their vision brightened; they had arrived in an abnormally busy region of the void.

Here, the sky blazed with fire, the planet’s surface writhed with blinding light. Countless strange beings, appearing mechanical yet possessing biological features, shuttled back and forth through the void. Some of these creatures were minuscule, the size of fleas; others were enormous, spanning tens of thousands of meters. Daoist Xiao Zhang watched as a creature with over thirty impossibly long tentacles, its entire body shimmering with metallic luster, slowly swam past a few li away. Each tentacle was hundreds of thousands of meters long, and each was coiled around massive metal components.

While the old Daoists stood in awe of these huge, wondrous beings, a faint energy fluctuation echoed through the void. They hurriedly looked up and saw a metal being of indescribable size slowly flying toward them from the void.

This metal creature generally resembled a youth of seventeen or eighteen. It dragged hundreds of thick chains, at the end of which, stretching for millions of li, were nearly a thousand planets, large and small, strung together and being towed toward this location by the metal being in a single line.

Daoist Xiao Zhang and the others watched in shock as the youth slowly flew overhead. Immediately afterward, beneath them in the void, a massive being emerged, possessing hundreds of thousands of mechanical arms, welding hundreds of metal components of various sizes together.

Fire flashed everywhere. Where divine sense extended, millions of planets were filled with these bustling metal creatures. They nervously mined ore, refined metals, smelted them into alloys of specific compositions, and cast them into complex metal components sent to all directions.

Everywhere were these extraordinarily large beings at labor, constantly assembling the enormous metal parts, perpetually busy.

At the very center of this sector of the cosmos, within an unnaturally vast spherical space evidently cleared by manual labor, stood a magnificent… a magnificent… man-made…

The castle… no, not a castle, but a planet… or perhaps, still a castle, suspended there in sheer, blinding luminescence.

No one knew how tall it was, or how vast its expanse, only that across billions of miles, the colossal structure remained as if right before their eyes.

Three gigantic suns orbited this castle; twelve exquisite moons revolved around it; hundreds of thousands of stars, large and small, traced their paths around it.

The castle was distinctly divided into three tiers:

The first tier was golden, its surface etched with countless patterns depicting the dances and songs of the Celestial Assembly.

The second tier was silver, adorned with innumerable scenes of heroic kings engaged in battle.

The third tier was black, inscribed everywhere with designs representing the shadowy spirits resting beneath the earth.

Yet, whether golden, silver, or black, a brilliant, dazzling light radiated from every surface of the castle.

Pinenou suddenly materialized amidst the circle of aged Daoists, settling cross-legged upon a lotus throne, gazing with a smile toward the distant fortress.

“Is it not magnificent? In the Primordial Era, it was the very thing that caused countless heavenly gods to fall.” With an effortless gesture, Vishnu beckoned those nearby. “Allow me to introduce an old acquaintance. You should remember him; it was he who single-handedly shouldered the monumental task of constructing this very citadel.”

“Ducat, come forward. Greet your fellow disciples. From now on, you are all under my guidance, Vishnu’s disciples.” A powerfully built, anomalous metallic body slowly emerged from behind Vishnu. (To be continued, as H