Next, the main body’s Demon-Tearing Dragon-General, brimming with excitement, proudly led twenty newly hatched, six-winged hatchlings. They pulled the colossal, mountain-like White Bone Demon Dragon Carriage, newly forged by Gu Xichen, careening wildly through the void.

Flapping its wings enthusiastically as it sped forward, the Demon-Tearing Dragon-General roared, “My brood, hurry along! Slaughter and devour every last one of those blind bastards who cross our path! Oh, if you spot any delicate, pretty women, save them for me; your old man needs to have some fun and give you a few more brothers and sisters!”

Innumerable demons sang battle hymns in unison, dancing and cheering as they followed the Dragon Carriage forward.

Thousands of the Demon-Tearing Dragon-General's bloodline, each having reached the Great Golden Immortal realm, had reverted to their true forms, swarming and flying erratically around the Demon Dragon Carriage in the void. These descendants were bizarre and grotesque in appearance, their visages utterly terrifying. Coupled with their strange whoops and shrieks, it truly seemed as if a pack of hellish ghosts had stormed the firmament. Gu Tu, seated within the carriage, was so shocked she nearly fainted dead away.

Trailing behind the Dragon Carriage were one hundred and eight myriad rows of demons arranged in the Heavenly Net Grand Array; to the left of the carriage were three hundred and sixty myriad rows configured in the Myriad Immortals Array; and to the right, three hundred and sixty myriad rows formed the Stellar Cosmos Grand Array.

In total, nearly ten million demons, all cultivating above the Golden Immortal level, with over thirty thousand being Great Golden Immortals, possessed strength capable of shaking the entire Three Realms. In this age, who besides Gu Xichen, with his near-cheating abilities, could muster such an army?

Stationary, they summoned; in motion, they struck with the force of crushing thunder, ready to pulverize everything with the weight of Mount Tai. Gu Xichen was already beginning to exude the aura of an ancient Great God or Holy Being.

The army of the Nine Nether Path advanced rapidly through a series of secret teleportation arrays and stellar gates meticulously laid throughout the cosmos. Over millennia, the disciples of the Nine Nether Path had established these spatial transfer arrays everywhere, allowing their massive army to appear wherever they wished with maximum speed.

In a mere two days, the vast army of the Nine Nether Path arrived at the former borders of the Viking Empire.

Along the journey, Gu Tu had already fully explained the perilous situation facing the Gu family to Gu Xichen.

In truth, nothing she described was novel; it was merely a replay of events that had transpired countless times before.

As rising stars in the True Cultivation Hall, the Gu Clan had enjoyed over two millennia of glory. However, as the Angel Legion and the Papal Knight Legions, led by Gu Yuru, were gradually absorbed and integrated by the True Cultivation Hall, and as Gu Yuru repeatedly backed the wrong factions in the private squabbles among the seven sons of the True Cultivation Hall Master, Heavenly Venerable Qiuxiu, the Gu Clan’s standing plummeted, eventually reducing them to insignificant pawns.

To make matters worse, internal strife erupted within the Gu Clan. To seize control, Gu Yuru and other key power brokers engaged in a bloodbath, resulting in heavy casualties among the direct descendants of the family.

Ultimately, Gu Yuru, relying on the influence he had cultivated over the years, defeated his competing relatives and solidified his control over the clan with the support of Gu Juechen. Those who lost were unwilling to surrender all family power and, in a final, desperate move, betrayed Gu Yuru and the entire Gu Clan.

Thirty years prior, Gu Yuru led his elite disciples to the ancient battlefield where the Demon-Tearing Dragon-General once hid. There, he miraculously discovered a Primordial Treasure, the 'Golden Cloud Crown.' This artifact instantly became the Gu Clan's ancestral treasure, which Gu Yuru secretly refined.

This time, those rival Gu clansmen who had lost the battle for the family headship acted without hesitation: they sold out Gu Yuru and the entire clan to Qingya Xiaosheng, the favorite grandson of Heavenly Venerable Qiuxiu, leaking the news that the Gu Clan possessed the Primordial Treasure, the Golden Cloud Crown.

Qingya Xiaosheng immediately mobilized forces to besiege the Gu residence, intending to raze the family under the pretext of high treason.

Gu Xichen sat enthroned in the central hall of the Demon Dragon Carriage. Above his head, a slow-spinning canopy of hazy starlight rotated, enveloping him in a vast expanse of silver radiance. Within this light, illusory forms of mythical beasts—the Lion, Tiger, Tortoise, Snake, Phoenix, and Dragon—flickered in and out of view. The natal stellar energies of the Stellar Sovereigns manifested their true forms, orbiting in an arcane pattern, constantly pouring immense stellar power into Gu Xichen, transmuting it into his magical cultivation.

Upon hearing Gu Tu’s account, Gu Xichen merely let out a series of cold sneers.

As expected of Gu Juechen’s direct descendant—to commit something so monumentally foolish. If Qingya Xiaosheng desired the Primordial Treasure, the Golden Cloud Crown, for himself peacefully, he would inevitably have to silence the entire Gu Clan. It was likely those foolish traitors who betrayed the family were already scattered souls by now.

He cast a chilling glance at Gu Tu. Already trembling in silence, Gu Tu jumped as if struck and looked toward Gu Xichen with trepidation.

With a soft sigh, Gu Xichen spoke gently, “Enough, do not be afraid. You are, after all, one of the Gu family. How many days has it been since you left? Can they hold out over there?”

Gu Tu quickly counted on her fingers, her expression shifting slightly. “Tu has been fleeing for a month now. As for the family, although my great-grandfather and the elders spent a great deal of effort over the years setting up the family stronghold and constructing dozens of defensive arrays, Qingya Xiaosheng has two Early-Stage Great Golden Immortals with him. I fear those arrays won't hold them for more than a few days.”

Two Early-Stage Great Golden Immortals? Gu Xichen shook his head dismissively. Great Golden Immortals are lofty, rare figures in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. But in the Nine Nether Path, with Gu Xichen’s heaven-defying cheating methods, Great Golden Immortals were hardly uncommon.

As long as Gu Juechen and the others could hold out until his arrival, nothing was truly insurmountable.

Leaning slightly back, a stream of chaotic energy shot up from Gu Xichen’s crown. His Three Corpse Nascent Souls slowly manifested within the stream. He stated calmly, “If they are dead, I will raze the True Cultivation Hall to avenge them. If they live, then… tell me, how have you all managed all these years?”

Though his tone was cold and devoid of emotion, Gu Tu sensed a profound current of concern within Gu Xichen’s words.

As if a thick wad of cotton had lodged in her throat, Gu Tu suddenly burst into loud sobs. She rushed to Gu Xichen’s side, throwing her arms around his legs, rubbing her small face repeatedly against the front of his Daoist robe, tears soaking his attire.

Gently patting Gu Tu’s head, Gu Xichen said quietly, “It’s alright, stop crying. I imagine that old fellow Gu Juechen wouldn't speak highly of me either. Hmph, he can be ruthless, but I cannot be indifferent. Even if I broke every bone in his body, it would still be a conflict between brothers.”

He chuckled darkly a few times, his voice turning menacing. “But if anyone dares touch a single hair on a member of my Gu family… Heh, hehe…”

In the vast, echoing hall, the starlight boiled like an ocean tide, immense stellar power continuously surging into Gu Xichen’s body. He was shrouded in a hazy silver glow as his magical cultivation rose, stage by stage, with astonishing speed.

The Nine Nether Path army passed through the final secret stellar gate. Ahead, the view suddenly opened up to a bright, clear starscape. Not far off, behind a rose-red nebula, lay a planetary system comprising two twin stars and twenty-three other celestial bodies. In the outer space surrounding the ninth planet in this system, a mass of white clouds, spanning a thousand miles in circumference, floated high above. Upon these clouds sat several palaces and pavilions, with numerous Immortals leisurely entering and exiting.

Scattered around this planet, more than twenty thousand Immortals lounged comfortably on cloud tops, casually exchanging telepathic whispers and laughter as if on an outing. Fine streaks of sword light continuously shot out from their sides, weaving into a vast net that enveloped the entire planet.

On the planet's surface, near the foot of a mountain over thirty thousand meters high, lay an estate spanning about a hundred miles. A faint, hazy golden radiance firmly encased the entire estate, breathing in and out with a deep, rumbling sound.

Several thousand Immortals hovered above the estate, occasionally striking the Golden Radiance below with their immortal arts. Occasionally, a few used powerful spells, unleashing torrents of fire and light that plunged downward, causing the Golden Radiance to billow and contract violently, producing the sound of gigantic ocean waves.

As Gu Xichen swept his divine sense across the scene, an Immortal happened to cast a string of red luminous pearls toward the estate wrapped in the Golden Radiance. Dozens of pearls shot out, bombarding the target with thunderous roars. Each impact brought forth massive celestial lightning and earth fire, blasting fissures into the mountain behind the estate, yet the Golden Radiance remained completely unshaken.

Slightly surprised, Gu Xichen’s divine sense smoothly pierced through the Golden Radiance, allowing him to clearly see inside the estate.

As his sense passed through, Gu Xichen detected a soft, resilient resistance emanating from the Golden Radiance. However, the power of the radiance was far too weak to withstand the intrusion of his divine sense, leaving it no choice but to allow entry.

He saw, upon a white jade altar in the center of the main hall, Gu Yuru seated cross-legged, clad in purple Daoist robes and sporting a long beard, holding a golden, hexagonally shaped pagoda—the Golden Cloud Crown—which shimmered brightly. Gu Juechen and several dozen of the most senior members of the Gu Clan sat around Gu Yuru, continuously injecting their own magical power into him.

Gu Yuru inhaled deeply, and wave after wave of power surged into the distinctively shaped Golden Crown, causing it to emit dense golden rays that enveloped the entire estate. Whenever an Immortal above attacked, Gu Yuru’s body trembled violently, and the tremors extended to Gu Juechen and the others.

Suddenly, Gu Yuru spat out a few drops of blood from his nostrils, his body slumping slightly as if about to collapse, but he stubbornly held himself upright with sheer brute force, spitting out a large mouthful of vital essence onto the Golden Crown, causing the golden rays it emitted to become even denser.

“Is that the Golden Cloud Crown? A decent exotic treasure! A pity. If this were truly the Golden Cloud Crown from the War of Deification, its primary function would be concealing one's tracks, not serving as a defensive artifact,” Gu Xichen sneered. Even the most crucial function of the Golden Cloud Crown had been misunderstood, no wonder Gu Yuru and his people were in such a sorry state. Of course, it also had to do with the sheer number of besiegers and their overwhelmingly superior cultivation. If the attackers were of similar strength to Gu Yuru’s group, the Golden Cloud Crown, being a Primordial object, would have been more than sufficient to protect an entire estate.

Gu Tu was already kneeling, repeatedly kowtowing to Gu Xichen, pleading, “Great-Uncle, please act quickly! Before the Gu Estate is breached, while the clansmen are still alive, I beg you to save them!”

With a pointed finger, a massive force lifted Gu Tu to her feet. Gu Xichen smiled faintly, “Since I am here, why would I not intervene? Stand aside!”

With a slight shift of thought, the starlight across the sky dispersed. The council hall rapidly dissolved as if sculpted from ice and snow. Remarkable changes began to occur on the White Bone Demon Dragon Carriage: a high platform, a thousand zhang tall, materialized from thin air. The platform was intricately carved with images of monstrously fierce demons and covered in terrifying runes. Gu Xichen’s throne rested atop this dais, with the stellar light swirling slowly around him and the structure.

Crossing his hands over his lower abdomen, Gu Xichen gazed at the distant white cloud and called out softly, “Qingya Xiaosheng, emerge and answer this Venerable One!”

Gu Tu stood beside Gu Xichen, perceiving his voice as faint, like the chirping of an ant. Yet, the distant cloud mass and the palaces upon it abruptly convulsed. The thousand-mile expanse of cloud and the scattered pavilions seemed to be struck by a colossal thunderbolt, shattering into countless fragments with a loud CRACK. Hundreds of thousands of Immortals clutched their ears, screaming in agony as they were blasted away from…

This casually uttered call was mingled with the Buddhist Lion’s Roar and the Daoist Demonic Subjugation Heavenly Tone divine abilities. To Gu Tu, it sounded like a mere hum, but to those above the clouds, it was as if the Sage Pangu had suddenly revived, sweeping down ten thousand Sky-Opening Divine Thunders at once.

Over a hundred thousand Immortals sprayed blood from their ears, screaming hoarsely as they were blasted away. Those with lower cultivation had their brains instantly pulverized, their souls torn to shreds. Those with higher cultivation had their seven orifices collapse, their internal organs violently scrambled; their physical bodies were nearly destroyed. Only those who had reached the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm or higher narrowly managed to keep their physical forms intact.

The two Early-Stage Great Golden Immortals unleashed a protective barrier of bright light and purple mist to shield a young man clad in rich robes as he fled in disarray. The youth also clutched his ears and shouted wildly for a moment before regaining his composure. He casually tossed out a red stone cauldron that hovered above his head, casting out dozens of feet of firelight to shield himself, then fiercely roared, “Which senior is troubling us? Please, do not let misunderstanding jeopardize the friendship between this senior and our True Cultivation Hall!”

Gu Xichen merely let out a cold Hmph. The nearly ten million demons under his command surged forward atop their demon clouds, completely encircling the entire planet. Even the Immortals under Qingya Xiaosheng’s command were trapped within the siege.

The White Bone Demon Dragon Carriage slowly advanced, finally halting less than ten miles from the stunned Qingya Xiaosheng.

Gu Xichen appraised Qingya Xiaosheng from head to toe. The young man appeared to be merely seventeen or eighteen years old, with a handsome face reminiscent of fine jade—truly excellent features. Unfortunately, a pair of triangular eyes ruined his appearance, and the occasional glimpse of vicious, cruel malevolence in his gaze made Gu Tu, standing beside Gu Xichen, tremble uncontrollably.

Qingya Xiaosheng rapidly scanned Gu Xichen, his gaze intentionally—or unintentionally—sweeping over Gu Tu, focusing particularly on her nascent, developing chest. A fierce, lewd glint flashed across his eyes for a second before he straightened up and offered a very formal bow to Gu Xichen, “May I ask the senior’s esteemed name? Perhaps, this senior and our True Cultivation Hall…”

Gu Xichen cut off Qingya Xiaosheng’s words with a snap of his finger, issuing a sharp command to the Demon-Tearing Dragon-General.

The Demon-Tearing Dragon-General shot up like a black lightning bolt, streaking past Qingya Xiaosheng. A colossal maw bristling with sharp teeth brushed right against Qingya Xiaosheng’s face. “Ah-woo!” He snapped up one of the Early-Stage Great Golden Immortals flanking Qingya Xiaosheng and swallowed him whole.

Chewing loudly on the still-screaming Great Golden Immortal in his mouth, the Demon-Tearing Dragon-General roared with laughter, “Soft skin and flesh, but the bones are chewy! Mmm, this fellow tastes good. Tsk tsk, the flesh and blood of a Great Golden Immortal is simply the most delicious; not a hint of gamey flavor!”

Qingya Xiaosheng’s face turned ashen white. He shrieked, “Senior, why such cruelty?” Gu Xichen pointed a finger. A cluster of milky white ice-flames rapidly ignited beneath the feet of the other Early-Stage Great Golden Immortal next to Qingya Xiaosheng, quickly engulfing his whole body. The Immortal screamed in agony, tumbling and flailing through the void. But no matter how many spiritual incantations he cast, the ice-flames merely clung to him, burning steadily, slowly transforming his skin, muscle, and bone into crystalline ice particles that drifted away. It burned for a full fifteen minutes before the Immortal was reduced entirely to a cloud of floating ice dust.

Qingya Xiaosheng, along with his over one hundred thousand subordinates, remained silent for a full fifteen minutes, daring not utter a sound.

An Early-Stage Great Golden Immortal, a figure considered top-tier even in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, could not withstand a single move from Gu Xichen.

The followers of Gu Xichen had actually swallowed an Early-Stage Great Golden Immortal whole. Who exactly were these people? Their cruelty was excessive!

Qingya Xiaosheng trembled as he stared at Gu Xichen, his body recoiling backward relentlessly.

Gu Xichen watched Qingya Xiaosheng with cold indifference and stated calmly, “You looked where you shouldn't have looked, and I dislike that gaze of yours. Thus, your two capable enforcers are dead.”

Pausing briefly, Gu Xichen said coldly, “However, the main culprit remains! Yan Jiang, junior brother!”

Yan Wei, who led a contingent of Armored Corpses guarding the Dragon Carriage, offered a chilling smile. His figure flickered—it seemed he hadn't moved at all—but Qingya Xiaosheng let out a scream of utter terror.

His eye sockets had become two bleeding holes. Two eyeballs were rolling merrily in Yan Wei’s palm. Great gouts of fresh blood sprayed from his orbits, soaking his robes.

Gu Xichen roared fiercely, “You reckless fools who do not know the meaning of death! Cripple all four limbs, shatter their Dao foundation, siphon off seven-tenths of their vital essence blood, and cast them out!”

The millions of demons of the Nine Nether Path erupted in jubilant cheers, eagerly surging toward the pale-faced Immortals of the True Cultivation Hall.

Their four limbs were permanently destroyed by wicked arts, their Dao foundations violently shattered, seven-tenths of their vital essence blood sucked dry—over a hundred thousand Immortals were violently kicked away, left drifting aimlessly in the void as they tumbled far into the distance.

This savage, bloody scene caused Gu Tu to tremble violently. Inside the estate below, Gu Yuru and the others dared not move, paralyzed by fear.

Gu Xichen rose into the air, his expressionless face flying to the edge of the Golden Radiance.

After a cold stare-down across the shimmering barrier with the shifty-eyed Gu Juechen, Gu Xichen spoke coldly, “Several thousand years have passed, and your cultivation is only at the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm. Where have you spent all your years?”

Gu Juechen was so infuriated he pointed at Gu Xichen and began to curse loudly. Gu Xichen merely sneered and threw a punch downward. The vast golden rays emitted by the Golden Cloud Crown instantly shattered with a mighty roar.

Gu Juechen’s shouting abruptly ceased, and the faces of the Gu clansmen instantly turned deathly pale. (To be continued)