Behind the towering South Heaven Gate, a brilliant white ribbon of cloud, a hundred li wide, snaked upwards. Winding like a mountain road through ninety-nine sharp turns, it stretched nearly a million li before finally arriving at a continent formed entirely of white clouds.

At the heart of this boundless expanse of white, billowing cloud-mass, stood a grand hall, entirely golden, bathed in a purple radiance descending from the highest void. Though possessing only three tiers in height, this hall soared eighteen hundred li tall, spanning tens of thousands of li in circumference, encircled by three hundred and sixty halls, large and small, front, back, left, and right.

This central hall, along with all its surrounding subsidiary palaces, featured jade pillars and golden tiles, from which wisps of purple vapor subtly ascended. At fixed hours each day, a wind spanning ten thousand li would sweep through, accompanied by celestial dew and pure water that gently washed over these halls, leaving every surface utterly immaculate.

This cluster of structures marked the very center of the cloud continent. From this core, countless other halls and pavilions, scaled down several, tens, or even hundreds of times, yet equally magnificent, solemn, and exquisitely detailed, radiated outward in all directions. As far as the eye could see, layers upon layers of palaces and towers stretched into the distance; within the line of sight, nothing but gleaming golden roof tiles and sweeping eaves met the gaze.

Even covering the area with divine sense, beings of the cultivation level of Da Fantian could not perceive the end of this complex of palaces and pavilions.

However, starting from the South Heaven Gate and extending straight north, if one extended their divine sense into a mere silken thread, they could barely reach the limit of where Da Fantian and the others’ senses could extend. Once that thread of divine sense was fully exhausted, only then would a pale azure cloud-wall appear—a barrier constructed of azure clouds of unknown width and height.

In the center of this cloud wall was a cloud belt identical to the one behind the South Heaven Gate. This cloud belt, stretching a million li upward and navigating ninety-nine bends, finally disappeared into a swirling purple mist. Without needing explanation, this pervasive purple mist was naturally the entrance to the Second Heaven Palace.

Da Fantian and the others simultaneously gasped. Despite their formidable cultivation, having stepped into the Primordial Chaos Realm, they had to attenuate their divine sense into a single, thin thread just to glimpse the edge of one direction of this celestial palace complex. The sheer vastness of the Heavenly Palace was thousands of times greater than any realm within the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. It was indeed the nexus and seat of authority for the Three Realms, and extraordinary it was.

Within these tiered palaces and pavilions were innumerable flower gardens, boundless flower pools and beds, and countless clear springs and streams; furthermore, there were innumerable lakes and rivers, and even in the far reaches to the East, South, West, and North, there lay four vast, limitless oceans.

Beneath the flower gardens, pools, and beds, great and small spirit meridians communicated with each other; beneath the streams, rivers, lakes, and the four oceans, dark rivers interlinked them all. Within every garden, pool, and bed bloomed endless spirit herbs and rare flowers, and countless precious fruit-bearing trees; the waters teemed with vibrant dragons and fish, and countless aquatic spirit seedlings also flourished there.

Scattered between the various palaces were peaks of spiritual elegance, adorned with towering ancient trees and verdant, fine grasses. Phoenixes nested upon wutong trees, and spirit foxes made their homes among the soft grasses. Divine Dragons, Azure Luan, Bi Fang birds, immortal cranes, as well as fire foxes and white deer, horned horses and Qilin—countless exotic birds and rare beasts roamed throughout this Celestial Palace.

All the palaces and towers were enveloped by layers of powerful prohibitions invisible to the naked eye, but ample passages were left between them for these exotic creatures to travel freely. One could witness divine dragons and flood dragons swimming between the pavilions along the streams, and see Azure Luan and phoenixes gliding effortlessly through the clouds and mist, soaring over the rooftops of palace after palace.

From time to time, those exotic beasts and rare flora that had achieved perfected fruition would transform into human form—some as playful, nimble youths or maidens, others as steady, mature men or women. They meticulously attended to everything within the Celestial Palace, perhaps sprinkling water and sweeping, perhaps tending the soil around spirit herbs and elixirs, or gathering ripe spiritual fruits; everything was done in an orderly fashion, without the slightest disarray.

Within the reach of divine sense, excluding those beasts not yet transformed, within a radius of one billion li, there were two hundred million beings who had achieved the immortal path and taken human form from various beasts and plants. Among these two hundred million transformed aberrations, there were eight thousand Grand Unity Golden Immortals, including one hundred and eighty who stood at the peak of that realm.

However, it was clear that these Immortals had amassed their formidable magical power through endless eons of grinding endurance; their Dao attainments were unsteady, and their foundations lacked solidity. Observing their means of traversing the clouds, even the peak Grand Unity Golden Immortals employed only the most basic cloud-crawling technique used by Celestial Immortals—their flight speed was agonizingly slow.

This was a group of Immortals possessing great magical power but mediocre Dao attainment and almost zero practical divine abilities.

They were pure, unrefined gold, brimming with limitless potential. Merely enduring time had forged them into beings of immense magical strength. If they could be subdued, given but a little time to comprehend the Great Dao and taught a few potent divine arts, they would form an elite immortal army powerful enough to shake the heavens.

Da Fantian and the others might have their own thoughts, but when Gu Xiechen swept his divine sense across this first tier of the Heavenly Palace, he nearly wept with... water. Da Fantian and his company could not cover this entire tier, but Gu Xiechen could. Where his divine sense passed, he saw with perfect clarity a nest of golden-furred rat spirits residing in a cavern beneath a few palaces in a remote corner.

This particular nest of rat spirits, perhaps some strange natural anomaly, had burrowed tunnels beneath the foundations of those few palaces, even piercing the outer prohibitions and infiltrating the structures themselves.

These palaces were clearly the alchemy chambers of the former Celestial Court. Inside were thirty-six automated, assembly-line alchemy furnaces. As long as the required ingredients were added, these furnaces would automatically refine immortal elixirs of superior quality.

When Gu Xiechen discovered them, this entire brood of rat spirits was sitting solemnly beside the furnaces, clad in Daoist robes, affecting piety as they recited alchemy texts. They were using stolen spirit herbs to refine the Taiyi Marrow Replenishing Pill. Over a hundred small rats, appearing recently cultivated and still retaining much of their rodent appearance, were lined up neatly in formation behind the elder rats, drooling as they gazed at the furnaces.

Taiyi Marrow Replenishing Pill!

Gu Xiechen sighed internally. This was a miraculous immortal medicine used to supplement insufficient innate aptitude, to fortify damaged primordial Yin and Yang in the acquired realm, turning decay into wonder. Even a consumptive, one whose body had been hollowed out by lust and wine, could become a top-tier candidate for Dao cultivation after consuming a single pill.

Since ancient times, when Celestial Court Immortals descended to save living beings, only figures at or above the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level, if they took a strong liking to someone, would condescend to grant one or two Taiyi Marrow Replenishing Pills to take them under their wing.

But this group of rat spirits, they had simply occupied a small corner of the Celestial Palace and were enjoying these pills behind closed doors! It was no wonder Gu Xiechen was astonished to find this brood of spirits brimming with vital energy; even their scattered hairs were golden and slick with oil. It seemed they had been consuming various immortal elixirs from infancy, thus nurturing a nest of spirits radiating immortal aura and possessing astonishing foundations.

Below, in the tunnels they had dug beneath the palace, a mature rat spirit, tall as thirty-six chi, was chattering animatedly while wildly swinging an eight-edged lotus hammer—stolen from some unknown immortal estate—laughing and showing off to a group of female rats.

This eight-edged lotus hammer weighed seven thousand two hundred jin. Even ordinary Immortal Lords would struggle to wield it, let alone a spirit ascended from a rat. But this rat had clearly consumed massive quantities of elixirs to improve its innate aptitude; its physical strength rivaled that of core members of some powerful demon races. A nest of fortunate rats indeed.

Gu Xiechen chuckled softly, then casually imposed a binding prohibition, sealing that entire palace complex tightly, making it impenetrable. This nest of rats belonged to the Nine Nether Dao; they were destined to become pillar-level core disciples of that Dao. For beings of such lowly origin to dig through the Heavenly Palace's defenses and seize its benefits—this clutch of rats was remarkable.

It wasn't just these rats. There were the seven-colored mandarin fish with tiger heads in the adjacent lake, a colony of jade ants on a mountain three thousand li away, and a troop of Flying Golden-Patterned Apes in a valley eight thousand li distant. Hundreds of such innately gifted demon-immortal populations were present. Gu Xiechen first laid down restrictions, bringing them all under control.

This was both to constrain and to protect them; having taken an interest in these demon-immortals, he did not wish them harmed.

If Da Fantian and the others were to stir up trouble within the Celestial Palace, given their divine powers and the might of their innate supreme treasures, these demon-immortals, who possessed nothing but raw magic power, could not withstand even a few of their blows.

Having taken care of this, Gu Xiechen's form flickered. His Origin Yin Primordial Spirit, Origin Yang Primordial Spirit, and Chaos Primordial Spirit separated. The Chaos Primordial Spirit sat atop the wall of the Three-Linked City, casually watching the spectacle, while the other two primordial spirit avatars transformed into a pair of white cranes and silently flew into this first tier of the Celestial Palace.

There were countless white cranes in this Celestial Palace, and Gu Xiechen’s crane transformations attracted no attention whatsoever.

The two white cranes swiftly traversed tier after tier of palaces and pavilions, their divine sense rapidly communicating with the countless celestial soldiers and generals residing within their own consciousnesses. Every palace and every tower in this Celestial Palace was guarded by a corresponding group of Immortals, Holy Beings, or Celestial Troops. Naturally, these personnel held the keys to the prohibitions governing those specific structures.

Gu Xiechen’s primordial spirit avatars flew lightly past these palaces, releasing squad after squad of Immortals, Heavenly Gods, and Celestial Soldiers, allowing them to quietly enter the specific heavenly precincts that their original bodies were once responsible for guarding.

Just as Gu Xiechen’s main body had predicted, these celestial troops were not attacked by the external prohibitions guarding the Heavenly Palaces. Not only were the intrinsic defensive restrictions of the palaces unharmed, but even the layer of prohibition overlaid upon the complex by the Three Pure Ones and the two Buddhist Sages offered no resistance.

Evidently, the Celestial Palace acknowledged the identities of these former overlords; their divine consciousness fluctuations had all been recorded by the structure. As the former controllers returned, the Palace naturally offered no hindrance.

Unbeknownst to the Guardian Heavens and Grand Master Xuandu, Gu Xiechen had quietly taken control of the First Heaven Palace.

With the exception of the Guarding Spirit Officials, Guarding Generals, and Celestial Troops assigned to the central Grand Hall, the entirety of the First Heaven Palace fell into Gu Xiechen's hands.

While the two primordial spirit avatars were secretly acting, Da Fantian and the others were already laughing as they flew to the foot of the South Heaven Gate, greedily gazing upon the spectacular scene of the Heavenly Palace before them.

Even with the insight and temperament of the three great leaders like Da Fantian, they were so greedy they nearly drooled. They stared at the magnificent, resplendent, and incomparably beautiful palaces, saliva threatening to hang from the corners of their mouths.

Even Indra, the Heavenly Emperor whose capital city was reputed to be the most beautiful in the Three Realms, stared unblinkingly at this palace complex, his chest heaving rapidly. This Heavenly Emperor, Indra, was merely the Heavenly Emperor of the Guardian Heavens.

The Thirty-Three Heaven Palaces before them were the dwelling of the true sovereign of the Three Realms, the Supreme Emperor of Heaven, Haotian Shangdi. In its prime, the Thirty-Three Heaven Palaces were not only the core of authority representing Heaven’s judgment under the Heavenly Dao, but its sheer military might alone was enough to shake the Three Realms.

Before being forcibly subdued by the two Buddhist Sages, the Guardian Heavens dared not even look directly at the Thirty-Three Heavens. After their subjugation, they dared not utter a word in the presence of the master of the Thirty-Three Heavens. Even now, possessing far greater power and armies than in the past, the leaders of the Guardian Heavens still felt a chill when recalling the terrifying prestige of the former Celestial Palace.

It was akin to a group of country bumpkins stumbling into the mansion of the world’s richest man—a complex mixture of fear, awe, and avarice.

“This is the Heavenly Court!” Da Fantian desperately swallowed. “What magnificent palaces!” Shiva’s eyes were practically glowing green. “Too extravagant! How could one be so wasteful? This flooring... it’s formed from primordial spiritual energy condensed by magical power,” Vishnu shook his head repeatedly.

Indra, the other Heavenly Gods, and the leaders of the Guardian Heavens all chimed in to criticize the sheer extravagance of the palace before them—it was simply too...

Too what? Indra stared at the ground glittering below, a drop of saliva falling from his lip. In his former status as Heavenly Emperor, his own heavenly capital city was merely paved with fine jade and adorned with golden pillars. But this Celestial Palace before him was constructed entirely of primordial materials, all of them exceedingly rare. Every inch of the structure was riddled with countless runic prohibitions. In every conceivable aspect, this Heavenly Palace was worth billions of times the value of Indra’s entire heavenly capital.

“As the head of the Three Realms, how could one indulge in such extravagance? Hmph. If I were to sit on the Heavenly Emperor’s throne, I would certainly be diligent and frugal, never indulging in such, such luxury and decay,” Indra mumbled after drooling for a long while. He had subtly laid the groundwork for his claim to replace Haotian Shangdi and outlined the measures he would take upon his ascension.

However, nobody seconded Indra’s remarks. The Asura Demon Kings glared at him from head to toe.

This Heavenly Palace was not for just anyone to claim. The Demon Kings of Pāpīman felt that they, the most powerful Asuras, should simply occupy the Thirty-Three Heavenly Palaces among themselves; what did it have to do with Indra?

If they had not yet fully taken control, and if they still held some apprehension towards the three great leaders like Da Fantian, Pāpīman would have already cleaved Indra in half with an axe from behind. He had long disliked Indra and would seize any opportunity to tear him to pieces.

Ravana and other notorious Demon Kings cast fierce glares toward the powerful Heavenly Gods like Sumana, Asura, and Yama. Intentionally, these Demon Kings edged closer to the Heavenly Gods behind them. Those Heavenly Gods were not fools; they hastily moved closer to the three great leaders, and their own powerful Heavenly General subordinates quickly formed a protective ring around them.

The three leaders—Da Fantian, Shiva, and Vishnu—exchanged glances. Zha Fan sternly demanded, “Little Daoist Zhang, from this First Heaven Palace all the way to the Thirty-Third, are you confident in directly shattering all prohibitions up to the Thirty-Third Heaven?”

Little Daoist Zhang hesitated for a moment, then bowed respectfully and replied, “Sirs, perhaps we should first break the prohibition on the central hall of the First Heaven Palace, the Tongming Hall, control the pivot point of this entire tier’s restrictions, and then proceed…”

Vishnu interrupted Little Daoist Zhang coolly. “We have heard the legends of the Thirty-Three Heaven Palaces. The highest tier, the Lingxiao Palace in the Three Pure Heavens, is where Haotian Shangdi normally receives the myriad Sages of the Heavens and administers affairs of the cosmos.”

Da Fantian stated calmly, “In other words, the Lingxiao Palace is the true core of the Thirty-Three Heaven Palaces. If we seize control of that main hall directly, this entire Heavenly Palace will be in our hands!”

Little Daoist Zhang blinked, then offered a modest smile, addressing Da Fantian affectionately, “We shall act according to Father’s wishes!”

Da Fantian and the others burst into loud laughter. Da Fantian’s four heads roared simultaneously, and his four arms formed a peculiar hand seal, striking the Lotus Nine Palaces Formation. Nine golden lotuses immediately burst forth with immense radiance. Da Fantian and the leaders of the Guardian Heavens all leaped onto the golden lotuses, taking their positions upon the backs of the white elephant and the great snake.

Da Fantian, Shiva, and Vishnu, the three great leaders, were all present. Indra and the other Heavenly Gods led tens of thousands of their most elite Heavenly God troops onto the golden lotuses. Pāpīman and the Demon Kings surged onto the lotuses with large contingents of troops. Leaders of other factions also led their most elite warriors aboard. The cultivators of the Guardian Heavens who possessed the strongest ascetic power slowly boarded the lotuses, led by Da Fantian’s several sons.

Gu Xiechen’s Chaos Primordial Spirit rapidly transformed into an ascetic immortal, following closely behind these heavenly host members as they boarded one of the golden lotuses.

With his face smeared with countless strange, intricate patterns painted with pigments and bone ash, making him look terrifyingly ferocious, Gu Xiechen grinned at Grand Master Xuandu, who stood beside him, nodding vigorously. “Esteemed Daoist friend, we owe you a great debt for your help this time... Once this is over, I will treat you to the most beautiful women and the most exquisite wine in the Three Realms.” Grand Master Xuandu rolled his eyes, not even bothering to look at Gu Xiechen.

Gu Xiechen chuckled, shook his head, and deliberately brushed against Grand Master Xuandu’s sleeve. He muttered quietly, “You Eastern Immortals are so boring. Rules and precepts—what are those worth? They’re nothing compared to us—enjoying beauty, wine, and every luxury to the fullest, yet still possessing immense power. Humph, you are truly foolish!”

Grand Master Xuandu still ignored him, shifting his body slightly to make space. Gu Xiechen merely smiled inwardly. In that brief brush, he had embedded nine-by-nine, eighty-one silk threads—a small Zhou Tian Innate Spirit Treasure, the ‘Profound Yin Soul-Chasing Thorn,’ newly gestated within his Origin Yin Profound Bead—into the threads of Grand Master Xuandu’s sleeve.

Putting that aside, the Guardian Heavens rushed into the formation composed of the nine golden lotuses. Little Daoist Zhang stood frozen.

Indra slapped Little Daoist Zhang heartily on the shoulder, laughing loudly. “This formation is excellent! We will use your formation to ascend directly to the Thirty-Third Heaven! Hey, don't tell us that just because we’ve added a few more people, this grand formation can’t move?”

Yama embraced Little Daoist Zhang around the waist from the other side, his breath icy as he whispered sinisterly, “The Three-Linked City is too massive; the power required for flight is enormous. But this formation is so light, and it concentrates all the demonic power of the Three-Linked City. Don’t tell us you cannot carry us upward.”

Behind Yama, three ancient Deathless Kings silently drew their swords, the tips pressing fiercely against Little Daoist Zhang’s vital points.

These kings from the Deathless World had swords tainted with the infinite death qi of their realm. Where the sword tips merely grazed Little Daoist Zhang’s body, his primordial spirit nearly froze from the chilling energy.

Little Daoist Zhang drew a deep breath and hurriedly activated the Supreme Purity Talisman, silently directing the Lotus Nine Palaces Formation forward.

Da Fantian and the others failed to detect the flicker of spiritual knowledge across Little Daoist Zhang’s brow, but Gu Xiechen clearly heard Grand Master Xuandu communicating a secret instruction directly into Little Daoist Zhang’s mind: “Follow the orders of these fiends. These fiends court death; they cannot blame us for our ruthlessness!”

Grand Master Xuandu coldly consoled Little Daoist Zhang. “The moment they lay eyes on Haotian Shangdi’s Lingxiao Palace will be the moment they perish. They seek their own doom; good, good. It will bring an end to matters.” Yunzhongzi, standing nearby, shot Grand Master Xuandu a knowing look, and the two shared a smile.

The light Lotus Nine Palaces Formation swept past this section of the Heavenly Palace, heading straight toward the cloud belt in the far north that led to the Second Heaven.

The White Cranes formed by the Origin Yin Primordial Spirit and the Origin Yang Primordial Spirit immediately surged into the Hall of Bright Clarity, the core hall among the three hundred and sixty-one great halls, after traversing the Nine Palaces Array of Lotus, releasing all the Spirit Officials, Divine Generals, Marshals, Immortals, and all the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals stationed there.

These divine beings required no further instruction; they chanted incantations one after another, transforming into streams of clear wind that flowed into the respective halls, taking up the posts their true bodies had guarded for countless years. They smoothly took over the restriction authority of the Hall of Bright Clarity, gaining control over all the traps and ambushes of the First Layer of Celestial Palaces.

Except for the ultimate restriction governing the Thirty-Three Celestial Palaces, located in the Hall of Miraculous Splendor on the Thirty-Third Heaven, no one else could seize Gu Xichen's mastery over this level of the Celestial Palaces. Furthermore, if the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals activated the full array of restrictions within this Celestial Palace layer, they could effectively purge the external, superimposed restrictions laid down by the Twin Sages of the Three Pure Ones and the Buddhist Sect. Gu Xichen was ecstatic! The Nine Palaces Array of Lotus snaked upwards along the cloud belt, continuously entering layer after layer of Celestial Palaces.

Outside every Celestial Palace layer were various interlocking restrictions set by the Twin Sages of the Three Pure Ones, the Buddhist Sages, and Empress Nuwa. Yet, under the wondrous effect of the Grand Clarity Talisman, every single restriction along this path was utterly annihilated; not one single layer of restriction managed to halt Grand Master Xuandu and the others.

The process of breaking these restrictions was so smooth, it was as if using the perfectly matching key to open a door, without the slightest hesitation or drag. Gu Xichen, fully aware of everything happening, let out a cold laugh. Great Brahma and the others also sneered, regarding the young Daoist Zhang and the other ten Daoists with the gaze reserved for the doomed.

Along the way, at the insistence of Great Brahma and the others, the young Daoist Zhang and his companions only broke the restrictions placed by the Sages, without touching the Celestial Palaces' original defensive techniques in the slightest. They pressed onward directly to the Thirty-Three Heavens without pause, a sequence of events that ultimately benefited Gu Wuchen entirely.

His two Primordial Spirit avatars followed closely behind the Nine Palaces Array of Lotus, releasing countless Heavenly Soldiers and Generals along the way. These heavenly forces returned to their original posts with maximum speed, completely assuming control of each Celestial Palace layer.

When the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals took over the palace on the Thirty-Second Heaven, the Heaven of Peaceful Balance and Victory (Ping Yu Jia Yi Tian), Gu Xichen felt a wave of certainty surge through him. With thirty-two layers of Celestial Palaces in hand, even if the Dharma-Protecting Heavens attacked en masse, they would face certain death. Relying solely on the innate defensive restrictions of the Celestial Palaces alone could repel an assault of a hundred times their number, let alone the extra layers of restrictions Sages had reinforced on the exterior of every palace! Breaking restrictions relentlessly as they ascended, Daoist Zhang and the others began to show signs of extreme exertion.

Especially when breaking the entry/exit restrictions of the final few Celestial Palaces, Daoist Zhang and Daoist Zhengyi relied entirely on the utmost cooperation and effort from Grand Master Xuandu and the others just to shatter those few terrifyingly powerful restrictions.

To break these restrictions, Daoist Zhang and the others continuously absorbed the massive demonic power flowing from Sanlian City via the Golden Lotus, utilizing it to empower the Grand Clarity Talisman. This immense magical force was constantly infused into the talisman, causing it to release vast amounts of azure light and rosy mist that clashed violently with the external restrictions.

Finally, after shattering the last immense barrier, clearly woven jointly by the Six Great Sages—the Chaos Heaven Great Restriction—the Nine Palaces Array of Lotus burst into the Three Pure Heavens, the celestial realm where the highest Celestial Palace resided. This uppermost Celestial Palace layer dwarfed the thirty-two layers below in both scale and splendor by a thousandfold.

In truth, this tiered scaling applied to every level; ascending one layer higher increased the area and magnitude of the Celestial Palace tenfold. The residence of the High Celestial Emperor, situated in the Three Pure Heavens, boasted a scope large enough to shock the mind.

Not to mention the main structures of the celestial palaces, the auxiliary Jade Pool Peach Garden on one side alone spanned an area equivalent to the combined size of the Celestial Palaces in the lower ten layers. Within that Peach Garden, brilliant light shone and auspicious vapors ascended, as thousands of Peach Trees released an intoxicating fragrance that permeated the entire Three Pure Heavens.

The atmosphere of the Three Pure Heavens Palace was starkly different from those below. Looking up here, the stars seemed close enough to touch, gigantic stellar bodies slowly revolving directly overhead, continuously pouring down immense stellar energy. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that the stars here were fundamentally flawed:

All eighty-four thousand Innate Stars were missing. The star field here was left populated only by Acquired Stars. Consequently, although the stellar energy density here was tens of millions of times greater than in the Nine Heavens and the Mortal Realm, the actual quantity of true stellar power was less than one-thousandth of that found in the Spiral Star Domain.

All the Innate Stars under the control of the Innate Star Lords had already been brought down to the lower realms by Gu Xichen; only these Acquired Stars remained here.

Yet, this brilliant canopy of starlight still left the Dharma-Protecting Heavens, including Great Brahma, utterly stunned. Such dense stellar power, such surging fluctuations of starlight—this place was indeed the nexus of the Three Realms, truly the foremost Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land in existence.

Ahead, shrouded in a silver radiance tinged with purple light, lay the highest core of authority in the Thirty-Three Heavens: the Hall of Miraculous Splendor where the High Celestial Emperor usually managed the affairs of the Three Realms. ■0

Great Brahma cast a deep gaze upon the column of light shooting down from the boundless void, then stated calmly, "Let us proceed to the Hall of Miraculous Splendor and seize control of everything within!"

Shivan, Vishnu, Indra, Pāpīyas, and other major figures among the Dharma-Protecting Heavens stiffened their postures with solemn expressions. After countless years of painstaking effort, they had finally arrived at this critical juncture.

Successfully seizing the Hall of Miraculous Splendor, capturing the essence of the Great Dao Laws integrated within the Celestial Palaces, and thereby transcending the limitations of the Heavenly Dao to achieve the status of Sages—this sliver of destiny was right before them. Once they achieved Sainthood, or even advanced further to become beings like Hongjun, nothing in the world would ever be feared again.

The Nine Palaces Array of Lotus flew forward rapidly. The vast demonic energy within the nine Golden Lotuses was continuously drawn into the bodies of Daoist Zhang and Daoist Zhengyi, constantly fueling the Grand Clarity Talisman. The two Grand Clarity Talismans radiated light patterns as clear as water ripples, dazzlingly bright and immensely powerful.

Finally, at a vast plaza located one thousand li from the main gate of the Hall of Miraculous Splendor, the Nine Palaces Array of Lotus halted.

On this plaza paved with white jade, six hazy figures hovered in the air. Though they appeared spectral, the suffocating aura they exuded was powerful enough to crush life. All six figures were clad in Daoist robes, yet everyone instantly understood their true identities: the Three Pure Sages, the Twin Buddhist Sages, and the Sage Nuwa.

The Six Great Sages had left behind a single strand of their aura outside the Hall of Miraculous Splendor, guarding this nexus capable of commanding the authority of the Three Realms.

It was merely a wisp of spiritual essence, yet it suppressed the Nine Palaces Array of Lotus, preventing it from advancing even an inch. Everyone except Gu Xichen, including Great Brahma and Grand Master Xuandu, was forced to their knees by this oppressive aura, their bodies trembling as they stared at the six figures in terrified disbelief.

Sweat streamed down Great Brahma’s body as he shouted fiercely, "Daoist Zhang! Zhengyi! Quickly break this restriction!"

The Grand Clarity Talismans in the hands of Daoist Zhang and Daoist Zhengyi suddenly flashed with azure light. They stood up with ease, looking at Great Brahma and the others, and burst into loud laughter. Spiritual talismans also flashed from the chests of Grand Master Xuandu, Yun Zhongzi, and Zhao Gongming, similarly emitting brilliant azure light that shielded their bodies. They regarded Great Brahma and the others with composed, mocking smiles. "You have willingly walked into your own demise!" Grand Master Xuandu sighed lightly, his tone saturated with ridicule and contempt.

Before his words had fully faded, no fewer than twenty sharp swords cleanly pierced through the bodies of Daoist Zhang and Daoist Zhengyi, splashing droplets of pale golden blood. The attackers were the ancient kings under the command of God Chair and Gemo, subordinates of Indra. Brahma's several sons simultaneously opened their eyes and roared an incantation.

Grand Master Xuandu, Yun Zhongzi, and Zhao Gongming shuddered. Despite the protection of the Grand Clarity Talismans, they were jolted so severely that spiritual energy erupted from their seven orifices, and their hearts nearly burst from their chests. Gu Xichen almost laughed aloud—indeed, neither side was truly benevolent; both had made preparations long ago!

Five heads flew high into the air. The five core disciples from Kunlun and Zhongnan who had accompanied Grand Master Xuandu and the others were easily slain by Demon Kings like Ravana, who cleanly severed their heads and shattered their souls with a single blow. Grand Master Xuandu roared, "The moment has come, strike! Precious light shot forth from the Grand Clarity Talismans, and instantly the sky of the Three Pure Heavens changed color. This concludes the second update for today; the total word count will approach one hundred and nine thousand. Hmm, Pig Head is indeed diligent C"