Zong Shou was slightly dazed, gazing up at the Pseudo-Spirit Refining Sword now blazing in the firmament, its aura connecting heaven and earth. It was wantonly casting down sword essence, commanding the will of the heavens, seemingly the sovereign of the sword essence, occupying the central zenith!

The remaining six swords orbited it like attendant stars, each anchored to a cardinal point, constantly circling in an inscrutably profound trajectory as they provided defense.

As this vast and unparalleled sword pressure relentlessly bore down, the eight ultimate Venerables within the Thirty-Three Heavens clearly began to struggle.

The Supreme Primordial Demon, situated at the twenty-ninth Heaven, immediately fell one layer, descending to the twenty-eighth Heaven!

More sword energy spilled out in all directions, continuously exploding Daoist, Confucian, and Demonic cultivators into fine dust. Many who deemed their cultivation too low to resist dared not linger any longer, retreating through the few remaining spatial fissures out of the Celestial Realm.

With these seven swords unleashed, it seemed the cosmos itself had been settled. If the Demon Lord of the Primal Beginning did not arrive, this battle appeared destined to conclude today.

At this moment, around the Sword Platform, among the three thousand-plus cultivators of the Path of All Beings within the Source Sea Nine Palaces Sword Formation, even those with the calmest temperaments were visibly exhilarated.

"Wielding the might of heaven and earth—is this the Sword Formation of All Beings left by the Ancestor?"

"It's almost like a Heavenly Tribulation itself—"

"Truly the treasure that anchors our Path of All Beings!"

"As long as we dare to expel these opponents and gravely injure one or two before the Demon Lord of the Primal Beginning arrives, this battle will be decided!"

"Heh! With such sword might, what if the Primal Beginning Lord even comes?"

Zong Shou’s feelings were exceedingly complex. He looked with a measure of apology at the nameless sword in his hand.

He mused whether this sword was truly the sword spirit of the Spirit Refining Sword. If the battle had been deadlocked, or if the situation for the Path of All Beings was perilous, he would not hesitate to try again. But now, it seemed inappropriate. Moreover, he could not be certain; if the spirit residing in his hand was indeed that of the Spirit Refining Sword, why couldn't he draw the blade a few days prior?

Sword Qi scattered across the sky, and the sweet rain of grace continued to fall incessantly.

The battle had reached a point where, aside from the seventy thousand Black Dragon Warriors of the Cloud Realm suffering nearly twenty thousand casualties, the cultivators of the Path of All Beings within the Celestial Realm had avoided any large-scale slaughter. Many immortal cultivators whose true essence had been nearly exhausted maintaining the Grand Formation of Ten Thousand Immortals were now gradually recovering to their peak state by drawing upon the sweet rain.

Everyone's expressions softened, yet they dared not relax in the slightest; instead, they became even more focused, pouring forth their full strength. They knew that delay bred complications; the sooner these immortal cultivators from the Three Teachings, and even the eight ultimate Venerables, were expelled from the Celestial Realm, the less chance there was for variables to arise.

Ling-Bo Shui, standing nearby, was similarly focused, nearly all her consciousness poured into the Nine Palaces Sword Formation and the Thirty-Three Heavens Array. Just one more step, and the Path of All Beings could safely repel the enemy!

Zong Shou was also fully engaged, orchestrating the myriad transformations of the sword formation. The Sword of Slaughter of All Beings, under his guidance, was pushed to its extreme. Only by slaying and driving out every single intruder could he divert the majority of the formation's power towards Kun Ming and the others aloft. For an ultimate Venerable, this might be contemptible, but at this critical juncture, even the addition of one more straw could tip the scales of battle.

Within the sword formation, however, only Chu Xue revealed a flicker of unease, frowning tightly. "Something feels wrong—"

Zong Shou startled. Could it be that even Xue'er lacked confidence? This girl possessed the Battle Body, granting her keen spiritual perception, capable of predicting fortune and disaster at a certain level. Speaking of which, his nameless sword was also resonating incessantly. Besides extreme displeasure toward the Pseudo-Spirit Refining Sword above, it also felt exceptionally restless and anxious, conveying an urgent sense of 'time is short.'

"Sword. Lord. Lord. Emperor. Emperor. Heaven. Heaven. Emperor. Wield. Wield. Thirty-Three. Slay. Slay. Slay. Slay—"

The continuous urging made the meaning of the characters even clearer. Looking up, Yuan Jiang and Scholar Zhu, who had been directly facing the sword's edge earlier, appeared remarkably calm, seemingly unconcerned. Within Yuan Jiang's eyes, a hint of mockery and contempt even pierced through. Qing Xuan, aligned with the thirty-second level, also stood with his hands behind his back, composed and self-assured.

The Grand Daoist Sovereign of the Supreme Yellow suddenly smiled. "Guided by my senior brother, I too have a method to establish a Heaven outside the Thirty-Three Heavens—the Yu Yu Heaven of the Supreme Purity Realm!"

He moved his hand, and a ten-zhang long Daoist banner materialized. With a flourish in the air, it swept the Supreme Yellow Sovereign aloft. A layer of heavenly membrane appeared, parallel to the thirty-first Heaven.

A Divine Treasure? Zong Shou's expression grew grave. He had never seen a Divine-grade artifact before, but the moment he laid eyes on this banner, he knew it must be one. Divine Treasures, for Ultimate Realm cultivators, were all about pushing a certain Great Dao principle to its extreme. In the hands of an Ultimate Venerable, their utility was far less immense than when grasped by a Saint Realm cultivator. The latter could use a Divine Treasure to instantly elevate their level to match that of an Ultimate Venerable. In the hands of an Ultimate Venerable, however, it could, at best, boost combat power by three to five levels, essentially granting mastery over one additional ultimate principle. Unless the supreme ability within the Divine Treasure perfectly complemented their own Dao, allowing for mutual enhancement.

And the banner held by the Grand Daoist Sovereign of the Supreme Yellow was precisely this kind! He had managed to leap past the boundary of the late Ultimate Realm, reaching the thirty-first level, establishing another Heaven! While he could not completely resist the Seven Swords of All Beings hanging in the sky, he stabilized the situation, preventing further deterioration.

Conversely, the seven swords above caused Zong Shou's heart to sink slightly. He finally understood why Yuan Jiang and Scholar Zhu had shown such disdain.

Even when the Seven Swords combined their power, continuously drawing upon the might of heaven and earth, they still failed to coalesce their strength into a single point, even after purging the majority of the Three Teachings' cultivators within the Celestial Realm, either by forcing them out or slaying them. Most of the sword essence dissipated aimlessly in all directions. The sword intent was fierce, yet most of it was spent on empty space. At this point, not just Zong Shou, but many cultivators within the Celestial Realm grew disheartened again, their complexions turning gray once more.

The Supreme Primordial Demon, Li Biexue, sneered coldly, "Is this the Seven Swords of All Beings? Nothing more than that!"

Qing Xuan shook his head and sighed faintly. "I said earlier it was a pity! By using this Pseudo-Spirit Refining Sword, your Path of All Beings is destroying its own great barrier. If the peril of a pseudo-sword is this severe, I dread to imagine the true combination of the Seven Swords of All Beings. Alas, I fear Qing Xuan will never see it. Xiu Guan, Heaven does not favor you—"

Xiu Guan's expression remained unchanged, his eyelids half-closed. "Though it is a pseudo-sword, it is sufficient to repel the enemy!"

"Is that so?"

This voice rang out abruptly, and in the next instant, a world-shattering roar was heard. The dome of the Celestial Realm above seemed to have been violently kicked, causing an entire section of space to nearly collapse, shattering and splitting apart. Then, a figure strode through, riding atop a black Qilin.