Three Hundred Years of Warfare

The battle beyond the heavens raged on for a long time, so long that even the cultivators of the immortal realm had grown accustomed to it. Whether it was the rain of darkness or the scattering sword energy, their emotions remained unfazed.

Some cultivators even collected these things, claiming them to be the opportunities of the Five Paths Great Emperor, insisting that there must be some benefit in taking them. However, no one had figured out what the benefit actually was, only knowing that the battle beyond the heavens continued without pause.

No cultivator could witness the clash between Chen Xia and Heaven Emperor. They had ventured into the beyond, no longer in this world. They might be fighting in the River of Time or within a self-created realm. Except for the occasional violent collisions of divine techniques in the beyond, there were no other traces of the two in the world, as if they didn't exist.

Only the other Five Paths Great Emperor could discern some clues. The Lord of the Divine Realm often stood at the highest point of Treasure Ring Scale State, observing the changes in the beyond, his eyes flickering with admiration.

"Deceiving the Heavenly Dao—what a brilliant move. The false great emperor came just in time, even more timely than a genuine one."

Currently, Chen Xia was effectively blocking the paths of all sword cultivators in the world. By becoming the Sword Dao Great Emperor and the most lethal existence of a single dao, he had severed their ways. And his other daos weren't weak either.

Achieving great emperorship in the Dao of Time made him the swiftest escapist in this realm. In other words, dying would be difficult, let alone the fact that the Dao of Light and Darkness was also a formidable killing path, not inferior to the Sword Dao in actual combat.

The remaining two daos were the Ancestral Dragon and the Heavenly Thunder, both of which had their significances.

It was nearly impossible for the world's Jiao Dragon lineage to prove the way of the Ancestral Dragon to become great emperors, but Chen Xia could. This signified he was already the ancestral dragon of this era, carrying the fortunes of hundreds of thousands of Jiao Dragon lineage within him.

His power alone represented the entire dragon race.

Next was the Thunder Dao, but not an ordinary one—it was the Ultimate Dao of Thunder, imbued with the intent of executing the will of Heaven. It could also be seen as a smaller Heavenly Dao.

Any of these four daos, when taken individually, were top-tier existences, suitable for being the crowning glory of the Five Paths Great Emperor. But Chen Xia wielded four of them...

Terrifying.

The Lord of the Divine Realm had lived for so long, yet even he could only describe the scene with the word "terrifying." This was a dao scenario he had never even dared to imagine before.

But Chen Xia had somehow made it happen.

The Lord of the Divine Realm fell silent for a moment, then smiled wryly, musing aloud, "Perhaps this is why the supreme existences chose Chen Xia."

From the moment Heaven Emperor made an overbearing debut, smashing three-tenths of the terrain of Cloud State and threatening the other Five Paths Great Emperors to hand over three-tenths of their respective states, the Great Emperors of the Divine Realm suddenly realized something.

He seemed to be old.

Not in the sense of physical aging commonly referred to by cultivators, but a weariness of spirit.

Facing a new existence like Heaven Emperor, he lacked the energy for one-on-one combat, nor did he have the resolve to win. As if accustomed to countless millennia of mundane life, he could no longer summon the arrogant spirit of his past cultivation days.

This made the Great Emperor of the Divine Realm question whether he was truly fit to ascend to the supreme rank.

It was often said that the higher the cultivation, the firmer the dao heart, the stronger the obsession, the more single-minded.

But the Great Emperor of the Divine Realm's heart had undergone a change—was it a seeded demon, or something else?

He wasn't sure. His gaze slightly lowered, his expression complicated.

Perhaps it was indeed time for a change of era.

Apart from the Great Emperor of the Divine Realm and the other Five Paths Great Emperor, the cultivators of Heaven Pill Gate were also deeply concerned about the battle beyond the heavens. They even ventured there multiple times to investigate, but failed to locate Chen Xia, only sensing the rumbling of divine techniques.

In response, Huang Qingyue, the current master of the Ninth Mountain, returned to the Ninth Mountain to seek the help of the owner of the Nine Mountains, hoping to rescue Chen Xia.

The owner of the Nine Mountains had some grievances with Chen Xia and, more importantly, wouldn't dare to involve himself in a battle between two Five Paths-level existences. He immediately refused and demanded Huang Qingyue return to the Ninth Mountain.

Huang Qingyue naturally refused, immediately returning to Heaven Pill Gate, secluding herself in East Jia State, and praying endlessly for Chen Xia, placing her hope in the intangible.

Xu Zhen was a bit smarter. She directly planned to charge into the entire celestial realm, forcing Heaven Emperor to return. However, before she could act, the still-rational Qiu Li dissuaded her, saying, "The celestial realm is too complex, with many great emperors present. If you charge in and get captured, you'd only add pressure to Chen Xia."

Xu Zhen pondered and realized his point, deciding not to act.

But Emperor Capital got fired up, yelling, "Forget about those great emperors! Anyone who dares touch my Chen Xia brother, even if it's a supreme being, I'll curse them out! What the hell, come on, let's go! Today, we're going to punch a hole through the celestial realm!"

Not only did he shout with aura, but he also truly dared to head toward the celestial realm.

Qiu Li and Chi Yu both advised him to calm down, not to add pressure to Chen Xia, but Emperor Capital, brimming with anger, stubbornly insisted on going.

"Alright, let's all calm down," Big Yellow Dog said.

"Fine, since the Big Yellow Dog said so, we'll hold off," Emperor Capital immediately calmed down, echoing the Big Yellow Dog's words.

A joke, he had to listen to the Four Paths Great Emperor's advice.

"For now, all we can do is wait. You should all stay within the mountain gate and not add any more pressure to Chen Xia," Big Yellow Dog added.

"Mhm," everyone nodded in agreement.

Those familiar with the Big Yellow Dog felt that he was strikingly different from usual, perhaps a change that came with strength.

Those unfamiliar with him, like Li Yue, only admired the dog's coolness, sensing a contrasting sense of charm in his persona.

Chi Yu also sat quietly beside the Big Yellow Dog, the two of them silent, perhaps unsure of what to say.

Sitting in quietness like this… well, it was fine.

Time slowly passed; the battle beyond the heavens never ceased. As time stretched, the lower cultivators seemed to have grown accustomed to the battles above their heads, since it didn't affect them.

It was clear that Heaven Emperor and Chen Xia were evenly matched, and it was evident they were engaged in a life-and-death struggle—otherwise, it would have ended long ago.

During this period, the puppet body of Daoist Suppressing Heaven left Heaven Pill Gate once. Perhaps it was yet another of his schemes, and it took him a long time to return.

His first action upon returning was to look toward the beyond, then he declared in a deep voice, "It's time to decide the victor."

When the weather improved slightly, the sky seemed to tremble, with strands of sword light resembling fish swimming in a vast sea, darting freely across the sky.

The sword lights grew more numerous, gradually enveloping the entire immortal realm's sky.

...and spreading over the immortal realm.

At this moment, all the cultivators of the immortal realm looked up at the sky, gazing at that expanse.

Crack!

A sudden, crackling sound echoed.

The entire sky tore apart into a long, straight fissure that spanned the entire horizon.

...a sword mark?

Within the fissure of the sky, boundless sword lights suddenly flared, their momentum so vast that it enveloped the entire immortal realm, placing the entire immortal realm under their glow.

The sky was split open by this sword strike, revealing the gates of heaven.

A figure plummeted straight down, crashing onto the tallest peak of Manghei Continent.

Then, a sword swept in from the gates of heaven. With a crisp swish, the sword light surged with overwhelming power, like an immortal-slaying arrow, instantly piercing through the figure's head, nailing him to the highest peak of Manghei Continent.

Everything happened too quickly, too intensely.

Only when everyone recovered from their shock did they notice the figure standing at the gates of heaven.

The attire was no longer that pristine, now torn and stained with blood.

But everyone recognized him.

It was the Ancestral Apothecary.

It was Chen Xia.

Three hundred years of battle—the final verdict had been made!