The Immortal Path Broken

The moment all those chains shattered, the stone coffin above the altar finally lost all its suppression.

Black and red mist gushed out from the cracks of the coffin, like a sea of blood that had slumbered for billions of years being cleaved open by a single blade.

"Roar..."

Golden runes lit up madly, only to be swallowed by that eerie aura in the next moment.

Su Rui and Lin Xi stood behind Ye Chuan. Even though they were protected by a chaotic barrier, they still didn't dare to breathe heavily.

"He... is coming out?"

Ye Chuan looked up at the stone coffin.

"Yes."

As soon as his voice fell, the lid of the stone coffin exploded with a bang.

A hand reached out from inside!

Immediately after, a man wearing an ancient Daoist robe slowly stood up from the stone coffin.

Half of his body was radiant with immortal light, with the phantom of a towering immortal gate appearing behind him, while the other half had already rotted into black and red flesh, with densely packed eyes growing between his ribs.

He had already become an immortal.

It's just that this immortal was not an orthodox immortal.

But an eerie immortal born after forcibly ascending to immortality using the power of an Outer God.

"Hoo." The Sect Master of Wenxian slowly opened his eyes. The entire ruin quieted down at this moment, and those originally squirming flesh tissues bowed down like subjects seeing their king.

The explorers who were still fleeing for their lives in the distance exploded on the spot just by hearing a trace of his breath.

The black vertical eye on the forehead of the Sect Master of Wenxian slowly turned and landed on Ye Chuan.

"I am the seventh generation Sect Master of Wenxian."

"The path to immortality is severed, the heavenly gate does not appear, and all ascendants of the heavens are trapped in the mortal realm."

"Ten thousand years of bitter cultivation, ten thousand years of searching, and in the end, only I heard the voice outside the gate."

"It said, if the heavenly gate does not open, then use flesh and blood as the gate."

"It said, if the Great Dao has no path, then use all living beings as the path."

"It said, if the immortal realm does not ferry me over, I shall become an immortal myself."

He raised his head, and a somewhat manic smile appeared on the half of his face that still retained the outline of an immortal. "So, I succeeded."

"I have already become an immortal!"

"Although not the orthodox immortal you speak of, so what?"

"An immortal is an immortal!"

The other party's aura even far exceeded the Heavenly Immortal Realm where Ye Chuan was, and the entire world began to shake violently!

Lin Xi and Su Rui turned pale under the pressure of this imposing aura.

Ye Chuan raised his hand, and black-gold chaotic power slowly rotated in his palm. The next moment, the two of them were thrown into a corner by him.

"Latecomers, merge into one with *&&...&*&...%" The Sect Master of Wenxian let out an indistinct voice, "Hahahaha!"

The next moment, his half-rotten face instantly twisted, and the towering immortal gate behind him crashed open. Black and red tentacles surged madly out from the crack of the door, and countless runes with eyes pressed toward Ye Chuan overwhelmingly.

Hidden in every rune were whispers that polluted the divine soul.

But as soon as those runes approached within three feet of Ye Chuan, they stopped as if hitting an invisible barrier, and then shattered inch by inch in the black-gold chaotic power.

The vertical eye on the forehead of the Sect Master of Wenxian suddenly shrank. "Ineffective?"

Ye Chuan's expression was calm.

"Oh? You're attacking me with the pollution of an Outer God?"

He paused for a moment and added in a very serious tone, "Stupid."

The immortal light on the Sect Master of Wenxian suddenly skyrocketed, and the spiritual energy of the entire ruin was forcibly drained by him at this moment.

He pressed down with a palm, and an immortal hand that blotted out the sky and the sun appeared in the void.

Before that palm truly fell, the space around the altar had already begun to collapse over a large area. If it were placed in the outside world, this palm would be enough to smash an entire planet into dust.

But Ye Chuan just lifted his eyelids and took a look.

That immortal hand froze in midair and instantly exploded!

The next instant, the chaotic power rolled up backwards, forcibly swallowing the immortal hand along with the Outer God's pollution mixed within it.

The Sect Master of Wenxian finally realized something was wrong.

He was an eerie immortal.

But his immortal spells had no effect when landing on Ye Chuan.

His pollution also had no effect when landing on Ye Chuan.

The skills were flashy.

The damage was zero.

Ye Chuan lifted his foot and took a step forward.

Black-gold light spread out from beneath his feet, instantly covering the entire altar.

"Domain Expansion—"

The Sect Master of Wenxian's face sank. He was just about to attack again, but the surrounding world suddenly quieted down.

Even that sky polluted by the Outer God had disappeared.

Endless chaos slowly flowed around. In the distance, it seemed as if countless shattered worlds were floating within it, and it also seemed as if billions of stars were repeatedly cycling between birth and destruction.

Ye Chuan stood in the center of the chaos, and a portion of chaotic avatars appeared behind him, making him look like the sole master of this world.

The Sect Master of Wenxian was forcibly pulled into it. The madness on his face finally lessened a bit, replaced by solemnity.

"Domain?"

Ye Chuan looked at him. "Mine."

The Sect Master of Wenxian sneered. Half of his immortal body burst forth with radiant immortal light, while the other half of his eerie body surged with black and red blood mist.

"A mere domain, and you want to trap an immortal?"

He formed seals with his hands, and the immortal gate appeared behind him again, wanting to forcibly prop open this chaotic domain.

But as soon as the immortal gate appeared, the runes on the door began to twist.

Those tentacles that originally reached out from behind the door seemed to have encountered something extremely terrifying, actually retracting madly. Even that huge eye hidden behind the door closed the moment the chaotic power swept past.

The Sect Master of Wenxian's pupils shrank. "The power from outside the gate is actually afraid of you?"

Ye Chuan raised his hand, and the black-gold power within the chaotic domain rose like a tide.

"Afraid?"

"Of course, they know that if they come out, they will die."

The Sect Master of Wenxian roared angrily, finally no longer probing with spells.

He raised his hand and grabbed an ancient longsword from the void.

The sword body originally should have been as white as jade, but now the spine of the sword was covered with black and red flesh. A circle of dense eyes was open at the crossguard, and countless tiny mouths even grew on both sides of the blade.

"A Dharma treasure..."

Ye Chuan glanced at it. "The aura is quite strong."

He took another look at those disgusting eyes on the sword body. "But it's been polluted. Bad review."

"This is my natal immortal weapon!"

The Sect Master of Wenxian gripped that immortal weapon, and his entire aura rose again. The half immortal light and the half eerie aura barely merged together, forming an extremely twisted yet extremely powerful force.

He slashed down with his sword.

A sword line as thin as a cicada's wing slashed through the chaotic domain.

But wherever that sword line passed, even space itself was cut into two. Several phantoms of shattered stars floating in the domain in the distance were instantly sliced open, and even their star cores were silently annihilated.

This was a strike from an immortal weapon.

It was also a strike from an eerie immortal.

Ye Chuan felt the powerful aura of the other party and raised his hand—

Boom!

The entire chaotic domain trembled slightly.

The Sect Master of Wenxian's expression drastically changed.

That sword aura, which was enough to sever mountains, seas, and galaxies, was caught in midair by Ye Chuan with two fingers.

Ye Chuan exerted a little force with his fingers.

The sword aura shattered.

The expression on the Sect Master of Wenxian's face finally turned completely gloomy.

The eerie body behind him suddenly opened up, and countless tentacles pierced into the void. One ancient divine weapon after another was dragged out by him from the polluted immortal gate.

Every one of these divine weapons had once suppressed a sect.

But now, they had all been polluted by the Outer God.

The immortal light was still there.

But they were dirty.

The Sect Master of Wenxian stood among countless divine weapons, his aura frantic and terrifying. "I want to see just how much you can be immune to!"

Countless divine weapons erupted simultaneously, illuminating the entire chaos domain with immortal light and blood mist.

Ye Chuan stood in place, completely motionless.

Ineffective. Ineffective. All of it was ineffective.

Watching this scene, incomprehension appeared in the eyes of the Sect Master of Wenxian for the very first time.

"Why?"

"Why is it useless?"

Ye Chuan finally took a step forward. "Because your so-called immortal arts, corruption, divine weapons, and aberrant paths are all useless against me."

"What's the point of just having a high level? Out here in the real world, it's not about your level, it's about whether your domain of rules is badass enough."

"Trash."

The Sect Master of Wenxian was already enraged, and this single word from Ye Chuan completely infuriated him.

An ant with a lower cultivation realm than me!

An ant!!!!!

He no longer maintained that immortal posture. His half-rotted, aberrant body suddenly swelled up as countless eyes opened simultaneously. The phantom of the heavenly gate behind him was also completely covered by black and red flesh.

"I have become an immortal!"

"I have already ascended to immortality!"

"Even if I am a corrupted immortal, I am still an immortal!"

He roared and charged at Ye Chuan, the corrupted immortal weapon in his hand erupting with an unprecedented brilliance.

This time, he did not use ranged spells, but chose close-quarters combat.

The immortal weapon slashed down, shaking the chaos.

Although Ye Chuan was immune to magic, he was still susceptible to physical attacks.

The other hand of the Sect Master of Wenxian transformed into a giant claw of flesh and blood, tearing through space and grabbing at Ye Chuan's head.

Of course, Ye Chuan's fear of physical attacks was only relative to his magic immunity. Having educated and elevated so many souls with his banner, his physical strength was by no means low—

Ye Chuan threw a punch, completely fearless!

The giant flesh claw exploded on the spot.

The body of the Sect Master of Wenxian flew backward through the air, smashing through dozens of phantom chaos stars before forcibly steadying himself under the healing effects of the Outer God's corruption.

Just as he stood up, Ye Chuan teleported and appeared right in front of him.

"Hand-to-hand combat? I like that too." Ye Chuan stomped down, directly driving the Sect Master of Wenxian from mid-air into the chaos earth.

With a boom, space trembled!

The corrupted immortal body smashed out a bottomless, massive crater.

The Sect Master of Wenxian roared, wanting to get up. Immortal light and flesh erupted simultaneously in an attempt to repair his body.

However, Ye Chuan's chaos power clung to his wounds like maggots on a bone. Neither immortal power nor the Outer God's corruption could expel it.

He was finally in a wretched state.

He began to truly realize that the corrupted immortal status he was so proud of was not as supreme in front of Ye Chuan as he had imagined.

Ye Chuan stood at the edge of the pit, looking down at him. "Continue."

The Sect Master of Wenxian gritted his teeth and climbed up, all the eyes on his body weeping black blood at the same time. "What exactly are you?"

Ye Chuan did not answer, merely raising his hand to beckon.

The corrupted immortal weapon was directly snatched from the hands of the Sect Master of Wenxian.

The flesh and blood on the sword writhed madly, trying to bite Ye Chuan's palm, but the moment it touched the chaos power, it let out a silent scream, and the densely packed eyes exploded one after another.

Soon, the corruption on the surface of the sword was forcibly stripped away, revealing the originally clear, water-like blade beneath.

Ye Chuan swung it casually. The sword let out a clear chime, as if it had finally awakened from a billion-year nightmare. "Good weapon."

I'll be taking this sword.

The Sect Master of Wenxian stared blankly at the sword, his voice suddenly dropping. "Severing Dust..."

That seemed to be the original name of this immortal weapon.

Holding the Severing Dust Sword, Ye Chuan said calmly, "Your sword is more lucid than you are."

The next moment, he slashed out with the sword.

The right arm of the Sect Master of Wenxian went flying.

The second sword strike fell.

All the black and red tentacles behind his back snapped.

The third sword strike fell.

The corrupted phantom of the heavenly gate split down the middle. The giant eye behind the gate let out a shrill wail before being completely swallowed by the chaos power.

Half of the immortal body of the Sect Master of Wenxian began to shatter, while the corrupted half proliferated madly, trying to regenerate his body.

Ye Chuan did not give him the chance.

He raised his hand and pressed down.

The power of the entire chaos domain pressed down all at once!

The Sect Master of Wenxian was forcefully crushed to his knees!

This time, it was not a mortal kneeling to an immortal!

It was a corrupted immortal kneeling before Ye Chuan!

The Sect Master of Wenxian knelt on the ground, trembling all over, but still forcibly raising his head.

The madness on his face faded bit by bit, replaced by an almost broken sense of bewilderment.

"Why..."

"I have clearly already become an immortal."

"The immortal path is severed, the heavenly gate remains closed, and the ascendants of all realms are trapped in the mortal dust."

"They are all dead."

"None of them could wait long enough."

"Only I found the way."

He began to laugh softly, but the laughter no longer held arrogance; instead, it was filled with unspeakable agony.

"I sought immortality my entire life."

"In the end, heaven did not answer me, and the immortals did not see me."

"I stood before the heavenly gate and waited for a thousand years, and then another thousand years."

"But the gate did not open."

"The Dao did not manifest."

"All living beings called me the number one in the mortal realm, but what does it matter to be the number one in the mortal realm?"

"There is no path to ascension, and longevity has an end. Ten thousand years of cultivation is nothing more than a trapped beast pacing its cage."

As he spoke, black blood flowed down his half-rotted face, while a clear tear fell from his immortal half.

"Later, there was a voice from outside the gate."

"It said, the immortal path is severed, but the aberrant path can also lead to immortality."

"It said, flesh and blood as a boat, ten thousand souls as a lamp, the obsessions of all living beings can be transformed into the steps to ascend to immortality."

"I believed it."

"I really believed it."

The Sect Master of Wenxian looked up toward the depths of the chaos domain, as if looking at a past he could never return to.

"The day I became an immortal, a hundred thousand immortal mountains trembled together, billions of disciples knelt in worship, heaven and earth opened the way for me, and all sects hailed me as supreme."

"I thought I had won."

"But only after I ascended did I realize..."

"That was not the immortal realm."

"The so-called eternal life is fleshly parasitism."

"The so-called Great Dao is a cage woven from countless eyes."

His voice grew lower and lower, as if he were lucid, yet also as if he had descended deeper into madness.

"The Great Dao has no door, the heavenly gate has no immortals."

"I asked the blue heavens, and the heavens remained silent."

"I asked the immortals, and the immortals were all empty."

"I asked myself, and I am no longer myself."

"Hahahaha..."

He suddenly burst into loud laughter, laughing so hard his entire body trembled, laughing until the remaining eyes wept black blood one by one.

"I sought immortality my entire life, and in the end, all I got was this skin that is neither human, nor ghost, nor immortal."

He looked up at Ye Chuan, his voice hoarse. "Latecomer, you are stronger than me."

"Since you can strike me down, perhaps you can strike open that gate."

"If one day you meet the one who severed the immortal path, ask him a question for me."

"Why?"

"Why did you sever our path to immortality?"

"Why did you make the cultivators of ten thousand realms wait bitterly for nothing?"

Ye Chuan looked at him and suddenly said, "The immortal realm was actually destroyed long ago. The path never existed in the first place."

A single sentence left the Sect Master of Wenxian stunned.

He tried to find something on Ye Chuan's face, tried to find some sign that the other party was lying to him.

But—

No, Ye Chuan was not lying.

"The immortal realm... is destroyed?"

"What... what exactly have we been holding on for?"

At this moment, the Outer God corruption on the Sect Master of Wenxian surged once more. Those grotesque eyes snapped open frantically, attempting to seize control of his consciousness again.

The clarity on his face was rapidly fading away.

In his final moments, as if expending the very last ounce of his strength, he stared fixedly at Ye Chuan.

"Kill me."

"While I still remember... that I was once human."

Ye Chuan raised his hand, the black-gold power of chaos flowing across the Severing Dust Sword.

"Alright."

The sword light descended, accompanied by a crisp, resonant chime that sliced through the chaos.

The immortal physique, the eerie mutated flesh, the Dao Fruit, and the corrupted divine soul of the Sect Master of Wenxian shattered simultaneously beneath this single strike.

The Outer God corruption attempted to flee, only to be crushed into nothingness on the spot by the Domain of Chaos!

The lingering immortal light drifted from his body like countless fireflies, slowly fading away within the black-gold realm.

Ye Chuan looked at the man before him. He briefly raised his hand, intending to refine the fallen cultivator into an avatar, but after a moment of hesitation, he slowly lowered it.

"..."