Without Permission

Wang Hao raised his sword.

Countless white threads,

invisible to ordinary people,

appeared within the warship.

Every thread

was connected to the distant starry sky.

They were karmic contamination.

And also a kind of gaze.

“Sky-Opening Nine Swords.”

“The second sword.”

“Sever Karma.”

The silver blade fell.

All the white threads

tightened at once.

Wang Hao’s imperial soul shook violently.

A force far surpassing a Martial God—

even surpassing an ordinary Transcendence Realm expert—

came from the other ends of those threads.

It seemed that something

had discovered someone was cutting off its gaze.

A deathly pale eye

opened in the depths of the void.

With only a single glance,

fresh cracks spread across

the surface of the New Son of Heaven Sword.

The silver-haired youth let out a muffled groan.

Wang Hao’s tiger’s mouth burst open.

Golden imperial blood

ran down the sword hilt.

Yet he did not let go.

“Within Great Xia,”

“without permission,”

“you are not allowed to look.”

The blade fell again.

Crack!

The first karmic thread snapped.

Then the second.

Then the hundredth.

Then the three hundred and sixty-second.

All karmic contamination

was severed with a single strike.

Wang Hao raised his left hand.

Golden flames of the Imperial Dao

flowed into the bodies of every soldier.

Faces, one after another,

turned to ash within the flames.

Inside the warship,

piercing screams continued

for a full half hour.

In the end,

of the three hundred and sixty-two people,

one hundred and ninety-seven survived.

The rest

had already suffered irreparable damage to their souls.

Even after the contamination was severed,

they could not awaken.

A-Li entered the warship.

She collected the corpses one by one.

She did not cry.

Yet everyone could see

that the hand gripping the helm

had been trembling the entire time.

Wang Hao stood on the deck

and looked toward the sixty-second realm gate.

“Open the gate.”

The golden realm gate

slowly opened.

Beyond it

lay a world of pure white.

White mountains.

White rivers.

A white sun.

Even the beings there

were dressed in white.

At the center of the world stood

a ninety-nine-tiered Ascension Platform,

reaching straight into the heavens.

Atop the Ascension Platform

was embedded a severed, snow-white finger.

That finger

was a hundred thousand li long.

Its skin was crystalline,

surrounded by immortal radiance.

One needed only a glance

to feel the urge to worship.

A system notification appeared.

[Special location detected.]

[Sixty-Second Branch Vault of the Wusheng Merchant Alliance: Ascension World.]

[Would you like to check in?]

“Check in.”

[Check-in successful.]

[Obtained: One wisp of Immaculate Kindling.]

[Immaculate Kindling: Born from the first fireseed of all living beings. It can burn away foreign contamination without harming one’s origin.]

[Intelligence updated.]

[Intelligence 1: The finger upon the Ascension Platform belongs to a true immortal.]

[Intelligence 2: Immortal finger contamination level: 63%.]

[Intelligence 3: Those who hear the immortal music three times will become Welcomers of the Immortal. Those who gaze directly upon an immortal body will be implanted with an immortal seed.]

[Intelligence 4: At the cost of three hundred subsidiary worlds, the Wusheng Merchant Alliance has reopened the immortal path, severed for countless years.]

[Intelligence 5: The Sixty-Third Branch Vault is not a treasure vault, but a coordinate for guiding an immortal’s descent into the myriad realms.]

[Intelligence 6: At the other end of the immortal path, an immortal has already awakened.]

Wang Hao read the intelligence.

His gaze gradually darkened.

The Crone of Hundred Burial Mountain

also saw the severed finger.

She took out an ancient immortal bone.

The bone had come from the deepest reaches

of Hundred Burial Mountain.

It was flawlessly white,

without the slightest impurity.

Yet although the finger atop the Ascension Platform

was surrounded by even denser immortal radiance,

fine black hairs grew

from beneath its fingernails.

And beneath its skin,

black lines writhed like countless worms

crawling through its flesh.

The old crone’s voice was low.

“That is an immortal body.”

“But something is wrong.”

“What is wrong?”

The Dragon-Slayer asked,

The old woman tightened her grip on the immortal bone.

“Ancient texts record:

‘Immortals are without blemish.

‘Immortal blood is flawless.

‘Immortal bones are imperishable.

‘And yet this finger—

‘is diseased.’”

Upon the Ascension Platform,

an old man in white

slowly opened his eyes.

He was the chief steward

of the sixty-second branch treasury—

the Ascension Venerable.

He had originally possessed

the peak cultivation of the Martial God realm.

But now,

his lower body

had fused with the immortal finger.

Twelve pale arms

protruded from his back.

At the center of each palm

was a mouth.

“Wang Hao.”

“You’ve finally come.”

“The Merchant Alliance has been waiting for you for a long time.”

Wang Hao asked,

“What are you waiting for me to do?”

The Ascension Venerable smiled.

“Your Imperial Path.

“Your dynasty.

“Your nearly one billion subjects.

“They are all the finest sacrifices

for welcoming the descent of the immortals.”

His twelve palms

opened at the same time.

Boundless immortal music

rang out from them.

Throughout the entire Ascension Realm,

billions of white-robed beings

looked up in unison.

Blissful smiles

appeared on their faces.

Then,

every one of them picked up a knife

and slit their own throats.

Their blood flowed upward,

converging upon the Ascension Platform.

“The path to immortality—

“must be opened with the blood of all living beings!”

Killing intent surged in Wang Hao’s eyes.

“Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

“All eight levels—open!”

Boom!

The gate to the eighth level

opened completely.

Hundreds of thunder phoenixes

spread their wings and charged toward the Ascension Platform.

The Ascension Venerable’s twelve arms

struck forward simultaneously.

“Immortal Gift!”

Pure white immortal light

transformed into twelve torrents.

The hundreds of thunder phoenixes

were actually held back in midair.

The aura emanating from the Ascension Venerable

had already surpassed the Martial God realm,

drawing infinitely close to Transcendence.

But this power did not belong to him.

It was the polluted immortal power

lent to him by the immortal finger.

Wang Hao took one step forward.

The aura of the third level of Transcendence

swept across the Ascension Realm.

“First Palm!”

A golden palm print

shattered the first stream of immortal light.

“Second Palm!”

The second arm exploded.

“Third Palm!”

Countless sacrificial runes

beneath the Ascension Platform

collapsed.

“Fourth Palm!”

The wounds on the throats

of billions of living beings

were forcibly sealed by Imperial Path power.

“Fifth Palm!”

Half of the Ascension Venerable’s body

was driven into the immortal finger.

But in the next instant,

countless black blood vessels

surged out from within the immortal finger

and burrowed into his body.

The arms that had been blown apart

grew back once more.

The smile on the Ascension Venerable’s face

became increasingly eerie.

“Mortal—

“how could you injure an immortal?”

Wang Hao took out the Immaculate Kindling.

It was merely a tiny flame.

It gave off no terrifying heat,

nor any aura of destruction.

Yet the instant the flame appeared,

the black lines beneath the skin

of the immortal finger

began fleeing in all directions.

The Ascension Venerable’s expression changed drastically.

“What is that?”

Wang Hao replied,

“Disinfection.”

The Immaculate Kindling

fell upon the New—Son of Heaven Sword.

The silver blade

was instantly covered

in a layer of transparent flame.

The silver-haired youth said excitedly,

“Master.

“Where should I cut?”

Wang Hao looked up.

“The man.

“With the finger.

“Cut them both together.”

“The Nine Swords of Creation.

“Third Sword.

“Divide Yin and Yang.”

A silver line of sword light

sliced through the center of the Ascension Platform.

Heaven and earth

were split in two.

The Ascension Venerable’s twelve arms

were severed simultaneously.

The smile on his face froze.

Immediately afterward,

a straight crack appeared

on the ten-thousand-li-long immortal finger,

running from its tip

all the way to its base.

The Immaculate Kindling

followed the crack

and burrowed into the immortal finger.

Hiss!

Thick black smoke

shrouded the entire Ascension Realm.

The immortal finger

shook violently.

From beneath the earth

came a shriek so horribly inhuman

that it could not have come from any living creature.

Beneath the skin.

Countless black threads were forced out by the Sacred Flame.

Those black threads

were not blood vessels at all.

They were worms with human faces.

Entangled with one another,

they formed the flesh and blood within the immortal finger.

The Ascension Venerable lowered his head

and looked at his own body.

For the first time,

fear appeared on his face.

“No!”

“This is an immortal blessing!”

“This is an immaculate immortal body!”

Wang Hao said,

“Eyes you don’t use

can be donated to those in need.”

He pressed down with his right hand.

“The Sixth Palm!”

The Ascension Venerable’s eyes exploded.

“The Seventh Palm!”

The entire Ascension Platform

collapsed with a thunderous roar.

“The Eighth Palm!”

The sacrificial blood of billions of living beings

all flowed back into their bodies.

“The Ninth Palm!”

The Imperial Dao River

descended from above the white sun.

The nine palms became one.

All the power of the first eight palms

converged into the final strike.

Boom!

The Ascension Venerable,

together with half of the corrupted immortal finger,

was slammed deep into the world below.

The Martial God Dharma Manifestation,

the corrupted immortal body,

and the twelve pale arms

all turned to ash at once.

The Immaculate Sacred Flame

blazed fiercely beneath the earth.

Countless human-faced worms

screeched as they turned into black smoke.

The entire Ascension Realm

began to shake violently.

All forty-two worlds that had just been reclaimed

lit up simultaneously.

The World Origins of those worlds,

which the Merchant Alliance had sent to the Sixty-Second Branch Vault,

flew out from the ruins of the Ascension Platform.

Following the Imperial Dao River,

they returned to their respective worlds.

From every world

came the cries of countless living beings.

Their lost mountains and rivers,

their lifespans,

their bloodlines,

were slowly being restored.

And the acknowledgment of those forty-two worlds

flowed into Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul at that very moment.

The fourth Transcendence Shackle

emerged from the depths of his Imperial Soul.

The Chain of Karma.

All beings have causes.

All things have effects.

Unless one reached the fourth level of Transcendence,

one would remain forever trapped within karma,

unable to truly sever the corruption.

The karmic threads connected to Wang Hao

were too numerous to count.

Nearly a billion lives in Great Xia.

Those saved from the sixty-two branch vaults.

Countless worlds.

Countless enemies.

Countless debts.

All were linked to him.

Looking at that dense, tangled web of karma,

the silver-haired youth could not help asking,

“Master,

why are there more karmic ties from people owing money

than from saving people?”

Wang Hao replied,

“Because failing to repay a debt

creates deeper karma.”

The Imperial Dao River

suddenly surged toward the fourth shackle.

Wang Hao did not sever his karmic ties with all living beings.

Instead, he drew every thread of karma

into the Imperial Dao.

“I shall not transcend all living beings.

I shall transcend only the shackles.”

Crack!

The fourth Transcendence Shackle

shattered with a deafening crash.

All corrupted karmic ties

broke apart at once.

Wang Hao’s aura

surged once more.

Fourth level of Transcendence!

Across the heavens of the Ascension Realm,

vast swathes of white rapidly faded away,

revealing the original azure sky.

The Sixty-Second Branch Vault

had completely changed hands.

An elderly official from the Ministry of Revenue

found a white key

amid the ruins of the Ascension Platform.

Engraved upon its surface

were sixty-three coordinates of black gold.

The first sixty-two

had already gone dark.

Only the last one

still glowed.

The old official handed the key to Wang Hao.

“Your Majesty.

The Sixty-Third Branch Vault

can only be opened with this Immortal Path Key.”

Wang Hao accepted the key.

The power of the Imperial Dao poured into it.

From the distant starry sky

came an ancient rumble.

A white gateway, countless times larger

than any of the previous sixty-two realm gates,

slowly emerged.

Before the gateway had even opened,

a single drop of blood seeped from its crack.

That drop of blood

was white as jade.

Immortal radiance shot into the heavens.

Yet in the deepest part of that blood,

a pitch-black human face

was smiling.

The Crone of Hundred Burial Mountain stared at that drop of blood.

She said, word by word:

“That is not immortal blood.”

“At least…”

“Not entirely anymore.”

A spotless white gate.

Spanning across the sea of stars.

There was no insignia of the Lifeless Merchant Alliance on it.

No formation.

Nor any writing.

Only a series of ancient claw marks.

Stretching from within the gate to the outside.

As if something had once been

Desperately trying to crawl out.

Three hundred and forty-one black-gold warships.

Hovered before the gate.

They did not draw any closer.

The drop of immortal blood that had seeped through the gap in the gate

Hung suspended in the starry void.

A wisp of its aura spread outward.

On the warship nearest to it,

The formations on its surface began to warp.

The black-gold hull

Slowly sprouted white bones.

Deep within the cannon muzzles,

A row of teeth grew as well.

They continually opened and closed,

As if chewing on starlight.

A soldier

Had merely breathed in the slightest trace of the immortal blood’s aura,

Yet his forehead split open.

A pure-white eye

Crawled out through the crack.

“The Immortal has descended.”

“Kneel and welcome it.”

The soldier’s knees bent.

A flash of silver sword light streaked past.

That eye,

Along with the aura of corruption,

Was shattered.

The silver-haired youth transformed back into human form

And stood before all the soldiers.

“Everyone, fall back.”

“This thing…”

“Must not be eaten.”

The Dragon-Slayer glanced at him.

“Is there anything you won’t eat?”

The silver-haired youth’s expression was solemn.

“I like eating.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“If there were a maggot in a pot of meat,

Would you eat the maggot along with it?”

The Dragon-Slayer thought for a moment.

“No.”

The silver-haired youth said:

“Behind that gate…”

“There might be nothing but maggots.”

Wang Hao stood at the very front of the Imperial Dao River.

The aura of the fourth level of the Transcendence Realm

Covered the entire fleet.

A faint imperial golden flame

Ignited upon every soldier.

The golden flames did not attack the gate.

They merely cut off the aura emanating from that drop of immortal blood.

The old official from the Ministry of Revenue held a ledger in both hands

And walked up behind Wang Hao.

“Your Majesty.”

“All sixty-two branch vaults

Have completed the recovery of their assets.”

“In total, there are nineteen ninth-realm materials,

Three thousand seven hundred and twenty-one eighth-realm materials,

And more than two hundred thousand seventh-realm materials.”

“There are also warships,

Mineral veins,

Medicine gardens,

World workshops…”

Wang Hao said:

“Just give me the important part.”