The Times Have Changed

In the sky of Ling Yao Heaven, a dark black rift slowly tore open across the horizon, like a colossal eye that had slumbered for ten thousand years finally blinking awake.

A wind surged out from the rift, carrying with it a mixture of desolation, antiquity, and the breath of unfamiliar laws.

The same scene unfolded across the other eight heavens.

This wind carried no temperature, yet every cultivator it touched felt a tremor deep in their soul.

It was the instinctive repulsion born when two entirely different systems of the Dao first stood face to face, stripped of all pretense.

"The passage is open. My lords, please seize the origin of the Great Dao for our Three Realms and Nine Heavens!"

With those words, Liu Ruyan vanished from the firmament.

The scene shifted, and the location of the Dao Origin itself appeared on the heavenly screen.

"For the Three Realms and Nine Heavens!!! For our home! Charge!"

A voice exploded through the crowd.

In the next instant, countless figures surged toward the rift like a torrent of dumplings dumped into a pot.

Nascent Soul, Golden Core, Foundation Establishment—

The first wave of qualified cultivators rushed headlong into the rift.

Their silhouettes were swallowed by the dark black radiance, disappearing into the depths of the crack.

Among these cultivators were rogue practitioners, disciples of minor sects, and noble scions from the Upper Three Heavens.

Ordinarily, they might not know one another—some might even be sworn enemies.

But at this moment, their goal was eerily unified: seize the initiative and win the first battle for the Dao Origin on behalf of the Three Realms and Nine Heavens.

On the other side of the rift, the situation in the Ten Directions and Nine Abysses mirrored it exactly.

Countless qualified cultivators flooded into the rift, each hoping to claim the Dao Origin for their own side.

"Don't be afraid! Our Dao may be damaged, but we of the Ten Directions and Nine Abysses still have two-thirds of it intact! The Three Realms and Nine Heavens only have one-third left!"

"At the same cultivation level, they're no match for us! Charge! Kill them all! Let those filthy bastards of the Three Realms and Nine Heavens know—back in the Ancient Immortal Era, we grinded them into the dirt, and we can do it again now!!!"

Inside the rift, there was no sky, no earth—only a boundless void.

The first wave of cultivators dispersed into countless small squads, each racing toward the fragments of Dao Origin scattered across the emptiness.

Soon, cultivators from both worlds collided. A fierce, tooth-and-nail battle erupted.

The situation for the Three Realms and Nine Heavens was grim. With more of their Dao damaged, they were at a disadvantage at the same cultivation level. Against the cultivators of the Ten Directions and Nine Abysses, they gave ground step by step.

Qin Hao frowned deeply, his eyes locked onto the heavenly screen.

He scanned the screen, searching for the figures of the Qin Clan's cultivators.

To win this first round, it would still have to rely on the Qin Clan.

The reason was simple: thanks to the efforts of Chen Xiaoyun, the Qin Clan had forged ten Dimension-Splitting Blades.

Those ten blades were the key to victory for the Three Realms and Nine Heavens.

Zhao Pojun watched the Three Realms and Nine Heavens retreat in defeat on the screen, unable to keep from sweating on their behalf:

"Brother Qin, we're not going to lose, are we?"

Qin Hao smiled lightly:

"Relax. We have a trump card. We're guaranteed to win. In the second round—Immortal level and below—I will personally lead the cultivators of the Three Realms and Nine Heavens into the charge in three days!"

The scene returned to the heavenly screen.

Before the largest chunk of Dao Origin, the Qin Clan's representative, Qin Yu, was the first to arrive.

He immediately called for those beside him to use their spiritual power to assimilate the Dao Origin.

But the assimilation did not last long before the cultivators of the Ten Directions and Nine Abysses caught up.

The Xiao Clan's representative, Xiao Ming, let out a cold laugh:

"Ha! You Three Realms and Nine Heavens bastards sure have some nerve! The moment you arrive, you dare to set your sights on such a massive chunk of Dao Origin? You're not afraid of death!"

"Brothers, charge! Kill them all! Then we assimilate the Origin."

With a single command from Xiao Ming, dozens of Xiao Clan cultivators behind him fanned out in a crescent formation.

Seeing this, Qin Yu and his people had no choice but to pause their assimilation and clash with the Xiao Clan cultivators.

Though the Dao of the Ten Directions and Nine Abysses was also damaged, what remained was far more intact than that of the Three Realms and Nine Heavens. At the same cultivation level, the spiritual power of the Ten Directions and Nine Abysses cultivators was denser, and their grasp of laws was more refined.

The Qin Clan and the Xiao Clan had roughly equal numbers, all at the Nascent Soul stage.

After less than a quarter-hour of battle, the Qin Clan's formation began to fray.

Seeing this, Xiao Ming burst into loud laughter:

"Hahaha! Trash of the Three Realms and Nine Heavens! With this little skill of yours, you think you can compete with us for the Dao Origin?"

With that, Xiao Ming raised his blade and charged forward.

Qin Yu shook his head, then pulled a dagger from his storage pouch.

It was the Dimension-Splitting Blade developed by Chen Xiaoyun.

"I have to rely on you now."

Xiao Ming halted abruptly, sweeping his divine sense over the weapon in Qin Yu's hand again and again.

After a thorough inspection, he found it to be nothing more than an ordinary dagger.

The material was common, and even the formation carved into it was unremarkable—merely somewhat intricate, at best.

After a brief moment of suspicion, Xiao Ming couldn't help but sneer:

"Pfft—this is the foundation of your Three Realms and Nine Heavens? I thought it was some kind of weapon. This quality of yours isn't even a Celestial Artifact!"

Then Xiao Ming pulled out his own weapon and waved it in front of Qin Yu, a look of triumph on his face:

"See this? To ensure we win this battle, my clan elders entrusted me with an Emperor Artifact!"

"What do you have to compare to that?"

With that, Xiao Ming charged at Qin Yu, Emperor Artifact in hand.

Qin Yu stood still, watching Xiao Ming approach. He took a deep breath.

Then he raised the Dimension-Splitting Blade and, with a single gentle slash, cut through the air in Xiao Ming's direction.

To the naked eye, nothing seemed to happen.

But the moment the blade's edge traced its arc, Xiao Ming—along with the Emperor Artifact in his hand—was folded from three dimensions into one, as if by an invisible hand.

In an instant, he collapsed into a single line. That line narrowed, collapsed further, and vanished into the void.

Xiao Ming was utterly gone—not a single trace of dust remained.

The Xiao Clan cultivators froze in place, their eyes wide with terror as they stared at the blade in Qin Yu's hand:

"W-What... what kind of blade is that?!!!"

A slight smile curled at the corner of Qin Yu's mouth:

"Filthy outsiders, the times... have changed!"