The Last Resort

The sword intent collided with the giant palm, and a powerful fluctuation of spiritual energy exploded with a thunderous boom. Violent air currents instantly enveloped Gu Changyuan.

Only deafening roars remained between heaven and earth, and even the light was twisted by this immense fluctuation.

At the junction of the two forces, space began to shatter, turning from cracks into fissures, from fissures into fragmentation, and from fragmentation into absolute nothingness.

That void of nothingness spread in all directions, centered on the point of collision. Wherever it passed, light was swallowed and sound was annihilated.

Gu Changyuan only felt countless spiritual blades slashing across his body. His clothes were instantly shredded, his skin torn open, and blood gushed out. The meridians within his body flared with an agonizing pain as if scorched by raging fire. His spiritual energy fell into utter chaos, and even his divine soul trembled violently.

Not enough.

Still not enough.

Gu Changyuan could feel that the sword intent he had pushed to its absolute limit was still struggling to fully resist the giant palm.

After he unleashed his full strength, the owner of the palm seemed to sense the threat and increased its force significantly.

Under the crushing pressure of the giant palm, the radiant light of the sword intent dimmed bit by bit, its power rapidly draining away.

Crack—

An extremely faint sound echoed.

It was so quiet that it could almost be ignored.

But to Gu Changyuan's ears, it was more deafening than a thunderclap.

It was the sword.

The black longsword that had accompanied him for a thousand years now had a tiny crack on its blade.

The crack started from the hilt and extended upwards along the spine of the blade. Although it was only as thin as a strand of hair, Gu Changyuan knew this was just the beginning.

Crack, crack, crack—

The cracks were spreading.

Dense, spiderweb-like fractures soon covered the entire blade.

Gu Changyuan looked at the old friend in his hand that had been with him for so long, and sighed softly in his heart.

It finally could not hold on anymore.

Bang!!!

The blade suddenly snapped.

Only the lower half with the hilt remained in his grip, leaving a jagged, uneven edge.

The moment the sword broke, the sword intent collapsed.

The resistance against the giant palm plummeted, and its descending speed abruptly increased.

The residual intent of the palm pierced through the scattered sword aura, striking directly toward the defenseless Gu Changyuan.

Gu Changyuan watched the approaching power, feeling a coercive pressure that surpassed the limits of the Nine Heavens Realm, and slowly closed his eyes.

The severe pain in his body seemed to fade away at this moment. Only a strange buzzing sound, like an ebbing tide, remained in his ears.

There was not a trace of fear on his face, only a hint of relief, as he quietly waited for the final outcome.

Right at this moment, deep within his sea of consciousness, the long-dormant system lit up with a brilliant glow.

A blazing, warm light, carrying an almost vital life force, illuminated his entire sea of consciousness.

A powerful force surged from that light, flowing from Gu Changyuan's sea of consciousness into his limbs and bones, completing a full cycle within his body.

That power erupted from Gu Changyuan's body, rushing out to meet the residual palm intent.

The entire sky above the Celestial Human Holy Land was instantly enveloped in an overwhelming light.

Feeling this sudden surge of immense power, the corners of Gu Changyuan's mouth curled into a relieved smile. He thought to himself:

It is finally here.

This was his final trump card. It was not any method he currently knew, but rather the so-called former self.

Since that former self had been able to calculate so many things, and had set up such a massive chessboard countless years ago.

Then it was highly probable that he had also predicted the possibility of the Immortal Emperor making a premature move.

Even if he had not predicted it, he had definitely left behind various countermeasures within his body to prevent his death.

Actually, back in the Ruins of Disorder, he had already grown suspicious.

At that time, he had fallen into desperate straits on several occasions, thinking his death was certain, yet he had inexplicably survived every time. Meanwhile, the entities threatening him had all suddenly vanished at critical moments.

He used to think it was luck, a mere coincidence, or simply that he was tough to kill.

After experiencing the Cangwu Secret Realm, he began to re-evaluate those instances of luck and coincidence.

Today's events served as a final validation.

The light slowly dissipated.

Gu Changyuan opened his eyes and found that he was no longer in the sky above the Celestial Human Holy Land.

Surrounded by pitch blackness, he simply floated in the dark, his body feeling weightless.

In this space, Gu Changyuan could feel his depleted spiritual energy rapidly recovering.

His injuries were also healing at a rapid pace. The wounds sliced open by fragments of universal laws were closing at a visible rate, and his severed meridians were being repaired.

Even his broken longsword was slowly reforging itself in the void.

Since there was no threat, Gu Changyuan decided to wait until his recovery was complete before leaving.

However, there was one matter he needed to consider ahead of schedule: ascension.

His original plan was to wait another few decades, until his cultivation level had improved further and there were more disciples at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm who could ascend alongside him.

Then he would open the immortal path and ascend ahead of time, catching the Imperial Court off guard.

But given the current situation, the plan had to be moved up.

Only by reaching the Immortal Realm and accepting the baptism of immortal qi could his strength truly and fundamentally rise to the next level.

......

Above the Celestial Human Holy Land, after the intense light dissipated, the sky returned to its original color.

But the sky was no longer as peaceful as before. Countless spatial rifts stretched across the heavens, densely packing the firmament.

The terrifying giant palm had vanished. Their Master's figure was gone, and his aura had completely disappeared.

Ye Qingxue's legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees.

Her hands pressed against the cold bluestone ground. With her head bowed, her long hair scattered over her shoulders, hiding her face, as her shoulders trembled slightly.

Bai Ling'er slumped beside Ye Qingxue, covering her mouth with one hand. Tears welled up silently from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto the ground, her shoulders shaking violently.

Yue Lingxi stood there motionless, as if her entire soul had been extracted from her body.

The rest of the disciples were also overwhelmed with grief. The entire Celestial Human Holy Land was shrouded in an atmosphere of sorrow and despair, and even the wind carried a biting chill.

The suppression of the world's laws had vanished. Several figures quickly teleported over through the Celestial Human Holy Land's teleportation array. It was none other than Tushan Youyao, Mo Yingluo, and Mo Yingyue.

Earlier, the moment they felt that heart-palpitating dread from the Heavenly Demon Pavilion and the Heavenly Fiend Sect, they had immediately tried to rush to the Celestial Human Holy Land via the teleportation array.

However, space had been suppressed at that time, and the array could not be activated at all. They could only wait anxiously where they were, their hearts burning with worry, constantly attempting to activate it.

It was not until this moment, when the spatial laws were restored and the array could function normally, that they successfully teleported over.

The instant they appeared, they saw Ye Qingxue, Bai Ling'er, and the others kneeling on the ground not far away, devastated by grief.

Immediately after, their gazes were drawn to the terrifying spatial rifts in the sky, and their hearts instantly sank.

Such a tragic post-battle scene made their chests tighten, and an ominous premonition instantly swept over them.

They immediately channeled their spiritual energy, beginning to search the entire Celestial Human Holy Land for their Master's aura.

But no matter how hard they searched, they could not detect even the slightest trace of their Master's aura within the entire Celestial Holy Land.

Coupled with the despairing reactions of Ye Qingxue and the others, they instantly arrived at the same harrowing conclusion in their hearts—their Master had fallen.

The very moment this realization struck them, the demonic qi surrounding Mo Yingluo and Mo Yingyue erupted into a violent frenzy. Dense, black demonic energy surged outward like a tidal wave, instantly shrouding the sky above the entire Celestial Holy Land.

Their eyes became entirely bloodshot, and their bodies radiated a world-destroying aura. They were already teetering on the absolute edge of losing control.