Battle at Town Yue

It was a bright and sunny day.

Above the Heavenly Court, the sky was clear of clouds, and sunlight poured down unhindered.

Everything was quiet; disciples sat in meditation within their respective cultivation chambers.

Then darkness fell.

It wasn't clouds blocking the sun—it was a hand. A hand so immense it blotted out the sky, appearing without warning above the Heavenly Court.

That hand reached down from a higher void, its five fingers spread wide, knuckles like mountain ranges, palm lines like canyons.

The moment it blocked the sunlight, the Heavenly Court plunged from broad daylight into twilight. Shadows enveloped the Peaks of Humanity, the Peaks of Demons, and the Peaks of Monsters. They enveloped the Celestial Palace and the rear gardens, every pavilion, every spirit field, and every disciple who looked up at the sky.

The aura was identical to that of the hand that had once loomed over the Sacred Realm of Heaven and Man.

The same crushing pressure. The same detached indifference, as if looking down upon mere ants.

Gu Changyuan sensed that familiar presence. His eyes narrowed slightly, and the corner of his mouth curled into a faint, contemptuous smirk.

"Hmph. Only now do you notice? Too late."

He rose abruptly from his rocking chair. His right hand lifted, fingers slightly spread, and a pitch-black sword materialized from the void.

With the middle and index fingers of his left hand pressed together, he formed a sword gesture and traced a sharp slash across the sky toward the descending palm.

In that same instant, a colossal phantom of a sword blade appeared above the Heavenly Court.

The blade was jet-black, its phantom form slicing toward the giant hand with unstoppable force.

For a moment, the very fabric of heaven and earth above the Heavenly Court twisted. Then, the enormous hand was severed cleanly by the sword—from the fingers through the palm, and from the palm through the wrist, split into two neat halves.

No blood spilled from the wound. Only a dark golden light flowed from the severed surface.

The attack had been effortlessly neutralized.

Gu Changyuan thought: Back then, dealing with this was troublesome because my cultivation was low. But now that I've reached the Immortal Emperor realm, did you really think you could still destroy this place with a single casual slap?

His gaze sharpened. He raised his left hand and lightly pointed his index finger toward the heavens.

An invisible force surged from his fingertip, spreading across the sky in all directions.

Lines of array formations emerged from the ground, radiating outward from the Celestial Palace, forming a massive formation around the entire Heavenly Court.

His hands moved swiftly through a series of hand seals in the void before him. Each seal emitted a silvery-white thread of light.

Those light threads traveled upstream along the formation's veins, passing through layers of stellar path nodes, tracing backward along the causal line left by the descending hand.

He was searching for Zhenyue's location.

Previously, when his enemy had been in the Immortal Realm and Gu Changyuan in the Nine Heavens Realm, the opponent could strike down to a lower realm effortlessly without going anywhere.

But now, things were different. Both were in the Immortal Realm, under the same celestial laws. Though spatial distance remained vast, the causal link was now clear and discernible.

For the enemy to launch such a silent attack on him, the distance couldn't be too great.

At least within the range of the Eastern Immortal Continent—a strike across the entirety of the Immortal Realm wasn't possible.

The stellar path patterns of the formation began spinning rapidly. The silver threads extended forward along the causal line, tracing, searching, scanning.

Found you.

The curl at the corner of Gu Changyuan's lips grew even wider.

At the same time, he sensed that the figure opposite him—Zhenyue—had detected his probing.

Too late.

With a flash, Gu Changyuan tore through space itself, hurtling toward Zhenyue's direction at breakneck speed.

"What's this? One of the Tianheng, and you're thinking of running away?"

Gu Changyuan landed not far in front of Zhenyue, standing steady. His eyes calmly surveyed the enemy who had once struck at him across realms.

His tone carried undisguised mockery and provocation, like a hunter who had finally cornered his prey.

"Run? Don't be ridiculous."

Zhenyue lowered the hand he had suspended in the air. His voice was steady, betraying no panic.

"I simply—needed to confirm some things."

He spoke, his voice low and deep, like a boulder rolling across the ground.

"To be honest, I'm curious about who you are and which faction you belong to—to be able to so quietly sabotage our imperial court's plans."

"Someone come to kill you."

The moment the words fell, Gu Changyuan moved.

Only an afterimage of his form remained in Zhenyue's sight.

That speed was nearly instantaneous—not spatial teleportation, but raw, pure velocity.

The Nine Tribulations Sword Array descended from the heavens, sealing off the entire space.

Zhenyue's pupils contracted sharply. His right hand lifted at the same moment, fingers spread, slamming downward against the ground.

"Immobile King's Domain."

Those four words left his lips. The sound wasn't loud, but it struck like a mountain falling, causing the entire range of peaks to tremble.

A dark golden light erupted from his palm, spreading outward like ripples.

Wherever the light passed, everything was "frozen" solid.

The very laws of heaven and earth were locked down by a force that was brutally unreasonable.

The laws themselves still existed—the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, life and death, time and space—all still rotated. But they were forcibly suppressed.

Any attempt to manipulate the laws of nature within this domain would be crushed.

Gu Changyuan hovered at the center of the Immobile King's Domain, feeling his surroundings grow "heavy."

His speed was drastically reduced. All techniques—movement arts, footwork, attack maneuvers—that relied on the boost of natural laws lost their effect. He could only rely on the most fundamental things.

The power of his physical body. The mastery of his swordsmanship. And those things that transcended laws themselves.

Yet no unnecessary agitation stirred in his heart.

He had long known his opponent's abilities. Before arriving, he had already simulated every possible outcome of a fight with Zhenyue.

He knew Zhenyue wanted to drag him into a battle of pure physical prowess, crushing him with mountain-like brute force.

But Gu Changyuan didn't believe his own physique was inferior.

Zhenyue's frame was more than a full size larger than his own. In terms of physical defense alone, Zhenyue ranked among the highest of any cultivator Gu Changyuan had ever seen.

But physical strength wasn't just about size—it was about the degree of refinement.

His own body had been tempered through eleven hundred years of bloody combat within the Abyss of Disorder.

Beyond that, he also possessed his Sword Will—a supreme will forged from pure spiritual essence, independent of natural laws.

The Immobile King's Domain could suppress laws, but it could not suppress one's state of mind.

And then, there was the Heavenly Dao's Blessing—the supreme power that stood above all laws.

"Edict of Fallen Heaven."

As Gu Changyuan charged toward Zhenyue, he uttered this incantation under his breath. An invisible force descended from the firmament, settling upon his sword.

He held his longsword, thrusting it at Zhenyue.

By then, Zhenyue's right fist was already sweeping toward his face.

That fist was condensed with dark golden energy—the power of mountains surging and rolling on its surface, as if an entire mountain had been compressed into the size of a single fist.

Sword met fist.

A deafening blast manifested as a tangible shockwave, spreading outward from the point of impact where sword and fist collided.

The cracked earth was upheaved. Withered grass leaves were thrown skyward by the gust of air.

Zhenyue slid backward for several zhang, his feet carving two deep furrows into the ground. Dark golden blood seeped from his knuckles, dripping between his fingers onto the earth.

His punch had not been completely blocked.

The sword blade had indeed cut into his knuckles, but a substantial portion of the force from that punch had still been transmitted to Gu Changyuan after piercing through the blade.

Gu Changyuan’s right hand was slightly numb, and a trace of blood oozed from the tiger’s-mouth grip of his sword hand.

There was no pain on his face, only a steady calm.

His body was adapting.

The Immovable King’s Domain suppressed all enhancements from laws, reducing the battle to its most primitive form.

Flesh against flesh, sword against fist, will against will.

He felt his body gradually being “awakened” through this pure combat, unaided by any external force.