The body of Cha Wang, borne upon the sword light of Si Yu An, soared through the air. They had long since left the water domain of the previous great battle, and had even crossed the Blood River, that boundary river separating the Rootless World. Ahead, the Red Dust Gate was already visible.

Amidst the ultimate chaos, the ultimate杂乱 (miscellaneous), the ultimate upside-down, yet strangely clear voice echoed.

Within him, a kind of “enlightenment” dawned.

But this enlightenment was not one that illuminated the truth of life, nor one that penetrated the rules of the Great Dao.

Rather, it was the state of extinction that Shakyamuni experienced under the Bodhi tree, sitting withered, to the point where even the leaves around him withered, dust accumulated upon his form, and in a single instant, this realization arose.

Suddenly, he felt all ten thousand thoughts turn to ash.

The so-called true meaning of life was but boredom; born uselessly, seeking without gain, living without benefit.

At this moment, he understood Xiang Qian deeply, perhaps even surpassing him.

He simply wished to die.

Once enlightened, the heart becomes like dead ash.

Fortunately, Si Yu An’s sword light at this moment gently shifted, cleaving through his deathly silent mood.

Though his body had already stepped upon the Red Dust Gate, fear still lingered in his heart.

The so-called Red Dust Gate was suspended in the sky above the Evil Sea, surrounded on all sides by the Blood River.

This gate did not appear magnificent at first glance. It condensed from light and shadow into the form of an ordinary wooden gate, upon which a red paper “Fu” character was pasted upside down, its color already somewhat faded.

The joyful wish of ordinary people was for “Fu” (fortune) to come and disaster to be far away.

Using “Fu” to suppress “disaster” was quite fitting.

Only when one gazed intently at this gate could they discern the mottled traces of years within the ordinary wood grain. If they focused even more, they could see lines upon lines of rapidly changing carved words on the gate panels.

The writing was childish.

Some said “Li family’s little Hu’s home door.”

Some said “Fu Ren town’s residence.”

Some said “A Ran owes me a fruit.”

Some said “I am a great Immortal.”

In short, they were all childlike scribbles and graffiti.

They might not have held any profound meaning, but they were the true essence of human worldliness.

Children frolicking, old people laughing.

This gate separated the Evil Sea from the Red Dust on the other side.

This Red Dust Gate stood amidst the waters of disaster, yet did not belong to them. Its other half stood in the human world, yet was also isolated from it.

It was not defined by abstract notions or time, nor did it represent any particular people or group. It was merely a gate, a gate leading to the human world.

The rolling Red Dust lay just beyond this gate.

But the gate leaves were tightly shut, not awaiting outside guests.

This gate did not open; the living beings of the present world passed through on their own.

It appeared to be just a small gate, yet several True Monarch powerhouses, like mountains and seas, passed through without feeling crowded.

A single gate was like a side of the sky, possessing its own world and land.

If Jiang Wang were to find a relatively fitting description within his understanding, this Red Dust Gate itself was much like a miniature maze realm, spanning the vast sea, yet near the sea.

Within this gate, Cha Wang and Si Yu An looked back upon the waters of disaster.

They saw the entire Rootless World surging with waves once more.

That previous calm no longer existed; the heavenly laws and earthly rules left by the Legalist Grandmaster Wu Bing Yi were instantly shattered.

Dark clouds rolled, roaring and wailing across the four wilds.

The waves raged like anger, crashing up into peaks of water one after another, reaching and pulling at the high sky!

The situation of the Evil Sea was visible to the eye; everything was in irreversible decline. Abyss was not just a description, but could be equated with the Evil Sea itself at this moment.

Si Yu An, Wu Bing Yi, Chen Pu – these were all not just Grandmasters, but top powerhouses renowned throughout the world, yet they all chose to temporarily withdraw.

Even a three-year-old child would know when a matter was beyond remedy.

But at this moment, Move Mountain True Man Peng Su Jian suddenly struggled free from Ho Shi Ji’s grasp, and on the blood boat, he abruptly turned.

“Sect Master, please return! The Blood River still has a boundary before it; how can it be left unguarded by me here!”

As he spoke, he pulled down the black hairpin from his head, raising his hand and shaking it forward.

This black hairpin flew from his hand like a flying sword, its sharp whistle tearing through layers of space!

They watched as it swelled against the wind, instantly covering the sky and obscuring the sun.

That ancient tree reaching for the sky, the rugged mountain stones – it was a famous scenic mountain. The mountain’s overall shape was like a sitting tiger, majestically overlooking the eight directions… it was precisely Tai Sheng Mountain, with its main peak reaching eight thousand zhang and its body extending for thousands of li!

Once a famous mountain on the border of Xia Country, how many literati and poets had left verses in its praise. One morning it was spirited away, and until now, some still sang laments for it.

Now it descended upon the Evil Sea, falling grandly, its momentum comparable to the tilting of the sky.

Looking at this feat, Peng Chong Jian actually intended to use his own power to resist the changes in the waters of disaster, to fill the sea with a mountain… regardless of the possibility, this endeavor was indeed extreme!

Worthy of being a figure who could once contend with Xiang Feng Qi, he truly possessed a unique edge.

Tai Sheng Mountain crushed the accumulated clouds of ten thousand li, rumbling down, seeming to cover the entire heavenly palace!

The rumbling sound of the giant mountain breaking through the void was almost simultaneous with the recitation of the Bodhi name. They collided and resonated with each other.

But just the next moment, the towering giant mountain, falling with extreme speed, suddenly stopped in mid-air!

After pushing aside the giant waves that scattered, the one supporting this mountain was a hand.

A hand that was impossible to describe, an incomprehensible hand, supporting Tai Ning Mountain!

The reason for saying this hand was impossible to describe, incomprehensible, was that when it appeared in their vision, Cha Wang’s illusory body from the Red Makeup Mirror instantly collapsed.

There was not even a shred of room for struggle.

Even the fifty-li range that the Red Makeup Mirror could always penetrate was completely darkened, no longer existing within his vision.

Jiang Wang, with the power of an incomplete Eye Immortal, could see nothing at all.

He could only vaguely feel that it was the outline of a hand.

It could not be described by a cultivator of the Divine Arrival level!

While with Si Yu An’s cultivation, he could naturally see the “truth”—it was a hand with clear bone joints, full flesh, and a red and moist color.

It was as fresh and alive as if it belonged to a normal “person.”

This freshness made his sword-brows slightly furrow.

The Mao Grass Sword at his waist cried out without reason.

Facing this hand.

Even he could not suppress his own sword intent!

Then, those like him, who walked the Dao strongly, saw that hand very casually push upwards.

The Tai Sheng Mountain, extending for thousands of li, was directly pushed shattered on the spot!

Regardless of mountain stone and soil, or giant trees and high cliffs, they instantly shattered, turning into tens of millions, hundreds of millions of tons of fine black sand, pouring down from the sky!

This Tai Yi Mountain was a famous mountain moved from Xia Country. Peng Chong Jian that year, borrowing the momentum of Liang Country’s restoration, broke its mountain roots, nurtured it within his palm, and transformed it into a branch of black glow he carried with him, already for several decades.

Throughout these several decades, it was nurtured and tempered continuously, day after day.

With his cultivation as a True Man of the world, and his Move Mountain divine ability, he operated it wholeheartedly, carving it for a long time.

It was higher, more majestic, and more solid than the original Tai Yi Mountain. In battle, it was naturally also stronger, much stronger!

After Peng Chong Tong’s refinement, every blade of grass, every tree, every stone, every speck of mud on this mountain possessed great power.

It could be said that this branch of Tai Yi Mountain hairpin was one of the few magical artifacts in the world capable of playing a role in battles at the True Man level. Although it could not compare to a Cave Heaven treasure, it could be considered the peak of human limits.

Especially at this moment, under Peng Chong Jian’s full force urging, it was already infinitely close to the might of walking the Dao, and it was not impossible, like Xiang Feng Qi that year, to attempt to challenge a True Monarch.

But just this one Tai Ning Mountain.

Yet it was lightly pushed by this hand, and completely shattered!

From this world, the name Tai Yi would no longer be heard.

Not a single bit of Move Mountain True Man’s power remained.

The black sand all over the sky entered the water. This water domain, which had previously been cleansed by the combined efforts of several Walk Dao True Monarchs, instantly became turbid. The broken sand of Tai Jia Mountain became the carrier of evil thoughts, once again causing large-scale pollution to the clean water.

While Peng Su Jian himself fell face up, his aura rapidly declined, and cracks appeared on his Cave True body, just like a piece of porcelain about to break.

A world-renowned True Man as strong as Peng Su Jian was reduced to this state after just one direct confrontation!

Blood River True Monarch Ho Shi Ji, precisely at this moment, pushed him. A vague blood light covered Peng Chong Jian, forcibly healing the cracks in his body, and pushing him, along with the blood boat beneath him, directly into the Red Dust Gate.

Peng Su Jian himself, however, suddenly turned, his back towards the blood boat, directly facing the black flowing sand covering the sky, as well as the fresh and alive hand within the flowing sand.

Ho Shi Ji raised a finger, and a sword light already circled the rapidly approaching blood boat, not saying anything else.

“Sect Master Ho! There’s no need for this!” Fang Ai, who was already standing inside the Red Dust Gate, shouted urgently, “This matter can still be salvaged!”

Peng Chong Jian alone faced the surging Evil Sea, facing the terrifying existence that had already extended a hand, and left only the fluttering back of a blood-colored Daoist robe as a shadow for everyone inside the Red Dust Gate.

“Various friends!”

His voice spread throughout the Evil Sea: “This matter may be salvable, but this responsibility cannot be shirked. I, Peng Chong Jian… deceived various friends!”

What did these words mean?

Chen Pu was surprised in his heart, raising his eyes to look at Ho Shi Ji. The Sword Pavilion Pavilion Master, however, was expressionless, as if he had already guessed.

Peng Chong Jian’s voice continued: “Today’s matter is actually a result of my Blood River Sect’s negligence.”

“At this moment, I must admit to everyone. It was a True Man within my sect, spying on the path of Derivation Dao, who acted arbitrarily within the waters of disaster. He had only wild ambition, yet lost control, and thus stirred out the Shakyamuni Evil Ancestor!”

“I thought I could rely on my own power to calm it, and therefore concealed it, not reporting it, until the appearance of a Walk Dao level evil view, when it could no longer be concealed.”

“But I still harbored a glimmer of hope.”

“I requested aid from various friends, hoping to borrow your power to calm the disaster, and I would take the opportunity to wipe away related traces, attributing this matter to the self-change of the waters of disaster, thus preserving the reputation of my Blood River Sect.”

Everyone inside the Red Dust Gate fell silent, listening to him narrate the origin and development of today’s situation. Many places that were previously unclear were now verified one by one.

Why the waters of disaster suddenly changed, when there had been no omen before.

Why the Blood River Sect had been stationed in the waters of disaster for so many years, yet allowed the situation to deteriorate to this point, and why, only when the situation had evolved to this, the Blood River Sect was willing to seek aid.

All problems had answers.

Although some details were still not clarified.

But Peng Chong Jian specifically did not mention the matter of the contained lake, likely to protect the True Man within his sect.

Wu Bing Yi’s face was expressionless, not saying a word.

Wen Du Ru and Ho Shi, their eyes also showed anger, but besides the anger, there was also sorrow.

Peng Chong Jian continued: “Because of my insincerity and falsehood, you were unable to successfully trace the source, leading to the situation worsening to this point!”

“I still held a million-to-one chance in my heart, thinking of retreating to guard the Red Dust Gate, abandoning the Blood River boundary, and using the remainder of my life to recast its ten-thousand-year glory… but Protector Peng’s desperate struggle woke me up.”

“The Blood River as a boundary was fought for by countless disciples of my Blood River Sect, over fifty-four thousand years. It is also over these fifty-four thousand years that countless benevolent people and righteous scholars have sacrificed themselves here, resulting in this red color of the Blood River! Who am I, Peng Chong Jian, to abandon it? What do my life and honor count for? Could they surpass the billions of souls who died to cure the waters of disaster?”

“Things have reached this point, the sky is tilting and hard to salvage. This is all the sin of me, Peng Chong Jian, alone. I am willing to bear it all! Today’s matter ends here, I hope you will not blame my Blood River disciples.”

“After my death, please on behalf of my sect, protect the mountain gate. The fifty-four thousand years of merit of the Blood River Sect must not dissipate today.”

“Our generation goes to the battlefield, and the mountains and rivers will have their successors.”

Peng Chong Jian was suspended high in the sky, his back to everyone, his blood-colored Daoist robe fluttering like a flag.

Finally, he even shouted loudly: “Heaven blames me, ah, Heaven blames me!”

A loud voice responded to itself: “I blame myself also!”

Having said these things loudly, he merely shook his body, and instantly transformed into a blood-colored giant ten thousand zhang high. His body was covered in Daoist runes and blood patterns, everywhere displaying the principles of heaven and earth, hazy and possessing its own world. His life’s cultivation was all manifested at this moment.

He strode quickly through the waters of disaster, directly crashing into the vast flying sand!

That was sand flying all over the sky; even the clear waters of disaster could not cover the blood color.

Within this re-brightened Rootless World, it was so fresh and bright.

He rushed to the center of the Evil Sea.

His fist, like a mountain, smashed down, directly hitting the upward-raised hand palm at the center of the waters of disaster.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom!

The entire Evil Sea continuously emitted explosion sounds.

Thousand-zhang-high giant waves howled wildly, rising again and again.

Amidst the stirring sound of waves, and within the never-ending chanting of the Shakyamuni Buddha’s name, his, Peng Chong Jian’s, voice was so grand:

“A disaster of three hundred and thirty-three years, you have come again at your due date!”

The last sound was a giant ring that shook heaven and earth.

The ten-thousand-zhang-high blood-colored giant collapsed at once, transforming into a surging blood river, staining the vast waters of disaster!

Rising from the waters of disaster once again!

This ten-thousand-zhang blood river roared like a dragon, rushing horizontally and colliding straight through this Rootless World, sweeping in all directions.

What evil view, what Bodhi evil sound, what endless negativity, all were swept clean by this terrifying power, all were suppressed and killed!

The terrifying power it displayed at this moment completely exceeded Chen Pu’s sense of limit.

While the ten-thousand-zhang blood river itself was also diminishing at an alarming speed, ten thousand zhang to a thousand, a thousand zhang to one, and suddenly disappeared.

When the lingering echoes of that hard-to-suppress sea’s ring completely disappeared, this boundless world simultaneously quieted down.

Only to see:

The vast black clouds opened.

Ninety thousand li of wind and waves were flat.

A good piece of clear sea.

Vast blood-colored true cleanliness!

A strong figure who walked the Dao, a True Monarch of the world, a weak existence standing at the absolute peak above the ordinary, thus died in the Evil Sea.

No one had ever imagined it before!

It was not a time of calamity, there was no great disaster.

A dignified top-tier powerhouse of the present world died on such an ordinary day.

Before coming to the waters of disaster, Chen Pu had imagined only a difficult battle, at most involving the Cave True level.

Life and death, illusion and extinction, it was hard to imagine anything more impermanent than this!

Because Peng Chong Jian did not perish in the present world, he could not incite heaven and earth to grieve together, nor did he have a grand funeral befitting a True Monarch of the world.

But who could say that the scene before their eyes was not grand enough?

Ho Shi sighed, turned, and walked into the Red Dust Gate.

Wu Bing Yi still said nothing, silently gazing at this side of the Rootless World.

“Very bleak, don’t you think?” Xu Xi Ming, carrying his six-chi cast plow sword askew, asked this.

Chen Pu did not reply.

“Let’s go,” Ho Shi Ji finally only said this.

With a light flick of his grass sword, he then walked towards the other side of the gate.

Before being swept away by the sword light, Chen Pu took one last look back at the waters of disaster.

Splash, splash, splash.

Splash, splash, splash.

The Evil Sea in his vision was divided into three layers.

The simple clarity of the furthest layer extended to an unknown end.

The slightly nearer layer was turbid, vast and fully ten thousand li wide.

As well as the layer in the distance, the blood-colored boundary river that circled the Red Dust Gate and flowed, waves rolling back and forth casually, not for anyone’s joy, not for anyone’s sorrow.

Only that blood color seemed three points more vibrant.