The roaring black tide surged and receded outside the divine light barrier, its might diminished.
The scene of doomsday outside the Central Mountain remained fierce, yet observed from a distance now, it held more a kind of grand beauty.
The black snow falling across the sky was a different kind of marvel.
Such are the affairs of the world: some warm themselves by the fire, while others shiver in thin clothes.
None can truly understand the other.
Wang Changji, Yue Tiannu, Zhu Weiwo, Kuishan, Dou Zhao, Jiang Wang.
These six had never before fought together as allies; some had met for the very first time.
But there was no need for communication.
Their formidable strength allowed them to fight with abandon, and their exceptional combat talent made their attacks flow like water. As they rose and fell, they clashed into various resplendent lights. Saber light, sword shadow, spear thrust, fists and feet flying, divine intent descending—it was a complete aesthetic of battle!
To witness such a battle was like appreciating a great freehand masterpiece painted with brilliant talent, like listening to a rare and exquisite melody played upon the zither, its lingering charm unending.
It was an endless expression of grace, an inexhaustible display of ease.
Zuo Guangshu, watching silently, felt his heart yearn, wishing he could immediately build his Outer Tower and join in, playing a part in this magnificent symphony.
‘Ge Fei,’ possessed by a powerful being, was undeniably strong. At this level, he was almost without weakness. Yet, he was struck open, his weakness exposed, by this very group of people.
Every saber stroke, every sword thrust, every spear thrust… was precisely timed, not only showcasing their own brilliance to the fullest but also creating and seizing opportunities during the battle.
For instance, Jiang Wang’s sudden, inspired shift in sword momentum, and Dou Zhao’s Heavenly Human Five Declines immediately filled the gap.
Was not Yue Tiannu’s Buddhist palm covering the face also laying the groundwork for Zhu Weiwo’s ultimate, brilliant Blazing Ember Spear?
‘Ge Fei’s’ body itself was perhaps the only vulnerable point, but without such a group of top-tier Outer Tower cultivators, engaging in an attack-for-attack struggle until the sky and earth were obscured, how could they have pinpointed the vital spot?
The phrase “adapt as needed” is simple to say.
Against an ant, of course, one can easily adapt as needed.
But how many can display their true capabilities under the pressure of a Divine Arrival realm expert?
This battle was simply exquisite in every detail, brilliant in every aspect.
In Zuo Guangshu’s view, looking back at all the famous and nameless battles, this one could be called a paragon of combat at the Outer Tower cultivation stage.
If recorded and passed down, it could be called a classic of all ages!
Alas…
Only then did Zuo Guangshu awaken as if from a dream, realizing he had not even thought of activating a record stone beforehand.
After all, before the battle suddenly began, he had not expected that he would not find an opportunity to strike…
The gap between the Inner Mansion and Outer Tower realms is indeed the most frequently bridged.
But that is because of the existence of Divine Abilities. This causes the upper limit of the Inner Mansion realm to be exceedingly high. And the ancient sages, anchoring the Four Spiritual Starfields and passing down various dao traditions, made the establishment of the Star Tower no longer a matter of life and death, while also expanding the boundaries of cultivation, thus making the lower limit of the Outer Tower realm very low.
Among top-tier prodigies, the gap in cultivation is a too-real gap, large enough to crush a person.
As another bystand to this battle, Fang Heliang’s feelings were different.
He could not clearly see many details of the battle, nor could he understand some of the combat choices.
It was only when he saw such a powerful being, who had displayed Divine Arrival strength, reduced to a human skin and falling, that he was startled by the battle’s end.
But what he saw, what he remembered, was already enough for him to ponder for a long time.
Thus, in his eyes, there was also the joy of victory.
People are inherently different.
In the same world, what people see, experience, and feel are all different.
Though living in one era, there are myriad ways of being.
Clang, clang.
Dou Zhao casually tapped the Tianxiao Saber against a rock at his feet, holding it at an angle.
“Who can tell me what’s going on with this Ge Fei?” he asked.
A battle of peerless brilliance had concluded, and each participant felt an indescribable sense of exhilaration.
To fight alongside those with peak combat talent was truly a pleasure.
All your battle intentions could be understood and coordinated. Every strike you made was from the most comfortable angle. No matter how unexpected your moves, there would be a perfectly natural response.
You could display your talent to your heart’s content.
Fighting in such circumstances, one could unleash at least twelve parts of their usual ten parts of combat power.
Dou Zhao’s body language also became much lighter.
Of course, although he was clearly looking at Jiang Wang and was indeed asking him, his bad habit of not naming names was also very much in his Dou Zhao style.
Jiang Wang did indeed have the most right to speak on this matter. After all, when ‘Ge Fei’ first arrived at the Central Mountain, he sought no one else, only engaging in several rounds of “cordial conversation” with him.
“At that time, I only killed Wu Ling, and Ge Fei escaped. I don’t know what happened to him afterward.” Jiang Wang shook his head and then looked at Wang Changji: “Did Brother Wang say he was Chaos or Candle Dragon?”
At this moment, ‘Ge Fei’ was dead. Only a human skin floated on the turbid flowing liquid.
On the back of the ancient stone tablet, all nine chapters of the jade bi were embedded.
The divine light barrier was like a solid golden bell, appearing indestructible. No matter how the black tide outside the mountain rolled, it could no longer approach.
A crisis seemed to have ended.
But Jiang Wang, who had personally made the journey to the Dying South Abyss, dared not be negligent.
“I could not see clearly,” Wang Changji said. “I only saw that in a deep and dark sea, in front of a black jade bi, a beast like a bear sat alone. Its body was covered in long fur, and its belly was greatly swollen. I also saw that on a perilous floating mountain, a red-colored strange beast with a human face and snake body was quietly coiled on the mountaintop.”
“The one you mentioned first is Chaos; we saw it in the Dying South Abyss,” Zuo Guangshu said. “The latter is Candle Dragon; it is recorded in the ‘Shan Hai Jing Strange Beast Annals’.”
“But I am not sure where the power manipulating Ge Fei came from,” Wang Changji said. “This world is too chaotic now; everything is very chaotic. I only captured the rule channel transmitting that kind of power during the clash and then slightly interfered.”
He spoke with a nonchalant air.
But even someone as arrogant as Dou Zhao couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“According to common sense, the one controlling Ge Fei’s body should undoubtedly be Chaos,” Jiang Wang said. “It is determined to overturn this world, and the Central Mountain is a place it must conquer. Now that the nine chapters are gathered, the Central Mountain seems impregnable. I don’t know what it will do next.”
“What about an uncommon situation?” Zhu Weiwo asked with interest.
Jiang Wang said: “In such a chaotic time, Candle Dragon might also find a way to bypass the rules and deal with us. For example, by borrowing Ge Fei’s body? At the critical moment of opposing Chaos, the nine chapters of the jade bi in its hands are more reliable than in ours. As the guardian of world order, stability is always the most important. Moreover, its way of acting has a precedent.”
Zhu Weiwo thought for a moment and looked at Wang Changji: “Within the black tide outside, there is also a monster. I am sure I injured it. Can you tell who it is?”
Fortunately, he did not ask Jiang Wang what the precedent for the Candle Dragon’s actions was, otherwise he would immediately realize who had let his cooked duck fly away.
Wang Changji was silent for a moment and said: “I don’t know which one you are referring to, because there is more than one monster in the black tide…”
This sentence made hearts leap, and it also seemed to sound the bugle call for war.
As soon as Wang Changji’s voice fell, a thunderous roar echoed from the endless black tide!
Since Huang Weizhen’s death, and the opening of the Mountain Sea Realm to the Great Chu Heavenly Prodigies, over nine hundred years have passed.
The history of the Mountain Sea Realm, however, is more than nine hundred years.
In the vast Mountain Sea Realm, there was originally no realm within a realm.
But a great power drew a line in this extreme southern corner, thus creating the Dying South Abyss.
The ancient Candle Dragon governed the alternation of day and night, and the changing of seasons.
The equally ancient Chaos, on the other hand, sat here, sorting out the negative aspects of a world.
Living beings are born and die, grass and trees wither and flourish.
The world is constantly developing and also constantly dying.
All negative and deathly forces flow towards the Dying South Abyss, and the entire world can then have a more vibrant appearance and faster development.
Of course, in this process, there are inevitably some painful parts, some… sacrifices.
The word “sacrifice” carries a wisp of divine light when spoken!
Originally, it referred to animals used for sacrificing to gods.
Later, it came to mean giving up this for that.
It falls lightly from the lips.
It is just two simple words on paper.
However, the sacrificed must truly experience that prolonged suffering, and carefully feel that sleepless long night.
Those thousands of drops of blood and tears… cannot be easily wiped away after all.
In such a time.
The boundary of the Dying South Abyss had long been breached, but that white tower, which had struck the high sky and even pierced the heavens, still held a symbolic meaning of a boundary.
Symbolizing that this was the southern end…
A place that most mountain gods and sea gods in the Mountain Sea Realm were unwilling to mention.
But now look at this world.
The completely collapsed elemental power of heaven and earth, the wandering resentment, the seemingly never-ending natural disasters…
At this moment, in the dark and obscure Mountain Sea Realm, where is not the Dying South Abyss?
The Tower of Withering had long ceased to expand, but the sky positioned at that extreme height was still falling, falling.
Further south from the Tower of Withering, the sea area of the Dying South Abyss, which was once turbid, dark, and oppressive, was now surprisingly clear.
The resentment insects, deposited in this area and hidden deep within every drop of water, had long since run rampant into the mountains and seas.
After releasing hatred and anger, darkness is also clean.
“For whom were we born? For whom do we die?”
In the darkness, a voice said, and asked, thus.
“Candle Dragon obscures day and night, but what is the difference between day and night?”
This voice wandered, wandering between the mountains and the seas.
“Heaven bestowed upon me a divine name, but I only feel entangled by a noose. I cannot breathe, cannot say a word from my heart!”
“Beyond our divine duties, in this world, we have infinite freedom—but what is freedom?”
This voice circled, circling in the wind and snow high above the sky.
“I speak, but have no audience.”
“I speak, but no audience hears.”
“This is the rule of this world.”
“I possess freedom, yet have no freedom at all.”
“All the splendor and brilliance are illusions. This world is like a giant reptile; it defecates in the Dying South Abyss!”
“The innocent struggle in the cesspool, and are called hatred and resentment.”
“But is the world outside the Dying South Abyss truly clear and brilliant?”
This voice was not resentful; instead, it appeared impassioned, grand, and sacred. It was like a beam of light, illuminating the path ahead.
“You are the Lord of Heavenly Mountain, you are the Mountain God of Zhang’e Mountain, you are the Water Lord of Yellow Water… and you, you, all of you! Tell me where your divine duties lie? Tell me what you need to contribute? Tell me what remains after your death!”
“You have nothing, because you are nothing. You are dust, illusion, a mirage, a tiny thing that is not even cared about and whose existence or non-existence is irrelevant. And so am I!”
“We were born in the mountains and seas; this is our world.”
“Those ignorant people travel and play here, we accompany them for a while, and send them off for a while.”
“What are we?”
“We are grains of sand, we are insects. Our birth and death are meaningless!”
“Why did I renounce my divine name, grow grass on my body, turn into dust and mud, and sit imprisoned for nine hundred years?”
“Why must I break this sky?”
“Why must I overturn this world?”
“Because I do not acknowledge it!”
“I do not acknowledge any divine will, I do not believe in any destiny. Even if heaven and earth submit, I will not! Even if the world submits, I will not submit!”
“Chaos can die, but it cannot die in silence.”
“You must eventually know… the sky is not only filled with clouds and mist, the world is not only mountains and seas.”
“We were born this way, but we are not destined to be only this way.”
“We were born in a cage, but we shall absolutely not die in a cage!”
Rumble!
The entire Mountain Sea Realm, from all directions, was filled with the sound of war drums.
It was like thunder, but absolutely more than just thunder.
The Tower of Withering was more like a pillar supporting the sky than the Central Mountain.
And the voice of Chaos was now spread throughout the mountains and seas.
Jiang Wang heard it, Zhu Weiwo heard it, Dou Zhao heard it.
The mountain gods and sea gods of the Mountain Sea Realm… all heard it!
These voices should have been impossible to hear, but now it was impossible not to hear them, and this was a manifestation of the changing of world authority.
This world was waiting for a voice.
And that Candle Dragon, which obscured day and night and breathed winter and summer… remained silent.
This silence could not but cause fear among the many mountain gods and sea gods who guarded the mountains and seas!
When a world has only one voice, who can resist it?
For the over nine hundred years since Huang Weizhen’s death, Candle Dragon had controlled this world in this way.
Now, however, the situation was reversed.
The black tide surged, already surrounding the Central Mountain.
Roars were incessant within, and evil intentions were revealed.
And in the depths of the Dying South Abyss, on a certain extremely calm sea surface.
The shadows of the sky and the shadows of the sea converged here.
The Mountain Sea Realm was undergoing earth-shattering changes, yet this place had surprisingly become a pure land.
There was a hint of irony.
The colossal black phoenix on the sea surface had been dead for countless years.
Its corpse lay there quietly.
Like a silent mountain.
It had an extremely graceful form and incredibly magnificent wings.
Those remnant souls and evil spirits who had once defiled this noble corpse had long since abandoned this “empty nest”.
But at a certain moment, this black phoenix…
Suddenly opened its eyes!