524: Chapter 524: Fenglinzhou Falls

Red light flashed within the demonic clouds, and Immortals on the pass unleashed their Divine Abilities with increasing ferocity.

Everyone saw the dawn of victory.

Among the Hanyun Pass defenders, half were Heavenly Army remnants from the Heavenly Court, while the rest came from various Immortal Sects in Phoenix-Lin Continent.

If this pass fell, the Phoenix-Lin Continent defense line would be torn apart, and the Sects and homelands behind them would inevitably fall under the Qitian Sect's control.

If the Qitian Sect merely occupied the Sects, that would be one thing, but according to Immortals who escaped from the fallen continents, this Sect had much grander ambitions.

They not only refined captured Immortals into Puppets using evil methods but also forcibly abducted Disciples from the Immortal Sects in the fallen lands.

No one knew where these Disciples were taken; they only knew their soul lamps extinguished, and no news was ever heard again.

No one wanted to become livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

Precisely because of this, the various Immortal Sects had no choice but to send their elites to assist the Heavenly Court in guarding the pass.

Even having achieved Immortal Ascension, they had not become utterly heartless after all.

Those who Cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness were ultimately a tiny minority.

Most Immortals still had attachments they had to protect.

As the Black Flame Demon King fell, the Yinglong made several unsuccessful attempts to break through, eventually being slain by the combined efforts of Chang Hen Wujue and Fei Hai, and the Qitian Sect army suffered a crushing defeat, leaving tens of millions of corpses as they retreated.

Standing at the edge of the sky, with a mountain of black corpses beneath his feet, surging Evil Qi enveloped the entire Hanyun Pass.

Only then did the killing intent in Chang Hen Wujue's eyes slightly subside.

With a hum, Fei Hai appeared beside him, bowing solemnly with clasped fists: "Thank you for your assistance, Fellow Daoist! If not for your arrival, Hanyun Pass would surely have fallen today, and the hundreds of millions of miles of Immortal land behind us would also have been poisoned by the evil cult."

Chang Hen Wujue did not respond, only shaking his head slightly, his figure blurring and vanishing without a trace.

"Just as the rumors say, he's a man of few words." Fei Hai looked at the spot where he disappeared, pouting his lips, and habitually raised his hand, wanting to stroke his meticulously groomed beard.

However, just as his hand touched his chin, a tragic wail suddenly echoed above the pass:

"Damn bastard Dragon! I'll rip out your tendons right now! My beautiful beard!"

Hearing this, the Heavenly Soldiers and Immortals who had survived the calamity couldn't help but smile on their weary faces.

It was good to be alive.

However, in the following half-month, the Qitian Sect's offensive became even more frenzied.

Not only Hanyun Pass, but the other six passes in Phoenix-Lin Continent also gradually felt overwhelmed.

Yet, above the Heavenly Court, no powerful beings ever descended.

Although Chang Hen Wujue's figure frequently appeared to rescue various passes, no matter how strong he was, he was still only one Great Luo Realm expert.

Although various Quasi-Saints were currently in hiding, there were quite a few Great Luo Realm powerhouses.

Especially on the Qitian Sect's side, many previously unknown Daluo Immortal Kings and Devil Kings emerged, many of whom were even stronger than the long-established old Great Luo Realm experts of the Immortal-Demon Realm.

In the battle of Langyu Pass, the Qitian Sect dispatched three Great Luo Realm experts: one openly restrained the Great Luo Realm expert guarding the pass, while the other two hid in the shadows.

The moment Chang Hen Wujue appeared, they suddenly launched their attack.

Although they didn't gravely injure him with one blow, they successfully dragged him into the battle and set up a grand formation that sealed the Void Realm.

Under the combined schemes of two Late Stage Great Luo Realm experts, Chang Hen Wujue suffered successive injuries, his immortal body even being blasted apart once.

If not for a Great Luo Realm Old Ancestor from an Immortal Sect in Phoenix-Lin Continent arriving in time, he might have been in danger of falling.

Even so, the heavily injured Chang Hen Wujue did not reappear for the next half-month.

Yu Gang City, a remote small city in Phoenix-Lin Continent, whose City Lord was merely a Profound Immortal Realm expert.

Inside an ordinary stone house in the city, a black-robed, silver-masked figure quietly appeared.

He removed his mask, revealing a chiseled face etched with the marks of time.

A hideous scar slashed diagonally from his brow, across his lips and eyes, making his face look grim, but his original appearance was still vaguely discernible.

It was Cao Xiaochuan.

With his Cultivation, healing such a scar would not have been difficult, but he had no intention of doing so.

These scars, left from assassinating the Qitian Sect, seemed to keep him constantly sober, urging him to Cultivate diligently.

He knew his Aptitude was inferior to his Junior Brother and Junior Sister, and to become stronger, he could only work harder.

He dared not hope that he could one day reverse the river of time and resurrect Qingzhu; he only wished to personally slay Tie Zhamu, the Prodigy and demon of the Qitian Sect, to avenge her.

Tie Zhamu was a favored Prodigy of the Qitian Sect, having stepped into Taiyi Peak before him and ascended to the Great Luo Realm even earlier, an extraordinary Prodigy cultivated with all the Qitian Sect's might.

Over a hundred years, Cao Xiaochuan had sought his whereabouts multiple times, engaging in three battles, each time returning defeated, even nearly dying.

Even now that he had also entered the Great Luo Realm, he still had no confidence in slaying Tie Zhamu.

This was because Tie Zhamu comprehended the Dao of Destruction, which was among the top-tier of the higher Daos.

His attacks carried an irresistible destructive power, far beyond the likes of the Black Flame Demon King, and even Late Stage Great Luo Realm powerhouses dared not lightly confront him.

Moreover, the Cultivation Technique, secret arts, and Divine Abilities that Tie Zhamu possessed were no less inferior to his, perhaps even stronger.

This was an opponent who suppressed him in every aspect.

But Cao Xiaochuan's determination to slay him had never wavered.

If once wasn't enough, then ten times; if ten times wasn't enough, then a hundred times.

As long as a breath remained, he believed that one day he would personally avenge Qingzhu.

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, droplets splashing and piercing the wooden table, leaving deep corrosive marks on the stone wall.

The severe Dao injury caused his newly reassembled immortal body to fluctuate again, and the unique evil power of the Qitian Sect continuously eroded the Immortal Qi within him.

Cao Xiaochuan sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, eyes closed in concentration, fully healing his injuries.

He was no stranger to the erosion of evil power.

For over a hundred years, he had been entangled with this power dozens of times.

Each wisp of evil power required ten times the Immortal Qi to grind away.

It wasn't that this power was stronger than Immortal Qi, but rather that it possessed strong corrosive and assimilative properties, capable of subtly eroding and counter-infiltrating during Immortal Qi confrontations, even finding gaps to Breakthrough Immortal Qi blockades, making it extremely difficult to refine.

However, if it didn't enter the body, in terms of sheer power, the evil arts and Demonic Techniques fueled by evil power were merely more bizarre, with no fundamental difference.

Three months later, Hanyun Pass finally fell.

Fei Hai escaped, covered in blood, and the hundreds of millions of Immortals guarding the pass mostly perished; only a few escaped, while the rest were all refined into Puppets.

The Phoenix-Lin Continent defense line completely collapsed.

The bad news spread like a plague, and Immortal Sects within the continent dispatched envoys to the Heavenly Court and the Three Great Sacred Lands for aid.

However, the Heavenly Court and the Sacred Lands kept their barriers closed, refusing to see outsiders.

The entire Phoenix-Lin Continent fell into complete despair.

At the same time, deep within the Heavenly Court's Immortal Palace.

The Queen Mother of the West's figure swept through layers of corridors, with Yu Shang and more than ten Immortal maidens following closely behind her.

Until they reached a majestic hall: the Haotian Hall.

This place was not only the residence of Emperor Haotian but also where Immortal officials held court on ordinary days.

Although dozens of Heavenly Soldiers were stationed in front of the hall, the hall itself was silent.

The Queen Mother of the West left the Immortal maidens outside the door, entering the hall with only Yu Shang.

The mother and daughter walked to the entrance of a quiet room deep within, waiting silently.

After about half an incense stick's time, the jade-white stone door opened soundlessly.

A voice, faintly imbued with authority, came from within:

"Come in."

The two women entered the quiet room, only to see Emperor Haotian sitting cross-legged on a jade couch, the haotian bell slowly rotating above his head, and a small, pale golden seal also circling around him.

Emperor Haotian's complexion had recovered considerably.

It was no longer as pale as when he first returned to the Heavenly Court.

"My husband, what exactly happened during your trip to the Nirvana Realm this time? How did you sustain such severe injuries, to the point where even the haotian bell's spiritual essence was damaged?" The Queen Mother of the West looked at her husband, showing both confusion and shock.