484: The Holy Lord has arrived in person, and the entire city is under martial law.

The tremors of the Tongtian Pagoda had not yet subsided.

The sky above Tongtian City darkened without any warning.

One moment, the sky was bright and Spiritual Qi cascaded like waterfalls.

The next moment, the firmament suddenly plunged into darkness.

The rich, nearly liquefied seven-colored Spiritual Qi of the entire Tongtian City...

...seemed to be seized by the throat by an invisible giant hand at this instant, its flow coming to a dead stop.

Stagnation, dead silence.

The hundreds of millions of Cultivators in the city, no matter what they were doing—whether in closed-door cultivation, trading, or discussing the Dao—

—all felt a pang in their hearts at the same time. A shudder originating from life's instinct shot from their tailbones straight to the tops of their heads.

“What's going on?!”

“The... the sky has gone dark!”

Countless Cultivators looked up in horror.

They saw that high above on the curtain of the sky, space had cracked open like a shattered mirror, forming nine hideous pitch-black fissures.

Rumble—

Nine massive warships, even more enormous and terrifying than the nine dragon warship previously commanded by True Man Lei Yan, slowly sailed out from the spatial rifts.

They were forged entirely from ten-thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood, their hulls flickering with heart-palpitating purple lightning divine runes.

The eyes of the hideous dragon heads at the prows were two stars burning with the Fire of Extinction.

The nine warships were like nine Ancient Demon mountains suspended in the sky, casting massive shadows upon the earth.

That sky-shattering killing intent condensed into substance, turning into a visible blood-red Evil Qi that enveloped the entire city.

“Zixiao Holy Land is conducting business!”

A cold, emotionless will descended like a heavenly decree, crushing every corner of Tongtian City.

“Unrelated persons, withdraw immediately!”

“Violators shall die!”

The voice was not loud, yet it carried the supreme majesty of a Mahayana Saint Lord, exploding directly in the depths of everyone's Divine Soul.

Those with weaker cultivation bled from their noses and mouths on the spot, their Divine Souls shaken; some even fainted outright.

The entire Tongtian City instantly fell into Chaos.

“It's Zixiao Holy Land! Have they gone mad?!”

“What terrifying pressure! Who is leading them? Could it be...”

“Quick! Activate the City Protection Grand Array!”

Amidst countless terrified screams, the strongholds of the various top-tier forces in the city reacted extremely quickly.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

From the Moonlit Immortal Palace of the Yaoguang Holy Land, a bright moonlight barrier rose.

From the Imperial Pole Hall of the Tianyan Divine Dynasty, the illusory shadows of nine golden dragons emerged to coil and protect.

Outside the Dao Palace of the Taichu Dao Sect, a massive Yin and Yang Taiji diagram slowly rotated... One by one, the bases of the top-tier forces activated their highest-level defensive Formations at the first opportunity.

Radiance shot into the sky, isolating that suffocating pressure outside.

Immediately afterward, one after another, incredibly powerful Divine Senses soared into the sky.

Each Divine Sense represented a terrifying existence who was at least a Half-step Mahayana.

These Divine Senses converged in the Void Realm, carrying questioning and vigilance as they confronted the nine Zixiao warships from afar.

“Zixiao Holy Lord.”

From deep within the Imperial Pole Hall of the Tianyan Divine Dynasty, an old and majestic voice rang out, turning into a Divine Thought that spread through the Void Realm.

“You personally lead your troops to array them at Tongtian City. What do you intend to do?”

“Could it be that you wish to provoke an Immortal Holy War?!”

The speaker was an old Imperial Uncle stationed here by the Tianyan Divine Dynasty, holding a very high seniority and unfathomable strength.

As soon as he spoke, the wills of several other Holy Lands and Divine Dynasties chimed in one after another, collectively applying pressure.

Tongtian City was a place jointly governed by the eight giants.

There was an unwritten rule that no party was allowed to use force here, let alone a Holy Lord personally arriving with an army at the borders.

The actions of the Zixiao Holy Land had already seriously violated the bottom line of all the giants of the Central Continent Divine Land.

Facing the questioning of dozens of Half-step Mahayana level existences...

...there was finally a response from the largest flagship in the center of the nine warships.

A cold snort.

It was merely a cold snort, yet it caused the several Half-step Mahayana Divine Senses confronting it in the Void Realm to tremble in unison.

The Zixiao Holy Lord's figure did not appear.

But his will was colder than ten-thousand-year-old profound ice.

“Immortal Holy War? Are you lot even worthy?”

“This seat has come today for only one person!”

Before his voice finished, a primitive token carved entirely from an unknown purple crystal and surrounded by billions of lightning runes slowly rose from the flagship.

The zixiao token!

As soon as this order appeared, a terrifying aura far exceeding the sum of all previous pressures combined erupted with a bang.

An eighth-rank High Grade Dao Artifact!

And it was the sect-protecting treasure that the Zixiao Holy Land had passed down as a Legacy for billions of years!

“This person insulted my Holy Land and killed my Elder; his crimes are unpardonable!”

The Zixiao Holy Lord's voice, carrying an unquestionable intent to kill, resounded through heaven and earth.

“Today, whoever dares to obstruct me shall be the mortal enemy of my Zixiao Holy Land!”

“This seat does not mind if the Central Continent Divine Land becomes a land of two Divine Dynasties and four Holy Lands from this day forward!”

Madness!

This madman!

Feeling the terrifying aura of the zixiao token that seemed ready to drag heaven and earth into destruction, and hearing this undisguised threat...

...the old Imperial Uncle of the Tianyan Divine Dynasty fell silent.

The Grand Elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land fell silent.

All the giants who had come forward to question him lost their voices at this moment.

They could feel the Zixiao Holy Lord's madness, his willingness to pay any price.

To use a sect-protecting treasure and threaten an Immortal Holy War for the sake of one person...

...this was no longer a joke.

After a moment of weighing the consequences, those few Half-step Mahayana Divine Senses slowly withdrew in unison.

There was no need to go head-to-head with a completely maddened Zixiao Holy Land for the sake of an irrelevant person.

They would wait and see the situation first.

Seeing that no one dared to obstruct him anymore, the Zixiao Holy Lord's will swept across the field and let out a cold laugh, filled with endless arrogance.

However, right at this moment...

...from the direction of the Tongtian Pagoda's square, another burst of exclamations even more startling than before erupted.

“Seventieth floor! He's reached the seventieth floor!”

“Am I seeing things? It took him less than half an hour to go from the sixtieth floor to the seventieth?!”

“Is he even human? After the seventieth floor, the Laws of each floor are nearly complete, comparable to trials personally set by a Mahayana Saint Lord!”

This commotion instantly drew everyone's attention.

Including the Zixiao Holy Land's army suspended high in the sky.

The Zixiao Holy Lord's massive Divine Sense naturally swept over to that giant light screen as well.

When he saw that dot of light soaring to the seventieth floor at an inconceivable speed...

...his will flickered for the first time.

He had sensed the unusual movements of the Tongtian Pagoda long ago, but he hadn't taken them to heart.

At this moment, an ominous premonition quietly rose in his heart.

He no longer hesitated; his massive Divine Sense, like a heavenly net, enveloped the entire Tongtian City.

He began to use a supreme Karma secret technique to search for the enemy who had insulted his Zixiao Holy Land.

Very quickly...

...his Divine Sense locked onto a target.

A figure surrounded by the aura of Chaos, to whom the Karma lines of True Man Lei Yan and the destruction of the Li Family clearly pointed.

Found him!

The Zixiao Holy Lord's killing intent climbed to its peak at this instant.

However, in the next instant...

...when he saw the location of that figure, his killing intent, which was enough to freeze ten thousand miles, suddenly stiffened.

That figure was actually in the Tongtian Pagoda, on the seventieth floor!

“How can this be...”

The Zixiao Holy Lord's Divine Thought fluctuated violently for the first time.

He tried to probe his Divine Sense into the Tongtian Pagoda to drag that person out and crush him to death.

But when his Divine Sense touched the mysterious yellow body of the Tongtian Pagoda...

...it was easily bounced back by an ancient and supreme power of rules.

Inside the Tongtian Pagoda was a world of its own, protected by the supreme rules of the pagoda.

Never mind that he was only at the Early Stage of Mahayana; even if a Saint Monarch at Mahayana Perfection arrived in person, they could forget about interfering with the inside of the tower from the outside in the slightest.

The Zixiao Holy Lord's face instantly turned so dark it could drip water.

He had exhausted his efforts, not hesitating to use the sect-protecting treasure, threatening all sides and putting on a posture of mortal combat.

In the end, his enemy was right before his eyes, inside that tower.

And he could only watch helplessly.

He couldn't hit him.

He couldn't get in.

Retreat?

Behind him was the elite force of the Holy Land that had come out in full force; beneath him was Tongtian City, the focus of the entire Central Continent Divine Land.

If he were to retreat now, the Zixiao Holy Land would completely become the greatest laughingstock of the Central Continent Divine Land for billions of years.

Caught in a dilemma!

High in the sky, the nine war vessels with their sky-shattering Evil Qi were awkwardly suspended in mid-air just like that.

That sky-shattering killing intent now looked more like a farcical performance.

In the city, the expressions of countless Cultivators became strange as they watched this scene.

From the initial fear to the current bewilderment, and then to a hint of frustration at wanting to laugh but not daring to.

Inside the Immortal Palace of the Yaoguang Holy Land.

Several Disciples were carefully treating the Yaoguang Saintess's injuries.

She raised her paper-pale, beautiful face and looked at the Zixiao Holy Land army in the sky that was caught in a dilemma.

Then she looked at that dot of light on the screen that was still climbing upward.

Those bright eyes, once filled with pride, now held only endless complexity and pity.

Her crimson lips parted slightly as she let out a sleep-talk-like murmur.

“Zixiao Holy Land is finished...”

“Zixiao Holy Land... they have no idea what they are actually about to face...”