365: This is acting.

Lingxiao Heaven, Immortal Realm.

The Five Great Emperors were furious.

They had not expected the Spirit Realm to prefer mutual destruction over handing over the three individuals.

Lingxiao Heaven, Immortal Realm.

Five Emperor figures stood on the jade steps, their immortal Qi chaotic, and their oppressive aura nearly out of control.

The news from the Spirit Realm struck like a thunderclap—

Tens of thousands of elite troops from the Five Divisions were all slaughtered; Zi Xuwu, a Golden Immortal, had fallen;

The Spirit Realm, it turned out, would rather destroy its own Foundation than surrender those three!

"Madmen! All of them madmen!" The Yan Emperor, Jiang Lieshan, of the Fire Division, slammed his palm down, shattering a jade pillar beside him, and crimson flames surged into the sky. "A mere Lower Realm dares to slaughter tens of thousands of my Immortal Court's elite, accumulated over millennia?!"

Azure Emperor Taihao's expression was grim, the green lotus in his hand trembling slightly: "They are not mad; they are resolute. The Spirit Realm has no retreat, so they use mutual destruction as a bargaining chip, forcing us not to act rashly."

White Emperor Shao Hao of the Metal Division slowly spoke, his voice like cold iron falling to the ground: "Precisely for this reason, we cannot descend to the Lower Realm."

He scanned the crowd, his tone heavy: "Do not forget, although we are Saint Immortals, once we step into the Spirit Realm, under the suppression of Heavenly Dao rules, our cultivation will inevitably be reduced to that of a Golden Immortal. And Taichu Heavenly Venerate... he controls the entire Origin of the Spirit Realm. If we truly push him to a dead end, he only needs to trigger the self-destruction of the realm core—"

He paused, then said, word by word:

"Even if an Immortal Emperor were to personally arrive, he would find it difficult to escape the calamity of his Divine Soul being annihilated."

Silence fell upon the hall.

All the Emperors knew these words were not false.

Though the Spirit Realm was small, it was a complete Minor Thousand Worlds. Once its core was detonated, it would be enough to tear apart the passage between the two realms, causing a chain of collapse.

At that time, let alone a Saint Immortal, even a mighty expert would find it difficult to retreat unscathed.

Shaohao said in a deep voice: "We can only wait. In at most one year, the Reverse Spirit Returning to Ruins Formation will completely drain the Spirit Realm's Origin. By then, with the realm's Origin depleted, Taichu Heavenly Venerate will have no reliance, and the Spirit Realm will be unable to self-destruct. Killing him will be as easy as turning over one's hand."

Azure Emperor Taihao, however, frowned deeply: "I'm just worried... that within this year, they will make rapid progress using the Cultivation Technique."

"Absurd!" Jiang Lieshan scoffed, interrupting him, "I don't believe there's any Cultivation Technique in this world that can allow someone to leap from Golden Immortal to Saint Immortal within a year! If that were truly the case... I, Jiang Lieshan, would accept death!"

At the highest point of Lingxiao Hall, Immortal Emperor Haotian sat on a Nine Heavens cloud platform, his face expressionless, his gaze as deep as the abyss.

He had originally thought that the Five Directional Emperors would descend to the Lower Realm in a rage over the death of fifteen thousand elites, personally slaying the Five Great Heavenly Venerables—this way, he could eliminate the hidden danger of the Spirit Realm and also weaken the Five Emperors, killing two birds with one stone.

However, he had not expected them to hold back.

"They have... improved," Haotian sneered inwardly, yet his face remained placid.

But it didn't matter.

In a year, when the Reverse Spirit Returning to Ruins Formation was complete, the Spirit Realm would inevitably become a wasteland.

At that time, the Five Directional Emperors, in order to seize the nine tripods Cultivation Technique, would have no choice but to personally descend to the Lower Realm to contend for the remnants.

And he, only needed to sit high in Lingxiao Hall, observing the changes.

No matter who won or lost, the ultimate beneficiary would only be the Immortal Emperor... Just as the Immortal Realm and the Spirit Realm were at loggerheads, on the verge of a life-and-death battle.

The Seventh Mining District in the Ninth Heaven was also experiencing various battles.

The Sixth Mining District, adjacent to the Seventh Mining District, was one of the most resource-rich and heavily guarded mining districts in the Nine Heavens.

The captain of the mining district was named Tu Biao, a burly man with a fierce face, at the Middle Stage of Undergoing Tribulation cultivation. He constantly wore a "Slave Suppressing Whip" bestowed by the Immortal Court on his waist, its tip stained with the blood of countless Red Slaves over the years.

On this day, he was lying in the Overseer's tent, gnawing on a Spirit Beast leg, when a subordinate rushed in with an urgent report: "Captain! The Seventh Mining District... has revolted!"

"Pfft—" Tu Biao spat out a mouthful of wine, then threw his head back and laughed, his mouth twisted with mirth: "Are you saying that group of lowly slaves who don't even dare to lift their heads have revolted? Hahahaha! With just them??"

The subordinate cautiously said: "Captain, we cannot be careless... I heard Lei Liao was killed."

"Lei Liao?" Tu Biao's laughter abruptly stopped, but only for a moment, then erupted into even wilder laughter, "How is that possible! Although Lei Liao is only at the Peak Spirit Transformation, he has a True Immortal Magical Artifact in his hand! Once that thing is unleashed, anyone below True Immortal will have their Divine Soul annihilated!"

He narrowed his eyes, lowering his voice: "I tell you, this is not a revolt at all—this is Chief Li Qianhai putting on a show!"

"Chief?" The subordinate was stunned.

"Shh—keep it down!" Tu Biao looked left and right, speaking mysteriously, "Only smart people like me can see through this. The Chief has guarded the Nine Heavens for tens of thousands of years, yet they didn't even invite him to the Ascension ceremony. He's been holding a grudge for a long time. This time, he deliberately created the Seventh Mining District revolt to show the Immortal Court: without him, Li Qianhai, the Nine Heavens would have fallen into chaos long ago!"

He triumphantly patted his subordinate's shoulder: "So, we also have to cooperate with the act. Go, gather all the Overseers and guards. We'll go to the Seventh Mining District to 'suppress the rebellion' as a gesture, shoot a few arrows, burn a few thatched huts, and then come back. The credit will be recorded, and no one will be lost. How good is that!"

"Yes! Captain is wise!" The subordinate understood and turned to carry out the order.

At the same time, in the Red Slaves' mine cave in the Sixth Mining District, several weary figures were conversing in low voices.

"Did you hear?" A scrawny old miner whispered, "The neighboring Seventh Mining District has become independent! A woman named Chi Yao led the Chi Clan to take over the mining district. Now everyone has a name, gets a full meal every day, and no longer has to wear numbered Jade Slips!"

"You're bragging!" A young miner next to him scoffed, "The Chi Clan revolting? They've rebelled hundreds of times over tens of thousands of years, and which time didn't end in rivers of blood?"

"Exactly!" Another person chimed in, "This must be bait from the Overseers! They deliberately say the Seventh Mining District is free to see who gets tempted, and whoever does is an 'unsettled element,' so they can catch them all in one net!"

"Yes, it must be fake!" Everyone nodded. In their eyes, being beaten and starved was not a big deal, but if the Red Slaves next door truly lived a good life, that would be worse than death.

Just then, earth-shattering drum sounds came from outside the mine cave.

"Look! That's the Captain!" Someone exclaimed.

Tu Biao, clad in golden armor, was seen leading three hundred elite guards, each riding a fire-scaled beast, their swords and spears gleaming. They set off in a mighty procession, heading straight for the Seventh Mining District.

"Let's put on a good show for the Chief!" Tu Biao swaggered into the boundary of the Seventh Mining District, looking around proudly. However, as he stepped into the Seventh Mining District, he froze.

It was empty.

The Overseers' watchtowers were deserted, the guards' barracks were open, and even the Red Slaves' mine caves were eerily silent.

Scattered on the ground were broken shackles, snapped mining picks, and—large patches of dark red bloodstains, long dry but still shocking, extending from the mine shaft all the way to the center of the square.

"Tsk," Tu Biao sneered, dismounted his beast, and kicked a headless corpse with the tip of his boot: "This act is pretty good! It really looks like a big battle took place. The Chief is quite good at staging a scene."

He was about to order a "symbolic setting of a few fires" when suddenly—

"Boom!!!"

The ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed! Dozens of geysers of ground fire erupted from the cracks, flames like Dragons, instantly engulfing the fifty guards in the front row!

Before their screams could even begin, the people had already turned into charcoal.