172: Chapter 172 Eradicating Darkness, Bestowing Titles upon Fairy Maidens

Absolute silence.

The spatial turbulence stopped blowing, and even the screeching of the wraiths froze.

The Yaochi Ruins had been noisy for who knows how many years, but in this instant, all sound vanished, quiet to the point of terror.

And there was that sound, echoing neatly across heaven and earth...

The sound of kneeling.

"Thud!"

Arhat Fatian knelt there, this Grand Unity Golden Immortal of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Holy Land maintaining a posture of utter humiliation.

His Divine Soul was pinned in his mind by a terrifying, incomprehensible force, to the point where even thinking was grinding to a halt.

All he could see was a pair of ordinary cloth shoes walking slowly past him, stepping on the air.

They didn't even glance at him.

They didn't even pause for a second.

It was a disregard that stemmed from the marrow of the bones.

It was as if Arhat Fatian, along with the sea of monks kneeling behind him, were just some obstructive stones on the roadside, not even worth a kick.

This kind of disregard could destroy a Li Yao's Dao Heart more effectively than any humiliation or torture.

Arhat Fatian's Divine Soul was trembling and wailing.

He was wrong.

Wrong to an outrageous degree.

He shouldn't have provoked this Demon God; he shouldn't have entered this damned ghost place!

Alas, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

Li Xuan walked slowly, his goal clear from the beginning to the end.

He passed through the kneeling Buddhist crowd, walked past the peach forest brought to life by his daughter's Divine Ability, and finally stopped before the pantao mother tree, which was so tall it reached the heavens yet covered in wounds.

In the eyes of an Immortal King, this ancient divine tree was dying.

Within its body, a majestic life Origin was being awakened by his daughter Li Yao's light of creation.

But at the same time, another evil, corrupt, dark force filled with the will of destruction and termination was nailed firmly into its heart, ceaselessly devouring its vitality and polluting its Soul.

That was the root of all pain.

That tattered black dagger.

Li Qingyue and the Wraith Queen stayed quietly to the side.

The former trusted her father absolutely; as for the latter, under the shroud of Li Xuan's Immortal King Aura, she instinctively retracted all hostility. In those eye sockets that had shed blood and tears for eons, an emotion other than hatred appeared for the first time—bewilderment.

She did not understand what this man, who was so strong it made her suffocate, wanted to do.

Li Xuan ignored everyone.

He simply extended his right hand.

An ordinary, slender, and powerful hand, with no Immortal Qi flowing and no Law entwined.

Just like that, he reached out and grasped the dark dagger stuck in the tree trunk.

"Hum—!"

The moment Li Xuan's fingers were about to touch the dagger, the dead object seemed to come alive!!

A dark will, purer and more ancient than the Immortal King Buddhist treasure activated by Arhat Fatian, exploded out from the dagger!

It was no longer at the level of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, nor even a common Immortal King.

It was a supreme will approaching that of an "Emperor"!

Darkness, termination, destruction, and nothingness...

Waves of negative Laws turned into the most poisonous mental shock, like a boundless black Universe, swallowing Li Xuan's consciousness in an instant!

"Humble creature..."

"Touching the taboo..."

"You should turn into nothingness!"

A grandiose, cold, emotionless voice exploded in Li Xuan's mind.

It wanted to use its Quasi-Immortal Emperor level will to completely erase Li Xuan from the roots!

Arhat Fatian behind him felt a sliver of this will, and his Soul, already on the verge of collapse, shattered with a "pop," and he fainted on the spot.

Inside the zhou tian star boat, Ao Qingxue's Dragon Soul dimmed even before she could scream; if not for the fact that the boat itself was protected by Li Xuan's power, she would have been crushed into dust by the aftershock of this will in an instant.

Only Li Qingyue, under the protection of the lunar mirror, barely held on, but her small face was deathly pale, and a trace of Immortal blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

However, Li Xuan, who was in the center of the storm and being directly impacted by that "Quasi-Immortal Emperor" will, didn't even twitch an eyebrow.

On his face, there was even an expression of boredom.

"Showing off before a master."

He spat out four words softly.

That dark will Universe capable of swallowing Immortal Kings and erasing Grand Unity Golden Immortals collided with Li Xuan's Hongmeng Chaos Body like a paper sheet hitting a divine mountain.

Li Xuan's body itself was a true Chaos Universe.

In front of a true Universe, this fake thing drawn by a tattered will was laughably fragile.

"No..."

"Impossible! This is... Grandmist..."

"Urgh ah ah!!"

The grandiose voice had fierce fluctuations for the first time, changing from coldness to extreme shock and fear.

But it couldn't even say a complete sentence anymore.

Because Li Xuan's hand had already steadily gripped the hilt of the dagger.

In his palm, a trace of imperceptible Chaos Qi turned gently.

"Sizzle—"

A soft sound.

That dark will, strong enough to pollute Immortal Kings and make Quasi-Immortal Emperors wary, was like a small ant thrown into a cosmic millstone; it couldn't even scream fully before being instantly decomposed, assimilated, and extinguished, finally turning into nothingness.

Dead as could be.

Having resolved this final nuisance, Li Xuan's fingers applied a slight force.

"Clang."

A crisp metallic tremor, like a chain being unlocked.

The dark dagger that had tortured the pantao mother tree for countless eons was slowly pulled out from the trunk by him with ease.

As the dagger left, a bottomless black hole appeared in the heart of the tree.

No sap flowed out, only streams of pure dark source essence kept running out, yet they were quickly purified under Li Yao's light of creation.

When the dagger was completely pulled out.

"Wuu... wuu wuu..."

A long, mournful sound like a sigh of relief came from the Wraith Queen's mouth.

She no longer roared or shrieked.

Her terrifying, hideous body began to slowly become transparent in the sunlight.

The blood and tears that had flowed for billions of years finally dried up.

Her hollow eye sockets had focus for the first time.

She looked at the man who was holding the dagger with his back to her, and then looked down at the ground under her feet where peach blossoms were blooming and tender buds were growing again.

The resentment on her body melted away like snow.

Melting away with it were the thousands of Immortal Maiden wraiths spread throughout the Yaochi Ruins.

They let out satisfied sighs, their bodies turning into specks of spiritual light, as if they were about to dissipate completely and return to heaven and earth in the next moment.

Their obsession stemmed from the pain brought by this dagger.

Now, the root of the pain was pulled out, and they were ready to be liberated.

Li Xuan gripped backhand, and the dark dagger that could give even Immortal Kings a headache made a crisp sound under the combined effect of his Immortal King-level power and Chaos Body; it was actually crushed into powder by him, completely erased from this world.

He turned around, looking at the thousands of Immortal spirits that were about to disappear, his gaze calm.

"You want to just leave like this?"

He spoke indifferently.

The voice was not loud, but it made all the disappearing Immortal spirits stop in unison.

The Wraith Queen, no, perhaps she should be called the former manager of the Yaochi maids, looked at Li Xuan in a daze, her eyes, which had regained their spirit, carrying a trace of bewilderment.

"In the name of the Heavenly Emperor, I command you," Li Xuan's voice carried the supreme majesty of Will Manifests as Law, "Your sins of this body are cleared, and your resentment has dissipated, but failing to guard and causing the Yaochi to suffer a catastrophe is also a fault."

"Today, I punish you to eternally guard this place, reshape your Immortal bodies, become Immortal Maidens of the Heavenly Court, manage the Yaochi flowers and trees, and organize the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence. Do not fail."

As his words fell, a simple and vast golden scroll that seemed to carry the true names of all the gods of the heavens slowly unfolded behind him.

It was the [investiture of the gods]!

Li Xuan held the investiture of the gods with one hand, and with the other, he pointed like a pen at the Void Realm and shouted loudly:

"Spirits of Yaochi, return to your positions!!"

"Hum—!"

The investiture of the gods burst with golden light, and rays of golden divine light containing the authority of the Heavenly Dao locked onto the Wraith Queen who was about to disappear, and the thousands of Immortal Maiden remnant Souls like precise chains.

"Ah—"

The maid manager let out a complex mournful cry, her body uncontrollably pulled by the golden light and cast into the investiture of the gods.

Following that, the second, the third, and even thousands of remnant Souls, like tired birds returning to the forest or swallows returning to the nest, turned into streams of light and merged into the scroll one after another.

On the investiture of the gods, lines of brand-new golden divine script appeared rapidly.

[Heavenly Court Immortal Official · Yaochi Garden Manager · A Qiong]

[Heavenly Court Immortal Official · Yaochi First-Class Immortal Maidens · Chunlan]

[Heavenly Court Immortal Official · Yaochi First-Class Immortal Maidens · Xiahe]

The moment the last remnant Soul returned to its position, the investiture of the gods shone even brighter!

Thousands of rays of divine light shot out from the scroll and landed all over the Peach Garden again.

The light dissipated.

In their place, there were no longer phantom wraiths.

Instead, there were Immortal Fairies dressed in palace dresses of various colors, with graceful postures and solemn appearances.

Immortal light swirled around them, their divine essence restrained, and their appearances, which had been distorted by resentment, had long since recovered the peerless style of the ancient Yaochi Immortal Maidens.

The manager, A Qiong, bowed deeply, deeply, to Li Xuan.

Behind her, the thousands of Immortal Maidens moved in unison, kneeling gracefully in the direction of Li Xuan.

This time, it was not forced by Law, but from the heart...

Submission and gratitude.

"We, kowtow to thank the Heavenly Emperor for the grace of rebuilding us!"

The sound, like a mountain collapsing and the sea roaring, converged into the most pious faith, echoing through this ancient Immortal realm that had regained its new life.