148: Chapter 148 The Demon Lord Shows Mercy and Grants a Single Point; The Immortal Platform Continues on the Broken Bridge

"Mayflies shaking a tree... So it turns out we are all just mayflies kept in captivity..."

The State Preceptor of Yankang's eyes were hollow, his Dao Heart nearly collapsing at this moment.

The four Grand Elders were sprawled on the ground, trembling, not even daring to lift their heads.

This was precisely the reason why they only dared to hide in Little Jade Capital waiting for death, not daring to draw their swords against the heavens.

That was simply not a battle of the same magnitude!

However, amidst this suffocating atmosphere of despair, a sudden, abrupt chuckle sounded in the quiet plaza.

The State Preceptor of Yankang's body stiffened, and he turned his head rigidly.

What he saw was not Ye Xiu, who had also fallen into despair, but the Sect Leader carrying a wine gourd.

He was bowing his head, his shoulders shaking violently as he tried to suppress his laughter.

"Sect Leader... You..."

"Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!"

Ye Xiu could no longer hold it back; he threw his head back.

He erupted into a burst of wild, unbridled laughter that even carried a hint of morbid excitement!

In that laughter, there was not a shred of fear; instead, it was filled with the violence and bloodlust of encountering a perfect prey!

"Interesting! This is fucking interesting!"

Ye Xiu took a massive gulp of strong liquor and casually smashed the priceless Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Cup to pieces.

He wiped the liquor from the corner of his mouth, his heterochromatic gold and silver eyes shining like two burning supernovae at this moment, staring fixedly at the Void Realm above the Nine Heavens.

"I thought those bastards in the sky had some remarkable, heaven-reaching means. It turns out, after all that, they are just a bunch of ancient robbers who dare to call themselves gods just because they have a few high-Rank Magic Treasures in their hands!"

Ye Xiu turned around, grabbed the State Preceptor of Yankang by the collar, and hauled him up from the mire of despair.

"What are you crying for?! Is your Dao Heart really that pathetic?!"

Ye Xiu stared into the State Preceptor of Yankang's hollow eyes and roared like an enraged lion: "The reason they were able to sever the Divine Bridge back then was because that bullshit Emperor Kaihuang was still practicing their methods! Of course you can't defeat the ones who set the rules by using someone else's rules!"

"But I, Ye Xiu, cultivate the Immortal Platform! My Three-Point Return to Origin Qi and Ten Thousand Swords Returning to Ancestor are not within the broken rules of this world!"

Ye Xiu shoved the State Preceptor of Yankang away, his bright red, dragon-patterned wedding robe fluttering wildly in the gale. He pointed with one hand, his Sword Qi flickering, pointing arrogantly toward the endless firmament.

"The war that Emperor Kaihuang didn't finish, I will finish!"

Ye Xiu's cloud-piercing, rock-splitting roar, carrying a ferocity that did not belong to this era, echoed wildly among the mountains and valleys of Little Jade Capital.

The State Preceptor of Yankang staggered back, staring fixedly at the man draped in a scarlet wedding robe with his back to the firmament.

He felt that with Ye Xiu's declaration, the heavy "sky curtain" that had shrouded The Great Ruins for tens of thousands of years seemed to have been torn open by some brute force, creating an unhealable gash.

The four Grand Elders, including the Grand Elder of Taixu, who were kneeling on the ground, were now terrified out of their wits.

They were at the Peak of the Divine Bridge Realm, the end of the Rank set by the "false gods" of this world.

In their eyes, if the Divine Bridge was broken, the path to immortality was cut off.

"Sect Leader..." The Grand Elder of Taixu's voice was dry, carrying a trace of humble probing.

"You just said... not within the rules? Could it be that, other than constructing a Divine Bridge to communicate with the illusory Heavenly Court, there is truly a second path in this world?"

"A second path?" Ye Xiu scoffed and turned around abruptly, demonic light that made one's heart palpitate dancing in his heterochromatic gold and silver eyes.

"The path has always been within yourselves, yet you fools insist on kneeling on the ground and begging the heavens to open the door!"

Ye Xiu casually grabbed the purple-red wine gourd at his waist, took a deep gulp, and let the strong liquor slide down his chest.

He wiped the remaining liquor from the corner of his mouth, his gold and silver pupils sweeping over these humble "living fossils" before him, his tone becoming extremely arrogant and contemptuous:

"The Divine Bridge you cultivate is 'seeking externally'. You place your own lifeline in someone else's territory; when they cut the bridge, you become cripples waiting for death. This method, even cultivated to the end, is nothing more than a slightly stronger watchdog kept by those false gods in the sky!"

"And the method that I, the Sect Leader, cultivate is—cultivating immortality!"

"Cultivating immortality?" The State Preceptor of Yankang and the four Grand Elders were all shaken; to them, this term was unfamiliar yet carried an inexplicable sense of holiness.

"That's right! Cultivating immortality, not cultivating gods!"

Ye Xiu held one hand behind his back and swung the other violently. In an instant, the Void Realm around him emitted a roar of being unable to bear the burden.

A surge of extremely pure, extremely ancient, yet extremely domineering True Yuan fluctuation erupted from every acupuncture point in his body!

"The human body has five great Secret Realms, yet you only care about building bridges in your brain!"

Ye Xiu took a step forward, and the white jade plaza beneath his feet instantly shattered. He pointed to his own chest, then to his brow, his voice sounding like thunder:

"Forget that broken bridge! What I, the Sect Leader, am going to teach you is to evolve the heavens within your body, to build—an Immortal Platform—in your Sea of Consciousness!"

"Hum—!!" With Ye Xiu's shout, a dazzling, scorching gold and silver divine radiance suddenly erupted from his brow!

In that brilliant divine light, the State Preceptor of Yankang and the four Grand Elders saw in horror that Ye Xiu's cranium seemed to have transformed into a vast, boundless sea of stars.

In the very center of that sea of stars, a nine-layered white jade platform, woven entirely from the patterns of the Dao, was emitting a terrifying aura that suppressed eternity and froze Reincarnation!

That was not an illusory scene; that was a tangible, genuine leap in life where great power returned to oneself!

Each layer of the Immortal Platform was like an independent small Universe, breathing in and out the Origin of the Universe, self-sufficient.

There was no need to communicate with the Heavenly Dao, no need to beg the gods. Because the moment one stood upon this Immortal Platform, one was the god who dominated life and death, the immortal who transcended Reincarnation!

"This... is this the Immortal Platform?" The Grand Elder of Taixu trembled violently; he could clearly feel that the Divine Bridge Law he had painstakingly cultivated for thousands of years was, before this white jade platform, as humble as an earthworm in a mud puddle seeing a Dragon of the Nine Heavens.

"The Divine Bridge was broken because you relied on the bridge." Ye Xiu looked down from above, his eyes cold.

"If you yourselves are the Immortal Platform, and the Dao is beneath your feet, where in these heavens and myriad worlds can you not go?! Why care whether the Divine Bridge is broken or not?!"

"Sect Leader! I beg the Sect Leader to show mercy and pass on the true method of continuing our lives to us!" The Grand Elder of Taixu no longer had any restraint; he kowtowed violently, his forehead striking the white jade slab and making a dull thud.

"Please, Demon Lord, guide us out of our confusion!" The other three Elders also kowtowed frantically.

Ye Xiu looked at these old monsters who would stop at nothing to survive, the corners of his mouth curling into a bloodthirsty arc.

"Want to learn? Fine, today I, the Sect Leader, will show great mercy and teach you how to refine that broken bridge into your own platform!"

"But this Immortal Platform method does not cultivate the divine body, only the immortal bone. The process is like skinning and pulling tendons; there is no construction without destruction. If you cannot endure it, your own rotting cultivation base will instantly blow you apart."

"Do you dare?"

"Even if it means being smashed to pieces, I must see the end of those false gods on the path of immortality!" The Grand Elder of Taixu roared, his eyes filled with the madness of staking everything.

"Good!" Ye Xiu laughed wildly, his large hand opening suddenly. "For me—disperse!!"