417: Chapter 417 Resurrection (35)

In some forgotten corner of the river of time, a bygone event unfolded.

A young, childish voice rang out, brimming with curiosity for the unknown.

"Revered Master, what is the limit of a Dao Fruit?"

A man of imposing stature, wreathed in the laws of the Imperial Dao, smiled upon hearing this. He patted the child's head, his voice gentle yet authoritative.

"Since ancient times, the limit of a Dao Fruit has been the Number of Four Nines."

The child tilted its head, eyes filled with incomprehension.

"Then why is it, Revered Master, that you, a Human Emperor, possess a seven-thousand-zhang Dao Fruit, yet you and Martial Uncle, whose Dao Fruit is only five thousand zhang, both have Nine Lotuses?"

A complex expression crossed the Emperor's face. He gazed towards the distant starry sky, as if reminiscing about something.

"Nine is the ultimate number. This is the rule of the Heavenly Dao. From the moment a Cultivator begins to comprehend the Great Dao as a Venerable, they must follow the Heavenly Dao and proceed in accordance with Heaven."

"No matter how profound a Dao Fruit is, in the end, it can only give rise to nine Sacred Lotuses. This is the rule established by the Heavenly Dao. Under Heaven, all beings are equal."

The child nodded, seeming to understand yet not fully, then posed an even bolder question.

"What if a Dao Fruit could break the Number of Four Nines, reaching ten thousand zhang, and could open ten Sacred Lotuses?"

"No one can do it."

The Emperor stated with absolute certainty.

Then, after a moment of contemplation, he shifted the topic.

"Perhaps... going against Heaven is possible."

"But Cultivators exist under the shelter of Heaven's Dao. Merely following Heaven is already fraught with countless difficulties. How much harder, then, is defying Heaven?"

...

Years flowed by. That curious child grew up.

He did not disappoint the Emperor's expectations. His talent was peerless, his brilliance unmatched. He was hailed as the one of his generation most likely to prove his Dao and become an Emperor, even with the potential to step into the Heavenly Emperor Realm.

He also met his destined partner, a confidante. They should have been an immortal couple, composing a beautiful tale together.

But beauty is often fleeting. His partner, for reasons unknown, found her soul on the verge of dispersing, her Lifespan nearing its end. Even his Revered Master, already an Emperor, was helpless, declaring her fate exhausted and irreversible save by the power of Heaven's Dao.

Watching his beloved grow weaker day by day in his arms, his heart felt as if slashed by knives.

He remembered his Revered Master's words from years past, remembered that one, faint, slim hope—to defy Heaven, to open ten lotuses.

Perhaps only a power surpassing the rules of this world could pull her back from the brink of death.

Thus, at the pinnacle of his glory, he made a decision that no one could comprehend.

He abandoned the Emperor's throne that was within his grasp and chose a different path.

He would, before proving his Dao and becoming an Emperor, provoke an unprecedented and terrifying Heavenly Tribulation. Through this act of defiance, he would condense the legendary tenth Sacred Lotus, said to be capable of reversing life and death.

At that moment, his Dao Fruit grew wildly amidst the sea of lightning, truly touching the threshold of ten thousand zhang.

The entire world seemed to cheer for him, believing they were about to witness a miracle unseen since antiquity.

But just as the phantom of the tenth lotus was about to fully condense, the Heavenly Dao delivered its true obliteration.

There was no tribulation lightning, no celestial phenomena.

Only an irresistible, icy will.

That astonishingly talented, peerless Prodigy, along with his Dao Fruit on the verge of breaking limits, was utterly erased from the level of causality, leaving nothing behind.

From then on, opening ten lotuses and defying Heaven became a forbidden legend in the cultivation world, a bloody lesson.

...

The Heavenly Dao's obliteration was complete, the dust settled.

The starry expanse that witnessed the Emperor's battle returned to silence.

Wang Yun's aura, along with every last trace of his karmic imprint, vanished without a shadow.

All observers across the Universe personally witnessed that unbelievable scene.

A Supreme expert who had rebelled against and slain an Emperor, having provoked Heaven's wrath, was completely expunged from this cosmos.

Living fossil-level existences from ancient orthodoxies spared no expense, consuming their Origin and employing various secret techniques kept as their final trump cards to repeatedly probe that void.

In the end, they all reached the same, shocking conclusion.

"Yun" had perished completely.

Soul and spirit annihilated, causality nonexistent, not the slightest possibility of revival remained.

The legend of the "human butcher" ended here.

This name, along with his earth-shattering battle achievements, turned into a tragedy to warn future generations.

Those who defy Heaven will ultimately be obliterated by the Heavenly Dao.

In another Supreme battlefield.

Chen Yang and Gu Zhan, upon sensing Wang Yun's aura vanish completely, were overcome with grief and despair.

"Brother Yun!"

Chen Yang let out a sorrowful roar, his eyes completely bloodshot.

The light of the golden great sun around him instantly blazed, as he attacked his enemy before him with reckless abandon, nearly maddened.

Gu Zhan was the same. The Emperor's weapon in his hand emitted a mournful hum; each axe strike carried the resolve to perish together with his foe.

They repelled their respective opponents and, the first instant they could, tore through the void to arrive where Wang Yun had last disappeared.

However, there was nothing here.

They exhausted all means, searching frantically, but could no longer find the slightest trace belonging to Wang Yun.

That figure who had created miracles countless times in desperate situations did not, this time, appear again.

Immense despair and agony devoured these two Supreme beings of the current era.

With Wang Yun's "fall," the Jade Family and the Yuan Hall, his strongest backing, also completely lost their spiritual pillar.

They were forced to retreat into low profile once more, contracting their influence and silently recuperating.

The atmosphere across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths was universally oppressive.

In stark contrast to this oppression was the victor who had reclaimed the Emperor's throne.

Gu Daoyi stood in the void, feeling the Supreme power of the Mandate of Heaven bestowed upon him. Though his Dao Heart was twisted, his Realm was that of a genuine Emperor.

He laughed wildly, his laughter bordering on madness.

"Hahaha! Do you see now! I am the final victor! I am the one chosen by the Mandate of Heaven!"

His gaze swept across the scene, filled with the pleasure of revenge.

"Yun, an anomaly that didn't belong to this era, actually dared to attempt to defy Heaven. How laughable!"

"Those who comply with Heaven's Mandate live; those who defy Heaven's Mandate die! This is the decree of the Heavenly Dao!"

His momentum reached its absolute peak at this moment.

Countless Cultivators who had witnessed Wang Yun's invincible bearing finally let go of their last shred of hope, forced to accept this cruel reality.

Perhaps, Wang Yun truly had been completely erased by the Heavenly Dao.

However.

Right at the moment Gu Daoyi was most triumphant, most crazed.

At the absolute, empty center of the void where Wang Yun had been obliterated.

A "bud" phantom, smaller than a speck of dust, unnoticed even by the Heavenly Dao and the Unfathomable, quietly began to bloom.

It was the seed of hope upon Wang Yun's Nine-Lotus dao lotus, representing the possibility of a tenth lotus that should not have existed.

It gestated within extreme death, was reborn under the Heavenly Dao's obliteration.

A faint, yet incomparably tenacious vitality emanated from it.

A calm yet powerful voice rang out within the nothingness.

"Then I shall defy Heaven."

As the words fell.

That bud bloomed wildly.

A brand new dao rhyme, surpassing the limit of Nine Lotuses, swept forth.

Wang Yun's figure gradually reformed within this new dao rhyme.

He, once again, revived.

Different from before.

Behind him, phantom after phantom of Dao Lotuses bloomed anew.

One.

Two.

Three.

...

Nine!

When the ninth dao lotus fully bloomed, reaching Perfection.

That bud, born from death, finally blossomed completely.

The tenth dao lotus manifested in the world.