624: Chapter 614 Imperial Tutor (14)

The Heavenly Abyss cracked.

Black mist surged out from the fissure, pressing down until the mountains and rivers in all directions lost their color inch by inch.

The protective Formation of the ancient cities near the Heavenly Abyss were the first to fail.

A layer of golden Formation light had just ignited before it was dimmed by the pressure of the black mist; the Formation patterns exploded one after another, and the Cultivators on the city walls were shaken until they vomited blood and retreated.

Further away, Spirit Beasts in the mountain ranges fled in a frenzy.

Rivers surged backward.

The earth veins emitted a muffled sound.

Across the Nine Continents, many Cultivators looked up at the same time, gazing in the direction of the Heavenly Abyss.

They all understood.

The Dark Turmoil had erupted early.

At the edge of the Heavenly Abyss.

Lu Xingzhou stood before the residual marks of the Green Lotus Seal, his robes tattered, the sword in his hand broken.

Behind him were the old subordinates he had saved.

Before him was the widening fissure.

He watched that fissure, his knuckles tightening bit by bit.

It was him.

If not for him forcibly borrowing the residual light of the nine books to save people, the Seal would not have been pried open to this extent.

If not for him triggering the deepest node of the Green Lotus, this catastrophe might have been delayed for many years.

The Nine Continents were not yet prepared.

This battle had come too soon.

So early that many people didn't even have time to flee.

Someone rushed behind him, their voice trembling.

"Master, retreat!"

"The Heavenly Abyss can no longer be contained. Let us withdraw first and deliberate further."

Lu Xingzhou did not turn around.

He only watched the Heavenly Abyss, his voice very calm.

"I will block it."

As these four words fell, everyone behind him went silent.

The Lu Xingzhou they saw still resembled a mountain rock.

But no one knew that the string in his heart had been stretched to its limit.

He wanted to live.

He was also afraid of death.

He still wanted to see his teacher one more time.

He still wanted to ask that old master if he had taken the wrong path all this way.

He still wanted to see if the Nine Continents would become better in the future.

But these thoughts only flashed in his heart for a moment before he forcibly suppressed them.

The Heavenly Abyss was before him.

There were people behind him.

He could not retreat.

Lu Xingzhou raised his hand, pressing his palm against his own chest.

The residual light of the Body Scripture shone first.

The Origin of his Supreme Body boiled along with it.

His flesh, blood, and bones began to resonate with the Great Dao of the Nine Continents, like an ancient bell being struck.

The firmament shook.

Across the Nine Continents, many powerful beings noticed.

The dao rhyme of Space ignited, stabilizing the fissure at the edge of the Heavenly Abyss.

The dao rhyme of Life spread out, protecting the remaining vitality behind.

The dao rhyme of Death sank, suppressing the surging foul aura.

The dao rhyme of Time fell, slowing the rate of the fissure's expansion by half a beat.

The power of the Body Scripture poured into his Supreme Body, causing his Physical Body to continuously rise.

The residual light of the Life Book locked onto the last glimmer of vitality in the Nine Continents.

The Dao Book smoothed out the chaotic Laws around the Heavenly Abyss.

The Luck Book gathered the scattered Luck back together.

The Treasure Book moved the lost treasure light of the Nine Continents, transforming it into a faint barrier.

The nine residual marks lit up one after another.

Lu Xingzhou's figure began to grow larger.

Manifesting his Dharma image.

Becoming one with heaven and earth.

His spine rose from the ground like a pillar supporting the Heavenly Abyss.

His blood turned into Seal patterns, spreading along the edge of the fissure.

His bones turned into fulcrums at the boundary of the Nine Continents, nailing into the Void Realm bit by bit.

Finally, his entire body lay across the front of the Heavenly Abyss.

His back covered the fissure.

Lu Xingzhou did not ascend to immortality.

He simply nailed himself into the final wall of the Nine Continents.

The black mist crashed against him.

The barrier emitted a muffled sound.

Lu Xingzhou's consciousness was still there.

He could feel pain.

He could feel his bones being ground to dust bit by bit.

He could feel that after his blood turned into Seal patterns, his body could no longer move.

He could not speak.

Could not turn back.

Could not even blink.

Could only listen.

Could only watch.

Could only feel everything happening outside.

The news quickly spread across the Nine Continents.

Lu Xingzhou suppressed the Heavenly Abyss with his own body.

At first, the Nine Continents were shaken.

There were Sects that erected monuments for him.

There were ancient cities that lit lamps for him.

There were storytellers who told his story to children.

There were young Cultivators who held wooden swords and swore toward the direction of the Heavenly Abyss.

"In the future, I also want to be like Lu Xingzhou."

There were old people who brought children to kneel at the village entrance, kowtowing toward the direction of the Heavenly Abyss.

During those days, Lu Xingzhou heard many voices.

Gratitude.

Admiration.

Weeping.

Prayer.

He could not respond.

But there was still a hint of warmth in his heart.

Near the Heavenly Abyss, there was a small village.

The people in the village did not understand the Great Dao, nor did they know about any residual light of the nine books.

They only knew that there was a very large giant in front of the fissure.

The giant blocked the black mist.

Thus, a few children secretly ran to the edge of the Heavenly Abyss.

The things they brought were all very small.

Half a roasted sweet potato.

A steamed corn bun.

A string of sour wild fruits.

A small bowl of thin porridge.

And a few candies wrapped in oil paper.

A little girl stood on tiptoe and threw the steamed corn bun toward the edge of the barrier.

"Giant brother, you need to eat."

Another child was anxious.

"He is so big, one steamed corn bun is not enough."

"Then I will bring more tomorrow."

The food landed at the edge of Lu Xingzhou's massive Dharma image, which was meaningless.

But Lu Xingzhou heard it.

And saw it.

The coldness in his heart was warmed up a little by these few children.

The Nine Continents did not entirely fail me.

There were still these children.

They didn't understand anything, yet they were willing to share the things they were reluctant to eat with me.

Thus, he braced himself even more steadily.

Year after year passed.

The initial gratitude gradually turned into habit.

People began to feel that Lu Xingzhou blocking the Heavenly Abyss was a matter of course.

Later, bad news came.

His old subordinates were purged.

A city that had once followed him was razed by enemies.

That close friend who had once blocked a blade for him died in an ambush.

An old person who had once taken care of him was implicated and their family was destroyed.

Someone went to the great Sects to seek aid.

The mountain gates were closed.

Someone went to find the aristocratic families who had received his kindness.

The other side only replied with one sentence.

"Lu Xingzhou can no longer return."

"It is not worth offending strong enemies for a few old acquaintances."

"The overall situation is what matters."

These words reached the Heavenly Abyss.

Lu Xingzhou heard them clearly.

He wanted to roar.

Wanted to ask.

Wanted to stand up from in front of the Heavenly Abyss and take his sword to kill his way back.

But he could not move.

He could save the Nine Continents, but he could not save those around him.

He blocked the Heavenly Abyss, but could not collect the remains of his old friends.

The barrier remained solid.

The world only saw that the Heavenly Abyss was still being blocked.

No one saw that the heart of the person inside that wall had already cracked.

Lu Xingzhou suddenly understood a little.

Immortals are on the mountain; immortals will not descend the mountain.

He thought of Qin Yun.

Thought of that old master.

He had hoped.

If his teacher came, perhaps everything would be different.

If his teacher descended the mountain, those people would not dare to act like this.

If his teacher came to the Heavenly Abyss to see him, perhaps he could have held on for longer.

But Qin Yun did not come.

Not even once.

The fire of his youth in Lu Xingzhou's heart was slowly blown cold by the wind.

So it turned out that his teacher was also an immortal on the mountain.

Many more years passed.

The barrier began to become unstable.

It was not that Lu Xingzhou did not want to hold on.

It was because the Heavenly Abyss wore him down day and night, and the Origin of his Supreme Body was being exhausted bit by bit.

Finally, something leaked out from the fissure.

A border city fell.

Several villages disappeared.

Some Cultivators were corrupted, becoming walking corpses that only knew how to kill.

The Dark Turmoil reignited on a small scale.

The voices of the Nine Continents changed.

"Did Lu Xingzhou not suppress the Heavenly Abyss?"

"Why are things still coming out?"

"Is he unable to hold on?"

"It was said so heroically back then, but now it has leaked anyway."

"The Nine Continents gave him so much Origin, why can he still not block it?"

Those voices were like knives.

Cutting, one by one, into his remaining consciousness.

The children who once fed him had grown up.

The village was also relocated.

The area near the Heavenly Abyss became a Forbidden Ground, and no one approached it anymore.

And no one called him giant brother anymore.

Lu Xingzhou guarded in the wind, in the rain, and in the black mist.

Only coldness remained.

He truly had thought about letting go.

Just by letting go a little.

The Heavenly Abyss would crack open.

Those who scolded him would know how terrifying the things he was blocking were.

Those who said the overall situation was what mattered should also taste the feeling of loss.

He resented.

He hated.

He wanted to ask why.

Why is it that I protect you all, yet you are unwilling to protect even the few people around me?

But the next moment, he thought of those children again.

Thought of the half a roasted sweet potato.

Thought of that bowl of thin porridge.

Thought of the children listening to stories in the dilapidated temple.

Thought of the people about to freeze to death in the snowy night.

There were still many innocent people in the Nine Continents.

They did not fail him.

They just wanted to live.

He could not turn his own pain into punishment for the innocent.

Lu Xingzhou forcibly suppressed that thought of letting go.

The barrier continued to hold.

But the fissures became more and more numerous.

He could truly no longer hold on.

On the last day, the pressure inside the Heavenly Abyss completely erupted.

The residual marks of the Green Lotus extinguished one after another.

The Supreme Body barrier began to crumble from the edges.

His bones turned into a rain of light.

The blood-colored Seal patterns gradually dimmed.

Even so, Lu Xingzhou was still mending it.

Even if the whole world misunderstood him.

Even if the Nine Continents scolded him.

Even if he had already doubted himself.

He was still mending it.

Because this matter needed to be done.

After the last muffled sound.

The barrier shattered.

Lu Xingzhou's massive Dharma image fell from in front of the Heavenly Abyss.

He was completely exhausted.

Not escaping.

Not retreating.

It was that he no longer had the strength to stand.

The Heavenly Abyss fell.

The Green Lotus Seal collapsed.

The black mist covered the sky.

Sect mountain gates fell one after another.

Ancient city Formations shattered one after another.

The common people were displaced.

Cultivators retreated steadily.

Only until this moment did the Nine Continents begin to miss him.

Some people relit lamps.

Some people knelt in the direction of the Heavenly Abyss and cried out.

"If only Lu Xingzhou were still here."

But he heard it.

And did not want to hear it either.

At the bottom of the Heavenly Abyss, it was boundlessly cold.

Lu Xingzhou's consciousness sank bit by bit.

His body was gone.

Only the residual Origin of the Supreme Body remained, wrapping the last bit of consciousness.

He wanted to wake up.

Because the Nine Continents were still collapsing.

Yet he did not want to wake up.

Because waking up meant facing that terrible world again.

He asked himself.

If it happened again, would he still block it?

For a long, long time, there was no answer.

Later, he smiled bitterly.

Perhaps he would.

Because he was just that kind of person.

Perhaps he would not.

Because he was truly tired.

Just let it be.

He did not want to look at that world again.

Nor did he want to be that wall again.

Just as his consciousness was about to sink, a resonance suddenly came from the deepest part of the Heavenly Abyss.

Lu Xingzhou felt a body.

It lay quietly in the darkness, like remains forgotten by the era.

Ancient.

Silent.

No hostility.

Yet it was as heavy as if it were pressing down on an entire old era.

That body was not a Supreme Body.

It was more like a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body.

But looking closer, it also had the aura of a Five Elements Saint Body.

Both Physiques had reached the level of supreme perfection.

Lu Xingzhou's residual Supreme Body Origin vibrated gently.

The Body Scripture dao rhyme, Desolate Ancient blood and Qi, and Five Elements Origin pulled at each other.

At the bottom of the Heavenly Abyss, a glimmer of light suddenly ignited.

Lu Xingzhou's consciousness was already about to sink completely.

He did not want to struggle.

But the chest of that ancient body also responded by lighting up with the light of the Desolate Ancient and Five Elements.

In the darkness, a voice sounded.

No comfort.

No persuasion.

And no reasoning.

Only two words.

"Get up."

Lu Xingzhou's consciousness trembled.

The voice once again shook the bottom of the Heavenly Abyss.

"Get up."