157: This round, I, Lu Chen, have won!

Even if it is the heavens!

Lu Chen will still fight for a sliver of hope for the world.

For himself, and for his family.

And for the loved ones behind him.

He, Lu Chen, after a hundred thousand years, remains as defiant as ever.

He will go Heaven-Defying!

Who gave you permission to slaughter us like this!

"Hahahaha..."

Lu Chen laughed toward the sky, "Even ants cling to life, but an ant like me doesn't want to just survive; I want to devour you, the elephant—the Heavenly Dao! Come! Once every hundred thousand years, through so many apocalypses, this time will definitely not go your way!"

Shelley, at the center of the blizzard, exerted all her magic. The ice crystal matrices she summoned seemed intent on freezing everything here!

"He's receiving instructions from the Heavenly Dao!" Ignis noticed something and took the chance to hurl her flame demon greatsword, but the blade was absorbed by the bronze coffin.

The inner walls of the coffin suddenly projected images of the beginning of the Universe: countless civilizations blooming and withering along a timeline shaped like a Bronze Giant Tree.

These were all works of the Heavenly Dao!

If it wasn't satisfied...

It would restart.

After the restart, it would begin creating a new civilization.

And then destroy it again!

"This is how the Heavenly Dao should act." The Clone's mechanical hand pointed at the projection. "Harvesting mature civilizations and nurturing new sparks—this is how the world should be. You are all viruses hindering evolution."

As he spoke, his head gradually split open, and countless pitch-black tentacles lunged toward Morning Dew. "You are also the best sower, the best original body for a Clone. You can become an existence like me, a part of the Heavenly Dao, a spreader. You belong to the Heavenly Dao now."

Morning Dew's six wings were instantly swallowed by the bronze, and her holy codex urgently self-immolated in the air.

She broke free from the tentacles directly.

Lu Chen immediately caught the falling girl. The tianwen sword channeled the light of the Big Dipper, drawing upon the power of heaven and earth!

"You damn heavens! I'll cut you down! Yah—!"

Lu Chen roared as he held Morning Dew, striking at the Clone with his sword.

A beam of starlight shot toward the tentacles at the center of the blizzard.

A single sword strike parts the eternal night,

The starlight of the nine heavens illuminates the mortal dust.

Even if the will of heaven turns into shackles,

I shall not fail the beauty dancing in red silk!

Sword Qi pierced through the Clone's chest. What burst out wasn't engine oil, but liquid sand of time.

The Arctic ice layer collapsed with a bang, revealing a deeply buried Interstellar Teleportation Formation.

Ning Xiwei's bone puppet army also collectively self-destructed, charging toward that vertical pupil.

The Undead Fire instantly ignited the core of the Formation... Meanwhile, in the Kunlun Academy monitoring room, the Old Dean and the Liaison Officer sent by the five leaders of Huaxia breathed a long sigh of relief as they watched the screen.

At that moment, Sun Feifei's communication came through, along with a glowing star map. "The teleportation coordinates are the Orion M42 Nebula!"

In the footage, Lu Chen was leaping into the pillar of light while holding Morning Dew, with Ignis dragging Shelley close behind.

Ning Xiwei also threw something to Lu Chen, shouting, "Take this..."

What she threw was a Bone Ring, which fell into Lu Chen's palm at the last moment.

On the ice plain after the light pillar dissipated, the bronze coffin slowly sank into the mantle.

The mechanical remains of Xu Fu's Clone suddenly convulsed, playing a message that belonged neither to the Heavenly Dao nor the Clone: "Old friend, the eye of guixu... it can obtain the Heaven-Slaying Object. Take care..."

The electronic voice was drowned out by the sound of cracking ice. The moment the Bone Ring disappeared from the snowy teleportation Formation, it shimmered with an eerie light... The dust clouds of the M42 Nebula surged like boiling water outside the porthole. Lu Chen's golden compass floated above the eye of guixu, refracting the iridescent starlight into the silhouette of an ancient bronze sword.

Morning Dew's six wings turned into long chains that pierced into the nebular matter; she was absorbing energy from the Great Orion Nebula.

According to Lu Chen, they needed to recover their strength now.

Then they would fight their way back down!

"Energy threshold exceeding the critical point!" Magic patterns condensed on Shelley's ice crystal mask.

Ignis used the flame demon greatsword to brace against the crack in the barrier, sealing in the power.

Magma tattoos spread across her entire body!

Seeing this, Lu Chen nodded and said, "Land."

Upon landing, the massive Sword Tomb was as shocking as ever.

This was his second time here, on the far side of this terrifying planet.

"This damn Sword Tomb is devouring my spiritual power!" Ignis said, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

Lu Chen threw Ning Xiwei's Bone Ring onto the ground.

Then, a teleportation gate opened.

Ning Xiwei and the others walked out.

"Little Skeleton?"

"Yeah, be careful."

Ning Xiwei summoned the bone puppet army; they turned in unison, protecting everyone.

She also asked with some concern:

"Little Skeleton, could the eye of guixu be a trap?"

As soon as she finished speaking, thirty thousand bronze vertical pupils suddenly opened in the core of the nebula, each pupil reflecting images of Earth being swallowed by a black tide.

Lu Chen's tianwen sword drew upon the gravitational waves of the Big Dipper. His Sword Qi shattered the nearest vertical pupil as he shouted, "I know. Take them and fall back!"

He reached back and took out the bronze marriage contract from a hundred thousand years ago, slapping it directly into Morning Dew's palm. The golden compass exploded into three hundred streaks of light, enveloping everyone.

Ignis roared as she slashed open a spatial rift. The starship in the sky also arrived via warp jump,

Only to be instantly pulled into the Void Realm by a Quantum Tunnel.

In an instant, everyone saw the star river flowing backward in the vault of heaven.

And those terrifying thirty thousand vertical pupils!

"So they really are all here!"

After Lu Chen confirmed this.

He took out his trump card, a Teleportation Talisman.

He crushed it directly.

In an instant, along with the girls, they all returned to the starship that had been pulled into the Void Realm.

On the starship.

Lu Chen ordered:

"Targeted warp. Objective: the bronze giant gate one light-year away from Earth. Heavenly Dao, your nest has been located this time!"

When they returned to Earth.

It was already half a month later.

After identifying the Heavenly Dao's nest.

Space telescopes from all nations were fixed on that spot.

Even Huaxia's starships were being built one after another.

Through warp teleportation, they also kept an eye on that planet.

Now, the Heavenly Dao was the one being surrounded.

However, they still lacked the power to kill the Heavenly Dao in one blow.

So, at Lu Chen's suggestion.

Countries began to establish academies on a large scale!

Today at the Kunlun Academy martial arts arena, Sun Feifei, who was overseeing the students' sparring, suddenly had her teacup shatter.

A crimson rift opened in the void, and a group of blood-soaked Kunlun Academy students tumbled onto the jade stage.

Sun Feifei shook her head and sighed, "Your strength is insufficient; you can't even withstand the simulated Heavenly Dao Void Realm!"

At this very moment, a gold-embossed announcement was scrolling across global live-stream channels:

[Joint Announcement by the Five Major Nations of the Earth Human Alliance: To counter the calamity from beyond, the Global Seventy-Two Cultivation Academy Peak Tournament will be held ahead of schedule.]

In the backyard of Kunlun Academy.

Residual nebular matter still clung to Morning Dew's six wings, and the bronze marriage contract rippled under the sunlight.

At the gate of Kunlun Academy.

Ning Xiwei's bone army automatically formed a line, blocking the swarming reporters. "Little Skeleton refuses interviews."

"Mr. Lu Chen!" A crisp electronic voice rang out through the air. In the holographic projection, the figure of the Secretary-General of the Cultivation Alliance, a department under the Earth Human Alliance, appeared. "Please proceed to the Nirvana Tower immediately for spiritual power registration. We hope you will also participate in this trial."