127: Chapter 127 Here, people don't believe in God, only in science and law.

The powerful beams of light atop the China World Trade Center sliced the night sky into fragments.

Xiao Aotian hovered in the center of the light and shadow, his eyes aching from the tens of thousands of watts of cold light.

He tried to open his eyes to maintain that massive golden Dharma manifestation, but every piercing beam of light stabbed into his retinas like steel needles.

Due to his impaired vision, he could not maintain his balance, swaying violently in the air.

The originally majestic chanting turned into heavy gasps and terrified, weird shrieks.

The last bit of strength brought by the burning purple embers evaporated rapidly under the illumination of these industrial light beams.

He felt his body was like a piece of ice thrown into boiling water, melting rapidly.

The golden phantom began to distort.

Finally, it was like a tattered curtain, torn to shreds in the strong wind.

Xiao Aotian felt the Void Realm beneath his feet collapsing.

He tried desperately to grab at the air, only to find that the Spiritual Qi he once summoned with a flick of his hand had completely dried up.

He let out a desperate roar, his entire body falling like a kite with a broken string from a height of six hundred meters.

The sharp sound of the wind whistled in his ears.

Below lay the prosperous and brilliant Yanjing, which had now become an abyss that would claim his life.

He looked at the neon lights drawing closer and closer, closed his eyes, and waited to become a puddle of mangled flesh.

Bang.

The anticipated excruciating pain and death did not arrive.

He landed in an incredibly soft support structure.

The massive cushioning force made him bounce up and down several times, and he finally ended up sprawled in a sorry state in the center of a giant air cushion with a diameter of fifty meters.

This air cushion was special firefighting equipment urgently deployed by the Bureau of Anomalies, filled with non-Newtonian fluid, sufficient to catch heavy objects falling from such a height.

Before he could even recover his senses, several red laser aiming points were fixed firmly on his forehead and chest.

Dozens of Special Police wearing black heavy exoskeleton armor rappelled down from the surrounding rooftops, landing precisely on the air cushion.

Their heavy tactical boots stepped on the edge of the air cushion, making dull thudding sounds.

The Special Police moved with efficiency, pinning Xiao Aotian firmly onto the air cushion.

That face full of shoe prints was squeezed out of shape once again.

Xiao Aotian spat out a mouthful of saliva mixed with dirt and blood, his voice hoarse.

"Release this seat."

"How dare you Mortals."

"This is blasphemy against the gods."

At this moment, Gu Changan walked out of the command vehicle, his leather shoes stepping on the ground with a steady rhythm.

He bypassed the outer cordon, walked step by step to the edge of the air cushion, and looked down at this once-arrogant Old Ancestor of the Aotian Sect.

"Xiao Aotian, look clearly."

Gu Changan pointed to the surroundings.

The lights of the China World Trade Center were still brilliant, the vehicles on the ground had resumed flowing, and not far away, there were even people holding milk tea, pointing and whispering at this scene.

"The age of myths ended long ago; now is the era of the rule of law that belongs to the people."

Xiao Aotian struggled to lift his head, his eyes filled with venomous hatred.

"Rule of law?"

"You ants have personally extinguished the possibility of human Ascension."

"You have locked up all the Geniuses; you are the sinners in the history of civilization's evolution."

"If it weren't for you bureaucrats, I, Xiao Aotian, could have brought the entire world to ascend in broad daylight."

Gu Changan sneered, reaching out to point at the clouds gradually dissipating in the sky.

Behind those clouds was the faint sunset glow common in Yanjing, illuminated by the city lights.

"Our Ascension does not require consuming Medicinal Pills."

"And it certainly doesn't require exploiting the lives of those forty-some children."

"If we want to go to the sky, we have the Shenzhou spacecraft; if we want to enter the sea, we have the Jiaolong; if we want to travel far, we have the Fuxing train."

"We rely on our own hands and brains, and on the taxes and hard work of every ordinary person."

"As for you."

"Your so-called Ascension is nothing more than a narcissistic fantasy played out by stepping on the corpses of the weak."

This speech, transmitted through the all-channel live broadcast signal set up around the area, reached every corner of the internet.

The public, who had originally been intimidated by Xiao Aotian's golden Dharma manifestation, instantly woke up.

The bullet comments in the live stream exploded in volume.

"Well scolded."

"How is this guy a deity? Isn't he just a giant baby wearing ancient costumes?"

"I was almost fooled by this shiny, golden illusion."

"The national team is still the most reliable; this light show is much better than his cheap special effects."

Xiao Aotian's Dao Heart completely collapsed at that moment.

He heard the thing in the depths of his Sea of Consciousness called the System emitting its final mechanical wail.

"Ding."

"Detected that the host's credibility has been completely wiped out."

"Plane Will judgment: The host is illegal, intrusive junk information."

"The person opposite named Gu Changan possesses a strength of will behind him that exceeds the System's load limit."

"Host, stop struggling."

"The person opposite is the real cheater; he is cheating on the all-channel public frequency."

"The System is about to format; I wish the host a pleasant prison term."

All the knowledge and Cultivation Techniques originally stored in his brain, and even that virtual store panel, completely disappeared along with this wail.

Xiao Aotian felt as if a branding iron had been dragged through the depths of his brain, causing his whole body to convulse in pain.

He finally realized.

On this land, any individual power that attempts to transcend the collective, as long as it dares to show its head, will be crushed to pieces by this orderly and massive will.

Click.

A pair of heavy black shackles was locked onto his wrists.

The surface of these shackles was engraved with dense rune circuits; they were spiritual energy neutralizers specifically developed for the cultivation Physique.

Upon wearing them, Xiao Aotian felt that even slightly regulating the rhythm of his breathing had become incredibly difficult.

He had truly become a Mortal.

A death-row border prisoner who owed three hundred million and carried countless crimes.

Gu Changan took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his fingers, and waved to the Special Police behind him.

"Take him away."

"Go check the glass on the top floor of the China World Trade Center. If it's damaged, put it all on his tab."

"Clean up the scene, be quick."

"Don't affect tomorrow's morning rush hour."

When Xiao Aotian was hoisted up, his toes dragged on the air cushion, leaving two trails of despair.

He watched as the traffic police nearby began to remove the roadblocks, and the sanitation workers were preparing to clean up the paper scraps left behind by the chaos.

This massive city had not paused for even a moment because of his rampage.

He was like a grain of sand that had been filtered out, quickly left far behind.