HBWnovel Chapter 540: Vast Cold's Descendant (3)
Chapter 540: Vast Cold's Descendant (3)
Chapter 540: Vast Cold's Descendant (3)
Chapter 540: Vast Cold's Descendant (3)
The beginning is marked by my voice, declaring the start of the battle.
[Stars of the nations, hear me.]
Dudududu!
The star veins of the entire universe begin to twist under my will.
At the same time, starlight begins to rearrange itself around me, who radiates waves of immense power.
Though the actual constellations remain unmoved, the illusions of constellations are projected across the universe, arranged by my will like the projections of True Immortals.
A total of thirty-six projections of fixed stars are arranged around me.
Everything is aligned according to the orientation of the Six Harmonies. Six stars facing upward towards the heavenly direction, six stars facing downward towards the earthly direction.
In the four directions—east, west, south, and north—six stars are arranged in a row in each direction.
The distance between each fixed star is 100 light-years.
A spherical star vein formation with a radius of approximately seven hundred light-years centered on me takes shape.
The sheer size of the star vein formation is enough to engulf an entire tidal tail.
[I declare. This place shall be this Immortal's Sword Enclosure, forged in my name and made into a vast battlefield.]
This is one of the basic Immortal Arts of Entering Nirvana True Persons, taught to me by Yeo Hwi, called Opening Enclosure (開垣).
The effect of Opening Enclosure is to assimilate the interior of the star vein formation with one's inner Star Enclosure.
Chiiiiiing!
Within the star vein formation, boundaries of sky and ground begin to form.
At the same time, attraction force emerges on the ground, and the four directions of east, west, south, and north take shape centered on me.
Sword mountains of colorless glass sprout from the earth, filling the world.
The inside of the Colorless Sword Enclosure becomes a world with six stars underground, six stars in the sky dome, and six stars each in east, west, south, and north.
The projections of the fixed stars, forming the foundation of these stars, begin to manifest the Colorless Sword Enclosure.
Hwarururuk!
As I shoot out Star Tribulation and supply star veins to the stars I just projected, the projections of the fixed stars, which serve as the axis of the star vein formation, become even more solidified, beginning to substantially reveal the Colorless Sword Enclosure.
Those countless actions happen in a fleeting moment, and I instantly shift the battlefield to a place advantageous to me as I glance around at the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords and the Entering Nirvana True Persons.
Dududududu!
My gaze alone makes them flinch and step back slightly.
I can feel it.
Right now, I am [absolute].
There is no need to use the Immortal Speech of the True Immortals.
Just a simple mental speech, something any cultivator can use, is enough.
[Come in.]
: : ...In the name of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords. Immortal Treasure Seven Stars Harnessing God Banner (七星借神幡), descend upon this place...! : :
Flash, flash, flash!
Seven beams of light flicker beyond the distant sky, and in an instant, seven clusters of light are summoned to this place.
Jjeooong!
They are banners.
On the surface of each banner, it seems as if one star is sealed within. While the power of an individual banner might not seem significant, the combined momentum of the seven banners is substantial.
On one side of each banner, the words Seven Stars Harnessing God (七星借神) are inscribed, and on the reverse side, Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal (北斗封仙) is written.@@@@
Clang, clang, clang!
Between the seven banners, I briefly glimpse an energy akin to chains.
I can feel it.
If I am struck by those seven banners, my power will be bound by those chain-like things.
Wo-woong!
It seems the Seven Stars Harnessing God Banners are not even ordinary Sacred Vessels, but instead operate using the split souls of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords.
While they might not be as convenient as Sacred Vessels, the connection to the main bodies must be incredibly strong if they are activated in such a way.
However, even with such fearsome Immortal Treasures appearing—
Even with the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords abandoning their Transformation states and gradually changing into forms resembling the stars of the universe, pressing down on me—
Even with forty-eight Entering Nirvana cultivators surrounding me, growling—
I do not feel as if I will lose.
The only thing that catches my eye is...the energy emanating from the Seven Stars Harnessing God Banners they hold.
It is the [power of the seven stars] I can sense from them.
That's right. Seven Stars (七星).
That is...
An energy all too familiar to me.
[...It was you all along.]
I grit my teeth and pull up the corners of my mouth.
Truly...
I wanted to see them.
If they had tangible forms, I wanted to face them, even if just once.
To me, the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords are...
Existences with a truly, truly deep connection with me.
[Are you...the divine spirits overseeing the Qi Refining Seven Stars Ritual...?]
No, there is no need to ask.
Because the [wisdom] conveyed to me through the Seven Stars Harnessing God Banners they summoned already says as much.
That the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords are the divine entities presiding over the Seven Stars Ritual of the Qi Refining stage.
Yes.
The twenty-eight stars I had cried out to in the heavens over and over again.
The ones who govern the power associated with those twenty-eight stars are none other than the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords.
[Come. Truly, I have long...wished to compete with you...!]
Then, the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords begin to unleash their power.
Wiiiiiiing!
Their prophecy imprints itself upon the world through sheer will, and stars begin to form.
However, the Colorless Sword Enclosure has already been unfolded.
Boo-woong!
When I swing the form of Treading Heaven, countless rays of light seem to shoot sideways before piercing into the glass sword mountains and reflecting off them like mirrors, crashing into the forming stars and shattering them.
The Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords begin to move.
Wiiiiiing!
In their forms akin to stars, they start to circle around me, summoning their disciples.
Forty-eight True Persons join the battle.
They follow in the wake of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords, spiraling around me in a circle.
Then, at some point—
Centered on the rotation of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords, some kind of formation is laid out, and that formation is 'overlaid' on the domain of my Colorless Sword Enclosure.
It must be the Star Enclosure of one of the Entering Nirvanas.
All of Heaven and Earth becomes engulfed by a burning tree.
At the same time, a certain will emanates from the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords.
Seven Stars Harnessing God.
Kugugugugu!
The seven banners tremble violently and starlight bursts forth from them, piercing into my body like spears.
Kwaching!
But it's laughable.
The starlight shatters with a single exertion of strength that is amplified by Heaven, Earth, Heart, and Wheel.
Impermanence Sword.
Heavenly Shatter Impermanence (天碎無常).
This is the Impermanence Sword, the Ultimate Will of Crystal Glass to Treading Sea.
Naturally, Crystal Glass to Treading Sea Nine Categories Form can also be unfolded through the Impermanence Sword.
Kwarurururung!
For an instant, I enlarge my form and slam my fist into the 'overlaid' reality.
There is no loud sound.
Instead, reality itself seems to shatter like a sheet of glass, and from the point where my fist strikes, hundred millions of streaks of slashes erupt outward.
With that single strike, the groundless domain overlaid by the True Persons is erased, and my Sword Enclosure is revealed once more.
Impermanence Sword.
Sword Sea Impermanence (劍海無常).
Chwararararak!
The Colorless Glass Sword, transformed into Glass True Fire, begins to dance in response to the Impermanence Sword.
Below my feet, a mandala symbolizing Sword Sea Impermanence is drawn, and countless trajectories begin to stretch out from me as the center.
Piiing, piiing, ping, pingpingping!
The trajectories, like rays of light, are absorbed into the glass sword mountains scattered across the Sword Enclosure.
At the same time, the glass sword mountains, imbued with the trajectories, begin to reflect them in all directions like mirrors reflecting light.
Using the effect of retribution that is the inherent property of the Impermanence Sword, the trajectories are 'given and received' between the sword mountains within my Sword Enclosure.
Chwararararak!
The phenomenon of the trajectory reflecting off one sword mountain, illuminating another sword mountain, and then continuously scattering as it passes through yet another sword mountain, endlessly continues.
In an instant, the entire Sword Enclosure fills with sword trajectories under my will.
Flash!
Heaven and Earth become filled with sword trajectories.
Amidst these trajectories, I leisurely observe the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords.
Then, the Giant Gate Heavenly Lord exerts their power.
Kurururururu!
The body of the Giant Gate Heavenly Lord seems to rotate, transforming into a black hole of the universe.
Chwajajajak!
All the trajectories I released are sucked into the Giant Gate Heavenly Lord and nullified.
The Giant Gate Heavenly Lord rapidly devours my trajectories.
In the next moment—
Kwaaaang!
The colossal forms of the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord and the Literary Melody Heavenly Lord crash down upon me.
Strangely, the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord still remains in their Transformation state, while the Literary Melody Heavenly Lord spins wildly in the form of a neutron star, chanting countless invocations.
With every rotation, dozens of invocations burst out from within the neutron star.
Though not Immortal Arts, the countless sealing invocations spread across Heaven and Earth like curses, binding me tightly.
Impermanence Sword.
Wind-Painting Impermanence.
Kwarurururung!
The sword trajectories whirl madly.
Empowered by the strength of interstellar winds, the spiraling trajectories align with the rotation and frequency of the neutron star, finding a gap to pierce through its attraction force waves.
In an instant, my Impermanence Sword shatters the Literary Melody Heavenly Lord in one strike.
Kwaaaang!
Dozens of Entering Nirvana True Persons within its path burst apart, rendered completely incapacitated.
[Kuaaaah!]
[Run away!!!]
[Vast Cold!! If Vast Cold has not returned, how can an Entering Nirvana wield the power of an Upper Immortal...!?]
[What is this!? Just what is this!!??]
The Entering Nirvana True Persons flounder in panic.
I quickly turn around to intercept the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord, but instead, what greets me is the Literary Melody Heavenly Lord's Sealing Immortal Flag.
Kwaaang!
Four Sealing Immortal Flags are pierced into my body.
Kwajijijik!
The Preserving Wealth Heavenly Lord and the Integrity Chastity Heavenly Lord trace the shape of Taiji (太極) as they transform into nebulas and begin to spin in the sky.
Kurururung!
Between the two Heavenly Lords, who govern opposing concepts, a powerful repulsive force is generated, and Heavenly Lightning falls to the ground.
Kwaaaang!
The impact of the Heavenly Lightning shakes the entire Colorless Sword Enclosure, and the manifestation of the star vein formation begins to waver.
At the same time, from the point where the Heavenly Lightning struck, nebulae converge and form several stars that prophesize my fate.
A vision of my sequential defeat is carried within them.
Chiiiiiii—
However, I begin to release the mist of the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Connections from my entire body.
[With just this...you dare capture this Immortal...? Haha, ahahahaha!]
Kwaaaang!
Impermanence Sword.
Torch of Myriad Forms and Connections.
The Impermanence Sword ignites, and the Torch of Myriad Forms and Connections lights up.
At the same time, the Candle Dragon True Blood burns to its extreme, drawing gigantic power from within me.
If the power of the Heaven Tribe is attraction force, then the power of the Earth Tribe is explosion.
Overwhelming explosion.
[B E G O N E!!!]
Simultaneously, an explosion begins from within me.
Though faint, the Colorless Sword Enclosure is still the Colorless Sword Enclosure.
The entire Colorless Sword Enclosure becomes infused with the jade of Yin-Yang and Five Elements.
[Great Mountain!]
Dududududu!
The Entering Nirvana True Persons thrash about wildly.
[Huaaaaaah!!!]
[Run away!!!]
[Vast Cold!!! The Vast Cold Heavenly Lord has returned!!!]
The projections of the Preserving Wealth Heavenly Lord and the Integrity Chastity Heavenly Lord merely murmur as they look at me with conflicted expressions.
: : The sprout must be uprooted... : :
: : Are we not enough...? Such humiliation from 500,000 years ago must never happen again... : :
In the next moment.
[Splitting Emperor!]
The power of the Great Mountain Splitting Emperor Technique bursts forth, and everything within the Colorless Sword Enclosure.
Everything existing within a radius of 700 light-years is split into seven parts in the Plane of Qi and vanishes completely.
Then, two Sealing Immortal Flags fly toward me.
Kwang, kwaang!
Clang!
A total of six Sealing Immortal Flags are embedded into my body, and six chains bind me.
Chiiiiii—
I glance around at the dimmed surroundings.
All that remains is the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord.
However, I cannot see victory for the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord.
: : ...The scale of your power is so immense that even with the sealing in progress, it takes time for the seal to fully manifest... To the point where even we, the subordinates of Time, cannot intervene... : :
[...Haha...]
At that moment, I realize what they have been doing all this time.
The subordinates of the Heavenly Venerable of Time, the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords, have been continuously casting a specific Immortal Art on me.
It is none other than the Immortal Art of Time Acceleration.
The reason they could create stars in an instant is likely related to this.
While the sealing power of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flags are remarkable, the sheer magnitude of the power I've amplified is so enormous that the sealing itself requires an immense amount of time.
However, even in the accelerated time, I possess such overwhelming amplified power that I am not sealed.
No, I will be sealed...but it seems it will take time to reach that point.
: : How regrettable. If only we had a little more time, this might have been a fight worth attempting... : :
The Breaking Army Heavenly Lord finishes speaking, gripping their Seven Stars Harnessing God Banner with gleaming eyes.
: : In the name of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords, I prophesize... : :
I extend a single palm.
My palm becomes a mass of [power].
Carrying the power of the Impermanence Sword, it advances, growing so vast it seems as though it could swallow the entirety of Heaven and Earth.
The prophecy the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord was about to utter shatters completely, and my palm engulfs them, even collapsing a corner of the universe.
Kwarurururung!
It is a single palm akin to a single strike from the Sword Spear Heavenly Lord or an attack from Blood Yin with all his might.
Kururururung!
: : ...We will remember you... : :
With those final words, the projection of the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord crumbles beneath my strike.
After the Breaking Army Heavenly Lord vanishes, the prophecy of the Northern Dipper Sealing Immortal Flag activated with their demise as a condition, strikes me, and the seven Immortal Treasures of the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords pierce into my body, crushing me.
Kudududududuk!
A pressure beyond imagination tries to seal my authority.
However...
This power, boiling from Heaven, Earth, Heart, and Wheel, surpassing even volcanic eruptions and like the solar winds, is not so easily sealed.
If given enough time, I would eventually be sealed...
But I see no need for that and instead begin shattering the seal with the authority I still possess.
Kwaching!
With a single exertion of strength, a terrifying wave spreads across the entire universe.
With it, the countless remaining Entering Nirvana True Persons flee completely.
They must have concluded that there is no longer any chance of victory against me.
I ignore them and exert even more strength into my body.
It's then.
Kururururung!
Flinch!
I sense someone approaching me, leaping across vast light-years of distance.
A familiar presence.
A familiar foreboding, a familiar malice...
It is Ja Eum, dressed in a purple robe, and Blood Yin, dressed in a dark-red robe.
[...Blood Yin.]
I stare at him and speak with a complicated expression.
[For aiding me...I offer my gratit—]
But Blood Yin opens his mouth.
[From now on.]
His voice interrupts mine, and his eyes begin vomiting sinister light.
[Prove yourself before me.]
Kugugugugu!
Ja Eum, with a strangely happy expression, is absorbed into Blood Yin. Blood Yin then begins to gradually reveal his main body, spreading thick murderous intent towards me.
: : Are you truly the workings of the Imperial Venerable? If so, you will survive. If not, you will face demise by my hands, your soul extracted and refined into an Immortal Treasure. : :
Kugugugugugu!
I swallow hard as I see this sight.
I had thought the Northern Dipper Seven Heavenly Lords were the final and greatest obstacle left before me.
I was wrong.
The final trial of the 999th cycle is none other than Blood Yin, who now demands proof from me.
: : Prove that you are worthy of bearing the Wheel! : :