Heavenly Wheel Ascension

With his sword intent, Zhi Xuan wove an intricate web of sword formations, creating a circular array that rotated with the dense aura of the Heavenly Sword. The slaughter intent contained within the blade did not dissipate, even though Zhi Xuan’s physical form was battered.

The strikes of the devil giants landed upon Zhi Xuan’s sword formation. Sparks of black and red energy erupted, scorching the jagged rocks into dust. Yet, Zhi Xuan remained motionless. His seemingly fragile body became the unyielding axis of the storm.

"Is this the extent of your deathly will?" Zhi Xuan hissed, while his other hand continued to hold the Divine Furnace as it greedily swallowed the flow of the Jiu-Quan. "If you desire death, then I shall grant it to you in its purest form!"

He stomped his foot, and the Circular Sword Formation exploded outward. Thousands of reddish light blades shot out like an inverted meteor shower, piercing the bodies of the devil giants until they were riddled with holes. The bloodthirsty slaughter intent of the Heavenly Sword devoured their demonic essence, refusing to let a single shred of their consciousness return to the mountain.

Zhi Xuan spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped it away roughly. Upon his back, the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk reappeared, forming a majestic vortex that activated the Ghost Path. Instantly, the gate of the Ghost Path swung open, spewing forth thousands of faceless ghosts with burning instincts.

Zhi Xuan stood tall above the void, watching as the spirits from the Ghost Path clashed with the souls of the Jiu-Quan river below. They gnawed at the deathly souls in a state of absolute chaos. He looked down, seeing the two ancient creatures slowly being enveloped by massive cocoons.

"Great Saint! Stop playing around!" Zhi Xuan roared, glancing briefly toward Ruo Xianxue, who was still shrouding the four-directional land. "This mountain will collapse the moment that scythe is seized!"

Zhi Xuan pulled back the Divine Furnace quickly, ending the absorption of the Jiu-Quan water, though it was but a drop in the ocean. He withdrew his domain, dove down, and caught the two cocoons of the ancient beasts. Immediately, the parted waters of the Jiu-Quan began to surge back together.

Zhi Xuan looked up, a cynical smile playing on his blood-stained face. "Jiu-Quan, I thank you for this gift."

With that, he faded into a shadow, clutching the two large cocoons in his hands. He soared back into the void, watching the Jiu-Quan waters below churn with an increasingly thick aura of death.

Below him, the four-directional land shook like the heart of a dying earth. Ruo Xianxue, who had been enveloping the Abyssal Reaping Crescent with her nine dark tails, suddenly let out a shrill laugh. Her laughter pierced through the thunderous collapse of the ancient formation.

"Playing around? No, Zhi Xuan. I was merely convincing it that heaven has long been dead!"

Ruo Xianxue slammed her Ancient Devil Monument into the center of the four-directional land. Instantly, the runes on the monument flared with the deepest black, radiating absolute Devil pressure. The giant scythe, the Abyssal Reaping Crescent, which had been struggling wildly, now emitted a hoarse metallic clink—a sign of total surrender.

The deep purple blade dimmed, and its deathly aura, which had been attacking, was sucked into Ruo Xianxue’s monument. Finally, the weapon shrank to the size of an adult human and floated helplessly in the air. Ruo Xianxue snatched the scythe with a lightning-fast motion and shot back toward Zhi Xuan’s shadow.

"Let’s go! The guardian of this underworld has awakened!" Ruo Xianxue shouted as she vanished back into Zhi Xuan’s mind.

DUMMM—!

The entire Underworld Mountain shook violently. The previously split Jiu-Quan flow slammed back together with a massive impact, creating a wall of black water hundreds of zhang high that chased Zhi Xuan’s position. From the depths of the now-closed river, a giant hand made of thousands of bones and black mud reached out, attempting to seize Zhi Xuan’s feet.

Zhi Xuan snorted, cold sweat drenching his temples while the two large cocoons in his hands felt as heavy as the weight of destiny. He had no time to fight the giant hand. With a single jerk of his will, he faded back into a creeping shadow, leaping between the shadow points he had reflected upon entering the mountain.

WHUSH!

Below, the shadow he left behind vanished, crushed instantly as the bone hand closed its grip. He shot through the cavern walls, passing through collapsing stone tunnels, and in the blink of an eye, he emerged from the massive mouth of the mountain.

However, the mountain did not let him go easily. Black lightning from the purple clouds above struck repeatedly, trying to bring down the white-robed practitioner. Zhi Xuan twisted in the air like a wounded dragon; below him, the mountain began to crack and vomit the Jiu-Quan, chasing him with water that leaped into the sky.

Zhi Xuan did not fly toward the Core Palace; instead, he dove in the opposite direction, drawing the Jiu-Quan away from the palace. He laughed cruelly in mid-air, an arrogant joy making him feel as though he stood above the heavens after crawling through the river of darkness.

He shot forward like a silver flash amidst the shroud of grief, piercing the curtain of black lightning that seemed to judge his audacity. Behind him, the overflowing Jiu-Quan from the mountain's belly loomed high, forming a giant black water dragon carrying the foul stench of death as far as the eye could see. The water did not just chase his body; it tried to pull his soul back to the depths of the void.

"You wish to drag me back to the depths?" Zhi Xuan murmured with a tone full of mockery, his voice muffled by the deafening roar of the water. "Don't worry, pouring a little tea over a cup won't empty the jar! Chase me, if you can!"

The black water dragon of the Jiu-Quan drew closer, its maw—made of thousands of wailing souls—gaping wide, ready to swallow everything. The cold brought by the underworld river began to freeze Zhi Xuan’s white robe, turning the fine fabric stiff like sharp plates of ice.

"Just because I took a single root and a rusty scythe, you rage as if you've lost your entire universe!" Zhi Xuan snorted. He performed a single-handed mudra, dancing through the air while his other hand remained clasped around the two cocoons. "Descent of the Ancient God Mountain!"

From the heavens, an ancient god mountain appeared through the parting clouds, descending with a weight that suggested the world itself was being overturned. From beneath the earth, pillars of soil shot upward with waves that swept the surroundings, intending to crush everything between the pillars and the descending mountain.

Zhi Xuan stopped in the middle of the impending collision, the Jiu-Quan water dragon behind him poised to devour his back. But Zhi Xuan turned around for a moment, flashing the smile of a Devil who had traversed hundreds of years of journey.

"Farewell, Jiu-Quan," with that, he displaced in the blink of an eye and shot far away.

The collision met instantly, freezing the surroundings for a heartbeat before exploding in a wave that leveled everything with the force of the Mountains and Rivers style. The earth split, and everything trembled before the impact of the Descent of the Ancient God Mountain.

BOOOM—!

The explosion from the union of those two great forces created a shockwave that wiped away the remaining plains at the foot of the Underworld Mountain. Ash-dust and black Jiu-Quan vapor rose high, forming a giant pillar that seemed to connect the shattered earth to the wounded sky.

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The black water dragon was smashed to pieces, crushed by the weight of the ancient mountain laws summoned by Zhi Xuan, forcing the remnants of the death river to seep back into the cracks of the earth with the piteous roar of spirits.

Zhi Xuan reappeared in a distant place, on a high plateau isolated by deep ravines. His breath was heavy and labored; his chest felt hot as if a hellfire were blaring within his lungs. He knelt on one knee, gently placing the two large cocoons before him.

Fresh blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, dripping onto the barren ground. "The laws of the underworld... are truly troublesome," he muttered while wiping away the blood.

Zhi Xuan stared at the two cocoons. Xiao Die’s cocoon pulsed with a dense, deep purple glow, occasionally emitting the intoxicating scent of death flowers. Meanwhile, Ao Sheng’s cocoon radiated extreme heat; the scales hardening within occasionally released dark-golden sparks that pierced the surrounding air.

"At least they will enter their adult stage after this," Zhi Xuan hissed. He sat cross-legged and looked at Xiao Die’s cocoon for a moment. "Xiao Die will transform again; Ancient Insects often transform. Let them remain still for a long time."

He waved his hand, taking out a spiritual ring from his storage bag. There, he found several healing pills and herbs, swallowed them immediately, and closed his eyes in meditation. The turbulent Jiu-Quan energy he had swallowed into the Divine Furnace still struggled, trying to erode his cultivation foundation from within.

However, with a will as hard as heavenly steel, he suppressed every wild ripple, forcing the essence of death to submit under the laws of the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk. After some time in meditation, he opened his eyes and stood up, looking coldly at the two cocoons that were still tightly sealed.

"Great Saint," Zhi Xuan said, waving his hand. Immediately, the Abyssal Reaping Crescent appeared in his grasp. He stared at the scythe, which was nearly as tall as himself, with a cold glint. "Abyssal Reaping Crescent... Holy Daughter Chen, Holy Son Wang, this Zhi thanks you for showing me this path."

Zhi Xuan stroked the cold blade of the scythe with his fingertips. The vibrations emitted by the weapon were no longer those of resistance, but of a hollow obedience, as if its soul had been forcibly snatched by Ruo Xianxue’s dominance. Its deep purple color crept like pulsing veins beneath the blackened metal surface.

"This weapon... at least it is nearly equal to the Heavenly Sword," Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice hoarse in the dry plateau wind. "Abyssal Reaping, so arrogant."

He stepped to the side, finding an open expanse. He summoned the Ruthless Heavenly Banner, planting its staff into the ground. From within the banner, the roar of demon soldiers echoed as if cheering for their old friend who now stood before them. Zhi Xuan smiled thinly; he bit his finger slightly and let a drop of blood fall onto the scythe's blade.

"From now on, your name is no longer the Abyssal Reaping Crescent," Zhi Xuan decreed, just as he had once done for the Calamity Banner of the Heavenly Devil. "Instead, you are the Gods Slaughter Crescent."

The divine blood dripping onto the blade did not roll off; it was absorbed greedily, creating a chain of sparks that ignited ancient runes along the weapon's spine. The Gods Slaughter Crescent vibrated violently in Zhi Xuan’s grip.

Its deep purple glow transformed into a dense blackish-red, radiating a killing intent so palpable that the ground beneath Zhi Xuan’s feet began to crack and blacken. A soul contract seal formed in the air, binding the scythe’s existence entirely to the practitioner's will.

He swung the scythe in one slow, circular motion. Yet, despite the lightness of the movement, the air before him split with a piteous moan. A straight spatial rift appeared, revealing a brief dark void before closing with an energy blast that swept the dust away.

"Sharp," Zhi Xuan murmured, his sapphire-blue eyes now flashing with the red reflection of the scythe. "Even the spatial laws of this Secret Realm cannot withstand its blade. Gods Slaughter... this journey was not in vain."

He sheathed the Gods Slaughter Crescent back into his inner shadow, letting the weapon rest beside the Ruthless Heavenly Banner. The chill left by the scythe still lingered in his palm—a reminder that he had just grasped an instrument capable of severing the threads of destiny.

Zhi Xuan turned his attention back to the two giant cocoons lying before him. He felt the pulse of life growing stronger, yet increasingly wild. Inside, Ao Sheng and Xiao Die were destroying themselves only to be reconstructed into more terrifying entities.

"This process will take time," Zhi Xuan murmured. He waved his hand, and the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron floated out from his chest.

Around the bronze belly of the Divine Furnace, the black vapor from the Jiu-Quan flow he had absorbed earlier still swirled, trying to find a gap to explode. Zhi Xuan pressed his lips tight, forming law runes with a speed that left only afterimages of his fingers.

"Suppress," Zhi Xuan said lowly, the Law of Four Seasons churning within. He formed a law disk that swallowed the shock of the dense death aura and moved the Jiu-Quan water into the furnace's dimension. "Underworld river water... it will become a sturdy defense if I am ever pressured."

Once the great tremors inside the Divine Furnace subsided, Zhi Xuan took a deep breath, stabilizing the fluctuations of his spiritual essence that had nearly reached its limit. He looked at the bronze furnace with a much sharper gaze; now, inside, besides the majestic Xuan-Huang energy, there was a flow of black water swirling at the bottom like a sleeping dragon of death.

"This Jiu-Quan water has become part of my treasure," Zhi Xuan whispered, his eyes flashing with ambition. "Anyone who dares attack me will feel what it's like to be dragged by the current of the underworld river."

He then waved his wide sleeve, creating a concealment formation around the plateau. The formation consisted of a thin mist that refracted light, making his presence and the two giant cocoons appear to vanish from the senses of anyone passing by. Zhi Xuan knew that the Holy Sons and Daughters at the Core Tower might be in the middle of their Divine Transformation processes, but he could not afford to be careless.

Under a sky that still held the remnants of grief from the Underworld Mountain's rampage, Zhi Xuan sat cross-legged again. He closed his eyes, letting his consciousness enter his inner sea. There, he again found Ruo Xianxue stroking the blade of the Gods Slaughter Crescent, which was now planted beside the Tree of Life.

"You named it very arrogantly, Zhi Xuan," Ruo Xianxue said without looking back, her blood-red lips curling into a meaningful smile. "Gods Slaughter... do you know that name carries its own weight of karma?"

Zhi Xuan stood tall before the Sacred Devil. "Devils and Gods might be majestic thrones. However, this scythe shall be the footing I use to tread upon a higher path."

"Karma is a thread that entangles the weak, but for those who stand at the peak, karma is merely a robe they wear," Ruo Xianxue approached Zhi Xuan, staring into his sapphire eyes with her mysterious double pupils. "Gods Slaughter Crescent... fitting enough. I like it. Your arrogance."

"Arrogance is how the world keeps moving, Great Saint," Zhi Xuan replied. He sat cross-legged on the sea of consciousness, watching the small Divine Spirit sitting on the Wheel of Heaven’s Samsara. "And behind arrogance, there are always thousands of different faces staring in every direction."

He closed his eyes for a moment, his consciousness reaching for traces far in the depths of the oceanic trench. He opened them again after a heartbeat. "When I leave this Secret Realm, Her Highness will surely be exposed to the outside world for a moment. And she cannot continue to stay here after the Secret Realm's time expires."

"The Great Constellation is a suitable place for that," Ruo Xianxue answered, floating back up to a branch of the Tree of Life. "An Ancient Devil absorbs the core of origin energy; everything is like the core of stars, planets, and the core of plains."

Zhi Xuan furrowed his brow, gathering his thoughts as he heard the name of the Great Constellation again. "The Great Constellation... you mean, that second Great Constellation again?"

"Exactly," Ruo Xianxue replied, sitting back on the branch. "You only need to ensure that when you exit, the outside world does not discover that Ancient Devil. He will find his own way to the Great Constellation without a formation."

"Without a formation?" Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice echoing between the pillars of his consciousness. "How can that body cross the endless void without the aid of a spatial gateway? Even for a Weaver Transformation practitioner, the outer void is an impenetrable abyss of death."

Ruo Xianxue let out a small laugh, her laughter this time sounding more like the trickle of clear water over a pile of skulls. "Zhi Xuan, do not compare disgusting practitioners to the Ancient Races. You may require Divine Transformation cultivation to step through the void without great loss. But for the Ancient Race, a single pillar is enough."

Zhi Xuan fell silent for a moment, absorbing that understanding. "So you are saying that the strength of the Ancient Devil lies in the pillar on his forehead?"

"Of course, little boy," Ruo Xianxue said, her voice a low purr. "As I told you once when forming the Heavenly-Blood Body Law. That is the tempering of the body through slaughter. But now, that body possesses the heritage of the Ancient Race, with my blood as a catalyst in the Divine Creation Devil Art."

She carved runes into the sky of the consciousness sea, forming a row of dark pillars resembling the form of the Ancient Devil. "One to Ten Pillars. The laws of practitioners are like flies landing on the sun to them. The body of an ancient race is the Law itself. They do not cultivate from the beginning like you. One pillar is equivalent to a current Dao practitioner at the Weaver Transformation stage."

"One pillar... equivalent to the peak of a practitioner capable of weaving the laws of space?" Zhi Xuan whispered, his eyes fixed on the projection of the ten pillars hanging in his inner horizon. "Then, what about ten pillars? If a single pillar can ignore mortal laws, then ten pillars... is that the end of all creation?"