Heavenly Wheel Ascension

Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes. This confirmation further clarified his understanding of the Suppression of Fate that he had discussed with Xu Yunchuan previously. The heavens of this lower realm were indeed guarded by invisible figures ensuring that no mortal transcended their limits. He clenched his fists, causing the black water to churn violently.

"Great Saint," Zhi Xuan thought within the sea of his consciousness, his teeth grinding. "The Heavens are truly cruel and rotten. I am seeing for myself now—someone who possessed the same ambition as I, only to end up like this."

"Heavenly Justice is merely an illusion created to keep the sheep from jumping over the fence," Ruo Xianxue’s voice echoed within Zhi Xuan’s mind, cold and laden with the same deep-seated resentment. "They call it Balance, but we call it a Prison. What you see before you, Zhi Xuan, is proof that in the eyes of the Upper Realm practitioners, a mortal genius is nothing more than a weed that must be trimmed."

Zhi Xuan refocused his gaze on Jian Dao. The man’s sword intent began to dim, as if their brief conversation had drained the last remnants of strength he had gathered over hundreds of years.

"If I pull out this nail," Zhi Xuan said, his voice calm yet carrying a vibration that shook the cave walls, "will you have the strength to seek vengeance, or would you rather release your soul and fade into Reincarnation?"

Jian Dao fell silent—a silence heavier than the thousands of bamboos pressing down from above. His gray eyes, originally dim, suddenly flashed, sparking a silver light as sharp as lightning in the heart of a storm. He stared at Zhi Xuan, searching for honesty behind the face of the youth who appeared as cold as marble.

"Pull it out?" Jian Dao sighed, a sound that resembled wind passing through the gaps of blades. "Young man, this nail contains the will of the Upper Realm. The moment you touch it, you are not just challenging the laws within this body; you are declaring war against the entity that struck it down."

Zhi Xuan merely curled a thin, icy smile. "If I wish to step over the Upper Realm, then I must understand what the Upper Realm is through this very sword."

Duan Niu, standing at the edge of the pool, looked restless, his chubby hands incessantly stroking his chin. "Daoist Zhang, think carefully. Pulling that Law Nail is the same as detonating a volcano beneath our feet. The sword essence gathered over a thousand years will explode without control!"

"I won't pull it out now," Zhi Xuan replied, turning his head back toward the underground entrance they had just used. "Instead, I will wait to pull it when they arrive."

Zhi Xuan turned back to Jian Dao. "Senior Jian, since you cannot recover yourself due to that sword, I have a way to restore you that is a bit... Demonic. Are you willing?"

Jian Dao stared at Zhi Xuan with an intensity capable of piercing a mortal frame. "A bit Demonic?" he asked, his voice hoarse yet accompanied by a painful laugh. "Young man, I have been degraded into the heart of a cursed formation for hundreds of years. I have been a part of this darkness longer than you have been cultivating. What could be more Demonic than being a life-furnace for one's own enemies?"

Zhi Xuan nodded slowly. He closed his eyes for a moment, his hands moving to form seals as he carved through the air. He wove threads of formation from the memory inheritance of the Ancient Heavens, forming a trigram where each part immediately shaped into discs hovering above and beside Jian Dao.

"Great Saint," Zhi Xuan thought. "Can this formation truly draw the life essence from every practitioner I touch with the seal in my hand?"

"This formation... from the Ancient Heaven race?" Ruo Xianxue answered, her voice sounding like a devil's whisper caressing the soul, though it carried a lazy tone. "That memory inheritance of yours actually stores some decent junk. Just touch them, then form the same seal to connect the threads of this formation. The old man before you will be the cauldron, and everyone you kill will be the contents of that cauldron."

Zhi Xuan opened his eyes. His pupils now radiated a dark glow surrounded by sparks of lightning. He extended his palm, and a lotus-shaped seal woven from black threads appeared, spinning above the roiling pool.

"Senior Jian, feel this," Zhi Xuan whispered. "I will connect you to every inch of soil in this Bamboo Forest. Whatever dies under the Black Bamboo sky tonight, its essence will flow into you through this formation."

Jian Dao jerked violently as the formation discs began to close in on his aged frame. "You... you will sacrifice this entire sect to water my roots?"

"They used you as a whetstone," Zhi Xuan remarked while stepping back toward the stairs. "So it is only fair if they end up as the oil that smooths your path back."

Duan Niu, witnessing the scene, swallowed hard. The hair on his neck stood up, not from the cold, but from the horror of seeing Zhi Xuan’s calmness while drafting a plan for mass slaughter. "Ow, ow... Daoist Zhang, you truly are as they say."

Zhi Xuan did not answer; instead, he waved his hand, and the two small creatures on his shoulders manifested before him as a man and a woman. Zhi Xuan looked at the two figures briefly. "Xiao Die, Ao Sheng. You can devour that Law Nail. Something from the Upper Realm like that will at least carry pure laws that will serve as nourishment for you."

Ao Sheng smirked, revealing sharp fangs. His golden eyes flashed with excitement as he stared at the Law Nail in Jian Dao’s chest. "Heavens, Senior! You truly knew that I’ve wanted to bite that Law Nail since the moment we arrived."

Beside him, Xiao Die—in the form of a beautiful woman with a shimmering shawl—merely nodded vaguely. "Senior Zhi, you always spoil Xiao Die. But very well, we can indeed devour wilder energy after transforming."

The two figures paused, turning toward Duan Niu, who had previously held and pinched them in his chubby hands. Xiao Die squinted; she leaped and floated close to Duan Niu, which made the fat man sparkle with fascination. Xiao Die stared at Duan Niu with eyes radiating irritation.

"Ow, ow... beautiful lady, have you fallen for my irresistible charm?" Duan Niu whispered, though sweat began to flood his forehead.

"Your touch on the pavilion stairs earlier," Xiao Die’s voice sounded like the scraping of silver strings in the silence of a tomb, "I will remember it. If it weren't for Senior Zhi's orders, I would have already turned you into a cocoon."

Duan Niu shivered, immediately jumping back and distancing himself from Xiao Die with a ridiculous snort. "Hey, a beautiful woman shouldn't be that scary! Daoist Zhang, I didn't know your spiritual beasts had transformed like this!"

Zhi Xuan paid no mind to the commotion Duan Niu caused. His gaze shifted back to Ao Sheng and Xiao Die, who were beginning to take positions beside Jian Dao’s body. "Do it carefully. Do not let that Law Nail explode his soul before all the fertilizer has been gathered."

"Leave it to us, Senior!" Ao Sheng shouted as he returned to his small dragon form, coiling around a root pillar near Jian Dao’s head, while Xiao Die turned into thousands of light shards enveloping the rusted sword blade.

Zhi Xuan turned, his brown robes sweeping across the damp cave floor. He climbed the spiral staircase with the calm of a god about to attend a banquet of death. Duan Niu, though still grumbling about fierce women, followed with steps that were now silent and alert.

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As they emerged from the hole of the ruined pavilion, the night air in the Thousand-Blade Bamboo Forest had changed completely. A thick gray mist began to creep between the withered bamboo stalks, carrying a fishy stench and a dense killing intent.

"They are here," Zhi Xuan whispered. His eyes, blue as a dying star, now emitted a faint purple glow, piercing through the thick fog enveloping the forest.

From the darkness, dozens of shadows appeared, moving like ghosts. They did not wear conspicuous robes but rather transparent cloaks and hoods that obscured their faces. Each carried chains with hooks at the ends, radiating a cold, heartless aura.

"Long time no see, old friends," Zhi Xuan hissed, his jaw tightening. "The Eternal Killing Temple... they've always received a high price for my head ever since I began cultivating."

From behind the suffocating mist, a man with a robe that seemed to merge with the darkness stepped forward. He carried no visible weapon, but at the tips of each finger, fine silver threads shimmering with the aura of death danced in the wind.

"Gu Fengyan," the voice sounded dry, as if his vocal cords had long since rotted. "The price for your head is always high and must be paid in full. Tonight, on this remote floating continent, your flower will finally wither."

"Oh, I am deeply flattered, as usual," Zhi Xuan hissed, a thin smile forming. "From the time I was just a Three Foundations Transformation brat until now, a Weaver Transformation expert—you lot have truly accompanied me as I grew, haven't you?"

"Back then, you were slippery prey," the assassin’s voice crawled between the bamboo stalks. "But tonight, you are merely a dragon trapped in a dry well. The orders from the Han Ancient Clan are very clear: your soul must be surrendered to the Temple to be purified in eternal suffering."

Duan Niu, standing beside Zhi Xuan, suddenly lost his appetite for jokes. He reached for something beneath his large robe—a wooden bowl whose surface was covered in ancient character carvings, pulsing with golden light. "Ow, ow... Eternal Killing Temple? So you are the flies paid to kill? Unfortunately, there are no sheep here tonight, only a hungry butcher."

The assassins from the Eternal Killing Temple ignored him; one of them waved his hand and formed a formation circle that surrounded the area within a radius of several hundred zhang. The formation dome solidified from the bottom, then met at the top, sealing everything completely.

As the formation dome closed perfectly, the air inside the Thousand-Blade Bamboo Forest seemed to freeze, leaving a vacuum. This formation was a high-level sealing technique commonly used by the Eternal Killing Temple to ensure their targets had no opening to escape, not even for a Divine Spirit.

"The Eternal Killing Temple... always flattering itself with the idea that it's better to die than let the sheep escape the slaughter," Zhi Xuan murmured. He waved his hand, and a jar of fragrant wine appeared. "Be patient for a moment; I shall have a drink first."

Zhi Xuan lifted the wine jar with a movement far too calm, as if the dozens of soul reapers before him were merely a row of trees waiting to be felled. He drank it in one long draught, letting the warm liquid burn his throat while his eyes remained fixed on the lead assassin standing in the mist.

"Good wine," Zhi Xuan hissed, wiping a stray drop from the corner of his lip. "Brother Li, thank you for your wine from before."

He tossed the empty jar into the air, and before the object could touch the ground, a flick of his finger caused the jar to explode into thousands of sharp shards burning with purple fire.

DHUARR!

That small explosion served as the war drum. In an instant, dozens of transparent-robed shadows darted forward. Their movements were silent, like smoke slicing through the night. In an instant, the formation released an unavoidable time-stop effect; Zhi Xuan stopped moving, as did Duan Niu.

One of the assassins lifted both hands and formed a circular mudra. From the sky above, a giant sword appeared, surrounded by fiercely coiling firebirds. The giant sword descended, carrying the weight of thousands of jin, accompanied by the shrieks of the firebirds. The reddish light produced burned away the surrounding gray mist.

"DIE!" the assassin roared, swinging his hands downward as the giant sword descended slowly yet crushingly.

BUMMM!

The ground beneath Zhi Xuan’s feet cracked violently, forming a vast crater from the pressure of the giant sword. However, just as the giant sword was a few feet above where he stood, his sapphire pupils flashed as he raised his hand. From his palm, energy glowing with reddish lightning shot directly toward the assassin.

ZRRTTT! SHRAKK!

The reddish lightning shot out like a dragon awakened from a long slumber, tearing through the pressure created by the giant sword above Zhi Xuan’s head. The speed of the attack surpassed the blink of an eye; it did not just pierce the air but seemed to stitch back the space that had been manipulated by the Eternal Killing Temple's formation.

The assassin controlling the giant sword didn't even have time to finish his mudra. The lightning pierced his chest, leaving a gaping hole whose edges glowed with destructive fire. His Divine Spirit, attempting to flee, was instantly trapped; the light of the Divine Spirit was sucked away—heading straight for the formation Zhi Xuan had installed.

"Devour the essence!" Zhi Xuan hissed, stomping his foot and spinning in the air. He clapped his palms together.

The echo of Zhi Xuan’s stomp sent a shockwave traveling through the bamboo roots down to the bottom of the underground chamber. Below, the chained Jian Dao felt the first jolt of pure energy entering his dry veins. The old body jerked, his gray eyes widening as the essence of the recently deceased Eternal Killing Temple assassin flowed heavily through the trigram formation, watering his parched soul like rain in a desert.

Zhi Xuan spread his arms again, his eyes staring wildly at the dozens of Eternal Killing Temple assassins. "Reincarnation of Six Paths!"

Behind his back, the Reincarnation of Six Paths disc formed, manifesting six gates standing behind him. The pressure shifted immediately; a middle-stage True Domain combined with his middle-stage Weaver Transformation cultivation created a realm pressure that made the formation dome tremble.

The domain expanded, surrounding half of the formation despite the sealing pressure. Zhi Xuan gritted his teeth, raised one hand, and let out a low roar. "Beast Path!"

From behind the Beast Path gate, a primal roar capable of shaking the foundations of the earth exploded outward. The air that was previously empty under the formation dome was suddenly filled with manifestations of thousands of illusory fangs and claws hungry for blood. The spiritual essence around Zhi Xuan solidified, turning into transparent monsters that darted like a starving storm toward the Eternal Killing Temple assassins.

"Arrogant!" the lead assassin roared. He spun in the air and formed a six-directional mudra. "Thinking you can destroy the formation with your Domain? Your Domain is indeed rare, Gu Fengyan, but do not think we came unprepared."

"Go, O bringer of death!" the lead assassin bellowed, his voice containing a dense resonance of the Law of Death. He spun his hands rapidly, and six silver threads shot from his fingertips, coiling around the six foremost monster manifestations from Zhi Xuan’s Beast Path.

SHIIIING!

The silver threads sliced through the monster manifestations like a sword blade through silk. The illusory beasts roared in pain before exploding into a mist of essence that was immediately drawn by the silver threads toward the lead assassin.

"The Six Paths of Reincarnation... indeed a rare and powerful Domain," the lead assassin hissed, his eyes hidden behind the black hood now flashing coldly. "However, every Domain has a weakness. And your weakness, Gu Fengyan, is that you are alone!"

He clapped his hands. Instantly, dozens of assassins scattered throughout the sealing formation simultaneously released similar silver threads. Hundreds of threads no longer targeted Zhi Xuan but spread out, weaving a giant silver net inside the formation dome. The net pulsed, draining the spiritual essence from the withered Bamboo Forest, extinguishing every remaining spark of life.

"This formation is not just to seal you," the lead assassin’s voice boomed, vibrating with deadly conviction. "This is an altar that will harvest you! We will drain this entire forest, then drag your helpless soul to the Eternal Temple!"

Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes. He felt the heavy pressure from the silver net beginning to crush his Reincarnation of Six Paths Domain. The strength of the net was not just a physical attack, but an assault on the legal foundations underlying his Domain, attempting to unravel it from within.

"You crafty rats!" Duan Niu roared. Having stood silent until now, he jumped forward, the wooden bowl in his hand glowing golden. "You won't drain anything as long as this fat pig is still breathing!"

Duan Niu tossed the wooden bowl into the sky. The simple object spun with a speed that sliced the wind, radiating golden characters that grew larger until they formed a canopy of light shielding both Zhi Xuan and himself.

Instantly, the ground beneath their feet rumbled violently. The bamboo roots that were previously withered suddenly petrified, jutting to the surface like giant pillars supporting the golden dome of the bowl. The silver net of the Eternal Killing Temple, attempting to squeeze inward, was now held back by the walls of illusory mountains manifested by Duan Niu.

Zhi Xuan glanced at Duan Niu for a moment, seeing sweat pouring down the fat man’s forehead. Using high-level techniques inside an opponent’s sealing formation required an extraordinary consumption of divine essence.

"Hold them for thirteen breaths, Senior Duan," Zhi Xuan said flatly. He closed his eyes, temporarily releasing control over the Beast Path.

"Thirteen breaths?! Daoist Zhang, do you think I'm an eternal wall?!" Duan Niu shrieked, his face turning red as hundreds of silver threads began to slowly erode the golden layer of his treasure bowl. "Hurry! Or you'll be looking at a roasted pig here!"