Heavenly Wheel Ascension

SRAKKK! In an instant, Du Tianzong’s head was severed from his body in one incredibly smooth sweep, yet the black blade in Jian Dao’s hand did not stop there. The sword seemed to possess a will of its own, inhaling the entirety of Du Tianzong’s Divine Spirit as it attempted to bolt away. The Sect Leader’s roar of despair was muffled within the pulse of the black bamboo sword, which now glowed with a horrific, blood-red hue.

Jian Dao stood amidst the expanse of bamboo dust, his long breaths exhaling the lingering frost from Zhi Xuan’s winter law. He flicked his sword once, and the chaotic energy in the air suddenly stilled, submitting to the authority of a sword intent that had transcended the limits of this land.

"A thousand years of suffering, settled in a single strike," Jian Dao whispered, his gray eyes regaining a clarity like the sky after a storm.

He turned toward Zhi Xuan, who was still hovering calmly, and bowed slightly—a mark of respect from a peak expert to the figure who had altered his destiny. "Daoist Zhang, my sword is sated, but the debt of my life to you can never be repaid merely with the blood of this trash."

Zhi Xuan landed slowly, his footsteps touching the blackened earth without a sound. His left arm moved naturally as he stored the Vile Heavenly Banner back into his sea of consciousness. He looked at Jian Dao, then shifted his gaze to the ice statue of Envoy Yao, still frozen in eternal silence.

"A life debt is a heavy burden, Senior Jian," Zhi Xuan replied flatly. "But for now, take the physical remains and the remnant cultivation you have plundered. This world will not allow an expert like you to rise without sending other monsters to intervene."

Zhi Xuan moved his hand, and two lights—gold and silver—shot back to his shoulders. Ao Sheng and Xiao Die had returned to their miniature forms, looking satisfied after devouring a portion of the Upper Realm’s Law Nail.

"The Eternal Killing Temple has failed, and two great sects have suffered a massive regression," Zhi Xuan added, looking into the distance. "With you as the sole Divine Transformation expert on this floating continent, neither the Thousand Lotus Valley nor the Black Bamboo Sect will be a match for you."

"The Heavenly Path Pavilion has suffered long enough," Jian Dao murmured, staring at the law nail still embedded in his chest. "It is time to take back what rightfully belongs to us."

Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes at the Law Nail. Although Ao Sheng and Xiao Die had gnawed away the Upper Realm essence surrounding it, the nail remained a shackle of law rooted in destiny. As long as it remained, Jian Dao would never truly be able to step onto the path of true immortality.

"Senior Jian, that nail is a sign that the Heavens once restricted mortal blood from stepping further," Zhi Xuan said, his voice lowering like thunder behind the clouds. "You are freed today, and in the future, when I tear open the sky of this lower realm, I will ensure the heavens do not repeat such an act."

Jian Dao was stunned, staring at the youth before him with an unreadable gaze. Zhi Xuan’s words were not the empty boasts of an arrogant young practitioner, but a decree that vibrated in harmony with the grand law of cause and effect. He could feel that within Zhi Xuan’s frame resided a will capable of swallowing the horizon.

"Tearing the sky..." Jian Dao laughed softly, the sound more melodic now despite the lingering rasp in his throat. "If there is anyone under this firmament capable of doing so, I believe it is you, Daoist Zhang."

Zhi Xuan gave a short nod. He then stepped toward the ice statue of Envoy Yao. With a single wave of his hand, the frozen layers cracked bit by bit, though they did not shatter completely. He left enough space for Envoy Yao to breathe, even though the man’s body was totally paralyzed.

"You..." Envoy Yao whispered feebly, his lips blue and trembling violently. "The Ancient Han Clan... will not... let you..."

"The Han Clan is too busy counting the number of gravestones they need to prepare," Zhi Xuan cut him off coldly. He reached out his right hand and gripped Envoy Yao’s forehead. "Give me what I am looking for."

Zhi Xuan did not wait for an answer. He utilized a brutal soul-search, infiltrating Envoy Yao’s sea of consciousness like thousands of burning needles. The man shrieked silently, his eyes bulging until his blood vessels burst, before he finally slumped over—his soul shattered into meaningless fragments.

Zhi Xuan released his grip, letting Envoy Yao’s body crumble into ash under the influence of the remaining frost. In his mind, a mental map unfolded—a grand hall of the Thousand Lotus Valley that housed thousands of high-grade Heavenly Jades, divine herbs, and celestial treasures.

"High-grade Heavenly Jade..." Zhi Xuan muttered, letting out a small sigh. "The Thousand Lotus Valley has practitioners at least at the Weaver Transformation stage, but that is no obstacle. The Black Bamboo Sect has thousands of disciples who can be moved to the Heavenly Path Pavilion after losing their leader."

Zhi Xuan stood in the center of the silent crater, letting the night wind sweep over his torn robes. He turned to Duan Niu, who had been silent, clutching his sacred bowl which still emitted a dim earthy glow.

"Brother Duan," Zhi Xuan called out, his voice breaking the silence. "The business here is finished. Take the entire remaining treasury of the Black Bamboo Sect. I know your instinct for treasure is sharper than any sword intent in this land."

Duan Niu startled, his round face immediately brightening as he returned to his original persona of witty cunning. He rubbed his chubby hands together, his eyes sparkling as he looked at the ruins of the sect’s main hall. "Ow, ow! Daoist Zhang, you truly understand the heart of this fat pig! I’ll make sure not a single speck of valuable dust is left behind!"

Zhi Xuan shifted his gaze back to Jian Dao. The Sword God was currently in a brief meditation, absorbing the surrounding energy to stabilize the foundation of his forcibly recovered cultivation.

"Senior Jian, return to the Heavenly Path Pavilion with Brother Duan," Zhi Xuan ordered with an undeniable tone. "Show the world that the sword of the Heavenly Path has become sharp again. Let the disciples of this continent know that anyone who shelters under the Pavilion's banner will no longer be prey for the great sects."

Jian Dao opened his eyes, a flash of gray sword light passing through them briefly before fading. "And you, Daoist Zhang? Will you head to the Thousand Lotus Valley alone?"

"I have business there that I will settle myself," Zhi Xuan said with a thin, secretive smile. "When dawn arrives, I will ensure the Thousand Lotus Valley has become the property of the Heavenly Path Pavilion, and all allied sects shall submit."

Zhi Xuan did not wait for further answers. His body slowly faded, merging with the remnants of the cold night mist, leaving Jian Dao and Duan Niu in the middle of the flattened wasteland of the Bamboo Forest.

Duan Niu took a long breath, patting his large belly while staring at the spot where Zhi Xuan vanished. "That man... he is truly something, Senior Jian. Heading to the Thousand Lotus Valley alone after a battle this size? Only a madman or a god would dare."

Jian Dao stood tall, letting his black bamboo sword dissolve back into sword essence that merged with his soul. "A junior like that, becoming a protector for the Heavenly Path Pavilion... even if I die without recovering fully, I would leave behind no regrets."

Meanwhile, far on the eastern horizon of the Cang Hai floating continent, the Thousand Lotus Valley stood with a quiet majesty. Thousands of giant lotus flowers floated above crystal-clear lakes, emitting a silver light that merged with the descending morning dew. In the center of the valley stood a nine-story pagoda, the heart of the sect’s entire protective formation.

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At the peak of the pagoda, an elderly woman with snow-white hair sat in meditation. She was Granny Lotus, an early-stage Weaver Transformation expert who had guarded the valley for three hundred years. Suddenly, her wrinkled eyelids snapped open, revealing a pair of clear but anxious eyes.

"Shattered..." she murmured, her voice hoarse like the rubbing of old paper. "Yao’er’s life jade... has shattered into pieces."

She stood up slowly, clutching a wooden staff adorned with a golden lotus bulb. The vibration in the air told her that something massive was moving toward her valley—something carrying the aura of an endless winter and a tense killing intent.

"All disciples of the Thousand Lotus Valley, prepare the Great Heaven Purification Formation!" she shrieked, her voice echoing throughout the valley via divine transmission. "A great enemy approaches!"

In a matter of breaths, the tranquility of the valley was destroyed. Thousands of disciples in white robes flew to their positions, their spiritual essence merging to form a giant silver lotus-shaped protective dome that sheltered the entire valley. A blinding light radiated into the sky, attempting to push back the creeping darkness.

In the distance, Zhi Xuan appeared atop a small hill, gazing at where the Thousand Lotus Valley stood in its splendor. Beside him, a shadow slowly solidified into the spiritual body of a woman in dark robes, her nine dark tails glowing subtly. Ruo Xianxue hovered gracefully, staring toward a point in the valley.

"Great Saint," Zhi Xuan said, turning to look at Ruo Xianxue’s dual pupils with a slight frown. "You mentioned a part of yourself was left here. Why so sudden?"

Ruo Xianxue did not answer immediately. She stepped into the void, each footfall leaving a ripple of darkness that extinguished the moonlight around her. Her nine tails swayed slowly, like a dance of black flames licking at the silence. Her dual-pupiled eyes stared straight at the Nine-Story Pagoda in the center of the valley, radiating a hatred that had settled over thousands of seasons.

"The Ancient Devil Monument," Ruo Xianxue chuckled thinly, the sound of her laughter like the tolling of a funeral bell in a high wind. "I feel it. When I crossed the river of time during my journey across Heaven and Earth, my traces were scattered, and one of them lies beneath this Thousand Lotus Valley. If I can obtain that fragment of the Ancient Devil Monument, a sliver of my memory will return."

Zhi Xuan shifted his gaze back to the silver dome. He could feel the pulse of the grand formation, a defense built from the accumulated life essence of centuries. To him, however, that grandeur was merely a thin veil covering the same rot he had found in the Black Bamboo Sect.

"A fragment of the Ancient Devil Monument," Zhi Xuan mused, rubbing his smooth chin. "That means when you sealed yourself within the monument and entered the Nine Heavens Bead... small shards of the cracked monument were scattered?"

Ruo Xianxue gave a vague nod, her long black hair fluttering in the mountain wind which carried the scent of burning petals. "Correct. When the Immortals of the Forbidden Realm tried to destroy my existence, the Ancient Devil Monument was the only shield I had left. The explosion from that clash of laws caused several pieces of the monument to be thrown through the river of time, falling into this lower realm."

She pointed toward the center of the valley with her long, sharp nails. "This valley was not built on naturally fertile land. They built this sect atop a fragment of my monument. A devil does not always radiate darkness, Zhi Xuan."

Zhi Xuan nodded slowly, though his mind whirled at Ruo Xianxue’s words. It was true; he glanced at her dual pupils of the Sun and Moon, symbolizing Yin-Yang. The balance between life and death made it entirely possible for a fragment of this Sacred Ancient Devil to bring life wherever it landed.

"Interesting," Zhi Xuan hissed, the corners of his lips curling into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "If a piece of your monument gave them prosperity, then it is only right that I take back what belongs to my teacher."

Ruo Xianxue glanced at Zhi Xuan through the corner of her sharp eyes. "Teacher? Since when are you so obedient, brat? I only want the fragment. As for what you do to the humans who worship that rotten lotus, I do not care."

Zhi Xuan did not answer. He stepped forward, allowing his body to glide down from the hilltop toward the outer borders of the Thousand Lotus Valley. Every step he took in the air created a faint law vibration, enough to make the sect formation before him pulse uneasily.

At the main gate of the valley, dozens of Soul Transformation practitioners stood ready on giant floating lotus petals. They saw the brown-robed figure approaching with the calm of a death god. The cold he brought swept away the warmth of spring that usually enveloped the valley, replacing it with the thick scent of death.

"Stop!" shouted an elder in robes embroidered with purple lotus flowers. "Who are you to approach the sacred grounds of the Thousand Lotus Valley with such insolent killing intent?"

Zhi Xuan stopped exactly at the outer boundary of the silver protective dome. He raised his head, letting the glow from the enemy formation illuminate his pale face. "If you surrender and become part of the Heavenly Path Pavilion, you shall be spared. But if you remain part of the Thousand Lotus Valley tonight, you shall only die."

Zhi Xuan’s calm but cold voice traveled through the air, piercing the protective layers of the formation like an ice needle stabbing the eardrums of every practitioner there. The elders of the Thousand Lotus Valley were aghast; in hundreds of years, no one had ever dared to utter such an arrogant threat before their sacred gates.

"Insolent! How dare a flea from a third-rate sect speak of conquest!" The purple-robed elder roared, his face flushed with humiliation. He slammed his staff, and instantly, the thousands of silver lotus petals forming the dome vibrated, shooting out thorns of light aimed straight at Zhi Xuan’s heart.

Thousands of light thorns shot out simultaneously, tearing through the night with a deafening roar. Yet, Zhi Xuan did not flinch. He simply extended his hand, carving a seal into the air, and in the blink of an eye, an ancient mountain appeared from the heavens. Zhi Xuan stood proudly in the sky, his hair fluttering gently.

"Mountains and Rivers: Descent of the Ancient God Mountain." Instantly, from beneath the foundations of the Thousand Lotus Valley, surges of earth shot up to form pillars that pierced through the sect's pavilions. Zhi Xuan moved his left hand and summoned the Gods Slaughter Crescent, the scythe expanding into a giant before him.

ZRKKK!

The scythe swung, scarring the ground below and creating a circular rift that surrounded the Thousand Lotus Valley's territory. The pillars from the Mountain and River style immediately lifted the split earth. From the sky, the ancient god mountain began to descend slowly in a movement that was deliberate yet crushing, as if intended to sandwich the Thousand Lotus Valley.

Violent tremors rocked the foundations of the valley. Granny Lotus, standing atop the Nine-Story Pagoda, felt her heart being squeezed by an invisible giant hand. The sky above her valley no longer showed the calm constellations but was blocked by the black shadow of the Ancient God Mountain slowly descending.

"Audacious!" Granny Lotus roared. She slammed her staff, and the ground that had previously been lifted seemed to be pressed back down. "You think you can attack the Thousand Lotus Valley?!"

Granny Lotus hovered in the air; she looked up and moved her fingers. In an instant, dozens of giant lotuses appeared outside the formation dome. The lotuses expanded, radiating spiritual waves that swept the surroundings. When the ancient god mountain and the lotuses met in a collision, the air froze for a moment before the lotuses and the mountain cracked, causing a flattening explosion.

The massive explosion threw out shockwaves that swept away clouds in a ten-li radius, creating a sudden vacuum. Fragments of mountain crystal and shattered lotus petals rained down upon the earth like burning stars. Zhi Xuan remained standing atop a floating piece of rock, his brown robes fluttering wildly in the energy storm.

Granny Lotus lifted her gaze toward the brown-robed figure, her eyes widening slightly. "Weaver Transformation... middle stage?! You are the figure acting as the Shadow Elder for that trash shack?!"

Zhi Xuan did not immediately answer. He merely wiped a speck of dust from the blade of the Gods Slaughter Crescent with his pale fingertips. His movements were far too relaxed, as if he hadn't just attempted to level a major sect with a single opening strike.

"Trash shack?" Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice creeping through the roar of the blast's wind. "If the Heavenly Path Pavilion is a trash shack, then what do you call a valley that builds its glory upon the corpse of someone else's history? A dressed-up graveyard?"

Granny Lotus growled, the wrinkles on her face deepening like trenches on a battlefield. She realized the man before her was no ordinary wandering practitioner. The pressure Zhi Xuan radiated possessed an irrational weight for a middle-stage Weaver Transformation expert; there was an aura of eternity hidden behind every inch of his spiritual essence.

"Arrogant! Disciples, strengthen the formation! Do not let this devilish aura stain our sacred spring!" Granny Lotus commanded in a shrill voice.

Instantly, thousands of disciples below bit their fingertips, smearing essence blood onto the lotus talismans they held. The silver dome that had cracked from the mountain's impact now solidified again, but this time it radiated a reddish hue—the Great Heaven Purification Formation had switched to the destruction of the opponent.

"Even if you are a Weaver, you are alone!" Granny Lotus raung. "In the face of thousands of years of the Thousand Lotus Valley's accumulated essence, you are but a pebble trying to block the path of a war chariot!"

Zhi Xuan snorted coldly. "Alone? You are mistaken, old crone. I am never alone."

From his shoulders, two small figures emerged and immediately grew beside him to the size of dozens of zhang. They were the Ancient Gold Dragon and the Thousand Feathered Moth in their true forms, radiating a pressure that could rival a peak Soul Transformation expert.

Granny Lotus recoiled, her wrinkled face turning even paler. "A dragon... a Royal Gold Dragon? And a Thousand Feathered Moth that has perfectly transformed? How is it possible for the descendants of celestial beings to be here?!"