Heavenly Wheel Ascension

"Ancient Insect," Xiao Die hissed, her voice full of recognition. "Senior, be careful. I sense Ancient Insect blood in her. This transformation... she is a Rank 2 Sacred Beast!"

"Gu Fengyan," the young woman’s voice sounded like a plucked string, her eyes radiating a cold killing intent. "I have finally found you. You insulted my Master, and now, I have come to test just how far your strength goes."

Instantly, four masked figures appeared behind her, their cultivation levels obscured. One of the four moved his fingers, and a grand formation manifested in an instant. The formation separated Zhi Xuan from the forest, forcibly displacing him as a brilliant light enveloped his form.

Zhi Xuan reappeared atop jagged rocks, surrounded by cliffs and chasms that seemed bottomless. The air above the jagged peaks roared. Zhi Xuan stood calmly, his black-and-white robes sweeping against the rough stone surface. He showed no surprise, even though forced spatial displacement was a high-level technique.

His sapphire eyes gazed at the white-robed woman now hovering several zhang before him. Her silver hair shimmered like a stream of heavenly river water under the scorching sun. Behind her, the four masked figures stood stiffly, like breathless guardian statues, yet the killing intent radiating from them was so thick it could shatter the soul of an ordinary practitioner.

"Ancient Insect..." Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice clear through the howling wind. He glanced at Xiao Die, who perched warily on his shoulder. "And Rank 2? A Heavenly Insect only transforms into a Sacred Beast after the Crimson Lotus. The Ancient Han Clan has indeed kept a fairly well-tended insect."

The woman in white remained unmoved by Zhi Xuan’s words, but her pale silver pupils contracted, radiating a coldness capable of freezing the flow of essence in the air. She raised her slender, marble-white hand, and instantly, thousands of six-colored light particles began to dance around her.

"A well-tended insect, is it?" the woman spoke, her voice suddenly shifting in tone. "You also have two Sacred Beasts by your side. A pity they are only at Rank 1. Merely equivalent to the peak of Soul Transformation? Fitting to be my nutrition."

Hearing this, Xiao Die shot forward and appeared in front of Zhi Xuan. The shawl in her hand glowed softly, and her red lotus robe shimmered as she glared at the young woman before her, who originated from the same race as herself.

"Six-Desires Devouring Butterfly," Xiao Die hissed. "Rank 29 of the Ancient Insects. To think you are in this Lower Realm."

The woman in white laughed, the sound resembling the hiss of thousands of wings vibrating in unison. She looked down at Xiao Die as if looking at a destitute distant relative.

"Thousand Feathered Moth," the woman countered, her voice thick with contempt. "Rank 40 on the list of Ancient Insects. Truly pathetic to see a descendant who should have been in the Upper Realm. You miss the Folded Silver Moon, don't you? Yet you are trapped here with a miserable mortal."

The silver in the woman’s pupils grew sharper, reflecting the image of Xiao Die, who was now trembling—not from fear, but from the oppressive bloodline resonance. In the world of Ancient Insects, hierarchy is an absolute law carved into the lineage. The difference between Rank 29 and Rank 40 is a chasm separating predator from prey.

"Little Butterfly," Zhi Xuan said flatly. He stepped forward, placing himself right beside Xiao Die. His presence instantly cut through the silver aura pressure. "Go back and tell your master: if he sends a little girl like this to threaten me, he would be better off sending those Weaver bandits from yesterday."

The white-robed woman offered a faint smile, but it did not reach her cold eyes. "Weaver bandits? You equate those low-level experts with an official envoy of the Ancient Han Clan? Truly a pride beyond limits, Gu Fengyan. Know that my name is Yuyan Die, and I have not come to threaten, but to drag your soul back to Yao Gu!"

Yuyan Die stomped her foot in the air. Instantly, the thousands of six-colored light particles shot forward like arrows, each carrying a burden of desire capable of tearing apart one’s consciousness. This was the power of the Six-Desires Devouring Butterfly—powder that does not attack the body, but devours the six senses and leaves the enemy to die in the void of their own mind.

"Senior, let me!" Xiao Die cried. She spread her arms, her red shawl coiling in the air to form a lotus fire vortex, attempting to ward off the light powder. However, the gap between a Rank 1 and a Rank 2 Sacred Beast was too vast.

Zhi Xuan remained calm. He took a soft breath and, in an instant, pierced through the laws held by Yuyan Die. He was already standing in front of her; his hand rose and slapped the butterfly transformation woman, sending her flying backward.

PLAK!

The sound of the slap did not resemble a human hand hitting flesh, but rather a metal thud cracking marble. Yuyan Die, who had been hovering with the grace of a goddess, was tossed like a bird with a broken wing. Her body shot back, smashing into the cliff wall with a force that pulverized boulders into dust.

Silence instantly enveloped the jagged rocks. The four masked figures, who had stood stiffly before, now emitted a turbulent aura, shocked to see their sacred envoy treated with such disdain.

Zhi Xuan remained in his original position, his hand still raised slightly in the air before he slowly lowered it. His black-and-white robes fell calmly; not a single speck of the six-colored light powder had managed to touch his skin. His sapphire gaze pierced through the settling cliff dust.

"Rank 2... Sacred Beast..." Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice flat yet carrying an oppressive authority. "You were too busy boasting of your bloodline rank that you forgot who you were speaking to."

From the cliff ruins, Yuyan Die crawled out. Her sacred white robe was now soiled with dust and silvery blood seeping from the corner of her lips. Her silver hair was disheveled, and the rune symbol on her forehead flickered unstably. Her pale silver eyes no longer held contempt, but a boiling rage like volcanic lava.

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"You... low mortal!" Yuyan Die roared, her voice now overlapping with the hiss of millions of insects. "How dare you touch my face with your filthy hand! I will ensure your soul burns in the fire of eternal desire!"

Instantly, three pairs of transparent wings with a span of a dozen zhang emerged from Yuyan Die’s back. The wings radiated a blinding rainbow light, yet strangely, the light brought no warmth, only a thick aura of death. She spread her arms, and the four masked guards simultaneously surged forward, forming a square formation that imprisoned Zhi Xuan.

The four masked figures were no ordinary practitioners; their movements were synchronized, as if four bodies were controlled by a single, cold collective consciousness. As they took their positions at the four cardinal directions, the air around Zhi Xuan suddenly froze, turning into a transparent prison woven from nearly invisible silver threads.

"Heaven and Earth Entrapment Formation!" Yuyan Die cried from a distance, her voice high-pitched and full of vengeance. "These four guards of mine are living puppets merged with essence-devouring silk threads. Once you are trapped, every movement will only accelerate the absorption of your cultivation base!"

"Silk threads?" Zhi Xuan thought, yet he did not move to free himself. "Ancient Insects always wear silk threads as their weapons. Interesting."

Zhi Xuan allowed the silver threads to wrap around his wrists and robes, as if he were a submissive prey before a spider’s web. The four masked figures tightened their pull. Yuyan Die, now hovering high above the formation with her vast rainbow wings spread, laughed with a tone of triumph.

"Enjoy your final moments, Gu Fengyan!" Yuyan Die shouted. "Now, let us see what secrets you hold that you dare to challenge my master and the Ancient Han Clan!"

Yuyan Die’s pupils shone brightly, piercing Zhi Xuan’s sapphire eyes as her consciousness crawled into the man’s sea of consciousness. Her soul arrived within that vast, seemingly endless mental expanse.

Yuyan Die stood with overflowing arrogance upon the surface of Zhi Xuan’s sea of consciousness. To her, entering the mind of a mortal practitioner was like stepping into her own backyard. As a Six-Desires Devouring Butterfly, she was the master of emotions and a plunderer of souls; no secret could be hidden from her silver sight.

"A sea of consciousness quite vast for a ground insect," Yuyan Die murmured, stepping across the calm surface of the mental waters. "However, the vaster the space, the easier it is for me to plant the seeds of desire and destroy it from within."

She spread her arms, preparing to release the six-desires powder to poison the foundation of Zhi Xuan’s soul. However, her steps suddenly stopped. A chill that did not originate from the ice element, but from pure nothingness, began to creep up and touch her heels.

The sky within the sea of consciousness, which was previously a faint grey, suddenly turned pitch black as if a giant jar of ink had spilled across the horizon. In the midst of that void, a giant tree with branches resembling dragon veins began to manifest. It was the Devil Tree of Life.

"This... what energy is this?" Yuyan Die startled, the transparent wings on her soul projection vibrating violently. "This is not the aura of a heavenly practitioner! This scent... is so ancient, so sacred, so majestic..."

"You are too noisy for a lost butterfly," a woman’s voice carrying the authority of thousands of years echoed from atop the tree branches.

Yuyan Die looked up, and her face instantly turned as white as paper. Atop the highest branch sat a woman of beauty capable of collapsing the universe, nine tails of darkness waving behind her like black flames. Ruo Xianxue’s Sun and Moon double pupils gazed at Yuyan Die with the same look a human would give an ant.

"Since you have arrived here, then stay as the property of this Sacred Devil," Ruo Xianxue said, flicking her finger. Immediately, Yuyan Die’s consciousness within Zhi Xuan’s soul collapsed.

A high-pitched shriek that could only be heard by an astral body echoed through every corner of Zhi Xuan’s sea of consciousness as Ruo Xianxue’s shadow moved. For Yuyan Die, that single flick of a finger was not just an attack, but the collapse of the universal laws she understood.

Her silver threads of consciousness were brutally severed, shattering into fragments of light that were immediately swallowed by the darkness of the Sacred Devil’s nine tails. In the real world, Yuyan Die’s body hovering in the sky jolted violently. Her eyes, which had been glowing silver, suddenly bulged, and fresh blood gushed from the corners of her eyes.

"AAAAAGGGHHH!"

The roar split the silence of the jagged cliffs. Yuyan Die’s body slumped, her majestic rainbow wings instantly withering and turning into greyish dust. The four masked figures pulling the entrapment silk were also affected; the resonance of the severed soul caused them to stagger, and the grand formation instantly dimmed.

Zhi Xuan, who had been calmly bound, slowly moved his wrists. With a single muscular jerk, the silver silk threads claimed to be able to ensnare heaven and earth snapped with a ringing sound, as if they were mere fragile string before a titan’s strength.

"The world is indeed fair," Zhi Xuan said, his voice calm yet containing a vibration that made the air crackle. "You wished to plunder my soul, yet you could not even bear to gaze upon what resides within it."

Zhi Xuan stepped forward, each footfall on the air creating a ripple of darkness that extinguished the remaining light of the enemy formation. He looked at the four masked figures who were now attempting to attack him again with stiff movements.

"Living puppets?" Zhi Xuan murmured. He did not draw his scythe, but merely extended his right hand. "For those of you who no longer possess souls, death is the most precious gift."

Ten black bamboo swords he had recently forged shot out from his dimensional rift. Under the control of Zhi Xuan’s sword intent, the ten blades danced in a highly complex formation, cutting the air with a speed exceeding mortal sight.

CRAS! CRAS! CRAS!

In a single breath, the four masked figures were stopped in their tracks. Their bodies were sliced into small pieces with precision, yet no blood flowed; only clumps of silk thread and black smoke emerged from their long-rotted frames.

Yuyan Die, now kneeling on the rocky ground, watched the scene with the remnants of her nearly extinguished consciousness. Her once-beautiful face now looked horrific with dried traces of silver blood.

"Who... who are you exactly?" she moaned, her voice now truly broken, with no trace of a sacred envoy’s grace left. "That aura... the woman inside your soul... she is not from this world..."

Zhi Xuan landed right in front of Yuyan Die. He looked at the insect transformation woman with a hollow gaze. Xiao Die flew closer, landing on a rock beside Zhi Xuan, looking at Yuyan Die with a mixture of disgust and pity.

Zhi Xuan raised his hand, holding the Slaughter Gods Crescent in his grasp. Yuyan Die immediately prostrated, her lips trembling as she felt death approaching—a feeling of being on the brink of death she had only felt this once after long, loyal service to the Ancient Han Clan.

"Don't... don't kill me," Yuyan Die said with a trembling voice. "I... I beg for mercy... Gu Fengyan... Master Gu."

Zhi Xuan lowered his gaze, his stare emotionless as he uttered not a word. His scythe rose; Yuyan Die remained prostrated beneath his feet. With a swing of that scythe, cross-slashes instantly filled the area, collapsing cliffs, cracking the earth, and making the heavens thunder.

However, no blood was spilled. Zhi Xuan merely retracted his scythe and turned to walk away, leaving Yuyan Die neither split nor slashed. Zhi Xuan’s footsteps echoed on the cracked stone surface, moving away from the figure of Yuyan Die still prostrated in a suffocating silence.

The fierce mountain wind swept away the cliff dust, but it could not remove the chill left by the strike of the Slaughter Gods Crescent that had stopped just inches above the sacred envoy’s neck.

Yuyan Die slowly raised her head. Her silver eyes still trembled violently, watching Zhi Xuan’s receding back. She touched her own neck, confirming her body was still whole. She tilted her head up again, rising with a tremble. Suddenly, her feet began to step, following after Zhi Xuan.