Chapter 496

Chapter 496: I Stand Equal to the Heavenly Emperor

When Patriarch Lingxu spread his golden wings behind him, he quickly dashed out of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall close to the ground.

At this moment, the figure of the young ancestor of the Long Life Gate had disappeared outside; all around was a vast sea of clouds, with the ruins of the heavenly palace faintly visible in the mist.

"The golden wings cannot soar high, but they can skim the ground, just a bit slower."

Just as this thought crossed Patriarch Lingxu’s mind, he suddenly heard a dull sound coming from behind him in the distance.

He turned to look and was met with a shocking scene.

Centered around the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, the air suddenly twisted, and a circle of cloud waves surged up in the vast sea of clouds, rushing toward him.

The cloud wave was extremely high, at least several dozen meters tall, and it moved very quickly. Looking out, it seemed like there was a giant wall, dozens of meters high, rushing towards him from the horizon!

Patriarch Lingxu naturally knew that this cloud was not a solid object. Although it rushed at him like a tsunami with white waves, creating a strong feeling of pressure, it did not have much real power.

The real power came from what was following this cloud wave.

The nature of this cloud wave was a shockwave that charged forward after striking the ground, like a wild wind sweeping across the sky, causing huge waves in the sea of clouds wherever it went.

Patriarch Lingxu’s face changed suddenly. Although he had wings at this moment, he could not take flight, and there was nowhere to hide in any direction…

And at that moment, the overwhelming cloud wave had already crashed down!

Whoosh—

Like a fierce wind howling past, the cloud wave swept away everything in front of it and engulfed Patriarch Lingxu.

His robe shimmered with a faint glow. Although Patriarch Lingxu was not hurt by this blow, he was still thrown backward by the terrifying shockwave.

When he stood still in the sea of clouds and looked again.

He saw before him a boiling, vast expanse of white clouds, where he could not see his own hand, and even the ruins of the heavenly palace had disappeared.

The sea of clouds had been stirred and rolled by that one strike, making Patriarch Lingxu feel as if he were deep in the sea, with nothing but endless mist in sight.

"Do you think blocking the view is useful?" Patriarch Lingxu shook his head.

The awareness of a celestial cultivator is much sharper than the naked eye, and with a sweep of a Mahayana cultivator’s awareness, there are not many things in this world that can hide from him.

With a sweep of his awareness, Patriarch Lingxu instantly "saw" the strange object beyond the endless sea of clouds.

In the thick clouds that filled the world.

A giant creature over a hundred meters tall was looking down at him, taking steps closer.

Every time its feet touched the ground, the sea of clouds shook, stirring up even more mist.

"Heavy Mountain Seal!"

"Fairy Binding Seal!"

"Falling Star Seal!"

Patriarch Lingxu formed a hand sign and continuously activated the Meteorite Fire Mark. In the blink of an eye, the Meteorite Fire Mark transformed into a giant falling star, rushing into the sky above the sea of clouds, its fire light seemed to want to ignite the entire sky.

A flash of fire rippled out, and the moment the hundred-meter giant took a step, it suddenly felt an invisible mountain pressing down, making its footsteps heavy and hard to move.

In the next moment, streams of red light flew out from the Meteorite Fire Mark, covering the giant in the sea of clouds.

The red light split into ten in the sea of clouds, turning into ten beams of light that flashed like solid arcs.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Amidst the continuous sounds of metal clashing, the ten rays of red light surrounding the giant in the sea of clouds transformed into ten red rings, wrapping around its entire body.

Ten bright red rings covered his two feet, thighs, waist, chest, arms, and neck, pressing deeply into his flesh.

With a series of crackling sounds, the ten rings continued to shrink inward, causing the flesh to warp and the bones to twist.

In the next moment, the Meteorite Fire Mark tore through the sky, piercing through layers of clouds.

"It seems the Ancestor of the Spirit Void is truly angry," the Ancestor of the Sword Sect sighed.

"By continuously activating three seals, he has pushed the Meteorite Fire Mark, a treasure of the Mahayana Stage, to its limits; even the member of the Qiao family cannot move…"

"With twisted flesh and bones, how can he still move?"

Just as the Ancestor of the Sword Sect thought this, he saw the giant amidst the clouds erupt with a blood-red flame, bursting violently in all directions.

With a series of booming sounds, the ten red rings shattered one by one, and true strength surged out like a giant wave, transforming into six massive fiery hands that struck toward the sky.

In the midst of the loud noise.

The true strength like blood surged through the vast sky, and the clouds parted like the sea split by a ship, revealing the clear mist that had once surrounded everything.

The giant meteor in the sky suddenly broke apart into more than ten pieces, and then, like a real falling star, it plunged down into the sea of clouds.

As his treasured artifact was destroyed, Patriarch Lingxu shuddered, spitting blood, and slowly lifted his head.

A huge shadow loomed over him, and a massive foot broke through the clouds, pressing down toward his head.

After a tremendous roar, the sea of clouds once again turned into white waves that spread out in all directions.

But this time, after the waves receded, there was no more sound, and everything returned to calm.

The Ancestor of the Sword Sect, who was setting up a temporary cave, couldn’t help but look up at the scene.

All that remained where Patriarch Lingxu had been was a pile of mush, while Qiao Mu had returned to his original human form, sitting on the ground.

However, at that moment, the Ancestor of the Sword Sect’s eye twitched; Qiao Mu now resembled very little of a human.

From his feet, thighs, waist, shoulders, all the way to his neck… every part that was bound by the Immortal Seal was suddenly sunken and twisted inward.

At his bloody and mangled ankles, only thin bones about the width of three fingers remained, while the rest of his body was only about half the size of an average person’s, and blood gushed outwards.

But soon, the flowing blood began to calm down and stopped flowing.

It was not that the bleeding had stopped, but after the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, he was at the end of his strength, and his blood had almost run dry.

His once strong body now looked obviously withered, and his skin showed a sickly pale color, with little color left.

He clearly could barely stand and was exhausted, just quietly sitting beside Ling Xu-jiang.

"Although it’s not mutual destruction, it is not far from it." The Ancestor of the Sword Sect suddenly understood the intention of the young ancestor’s retreat without fighting.

"Indeed, you are very clever, worthy of being one of our immortal path."

"A hasty retreat in a moment has led to both sides suffering now."

"At this point, he was the only Mahayana cultivator left in the heavenly realm."

"The member of the Qiao family who caused trouble was also heavily injured and close to death, so it was time for him to appear again and reap the last fruits of victory."

The ancestor of the Sword Sect instinctively set himself apart from this conflict.

At first, he had thoughts of benefiting from the fight between the clam and the snipe, but now he just wanted to find a quiet place to cultivate peacefully.

But the development of the situation once again took him by surprise.

As time passed second by second, the figure of the young ancestor did not appear.

After an unknown amount of time, the ancestor of the Sword Sect thought Qiao Mu had already exhausted all his strength and died, but suddenly his eyes moved, and he managed to stand up.

He looked around and still only saw a vast sea of clouds, with nothing else in sight.

"Did using the Xuanming Contain Breath Technique to fake his death not attract the lurking hyenas?"

Qiao Mu stood up and walked step by step towards the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

He had indeed reached the end of his strength, and his life was almost over.

But this was still his last life.

If he left the young ancestor alive and allowed him to focus on his cultivation and become an immortal, it would all be for nothing.

Moreover, this would be a worse outcome than the Great Dao Sect Patriarch Lingxu becoming an immortal.

If the young ancestor lived to the end, he would surely use the Taotie Swallowing Heaven Skill to devour Qiao Mu and all of his flesh clones.

I fear that by then, the young ancestor will have perfected both the immortal path and martial arts, which is a most terrifying result.

So, he cannot die yet… not for now.

The young ancestor had indeed seen through the truth and falsehood of his Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method.

The essence of the True Strength Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method lies in leaving no way back, moving forward without hesitation.

Therefore, once it is successfully carried out, the only possible outcome is death.

If Qiao Mu had any way to save himself, he would not be able to perform it.

In the past, his several escapes from death were due to outside factors.

The Spiritual Meat Pill in the Wuji Association’s stock was secretly sent to him by Wushu Shushan on Li Gongde’s orders; Qiao Mu could not have known he would survive.

During the battle to destroy the Great Dao Sect, Qiao Mu did not know if he could still be alive… only that Patriarch Lingyuan acted too late, missing the moment when he could be revived.

But this time… there would not be another chance.

This is indeed Qiao Mu’s last life, and he is barely holding on to keep moving forward.

Qiao Mu walked slowly, step by step, in this endless sea of clouds. His leg bones, only as thick as three fingers, struggled to support his weight, making the journey both slow and unsteady.

"What does he want to do? Does he want to go to Lingxiao Treasure Hall?"

The Ancestor of the Sword Sect was surprised; even though he did not participate in the battle, he knew that Qiao Mu had reached a dead end.

The injuries on his body were so severe that a normal person would have died long ago, but he still struggled to hold on even though he was running out of strength.

Until Qiao Mu slowly walked into Lingxiao Treasure Hall, he still could not understand.

Time passed, and about half an hour went by.

The Ancestor of the Sword Sect silently practiced for half an hour, then suddenly felt something and opened his eyes.

He saw that at the end of the sea of clouds, the form of the young master finally appeared, walking toward Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

"Acting so steadily, he truly deserves to be one of us in the way of the immortals," the Ancestor of the Sword Sect admired.

"After waiting so long, that Qiao Chonggui must be dead, and he only showed himself now; his thoughts are delicate and calm."

The young master walked to the entrance of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, but suddenly stopped.

He made a special gesture, and immediately, the sea of clouds stirred up strong winds and thunder, covering the sky.

In an instant, countless bolts of lightning and blades of wind surrounded the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, bombarding it wildly, plowing through the heavenly ground inside and out.

The power of a Mahayana cultivator is incredibly strong, and after a full half hour, the storm-like magic finally calmed down.

When the thunderclouds covering the Lingxiao Treasure Hall cleared away, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall appeared before them once more, still in the same state of broken walls and ruins.

This made the young master’s expression change slightly.

The magic of a Mahayana cultivator is indeed powerful, able to move mountains and fill seas.

But this is the Heavenly Court, this is the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Even though, for unknown reasons, it has become a ruin, with broken walls everywhere, the fallen palace walls showed no change after his relentless bombardment for half an hour.

"Such a powerful heavenly realm, but what caused it to crumble to dust, and even the Heavenly Emperor has fallen?"

The young ancestor lifted his foot and stepped into the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

He looked up, and his pupils suddenly shrank.

He saw Qiao Mu, covered in blood, still standing amidst the ruins. His injuries were not healed, but he looked noticeably better.

The young ancestor’s gaze fixed on the ground near Qiao Mu’s feet.

There, he saw two dry corpses curled up on the ground.

"The Taotie Swallowing Heaven Skill? Using this technique to devour your own family to regain strength and get a chance at life?" the young ancestor shouted.

As Qiao Mu used the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method to face two Mahayana cultivators alone.

Although he still had two flesh clones that were not yet dead, it was already very difficult for them to be useful in such a fierce battle.

Before gathering the four flesh clones, they worked together to create a winning situation against five enemies. Although they defeated Patriarch Qingmu, they still lost one person.

Even the true form of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method has been seriously injured multiple times, and the wounds are getting worse. If both flesh clones were to fight, they would likely perish in a few rounds at the hands of the two ancestors.

These two flesh clones had actually been lurking in the shadows… until this moment.

This is like drinking poison to quench one’s thirst.

After using the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, Qiao Mu has become like a leaky bucket; even if some new water is poured in, it can only slightly delay his death.

But it’s absolutely impossible to…

Yet the young ancestor still harbored unresolved doubts in his heart.

Using the Taotie Swallowing Heaven Skill to devour the other two Qiao family members may only slightly improve his injuries and restore some fighting strength.

Despite his skills unleashing a barrage of attacks, he was able to hold on for half an hour without showing any signs of weakness.

"Why aren’t you dead yet?!"

The young master’s voice boomed like thunder, shaking everything around, causing Qiao Mu, who stood still, to tremble violently, and blood to flow from his ears.

The unparalleled martial skills that appeared in the world were all the fruits of his martial arts, and the technique used by the young master was also familiar to Qiao Mu—it was the legendary sound technique, "Tian Ming Shen Gang."

Without giving Qiao Mu a moment to breathe, he questioned him while his large hands pressed down like a small mountain, about to strike.

Under the force of that blood hand, Qiao Mu finally moved.

"Because All Laws are Inviolable!" Qiao Mu grinned.

He moved quickly, and as that blood hand chased him, he swiftly climbed up to the magnificent Heavenly Emperor’s Throne.

He pushed the Heavenly Emperor’s body aside on the throne, squeezing one person and one body onto the same seat.

"Huh?" The young master was stunned, completely taken aback, as the giant blood hand hovered in the air.

This was a solution he had never thought of.

Suddenly, he came to his senses, and his expression grew cold. The bloodied hand, as big as a small mountain, continued to strike towards Qiao Mu.

Just as it got close to the Heavenly Emperor’s Throne, the bloodied hand vanished swiftly, like a muddy cow sinking into the sea, before the Heavenly Emperor’s corpse.

For any cultivator seeking to ascend to the celestial realm, the Heavenly Emperor’s corpse is an insurmountable mountain.

Several Mahayana cultivators were fiercely battling in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, but the aftermath did not disturb the Heavenly Emperor’s corpse at all.

It was not that they held fear; it was simply that even in death, the Heavenly Emperor’s body still possessed an extraordinary aura.