So This Is the Sky Deer City They Guard — The Treachery of Human Hearts
So This Is the Sky Deer City They Guard — The Treachery of Human Hearts
At this moment, a terrifying, world-shaking momentum suddenly swept across heaven and earth, as if the myriad realms of eternity were trembling, and all the suns, moons, and stars were about to collapse beneath this aura.
Boom!!
That colossal hand, its edges impossible to see, struck over from the side of the Beyond, spanning the entire sky, pressing down with overwhelming force, seeking to shake the whole of Sky Deer City down from the heavens.
The altar glowed, a strange power emerging, seeking to stabilize the laws of heaven and earth on this side, to offset the power of that other world’s heaven and earth.
On the side of the Beyond, Gu Changge and the others all watched this scene, their expressions varied.
To put it bluntly, the current Gu Lang could be called the strongest being the Beyond could field — bar none.
The other supreme experts who had rushed to this place were all far beneath him in cultivation.
In the great war between the Immortal Gu Family and Purple Mansion, Gu Lang had even struck down and killed the Purple Mansion Great Elder — his might was absolutely beyond question.
As for those beings of the various orthodoxies and factions who approached the Immortal Realm, they all hid themselves deeply and would not reveal themselves so easily.
Someone like the Gu Family’s Old Ancestor Gu Lang had already appeared in the Beyond once before.
So now, regarding the campaign against the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, he didn’t much care, nor did he concern himself with the others.
“Disaster!”
“The Beyond is attacking the city!”
On the walls of Sky Deer City, a soldier discovered this scene and couldn’t help but tremble in terror, crying out loudly.
In truth, there was no need for him to shout — many experts had already sensed this world-suppressing aura moments ago, their legs going weak, forcing themselves not to fall to their knees.
This was a being from the Beyond who surpassed even supreme experts, attacking the city. Every rune flickered, and in the end seemed on the verge of crumbling and exploding.
Everyone felt that oppressive, terrifying aura; their hearts seemed about to stop beating, their breathing grew labored, their Primordial Spirits felt ready to burst apart entirely, unable to withstand that surging pressure.
Even separated by the seal, the crowd still couldn’t endure it — their bones crackled, their spines felt about to be crushed.
“I wonder if we can stop him... this is absolutely an existence that surpasses True Daoists!”
Within Sky Deer City, everyone was trembling. Some couldn’t help but speak with quavering voices, utterly terrified, steeped in despair.
Faintly, in the distant land, one could see a world-suppressing figure standing there, towering between heaven and earth, hair flying wildly, his aura swallowing the ages, striking down toward Sky Deer City as if to annihilate every living being within.
Some prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing in worship, utterly unable to bear it. “This is an existence with half a foot into the Celestial Realm...”
“They’re going to break in!”
On the walls of Sky Deer City, many ancient beings turned pale, their faces etched with terror.
Even with their strength, they were trembling slightly, their faces drained of color.
At this moment, no one could withstand this aura — even stepping forward was impossible.
Crack!
Then, heaven and earth split open, collapsing beneath this single palm, as if the universe itself had been torn apart, with hundreds of millions of rays of rosy light reflecting and drifting beneath the firmament. Before Sky Deer City, a heaven-shaking commotion erupted, like the Astral River bursting its banks in a cataclysmic flood, and then hundreds of millions of rays of brilliance lit up. Every rune glowed, manifesting within the void, finally emerging fully, rising toward that terrifying figure above the firmament, seeking to resist this strike. At the same time, upon the city walls, ancient markings surfaced, spewing forth boundless divine radiance, carrying celestial qi, endless and misty, as if it could enshroud the entire universe. Its vastness was immeasurable, its depths unfathomable — all of it slammed into that single palm, making it tremble slightly, yet still it pressed on.
All the runes were ground away beneath this palm, accompanied by flashing lightning and rolling thunder, and pitch-black divine light, boundless and sky-surging.
In the end, this place instantly blurred and fell into chaos, the radiance so resplendent it reached its extreme — nothing could be seen clearly anymore.
“How terrifying!” “But... thank goodness it held...”
“If not for Sky Deer City, if such an existence came to kill us one day, how could we possibly resist?”
Before Sky Deer City, terrifying tremors continued to rage.
Everyone standing atop the walls had gone pale, nearly tumbling from above, unable to keep their footing.
At this moment, everyone could feel the walls of Sky Deer City shaking — under that impact just now, they had endured a truly dreadful force.
Many of the stars floating around it had burst apart, directly turning to dust, and numerous laws and orders had been shattered outright.
Such power was simply too terrifying — even a True Daoist could not possibly withstand it. However, accompanied by a resounding clang, when that incomparably terrifying giant hand finally fell upon the barrier before Sky Deer City, it still shattered apart, transforming into a flood-and-tsunami-like surge of terrifying energy — it had not broken through.
But the rampaging energy swept across the land like a flood; the void cracked open into dreadful great ravines, and the ground itself seemed to have been turned over.
This made every cultivator and living being within Sky Deer City let out a long breath, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Just moments ago, everyone’s hearts had been in their throats, terrified that Sky Deer City would be breached — at that point, they wouldn’t even have had the chance to flee.
Under the assault of such a powerful being, all of them were no different from ants — a single palm could annihilate them all.
“What a pity. The Eighteenth Ancestor’s strike just now was only a probe, but it’s clear he’s still quite far from breaking Sky Deer City’s Grand Array.”
“It seems the claim that it can withstand the Celestial Realm is no empty boast.” Gu Changge shook his head, somewhat regretful.
If the Eighteenth Ancestor could have broken Sky Deer City, then he wouldn’t need to waste any further thought on the matter.
From the looks of it now, trying to take Sky Deer City by force in a short time was unrealistic.
So, he could only wait for Lin Wu to make his move.
“It failed? Even an existence approaching the Immortal Realm has difficulty breaking through.”
“What a turtle shell it truly is — so hard to crack.”
Everyone from the Beyond watching this scene felt some disappointment in their hearts.
It wasn’t that the Gu Family’s Old Ancestor who struck just now wasn’t strong — it was that Sky Deer City’s barrier was truly bizarre and uncanny.
“The one who built Sky Deer City is said to be a close friend of the one who stole our realm’s Fortuity. Looking at it now, perhaps he was also a grandmaster of formations.”
Within the Beyond’s great army, many ancient beings sighed softly, their brows furrowing slightly. If this Grand Array were so easy to break, Sky Deer City would not have managed to hold on bitterly for so long.
Boom!!
Then, from the edge of heaven and earth, another vast surge of energy came billowing in, like an endless ocean, raging and surging there, the sky-covering mist receding.
The Gu Family’s Old Ancestor who had struck just now withdrew his figure, not attempting a second probe. Just now, he had already tested the current limits of Sky Deer City’s Grand Array, and knew that the array as it stood was not something he could break.
So he decisively withdrew, not lingering.
For a time, the terrifying pressure that had enveloped the firmament, the aura that had suppressed everyone’s Primordial Spirits to the point of near-collapse, now receded swiftly like the tide.
Everyone of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains watched this scene, and smiles finally appeared on their gloom-shrouded faces. They all felt as though they had survived a calamity — just moments ago, they had feared Sky Deer City would fall and everything would turn to ash and dust.
“We mustn’t be optimistic. That was merely a probe from the Beyond.” However, some of the elders remained vigilant, not optimistic at all.
They knew that the Beyond of today absolutely concealed no small number of figures who could rival the existence from just now.
If several more such figures came, Sky Deer City would be breached sooner or later. The Beyond’s orthodoxies and factions that had now marched here in force, though they looked terrifying and seemingly endless — they understood clearly that this was merely the tip of the iceberg of that entire realm’s power.
It was far from the point of the Beyond attacking with its full might. If all the power of the Beyond descended, then at that time, the whole of Sky Deer City would likely, in an instant, turn to ash and dust.
“No matter what, today we’ve held them off for now.” Many elders exchanged glances with strange looks in their eyes, calculations stirring in their hearts.
Then, their figures vanished from the city walls, returning to the encampments of their respective clans. As it happened, word was already circulating within Sky Deer City that certain supreme experts intended to abandon the city and flee.
Such news, naturally, did not come from nowhere. Some clans and factions had already received word from the most senior figures of their lineages, instructing them to gather their clansmen.
During this period, it was best not to clash with the Beyond. Today’s events had come suddenly, and though they had ended just as suddenly,
they had made these people wary, feeling that if things dragged on any longer, Sky Deer City would be breached any day now.
By that time, it would be too late for anything. An invisible undercurrent was surging within Sky Deer City.
Many living beings and cultivators still did not know that the supreme experts in their hearts, the invincible existences who were supposed to fight the Beyond to the death, were now planning to abandon the city and flee.
Today, having personally witnessed the array barrier outside Sky Deer City withstand a being from the other side of the Beyond whose cultivation was unfathomable — even near-immortal — they felt greatly encouraged.
By nightfall, one could even see numerous bonfires lit within Sky Deer City, with many cultivators and living beings gathered together, drinking heartily, quite jovial.
“Truly optimistic, aren’t they.” On an Ancient Battleship a full million miles away from Sky Deer City,
peaks towered, flowing with rosy clouds. Gu Changge stood with his hands behind his back, robes fluttering, gazing at the bonfires burning within Sky Deer City, his gaze growing intrigued.
“Perhaps today let them see hope.” The Sky Deer Goddess’s figure emerged behind him, her hair blown loose by the wind, revealing a jade countenance of flawless white, tinged with complexity.
“Hope? I wonder how long such hope can last.” Gu Changge smiled faintly, then turned back to look at her and said, “Is Sky Deer City perhaps still hiding some secret unknown to us?”
The Sky Deer Goddess was slightly taken aback, somewhat puzzled. “Why does Young Master Gu say this?”
she asked, confusion surfacing.
“Logically speaking, things have already come to this point — why haven’t Sky Deer City’s True Daoists given up yet?”
“Do you think they’re clever, or foolish? Or are they selfless and devoted, sacrificing themselves for others?” Gu Changge’s gaze held a trace of deeper meaning. His sleeve shifted, and then a hazy radiance surfaced before them.
The distant Sky Deer City, before him and the Sky Deer Goddess, suddenly changed in appearance. Originally, in the night, hundreds of millions of rays of starlight cascaded down upon it, with endless dawn-light rising.
Countless great stars, like motes of dust, circled around it, resembling clusters of resplendent nebulae — magnificent and beautiful beyond compare.
But now, one could see a grey, murky qi within it, continuously growing, and at the same time ceaselessly devouring the other energies, giving one the feeling that the whole of Sky Deer City was rotting away.
“This is...”
The Sky Deer Goddess had not noticed this before. Seeing it now, her eyes couldn’t help but reveal some shock.
“Why does Sky Deer City have Death Qi? Could it be because of the Beyond’s invasion?”
She found it hard to believe.
“In the Beyond’s previous attacks, this never happened. Could something be amiss?”
She was deeply puzzled, her brows furrowing slightly.
“Given your understanding of those supreme experts of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, what do you think they will choose at a time like this?” “Fight the Beyond to the death, or abandon the city and flee?”
Gu Changge reached out, gently smoothing the stray hairs at her forehead, and said lightly, “Or is it that, even now, they still have some trump card to rely on?”
“A trump card?”
The Sky Deer Goddess shook her head. If there were one, she would not have chosen to surrender in the manner she had.
No matter what, Sky Deer City had now reached its most perilous moment.
As for the choices of those True Daoists, they left her somewhat uneasy. If things truly came to that point, between defending to the death and abandoning the city to flee, the choice clearly required little thought.
This possibility made her sigh softly despite herself.
“If we’re speaking of Sky Deer City’s secrets, then it can only be the Land of Rebirth.”
“That place buries the remains of the supreme experts who died in battle against the Beyond across the generations, in the hope that one day they might revive from within the cycle of reincarnation.”
Then, after pondering for a moment, the Sky Deer Goddess thought of something.
As the guardian deity of Sky Deer City, she naturally knew of that mysterious Land of Rebirth.
However, fearing to disturb the heroic spirits of the fallen supreme experts slumbering within, she rarely ventured into it.
So, she didn’t know much about the Land of Rebirth either.
“The Land of Rebirth? So there’s this connection after all?” Gu Changge raised an eyebrow slightly.
He felt that this suddenly appearing Death Qi perhaps originated precisely from this so-called Land of Rebirth.
It seemed Sky Deer City had not been built here without reason. When the city fell, he would have to properly explore this Land of Rebirth.
Weng!!
And just then, from the space behind Gu Changge and the Sky Deer Goddess, a sudden fluctuation rippled out.
Both of them were immensely powerful and sensed it almost instantly. Gu Changge, however, was not surprised.
The Sky Deer Goddess, on the other hand, was rather wary, feeling the terror of this aura — it could suppress her in practically an instant.
“Greetings, Eighteenth Ancestor.”
A faint smile appeared on Gu Changge’s face as he spoke toward the direction of the fluctuation.
An unremarkable old man, no different from any ordinary elder — hunched at the waist, face pale and lined with deep wrinkles, yet with a pair of eyes whose profound vastness could not be concealed. “Eighteenth Ancestor?”
The Sky Deer Goddess’s heart trembled slightly. She recognized this figure — it was none other than the invincible existence who had attacked the city today, whose cultivation was already near-immortal. Were it not for the heavens and earth not permitting it, he would likely already be a true Celestial Realm being. That world-suppressing might was enough to annihilate the universe and grind the Eight Wastelands of heaven and earth to dust. No one could possibly imagine that the invincible existence whose aura swallowed the ages, who had nearly smashed Sky Deer City down with a single palm, would turn out to be such an ordinary-looking old man. Of course, she didn’t dare underestimate him in the slightest.
Moreover, what shook her heart was Gu Changge’s form of address for this old man before them.
Eighteenth?
Could it be that among the Gu Family’s current Old Ancestors, this man ranked only eighteenth?
“Did I interrupt you two?”
After appearing, Gu Lang smiled at Gu Changge with a touch of teasing.
As for the Sky Deer Goddess, with her identity from the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, he didn’t much mind — unlike the other ancient beings, he held no particular hostility toward her. “A little.” Gu Changge nodded, smiling faintly.
“You rascal, you really don’t give me any face at all.”
Gu Lang wasn’t surprised at his words, laughing freely, then fixed his gaze on Gu Changge and said, “It hasn’t been long since I last saw you, and in the blink of an eye you can already battle True Daoists.”
“Everyone has their own secrets. Given your current status and strength, not many in the Beyond today would dare pry into you.” “But you should still be careful.”
“On that point, Eighteenth Ancestor can rest easy.”
Gu Changge raised an eyebrow, guessing in his heart at the Eighteenth Ancestor’s meaning.
In the end, he figured it likely concerned his current cultivation — after all, it was simply too inconceivable.
But at this point, he didn’t believe anyone would dare probe into his secrets. Besides, the true Successor of Demonic Arts, Su Qingge, was still in the Beyond, her whereabouts easy to find. It could be said to have nothing to do with him at all.
As for the matter of the Sky Deer Goddess, Old Ancestor Gu Lang didn’t ask much, nor interfere. After chatting with Gu Changge a while longer, he departed, appearing thoroughly carefree and at ease — as if coming to the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains was purely a chance to get some fresh air.
The Sky Deer Goddess, however, was deeply wary of Gu Lang, feeling that the Immortal Gu Family’s foundations were truly beyond imagination. Then, over the following days, a great event that shook all of Sky Deer City suddenly occurred.
Early one morning, streaks of divine rainbows could be seen piercing the sky, emerging from pavilion after pavilion and palace after palace. Then, above the firmament, gates of light opened one after another, and great numbers of cultivators and living beings were swept up by the sleeves of mighty experts, taken into Space Artifacts and carried away. This scene shook all of Sky Deer City. Some cultivators noticed that those departing all belonged to a certain great clan of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains — and they made no attempt to conceal it whatsoever, withdrawing their clansmen right before everyone’s eyes. Even one of the clan’s True Daoists tore open space and swiftly departed, seemingly desperate to leave this place of trouble as quickly as possible.
This happened too suddenly, plunging all of Sky Deer City’s cultivators into shock and stupor — was this abandoning the city and fleeing? When they came to their senses, everyone was furious, cursing that clan loudly, cursing them for cowardly clinging to life.
But this was not the end. Soon after, more clans and factions began to follow suit. All day long, one could see
these people — who had come so aggressively at the start — now fleeing the city in utter wretchedness, unwilling to remain here a moment longer. Having personally witnessed the terror and invincibility of the Beyond, their only thought was to escape, to get far away from this place of trouble. With someone having taken the lead, even more cultivators and living beings fell into unease, panic, and bewilderment.
Everyone else had fled — what use was there in them defending Sky Deer City to the death? Were they supposed to stay here and wait for death? That was impossible. On what grounds did the others get to flee while they had to fight for their lives? This was fundamentally unfair to them.
Such emotions spread rapidly, and for a time, the whole of Sky Deer City sank into immense despair, unease, and terror.
The fighting spirit that had risen in them after witnessing the barrier outside Sky Deer City withstand that invincible existence of the Beyond was now abruptly extinguished.
All the cultivators and living beings became anxious and restless. Even those who had been prepared to die were ultimately stunned, deeply lost, suddenly feeling that they had become utterly powerless.
So this was the Sky Deer City they had fought so desperately to protect, the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains they had fought so desperately to protect? Was it worth it?
“As expected, Daoxiong’s methods are brilliant. This way, when we withdraw last, not only will no one say anything against us, we’ll even leave behind a good name.”
“Indeed. After all, we will have abandoned the city only when forced to, with no other choice. We resisted to the very end — there was truly nothing more to be done.”
Deep within Sky Deer City, several figures shrouded in vast chaotic mist watched the scenes unfolding within the city and couldn’t help but laugh, their words full of sighs of admiration — and a measure of smugness.
The news of abandoning the city and fleeing during this period had naturally been spread at their instruction. Its purpose was precisely to give themselves a reasonable, open, and aboveboard excuse to abandon the city and flee.
Just as they had predicted, Sky Deer City had now fallen into great chaos. At this point, even if they withdrew, no one would say anything about it.
Of course, in their plan, now was not yet the time to withdraw. They would still instruct their clansmen to continue resisting for a while longer.
In this way, it would appear all the more justified, and on the grounds of righteousness, they would still stand firm. Over the following days, Sky Deer City remained shrouded in terror and unease.
All the cultivators and living beings were anxious and panicked, hearts treacherous and inscrutable, impossible to fathom.
For every day, they could see streaks of divine rainbows and Ancient Battleships withdrawing from Sky Deer City, vanishing into the sky, heading far away without a single look back.
“So this is the Sky Deer City that Shifu guarded with all her heart?” By now, watching these scenes unfold, the current Sky Deer Goddess Chan had gone from initial anger and unease to a gradual calm, her words laced with a trace of sorrow.
These past few days, she had been hesitating over whether to follow Lin Wu’s words and go make a momentous decision from which there would be no redemption.
But now, her gaze gradually grew resolute.