A Remnant Immortal Appears—He Hasn't Disappointed Me
A Remnant Immortal Appears—He Hasn’t Disappointed Me
## 693: Gu Changge Had Long Planned This, Using the Tools Right Before His Eyes
The environment here was extremely gloomy, the world shrouded in haze, just like the legendary Neraka.
Great stars hung suspended in the firmament, each one wreathed in thick grey mist, vast and heavy, enough to crush everything beneath them.
Swathes of Neraka assassins lay dormant among the mountain ranges, their auras astonishing, surging killing intent spreading outward.
“Gu Changge bears no grudge against my Neraka, yet he moves against us—then we shall naturally show him some of our colors!”
“All disciples of Neraka, heed my command! In this battle, we fight Gu Changge to the death!”
The Third Palace Lord, clad in Dark Iron Battle Armor, wielding a heavenly blade and riding a black nether flood dragon of True Daoist level, emerged from the depths of the palace complex.
By his side followed Meng Po.
Neraka had Ten Palaces in total; this place was merely the small world where the Third Palace resided, and it was not located within the Beyond itself.
Now, the Third Palace Lord had received word to lead the Neraka disciples of this place to intercept Gu Changge’s army.
The various Palaces of Neraka did not communicate with one another; only when facing a major crisis would they all mobilize together.
“What a pity the First Palace Lord’s cultivation is insufficient—otherwise, if we laid down the Immortal Fiend Grand Array, we could absolutely force Gu Changge to submit,” Meng Po sighed.
She too was a True Daoist, though her cultivation fell short of the Ten Palace Lords.
But over all these years, no small number of peerless experts had died miserably at her hands—even the leaders of some Supreme Dao Lineages had once been assassinated by her.
To this day, those skulls were still displayed in her bedchamber.
“Kill!”
“Raise the might of Neraka!”
As the Third Palace Lord’s command fell, sky-piercing killing intent rose from the mountain ranges and islands everywhere, piercing through the heavens.
Ancient battleships stained with blood appeared, spanning the heavens and earth, blotting out the sky.
Ferocious beasts let out heaven-shaking roars, surging forth like a flood from the distance, their eyes crimson, carrying boundless killing intent.
Countless Neraka assassins appeared—some rushing over through spatial portals, others awakening from secluded cultivation.
Their numbers exceeded ten million—nay, several billion—endless and boundless.
Among them were quite a few trump-card existences, brought aboard the ancient battleships.
Ocean-like waves of divine sense made everyone’s hearts palpitate.
This was an unimaginably terrifying force, enough to sweep away any great sect.
And this was merely one of Neraka’s Ten Palaces.
Similar scenes were playing out in Neraka’s other small worlds—the remaining Palaces of Neraka had world-shaking armies assembling, ready to strike down all enemies.
Of course, in the shadows, some of Neraka’s higher-ups frowned and made other decisions.
Many of Neraka’s foundational treasures and inheritances were quietly sent away by them, fearing that others would come to take a share of the spoils.
Many cultivators and living beings felt that this time Neraka could not escape even with wings—even if it avoided annihilation, it would likely suffer devastating losses, hard-pressed to ever recover its former peak.
Many of Neraka’s higher-ups hated Gu Changge to the bone, completely unable to comprehend his reasons for doing this.
After all, before this, they and Gu Changge had been in a state of staying out of each other’s way.
Yet Gu Changge had suddenly sent people to purge Neraka’s many practice grounds and training sites in the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds.
This move was utterly unexpected, swift and ruthless, leaving everyone unable to react in time.
By the time Neraka’s various Palace Lords came to their senses, their informants and contact points in the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds had already been completely uprooted.
From this, one could see that Gu Changge had long planned this—it was no spur-of-the-moment action.
...
A vast and mighty army assembled from across the heavens of the Beyond, passing through great Transportation Arrays to arrive outside the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds.
Atop these ancient battleships stood countless cultivator armies, wielding all manner of weapons and riding ferocious beasts.
They were waiting for a single command to charge into the ancient worlds below and carry out a judgment-like slaughter against Neraka.
Besides the Canggu World, traces of Neraka were hidden in the other worlds as well.
Aboard the ancient battleship, Gu Changge listened to his subordinates’ reports, somewhat lost in thought.
He did not intend to act personally; he wanted the forces and lineages that had come along to clash with Neraka first.
When the timing was about right, he would reap the benefits as the fisherman.
Thus, he had generously shared all the information he had on Neraka with the various lineages and forces.
Of course, with the power Gu Changge currently held, sweeping away Neraka would be more than easy.
But he did not wish to incur excessive losses.
With tools right before his eyes, wouldn’t it be foolish not to use them?
“Young Master Changge.”
“While we besiege Neraka, there’s also news from Pagoda’s side—it seems they’ve been frightened.”
A ripple spread through the void.
Bai Lian’er, the mysterious master behind the Nephrite Breeze Pavilion, appeared aboard the ancient battleship and spoke to Gu Changge.
A rare trace of a smile showed on her face—clearly, a weight had been lifted from her heart.
Once Neraka and Pagoda were dealt with, the entire dark world of the Beyond would thereafter follow the Nephrite Breeze Pavilion’s lead.
“Oh, Pagoda has shown itself too?”
Gu Changge was somewhat surprised, though upon reflection, it was not unexpected.
After all, the various forces and lineages of the Beyond were now converging for the siege, and Neraka was in dire peril.
Pagoda’s foundations were even shallower than Neraka’s, so it would naturally feel uneasy.
“I’ve already sent people to investigate their whereabouts. It shouldn’t take more than a few days to find where Pagoda is located,” Bai Lian’er replied, full of confidence.
For she had enlisted the help of her junior brother Bai Hua, using the slightest clues to deduce the world where Pagoda was most likely hiding, obtaining a rough area.
Gu Changge nodded and said nothing more.
In the current Beyond, aside from the Dark Heaven and the Epoch Dao Fruit, only the troubles of Neraka and Pagoda remained unresolved.
But he believed none of this would take much longer.
Meanwhile, the signs of the Epoch Dao Fruit’s ripening grew ever more obvious these days—there were even traces of worldly law seeping out through his Inner Universe.
The heavenly laws of the entire Beyond were undergoing clear and tremendous changes.
Those ancient beings of profound cultivation, standing at the pinnacle of the Beyond, likely felt it most keenly.
After dealing with Neraka and Pagoda, Gu Changge would begin laying out his plans concerning the Epoch Dao Fruit.
Things proceeded as expected. In the half month that followed, a world-shaking war erupted across the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds.
Neraka armies that had descended through Transportation Arrays clashed with the various races and lineages there.
The vast battle fluctuations shook heaven and earth, raging in all directions, as if the firmament itself had been punched through.
Great stars shattered into ash one after another; Chaos Energy surged skyward, spreading toward the eight corners of the universe.
Endless blood and corpses piled up—a scene of utter devastation.
Just as Gu Changge had predicted, Neraka split its forces into two routes: some appeared outside the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds to intercept the various forces and lineages there.
Others seemed to be escorting something and did not join this battle at all.
“It seems Neraka also knows this battle has only one ending. They’re already thinking of retreat routes, trying to preserve their embers.”
Gu Changge did not show himself, much less take action—he merely observed everything from a living ancient star.
With a raise of his palm, he smashed a distant Neraka ancient battleship into countless fragments, but found no trace of any True Daoist within.
In this great war, the strongest beings Neraka had dispatched were merely at the Quasi-Emperor level. The true True Daoists were all clever enough to hide within their worlds—to say nothing of Neraka’s Ten Palace Lords.
“Neraka’s Ten Palace Lords are said to know a combined assault formation called the Immortal Fiend.”
“That would make fine material for refining puppets.”
Gu Changge smiled, waiting until the various lineages and Neraka had fought each other nearly to exhaustion before making his move.
## He Hasn’t Disappointed Me
The army crusading against Neraka was vast and mighty, practically endless.
Experts of every race and lineage rode ancient battleships, charging in from the ends of the firmament.
Cries of slaughter shook heaven and earth, causing many star domains to tremble.
By the later stages, even experts at the Sacred Emperor Realm and Quasi-Emperor level could no longer stay out of it and were forced to join the fray.
This was an utterly terrifying chaotic war—the domains involved could only be described as boundless.
Even Sacred Realm cultivators could hardly preserve their lives in this great war.
Ordinary cultivators fell in swathes like weeds, batch after batch.
At the edge of heaven and earth, Sacred Emperors clashed, Sacred Emperor artifacts suspended above their heads, draping down hundreds of millions of resplendent beams of light.
The aftershocks they unleashed could only be called world-destroying.
To ordinary cultivators, beings of the Sacred Emperor Realm were no different from gods—with a flip of the palm they could annihilate domains tens of millions of miles wide and shatter countless stars beyond the realm.
The fluctuations of Quasi-Emperor level clashes were even more terrifying—their dharma bodies were magnificent and towering, tens of millions of zhang tall, standing amid the nebulae.
Around them, gates of light stood one after another, permeated with world-shaking spatial fluctuations, connecting to various universes.
From within the gates of light surged flood-like armies, like terrifying black pythons rampaging through the universe.
Such a great war was exceedingly rare—practically every force and lineage had joined in.
Even the Immortal War that erupted between the Family of Immortals and Purple Mansion last time had not been this brutal and terrifying.
This war practically swept across the entire Beyond.
Neraka’s traces spread through countless corners of the Beyond, sprawling like a spider’s web.
Though the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds was its center, the scope of domains involved was immeasurably vast.
No one could guarantee Neraka would be completely uprooted.
“As long as Neraka exists for one more day, we cannot rest in peace for one more day! Today we shall annihilate Neraka!”
“Give me back my grandson’s life!”
Amid the great war, an old man roared, his entire body glowing, his blood qi pushed to the extreme.
His hatred for this assassin organization ran to the bone.
His most beloved and promising grandson had died at Neraka’s hands back then.
Even now, he did not know who had paid a great price to hire Neraka’s assassins to murder his grandson.
Cultivators with such deep enmity toward Neraka were actually not few in number—all harboring endless hatred for it.
Besides some Cults of Immortality and Supreme Dao Lineages, the descendants of some powerful rogue cultivators had also been assassinated by Neraka.
“The timing is about right. Even with its foundations holding the fort, Neraka cannot escape its doom this time.”
Gu Changge gazed at the tragic scene here, his expression barely changing.
His figure stepped forward and vanished, directly tearing through this universe, heading toward the world where Neraka’s headquarters was hidden.
The Canggu World was one of the countless lower worlds surrounding the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds.
In terms of ranking, it didn’t even make the top hundred.
Yet it was precisely this ancient world that hid Neraka’s greatest secret.
A Space Altar manifested, as if summoned from primordial times, traversing the cosmic passage, tearing through chaos and nothingness.
Within this cosmic passage, a vast and mighty army was likewise descending, about to charge toward the Canggu World.
It was a soul-stirring sight—cries of slaughter shook the firmament, as if all the ancient worlds were roaring.
The gates of the hidden worlds were found one after another, then smashed apart by several mysterious True Daoists, leaving Neraka’s various Palaces with nowhere to hide, exposed beneath the heavens.
From the shattered world gates surged countless Neraka assassins.
Ordinarily they dwelled in the dark world, but from the moment the great war erupted, they had nowhere to hide and could only fight the experts of the various races.
“Neraka’s Fortuity has declined—today it shall surely perish! Will you still not give up?”
Above the firmament, a Quasi-Emperor existence spoke out.
A great golden bell hung above his head; a wisp of bell-pattern spread out like ripples, sweeping across—every Neraka expert it touched coughed blood and burst apart, body and soul annihilated.
Opposite him was a Quasi-Emperor existence of Neraka, shrouded in darkness.
Only a blood-dripping divine sword could be seen, as if cleaving open the world—with one strike came endless blood and Chaos Energy, drowning everything.
“Even if Neraka faces destruction today, all of you will pay a terrible price!”
“Moreover, the fire of my Neraka will never die out! Wherever there is darkness, there the inheritance of my Neraka shall be!”
Neraka’s Quasi-Emperor expert laughed coldly and sinisterly, casting life and death aside, utterly uncaring.
“Obstinate fools! Facing the crusade of all the forces of the Beyond, do you still think you have a way to survive?”
Facing Neraka’s Quasi-Emperor existence, even as a peer of the same realm, this man’s expression was grave, not daring to be careless.
Soon, the two clashed once more, the radiance surging in all directions suppressing everything around them, crushing all living beings nearby.
Besides the great battle between Quasi-Emperors, the fighting everywhere else was equally brutal.
Apart from True Daoists, cultivators of practically every realm were locked in slaughter.
The thick stench of blood permeated the air; the entire firmament seemed dyed crimson, suffused with heart-palpitating bloody light.
Living beings were plunged into misery.
“What a pity—it’s of little use to me.”
Gu Changge appeared at this place, looked upon the scene, and gently shook his head.
If his cultivation had not yet reached the True Daoist realm, he could have used the Grand Flask to refine the broken Source of this place and make it his own.
Unfortunately, his cultivation was now approaching the late stage of the Nirvana Dao.
Even the Source of an ordinary True Daoist was of little use to him now.
Gu Changge strode forward, his figure seemingly fading into nothingness as he passed through this battlefield.
Everyone fighting around him seemed unable to see him at all.
Even the Quasi-Emperor existences could not sense the slightest trace of Gu Changge’s aura, even when he paused beside them for a moment.
“It’s here.”
Gu Changge paused briefly, but did not linger—he reached out his hand toward the space below.
Boundless, vast divine power erupted at that moment, as if cleaving open chaos—the world ahead split apart at once, and even this universe was torn in two.
It was an utterly horrifying sight; even the clashing Quasi-Emperor existences felt their hearts turn cold with fear, their whole bodies trembling.
Within another deep and vast expanse of space, palaces stretched in clusters, black mist roiling.
Figure after figure of towering, fiendish aura stood like unchanging devil mountains of ages past.
But at this moment, they all felt a chill run through their bodies and could not help looking up at the firmament above, as if a gaze was slowly descending from there.
“He still found his way here.”
The tall figure seated at the center of the great hall spoke calmly, then slowly rose, holding a black heavenly dagger, his surging aura boiling as if it could slice through eternity and pierce the ages.
All the figures prostrated themselves in unison, their gazes filled with killing intent and resolve.
Neraka had Ten Palaces, but the one universally acknowledged as the strongest—
was the Fourth Palace.
The Fourth Palace Lord was named Yan Luo. No one knew how long he had existed, nor what stage his cultivation had reached.
They only knew he had existed before Neraka was even called Neraka.
Even the Lord of Hell was exceedingly courteous when summoning the Fourth Palace Lord.
“The most inconceivable person of these myriad ages—today, I shall see him for myself.”
The Fourth Palace Lord’s figure was tall; holding his Heavenly Dagger, he stepped out of the great hall and gazed toward the firmament, his heroic face bearing a thirst for battle.
He knew Gu Changge had definitely found this place—otherwise, such a terrifying, astonishing aura would not have descended just now, one that even made him feel danger.
One must know, his cultivation had already reached the step of Remnant Immortal. Though all these years he had been unable to advance one step further, it was enough to sweep away the strongest experts of all the lineages and forces of the Beyond.
“We are willing to stand with the Fourth Palace Lord, resist the foreign foe together, and slay all who come!”
The moment the Fourth Palace Lord Yan Luo rose, mountain-roaring, sea-surging voices rang out behind him.
Many of Neraka’s higher-ups shouted, killing intent surging, throwing caution to the wind.
The Fourth Palace Lord Yan Luo roared in fury, Heavenly Dagger in hand, charging toward the end of the firmament in a single step.
He had already sensed Gu Changge tearing apart this world, about to descend upon this place.
However, a sword light was even faster than the Fourth Palace Lord Yan Luo—like the first ray of dawn before the creation of heaven and earth, crystalline and pure.
The beam of light was incomparably brilliant; Sword Qi spread like an ocean, shaking the starry skies of ages past.
This entire world was collapsing and disintegrating, unable to withstand the power of this sword light.
All of Neraka’s higher-ups trembled with terror, feeling as if they had become ants, their lives and deaths beyond their control.
“A Remnant Immortal, as expected.”
“Truly, you haven’t disappointed me.”
Following right behind this sword light, Gu Changge appeared here, tearing through the barrier of this world, his gaze fixed with keen interest on the Fourth Palace Lord Yan Luo.
Yan Luo’s gaze grew heavy, an ominous feeling arising in him—like prey being stared down.
Meanwhile, at a place extremely far from the Battlefield of Hundred Worlds—
Above another stretch of firmament, many figures with terrifying auras likewise stood.
They gazed at the great war in the distance, their eyes deep and vast, like universes evolving within, with scenes of moons sinking and stars perishing emerging.
“Since this crusade against Neraka is being secretly orchestrated by Gu Changge, he must have another purpose. We must be careful. In recent years, the Nephrite Breeze Pavilion’s rise has been unstoppable.”
“I suspect the reason Gu Changge moved against Neraka has much to do with the Nephrite Breeze Pavilion.”
They spoke softly, discussing the pros and cons of the siege against Neraka.
Without a doubt, these people were all True Daoists—ancestor-level figures of the various lineages and forces.
Though they had not personally come to the battlefield, they knew everything that happened there down to the smallest detail.
“That goes without saying. Behind the Nephrite Breeze Pavilion is certainly Gu Changge.”
“On the surface he’s purging Neraka, but in truth he’s eliminating his rivals. What a pity we only realized it now.”
Another ancient existence shook his head, his words carrying regret.
“In just a few short years, Gu Changge’s wings have grown full. I reckon it won’t be long before he moves against us.”
Another terrifying figure, wholly different in form from Humans, spoke coldly, his words carrying a trace of killing intent.
This was not baseless speculation, but an inference drawn from various clues.
Though Gu Changge appeared gentle and refined before everyone,
the things he had done in the shadows were plain for all races and lineages to see.
The mere fact that he launched the crusade against Neraka in a flash of lightning was enough to make everyone feel dread and unease.
If Gu Changge had not moved against Neraka this time, but against some other force instead—
who could guarantee their fate would be any different from Neraka’s?
Many immortal lineages and supreme sects had no shortage of enemies since their founding.
Moreover, the Beyond was a place where the strong preyed on the weak—when a wall falls, everyone pushes it; no one shows mercy.
At the end of the day, it was the power and influence Gu Changge now wielded that made everyone deeply wary.
“Gu Changge is no good sort... And now the Celestial Path is about to manifest, and the Beyond will undergo upheaval—who knows whether that’s good or bad.”
“He has already grown to the point where he threatens all of us. If we don’t deal with him, I’m afraid there will be endless trouble ahead, breaking the balance that has held since ancient times.”
Another figure, shrouded entirely in golden divine flames, spoke, his eyes brilliant like two blazing suns, carrying terrifying pressure.
“The Longevity Gu Family’s foundations are unfathomably deep, and they have countless ties to the Celestial Domain...”
“This matter cannot be rushed. If we don’t lay our preparations first, I’m afraid we will suffer heavy losses.”
“When the Longevity Gu Family annihilated Purple Mansion last time, they only revealed part of their foundations.”
At these words, another female True Daoist spoke, her voice soft, yet it made everyone present’s expression tighten.
Though all were True Daoists, considerable gaps still existed between them.
This female True Daoist before them had, in her day, been a ruthless figure who slaughtered until all quarters cowered in fear.
She had not shown herself for tens of millions of years, and now, at a glance, her strength was even more unfathomable—she was likely not far from the threshold of the Immortal Dao.
Wary indeed.