Chapter 347
Chapter 347
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: Final
Chapter Title: No True Lords Remain in the Mortal Realm
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With a tremendous roar, Hongyun's body exploded in a burst.
It revealed a soul wrapped in golden nature, furious beyond measure.
Failed again!
Though over the past five thousand years he had grown accustomed to it, this had been the most promising attempt. Success had been within reach, yet he still failed to seize it!
Unlike ordinary Foundation Establishment True Persons, Hongyun as a reincarnated True Lord would not turn into a Dao Tribulation even upon failing to claim his golden nature. Instead, his soul would be shielded by the golden nature and drawn by the Netherworld into reincarnation for rebirth. But in doing so, how much longer would it take to restore his current level of cultivation?
‘Chongguang. Chongguang!!!’
Hongyun could not help roaring inwardly. One stray thought after another surged from his broken defenses, a resentment that even the endless waters of the torrential river could not wash away.
Yet he dared not linger.
With so many True Lords watching, a mere soul clinging to golden nature like his would mean certain death if he did not swiftly heed the Netherworld's summons!
‘Go!’
In the next instant, the Netherworld's gates yawned open. Hongyun's figure vanished from the scene in a flash, too swift for anyone to seize his soul.
This was why True Lords were so hard to kill.
To utterly erase one required slaying them thrice. The first time destroyed their Cavern-Heaven, causing them to plummet from their position and lose True Lord status.
The second destroyed their soul, preventing escape into the Netherworld via reincarnation.
Only the third eradicated their golden nature, ensuring it could not possess another entity and grant a chance of revival.
Meanwhile, within the Heaven of Non-existence.
Ignoring Hongyun's fall, Chongguang stood silently at the top of the steps. His lips moved as a natural, fragrant aroma wafted from his body.
From the fragrance materialized the figures of women.
Each had a different appearance and attire, every smile and frown enough to stir the hearts of mortals, indistinguishable from living beings.
“Marrow of a Hundred Flowers!”
The aroma shifted, birthing a sea of smoke that ensnared the mind. All who beheld it seemed to glimpse their own sorrows within.
“Sea of Pouring Sorrow!”
With each divine ability Chongguang manifested, the Heaven of Non-existence rose higher, while the other positions in heaven and earth fell a fraction more.
Witnessing this, Soaring Empyrean had no hesitation. He reached out, summoning back a golden cup aflame with lamp light—the treasure of the Great Forest Wood position he had lent Chongguang, the Sun-Obscuring Golden Cup—while a vast power descended from the heavens.
Boom!
In Jiangnan Gantang Dao, within the Cavern-Heaven fragments, Chongguang's fleshly body was mercilessly shattered by Soaring Empyrean, reduced to dust.
Yet—it availed nothing.
Soaring Empyrean's actions earned only a calm glance from Chongguang, who continued channeling his magic, manifesting yet another divine ability.
“Ferry of Delusion.”
As the words fell, the vista within the Heaven of Non-existence transformed again.
The mists parted and clouds dispersed, unveiling an ocean abyss ten thousand zhang deep, spanning a thousand li, its black waters thundering like rolling thunder.
Golden Core True Lords gazed upon this ocean without change.
But the Foundation Establishment True Persons below each saw within it the cultivation dilemmas that had recently plagued them, breaking into cold sweats unwittingly.
Yet some True Persons of firm Dao heart and exceptional insight crossed the “ferry of delusion,” shattering their own bottlenecks. In that moment, they felt refreshed, their thoughts crystal clear. Clearly, this was no deliberate torment from Chongguang but an intentional divine ability to stir and dispel the confusions in their hearts.
But would he offer such boons for free?
All True Persons who benefited from the Ferry of Delusion had in fact been converted to the Heaven of Non-existence position's domain, severed from their original lineages!
Boom!
In the next breath, the light of a position's star abruptly dimmed. Unlike Covered Lamp Fire, this one was held by a Golden Core True Lord.
Yet now, it too went into hiding.
As the position hid, that True Lord's form swiftly faded, starlight scattering. In less than a breath, he quietly vanished from heaven and earth.
It was the Treasure Vase Water Moon Bodhisattva.
This True Lord of the Pure Land had shallow cultivation, and having just struck at Chongguang, his position was deliberately targeted. He became the first to withdraw from the world!
“To think it would be like this...”
“The Heaven of Non-existence... What grand scheme! What ambition! And Chongguang—I knew this catastrophe was tied to the Demon Sect.”
“With the millennium great tribulation approaching, the world will fall into chaos again.”
“Excellent. Let chaos reign!”
In that instant, the True Lords of the world reacted differently, but without doubt, they had all divined Chongguang's—and Mu Changsheng's—plans.
Even Soaring Empyrean showed faint surprise.
“You're unaffected?”
He had reclaimed the Sun-Obscuring Golden Cup. By rights, Chongguang should now vie with the innate True Person's consciousness for dominance without its protection.
Yet that was not the case.
“Did I guess wrong?” Surprise deepened on Soaring Empyrean's face. “Mu Changsheng, are you truly willing to sacrifice yourself for him?”
“Not just for me.”
Chongguang's expression remained serene.
“This fulfills him as well. So long as I endure for a day and the Heaven of Non-existence hangs overhead, it will draw all enmity in his stead.”
His voice began normally, but as his words continued, echoes multiplied within it, weaving into an endless, lingering tone that stirred the deepest hatreds in the heart—the hatred for all injustices under heaven. This hatred stretched on without end!
“Song of Everlasting Sorrow!”
So long as evil persisted, this song would not cease. Flames of hatred born from the heart would consume the body, enough to shatter a True Person's soul.
“My lords, please follow me to the heavens above.”
Chongguang cupped his hands, his tone still humble. Yet the four divine abilities he had manifested converged now, blending into a streak of crimson.
“Competing for Freedom!”
As the words fell, all sounds ceased.
Only a crisp shattering broke the eerie silence.
Crack!
Like a dream or a bubble, another True Lord's form dissipated, his position withdrawing—and this phenomenon rapidly spread to all True Lords.
In this moment, though the skies over the world remained overcast, faint cracks appeared. True Lords vanished one after another, while Chongguang's figure grew ever more illusory until his features were indistinct, only his grand voice echoing across the four directions:
“I, Chongguang, have proven the Heaven of Non-existence in Jiangnan.”
“With the Dawn True Supreme Void Cavern-Heaven refined, I ascend to True Lord, severing heaven-earth communion to grant the world's cultivators a thread of survival. Henceforth, heaven and earth shall know sixty years of clarity.”
His voice boomed through heaven and earth.
When it faded, only two True Lords remained: Soaring Empyrean and the Clear Pure Flying Snow True Lord.
“...”
Soaring Empyrean made no reply, merely gazing deeply at Chongguang before willingly dispersing his form. Only Clear Pure Flying Snow True Lord lingered.
“Chongguang pays respects to the True Lord.”
Chongguang bowed as ever. Clear Pure Flying Snow True Lord shook her head at the sight.
“Impressive skills. You've achieved something after all.”
Her expression turned solemn as she cupped her hands in return.
“Xue Feihong greets fellow Daoist.”
With those words, a breeze stirred, and Clear Pure Flying Snow True Lord's figure too faded away, her position withdrawing. Only Chongguang stood amid it all.
But this was merely temporary.
Positions withdrawing meant they could no longer meddle in the present world, yet True Lords could still act against one another. One could imagine how besieged he would be henceforth.
Thus, he needed allies.
‘Relying on the Heaven of Non-existence's illusory qualities, I can delay at most sixty years. Only if another ascends to True Lord within that time will this tribulation pass.’
‘But what will the world become after this?’
‘It shall be an age of great strife!’
Chongguang closed his eyes, his figure dissolving.
From this moment, no True Lords remained in the mortal world!
After a brief hush, in Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Jiangbei, Jiangnan, overseas... everywhere, long-suppressed auras that had dared not emerge before now rose!