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Chapter 417 The Message from the Manifested True Lord (Second Update)
Outside the Tianhe Dao Sect's mountain gate, time and space seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, frozen into a silent and eerie painting.

On the raised arm of the Formless Daoist, every muscle was clearly visible, covered with a layer of pale blue ice crystals as thin as a cicada's wing. The greed and bloodlust on the faces of the Supreme Daoist cultivators surging behind him were frozen into eternal sculptures, and the fierce light in their eyes, which had not yet dissipated, now appeared utterly ridiculous under the refraction of the ice crystals.

"It's you?" The Formless Daoist struggled to turn his eyes, squeezing out two words through gritted teeth. The terrifying power bestowed upon him by the three giants, enough to crush ordinary Grand Luo Immortals, was now like a flame thrown into an abyss of extreme cold, its operation sluggish and its light dimmed, suppressed by a more primal and absolute "Frozen Extinction" law.

This is the Primordial Frozen Dao!

Xu Qingzhu stood before the mountain gate, her white robes spotless, her black hair flowing. Her face was as pale as snow, and a trace of crimson blood at the corner of her mouth resembled a plum blossom blooming in the snow, poignant and resolute. She did not answer, but declared her stance through her actions.

"Overestimating yourself!" Deep within the soul of the Formless Daoist, the tyrannical will of the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons erupted, a wisp of pure primordial demonic energy forcefully breaking through the shackles of the Frozen Law. His stiff arm swung down sharply, and he shouted fiercely, "Break!"

Click!

The entire frozen spacetime shattered like a giant mirror struck by a heavy hammer!

"Kill!" The Supreme Dao Sect cultivators, now able to move again, roared and transformed into a destructive torrent, sweeping towards that solitary, aloof figure.

Xu Qingzhu's gaze remained calm, but a resolute determination ignited within her clear, cold eyes. She took a deep breath, no longer attempting to freeze the entire spacetime with her own power, but instead concentrating all her strength and will into a single point.

"The Ice Age!"

She spoke softly, her voice clear and crisp, yet it seemed to carry the supreme majesty of ending an era.

As she finished speaking, the thin, azure ice crystals surrounding her instantly transformed into a vast, roaring, and surging glacier. This glacier was not formed from water, but from the purest principles of freezing and extinction. What surged within the river were not waves, but countless tiny ice crystal runes capable of freezing time and space.

The glacier roared as it charged headlong into the destructive torrent.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soul-chilling, silent annihilation.

The "Supreme Ruthless Divine Light," imbued with the power of the three giants, had its destructive Daoist aura forcibly frozen and stripped away the moment it touched the glacier, transforming into the most primordial energy particles that were assimilated by the glacier. Those cultivators of the Supreme Dao Sect, once swept into the glacier, had their protective immortal light instantly solidify and shatter. Their entire bodies, along with their primordial spirits, were transformed in an instant into crystal-clear ice sculptures, then with a "bang," shattered into countless ice shards.

However, the opponent's power was too immense. With every inch the Ice River advanced, its own Frozen Dao energy was being rapidly depleted. Xu Qingzhu's face grew increasingly pale, and her body swayed slightly, as if she might collapse at any moment.

But her gaze remained fixed on the sect, on her fellow disciples who were fleeing in panic.

She had to buy them time! Even if it was just a breath!
"Grab her!" Wuxiang Daoren saw through Xu Qingzhu's true strength and shouted sharply. He flashed and took action himself. A pitch-black hand condensed from pure demonic energy pierced through the barrier of the icy river and went straight for Xu Qingzhu's crown.

Just then, a tragic roar resounded throughout the heavens and earth.

"Saintess Qingzhu! Let's go!"

Su Qinghe, the sect leader of the Tianhe Sect, a man who had devoted his life to sect affairs and seemed to lack the sharpness of a seeker of the Dao, suddenly had an unprecedentedly brilliant light burst forth in his eyes. His long-depleted dantian suddenly ignited, and his primordial spirit, like a blazing sun, radiated the last and most glorious light of his life.

"The Milky Way...forever!"

boom!
Su Qinghe chose the most heroic method—self-destruction of his primordial spirit!
An indescribable, terrifying energy storm, containing the lifelong cultivation of a celestial being and his boundless love and protection for the sect, suddenly erupted! This power precisely avoided affecting any of the Heavenly River disciples, instead transforming into a towering pillar of starlight that crashed fiercely into the pitch-black demonic hand of the Formless Daoist and the endless army behind him.

"metropolitan!"

"Master!"

Countless disciples of the Heavenly River cried out in anguish, tears streaming down their faces.

Su Qinghe's figure, amidst the dazzling starlight, became eternal.

"Foolish!" Wuxiang Daoist was forced back half a step by the force of the self-destruction, his face grim. He hadn't expected that this seemingly mediocre sect leader would have such a fierce side.

It was this slight delay that gave Xu Qingzhu a chance to catch her breath.

Guo Taiyue, the First Elder of the Five Elders of Tianhe, was covered in blood. He glanced at Xu Qingzhu, who was resolute in the face of death, and then at the young disciples who represented the future of the sect. A painful struggle flashed in his eyes, but it ultimately turned into determination. He grabbed Elder Zhong, who was seriously injured and unconscious beside him, and roared, "Go!"

He and another elder, protecting a group of core disciples, transformed into streaks of light and fled madly toward the gap that Su Qinghe had created with his life.

The remaining two elders exchanged a glance, revealing the same resolute smile as Su Qinghe. They turned and resolutely charged towards the army of the Supreme Dao Sect, choosing the same tragic end as their sect leader.

"Trying to leave? Too late!" The murderous intent in Wuxiang Daoren's eyes was revealed. He ignored Xu Qingzhu and transformed into a streak of light to chase after the fleeing Guo Taiyue and the others.

"Your opponent is me!"

Xu Qingzhu stood in front of him again. Her body was almost transparent, and the Frozen Dao Aura around her was like a candle flickering in the wind, yet it still burned stubbornly.

"You're courting death!" Wuxiang Daoren was completely enraged. He no longer held back. In his soul, the cold power of order belonging to the Xuandu Heavenly Lord, the destructive power of the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, and the mysterious power of Xingyao Emperor that manipulated fate all merged into one, transforming into a gray spear of annihilation that could not be described in words, and fiercely stabbed towards Xu Qingzhu.

This strike has already surpassed the limits of the Great Luo Immortals of this universe, containing a trace of the true power belonging to the giants!

Xu Qingzhu knew she couldn't stop them. But she didn't back down.

There was no fear in her eyes, only a touching peace and contentment.

She saw that Guo Taiyue and Elder Zhong, carrying the last embers of the sect, had disappeared into the depths of the void.

Her mission was accomplished.

She slowly closed her eyes, preparing to face the final annihilation that would bring her to her complete demise.

Click!

The gray, annihilating spear of light pierced through her already overburdened protective aura without any suspense, and stabbed into her almost transparent body.

There was no blood, no explosion.

Her body, like an ice sculpture illuminated by sunlight, silently melted and disintegrated from the spot where she was stabbed, turning into specks of icy blue light particles.

Her primordial spirit, under the erosion of that annihilating power, was like a weathered sand sculpture, shattering inch by inch and turning into a shower of light.

However, in the very last moment before she was about to be completely destroyed, body and soul...

In the deepest part of her soul, a barely perceptible chaotic imprint, containing endless vitality, quietly lit up.

That was Xu Qing's final act of protection.

hum!
A gentle yet irresistible force of life, like a warm tide, gently enveloped and gathered her most vital wisp of true spirit, which was about to dissipate. Then, it transformed into a faint stream of light, ignoring the barriers of time and space and the blockade of the Formless Daoist, and vanished without a trace in an instant.

"Hmm?" The Formless Daoist frowned. He could feel that his sure-kill attack had hit empty air, and the most crucial "prey" had vanished into thin air.

He then sneered, "Can you escape? Once struck by my Annihilation Divine Light, even if your true spirit is not destroyed, you will surely fall into eternal damnation and never be able to recover."

He did not pursue them further, but instead turned his cold gaze to his next target—the Pure Yang Dao Sect.

Soon after, an equally fierce battle unfolded at the gates of the Chunyang Dao Sect. Although the Seven Immortals of Chunyang fought valiantly, they were repeatedly defeated by the Taishang Dao Sect, which had integrated some of the Tianhe Dao Sect's strength and had the secret support of its three leaders. In the end, the sect's gates were breached and it was destroyed.

The Seven Immortals of Chunyang scattered. Among them, Changchunzi and Yuyangzi, who were seriously injured and about to perish, were suddenly caught in a crack in the void by a gentle force that swept them away.

However, at the very moment they were "guided," a faint, black demonic flame, carrying an aura of resentment and destruction, silently clung to their true spirits like a maggot, transforming into a barely perceptible demonic seed.

……

Within the Pure Yang Myriad Realms Map, atop Mount Zhong.

Xu Qing's imprint of will was quietly watching a faint, seemingly extinguishable ball of ice-blue light before him.

Within the ball of light was Xu Qingzhu's true spirit, which had suffered severe damage and fallen into its deepest silence.

Wrapped around it were wisps of gray, rust-like aura of desolation, wounds inflicted by the combined power of the three giants, containing even more fundamental laws of the Great Dao, which were constantly eroding the last radiance of her true spirit.

Even with Xu Qing's indestructible Chaos Life and Death Dao Fruit, he could only barely keep it from dissipating, but could not completely eradicate it.

This is a wound to the Great Dao! It cannot be healed by external force, nor can it be cured by elixirs!
Just then, two disheveled figures were teleported into the main hall; they were Changchunzi and Yuyangzi.

"Greetings, Daoist Lord!" Upon seeing Xu Qing's imprint of his will, the two hurriedly bowed, their faces filled with relief and gratitude for surviving such a calamity.

Xu Qing's gaze swept over them, and his profound Daoist eyes clearly saw deep within their true spirits the two demonic seeds belonging to the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons that were quietly taking root and sprouting.

His face, however, remained unchanged.

"Fellow Daoists, there's no need for such formalities. Please rest and recuperate here." His voice was calm and unwavering.

After the two left, Xu Qing's Daoist thoughts returned to his daughter's true spirit. In that calm will, a trace of uncontrollable grief and anger as a father finally rose.

Just then, a cold, emotionless thought traversed the endless void and resounded directly within his Daoist consciousness.

It contained only one message, yet it struck Xu Qing like a thunderclap, resounding deep within his will.

"Reforge...the Investiture of the Gods!"

The owner of that voice was none other than the Manifest Saint True Lord, who had a grudge against Xu Qing.

(End of this chapter)