Daqin Zhentiansi

Jielu Pass city wall.

The Demon-Slaying Mirror slipped from the young scout's blood-stained fingers and crashed with a "bang" onto the city bricks soaked in black blood.

The mirror reflected the depths of the Demon Realm, where three hundred golden beams pierced the sky, like wedges driven into hell by the gods.

"Three hundred... Fire General really lit three hundred beacon towers!"

The recruit Lu Qi's voice trembled.

Previously, the area outside the pass was shrouded in swirling, corrupting clouds, but now, golden light has torn open a clean corridor spanning millions of miles.

The frost remaining on the city wall's battlements proves that the dragon's breath had ravaged this area last night.

But what pierced his eyes even more was the dissipating abyssal demonic energy in the distance.

The darkness that had lingered for millennia was being forced back into the abyss by the intertwined thunder of black and yellow.

Veteran Zhao the Cripple took a big gulp of "Soul-Severing Wine," the cheap liquor mixed with blood from the corner of his mouth, and dripped into his chainmail.

He pointed the wine pouch in his hand at the still-dissipating pillar of purple lightning in the sky: "See that? The Heaven-Shaking Drum that Fire Marshal personally struck, the Heavenly Lock that has been formed!"

"Even the old demon of the Rift Abyss had three fingers broken!"

His mutilated left hand suddenly slapped Lu Qi's shoulder armor, shaking off the scabs of blood: "I've guarded this pass for three hundred years, and survived seven crises that threatened to destroy the city. This is the first time I've seen a human battle flag planted on the cliff face of the Burial Abyss!"

The sudden burst of sound beneath the wall caused dust to fall from the entire western section of the city wall.

Tens of thousands of soldiers rammed their chipped swords against the obsidian shields, each impact causing the dark clouds of the demon realm to retreat three points.

Lu Qi recognized the roar of the one-armed captain at the front of the crowd; it was the benefactor who had shielded him from the Shadow Blade Demon Thorn three months ago in the Bloodshed Canyon.

At this moment, the silent man, his face streaked with tears and his neck veins bulging, shouted: "Fire General! Victory!"

Amidst the commotion, Zhao the Cripple suddenly pulled up the limp recruit.

The old man's one eye pierced through the smoke and fire, staring intently at the direction of the main fortress of Chentieling: "Young man, remember this day! Today, the formation of three hundred beacon towers is a road to heaven paved with the lives of three hundred thousand brothers!"

His blood-stained fingertips traced the animal-hide map at his waist.

The straight-line distance from Chen Tieling to Zangmoyuan is marked with seventy-two blood-red crosses.

Each symbol represents a human army that was completely wiped out.

Over the years, the area outside the Great Wall has long been littered with corpses.

The old man knelt on one knee and used a broken knife to carve new marks on the wall bricks.

The dents meander like a dragon, connecting three hundred points of light; this is the territory map redrawn by the human race using soul fire.

Jielu Pass.

The Guanzhong Grand Tent.

On the Star Marrow Sand Table, the crimson color representing the Demon Realm is being torn open by three hundred golden rays, creating a hundred-mile passage.

Venerable Li Xing's black iron wrist guard struck the edge of the sand table, causing the blood crystal chess piece representing the "Bone Tyrannical Legion" to tremble violently.

“Madman! A complete gambler!” His fingertips dug deep into his palm, the jade thumb ring scraping against the surface of the star marrow with a piercing sound.

"Using Zhao Wu's remains as a blade, and forging Yue Shanhe's soul into drumsticks—is this war or a sacrifice?"

A very soft sigh came from beneath the beaded curtain of Venerable Zichen.

His fingertips brushed across the newly formed dark yellow veins of the sand table, and golden light climbed up along the frost-like skin.

When the coordinates of the sunken star platform are touched, a miniature image suddenly appears on the sand table.

Here, Zhang Yuan awakens the will of the primordial barrier, and the scene of chaotic divine light piercing through the demonic clouds is recreated.

“He won his gamble.” The resounding voices echoed in the hall, “The three hundred beacon towers have become nodes of the Heavenly Dao, where the laws of the primordial world have merged and taken root.”

Zi Chen's gaze pierced through the star map on the dome, as if he could see deep into the ley lines of the Blood Millstone Battle Zone.

The remnants of the primordial barrier are being grafted and integrated through the network of beacon towers, and the new Dao principles are growing and intertwining like golden threads.

Li Xing suddenly let out a cold laugh like an owl: "The Heavenly Venerable has been planning for 120,000 years, how could he allow an ant to wield the power of the Heavenly Dao? Every inch of Zhang Yuan's achievement is a death sentence—"

A flash of cold light!

The ice crystals that swept from Zi Chen's sleeve interrupted his words, shattering into frost three inches in front of Li Xing's Adam's apple.

His pale face, reflected on the sand table, twisted violently, yet he dared not utter another word.

In the dead silence, the northeast corner of the sand table suddenly dimmed.

The attendants cried out and rushed toward the beacon tower model symbolizing the Seventh Battalion.

The crystal was being swallowed by the gray haze.

Zi Chen's wide sleeves billowed, and the Star Orbit Deduction Technique splashed up a rain of light on the sand table, but it could not penetrate the chaotic mist above Chen Tieling.

"The placenta is complete." Zi Chen lowered his eyes to conceal the turmoil.

Zhang Yuanzheng used three hundred beacon towers as the warp and weft, employing the power of the Heavenly Dao to weave a chaotic shroud that prevented others from prying into his life.

That gray haze was not a collapse, but a declaration of war by the new Heavenly Way against the old order.

Unbeknownst to him, a wisp of black-gold Daoist energy was piercing into the primordial origin from the bottom of the sand table.

The stellar chains binding the origin clanged and jingled.

This is a sign of the arrival of the Celestial Venerable's will.

Zi Chen suddenly pressed down on the trembling edge of the sand table, his knuckles turning pale from the force.

What Zhang Yuan wanted was not a defensive line, but to use the Blood Millstone as a furnace to reforge the Primordial Great Dao that had been stolen by the Heavenly Venerable!

Is this a challenge to the Celestial Race?

How dare he?
------------------

The heart of the prehistoric wilderness.

Guardian Hall.

Before the jade water mirror in the Xuanwu Guardian Hall, ripples reflected the phantom image of the Mountain and River Demon-Suppressing Drum.

As the seventh drum-shaped mark swept across the mirror, the tortoise shell suspended in the palm of Venerable Xuancheng cracked with a "crack".

This old man, who had guarded the place of exile for six hundred years, actually saw his comrade-in-arms Yue Shanhe from his youth in the mysterious patterns.

"Forging weapons with the soul..."

Behind Xuancheng, four white-haired venerable ones simultaneously formed hand seals.

When the four spells "Zhenyue," "Qingtian," "Dingyuan," and "Pomo" were cast into the water mirror, the drum's reflection suddenly solidified into a cross-section of a giant bronze drum.

The burning primordial spirit of Yue Shanhe transformed into a swirling vortex of primordial chaos within the drum cavity.

The shattered foundation of Venerable Zhaowu condensed into a drumstick dragon pattern.

And the golden light of the three hundred beacon towers is flowing along the veins beneath the surface of the Kui oxhide drum.

"He turned the battlefield into a living artifact."

Granny Liuxia pointed her silk whisk at the center of the drum.

There, a ball of crimson flame enveloped the Black Horned Rhinoceros totem.

Suddenly, the scene of the closed wall was reflected in the water mirror.

As the young scout knelt and traced the network of beacon towers, Xuancheng's phantom of Xuanwu suddenly resonated with the sound of drums.

Outside the hall came the sound of ancient ice cracking, the cracking of the "Suppressing Sin Stele" that sealed the souls of the exiled land.

Countless points of light rose from the crack, merging into the three hundred golden rays of the night sky.

"From this moment on, every drop of blood flowing from the Blood Millstone will be reincarnated in the new Heavenly Dao."

Xuan Cheng's voice resounded throughout the stone hall.

The four venerable ones saw that his graying temples were turning black, and the Xuanwu armor pattern on his forehead was flickering.

This is a secret method of mutual support between the garrison commander and the land, signifying that the frontier territory has gained the approval of the Heavenly Dao.

Qingfeng suddenly pointed his sword at the water mirror: "Look! The Sunken Sand River!" The fleeing demons in the reflection stepped on the golden veins and were instantly pierced by the stalagmites that pierced the ground.

In the lingering echo of the drumbeats, the faint phantom of Yue Mountain and River could be seen piling stones to reinforce the riverbank, as if the power to suppress Yue Mountain had become an instinct of the earth.

……

The Demonic Abyss Throne.

The Bone Throne was pulverized under the clutches of evil.

Thick, black blood gushed from the seven orifices of the Rift Abyss Demon Lord, corroding the scales of the kneeling Corruption Demon Lord, causing them to hiss.

The abyss mirror reflects three hundred dazzling golden rays across a million miles of pure land.

"The primordial barrier! It has awakened those wills that should have been extinguished long ago!"

The demonic roar ripped away the skull of the three-headed Heart-Eating Demon Lord, and the entire dome of the Bone Temple crumbled away.

The scene in the water mirror switches to the moment when Venerable Zhaowu is resurrected.

When the sound of the Kui Niu drum froze time and space, the scene of the Vermilion Bird True Flame reforging the shattered body caused the Demon Lord's right claw to suddenly spasm.

This defeated foe, whose body had been torn in half by it, actually killed the Shadow Blade Demon Lord amidst the sound of drums!
A human figure emerged from the shadows, and a low, hoarse whisper, like a venomous snake, burrowed into the Demon Lord's ear: "Zhang Yuan, by borrowing the resonance of the primordial world, has already touched the edge of chaos."

As the water mirror revealed the phantom of the Xuan Turtle, which had transformed into the Dao of Yue Shanhe, merging into the drum, what shattered where the drumstick fell was not only the demonic tide, but also the bond of laws between the abyss and this world.

The Abyss Claw suddenly pierced through the shadowy creature.

As the opponent screamed in agony, he pulled his arm out, but instead of blood, he brought forth wisps of dissipating demonic essence.

"Insects." The Demon Lord licked the black mist from his claws, his blood-red eyes locking onto the dark figure beating the drum in the water mirror. "I will have the soul fire of three hundred thousand humans burn day and night, until..."

The conversation abruptly ended.

The water mirror reflected an unbelievable scene.

When the fleeing demon army crashed into the golden network, a phantom of Xuanwu (a mythical tortoise) emerged from the earth's veins and devoured the demonic energy.

Further away, golden patterns appeared on the ground of the recruit training ground amidst the sound of drums.

It shares the same origin as the "Mysterious Jade Returning to Truth Technique" that Zhang Yuan used when training his troops in the Thunderfall Abyss, but incorporates Yue Shanhe's Mountain-Suppressing Divine Power!
"He's using the battlefield to train his troops!"

The Demon Lord suddenly crushed the water mirror.

The flying fragments reflected countless scenes: the Iron Feather Eagles transformed into Purple Lightning Thunder Eagles in the golden light; the new recruits wielded their swords with an aura of unyielding strength; and even the murky waves of the Sunken Sand River gradually returned to clarity under the filtering of the golden net...

"Send the order to the Netherworld."

The roar of the Abyss Demon Lord shattered the eighteen layers of demon caves, and the remains of the throne transformed into seventy-two blood edicts that shot into the void: "A bounty is offered on the origin of a Chaos God or Demon! Throughout all realms, regardless of whether one is an immortal, demon, god, or monster—whoever takes Zhang Yuan's head will be rewarded with the origin of a great world!"

A resonance of the will of the abyss emanated from the depths of the demon's lair.

As the bounty order pierced through the dimensional barrier, some ancient beings slumbering at the edge of the starry sea slowly opened their eyes.

……

At the summit of the primordial wilderness.

Deep in the void.

The star chains that bound the primordial origin suddenly tightened and trembled.

As the three hundred golden rays of the Blood Millstone pierced through the turbid clouds of the Demon Realm, the black-gold Daoist rhyme bursting forth from the core of origin, like an ancient will awakening, silently permeated the foundation of the void.

The ancient runes on the chains flickered wildly, yet they could not completely block the wisps of Daoist energy escaping from them.

"An interesting little guy..."

A divine thought, seemingly originating from the very beginning of the universe, swept across the vibrating Starlink with an indescribable interest.

The moment the Celestial Venerable's will descended, time seemed to freeze for a moment throughout the entire Heavenly Palace Starfield.

The countless divination artifacts vanished silently, and the precious Star Essence Sand Table in the Zichen Palace was instantly shrouded in eternal gray, cutting off all attempts to see it.

Only this supreme will clearly "saw" through the truth behind Zhang Yuan's seventh war drumbeat.

The golden light from those three hundred beacon towers was not for defense, but rather transformed into giant needles that pierced through the warp and weft of heaven and earth!

With the Heavenly Dao of the Nine Provinces of the Great Qin as the warp and the remnants of the primordial wilderness as the weft, a layer of unprecedented chaotic placenta is being woven, with the battlefield of the Blood Millstone, the Corpse Mountain and the Blood Sea as the mother.

The soldiers charged forward, their feet adorned with mysterious Dao patterns; the golden network of demonic energy crumbled at the mere touch; and the runic arrays silently emerging from the main fortress of Chentie Ridge…

These are all capillaries spreading from the newborn placenta!
The Star Chains unleashed billions of punitive lightning bolts, enough to destroy galaxies, and lashed down fiercely!

The primordial source emitted a painful lament, yet resilient black-gold threads still stubbornly managed to break through the gaps in the bindings.

They greedily yet methodically devoured everything on the battlefield.

The burning soul fire of Yue Shanhe, the shattered fragments of the Dao principles of Zhaowu, and even the foul energy left after the demons collapsed... all of these were transformed into nutrients for the placenta to grow stronger.

The Celestial Venerable's will captured that subtle change.

When the Demon Lord of the Rift Abyss's bounty across the heavens shook the universe, the thickness of the placenta suddenly tripled!
Even more astonishingly, some ancient primordial law fragments that should have been completely devoured and annihilated by the Star Chains actually flowed back through the siphon network formed by the three hundred beacon towers and were injected into this newly born chaotic womb.

The punitive lightning rippled across the surface of the placenta, but ultimately failed to tear it apart.

The Celestial Venerable discerned its core essence.

This chaotic embryonic membrane is the prototype of the "Primordial Realm" on the eighteenth layer of shackles that Zhang Yuan conceived by integrating the "Great Qin Origin Dao Scripture" and the lost primordial inheritance!

It takes the battlefield as its mother and the conflict of the laws of the two realms as its placenta, and is giving birth to a new seed of the Heavenly Dao that intends to transcend the existing shackles of cultivation.

In the void, a thought stirred.

"Star Cruise".

A silent call resounded in a quiet dimension attached to the main star chain.

A wisp of starlight condensed in response to a thought, transforming into the phantom of a young Taoist priest with a profound aura, dressed in a Taoist robe with star patterns, who respectfully knelt on one knee in the endless void.

He dared not look directly at the source of that supreme will, his soul trembling slightly under the invisible pressure.

"Boundary Barrier Pass, Blood Millstone War Zone. That human named Zhang Yuan is quite interesting. Keep a close eye on him."

The Celestial Venerable's thoughts were calm and undisturbed, yet they carried an undeniable air of authority.

"I will not interfere; I will simply observe and see how things develop. I want to see what kind of seed this will eventually grow into."

"I will obey your decree!" The illusory figure of the Taoist named Xingxun bowed deeply. With a flash of starlight, the figure disappeared and returned to its place.

The Celestial Venerable's will did not linger, slowly withdrawing from this void.

……

Ancestral land of mythical beasts.

The Crimson Flame Sea Nirvana Fire Seed suddenly surged a thousand feet.

The phantom of the Vermilion Bird flapped its wings and cried out amidst the raging flames, the light spots scattered by its feathers illuminating a map of a million-mile-long pure land.

When the phantom of the Demon-Suppressing Drum appeared in the curtain of fire, the entire lava sea boiled like boiling water.

"Battlefield Transformation Artifact!"

The Vermilion Bird's golden eyes locked onto the mysterious patterns flowing across the drumhead.
That was the materialization of the eighteen fire-based laws deduced by Zhang Yuan.

The fire spirits were horrified to discover that each strike of the drumsticks matched the rhythm of spatial collapse in the "Burning Realm," while the ripples spreading from the drumbeats were clearly the life fluctuations of the "Creation Realm"!

An ancient sigh emanated from the core of the Nirvana Flame.

The phantom of the ancestral phoenix was born from flames, and the light spots scattered when its wings spread out transformed into countless images.

The Nine Thunder Pools of the Azure Dragon Mountains stirred up waves without wind, the Xuanwu armor patterns in the Xuanming Cold Pool flickered like breathing, and even the dormant roots of the ancient tree of life stretched out to the sound of drums.

"He ignited the shackles of bloodline." The phoenix's gaze pierced through time and space.

In a dimension unnoticed by the Vermilion Bird, strands of golden-red silk were being drawn from the fire, piercing through the abyssal demonic clouds and connecting to the Blood Millstone battlefield.

Whenever a warrior falls in battle, a barely perceptible trace of the divine beast's essence returns to its ancestral land along the silk threads.

This is a life cycle far more fundamental than Nirvana! (End of Chapter)