Heaven rewards diligence, but there are always fairies plotting against me.

The destruction of Wanjian Mountain was like a level twelve storm that swept across the entire Tianqian Domain.

The once "First Sword Dao Holy Land" crumbled in a single day. The majestic main peak, Wan Jian Feng, was cleaved open by Chu Chang's sword, revealing the collapsed spiritual veins and ruins inside.

However, a behemoth that has been passed down for thousands of years has such deep roots and wide reach that it cannot be completely eliminated simply by killing a few ancestors and disciples of the main peak.

After learning of the deaths of the two Supreme Ancestors, Tian Kui and Di Sha, Wan Jian Shan's thirty-six branch sects, seventy-two affiliated families, and hundreds of thousands of outer disciples and secret guards scattered throughout the Tianqian Domain did not surrender.

Instead, driven by despair and hatred, they broke up into smaller groups and disappeared into the shadows.

"Your Excellency, this is the intelligence gathered over the past three days."

On the ruins of Wanjian Mountain, in the remaining side hall of the Golden Palace, the sect leader of the Divine Sword Sect knelt respectfully before Chu Chang, presenting a jade slip that emitted a faint glow with both hands.

At this moment, Chu Chang was sitting on a grand chair carved from spirit jade, toying with the black gold ancient book that recorded the truth of ascension in his hand.

Although he did not deliberately release his aura, the invisible pressure of the Tribulation Transcending stage still made the Sect Master of the Divine Sword Sect feel short of breath and his soul tremble.

"explain."

Chu Chang didn't even lift his eyelids, his tone as calm as still water.

The sect leader of the Divine Sword Sect swallowed hard and lowered his head to answer:

"Although Elder Jian Wuyai of Wanjian Mountain is dead, his true disciple Lengxin Jian Han Wuji led more than 3,000 elite warriors and took nearly 30% of the resources in Wanjian Mountain's treasure pavilion, escaping into the mist of the Black Wind Grand Canyon."

"In addition, the Frosty Sky Branch of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain in the North Sea is trying to make contact with the North Sea Demon Clan, seemingly wanting to offer the essence blood of the human race of the Heavenly Dry Domain in exchange for the protection of the Demon Clan's ancestor."

"Even worse, some remnants of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain are spreading rumors in the mortal realm, claiming that Your Majesty is a world-destroying demon who is secretly sacrificing people in towns and cities in an attempt to collect resentment..."

Upon hearing this, Chu Chang let out a cold laugh.

"Blood sacrifice? Spreading rumors?"

He slowly stood up, walked to the front of the hall, and looked down at the devastated ruins of Wanjian Mountain.

"Why should I explain my actions to mortals? As for these remnants... they are nothing but dust raised when the old order collapsed."

Chu Chang turned around, looking at the Sect Master of the Divine Sword Sect with a cold gaze:

"By my decree, the Divine Sword Sect and the remaining cultivators of the Great Yuan Dynasty are ordered to seal off all interdimensional teleportation arrays in the Tianqian Domain. As for those remnants who have gone into hiding, I will personally send them on their way."

"I will smash open this heavenly gate, leaving not a single grain of sand by my side."

"I will obey the decree!"

The sect leader of the Divine Sword Sect trembled and staggered away.

Half a day later.

In the southern part of Tianqian Domain lies the Black Wind Grand Canyon.

This place is shrouded in dark, fierce winds and poisonous miasma year-round. Its terrain is treacherous, and it is difficult for spiritual consciousness to pass through. It is a refuge for rogue cultivators and vicious criminals.

At this moment, a natural cave deep within the canyon is brightly lit.

"Senior Brother Han, are we really not going to escape the Heavenly Dry Domain?"

A Wanjianshan disciple, covered in blood, was deathly pale, his eyes filled with terror.

At the head of the table, a young man dressed in tattered sword robes with a sinister face sat cross-legged; it was Han Wuji. The sword intent within him was disordered, clearly indicating that he had suffered a serious injury in the previous turmoil.

"Escape? Where can you escape to?!"

Han Wuji gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with venomous bloodlust: "The Tianqian Domain is only so big. That demon is now at the Tribulation Transcending stage, his divine sense blotting out the sky! If we show ourselves, we're doomed!"

"Staying here is just waiting to die!" another disciple cried out in despair.

"Who said it's just waiting to die?"

A morbid madness appeared on Han Wuji's face as he pulled a black jade talisman covered in ancient patterns from his robes: "This is a Heaven-Connecting Demon-Summoning Talisman left behind by our two Supreme Ancestors. As long as we sacrifice the 30,000 rogue cultivators in this canyon, we can forcibly communicate with the Heavenly Demons from beyond the realm! We can summon the Heavenly Demons to descend and perish together with that demon!"

Upon hearing this, the remnants of Wanjian Mountain inside the cave all gasped in shock.

Introducing the Heavenly Demons is tantamount to destroying the entire Heavenly Qian Domain!

But blinded by hatred, they couldn't care less about anything else at that moment.

However, just as Han Wuji was about to activate the jade talisman, the temperature of the entire cave suddenly dropped to freezing point.

"Luring the devil?"

A mocking voice suddenly rang out from deep within the cave.

"Who?!"

Han Wuji felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He suddenly stood up, and his natal flying sword was instantly drawn.

From the shadows of the cave, a figure in black slowly emerged. With each step he took, the raging black miasma around him seemed to have met its nemesis, instantly dissolving completely.

Chu Chang, we've arrived.

"Chu...Chu Chang!"

The moment Han Wuji saw who it was, he was so frightened that he took several steps back and almost collapsed to the ground.

"Senior brother, let's fight! Let's fight him!"

Several Wanjianshan assassins, knowing they had no chance of survival, roared and burned their golden cores and nascent souls, transforming them into several dazzling sword lights that rushed madly towards Chu Chang.

Chu Chang remained expressionless, not even drawing the ancient sword Duan Chen from his hand.

He simply waved his sleeve lightly.

"call"

A massive surge of immortal energy, as if the sky were collapsing, roared out.

boom! boom! boom!

The Nascent Soul stage assassins who rushed forward didn't even touch Chu Chang's clothes in mid-air before their bodies exploded into clouds of blood mist as if struck by a colossal mountain.

"You...you devil!"

Han Wuji completely broke down. He frantically poured all his magical power into the black jade talisman in his hand: "Die! Die together!"

The black jade talisman shone brightly, and a pitch-black spatial passage seemed about to tear open above the cave.

"Toying with the laws of space before me?"

Chu Chang flicked his finger.

A golden sword aura shot out, instantly piercing Han Wuji's brow and shattering the black jade talisman into dust.

The newly opened spatial passage, under the suppression of the laws of the Tribulation Transcending stage, let out a mournful cry and instantly closed up.

Han Wuji's eyes widened, and his body fell straight down, lifeless.

"The first place."

Chu Chang didn't even glance at the corpses scattered on the ground. With a flicker, he disappeared again.

Over the next three days, Chu Chang swept across the Tianqian Domain with his supreme divine sense.

Above the North Sea, three thousand cultivators from the Cold Sky Branch were trading with powerful demons. Chu Chang's Dharma form stood tall and firm, shattering most of the glaciers of the North Sea with a single step, annihilating the branch and tens of thousands of demons who had come to the scene. The waters of the North Sea were dyed a dazzling scarlet red.

In the mortal realm of the Central Plains, several clans from the Myriad Swords Mountain, who had attempted to incite rebellion and spread rumors, were swiftly and decisively eradicated by Chu Chang, leaving no one alive.

Three days.

The last traces of Wanjian Mountain's bloodline and lineage scattered throughout the Tianqian Domain were completely wiped off the world by Chu Chang using the most bloody and ruthless methods.

From then on, there were no more disturbances within the Heavenly Dry Domain.

Having eliminated all future troubles, Chu Chang returned to the ruins of the Great Yuan Imperial Palace.

He stood in the void, the black and gold ancient book open in his hand.

"The Heavenly Gate is locked, and there are five array bases."

According to ancient records, the founding ancestor of Wanjian Mountain and the leaders of several other major sects set up the bases of five "Heaven-Slaying Arrays" at the five extreme points of the Tianqian Domain in order to completely sever the Heavenly Gate.

These five array bases continuously draw upon the world's origin from the Heavenly Dry Domain, condensing outside the Heavenly Gate into an indestructible "Heaven-Locking Array".

To forcibly break open the Heavenly Gate, these five array bases must first be destroyed to allow the world's origin to return, only then will the Heavenly Gate reappear.

"East is Green Wood, West is Metal, South is Fire, North is Water, and Center is Qilin."

Chu Chang muttered to himself.

These five array bases each correspond to one of the five elements.

"Let's start from the east then."

Chu Chang's figure transformed into a golden rainbow, instantly piercing the sky and speeding towards the easternmost point of the Tianqian Domain.

One day later.

On the shores of the East China Sea, above an endless ancient forest.

This place is known as the "Forest of Ten Thousand Trees," and it is shrouded in a rich source of life all year round. Ordinary cultivators can increase their cultivation speed several times over when they cultivate here.

But very few people know that at the very heart of this forest stands a bronze tree thousands of feet tall.

This is not a real tree, but an Eastern Wilderness array base created by the ancestors of Wanjian Mountain in conjunction with Shennong Valley using bronze mother metal.

Chu Chang landed in front of the ancient bronze tree.

Feeling the vast, ocean-like life force and the laws that lock the heavens within the ancient tree, he took a deep breath.

"The Heaven-Locking Array Foundation has suppressed the fortune of the Heavenly Dry Domain for three thousand years."

Chu Chang drew the Duan Chen Ancient Sword.

The ancient sword emitted a clear, ringing sound, as if it were yearning for the destruction to come.

"Smash it!"

Chu Chang gripped the sword with both hands, his chaotic immortal essence surging wildly within his body. The Broken Dust Ancient Sword erupted with dazzling golden light, transforming into a solid sword shadow a thousand feet in size, which slashed fiercely down at the bronze ancient tree.

boom!

The eastern wilderness trembled violently.

The ancient bronze tree erupted with dense green runes, attempting to block the sword strike. However, these runes collapsed instantly before the destructive power of a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator.

Click!

With a crisp, loud sound, the thousand-foot-tall bronze tree was cleaved in two by Chu Chang's sword, turning into countless pieces of scrap iron that scattered in all directions.

call!

The moment the ancient bronze tree shattered, an extremely pure green life force surged into the sky and merged into the void.

A faint, muffled sound of shackles breaking echoed between heaven and earth.

"The first one is done."

Chu Chang wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead, and without pausing, continued on to the next location.

Over the next month, Chu Chang's figure appeared in every corner of the Tianqian Domain.

In the desolate western wilderness, he cleaved the towering Gengjin Divine Pillar in two with a single sword strike, unleashing a burst of golden energy that instantly transformed the western wilderness into a sea of ​​golden sand.

In the lava volcanoes of southern Xinjiang, he burrowed into the earth's core and crushed the Divine Cauldron of Fire that suppressed the earth's fire. Lava spewed out everywhere, and the climate of the Tianqian Domain became unbearably hot in an instant.

Beneath the abyss of the North Sea, he withstood immense water pressure and severed a piece of ten-thousand-year-old Xuanbing marrow from the base of the Kui Shui Array with a single sword strike.

With each destroyed array base, the spiritual energy in the world becomes more concentrated, and the invisible shackles that were originally suppressing the hearts of the cultivators are eased a little.

Within the capital city of Qianjing, countless cultivators who had been in seclusion suddenly discovered that the bottlenecks they had been unable to break through for so long had inexplicably loosened.

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth has been restored?!"

"What on earth is going on?!"

Countless powerful figures emerged from seclusion, gazing at the sky in awe.

They knew that this must have been the work of the "Sword God of Chu" who hung high in the heavens.

A month later.

Chu Chang arrived at the Qilin Mountain Range in the Central Plains, the location of the last array base.

This is the place where the dragon veins of the Tianqian Domain converge, and it is also the central location of the five major array bases.

Once this last Qilin formation base is destroyed, the Five Elements Grand Formation will completely collapse, and the Heavenly Gate will once again descend upon the world.

On the main peak of the Qilin Mountains, atop an ancient altar.

A stone sculpture of a Qilin, carved from loess, stands quietly in the center, radiating earth-attribute energy as heavy as a mountain.

Chu Chang stepped onto the altar.

However, before he could get close to the stone sculpture, two beams of earthy yellow divine light suddenly shone from the eyes of the Qilin stone sculpture.

"roar!"

A deep roar came from inside the stone carving.

Immediately afterwards, the void around the altar began to twist violently, and countless earth-yellow runes intertwined, condensing in front of the stone sculpture into a phantom figure wearing a yellow Taoist robe.

Although this figure was only a remnant soul, the aura emanating from it had reached the terrifying late stage of the Mahayana realm.

"Those who come later, stop here."

The illusory old man looked at Chu Chang, his voice filled with supreme majesty: "I am the Daoist Zhenyue, the guardian of the central core of the Five Elements Grand Array. This array concerns the life and death of all living beings in the Tianqian Domain. If you destroy it, the Heavenly Gate will reopen, immortals will descend to earth, and the Tianqian Domain will be transformed into a living hell!"

"Do you want to become a sinner for all eternity?"

Faced with the old man's questioning, Chu Chang simply smiled coldly.

"A sinner for all time?"

Chu Chang raised the Broken Dust Ancient Sword, pointing it diagonally at the ground: "Keeping mortals like pigs and dogs in a pigsty may be safe, but it's still a pigsty. To save yourselves, you've severed the heavens and earth, cutting off your descendants' hopes of ascension. Is this your way?"

"We are here to leave a glimmer of hope for the Tianqian Domain!" Zhenyue Daoist roared.

"vitality?"

Chu Chang stepped forward, his Tribulation Transcending stage aura erupting forth, instantly shattering the opponent's Mahayana stage pressure.

That glimmer of hope wasn't something you begged for, nor was it something you hid from!

"If immortals want to eat people, I will kill them! If Heaven wants to destroy me, I will defy Heaven!"

"You bunch of tomb keepers hiding in the shadows have no right to block my path!"

"Stubborn to the end!"

With a furious roar, the remnant soul merged into the Qilin stone sculpture behind him.

hum!

The entire Qilin Mountain Range seemed to come alive in that instant.

The gravity within a radius of tens of thousands of miles increased ten thousand times in an instant, and the space was compressed and cracked. The Qilin stone sculpture transformed into a yellow behemoth thousands of feet tall, and with earth-shattering power, it slammed down towards Chu Chang with a palm.

This strike, imbued with the earth elemental power of the entire dragon vein, weighed over a billion tons!

"break!"

Chu Chang's black hair danced wildly, and the chaotic immortal energy within his body was pushed to its limit in that instant.

Instead of dodging, he faced the enormous Qilin palm head-on and swung his sword upwards against the heavens.

[In the chaotic heavens, a single sword shatters all laws!]

A dazzling golden sword beam, like a waterfall flowing backwards, crashed violently into the giant palm of the Qilin.

Rumble!

The entire Middle-earth heard this terrifying roar in that instant.

The giant Qilin paw shattered like paper before the golden sword light. The remaining power of the sword light did not diminish, directly annihilating the thousand-foot-tall Qilin stone sculpture, along with the entire ancient altar, into dust that filled the sky.

puff!

The remnant soul of the Daoist Zhenyue fell out of the dust, his figure extremely dim, as if he might dissipate at any moment.

He looked at the young figure radiating supreme immortal light in the void, his eyes filled with bitterness and shock.

"Tribulation Transcending Stage... Haha, so, the Heavenly Dry Domain really has a Tribulation Transcending Stage cultivator..."

"I hope... your sword is fast enough..."

The Taoist Zhenyue gave a self-deprecating laugh, and his remnant soul completely dissipated between heaven and earth.

With the shattering of the last Qilin formation base.

hum!

An indescribable, strange fluctuation instantly swept across the entire Tianqian Domain.

The earth roared, the rivers boiled, and the invisible barrier that had been suppressing the entire world's void completely collapsed in that instant.

"Boom!"

A muffled, loud noise suddenly came from the void directly above the Heavenly Dry Domain.

Immediately afterwards, it was as if an invisible giant hand had torn open a huge crack ten thousand feet wide in the sky.

Behind the crack, the original dark starry sky disappeared, replaced by a strange world radiating a soft white light and surrounded by swirling white clouds.

At the edge of that strange world, a towering gate, ten thousand feet high and carved entirely from white jade, slowly emerged from the void.

The giant gate was engraved with countless profound immortal laws and runes, and faint celestial music emanated from behind it, exuding an alluring aura of ascension.

The Heavenly Gate has reappeared on earth!

However, at the moment the Heavenly Gate reappeared, a terrifying thundercloud with a dark red hue suddenly condensed in the sky above the entire Heavenly Dry Domain.

Those were no ordinary heavenly tribulation thunderclouds.

That was the backlash from the remaining restrictive power and the rules of heaven and earth after the collapse of the "Heaven-Locking Array," known as the "Nine Netherworld Immortal-Slaying Tribulation."

Anyone who attempts to force their way through the Heavenly Gate will suffer a devastating blow from this backlash.

"Finally out."

Chu Chang stood in the vast void, his white robes fluttering, holding the ancient sword Duan Chen in his hand.

He looked up at the majestic Heavenly Gate and the roaring dark red thunderclouds before it, and the fighting spirit in his eyes burned to its peak in that instant.

"Disciples of the Divine Sword Sect, and all beings of the Heavenly Qian Domain, today, I will cleave this path to immortality for you!"

Chu Chang's voice, enveloped in immortal energy, instantly resounded throughout the entire continent.

Countless cultivators looked up at that solitary figure, and tears welled up in their eyes.

It's been three thousand years.

Finally, someone in this world has dared to challenge this wicked fate once again!

Chu Chang took a deep breath, and the chaotic primordial spirit within his body let out a long roar. His entire body transformed into a dazzling golden stream of light, directly facing the dark red thunderclouds that filled the sky, and soared into the heavens towards the Heavenly Gate!