Just as the old patriarch forced me to my death, I achieved the unity of Dao and fruition.

"Please invite the Ancestral Master!"

"Open the blood coffin that transports blood!"

The roar of the Purple Gold Sect Leader almost tore his throat apart.

His face was covered in blood, and his purple-gold Taoist robe was tattered from the backlash of the formation. He was no longer the composed leader of the righteous sect.

The Heavenly Secrets Disc shattered, and the Taiqing Ziwei Yin-Yang Sword Formation was broken.

The shackles of fate that had weighed on the Nine Provinces for a thousand years by the Qi Yun Sect were cracked open by Gu Changjin's punch.

He knew... if he didn't use his last trump card, the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall would be taken away by those demonic rogue cultivators and used as firewood.

The Purple Gold Sect Leader suddenly bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood from his heart.

The blood did not fall to the ground, but instead transformed into twisted blood patterns in mid-air, seeping into the depths of the hall.

Several high-ranking members of the Qi Yun Sect beside him suddenly remembered something, and their expressions changed drastically.

"Sect Leader! No!"

It's a pity it's too late.

The Purple Gold Sect Leader's eyes were filled with madness as he formed hand seals.

"Qiyun's thousand-year history has all culminated in this day!"

"You have received sustenance from the sect; today it is time to repay that debt!"

Before the words were even finished, the Nascent Soul Sword Immortals had a chance to escape, and their bodies suddenly withered.

Flesh and blood, primordial spirit, sword energy, and natal essence were all forcibly drawn away by that blood pattern.

Even the Purple Gold Sect Leader himself experienced a sudden increase in white hair and cracked skin, as if most of his vitality had been drained away.

Boom!

Deep within the main hall, the bronze door, sealed for a thousand years, finally opened slowly.

Through the crack in the door, there was only a decaying, cold, and old-fashioned aura, as if it came from the depths of a tomb.

Click...

Click click...

A scraping sound came from behind the bronze door.

It looked like something reached out from inside the coffin.

The spiritual rain that had been falling due to the crack in the Heavenly Secrets Disc suddenly stopped in mid-air.

Every drop of rain seemed frozen.

The next instant, the spiritual rain began to flow backward.

From the mountains and trees, from the scales of the demon race, from the robes of the cultivators, they flew back to the clouds against the sky.

It was as if the entire world was in awe of what was inside the Ancestral Hall.

"What the hell?"

The Mountain-Shaking Demon Ape gripped its ironwood club tightly, and for the first time, the excitement on its face subsided somewhat.

It wasn't out of fear, but just an instinctive feeling that something was wrong.

The allied forces of demons, monsters, and scattered forces also became restless.

The immortals on the demonic path who were just fighting over magical treasures also stopped.

Within the ranks of the rogue cultivators, the two rogue immortals wore solemn expressions.

The next moment, a blood-red ancient coffin slowly emerged from the deepest part of the Qiyun Sect's ancestral hall.

The coffin was wrapped with black and red chains, each chain inlaid with dried talisman bones.

As the coffin lid was slowly lifted, the smell of decay grew stronger.

Finally, with a loud bang.

The coffin lid flew off.

A gaunt figure slowly floated out of the coffin.

He was an old man, emaciated, with skin as dry as old tree bark stuck to his bones.

He was wearing an old, tattered Taoist robe, the hem of which was decayed and looked as if it might turn to ash at any moment.

But the moment he appeared, the entire Qiyun Mountain Range fell silent.

It's not that no one wants to speak, it's that they can't express it.

That aura was terrifying; it was definitely not at the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator!

Like a hand that shouldn't have been in this world, it forcefully pressed down on everyone's neck.

The Purple Gold Sect Leader knelt on the ground, his voice trembling.

"Respectfully welcoming the emergence of the coffin of the Grandmaster Tai Xuan!"

The old man with the dried corpse slowly opened his eyes. There were no eyeballs in his eye sockets, only two dark golden sword lights.

He glanced down at the kneeling Purple Gold Sect Leader, then at the cracked Heavenly Secrets Disc, his voice hoarse.

"waste."

The Purple Gold Sect Leader trembled, but dared not refute.

On the other side, within the demonic realm, two demonic immortals exchanged a glance.

They were the most aggressive in the robbery just now, but now that they sense danger, they are the first to act.

"Playing tricks! How dare you show off your meager skills before this patriarch!"

"That old codger who crawled out of a coffin really thinks he can scare us?"

As soon as the two finished speaking, the Netherworld Blood Sea surged violently, the Myriad Souls Banner swelled in the wind, and countless vengeful souls roared as they rushed towards the Grandmaster Tai Xuan.

The two demon immortals joined forces, their power was immense, yet the Grandmaster Tai Xuan didn't even draw his sword.

He simply raised his withered finger and tapped it lightly.

It was as if an invisible string on a musical instrument had snapped between heaven and earth.

boom!

boom!

The two arrogant demonic immortals, who had been so domineering just moments before, didn't even have time to scream before their bodies exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

Just as the primordial spirit was about to escape, it was sucked in by the Grandmaster Tai Xuan.

hum.

He swallowed the two primordial spirits into his stomach.

The entire room fell silent.

Even the Ten Thousand Souls Banner on the Demonic Flying Ship was so frightened that it stopped howling.

After devouring two demon immortals, the withered body of the Grandmaster Tai Xuan began to rapidly replenish itself.

His withered skin became smooth again, his white hair turned black, and his bent back straightened up.

In just a few breaths, he transformed from a dried-up corpse into a handsome middle-aged sword immortal.

The ancient Taoist robe fluttered without wind, and an aura of power far surpassing that of a Nascent Soul cultivator swept across the entire area.

The remaining sword energy of the Taiqing Sword Formation crumbled inch by inch under his aura.

The allied forces, who had just been celebrating, suddenly felt as if they had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

The sixteen immortals—no, now only fourteen remain—all changed their expressions drastically.

A rogue immortal murmured, "This isn't a Nascent Soul cultivator... he's already taken half a step beyond that."

"Half-step Return to Emptiness!"

The moment those four words were uttered, everyone's hearts sank.

The transformation into a divine being and the return to emptiness seem to be separated by only one realm.

But that's no longer a simple difference in strength.

A cultivator who has returned to the Void touches upon the reality and illusion of heaven and earth, and entrusts their soul to the laws of nature.

Even a half-step is enough to crush the vast majority of humans, immortals, demons, and immortals in this world.

Within the demonic faction, some people instinctively retreated.

Those rogue cultivators who had just been shouting to shatter the Heavenly Secrets Disc also began to turn pale.

"It's over..."

"The Qi Yun Sect actually harbors such an old monster."

"Are we all going to die here?"

The surviving disciples of the Qiyun Sect seemed to have come back to life.

"Grandmaster Tai Xuan is invincible!!!"

"Slay demons and monsters! Restore order to the past!!"

"Kill all these traitors!"

The Purple Gold Sect Leader knelt on the ground, his face filled with a manic laugh.

"The Demon Lord of the Demon Clan!!"

"You think you can defeat my Qiyun Sect by smashing the Heavenly Secrets Disc?"

"My Qi Yun has planned for a thousand years; how could a mere demon like you possibly see through it!"

Grandmaster Taixuan ignored these voices, his gaze sweeping over the myriad demons, the demonic path, and the rogue cultivators as if he were looking at a group of ants.

Finally, his gaze swept over everyone and landed on Gu Changjin in the Demon Lord's Palace.

Gu Changjin was also looking at him, his eyes slightly narrowed.

That old man who's halfway to the Void Return stage?

No wonder... the Qiyun Sect dared to defend the mountain gate to the death.

This old thing absorbed the millennium-long heritage of the Qiyun Sect and lay in the Zhenyun Blood Coffin to avoid the rejection of heaven and earth, forcibly pushing his cultivation to the limit beyond this world.

The good news is that it's not a complete return to the void.

The bad news is that it is indeed significantly stronger than the average late-stage peak Nascent Soul cultivator.

The Grandmaster Tai Xuan spoke calmly.

"The bloodline of the Heaven-Devouring Bashe, an ancient and primordial species."

"Unfortunately, they were ignorant of their own limitations."

"Demons are demons after all."

"Having obtained some opportunities, they thought they could defy fate and change their destiny."

He raised his hand, and a rusty ancient sword slowly flew out of the blood coffin.

Before the sword was even drawn, countless fine sword marks appeared throughout the Qiyun Mountains.

"Today, I will use your blood to reforge the Heavenly Secrets Disc."

"Use the souls of ten thousand demons to complete the Heaven-Stealing Array."

"Let this land remember for another thousand years."

"What is destiny?!"

The ancient sword hummed softly, and the scales of all the demons in the Ten Thousand Demon Mountains stood on end.

The Mountain-Shaking Demon Ape gritted its teeth and gripped its staff, only to find that its palms were sweating.

Blackwing Wind Tiger whispered, "Big Brother..."

Gu Changjin suddenly smiled, his smile revealing the excitement of finally getting the main course to be served.

He slowly stood up from the palace and twisted his neck.

The demonic energy within his body began to boil wildly, and the Ninefold Golden Wheel of Merit shone brightly.

The Bashe Seal slowly rotated between his brows, like a dark abyss that had finally opened.

"Half-step into the Void Realm?"

No wonder he dared to pretend.

Gu Changjin took a step forward, and the ten-thousand-foot-tall illusory image of the Heaven-Devouring Serpent behind him slowly raised its head, its enormous serpent eyes locking onto the Tai Xuan Ancestor.

"Old man."

"I have been waiting for you for a long time."