Chapter 421: Forbidden Fall

The Vice Minister’s Manor at Luan Terrace.

Yang Shenjing twisted off the head of Saint Spirit Mind Master Liang Chu, took the Spirit Realm from his glabella, and casually threw the broken head to the ground.

With his hands behind his back, he looked up at the sky, watching the breathtaking transcendent battle, his eyes filled with longing.

This was transcendent power, transcending all of nature, looking down on all living beings, every movement unleashing world-destroying energy.

In every instant, tens of thousands of martial cultivators in the city died from the aftermath of the transcendent battles, like weeds.

"Lingxiao Palace is gone today!" Yang Shenjing sighed, feeling neither good nor bad.

Yao Qian stood behind him. "I thought Grand Historian had secretly arranged to clear the internal threats with lightning speed and launch an early attack, expecting a clash of equals. I never imagined that the powerhouses from abroad would all be formidable overlords; it's practically a one-sided defeat."

"No matter which side wins, we can calmly choose our allegiance. This is the true path to victory!" Yang Shenjing said.

The eight-hundred-zhang-tall Lin Terrace was dyed red with blood, with corpses and bones covering its steps.

Only the mountain peak remained, not yet breached.

A large number of cultivators in the city, including Princess Yunchang, Xing Yuenu, and Tai Shi Yu, rushed into the emptied Lin Terrace one after another, fearless of the transcendent terrifying aura.

They went to the black stone buildings that had not been destroyed, repaired the foundations of the array platforms, and activated the formations.

Only when these array platform foundations were reactivated could the City Protection Array, the Immortal Plain Grand Array, the Grand Array of the Ninth Heaven Beyond the Clouds, and the thirty-six earth veins unleash their true power.

Even though the current situation seemed to offer no hope of victory.

At the peak of Lin Terrace Mountain, the Third Palace Master's entire body was ignited with spiritual light flames. Looking at the Demon Kingdom Crown Prince who was now within arm's reach, her gaze finally couldn't help but turn towards the distant Phoenix Pavilion.

Her expression was like that of a little girl being bullied by a group of people, so aggrieved that she wanted to burst into tears.

However, her eyes were much firmer, and she couldn't cry out like she did when she was a child. Her mental power voice transmitted to the Phoenix Pavilion: "Senior Sister... can you truly not perceive the outside world? I can't hold on any longer! How much longer will you sleep?"

Pleasant wind chimes echoed throughout the Cloud Heaven Immortal Plain.

The sound waves reached Lin Terrace.

Amidst the sound of the wind chimes, delicate spatial ripples accompanied them.

"This is... the Hundred Prison Wind Chimes..."

The Third Palace Master's phoenix eyes immediately looked towards the direction from which the wind chimes came, filled with disbelief, more shocked tenfold, a hundredfold, than if her Senior Sister had emerged from the Phoenix Pavilion at this moment.

The Hundred Prison Wind Chimes were forged from a hundred extraordinary immortal bones, each bone containing spatial power with an internal structure like a prison; they were her master's supreme artifact.

But a thousand years ago, they had vanished along with her master.

A familiar red-robed figure appeared in the Third Palace Master's sight, hovering outside the array barrier near the East Gate, with black hair flowing, proudly holding a sword.

Her heart churned, and an unsuppressable surge of sorrow welled up in her eyes.

A corner of the array barrier opened, and the red-robed figure flew straight in, her aura sharp, imbued with imperial might.

The transcendent beings attacking Lin Terrace all stopped and looked over with unsettled surprise.

For a moment, they all felt caught off guard.

Among them, almost all were over a thousand years old and had experienced the era when Chan Hai Guan Wu presided over the Lingxiao Living Realm.

In the city, someone shouted: "It's... it's Emperor Wu is back..."

The red figure hovering in the air, with ripples of space beneath her feet, after exchanging glances one by one with the Demon Kingdom Crown Prince, Master Lan, and others at Lin Terrace, transformed into a streak of light and flew towards the golden coffin of the Reaper in the clouds.

The golden coffin fled like a meteor streaking across the sky, but it could not escape and was instantly caught by Chan Hai Guan Wu.

The golden coffin released monstrous spiritual energy and shone with ten thousand golden rays, and the hundred beasts cast on its surface came alive, transforming into golden dragons, golden phoenixes, qilin, luan birds, kunpeng, kui cattle, ghost chariots, chongming birds, and more, as if the era of ancient immortal beasts had descended.

Chan Hai Guan Wu used her unsheathed Void-Nether Sword, striking it like a club, shattering all the ancient immortal beast light projections, and slamming them onto the coffin.

"Boom!"

Like a heavenly bell being struck, the coffin rang with a clang.

Energy ripples spread through the void.

Inside the coffin, agonizing screams resounded, injured by the shockwave.

The Reaper, headless, pushed open the coffin lid. Clad in Buddhist robes, his entire body's flesh was pulpified and bloody, as he tried to escape from the coffin.

"If you like staying in coffins, then stay there forever."

Chan Hai Guan Wu pressed the coffin lid, which had opened a crack, back down.

With one palm strike downwards on the coffin lid, she slammed the palace-sized golden coffin from mid-air to the ground, crashing it into the district that had been destroyed by the transcendent blood-fire.

"Rumble!"

The ten-li district sank into a huge pit.

The gold-cast coffin was dented and deformed.

Inside the coffin, let alone screams, there was no sound at all; its soul had been dispersed by the shock.

The Coffin Mountain Taboo was killed with a single palm strike.

In the distance, An Xianjing, who witnessed all of this, had the string of her red prayer beads break in her hand, scattering them across the ground.

Chan Hai Guan Wu single-handedly lifted the golden coffin, flew up from the ground, and hurled it towards the Sixfold Recitation Zen Temple.

"Boom!"

The golden coffin, unstoppable, like an arrow, crashed through the Sixfold Recitation Zen Temple's defensive array. A demon mountain then collapsed with a roar, burying all twelve hundred monks.

Zen Master Liunian flew out from under the soil, scared out of his wits. After glancing at Chan Hai Guan Wu, he fled towards Lin Terrace at top speed.

Only by going to Lin Terrace could he find a way to live.

But the further he fled, the more uncertain he became, feeling as if Chan Hai Guan Wu was right behind him; he was locked by her spiritual will!

"Whoosh!"

The Void-Nether Sword flew out from Chan Hai Guan Wu's hand, spanning dozens of li, piercing through Zen Master Liunian, and pinning him to the stone steps at the base of Lin Terrace Mountain. The sword remained unsheathed.

"Mas... ter..."

The Third Palace Master at the peak of Lin Terrace Mountain finally dared to acknowledge, her firm eyes growing moist, filled with both the longing of a millennium and the emotional outburst from enduring immense pressure alone recently.

At this moment, she really wanted to cry, but was afraid of being scolded by her master.

Amidst the sound of wind chimes, Chan Hai Guan Wu arrived at the base of Lin Terrace Mountain and pulled out the Void-Nether Sword. On the steps, on Zen Master Liunian's back, there was a blood-hole the size of a bowl; his entire body was almost torn apart, utterly lifeless.

In the nearby black stone buildings, the Lingxiao martial cultivators and mind masters who were activating the arrays looked at each other and all knelt down.

"Greetings... Greetings, Emperor Wu!"

Tai Shi Yu prostrated himself, bowing his forehead to the ground.

Xing Yuenu also knelt down, but her heart held an even deeper shock than anyone present, as she recalled Emperor Wu's previous encounter with the Divine Hermit.

Of course, no one was as shocked as Tai Shi Bai, who was far away in a geomorphic tower in the South City.

Because he was the only one in the city at that moment, besides Grand Historian, who knew about yesterday's wedding banquet.

"Welcome back, Emperor Wu, to Lingxiao!"

Princess Yunchang knelt on one knee, her aged voice spreading throughout the city.

"Welcome back, Emperor Wu, to Lingxiao!"

The crowd at Lin Terrace cheered in unison, raising their voices to the limit.

"Welcome back, Emperor Wu, to Lingxiao!"

The sound gradually rose throughout the city like a tsunami, wave after wave, with an unstoppable momentum.

It was incredible and extremely inspiring; many martial cultivators in the city hadn't even clearly seen Emperor Wu's true form, yet they still joined in the shouts.

A thousand years ago, during the era of Emperor Wu, the Lingxiao Living Realm had as many as three hundred states; it was incredibly prosperous. Many people were proud of that era, knowing that the Lingxiao people had once been glorious.

Chan Hai Guan Wu, holding her sword, walked step by step towards the mountain peak. Looking at the scattered corpses and ruined buildings, killing intent gradually surged in her heart. "Xiao Zhang, you and Cong'er must properly control the arrays. Don't let them escape. From now on, leave everything to your master."

The Third Palace Master finally heard her master's response. Unable to suppress her emotions, she wept tears of joy, nodding vigorously, and whispered, "Master... I truly missed you so much..."

Among Chan Hai Guan Wu's three disciples, the Third Palace Master's character was relatively much gentler, so she was not taught martial arts but cultivated mental power instead.

Master Lan fully activated the gigantic yellow mud battleship, pushing its defenses to their strongest, with dim yellow light protecting its body and thousands of scriptures surrounding it.

Li Longshu stood above the seven-hundred-zhang-tall Lin Terrace, his eyes wary. "Emperor Wu, this is Lingxiao City. No matter how strong you are, if you want to kill all of us, the millions of citizens in the city will surely be buried with us."

The Demon Kingdom Crown Prince's body shimmered with armor, the armor radiating four-colored immortal light. His posture was as upright as a divine peak, his eyes fixed on Chan Hai Guan Wu. "Emperor Wu, your state is very unstable. Your spiritual energy is not at the Martial Emperor level; it carries Yu Yao's aura. The Void-Nether Sword is also Yu Yao's war weapon. You just left the city, did you send her away? What, are you not confident in defeating us?"

As one of the few strong individuals below the Martial Emperor level, Yu Daozhen's vision and wisdom were both unparalleled, capable of discerning the truth from subtle details. At the same time, he could seize the opportunity to attack the opponent's mental state, directly targeting their psychological weakness of lacking confidence.

Hearing the Demon Kingdom Crown Prince's words, the transcendent beings present, who had been awed by Chan Hai Guan Wu's prestige, composed themselves and successively unleashed their strongest artifacts.

As long as it wasn't a Martial Emperor descending, no matter who the opponent was, they had to die today.

Chi Luan stood in the fiery clouds, laughing loudly. "Li Longshu is right. Fighting within Lingxiao City, even if Emperor Wu wins—not to mention whether she can win—I'm afraid all the humans in the city will be wiped out."

Chan Hai Guan Wu walked step by step upwards, not even glancing at Chi Luan, and met Yu Daozhen's gaze. "Yu Baxian was pursued by me for four million li back then. If not for several Martial Emperors from Yingzhou coming forward to mediate, fearing that a battle between Emperors would harm too many innocents, otherwise, do you think he could have saved his life with a mere vow?"

Chan Hai Guan Wu was also using this to tell Li Longshu and Chi Luan that even when pursuing the Demon Monarch, she wasn't constrained by the words "harming innocents," and today, with Lingxiao Living Realm's survival at stake, she would be even less constrained.

"Since Emperor Wu brings up old matters again, today, this junior dares to seek some guidance, to avenge the shame of my father's vow and cleanse the two thousand years of disgrace upon the Demon Kingdom."

The Demon Kingdom Crown Prince's sharp gaze swept towards Master Lan, Li Longshu, Chi Luan, and others, clearly indicating he wouldn't act alone.

Chan Hai Guan Wu's return after a millennium would surely cause immense upheaval in Yingzhou; who knew what state she was in now?

It's the end of the month, so of course, I still ask for monthly votes!

As for the battle plot, I also want to write more, with more words each day, but my typing speed is too slow...