Chapter 51: Eradicating the Supreme Beings of the Forbidden Zone

(Once a person breaks through their bottom line, they no longer have any bottom line left to speak of...)

Moreover, as they forged together into the Immortal Road, they had also brought along all of their subordinates.

Ever since they obtained those miraculous treasures a few years ago, gaining an infinite supply of immortal Qi to restore their vitality, almost all of the self-slain Supremes had returned to their peak states from epochs ago, back when they had first cut themselves off from the Dao. With just a little more time to mend their severed Dao foundations and heal the Dao injuries within their primordial spirits, they could even take another step forward.

Similarly, they had all nearly recovered their former invincible hearts.

They were so full of confidence—confident that they would surely break into the Immortal Realm, fulfilling their obsession of ages past and the profound regrets of countless eras...

A single flawless Great Emperor was enough to sweep across the eight desolate realms of the universe, able to shatter vast star domains with a single blow.

If a flawless Supreme desired it, and in the absence of any peer-level opponents, they could slaughter the entire universe of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths in a single day, reducing all stars to dust and leaving the cosmos utterly devoid of life.

And what manner of terrifying might was possessed by over thirty Supremes combined?

Even true immortals would appear as laughable as earthen chickens and clay dogs before them.

However, the endless Immortal Road—a cross-realm passage forged by Immortal King-tier giants since ancient times—was ultimately a barrier too formidable for even them to cross by brute force alone.

At the right time and the right place, they had advanced unimpeded all the way, piercing through successive barriers of the Immortal Road. They reached the end of an ancient chaos grotto, truly touching the barrier of the Immortal Realm's fragments and even catching a glimpse of the scenery within the Immortal Realm.

Yet...

They could not pierce through it.

Still, they could not pierce through it...

Without the proper key—namely, the Heavenly Heart Imprint possessed solely by a reigning Great Emperor—the self-sealed barriers of the Immortal Realm fragments were by no means something they could smash through within the brief window of time when the Immortal Road converged.

Even though it had long since been shattered into pieces, the foundation of the Immortal Realm was, after all, far too profound!

In its prime, the Immortal Realm had been forged by dozens of Immortal King powerhouses who spent endless ages gathering fragmented realms from the Boundary Sea and harvesting the essences of numerous lower realms.

Even though every single Supreme of the Extreme Dao possessed battle prowess capable of slaying immortals, they were still unable to break through the barrier—which was sturdy enough to block Immortal Kings—in a short span of time.

If it could not be pierced directly, what about using the Heavenly Heart Imprint as a key?

That was impossible as well!

One must know that the Heavenly Heart Imprint would return to the myriad Daos of the universe and fade away once a reigning Great Emperor perished or self-slain.

It would only reappear when the next cultivator reached the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Quasi-Emperor realm, underwent the tribulation, resonated with the myriad Daos through their own Dao, and summoned the Heavenly Heart Imprint back into the world.

Such an artifact, though once fused by the Supremes, could never be recreated in a short period once discarded.

Even if they wished to find a cultivator at the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Quasi-Emperor realm to immediately undergo the heavenly tribulation and become an Emperor, there simply was not enough time.

In other words, opening the door with the "key" was no longer an option.

With their obsession of eternity right before their eyes, they all went mad.

The period during which the Immortal Realm fragments intersected with the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths was fleeting. Once they missed this opportunity, they would be forced to retreat from the fragment's barrier, left stranded on the Immortal Road, or even plunge into the boundless Boundary Sea, smashed to pieces by the waves of the shattered worlds.

Consequently, the forbidden zone Supremes, who had sacrificed everything and waited for eternity, all lost their minds.

The so-called Heavenly Heart Imprint was the manifestation of the myriad Daos of heaven and earth.

It was not a physical entity, but rather the recognition of the myriad Daos.

The cosmic Heavenly Heart also possessed a vague consciousness. Its approval of a living being allowed that being to receive the favor of the laws, making comprehension of the Dao as easy as drinking water, while its aversion made comprehension exceedingly difficult.

The Heavenly Heart Imprint was precisely this kind of recognition.

When the Heavenly Heart Imprint was fused by a Great Emperor, that Emperor's Dao would suppress all living beings, causing sentient life to live under its shadow for the duration of the Emperor's reign, making it difficult for anyone else to attain the Dao.

Even if that Great Emperor died, self-slain, or voluntarily stripped the Imprint away, the suppression remaining in the myriad Daos of heaven and earth after the Imprint detached would take at least ten thousand years to completely dissipate.

Then, when there was no Great Emperor to merge with it, where did this formless entity—this recognition of the myriad Daos—actually reside?

The answer: It existed within the myriad Daos of heaven and earth, and within all living beings.

The forbidden zone Supremes made a mad decision.

That decision was—Sacrifice!

They would slaughter every single living being across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, refine every planet of life, gather the souls of all sentient beings, and refine the Dao marks left behind by them.

They would sacrifice everything that could be sacrificed.

By doing so, they would forcefully extract the ultimate power attainable!

At the same time, they would forcibly converge the myriad Daos' recognition of countless living beings, attempting to manufacture a Heavenly Heart Imprint in the shortest time possible!

Either they would use the sacrifice of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths to gain ultimate power and forcibly smash open the Immortal Realm's barrier, or they would use the artificial Heavenly Heart Imprint to open the gate!

Regardless of the outcome, they would pour forth all their strength and leave no regrets!

Had there not been so many of them in this era, and had they not all maintained their peak states, this undertaking would have been utterly impossible.

Yet, the convergence of various coincidences gave a sliver of possibility to this near-madness.

...

Outside the Immortal Road of Beidou, Taiyin and the others were waiting for the battle following the conclusion of the Immortal Road, never expecting that the forbidden zone Supremes would descend into such utter madness!

Even though they already possessed the infinite immortal Qi surging from the Law Cube, the forbidden zone Supremes no longer needed to truly enter the Immortal Realm to live forever.

Yet!

So what?

They had abandoned their families and friends, and forsaken the living beings they once vowed to protect.

They had sealed themselves away, waking up again and again when they could no longer hold on, only to devour sentient beings, watching the passage of ages as they waited for the arrival of the Immortal Road.

They had long since abandoned everything, driven solely by the desire to enter the Immortal Realm, to give an answer to their former selves, and to give an answer to those who had once followed them.

Even though they could now achieve longevity through the infinite immortal Qi of the Law Cube.

Everything they had forsaken in the past, and those who had died back then, could never be brought back.

To break into the Immortal Realm—this obsession of eternity—was something they were no longer willing to let go of...

And once a bottom line was compromised even once, no bottom line would ever exist again!

Since they had already devoured countless living beings and committed monstrous crimes, what difference did a little more slaughter make?

Thus, they began to rapidly rush back to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

Pressed for time, they needed to slaughter sentient beings at maximum speed before the coordinates of the Immortal Realm drifted away from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, swiftly extracting the Heavenly Heart Imprint from the Dao marks of every living planet.

Only then could they offer the sacrifice! Only then could they open the gate!

"Must we still fight after all..." Taiyin murmured, the murderous intent in his eyes no longer concealable.

Driven to laughter by sheer fury, he spoke with icy coldness, "You beasts!"

"Since you wish to fight, then come!"

The battle belonging to the realm of Supremes and Great Emperors erupted in full scale.

Endless flames of war permeated the entire cosmos.

On one side were the Supremes bent on slaughtering all living beings, and on the other were the Great Emperors and Holy Emperors sworn to protect them.

The battle did not last long.

Although there were as many as eighteen Supremes intent on slaughtering sentient beings, even among the forbidden zone Supremes, there were those who, despite cutting themselves off from the Dao, had never resorted to devouring living beings.

Having failed to breach the Immortal Realm's barrier and seeing that the Immortal Realm was beginning to drift away from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, they remained filled with reluctance and regret, yet had no desire to slaughter all life and forcibly extract a Heavenly Heart Imprint.

Instead, they joined Taiyin's faction to defend the cosmic sentient beings.

To prevent the starry sky from being torn apart by the aftermath of the clash, the battlefield was forcibly pushed back onto the Immortal Road.

Under normal circumstances, such a battle would have dragged on for a long time; alas, Taiyin possessed two secret weapons.

The first was the blood cube left behind by Fang Zheng, which continuously and infinitely surged with the blood essence of the Taiyin Holy Emperor.

An inexhaustible reservoir of immense blood essence—an amount that draining ten thousand Taiyins at their peak could never match—was utilized by Taiyin as fuel for his life-burning forbidden technique.

He frantically burned his blood essence, unleashing offensive power far exceeding his current realm.