Chapter Forty-Two: Severing the Heavens

“You are not Longdu.”

Heavenly Law was startled.

The true Emperor Longdu had already been slain by him. What now appeared was a newly born divine soul, the fusion of the undying spirit light and the soul. Just as Xu Zhong had previously surmised, even if the soul and the undying spirit light were the same, once fused anew, it would no longer be the original Longdu.

“I am indeed not Longdu. I am born from him, but I am not him. Yet both he and I share the same will.” In Gu Yue’s hand was a sword much like Bai Zhaoju’s Eight-Faced Divine Sword. “In this world, there should be no Heavenly Law.”

Gu Yue was his name, born from bygone things.

Heavenly Law frowned; all his incarnations had been slain.

The Old Mother of Hu River and Jiang Xuanyi stood, blades in hand, blocking the rift, preventing his return, and at the same time, supporting Gu Yue.

Meanwhile, Gu Yue’s divine soul vanished before their eyes.

“Young friend, I must borrow your body for a moment!”

Xu Zhong’s vision went black, and then he saw a golden dragon, scales and claws vivid, horns curling fiercely, seizing control of his body. In that instant, his niwan acupoint was transformed, nine dragon veins coiled within, condensing the divine soul, generating dragon energy, and in his niwan manifested the ancient kingdom of Gu Yue.

For a moment, Xu Zhong lost command of his body.

The aura of heaven and earth from the million miles of the old Gu Yue kingdom surged constantly into Xu Zhong, elevating his cultivation. In a blink, he ascended five great realms—Crossing the Five Luminaries, Guarding the One, Preserving the True, Riding the Phenomena—and by the time he soared into the sky, he had cultivated the Inner Realm and even surpassed it, standing equal to Heavenly Law.

Gu Yue gripped the sword and slashed toward Heavenly Law.

“If I could kill you once, I can kill you a second time.” Heavenly Law’s eyes sprang open, unafraid.

He swung his blade.

Crack! Crack!

Sword light and blade light collided, scattering brilliance for ten thousand miles.

In that radiance, the entire void was destroyed and reformed anew.

Their power had long since surpassed the limits this world could bear.

“Go!”

Heavenly Law swept his great blade, countless arcs of blade light transforming into thunder dragons—thousands, tens of thousands—filling the sky, electric serpents weaving, thunder dragons roaring.

Thunder clashed with sword light, and earth-shattering booms echoed far and wide. Sword qi and lightning intertwined, birthing endless sparks in the void, falling like rain from the heavens.

Gu Yue extended his hand—the Grand Seal of the Myriad Realms.

The art he had created now displayed its true might.

He seemed detached from the world; all creation rested in his palm.

And Heavenly Law, too, was within this world.

In that moment, Gu Yue seemed to be the true Heavenly Law, transcending the world.

Gu Yue pressed his palms together; it was as if Heavenly Law and the world itself were being folded into one, crushed in his grasp.

Heavenly Law laughed thrice with great mirth.

The five highest mountains of this world became his Five Luminaries, the eight great rivers and surrounding waters his Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

The whole world, centered on Five Mountains and Eight Waters, transformed into an immense deity.

He spread his hands, resisting the world’s contraction, his body expanding, finally surpassing the limits of the Grand Seal of the Myriad Realms.

Heavenly Law leapt free of the technique, swept his sleeve, and struck at Gu Yue with his palm.

At once, divine light surged like tidal waves, shattering the sky.

Gu Yue answered with a sword, endless sword qi shredding all divine light.

Then, following the sword’s glow, appeared a great seal.

This seal was colossal, with nine true dragons coiling at its center. At the four corners perched the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger—the four directional divine beasts.

The seal was held high.

The divine beasts upon it came alive, each occupying a cardinal direction. The nine dragons, vivid and lifelike, soared from the jade seal, heads down, tails up, spitting forth nine celestial rivers.

“The Seal of Heaven’s Mandate.” Heavenly Law recognized the jade seal.

This was Emperor Longdu’s supreme treasure—the nine dragon veins of the ancient Gu Yue kingdom, the four divine beasts representing the four constellations.

The seal symbolized the universe, encompassing all heaven and earth—an authority without peer.

Now the four divine beasts awakened, attacking Heavenly Law from all sides.

He was beset by overwhelming pressure.

“Do you think a mere seal can withstand me?” Heavenly Law remained impassive.

From his body erupted endless divine light—manifestations of Dao resonance—halo upon halo, like stellar rings beyond the stars. His hair and beard bristled, a natural response to the pressure.

Heavenly Law’s body split apart; every hair a bolt of lightning, interwoven with inexhaustible true fire. At that moment, he was like a wrathful god of thunder and flame.

With grand gestures, he shattered the Azure Dragon with his palm, drove back the White Tiger with his fist, devoured the Vermilion Bird in one gulp, and suppressed the Black Tortoise underfoot.

As for the nine celestial rivers spat by the dragons above him, he merely blew softly.

A mighty wind arose, shaking the heavens.

The nine celestial rivers were scattered by his breath.

The seal was sent flying.

No sooner had Heavenly Law broken free than towers of watch appeared throughout the space, each bristling with crossbows.

These crossbows were strung with dragon sinews and fired bolts of dragon bone.

In an instant, arrows were loosed.

A celestial dragon emerged, then a second, a third…

Counting carefully, there seemed to be no end.

Countless celestial dragons surged toward Heavenly Law.

He frowned, for though he had long watched this world and noticed the watchtowers and crossbows—just as he knew of the Ancestor of Stone and the Ancestor of Souls, yet did not know their fusion had birthed a new divine soul—he knew Jiang Xuanyi was gathering the dragon veins of Gu Yue, but not that this was to empower Gu Yue against him.

He knew everything, yet was still deceived by appearances.

Though he was Heavenly Law and could see all, he could not see through all, nor hear everything.

A single celestial dragon was no threat to him, but now there were 189,000—this was deadly.

He wished to flee, but Jiang Xuanyi and the others would not give him the chance.

Before the rift, Jiang Xuanyi and the Old Mother of Hu River stood, blades crossed.

Elsewhere, the sky was sealed by the four divine beasts, forged into an impenetrable iron plate—except for the rift, there was no escape.

The ground, too, was sealed.

Nine dragon veins suppressed the earth.

He could not escape below.

From the start, the Seal of Heaven’s Mandate was not meant to defeat him.

Nor did cultivators like Gu Yue expect to slay him by mortal effort alone.

They only sought to delay, so the crossbows could lock onto him.

The wisdom of man lies in making use of things.

He moved, and the dragons followed.

No matter his direction, the celestial dragons mirrored him.

Gu Yue stood his ground; he could no longer use the Three Pure Ones transformation—his soul now singular, indivisible. Otherwise, he might have found a sliver of hope.

Gu Yue soared skyward.

Jiang Xuanyi and the Old Mother of Hu River, combined, unleashed a torrent of blade light, while Gu Yue, beside them, summoned the great river sword intent from Xu Zhong’s body. At once, a blade of sword light erupted from within Heavenly Law, a wound left by Zhou Jing upon his soul—a Dao injury he could not heal for lack of a body—now reawakened, nearly shattering his divine soul.

The three drove Heavenly Law downward.

“If you wish for mutual destruction, you are not worthy!” the Old Mother of Hu River shouted.

The Hu River transformed into the Milky Way, striking Heavenly Law away.

The blade light even traced back to his undying spirit light; in an instant, the world dimmed, a single stroke splitting the galaxy, revealing endless stars.

This was Heavenly Law’s inner realm—a projection of himself and all he had witnessed.

The sun and moon were his eyes, the cosmic stars his apertures, the five mountains his Five Luminaries, the eight waters his meridians, vegetation his hair, the earth his flesh—all his own reflection.

To cut the undying spirit light would mean the collapse of the world.

Yet his spirit light was not so fragile; though wounded, the inner realm only trembled briefly. In reality, his body flickered, empty for a moment.

But for the dragons filling the sky, a moment was enough.

The first celestial dragon struck him, but was blasted into silver rain.

Then came the second, the third…

He managed to destroy hundreds.

But then tens of thousands descended—he could no longer keep up.

Countless dragons exploded around him, wild energies sweeping the space, countless streams of spiritual force buffeting the world.

Heavenly Law was swiftly damaged, feeling his vitality and spirit dissipate, his consciousness growing dim.

The raging energy still battered the space.

Even the four divine beasts and nine dragon veins could not withstand the onslaught, beginning to fade away.

At last, the space was unlocked.

The Seal of Heaven’s Mandate was now riddled with cracks; a breeze scattered it to fragments, shimmering like dewdrops, finally extinguishing in the high air like fireflies.

Within Xu Zhong’s niwan, the kingdom of Gu Yue began to collapse.

This evidence of Gu Yue’s existence too faded away.

Power drained from Xu Zhong bit by bit.

Jiang Xuanyi coughed blood, the Old Mother of Hu River was hurled aside, and Xu Zhong’s body bore wounds of all sizes—though far away, he too was caught in the aftermath.

Yet after such a heavy blow, Heavenly Law was still not dead.

But now he was spent, barely able to hold his soul together, not yet fully dissipated.

Jiang Xuanyi, the Old Mother of Hu River, and Gu Yue, as with one heart, struck together at that instant. They knew this was Heavenly Law’s most vulnerable moment—their final chance to slay him.

They could not sense each other, fearing that any hesitation might let slip the opportunity.

So when they struck, it was with killing intent.

Heavenly Law could only watch as his barely stabilized soul was assaulted by three ultimate techniques.

A blade of light fell upon him, cleaving his soul-forged illusory flesh.

Another blade whirled above his undying spirit light, seeking to erase him utterly.

A giant seal lifted him, sending him to his burial in the void.

These three techniques shredded his soul, obliterated his undying spirit light, and erased all trace of his existence into nothingness.

They had slain Heavenly Law.

They had barely a moment to breathe before forcing themselves upright, for now they faced a new question.

How to prevent the world from collapsing.

Heavenly Law was dead; the world he had projected would die as well.

If the world was to survive, there was only one way.

To become Heavenly Law, and reflect oneself upon the world.

But who among them should become this Heavenly Law?