Chapter 212: The Strongest Defier Arrives!
"WE'RE DOOMED!"
"THERE'S NO ESCAPING IT!"
"THIS IS THE END, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!"
Every cultivator has already accepted their fate.
As for Míng Huīrán who fought valiantly, she was in the arms Matriarch Fangblade. Looking at her skin, it was shriveled up—so badly burnt it was beyond recognition. Her hair has also lost its color due to complete drainage of her life force.
Yu Fa you bastard... can't you even do anything to stop this divine judgement!
Matriarch Venomheart gritted her teeth as she felt the heat of the space increasing the closer the godly hand got. "Dragon Spirit Confluence is likely the strongest thing we have in our sect's arsenal... what else can we do now!" frustration weighed heavily on her voice.
Fighting the urge to drown into sorrow, Bai Suzhen hovered there with a bold face. "It's not over yet..."
When she said this, it triggered Venomheart's memory of the original plan which Bai Suzhen had already set in motion.
Xu Xiaotang, laughing, pushed the descending hand of his god-like presence down on them. It moved like a meteor, extinguishing every star, asteroid and celestial matter that it came across—nothing could defy it now!
But then, something happened that changed the course of everything...
A saving grace!
The entire Azure Tree, as well as all its cultivators and people were completely untouched by the divine hand. Instead, the hand passed through the Azure Tree.
Xu Xiaotang shouted, "What?!"
Even Divine-Emperor showed some surprise, "Hm?" he raised an eyebrow.
Of the five Divine-level cultivators, only Yu Fa was smiling. "YES!" he shouted.
Matriarch Venomheart looked at her body and then back at the Azure Tree and even the Crystal River Mandala that was spiraled around it. None of it was touched by the hand. There was no cataclysmic explosion that would erase them.
"We're alive?"
"Wait, how is this possible?"
"Possible? Shouldn't we just be glad?!"
"Maybe Matriarch Dragon Sun really did stop it!"
"Did it... phase through us?" said Venomheart.
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Bai Suzhen shook her head, "No, not at all. Currently, we don't exist in this reality at all, or any reality for that matter."
"How is that possible?" Venomheart asked, having no knowledge of them ever possessing any supreme treasure that had the ability to dimensionally shift their entire tao dimension and render it inaccessible to a Divine-level attack.
However, the answer was simple.
It was Ling Meiyan.
Back at the Dragon Blossom Sect, Ling Meiyan was seated at the Central Nexus - the center of the Great-Spirit Dragon Array.
She was in a state of profound concentration, attuning her entire being to the subtle vibrations of the Shengjing Grove. She had nudged it slightly out of phase with the rest of the "higher" reality. The celestial anchors of the array played a key role in stabilizing the shift, ensuring that the dimensions remained in delicate balance.
They kept the Azure Tree from drifting too far out of sync, or else it would simply vanish.
Thanks to Nivarnic Essence Mastery—an incredible cultivation technique originating from Theravada, one of the Three Traditions—Ling Meiyan had a better understanding of the concept of formlessness that she needed to apply to the Azure Tree.
I just need to maintain this for a little longer...
She struggled to maintain the Azure Tree and Crystal River Mandala in their current state. She wasn't just focused on protecting the Golden Crown; she wanted to shield the entire tree, the entire river, and every living being within them.
Nothing was left out of her efforts. She aimed to protect everyone.
But even with her determination, there were consequences.
*cough cough* my chest...!
Ling Meiyan felt her spirit root burning, and blood started to seep from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Even her hair began to lose its brown color, turning pale like Míng Huīrán's.
"If I can just hold it fo--" Ling Meiyan coughed out excess amounts of blood.
...
Outside the Azure Tree...
"WAIT! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" a random cultivator shouted.
Sun Yurong took a good look at the Azure Tree and saw that it was slowly phasing back into its initial reality. "No..." she looked at her hands and saw that it was flickering.
Whatever phased us out of reality, might soon fail...
The old woman, Gu Zhi, on the other hand was cracking her frail fists. "As if I give a damn about whether we're protected or not! I'm still gonna kick those Divine Realm sons of bitches!"
Gu Yen sighed, "Be careful, or you'll break your back again."
"WHO ASKED YOU, BITCH?!" Gu Zhi flared up with her face as bitterly squeezed as a gargoyle.
Chen Yuxi and Sun Yurong held their heads in their hands as they sighed exasperatedly. They weren't prepared for another frustrating round of endless arguing between the two old bags of bones.
...
Back at the Heavenly Court's roundtable...
Yu Fa stood up, "Now that they've survived it, shouldn't this divine judgement be over? At this point it's no lon--"
"Will you shut up?" Divine-Emperor ordered Yu Fa with a voice that sounded threatening, but at the same time polite. The man stood from his chair and walked around the roundtable with arms behind his back. "I don't think you have the right to dictate what's right and what isn't. After all, aren't you the connection one of the Celestial Serpent Sect's matriarchs claimed to have 10,000 years ago?"
Yu Fa immediately felt a chill run down his spine as his eyes lumped out.
H-how does he know?!
Divine-Emperor stopped to give Yu Fa a thorough look, "Hmm." He rubbed his chin gently as he took notes of his facial expression. "You didn't even try to hide it," he said, giving Yu Fa a gentle pat on the back, "Good boy."
With an aching throat, Yu Fa took his seat and remained silent.
I'm sorry... Tian Mingxia.
There was no doubt in his mind that he'd failed Fangblade.
Giving Yu Fa a small side-eye, Divine-Emperor smiled menacingly, "Good..." Next, he turned back to little Xu Xiaotang and ordered, "End them."
"Gladly."
Xu Xiaotang formed a fist, and then, the divine hand did the same. In that instant, he unleashed the Dao Boundary Fortress Incantation, completely changing the situation. It was a supreme world-controlling technique created by the Sacred Emperor, who later shared it with the cultivators of the Heavenly Dao Domain.
Only those with a Divine cultivation base and Celestial Sutra Ascendancy—one of the Three Traditions—could wield it. Truly, a Divine-level Daoist Arts!
Upon casting the technique, it was absolutely dominating! Xu Xiaotang managed to set up a complex array of reality anchors around the Azure Tree. These anchors were like mystical pillars, surging with an incomprehensible amount of divine Qi. They stabilized the fabric of the Azure Tree and effortlessly countered the effects of the Great-Spirit Dragon Array on its dimensional integrity!
Ling Meiyan, who tried to fight against the incredible power of this technique, was immediately knocked unconscious. She looked drained and pale, completely emptied of all spiritual Qi.
Bai Suzhen was in shock, "NO! The Great-Spirit Dragon Array, how could it...!" She didn't know what else to say; never had she thought it would falter, even against a Divine-level cultivator.
That treasure was a gift from the Heavenly Moon Goddess! How could it fail?!
Yuèhuī Ménglóng sighed and lowered her head, "I know Meiyan did her best... especially in a battle that isn't hers to fight."
Lin Feng lowered himself to the Silver Trunk of the Azure Tree where he closed his like someone who had accepted the painful fate of their existence. "It seems this time, we hoped for a little too much..."
Beside him was Liu Yan who hadn't even noticed he was there until a few seconds ago. "It's not over yet..." she calmly told him.
"What?" Lin Feng calmly said.
We still have someone who's possibly stronger than the matriarchs. Knowing him, he's probably waiting for the right time to make an entrance...
Liu Yan might have calmly thought out this possibility, but the quivering of her hand told the truth of her heart - she was scared.
"Honestly, I can't believe I'm even considering this..." Mu Lingxi spoke to herself regretfully.
Where are you Yang Wei? Did you... abandon us...? Did you abandon me?
On the other hand, Mu Zhong didn't even care about their untimely end; he was flying straight back for the Golden Crown.
I have to make sure Meiyan's okay! he thought.
Mu Lin, who was in the team of cultivators fighting in the Bronze Tap Root, was praying at the time.
Yang Wei's the only person who could tell I was actually very religious... something even my own Father doesn't know. At this point, I only want to pray that I get to meet him again in the next life, *sob* still... I was lucky to *sob sob* meet him in this one.
Elder Qian casually shrugged and said, "As long as I've reconciled with you two, I can die with no regrets."
"Well..." Huo Zirou bowed her head, "My only regret is not spending enough time with you both."
Guo Xiaomei and Elder Qian smiled at her.
The voice of Xu Xiaotang rang out like a thundering storm.
"AZURE TREE, PREPARE TO PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR DEFECTION!!"
He pulled his hand back and the divine hand pulled far back, mirroring Xu Xiaotang's actions. Clenching his hand into a fist, every cultivator watched as the godly hand became a fist that signalled the end of their existence.
Sun Yurong was the only person who didn't seem to be shook by this world-ending event.
You all may have lost faith, but I, Sun Yurong, knows how this will end!
Thrusting his fist forward, Xu Xiaotang unleashed a blazing divine punch aimed directly at the Azure Tree, carrying with it a force that could shake the heavens and split the world! Everything was obliterated; celestial wraiths and beasts alike turned to ash in its wake. The fist moved at an unimaginable speed, too fast for anyone to even catch a glimpse of their lives flashing before their eyes.
But out of nowhere, it completely vanished!
Every single member of the Heavenly Court roundtable stood up from their seats when they saw this.
"W-what just...?!" Xu Xiaotang was flabbergasted.
Even the inexpressive Divine-Emperor couldn't hide the shock on his face.
Then, hovering far above every cultivator outside the Azure Tree, was a man.
White robes, long white hair tied into a ponytail, confident blue eyes and hands tucked behind his back.
It was Yang Wei.
"You blinked, and I saved the day. Typical."
If every cultivator in the Azure Tree was a defier, then he was the strongest defier.