Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

The battle in the Nine Spirits Realm left the Endless Starry Sky trembling in fear!

The entire Third Supreme Great Sun Immortal Dynasty, which had only just stabilized, fell into extreme terror, anxiety roiled in all hearts, and even the Xianmen Sect powers began to grow restless—these were all Sects nurtured during the previous era of Xianmen rule. At this moment, many Sects took the initiative to show goodwill to the Xianmen Sect, sounding them out.

The whole Endless Starry Sky seethed with undercurrents, as if countless schemers had all sprouted overnight.

Ziwei Tianzhu.

In the depths of the Supreme Sword Palace, a chunk of brain like charred coal and a piece of scrap-iron-like shard were rising and falling above the imperial seat, as though breathing.

Beside this brain, a Resolute Sword Cultivator stood in attendance.

Countless precious healing Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure surged in, countless drops of Spiritual Liquid fell; the entire foundation of the Third Supreme Great Sun Immortal Dynasty had been mobilized.

Thus and so, it lasted a full thousand years before faint traces of Life aura began to appear within that coal-like brain.

”Gangwu...”

The voice from that charred brain was soft, weak yet calm, with little dejection or fear.

”Sword Master!”

The Resolute Sword Cultivator cupped his hands in salute.

That chunk of charred brain was in fact Zhan Yang Sword Master!

This man truly deserved to be called the strongest in the Endless Starry Sky; he actually managed to escape from the strike of the Qilin Super Immortal Ship, one of the very few Cultivators who survived out of the tens of trillions in the army of the Third Supreme Great Sun Immortal Dynasty.

”How many rebels are there?”

Zhan Yang Sword Master asked blandly.

The Supreme Great Sun Immortal Dynasty was a typical Military Merit Group; once the Sword Master and the Supreme Great Sun Sword Dao Soldiers weakened, internal rebellion was nearly inevitable, requiring no elaboration.

”They exist everywhere, but have not formed into a scale.”

”At present, they are not worth mentioning.”

The Resolute Sword Cultivator reported: ”In this battle, it was not only you—Supreme Great Sun Sword Dao Soldiers, Supreme Maid Dao, and the Seven Super-tier Elite Dao Soldiers all suffered defeat together, near total annihilation. Nowhere in the Endless Starry Sky is there a single force that stands alone above the rest.”

”As long as the news of your awakening is spread, all chaos can be pacified.”

This was an unexpected blessing.

The grievous losses were not borne solely by the Supreme Great Sun Sword Cultivator, but by all powers in the Endless Starry Sky; it was as if every household wore mourning white. Most Sect forces had lost their pillars, and instinctively drew back their strategic lines, fearing their Sects might suffer the calamity of overthrow. Thus the Starry Sky remained relatively calm.

”Good.”

Zhan Yang Sword Master said calmly.

Clearly, this outcome had already been within his calculations.

Before the campaign, he had forcibly ordered all major powers to join the expedition and gathered them together with the Supreme Great Sun Sword Dao Soldiers, precisely to guard against upheavals that might cause a political imbalance.

”Truly worthy of being the eighteenth Sword Master...”

”Before him, we are not even ants. How difficult it is to step beyond the barriers of his path...”

Zhan Yang Sword Master murmured.

”In this battle, I gained some insight.”

”I have a scripture, Nine Deaths Supreme Breaking Dao Scripture, to pass down to later generations. This scripture holds the comprehension I gained in seeking to break out of the barriers on the road of the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor—a text for self-sealing and slumber.”

”In this battle, misfortune turned to fortune.”

”The incomplete Original Ancient Talisman I had already formed shattered by more than half. Eighty million years from now, if I can revive once again and do not perish within the currents of time, there will be a sliver of hope for me to become emperor.”

”This time, I have come to bid you farewell, Gangwu.”

Having ruled the Immortal Dynasty for two million years, he had already completed all preparations for his Sleeping Hidden Realm, and the weaker he was, the longer he could sleep. Even had he not been severely wounded and near death in this battle, before slumber he would have self-decapitated, cutting himself down to the frailest state, doing everything possible to extend the duration of his sleep.

”You are going to sleep?”

The Resolute Sword Cultivator’s heart jolted: ”Then the Immortal Dynasty...”

”It is not important.”

”None of this is important anymore.”

Zhan Yang Sword Master said indifferently: ”Gangwu, you may take whatever you wish from within the Immortal Dynasty. I will emerge once, to steady hearts, and then depart.”

”Whatever you desire, you may have.”

Everything within this Endless Starry Sky to him was like fleeting smoke, not worth mentioning.

His final actions were not for himself, but for the kin and families of the many brothers who had fought alongside him all the way—for the sake of their long-term wealth and honor.

”Yes!”

”Sword Master!”

The Resolute Sword Cultivator bowed deeply.

...

Great Sun Forbidden Area.

The faint Soul Fragment of the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor gazed upon all things in the Starry Sky, watched the rise of heroes in the Human World, watched the deaths of human paragons, the waxing and waning and extinction of organizations.

”Truly...”

”Tedious.”

This Soul Fragment, which had undergone formatting an unknown number of times, muttered to itself.

”Henceforth, there is no need to watch in detail.”

”I have already lost all curiosity. The living beings of the Human World have lived and died far, far too many times, to the point that it has become so dry, so dull.”

”From now on, just record it in words and images. When he awakens, let him look it up himself.”

This Soul Fragment sighed softly, not at all concealing that it had already birthed an independent self-awareness; its words were filled with the melancholy of being trapped in this cramped little world.

In truth, there was no need to hide anything.

Even if the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor awoke, he would not kill it. This Ancient Sword Dao Emperor felt only loneliness toward the Human World; he did not fear the birth of rivals.

As the Ancient Emperor’s Soul Fragment lost interest, the speed at which time flowed seemed to abruptly quicken.

...

A million years after Zhan Yang Sword Master departed.

The Endless Starry Sky once more plunged into turmoil. You had Supreme Great Sun Sword Cultivator everywhere, Immortal Sect Holy Lands everywhere raising troops and wielding their own power, each attacking and campaigning; scenes of dread bloodshed and chaos resurfaced. Morality and benevolence were utterly lost—there remained only those whose imperial armies were strong and mighty.

This chaos endured for a full ten million years before the Age of Disorder began to end.

The final victor was the Supreme Great Sun Maid Path!

The Supreme Great Sun Maid Path defeated the twenty-first Great Sun Sword Master, overcame the much-recovered Xianmen Sect, and utterly unified the Endless Starry Sky!

This Sect rebuilt the Immortal Dynasty, once more bringing the Endless Starry Sky under unity. It adopted gentle methods of rule, reduced taxation, emphasized the rights of low-level Cultivators and mortals, encouraged Immortal Dao Research and archaeology, and did its utmost to ease every manner of contradiction within the Endless Starry Sky, even initiating diplomatic relations with the Xianmen Sect, which had already begun to recover.

The scars of hundreds of millions of years of blood-soaked chaos began to be soothed, and the Endless Starry Sky once again entered a time of peace.

This period of peace would be exceedingly long.

For all sides were exhausted, spent, bereft of strength; and the Supreme Great Sun Maid Path was the force that most fully carried on the Ancient Emperor’s political tradition, extremely adept at balancing interests and contradictions among all parties. Its top-tier Cultivators came from Holy Lands, Immortal Sects, and races across the Endless Starry Sky, forming the greatest common denominator of all powers, and political tensions were greatly eased.

By contrast, whether it was the Xianmen Sect of the Second Supreme Great Sun Immortal Dynasty or the Supreme Great Sun Sword Cultivator of the Third Supreme Great Sun Immortal Dynasty, both were far too extreme. Once they lost the overwhelming military force to suppress dissent, the world immediately rose in rebellion; there was almost no margin for political error. They were walking a tightrope, walking the path of extremity.