Chapter 456 - We're in Big Trouble!

"The Mystic Earth Immortal is back?"

Inside the Heavenly Order Temple, thousands of mighty beings from the Primordial Ruins had awaited this moment. Their faces flushed with excitement, they uniformly knelt down with utmost devotion, following the lead of Tian Ding, Xuan Jian, and Jian Mei. Their foreheads touched the ground in deep reverence, embodying the gesture of full prostration.

Outside the Heavenly Order Temple, in the dim world, a giant shadow in a silver robe gradually emerged. A ghostly smile seemed to grace his chest, making the atmosphere of the entire Sky Source Ruins eerily peculiar from the moment he appeared.

This silver shadow was none other than the Mystic Earth Immortal.

"I heard there's been some changes?" The Mystic Earth Immortal's voice was ethereal like a divine melody from the heavens.

"Yes!" Xuan Jian, his direct son, quickly recounted the events that had unfolded within the Mystic Zenith Temple, then added, "I've already issued orders in advance for all the major merchants in the Primordial Ruins to destroy the Sword Hearts."

"Interesting." The Mystic Earth Immortal let out a faint laugh, which appeared to be his assessment of Yun Xiao. Afterward, he didn't make any special arrangements but stood in front of the Heavenly Order Temple, looking down at the world of the Primordial Ruins!

Far away, the populace was ablaze with fervor, forming a magma-like torrent encircling the Primordial Academy!

And nearby, the Three Great Ruins stood solemn and cold, countless descendants of the Three Immortals donned in battle armor, their eyes hollow yet brimming with killing intent, already on standby.

"Sun, moon, and man... after a century of brewing, finally, all is in place." The Mystic Earth Immortal's lips curved slightly, a smile though not quite a smile, as the silver moonlight cast upon his face seemed to cloak him in a fine layer of silver dust.

BUZZ!

A compass appeared in his hand.

At the center of the compass were two spheres, one gold and one silver, one to the east and the other to the west, like miniature versions of the divine ark's artificial sun and moon.

It appeared to be the rudder steering the Primordial Ruins.

The Mystic Earth Immortal shook the compass, the gold and silver beads clattering but never coming together.

"You two were originally one, only by merging can you become a supreme celestial weapon. Now, after a century of brewing and the reconstruction of the broken mirror, you may be made whole again..." A fierce light flashed in the eyes of the Mystic Earth Immortal. As he spoke, he suspended the compass in midair, each hand holding a sphere, infusing them with vast power.

BOOM!

With a mere motion of the compass, the entire Primordial Ruins trembled, and both the rising sun in the east and the setting moon in the west quivered, emitting a deafening roar!

"The sun and moon are about to converge!" Inside the Heavenly Order Temple, many eyes watched intently, voices filled with astonishment.

The world was on the brink of a monumental change!

A storm-like radiance surged around the Mystic Earth Immortal, his silver robe fluttering wildly. He and the compass trembled mightily together!

"Come. For the glory of our era, lend your strength," the Mystic Earth Immortal turned and said to the mighty beings inside the Heavenly Order Temple.

"Yes!" Inside the Heavenly Order Temple, everyone stepped forward as if endowed with a divine mission, their hearts throbbing with excitement.

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Back in the Primordial Academy, Yun Xiao finally put down the Rune Pen in his hands.

The Prison Warden Life Sigil shone with an increasingly vibrant violet glow, the small sigil now containing almost 5,000,000 Runes, forming tens of thousands of miniature inscription formations.

Yun Xiao had inscribed the best formations that the Primordial Academy had to offer in one go. And it took him just a few hours. It was an increase of 2,000,000 Runes!

This was something most people in the Primordial Ruins could not achieve in a lifetime.

Yun Xiao was still in the Establishment Saint Wheel Realm. However, in terms of Sword Soul and Life Sigil, he had already reached the pinnacle of the Primordial Ruins.

"Creating your own Runes is better than assimilating them. More freedom and choice when it comes to choosing formations..." Yun Xiao mused to himself. Now, his Prison Warden Life Sigil almost caught up with the Heaven Burial Sword Soul.

His Life Sigil and Sword Soul, each with its strengths, complemented each other, producing a synergistic effect greater than the sum of their parts.

After acquiring all the techniques from the Merit Arena, Yun Xiao spent some more time going through all the crystallized wisdom and core inheritances of the Primordial Academy's predecessors spanning thousands of years.

"Indeed, as the Immortal academy of the myriad worlds, each daoist spell and sword technique here is indeed much more profound than those of the Sword Ruins and Ancestral Sword Tomb..." Yun Xiao stood in the wind, his eyes closed, savoring the moment.

He had learned several hundred new sword techniques and daoist spells! Among these, the daoist spells were divided into Martial Dao Arts and Sigil Dao Spells. The former excelled in close combat, while the latter wielded Life Sigils.

"After the battle at Mystic Zenith Temple, having devoured tens of thousands of Seeds of Creation, my flesh, Dantian, and meridians have all significantly improved."

It could be said that Yun Xiao, aside from his cultivation, had grown in all aspects to the pinnacle of the Primordial Ruins.

So, the most pressing matter before him was... when would the Five Decays arrive?

"The Five Calamities are of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Each disaster is unique, and while they harm, they don't result in a 50% death rate."

Yet, in the current state of the Primordial Ruins, while there were many cultivators in the Saint Wheel Realm, very few had successfully transitioned from the Five Decays to become Yin-Yang Immortals!

"Upon reaching the Five Decays, each decay's severity intensifies, but the nature remains the same. The so-called Five Human Decays begin with the exhaustion of the five viscera and six bowels—heart ceases to beat, lungs fail to breathe, liver stops converting... Following this, flesh, bones, skin age, vitality and blood exhaust, as if plummeting into hell.

"In this process, the Saint Wheel's essence ignites under the decay's influence, turning into death energy, devouring the essence of flesh, sweeping across the body, eventually leading to the death of both vitality and blood! The only way to transcend the calamity is to endure until the extreme of exhaustion. At that moment, all the burnt essence and death energy give birth to a strand of Immortal Essence, which then sweeps across the body like a refreshing rain, ushering in renewal, flesh regeneration, and the return of vitality!"

This was Yun Xiao's understanding of the entire Five Decays process.

Clearly, it was far more terrifying than the Five Calamities, causing cultivators of the Primordial Ruins to be scared witless. Their fear of the Five Decays stage was equal to their hatred towards the Martial Emperor Clan and the child of disaster.

"The stairway to immortality is clearly at the Five Calamities, so why do cultivators who have absorbed the power of the Primordial Ruins have to endure the heavier burden of the Five Decays?" Yun Xiao refused to believe it was because the Martial Emperor Clan had angered the heavens.

If the Martial Emperor Clan erred, why would the heavens punish others?

"Coming to the Primordial Ruins invokes the Five Decays, which must relate to the source of the powers of heaven and earth you've absorbed." Blue Star had also raised this question before.

Yun Xiao looked up, the sun and moon positioned in front and behind this divine ark.

This moment marked the dawn of the sun!

"Could their power, merging into the Immortal mist of the Primordial Ruins, be related?" Yun Xiao frowned.

"It's a possibility... but seems insufficient, unless these celestial bodies undergo other changes?" Blue Star speculated with a frown.

"Could they turn into milk, perhaps?" Red Moon joined in the conversation.

"Milk from the heavens?" Blue Star quipped.

"That would be my utopia!" Red Moon mused.

Yun Xiao stood atop a towering building, his gaze fixed on the eternally chasing sun and moon.

"Have you heard? The sun and moon were embedded in the Primordial Ruins after the arrival of the Three Immortals. Before that, it seems the Primordial Ruins were powered by a different force?"

"So, are the Five Decays really related to the sun and moon? As Yun Xiao pondered the celestial bodies, suddenly, the entire Primordial Academy beneath his feet began to tremble violently!

BOOM!

The earth continued to quake. Looking around, the entire Primordial Ruins seemed to be experiencing an earthquake, with thousands of buildings swaying before his eyes like overlapping shadows.

In the distant streets, more crowds gathered, their deep anger coalescing!

"Look up at the sky!" Blue Star suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Before Yun Xiao could look up, he noticed the ground before him brightening at a visible pace, as if daylight had arrived in an instant! He raised his head, only to see an incredible spectacle unfolding above!

The golden sun and the silver moon were slicing through the heavens, trailing giant golden and silver tails as they hurtled towards each other! The sun rose swiftly! The moon circled back through the sky!

For all cultivators in the Primordial Ruins, this was an unprecedented and unimaginable scene.

"What's happening?"

In an instant, everyone aboard this divine ark was stirred, all looking up to witness this historic moment!

BOOM!

Under the gaze of thousands, the sun and moon collided!

However, contrary to expectations of an explosion, they merged like reconciling spouses, blending into one another. In an instant, they transformed into a golden-silver radiant sphere, suspended in the sky!

Silver and gold converged, like two fish forming the pattern of Taiji!

The new sun and moon, splendid and dazzling, sacred and majestic, left nearly all cultivators in the Primordial Ruins with dry throats, excitedly kneeling down, crying out in awe.

Only Blue Star's expression changed slightly. "I understand now, this is the power of Heavenly Decay, and we're in big trouble!"