Chapter 676: The Arrival of Death

The battle had roused the Fifth World's latent energies, sending them surging and churning through the air.

Yan Lie and the other foreign race powerhouses descended into the Sixth World, but the energies seeping from their bodies still drifted through the Fifth World like brilliant drops of rain.

Although the battles were fierce beyond measure, the continents and fragmented lands of the Fifth World were left unaffected.

None of the battles strayed beyond the empty skies between the continents, be it the one between Yan Lie and Zhu Ji, Gui Mu and Lie Yang, or the sword strike from Li Zhaotian that split the Forbidden Land of the Fire God in half.

Both sides showed remarkable tacit understanding, with neither allowing the battlefield to spread beyond these unspoken bounds, leaving the continents of the Fifth World untouched.

This was partially because Li Wang had told the True Gods that they were not allowed to shake the foundations of the Fifth World, no matter the circumstances.

None of the seven continents was to be harmed.

The past True Gods had painstakingly constructed the seven towering Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars to not only suppress the foreign races and prevent them from ascending to the upper worlds, but also to ensure that the continents would not split apart from the internal conflicts in the Fifth World.

Li Zhaotian and the others did not fully understand why the safety of the seven continents was so crucial. Regardless, they chose to uphold the will of the older generations of True Gods.

Thus, when Yan Lie and Rank Ten powerhouses descended into the Sixth World, everyone simply waited patiently for what would happen next.

No one set foot on the seven continents or laid a hand on the feeble foreign races residing there.

***

Only Liu Fu and a golden bee remained stationed in the outer reaches of the Eastern Land in the First World.

The golden bee regained its ability to speak after Pang Jian dispelled Yan Lie's restrictions and reestablished his connection with the outside world.

Pang Jian shared his experiences with Liu Fu through the bee.

"Zhu Ji's Dao encompasses all forms of energies," Liu Fu explained solemnly, seeing Pang Jian's awe at Zhu Ji's overwhelming strength. "Many True Gods have risen from the three Divine Kingdoms of the Eastern Lands over the years.

"As older generations fell, newer ones took their place, passing down the mantle generation by generation.

"The Divine Kingdoms, like the True Gods, have also fallen. The tides of history have swallowed many of them.

"Since Zhu Ji's rise, the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom has remained the strongest Divine Kingdom in the Eastern Land. The Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom stands unshaken not because of Jiang Fan with his Dao of the Monarch, but because of Zhu Ji.

"As long as Zhu Ji is alive, the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom will remain the greatest force of this era.

"Aside from the time when your Sword Pavilion was at its peak, with five Sword Gods, no sect or faction in any other era has ever matched the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom as it stands now."

It was evident Liu Fu held Zhu Ji in the highest regard.

Though he was a True God of the Primeval Pillar Divine Kingdom, there was no trace of jealousy or resentment in his voice. Only admiration for Zhu Ji.

As they conversed, Liu Fu's expression abruptly changed.

The Celestial Profound Mirror unfolded before him, revealing a shadowed valley with densely planted willows, where a few modest wooden buildings stood.

A blurry figure appeared, like a ripple in water, materializing from thin air and slipping into one of the wooden buildings.

Inside that building, rows of crystal vials containing vividly colored blood essence were neatly arranged.

The blood essence came from various foreign races and species of the Fey Race in the Abyss.

Each vial of blood essence was labeled with a grade, ranging from one to ten.

Even the blood essence of Rank Ten foreign race powerhouses and Rank Ten Fey Gods were collected and stored there.

Blood essence was the most crucial means through which the human race came to understand the foreign races and the Fey Race.

Those vials of blood essence were vital for suppressing their bloodlines and developing specialized techniques tailored to counter them.

Liu Fu was the one tasked with overseeing those processes.

This understanding of their bloodlines was the reason the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars in the Fifth World could suppress the bloodlines of the Fey Race and prevent the foreign race powerhouses from overcoming their sealing power.

However, it seemed an unknown presence had somehow discovered the human race's vault of blood essence!

Liu Fu immediately stirred the Celestial Profound Mirror and dove into it without hesitation.

"Pang Jian, notify Li Wang!" Liu Fu's anxious voice echoed from within the Celestial Profound Mirror.

Suddenly, cracks appeared on the Celestial Profound Mirror, webbing across its surface before shattering completely.

From the fractured shards, Pang Jian caught a glimpse of Liu Fu's Dharma Idol being torn to shreds, his blood painting the valley of willows red.

***

In the Sixth World, Pang Jian's expression was grim.

He believed Liu Fu was already dead.

One of his master's closest friends and a caring elder to Pang Jian had died, just like that.

Worse still, Pang Jian had no idea who was behind it.

The six artifacts that sustained the hidden passage capable of transporting someone directly to the Sixth World abruptly vanished before the golden bee's eyes.

The knife, sword, hammer, spear, mirror, and flag disappeared.

Soon after, they reappeared, except this time, in the Fifth World.

Pang Jian sensed that the artifacts had returned to their rightful places atop the six Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars!

An unknown force pulled the copper chest on Pang Jian's back, causing it to rip free from his control and soar toward the sky of the Sixth World.

Not long after, the final array core that Pang Jian claimed long ago returned to Eight Trigrams City.

The seven needles vanished from within the Gate of the Abyss, and Pang Jian's connection to the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars was severed.

Pang Jian let out a cold snort.

"Luo Hongyan!"

***

In the Fifth World, hidden deep within the shroud of darkness, the Black Dragon King let out a low growl.

"Liu Fu has perished in his ancestral estate on the Eastern Land," he said. "An unknown presence invaded and swept away all the stored blood essence, from foreign races and the Fey Race alike."

The Black Dragon King could not help the slight reluctance in his voice as he relayed Pang Jian's message.

Still, he understood the gravity of the situation. This matter concerned the survival of the human race in the Abyss, so he swallowed his unwillingness.

"The six artifacts in the outer reaches of the Eastern Land, as well as the chest that the previous World God left behind, have all—"

Before he could finish, Li Wang saw a copper chest shoot up from the darkness below.

"Zhu Ji, Li Zhaotian!" Li Wang shouted hysterically. "Intercept it! Stop that chest!"

A knife, a sword, a hammer, a spear, a mirror, and a flag appeared at the hearts of six continents within the Fifth World.

The previously toy-sized trinkets had transformed into colossal artifacts, towering above the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars, as if standing proudly at the peaks of different worlds.

Aside from the copper chest, which had been in Pang Jian's possession, the other six artifacts were already refined through ritual sacrifice. This allowed them to immediately teleport from the First World to the Fifth World in the blink of an eye.

The copper chest, on the other hand, had never undergone such refinement. This was the reason it manually flew through the air instead of instantly appearing on the Fifth Continent as the other artifacts had.

A turbulent sea of murky energy churned violently in the outer reaches of the Fifth Continent. Under the command of Zhu Ji's Dao of Power, it transformed into massive, swirling storms.

These storms crackled with lightning, hailed icy shards, blazed with dazzling golden light, surged with pitch-black darkness, and poured torrential rain.

Zhu Ji harnessed the primal forces of the Fifth World to create layer upon layer of deadly snares to intercept the copper chest. As long as he caught it before it could return to Eight Trigrams City, it would prevent the array composed of the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars from fully activating.

However, the copper chest barreled straight through the storms. The crashing impacts and binding forces of the murky energy did not deter it in the slightest.

"Can I destroy it?" Li Zhaotian shouted.

Li Wang cried out, "No! If the artifact is destroyed, the Fifth Continent will become unstable and could fracture!"

"Then there's nothing I can do."

Li Zhaotian begrudgingly sheathed his divine sword, letting the overwhelming sword intent within him fall silent.

His sword techniques were designed to kill, destroy, sunder the earth, or cleave through worlds, not halt or restrain. Using them on the copper chest would reduce it to pieces in an instant.

The True Gods could do nothing but watch helplessly as the battered copper chest soared into the Eight Trigrams City.

At last, the towering Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars on the seven continents of the Fifth World once again radiated a brilliant azure glow!

That glow surged outward from each pillar, rapidly expanding to envelop their respective continents like colossal, glowing eggshells.

The radiant glow of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars completely enveloped the seven continents, cutting them off from the outside.

Then, a trace of deathly stillness emerged in the Fifth World.

This aura of death was barely perceptible at first, but it quickly spread with terrifying speed.

It swept across the Fifth World with boundless momentum, not unlike Su Wanrou's Poison Scourge.

The azure brilliance shielding the seven continents spared those on them from its wrath.

The same could not be said for everything else.

A suffocating aura of death consumed the Fifth World.

Even Zhu Ji found himself helpless against the aura of death dispersing itself throughout the murky energy.

Any divine techniques or divine sense he summoned in an attempt to gather, expel, or annihilate the aura of death were tainted and erased the instant they came into contact with it.

"Get away from the aura of death!"

"Now!"

"Go!"

The True Gods cried out in alarm.

Li Yuanli turned into a stream of light, crashing against the oppressive curtain of demonic energy above the Fifth World, only to slam into it as if hitting solid iron, and was forcefully driven back down.

Wanderer Tian Du shot toward one of the continents, but the azure radiance enveloping it stopped him. His Dharma Idol was destroyed on the spot.

Li Zhaotian exchanged a glance with Yin Ji. The two then vanished into the bizarre mist together, hoping to use it as cover to evade the rampant spread of the aura of death.

The aura of death relentlessly followed.

Even the bizarre mist could not resist, much less halt, the aura of death.