Chapter 1017: Death and Seizure

The Superior's current soul was split from Xiao Nanfeng, making it highly compatible with Xiao Nanfeng's physical body. It was breathtakingly easy for the Superior to possess it.

Rather than leave the hall immediately, he instead discreetly dismantled some of the formations within. Using a secret technique, he probed the situation outside.

Having suffered such a major setback at Xiao Nanfeng's hands, he had come to understand Xiao Nanfeng's prowess. He was wary of any traps that Xiao Nanfeng might have left outside.

At that moment, there was an argument occurring outside the hall.

Ye Sanshui remained steadfast at the entrance to the secluded hall. Before him stood the injured Madam Rouge, Liu Miaoyin, and the Divine Emperor. Though the three women were wounded, they staunchly guarded the hall from a group of bloodied supreme cultivators with simmering anger in their eyes.

"You're still defending Xiao Nanfeng? If not for the fact that he's in secluded cultivation, why would so many of us have perished?!"

"How dare he claim to be in secluded cultivation when the future of the world is on the line? He's a coward!"

"All the deaths that we sustained in this battle are his fault. Make way! I want to know what he's doing!"

The enraged cultivators glared at the three women.

Madam Rouge sniffed coldly. "Ha! Dispense with the excuses. You just want to pin a crime on my husband and force him to hand over his golden tree. What a petty trick!"

The Immortal Emperor of Daru, who stood in the lead, growled, "Madam Rouge, how dare you? We lost countless cultivators during this assault. If not for the three Qing Grandmasters fighting with their lives on the line, we would all have perished."

"And in the end, we won," Madam Rouge replied coolly.

"We did win, but at too severe a cost. If we had had the golden tree, we would have been able to win a decisive victory. That's why this is all Xiao Nanfeng's fault. How can he refuse to fight despite having as potent a treasure as the golden tree?"

"That's right!" the other cultivators declared in rage.

"Silence!" Madam Rouge shouted. "Listen well. The golden tree is my husband's possession, not yours. How he uses it is up to him. You have no right to commandeer it."

Liu Miaoyin added coldly, "Your greed speaks volumes."

The Divine Emperor declared, "If you want to fight, so be it. Don't waste time with this nonsense."

The three women's attitudes were clear. No one would be able to disturb Xiao Nanfeng without getting past them.

Countless soldiers of Dazheng raised their weapons and glared at the intruders fiercely, prepared to defend the hall with their lives.

The atmosphere was tense, but ultimately, battle didn't break out. The supreme cultivators recalled the terrifying combat prowess of the three women during the fighting that had just unfolded and suppressed their fury.

"We won't bother Xiao Nanfeng now, while he's in secluded cultivation. Once he emerges, we shall stake our claim then," the Immortal Emperor of Daru said coldly.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The other supreme cultivators echoed his sentiments.

Madam Rouge replied, "If you dare disturb my husband in the meantime, be prepared for the destruction of all you hold dear."

"Indeed!" Liu Miaoyin and the Divine Emperor added.

"Let's go!" the Immortal Emperor of Daru commanded.

With a loud boom, the group of supreme cultivators soared into the sky and quickly vanished beyond the horizon.

The three women watched them leave but didn't lower their guard. They glanced at the tightly shut door to the hall. There was no movement within. They frowned slightly and made further arrangements before finally departing.

The Superior had witnessed everything within the hall. He didn't reveal himself even when the crowd left. He knew that Xiao Nanfeng had devised secret signals with the three women that he was unaware of, and he knew just how intelligent and vigilant they were. He had no intention of exposing himself immediately.

Once things had settled down, he sent a mental transmission to Ye Sanshui, instructing him to discreetly dismiss the three women's subordinates from their posts.

Ye Sanshui was surprised, but he had always carried out Xiao Nanfeng's orders without question. He immediately obeyed. Once everything was in order, the Superior finally opened the doors to the hall.

However, no one noticed that he wasn't the real Xiao Nanfeng.

"Your Majesty, these past few days..." Ye Sanshui quickly summarized what had happened.

Not long ago, the third wave of Darkborn had arrived. In the end, the three Darkborn were killed by the three Qing Grandmasters and the gathered supreme cultivators. Though the three Qing Grandmasters were incredibly strong, they had sustained serious injuries in the process.

"I understand. I have my own plans in mind. I'll be taking care of some matters in the meantime. You will remain here and maintain the illusion that I'm still in secluded cultivation."

"Understood!" Ye Sanshui replied.

The Superior had observed Xiao Nanfeng for years. While some minor details eluded him, he had thoroughly studied Xiao Nanfeng's methods of command, and was highly familiar with the officials of Dazheng. After making a few brief arrangements, he shrouded himself in mist and quietly left Yongding.

Before long, he arrived over a vast stretch of the sea.

"Xiao Nanfeng truly bears a truesoul from the Milky Way. To think his physical body has become this powerful in such a short time—well, belongs to me now," Taishang murmured as he examined his newly acquired body. His eyes gleamed. "But this isn't enough. The ninth stage of the Boundless Immortal realm? While I currently surpass all the so-called peak Boundless Immortals of this planet, I can still enhance my strength further. First, I'll push this body to the pinnacle of the Boundless Immortal realm."

Muttering to himself, the Superior waved his hand. A rift appeared in the void—the entrance to a hidden realm.

As soon as he stepped inside, lightning flashed and thunder roared. The natural laws of the realm detected his arrival and began attacking him.

The Superior glanced up at the colossal hand forming within the storm clouds and frowned. "Is this the natural law that Sibyl left behind? How... lacking."

He raised a hand. Different beams of energy radiated from each of his five fingers, merging into a five-colored beam that shot into the storm clouds high above.

The descending Heaven's Hand halted in its tracks, and the countless bolts of lightning dissipated.

He had seized control of the Heaven's Hand in an instant.

"Condense!" the Superior commanded.

The Heaven's Hand, along with the storm clouds, rapidly shrank and transformed into a dense ball of silver energy. It descended before the Superior.

He opened his mouth and inhaled it. After a moment of absorption, he frowned in frustration.

"It's far from enough."

By then, the hidden realm had returned to normal, its natural laws having been absorbed. The inhabitants gasped in shock, but the Superior ignored them. He left the realm and sealed it once more.

Then, he soared higher and higher until he reached outer space, where he looked down on the four great continents. His eyes gleamed with golden light. Suddenly, the entire world was revealed to him, dotted with silver glows—hidden realms containing Heaven's Hands.

"As expected, there are still many unexplored hidden realms," the Superior murmured, smirking.

With a whoosh, he dove toward his next target. Now that he had identified all the hidden realms containing Heaven's Hands, he would absorb them all one by one.

Within a desert, he found a hidden realm, entered it, and devoured its Heaven's Hand. A while later, he did the same in an idyllic valley.

After two weeks of intense hunting, he finished off all the unclaimed hidden realms. Now, he set his sights on those owned by others.

Within a certain holy land, several high-ranking cultivators were holding an important meeting.

"The Immortal Emperor of Daru wants us to rally all our forces and make a fuss at Yongding again. What do you think?"

"Of course we have to do it! The four divine empires in Dazheng's alliance publicly disclosed their insight on the nine branches of the world tree. Perhaps we too might be able to command the world tree in the future, but the crux to it all is that golden tree. If we don't fight for it now, when should we?"

"But the Darkborn are appearing in waves. Should we really be making a fuss at such a crucial moment?"

"What's there to worry about? There are cultivators stronger than we are who will hold the fort. The three Qing Grandmasters will defend against the Darkborn. If we manage to claim the golden tree for ourselves, we might become the next Xiao Nanfeng."

"Very well. I'll inform the Immortal Emperor of Daru, then. We're willing to join his rebel alliance."

As those cultivators excitedly made plans for the future, a sudden cry came from outside the hall.

"Hierarch, something's wrong! There's been an avalanche at the mountain pass. Countless monsters are attacking our holy land, and our defensive formation won't last! Ah—they've breached the interior!"

Loud cries rang out from the holy land, followed by the cacophony of battle and the screams of the wounded.

The high-ranking cultivators of the holy land streamed out of the hall to see an apocalyptic sight unfolding before them.

"Who dares attack our holy land?!" one of them shouted.

The next moment, a spear of ice descended from the sky and hurtled toward him. He blanched as he threw a punch in an attempt to block it, only for the spear to pierce straight through his body and impale him against the ground. He died on the spot.

All across the holy land, screams of agony filled the air.

No one saw who the assailant was. Before long, everyone in the holy land had been annihilated.

A day later, a group of powerful cultivators, led by an avatar of one of the holy land's disciples, arrived at the site. What they found was utter devastation—bodies everywhere, with not a single soul left alive. The scene was beyond tragic.

"What frightening power of ice and snow... Who could have done this?" someone asked in horror.

"We don't know. Before my avatar perished, it saw a figure shrouded in mist high in the sky. That cultivator alone wiped out our entire holy land," the disciple recounted, his voice trembling.

"Did your holy land have any mortal enemies?"

"No, absolutely not."

"Let's see if anything has been stolen from your holy land, then."

The crowd began searching the ruins. Before long, a disciple shouted, "Our holy land was guarding a hidden realm. Someone has entered it, and the Heaven's Hand within is gone!"

"What?" The supreme cultivators glanced at each other in shock.

The situation baffled them, but the culprit had already vanished, leaving them with no leads.

Soon after, similar incidents occurred across the land—entire sects and cities were being wiped out. The killer was ruthless, leaving no survivors in his wake. Each time, he would enter a hidden realm and seize the Heaven's Hand within.

For a time, the entire world was in an uproar. Countless experts began hunting for the perpetrator's whereabouts, some even lying in wait outside hidden realms of their own. However, all who attempted to ambush him met their deaths.

Even after a dozen days or so, no one had uncovered a clue as to what was happening. Meanwhile, the anti-Dazheng alliance that the Immortal Emperor of Daru had been organizing was delayed as a result of the ongoing massacres.

Standing by the grand hall of his imperial palace, the Immortal Emperor of Daru's expression was grim and cold. He muttered to himself, "Who's this bastard making such a mess and disrupting my plans?"

"Your Majesty, the perpetrator has been collecting Heaven's Hands from various hidden realms. Your imperial palace contains the entrance to one. Might he strike at us next?" an official beside him asked.

"He wouldn't dare!" the Immortal Emperor of Daru replied coldly.

Suddenly, his expression changed as he sensed something. His gaze snapped upward, piercing through the clouds. Though the killing intent concealed within the depths of the sky was extremely subtle, he had still managed to perceive it.

He soared into the sky. In an instant, he reached the depths of the clouds, where a lone figure stood.

"Xiao Nanfeng?!" the Immortal Emperor of Daru exclaimed in shock.