With a thrust of the Longevity Halberd, five cutting Dao principles shot out.
These five cutting principles were like five sharp blades, slicing evenly toward the warring sides locked宣告
The pervasive aura of death swept across the entire battlefield. Everyone’s magical treasures and rule-breaking weapons froze for a moment as they looked up at the void.
“Pfft! Pfft!” Blood mists exploded one after another. Soon, everyone realised in horror that those around them were being cut into pieces, their primordial spirits unable to escape, torn apart by this silent cutting force.
At first, the Tianmeng Clan and Weiju World cultivators thought this was their side slaughtering the human cultivators, as had been the case across the Ten Directions World. But they quickly realised something was wrong—the ones being cut down were their own, not the human cultivators. The humans, though terrified, were untouched by this devastating killing principle.
Panic spread instantly across the battlefield. Everyone fled frantically, no longer in the mood to fight. But no matter how fast they ran, the cutting principles swept through, sparing none from the Tianmeng Clan or Weiju World.
The human cultivators soon noticed the difference. One shouted, “This is the Great Severing Technique of a human powerhouse! Its killing principles specifically target the Tianmeng Clan and Weiju cultivators. We don’t need to fear—just stay still!”
Calming down, they saw it was true: the cutting principles only killed Tianmeng and Weiju cultivators, leaving humans unscathed. Clearly, this was a masterful display of control over the killing principles of the Great Severing Technique.
How many could withstand such slaughter? Some top Tianmeng Clan powerhouses realised something was amiss. Over a dozen seventh- and eighth-step Great Dao experts charged toward Lan Xiaobu, while Seven Heavens and Qi Manwei noticed his arrival.
The Great Severing Technique continued to wreak havoc across the vast battlefield, but the Tianmeng and Weiju powerhouses began countering it with their own techniques and treasures.
Even Lan Xiaobu’s powerful Great Severing Technique couldn’t withstand the combined resistance of so many experts.
As the technique’s slaughter slowed, about to be stopped, the dozen or so powerhouses rushing toward Lan Xiaobu sped up, clearly worried he’d unleash it again.
Instead of repeating the Great Severing Technique, Lan Xiaobu raised both hands, conjuring endless Dao principles.
A terrifying wave of deathly charm surged outward. A sixth-step Tianmeng Clan powerhouse tried to block it but was instantly engulfed, turning into a desiccated corpse standing in place.
“It’s the Great Demise Technique! Retreat!” a shrill cry sent the battlefield into a suffocating silence.
Among the most feared heaven-opening killing techniques, the Great Destruction and Great Severing Techniques paled in comparison to the Great Curse, Great Demise, and Great Catastrophe Techniques.
Destruction and severing techniques had traceable Dao principles, offering some chance to resist or escape their killing range. But under the Great Demise and Curse Techniques, resistance was nearly impossible. Once affected by their principles, unless one’s own principles could counter them, death was inevitable.
Those capable of wielding the Great Demise or Curse Techniques were never weak. In a battlefield of cultivator armies, save for a few rare powerhouses, the Great Demise Technique was an all-encompassing slaughter.
The dozen Tianmeng Clan powerhouses charging at Lan Xiaobu, sensing the Great Demise Technique’s charm, no longer dared to approach and fled frantically.
Even an eighth-step Great Dao powerhouse caught in the technique’s aura risked severe damage to body and spirit, if not death. No one dared take the chance, especially since Lan Xiaobu’s technique couldn’t cover the entire battlefield.
A million-strong army of Tianmeng and Weiju cultivators besieged the Seven Heavens’ human cultivators, yet Lan Xiaobu’s two heaven-opening techniques reaped nearly ninety percent of them. But it didn’t end there. He raised his hand again, unleashing over a dozen more principles.
Before they could land, everyone fled in terror, feeling the heavens collapsing, as if the Great Cosmos itself might perish under these principles.
The Great Destruction Technique! The remaining Tianmeng and Weiju cultivators fled desperately.
Many Tianmeng cultivators couldn’t understand why Lan Xiaobu used the Great Destruction Technique. After the Great Severing and Demise Techniques, fewer than ten percent of their forces remained.
Those survivors had already escaped the killing range. Using the Great Destruction Technique now would only cause a spectacular scene and some domain collapses, without killing many more.
Watching the less than a million remaining Tianmeng and Weiju cultivators flee, Lan Xiaobu didn’t pursue. He knew he’d caught them off guard, and the Tianmeng Clan’s true powerhouses hadn’t shown up.
The Great Severing Technique was to show them he could kill brutally. The Great Demise Technique was for mass slaughter. The Great Destruction Technique was to shock them with its spectacle.
“Haha!” Seven Heavens’ booming laughter rang out as he shot toward Lan Xiaobu in a streak of light. “Brother Xiaobu, I knew it was you! Without you, we’d have been done for today.”
“Brother Lan…” Kong Xinjian said awkwardly. During the Immortality Conference, he’d conspired with Yang Tian to exploit Lan Xiaobu, only to become the fool himself.
“Xiaobu!” Qi Manwei rushed over joyfully. She’d heard Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji had vanished due to a teleportation mishap, yet here he was, safe and back.
“Dao Ancestor, with Senior Lan’s Great Severing and Demise Techniques crushing millions of Tianmeng and Weiju forces, should we seize the chance to charge and reclaim our territory?” a white-robed man asked, bowing to Lan Xiaobu before addressing Seven Heavens.
Lan Xiaobu recognised him: Ju Li, the Celestial Emperor of the Seven Heavens’ Heavenly Court, a seventh-step Great Dao cultivator.
Seven Heavens shook his head. “This was just a surprise attack. The Tianmeng Clan’s top powerhouses weren’t here. After this, I suspect the Cosmic Tree will refine the Great Cosmos’ rules, and the Great Severing and Demise Techniques may not work as well.”
Lan Xiaobu knew Seven Heavens was right. This was a surprise attack, but the Cosmic Tree couldn’t fully suppress his heaven-opening techniques. His techniques stemmed from his own Longevity Dao, unknown to the Cosmic Tree, which could only limit them at best.
“Manwei, you’re still here, but where are the others?” Lan Xiaobu asked, concerned, not seeing the rest.
Qi Manwei’s face darkened. “With the Great Cosmos now the Tianmeng Clan’s domain, and no way to track you after your mishap, Fang Zhiqian and Du Bu left Seven Heavens to search for you. Ancestor Shi Changxing was gravely injured and went to heal. Zhuang Xiyue vanished in a battle, and Ou Ping and Ce Kuhui died in combat…”
Hearing of Ce Kuhui and Ou Ping’s deaths and Zhuang Xiyue’s disappearance, Lan Xiaobu’s heart clenched. As his cultivation grew, few became his friends. Ce Kuhui, with his straightforward and kindred spirit, was one, yet he had died here.
As for Zhuang Xiyue, disappearing in such a battlefield meant her chances were slim.
Looking toward the Tianmeng Clan’s direction, Lan Xiaobu thought, since the human race couldn’t leave this place anytime soon, they had to establish a foothold. Would the deaths of Ce Kuhui and Ou Ping go unavenged? Once he destroyed the Cosmic Tree, he’d show the Tianmeng Clan that without it, they were nothing.
He turned to Seven Heavens. “Brother Zhoutian, by all accounts, given the might of the Tianmeng and Weiju forces just now, you should’ve been overwhelmed long ago. How have you held on?”
Before Seven Heavens could answer, Kong Xinjian said, “Thanks to a powerhouse’s help. I suspect he’s Ancestor Hongjun…”
“Ancestor Hongjun himself is here? Where is he?” Lan Xiaobu asked eagerly. He and Mo Wuji had teleported to the Great Wilderness World largely to find Hongjun.
“No single person could hold off the Tianmeng and Weiju armies,” Seven Heavens added.
“Where is he?” Lan Xiaobu asked.
Seven Heavens sighed. “Three days ago, he was surrounded by four top Tianmeng powerhouses. They fought beyond the battlefield and vanished-conjugated. He hasn’t returned, and we haven’t heard from him. He told me if he didn’t return in two days, we should leave the Great Cosmos immediately. But we had no chance to escape. If not for you, we wouldn’t have lasted.”
“Ancestor Zhoutian, Ancestor Kong, gather the human cultivators and build a defensive city here. I have something to take care of, or the human race has no chance of survival,” Lan Xiaobu said decisively.
He had to do one thing: destroy the Cosmic Tree. As Seven Heavens said, it might not fully suppress his heaven-opening techniques, but it could limit their scale. Without destroying the Cosmic Tree, all efforts were futile.
