Chapter 136 | The Galgame Martial Saint

The space within the cavern was already cramped, and Gu Chengming had summoned the entire Burial Sword Tomb without any warning. The massive, iron-gray mountain body squeezed into this space with sheer force, causing the surrounding defense arrays to creak under the unbearable pressure.

Residual sword intent from the Fourth Realm and Fifth Realm poured down through the coarse cracks in the mountain's rock.

"Sect Master Uncle-Master."

Ignoring his master's ghost-like expression, Gu Chengming stood at the foot of the mountain and spoke as casually as if he were inviting someone to dinner: "See if this sword qi is enough for you to perform the Self-Slaying Heart Method?"

Shen Qianqiu sat cross-legged on the white jade platform, his entire body still encased in the foul-smelling black mud.

He had already prepared himself to give his final instructions and take a few enemies down with him, only to open his eyes and see a mountain radiating terrifying sword intent shoved right in front of his face.

The expression of this Wenjian Sect leader, who had weathered many storms, was quite a sight to behold.

He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to maintain the dignity of a sect master, but facing such a scene that defied all logic, he eventually swallowed the platitudes he was about to say.

"It is enough." Shen Qianqiu took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a sense of relief: "Never mind performing the 'Self-Slaying' technique, it is more than enough to completely refine this old man's skeletal frame once over."

Back when he was a disciple, he often heard his master say that the laws of affinity in this world were most mysterious. He thought his years of experience had allowed him to understand this phrase, but he had still underestimated the depth of the word 'affinity.'

Thinking of this, Shen Qianqiu felt a wave of complex emotions, but he wasted no more words and began to execute the Self-Slaying Heart Method.

Do not slay external enemies, slay only one's own distractions and karmic obstacles; this is called self-slaying!

Under Shen Qianqiu's guidance, the majestic sword intent transformed into thousands of fine sword threads invisible to the naked eye, surging through the major acupoints of his body.

As the sword qi entered his body, Shen Qianqiu's frame jolted violently.

The black mud covering his skin began to writhe as if sensing a threat.

It tried to burrow deeper into Shen Qianqiu's meridians, but under the crushing weight of the peak Fourth and Fifth Realm sword intent, such struggles were futile.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

Accompanied by a tooth-aching sound of corrosion, the black mud was forcibly peeled away layer by layer by the sharp sword intent.

The moment those filthy substances left Shen Qianqiu's body, they were completely shredded by the surrounding sword qi, turning into specks of black ash that drifted down onto the white jade platform.

Ren Wencai nodded repeatedly from the side, his heart settling. He subconsciously looked at his disciple, for a moment not knowing what to say.

He thought of his previous disciple, and of the feeling he had when he thought his legacy would have no place to rest, suddenly realizing that if the world's karma, opportunities, and calamities were truly predestined...

Trading all the calamities of this life for such a disciple was truly worth it.

The old man was filled with thousands of emotions, but his face remained impassive. He only lightly stroked his beard, his gaze returning to the black mud being stripped away on the white jade platform.

The thoughts of elders were always thus; even if there were crashing waves in their hearts, their mouths would at most offer a casual 'not bad.'

Gu Chengming stood quietly to the side. As his gaze fell on the peeling black mud, a familiar translucent prompt suddenly popped up.

【The 《Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art》 leaned in to take a close look. It furrowed its brow and issued a warning】

【Chengming, you must be careful! This aura is incomplete and lacks the derivative logic that natural heaven and earth calamities should have. It seems more like a shoddy imitation forcibly pieced together by some massive underlying law】

【This is very similar to the 'Miasma Tide' mentioned before.】

Gu Chengming nodded; this suspicion was identical to his own.

The first half of the life of the Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying True Monarch was filled with questions about secular rules, but when the Miasma Tide arrived, he suddenly had a massive personality shift, becoming a 'saint' who shut himself away in his sect to work behind closed doors. Gu Chengming had felt that the transition in that biography was quite forced.

If the Miasma Tide still existed and the mastermind behind it had altered that period of history for some reason, then everything made sense.

And if the Miasma Tide was man-made, then what role did the Longevity Sect—who were currently using black mud of the same origin to ambush righteous cultivators everywhere in Tianque—play in this conspiracy spanning thousands of years?

The Longevity Sect stirred up trouble in the capital, incited rebellion at Falling Snow Pass, planted conspiracies in the Hehuan Sect, and now came to fish in troubled waters in Tianque. Could it be they wanted to replicate that man-made Miasma Tide from back then? Or was the Longevity Sect itself a remnant of the massive power that had altered history?

Just as Gu Chengming was connecting the many clues to piece together the full picture of the truth, the commotion on the white jade platform gradually subsided.

The last trace of black mud was completely obliterated by the sword intent.

Shen Qianqiu's tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open.

His previously withered aura now resembled withered wood meeting spring, rising at a terrifying speed.

The surrounding spiritual energy seemed to be drawn by a high-level law, surging frantically into Shen Qianqiu's body.

Although he didn't fully recover, he had regained about thirty percent of his strength.

Shen Qianqiu let out a long breath of turbid air, stood up to straighten his somewhat tattered daoist robe, and looked at Gu Chengming with a complex gaze.

"Chengming."

The voice of the Wenjian Sect leader was now filled with nothing but amazement and sentiment:

"Having not seen you for only two years, you have grown to such a degree. Never mind the younger generation, even in the history of the Wenjian Sect, one cannot find a second person with such methods and boldness."

Gu Chengming performed a junior's salute, neither humble nor arrogant:

"Uncle-Master overpraises me. This disciple just had better luck and picked up some opportunities in Tianque that others didn't want."

Ren Wencai's mouth twitched as he listened from the side.

You call this something others didn't want? Others would have wanted it, but could they have taken it?

Despite the internal complaints, the old man felt mostly pride.

Shen Qianqiu nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the massive iron-gray mountain, and then he made a decision.

"The situation in Tianque is far more complex than we expected. Since the Longevity Sect dares to set up a killing field here to ambush various forces, they must have deeper designs."

Shen Qianqiu turned to Ren Wencai: "Wencai, although I have severed the Miasma Tide from my body, my soul's origin has still been damaged. The residual sword intent in this Burial Sword Tomb is extremely abundant. For the coming period, you and I will stay here for the time being."

He looked back at Gu Chengming: "Chengming, your master and I will stay here in seclusion to recover. If there is anything you wish to do, feel free to act. As long as you do not encounter the Fifth Realm, leave it to us to handle."

Gu Chengming felt a sense of relief upon hearing this: "Thank you, Uncle-Master. Thank you, Master."

The third stage of Tianque's rules was killing to seize opportunities, but that was just a surface game. The real prize lay in the underlying laws hidden deep within those Dao Throne Wonders.

He still had to investigate who had faked history back then and what exactly the Longevity Sect was looking for. Only then would he find a way to resolve the bond event for the Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art.

Just as Gu Chengming was organizing his thoughts and preparing to bid farewell to his two elders, Xu Huayi, who had been standing quietly behind him, suddenly stepped forward.

She had already heard the conversation clearly and naturally guessed that Gu Chengming planned to do something dangerous next.

"If Fellow Daoist Gu intends to investigate certain matters..."

Xu Huayi looked at Gu Chengming, her lips curving into a beautiful arc:

"You will surely need a helper who is proficient in array deduction and will absolutely not hold you back, right?"

Gu Chengming felt a warmth in his heart and smiled: "Then I shall have to trouble Fellow Daoist Xu for the time being."

"No trouble at all!" Xu Huayi said with a silly grin.

After the two performed a farewell salute to Shen Qianqiu and Ren Wencai, they turned and walked out of the cavern.

Ren Wencai stood at the entrance, watching their backs disappear into the depths of the forest, and only turned back after a moment of silence.

Shen Qianqiu had already sat down cross-legged again, guiding the sword intent of the Burial Sword Tomb to repair his damaged soul origin.

"Wencai..." Shen Qianqiu did not open his eyes, his tone carrying a hint of sentiment: "You have truly taken in a good disciple."

Ren Wencai found a flat stone at the foot of the Burial Sword Tomb and sat down, replying casually:

"Naturally. Look at who taught him."

Despite his words, the old man's gaze unconsciously drifted toward the cave entrance where the figures were no longer visible, the pride and worry in his brow split equally.

...

On the other side, inside the Zhou Shrine.

The light within the white jade hall experienced an extremely brief gap.

It wasn't a dimness like a solar eclipse, but rather the concept of 'light' itself being severed in half by a pure black horizontal blade.

When the everlasting lamps in the hall regained their glow, the male Fifth Realm cultivator who had been dressed in gray robes was smashed against the jade wall at the edge of the hall like a tattered sack.

He had failed to escape.

"Cough... Pfft!"

The gray-robed cultivator spat out a large mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments. He slid down the smooth jade wall and finally collapsed on the white jade floor tiles. The robe that was supposedly able to block all divine sense probes below the Sixth Realm had been sliced open with a deep, bone-deep gash extending from his left shoulder to his right waist.

No blood surged from the wound; instead, pure black blade qi rolled between the flesh, greedily devouring the original spiritual power in his body that was trying to repair the injury.

The gray-robed man stared intently at the woman standing in the center of the hall, his eyes full of regret.

"It really wasn't easy."

Zhou Qingmu sheathed her blade, the horizontal blade making a crisp 'click' sound.

She rolled her shoulders and casually took off the bamboo hat she used to disguise her identity, tossing it aside.

"If I hadn't drawn my blade a bit faster, you really might have slipped away."

Zhou Qingmu crossed her arms, her expression quite relaxed: "Tell me, with so many lone sheep to slaughter in the outskirts of Tianque, why did you come to this core hall of the Zhou Shrine to play ghost? What are you after?"

The gray-robed man clutched his chest, gasping for breath, every breath pulling at the excruciating pain of the blade qi ravaging his meridians.

He looked at Zhou Qingmu's face, which carried an overwhelming pressure even without makeup, and let out a tragic laugh:

"Night Severance... You are the Director of the Daqian Night Guard Division, Zhou Qingmu."

"Good eyes."

Zhou Qingmu admitted it openly: "Since you recognize me, you should know the interrogation methods of the Night Guard Division. While I am still in a good mood, answer what I ask and suffer less."

The man spat out a mouthful of blood, his smile looking worse than crying: "Why does Director Zhou ask what she already knows?"

The core opportunity of this Tianque was the Dao Throne, and to get a ticket for the final Dao Throne competition, one must first control a Dao Throne Wonder!

This Zhou Shrine was the largest ownerless wonder in this region.

As long as one refined it before everyone else, they could use it as an anchor and remain invincible.

He thought he was here to steal an empty house, but he didn't expect the Director of the Daqian Night Guard Division to be hiding here.

After the man finished speaking, the last trace of light in his eyes faded. The intent of the Night Severance blade had invaded his meridians and was now consuming his remaining life force. He struggled to say something more, but only a few mouthfuls of blood mixed with fragments surged from his throat.

"Sigh, I was going to let you have a few more last words."

Zhou Qingmu sighed and ignored the gray-robed man struggling on the ground. She turned and cast her gaze toward the white jade platform in the center of the hall where the jade slip floated.

The hall was in ruins from the aftershocks of the clash; cracks on the jade walls spread like spiderwebs, and half of the everlasting lamps had fallen, their oil flowing slowly through the cracks in the tiles.

But the white jade platform remained unmoved, as if it were the only existence in this hall untouched by mortal force. The jade slip floating above it emitted a gentle light, seemingly waiting quietly for someone.

...

At the same moment, on an unknown hidden plateau elsewhere in the Tianque secret realm.

At the stone table covered in black and white chess pieces, the atmosphere suddenly dropped to the freezing point.

The wrist of the old man holding a white piece suddenly jerked, and the smooth piece in his fingertips shattered into countless grains of powder with a 'snap,' trickling through his fingers and onto the crisscrossed board.

The cloaked figure on the other side jolted, suddenly looking up. The brawny body cultivator sitting on the left stood up abruptly, knocking over the stone stool behind him with a dull thud.

To keep each other in check, no one had been willing to easily reveal their trump cards, maintaining a delicate cold war balance.

They had permitted the gray-robed man to go to the Zhou Shrine to scout, intending for him to test the waters and figure out the array situation inside.

"What sharp blade intent..." The brawny body cultivator stared intently toward the southeast: "Severing time, splitting the night... Daqian actually let that lunatic in?"

"Daqian has a massive appetite."

The flash of Fifth Realm blade intent just now was brief, but it had completely shattered the balance they had painstakingly maintained for several days.

The Zhou Shrine falling into Daqian's hands was almost a certainty. If they continued to waste time here, once that lunatic from the Night Guard Division fully digested the Dao Throne power of the Zhou Shrine, they would have another competitor.

What a useless waste...

Everyone began to curse the Fifth Realm man who had originally intended to secretly refine the Zhou Shrine.

...

Inside the hall of the Zhou Shrine.

Zhou Qingmu did not know what kind of chain reaction the exposure of her identity had triggered, and even if she did, she probably wouldn't care.

Soldiers come to block, water comes to cover. The Daqian Night Guard Division always focused on cutting down everything in their way.

Her attention was now entirely on the white jade platform before her.

The jade slip recording the life of the Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying True Monarch, after experiencing the intrusion of the gray-robed man and the baptism of the 'Night Severance' blade intent, was not destroyed. Instead, it emitted an extremely brilliant golden light.

Zhou Qingmu could clearly feel that the underlying laws in this hall were of the same origin as the heart method she practiced.

That unremarkable Fifth Realm man trying to use force to break the array and seize the place was purely out of his mind.

This Dao Throne Wonder was transformed from the legacy of an ancient powerhouse, emphasizing 'lineage inheritance.'

The technique Zhou Qingmu practiced was originally derived from this Zhou Shrine lineage.

In terms of origin, her standing here was equivalent to the legitimate heir of this ancestral shrine returning home with the key.

The massive laws of the Zhou Shrine were like tired birds returning to the forest, spreading rapidly from her arms to her entire body.

The jade walls around the hall erupted with a deafening roar. Those originally obscure ancient seal scripts seemed to gain life, peeling off the walls and dancing, eventually converging into a massive golden pillar of light that shot straight toward the ceiling.

This law power was not an infusion, but an 'authorization.'

Zhou Qingmu closed her eyes, and a structural map of the entire Zhou Shrine instantly unfolded in her sea of consciousness.

From the array hubs of every side hall to every restrictive rune on the bluestone paths, everything was presented to her perception in meticulous detail.

After an unknown amount of time, the golden light gradually faded.

The hall regained its peace, but the white jade platform had completely dimmed, all its spiritual essence having transferred to Zhou Qingmu.

And a line of words gradually appeared above her head.

That was the representation of the qualification for this Dao Throne competition.

—【Master of the Zhou Shrine】

...

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Not long after Gu Chengming and Xu Huayi bid farewell to the two Wenjian Sect elders, the sky of Tianque changed again.

This time it was not an update of the Dao Throne rules, but a spiritual energy fluctuation spreading from the northwest of the secret realm, as if someone had forcibly torn a hole in that space.

Gu Chengming stopped and exchanged a look with Xu Huayi.

The two immediately changed direction, racing toward the northwest at full speed.

Along the way, the clues he had gathered in the cavern—the Miasma Tide, the Longevity Sect, the altered history—constantly churned in his mind.

He faintly felt that this anomaly in the northwest was no coincidence, but more like someone was deliberately stirring the situation within Tianque.

However, to understand where the change they were rushing toward came from, one must look back to an earlier hour.

During the same period when Gu Chengming was helping Shen Qianqiu perform the Self-Slaying Heart Method in the cavern, another dark line had quietly exploded within the Daqian Sitian Office team.

It started half a day ago.

The moment Zhou Qingmu drew her blade, the Daqian members struggling to break the arrays in the outskirts were the first to sense this aura.

The compass needle in Chu Heng's hand stopped turning abruptly and then shook violently: "Fifth Realm?!"

Jiang Yun stood in place, his face maintaining a fitting expression of shock, while in his heart he felt he had truly escaped from the gates of hell.

Obviously, this aura belonged to that 'Senior Banner Shen.' Although he had guessed she was not simple, he didn't expect her to be in the Fifth Realm.

What is a Fifth Realm powerhouse doing disguised as a Third Realm to fish for small fry?!

Jiang Yun forcibly suppressed his churning thoughts. The Fifth Realm aura in the Zhou Shrine was clashing fiercely with another power of the same level, which meant Shen Jinghong was tied down for now.

A Fifth Realm great cultivator was occupied.

This was his only and final window.

Jiang Yun's finger inconspicuously formed a seal within his sleeve.

The hidden hands the Longevity Sect had planted in Tianque over the years finally came into play.

On the black stone ground in the outskirts of the Zhou Shrine, dark red patterns began to spread at a visible speed.

Those patterns seeped out from deep underground, like the blood vessels of some long-dormant beast surfacing after waking up, intertwining, spreading, and connecting into a vast array network.

"What is this?" Tao Yong was the first to notice the anomaly beneath his feet and jumped away.

Chu Heng looked down at the dark red patterns, his face changing instantly: "Everyone get off the ground immediately! This is an array! Someone has laid an array beneath us!"

But it was too late. The dark red patterns lit up all at once, and a blinding blood light shot into the sky, completely sealing off the space for several miles around.

A massive and ancient array rose from the ground.

The sky was dyed dark red, and the air was filled with a nauseating smell of decay.

【Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array】.

This was no ordinary trapping and killing array, but a strategic-level array that the Longevity Sect had spent decades building based on a certain Dao Throne node in Tianque.

Once the array was activated, the cultivators trapped inside would not only be unable to escape, but even their spiritual energy flow would be suppressed to a great extent.

And the underlying logic of this array did not depend on the cultivation of the array master to maintain, but was directly linked to the Tianque Dao Throne rules, making it one of the Dao Throne Wonders.

The Daqian group was trapped in the core area of the array.

Chu Heng immediately tried to use his compass to analyze the array structure, but the moment the needle touched those dark red patterns, it shook violently and shattered into pieces.

"A Dao Throne level array..." Chu Heng's voice was dry: "This thing couldn't have been set up temporarily. Judging by the depth of the array foundation's penetration, it has been managed for at least several decades."

"The Longevity Sect." Ma Xiao finally spoke, his voice as low as iron.

As that name fell, the expressions of everyone present darkened.

Following that, a large number of rogue cultivators with varying cultivation levels began to pour in from the edges of the array.

These rogue cultivators had diverse outfits and mixed techniques, but their faces were dazed, and their bodies were covered in black mud, clearly having had their minds controlled by the Longevity Sect long ago.

Lu Mingzhang cut back the first few rogue cultivators who rushed up. Ma Xiao's unremarkable short blade finally left its sheath. Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan coordinated perfectly, one attacking and one defending, protecting Chu Heng's rear.

While the chaotic battle was in full swing, Jiang Yun inconspicuously retreated two steps on the outskirts of the crowd.

The Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array had sealed the space, and the rogue cultivators outside were responsible for pinning down the Daqian cultivators' strength. As for these Daqian cultivators?

They had already become nutrients for my Longevity Sect.

On the outer edge of the Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array, Gu Chengming and Xu Huayi stood side by side before the dark red light curtain.

The spiritual light on the judge's pen in Xu Huayi's hand was flowing as she rapidly analyzed the structure of the array before them.

"A Dao Throne level array..." Xu Huayi's brow was tightly knit: "It's almost impossible to break from the outside unless we find the array core."

Gu Chengming didn't speak, his gaze passing through the dark red light curtain to fall on the figure inside the array trying to slip away.

Jiang Yun.

Gu Chengming had actually been waiting for this moment.

From the moment Jiang Yun actively offered tea and a jade slip on the Feidan, to his momentary emotional fluctuation when facing that list, to the repeated warnings from the 《Red Dust Phantom Step》 about this person, all the clues pointed to the same conclusion.

He just hadn't acted because there was no ironclad evidence and because the timing wasn't right.

And now, the ironclad evidence had arrived.

Jiang Yun turned around and saw that familiar figure on the outskirts of the array.

The Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array had already been activated. If he still wanted to continue pretending to be a loyal and capable official of Daqian, he would have to explain why this array just happened to activate right next to him while he remained unharmed.

Jiang Yun bit his teeth and decided to take a risk.

The Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array was an array established based on Dao Throne rules. Dao Throne level rule constraints meant that whether you were in the Third Realm or the Fifth Realm, as long as you were inside the array, you had to follow its underlying logic without exception.

Even if Gu Chengming was truly the reincarnation of some old ghost who had lived for hundreds of years, he would have to bow his head before the Dao Throne rules.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yun's heart actually settled.

Since the disguise was no longer meaningful, he might as well show his hand.

"Fellow Daoist Gu." Jiang Yun turned around and met Gu Chengming's gaze directly: "I thought our friendship could have lasted longer."

He raised his right hand, fingers spread.

Dark red array patterns spread from his palm, climbing along his arm to cover his entire body. Those array patterns that had been lurking underground now all converged around him, shrouding him in a thick layer of blood-colored light.

The control of the array had completely returned to his hands.

He was the array core of this Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array.

At the same time, the solitary trait above Jiang Yun's head—【Damage to those with weak spirit increased by ten percent】—began to twist violently. The disguise that had been barely plastered on shattered and peeled away under the impact of the Longevity Sect's array spiritual power.

In its place, several new traits emitting a dark glow appeared.

【Inflicts mental erosion on targets, weakening their dao heart】

【Erosion probability against righteous individuals increased by thirty percent】

This was Jiang Yun's true face.

Longevity Sect elder, The Babbler.

The Daqian group's faces changed dramatically when they saw these traits.

"Jiang Yun... you!"

Jiang Yun didn't look at him; all his attention was on Gu Chengming outside the array.

Gu Chengming felt the sealed space around him and thought to himself that he really couldn't hit him... This was a bit of a trouble—oh wait, no!

He suddenly thought of his conversation with Jiang Yun on the first day they boarded the Feidan, and that bit of 'Daoist Karma.' His expression suddenly became subtle.

The karma of the world was indeed predestined.

He smiled and called out: "Fellow Daoist Jiang."

Jiang Yun was already incredibly nervous, and hearing this 'Fellow Daoist Jiang' made him freeze.

The lines of karma instantly pulled in the unseen.

【Daoist Connection】 activated.

【No matter the time or place, retreat behind a friend.】

...

The Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array sealed 'space,' but what the Daoist Connection bypassed was precisely not space—it was karma.

Therefore, when Gu Chengming's figure appeared three feet behind Jiang Yun without any warning, the brain of this Longevity Sect elder completely stalled.

His first thought was: how could a Dao Throne level spatial seal be bypassed? Even a Fifth Realm powerhouse would have to pay a heavy price to forcibly break Dao Throne constraints. How could a Third Realm cultivator—

Then Jiang Yun couldn't form a second thought.

Because in Gu Chengming's vision, the traits above Jiang Yun's head were now incredibly clear.

The conditions for damage amplification were almost entirely met at this moment—non-Daqian cultivator, lower official rank than himself, disloyal, unrighteous, unmannerly, unwise, unkind, unfilial, and burdened with heavy slaughter.

Every damage-amplifying trait except for the one regarding female cultivators was stacked.

Gu Chengming raised his right fist.

【Emperor Bai, help me!】

The moment these words fell into his sea of consciousness, the response of the Hundred Bones Resonating was deafening.

【Hundred Bones Resonating lets out a long roar toward the heavens—】

【Emperor Gu, I am here to help you! Under one punch, even if the heavens collapse and the stars fall, they cannot block my divine might!】

【Hundred Bones Resonating favorability +10】

Noble qi and the body-tempering power of the Hundred Bones Resonating merged perfectly on Gu Chengming's right fist, stacked and amplified repeatedly by that wall of Dao Throne damage traits.

Jiang Yun finally reacted at that moment, his instincts driving him to turn around, but his body only had time to turn halfway.

The wind of the punch arrived first.

The front of the shockwave carried an extremely thick noble qi, and within that noble qi was mixed the Hundred Bones Resonating's body-tempering power that was so violent it ignored all logic. And on the outer layer of these two powers, there was also that long string of unspeakable Dao Throne amplifications.

The judgment of the disloyal. The reckoning of the unrighteous. The punishment of the unmannerly. The lesson for the unwise. The pure, soul-deep anger toward those who do not like eating pancakes with scallions.

All the damage amplifications were realized in this one punch.

Jiang Yun's protective spiritual light was annihilated instantly upon contact with the front of the punch wind, without even emitting any light.

The Longevity Sect array patterns surrounding him were torn to shreds. His hidden Fourth Realm cultivation was as fragile as a withered leaf in the autumn wind before this scale of power.

He didn't even see the trajectory of that punch.

"Boom—!!"

The sound of this punch was not so much the dull thud of a fist hitting flesh as it was a sentence being declared.

Jiang Yun's body completely collapsed the moment it took this strike.

His physical body, his meridians, his golden core, and his soul were all violently annihilated by this punch.

In the end, only a cloud of rapidly dissipating gray-white dust remained, drifting for a moment within the dark red array light curtain before being blown clean by the winds of Tianque's laws.

...

Inside the array, there was a dead silence.

The battlefield that was a chaotic mess just a moment ago was now so quiet a pin drop could be heard.

The rogue cultivators who had lost their controller stopped moving at almost the same instant, like puppets whose strings had been cut, falling to the ground one after another. The black mud slowly peeled off them and mixed into the soil.

The Daqian group maintained their respective combat stances, the spiritual light on their weapons not yet faded, but there was no one left to cut.

Chu Heng's mouth was open, and he didn't close it for a long time.

His brain was still replaying the scene from just now.

The assistant who had been with him for eight years was actually a mole for the Longevity Sect; that fact alone was enough to make him collapse.

Then, before he could even finish collapsing, Gu Chengming had walked straight through the array from the outside and punched the man into nothingness.

What the hell was this.

Lu Mingzhang's folding fan had fallen to the ground at some point. He bent down to pick it up, but straightened up halfway, clearly feeling that picking up a fan in such a scene would damage his image. But not picking it up made his whole body feel uncomfortable. Eventually, he chose to pretend the fan wasn't his in the first place, placing his hands behind his back and looking into the distance with a steady face.

Ma Xiao slowly sheathed his short blade, his gaze moving from the spot where Jiang Yun had dissipated to Gu Chengming. In those eyes that usually carried no expression, a rare flash of complexity appeared. He said nothing, only nodding slightly. For a man of few words, this action carried enough meaning.

Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan looked at each other, swallowed their spit in unison, and then silently withdrew their raised fists and sheathed their swords, deciding to pretend they had also seen the whole process clearly.

As the core array eye of this Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array, Jiang Yun's fall directly caused the array to lose its controller, and those cultivators whose minds were controlled also fell unconscious on the ground.

The dark red light curtain began to fluctuate violently, and the array patterns showed large areas of disorder.

And the Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array, having lost its controller, was searching for a new host in an almost instinctive manner.

Dark red array patterns rose from the ground, climbing up Gu Chengming's ankles.

The moment those patterns touched the noble qi around him, the originally turbid and dark blood color actually began to fade bit by bit. Gu Chengming looked down at the changes beneath his feet, his brow moving slightly.

The control of the Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array had fallen into his hands.

And along with the transfer of the array's control, an even larger flow of information surged into his sea of consciousness.

It was all the information about the Dao Throne node connected behind this array.

Dao Throne Wonders within the Tianque secret realm, besides independent ones like the Burial Sword Tomb and the Zhou Shrine, also included a 'parasitic' type—they attached to a man-made array, using the array as the skeleton and the Dao Throne rules as the flesh.

The Longevity Heaven-Devouring Dao-Trapping Array was such a man-made Dao Throne Wonder that the Longevity Sect had managed for sixty years.

And now, this Dao Throne Wonder belonged to Gu Chengming.

He closed his eyes, feeling that massive and orderly law power flowing within his body.

"Vice Commander Gu!" Chu Heng was the first to walk up, looking at Gu Chengming with a complex face.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but eventually just sighed heavily and gave a deep cupped-fist salute.

"About just now... Chu was blind, being kept in the dark for eight years. If Vice Commander Gu hadn't arrived in time—"

"Vice Envoy Chu need not blame himself."

Gu Chengming interrupted him, his tone steady. "That Jiang Yun could lurk in the Sitian Office for eight years without showing his true colors, which shows his methods were high. Anyone else might not have done better than you."

Chu Heng felt quite moved by these words and bowed his thanks again.

At this time, a very low rumble suddenly came from the distant horizon.

It wasn't thunder, but the sound of something even more grand waking up.

Gu Chengming looked up at the sky.

Above the gray clouds, something was slowly appearing.

That was the Dao Throne competition of Tianque.

The third stage of the Dao Throne rules had entered the final gambling phase. All cultivators who had gained control of a Dao Throne Wonder would be drawn into this great struggle that would determine the final ownership.

Deep in the sky, countless lights, bright and dim, began to converge, intertwine, and collide.

Gu Chengming felt the information coming from the newly acquired Dao Throne Wonder and sensed the Burial Sword Tomb far above the clouds, and a plan gradually formed in his heart.

Gu Chengming nodded, his gaze fixed on that rapidly changing sky.

The Dao Throne competition of Tianque had begun.

...

The sky's anomaly lasted for a full incense stick's time.

The law powers converging deep in the clouds became thicker and more violent, until eventually even the air itself began to emit a low resonance. The sky of the entire Tianque secret realm transformed into a massive mirror, recording the identity, origin, and the Dao Throne Wonder controlled by every participant in this Dao Throne competition.

The first figure to appear was the old man playing chess.

On the mirror surface, an old, white-haired phantom slowly took shape.

The old man still had that air of a transcendent being, holding a white piece in his fingers, his eyes slightly lowered, as if the attention of ten thousand people in the sky was just a breeze by the chessboard, not worth a glance.

His identity information began to appear line by line beside the phantom.

Following that, his Dao Throne Wonder appeared.

Behind the phantom, a massive chessboard composed of black and white pieces spread across the sky. The nineteen vertical and horizontal lines were like the pulses of heaven and earth, each piece radiating a heart-stopping law power.

A title was branded in the center of the chessboard.

【Master of the Longevity Path-Choking Chessboard】

Once these five words appeared, the faces of countless cultivators in Tianque changed.

He really was from the Longevity Sect?

The second figure followed closely.

What appeared on the mirror was a figure tightly wrapped in a dark cloak, the hood pulled very low, making it impossible to see the face or determine the gender; only the half of a well-defined jaw was exposed.

The cloaked person's Dao Throne Wonder appeared next, a massive, constantly rotating sphere made of countless shattered bronze mirrors. Every mirror reflected a different scene—some were mountains and rivers, some were stars and moons, and some were just a chaotic void.

【Master of the Thousand-Face World-Reflecting Mirror】

The third figure was that extremely brawny man.

The phantom on the mirror was as sturdy as a mountain, with broad shoulders and a thick back, arms hanging by his sides with veins faintly visible on the backs of his hands. Even just standing there quietly, he gave off an overwhelming pressure of toppling mountains and overturning seas.

【Master of the Ten Thousand Peaks Unyielding Arena】

The fourth figure was the young female cultivator with a plain wooden hairpin in her hair. Her simple clothes and the extremely fine silver thread patterns on her collar looked exceptionally exquisite when magnified on the sky's mirror.

Her Dao Throne Wonder was a white jade pharmacy floating in the void, surrounded by phantoms of countless medicinal herbs, radiating a refreshing fragrance as spiritual light flowed.

【Master of the Hundred Herbs Life-Death Pharmacy】

Next, a very imposing female phantom appeared in the sky, and this figure made many people turn pale with fright.

Zhou Qingmu, Director of the Daqian Night Guard Division. Her Dao Throne Wonder unfolded in the sky, which was precisely that Zhou Shrine with its flying eaves, green tiles, and white walls, solemn and dignified with strict laws.

【Master of the Zhou Shrine】

Deep in Tianque.

Zhou Qingmu was currently standing on the ruins of the inner hall of the Zhou Shrine.

The previous battle with the gray-robed man, although successful in forcing him back, had also destroyed most of the core area of the Zhou Shrine due to the aftershocks of the two Fifth Realm powerhouses' clash.