Chapter 320: The Foreign Realm's Full-Scale Invasion, The Battle of Emperor Pass Begins!
"Brother, look at my Self-Severing Realm!"
Not long after Shi Jian emerged from his own breakthrough and consolidated his power, Shi Hao also completed his transformation.
He excitedly sought out Shi Jian to display the profound changes in his cultivation.
Shi Jian activated his Dominator's Eye, its gaze penetrating reality, and then looked at Shi Hao.
His physical body had been formed anew, and his Primordial Spirit had been completely reshaped.
Shi Hao had indeed broken through to the Self-Severing Realm.
[Inorin's Note: The "Self-Severing Realm" (Zhǎn Wǒ Jìng) is a critical stage in the Perfect World system, where a cultivator "severs" a false self (or a past self) to find their true self, granting a massive leap in power.]
Most importantly, his internal organs glowed with a divine, five-colored light. Vaguely, his Five Elements organs were transforming into five divine palaces, standing in five core positions, guarding his Primordial Spirit.
A peculiar and powerful phenomenon thus emerged.
"My Supreme Bone has undergone Rebirth six times, and coupled with the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Cultivation Technique, I've comprehended some unique changes!"
Shi Hao spoke with some excitement, eager to share his new insights with Shi Jian.
"In the cultivation world, there has always been a saying that besides a living being's main life, there are five other 'lives' corresponding to the Five Elements of heaven and earth, but they are difficult to activate. Some beings who are completely killed can still live!"
"Some people can live a second life; this is due to the existence of the human body's five hidden lives. The human body's five lives, plus the main life, make six lives, corresponding to six lifetimes... the Six Paths of Reincarnation!"
"When I broke through to the Self-Severing Realm, my Supreme Bone underwent its sixth Rebirth. In a sense, I can be considered to have reincarnated six times, and thus, I comprehended some peculiar things!"
"I used the human body as a seed, developing the Five Elements organs. The Five Elements organs correspond to five doors, and each door corresponds to one of these hidden lives!"
"I captured the five lives," Shi Hao's eyes burned with confidence. "This is completely different from the past cultivation paths."
Shi Jian's Dominator's Eye observed the situation within Shi Hao's body. Shi Hao's Primordial Spirit was divided into five parts, each hidden within one of the five vague palaces, like five Heavenly Gods being worshipped and nurtured there.
Within his internal organs, palaces now existed.
Faint, ancient chanting sounds emanated from them.
These scriptures were very vague and ancient, sounding mysterious and profound.
"Is this the Dao Palace Secret Realm?"
Seeing this, Shi Jian knew that Shi Hao had still embarked on the destined Dao of using his body as a seed.
Developing the Five Elements organs.
This was the Dao Palace Secret Realm from the Shrouding the Heavens world.
[Inorin's Note: The "Dao Palace Secret Realm" (Dào Gōng Mì Jìng) is the second major realm in the Shrouding the Heavens cultivation system, focusing on empowering the five internal organs (Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lungs, Kidneys) and housing divine spirits within them.]
It was divided into five minor Realms: the Divine Treasury of the Heart, the Divine Treasury of the Liver, the Divine Treasury of the Spleen, the Divine Treasury of the Lungs, and the Divine Treasury of the Kidneys.
Shi Hao had opened the doors corresponding to these Five Elements organs.
However, the Dao Palace Secret Realm Shi Hao had created now seemed a little different from the original work's.
According to Shi Hao's description, after he developed the Five Elements organs, he directly gained five more lives. This was a fusion of two systems.
"The path you've forged is indeed extraordinary. Your Physical Body also seems to have developed some extraordinary power!"
Shi Jian struck out at Shi Hao with one hand. He didn't use overwhelming force, but rather pinpoint precision. In an instant, waves surged, golden light shimmered, and auspicious light erupted like mountain fires, continuously gushing forth.
Shi Hao's body was instantly covered in cracks, and blood flowed from the fissures in his physique.
Shi Jian had attacked the dozens of tiny, hidden weak points on Shi Hao's body, the flaws in his new, "perfect" realm.
This was a form of guidance for Shi Hao.
Shi Hao coughed up large mouthfuls of blood and was severely injured by the strike. He was shocked, but not angry. He immediately used his strongest methods to recover, meticulously remembering the injured parts and immediately re-cultivating and strengthening them.
Those severely injured areas glowed faintly, and the new flesh that grew there instantly solidified, becoming far stronger than before.
In the original work...
When Shi Hao broke through to the Self-Severing Realm, he underwent the baptism of the "Eighteen Ancient Buddha Strikes" from a Golden Arhat. Only then did his cultivation reach a perfect and flawless state.
Shi Jian was now using a similar, but far more precise, method to help Shi Hao consolidate his cultivation.
Shi Hao had opened the doors of the Five Elements organs in the Self-Severing Realm, taking a significant step on the Dao of using his body as a seed.
With numerous cultivation techniques and various cultivation systems from the group as reference, the current Shi Hao's comprehension on the path of creating his own methods was much deeper than his counterpart in the original work.
However...
There is nothing perfect in this world.
Shi Hao's "Self-Severing" Realm, in Shi Jian's view, still had quite a few flaws.
"Using your body as a seed... this path is not easy to walk. It is destined to be full of hardships."
Shi Jian had found the flaws in Shi Hao's Physical Body.
However, for flaws in the heart and mind, he had no way to help.
"If you use your body as a seed, your current Self-Severing Realm is not yet a true Self-Severing Realm!"
Shi Jian meticulously studied Shi Hao's method and then offered this final piece of guidance.
"I know what's still missing!" Shi Hao had embarked on the Dao of using his body as a seed, and he was naturally prepared.
He slowly spoke, his expression turning solemn:
"Severing the Heavenly Heart, battling the Heavenly Intent!"
"It seems you are already prepared." Shi Jian smiled upon hearing this: "In this regard, I can't give you much advice. You can go find Grand Elder Meng Tianzheng of Emperor Pass—he has quite a bit of experience in this area and might give you some inspiration!"
[Inorin's Note: "Emperor Pass" (Dì Guān) is the primary defensive fortress on the border of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, and Meng Tianzheng is its greatest guardian.]
"Coincidentally, didn't they establish a Heavenly God Academy over there? After Immortal King Shi cultivated the Great Bloodline Art, many people in the Shi Clan benefited greatly from it, and their cultivation advanced significantly."
"Among them are many promising talents. Their talent has improved, but their experience is a bit lacking. You can take them to the Heavenly God Academy to practice and exchange ideas!"
Shi Jian gave Shi Hao a suggestion.
Shi Hao considered it for a moment and then replied, "Okay!"
On the Dao of using his body as a seed, Shi Hao was indeed completely in the dark.
Although he had some of his own ideas, he was forging a path no one had walked before.
However...
If he could gain some experience from his predecessors, that would be even better.
He acted immediately, directly selecting several talented prodigies from the Shi Clan in the Primeval Emperor City, and then headed straight for the Heavenly God Academy.
He was going to exchange ideas.
Although the Shi Clan's foundation in the Upper Realm was shallow, they had a cheat code.
The Great Bloodline Art, one of the Three Thousand Great Daos, possessed infinite profoundness, unimaginable to ordinary mortals.
After Immortal King Shi cultivated this art, the Immortal King Bloodline within all Shi Clan members was fully activated. Their talent and potential underwent a direct, heaven-defying transformation.
Even more sinisterly...
Some clan members even had a certain probability of directly comprehending Immortal King Shi's own Divine Ability secret techniques from their bloodline memory.
In addition...
All Shi Clan members had a certain probability of activating a bloodline resonance with Immortal King Shi, and then triggering the phenomenon of "Immortal King Shi Descending to the Nine Heavens," a kind of alternative way to ask the Old Ancestor for help.
In short...
The amplification of the Great Bloodline Art was comprehensive.
This amplification was naturally not of much use to heaven-defying geniuses like Shi Jian and Shi Hao.
But for ordinary geniuses, it was a game-changer.
Therefore...
Shi Hao's "exchange matches" went very smoothly. The Shi Clan juniors, now true prodigies, shocked the Heavenly God Academy.
After receiving guidance from the experienced Meng Tianzheng, Shi Hao's future Dao became clearer. And thus, he welcomed his own Heavenly Tribulation.
Endless colorful light shimmered. Chaos surged everywhere, and the Flowers of the Great Dao bloomed, covering the sky.
Shi Hao successfully severed the Heavenly Heart, battled the Heavenly Intent, and forged his own path, separate from the world's.
The situation...
All was well.
However, not long after Shi Hao passed his Heavenly Tribulation...
WUUUUUUUUU...
An ancient, desolate horn sound resonated.
It was the True Dragon Horn. Once the True Dragon Horn was blown, it meant that the Foreign Realm was about to launch a full-scale invasion, initiating an all-out war.
The horn's sound echoed like muffled thunder across the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, long and drawn out, piercing through countless world barriers to summon the strong cultivators of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.
Since ancient times...
The True Dragon Horn had been blown only a handful of times.
Each time, it signified an absolute catastrophe.
The Dark Age...
Had arrived.
Many old cultivators in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands grew solemn, their faces pale.
Some were fearful, dropping their tools and heading for their ancestral grounds.
While others, their blood boiling, were filled with Battle Intent.
The True Dragon Horn could make those who were good at fighting even better, and those who were afraid of fighting even more fearful.
The war had begun.
The Foreign Realm's invasion time...
Had been brought forward.
Upon hearing the horn's sound, Shi Jian and Shi Hao instantly emerged from their cultivation.
"The Foreign Realm invaded early?"
Shi Jian was slightly surprised. In the original work, the Foreign Realm only began its full-scale invasion decades later.
Now it had been advanced so much.
This should be a butterfly effect, caused by him having Immortal King Shi move the Primeval Emperor City back.
An extremely terrifying fluctuation emanated.
This fluctuation...
Came from the frontier further ahead.
Emperor Pass... Emperor Pass...
Guarding the borderlands of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands was not just one ancient city.
In this land stood many ancient and majestic passes.
One of these ancient and majestic passes was the Foreign Realm's invasion point. It was a pass located within the "Great Scarlet Heaven" domain.
[Inorin's Note: "Great Scarlet Heaven" (Dà Chì Tiān) is one of the Nine Heavens (Jiǔ Tiān), the highest realms. The invasion is beginning there.]
"The great war has begun!"
Immortal King Shi's figure appeared beside the two, his expression impossibly solemn.
A scene was projected before them, spanning an infinite distance.
An ancient and majestic pass stood on the ground, inscribed with various Great Emperor runes. This pass was extraordinary, forged in the Immortal Ancient Era.
However...
When the morning sun rose and its light brought vitality to heaven and earth, this ancient city...
Was attacked.
A terrifying, massive black hand descended from the cosmos, making rumbling sounds. Black lightning intertwined, and a foul, bloody rain fell.
The entire majestic pass trembled.
It was like the end of the world had arrived. Black lightning and blood-colored thunder intertwined, and a vast, bloody rain poured down.
The earth shook.
It was an inexplicable Qi permeating, shocking hundreds of millions of miles of the mortal world, sweeping across the heavens and earth.
It was an Immortal King taking action.
The aura of the Immortal King permeated, and in an instant, that majestic pass was annihilated.
Countless lives... countless drops of blood... converged, forming an enormous, sickening altar.
This was a sacrifice.
Sacrificing the living beings of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands to open a passage.
In the eyes of the Foreign Realm beings...
The living beings of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands were merely materials.
Shi Jian took a deep breath. He felt as if a vast, immortal mountain was pressing down on him, intending to suppress his very soul.
Is this the power of an Immortal King?
Too terrifying.
Just a fluctuation, a wisp of residual aura...
Made him feel a trembling sensation.
This pressure was not destructive, but it caused a sense of alarm and suppression in one's heart.
This had nothing to do with one's state of mind.
It was purely a difference in life level.
A deer trembles upon hearing a lion's roar.
The life levels were simply different.
The three of them ascended the ancient and majestic city wall of the Primeval Emperor City, a wall as tall as the sky, gazing towards the direction of the Foreign Realm.
The city walls of the Primeval Emperor City were all forged from great stars, with each great star equivalent to a single brick.
One could imagine...
How high the wall was.
Standing on it was like standing at the highest point of the starry sky.
Looking towards the Foreign Realm...
One could see vast and violent fluctuations in the distance.
Countless runes and decrees soared into the sky. Each one was incomparably brilliant.
After those decrees flew to a certain height, they would burn in the air, then construct extremely complex new runes.
The runes combined with the blood sacrificial altar.
A terrifying passage was opened.
On the horizon, a black torrent suddenly appeared.
That was the army.
It was the endless army of the Foreign Realm.
Like a flood, it poured out, a vast black expanse at the end of the earth. It caused palpitations, and a wave of suffocating Evil Qi assaulted them.
"This is a posture for a decisive battle..."
Immortal King Shi's expression grew even more solemn.
At Emperor Pass, peace could no longer be maintained.
Strong cultivators from all clans and various leaders were all dispatched, standing on the walls.
They looked at the vast, oppressive Foreign Realm army, and their expressions also changed.
An endless army approached, clad in black armor, shining with black, cold long blades, sinister battle spears, and riding fierce, unknown mounts.
This was a steel torrent.
Such an army was boundless.
It was clearly vast and boundless, yet there was no sound.
Quietly, no one shouted, no mount roared, advancing silently.
Looking from afar, it was clearly a vast black expanse, clearly boundless.
But there was no sound.
Quietly.
Quietly.
The people on Emperor Pass felt even more suppressed by such a scene.
No sound...
Instead, it made people feel even more suffocated.
The army was vast, yet not chaotic at all, orderly and neat, advancing slowly.
In the end...
So many troops approached silently.
Everyone on the wall could only hear their own breathing, their own pounding hearts.
Soon...
The army stopped, all halted, stretching as far as the eye could see, still without a sound, remaining outside Emperor Pass.
A black war chariot drove from afar.
Only then was the silence broken.
The war chariot was as black as ink, with smoke and clouds churning, and some strange, ancient beasts carved on it.
On this war chariot...
Sat an Imperial Clan Supreme.
[Inorin's Note: The "Imperial Clan" (Dì Zú) are the royal, most powerful bloodlines of the Foreign Realm, second only to Immortal Kings.]
The power of rules was still present.
Although the Foreign Realm's Immortal King had revived, he could not personally descend.
In the distant place...
Beyond the reach of the Heavenly Abyss...
[Inorin's Note: The "Heavenly Abyss" (Tiān Yuān) is a massive, impassable barrier created by a Perfect World Immortal King to protect the Nine Heavens, which prevents other Immortal Kings from crossing.]
A soaring light emanated, carrying extremely sharp Killing Intent, sweeping across hundreds of millions of miles.
This was the Immortal King, in action.
The Void Realm trembled, and large swaths of decrees burned.
It seemed as if an ancient sacrificial ritual was being performed to help the Immortal King break through the barrier.
As long as they crossed the Heavenly Abyss...
At that time...
The Immortal King would descend upon this world.
Below Emperor Pass, the countless armies were densely packed, like a black steel torrent. They simultaneously raised their weapons and let out a unified, earth-shattering roar.
"Immortal King!"
Just four words.
But they shook the heavens and earth, forming a terrifying resonant sound wave.
"Our clan's Immortal King is about to descend! Why do you not quickly open the gates and surrender!"
The Imperial Clan Supreme spoke, his voice booming, forcing Emperor Pass to surrender even before fighting.
They dared to do this...
Based on strong, absolute self-confidence.
This was a clear display of coercion, using the Immortal King's prestige to strike at the Battle Intent of the people of Emperor Pass.
Their confidence was too strong.
With the Immortal King backing them...
They were not afraid of any decision from Emperor Pass.
Whether the beings of Emperor Pass surrendered or not had little impact on them.
Even...
When they asked for surrender, they were too lazy to give promises like "those who surrender will not be killed."
Regardless of surrender or not...
The Dominator didn't care.
Such confidence made many people on the city wall waver.
On the city wall...
The faces of the people of Emperor Pass were all grim.
They were worried, and a sense of anxiety and despair permeated the air.
On the Primeval Emperor City's wall, Shi Jian calmly watched the scene before him. He then turned and asked Immortal King Shi beside him, "Now, Immortals still cannot descend, right? That Heavenly Abyss is still holding?"
Immortal King Shi nodded, his gaze fixed on the distance. "It holds. They are posturing."
Shi Jian looked at the boundless Foreign Realm army.
And he smiled.
"Open the gates, welcome the enemy!"
The buffet...
Has arrived!
[Inorin Note: If you wish to support me so I can continue to survive and afford proper food, you can join my membership on Patreon [patreon.com/InorinTL].
As a special offer, I've opened a few limited-time tiers at a discounted price! You will get all the benefits of "The Plot Uncoverer" (normally $25), but at a much cheaper rate.
These slots are extremely limited:
"The Dedicated Fan": $9.99 (Save 60% / $15.01) - Only 3 slots
"The Lore Diver": $14.99 (Save 40% / $10.01) - Only 7 slots
"The Founding Pillars": $19.99 (Save 20% / $5.01) - Only 15 slots
Grab your slot before they run out! Besides membership, you can also donate via Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/inorintl].
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]