Chapter 824: Dust to Dust, Earth to Earth

Qu Ge finally regained his composure from shock and rushed forward with the other two Eternal Realm cultivators to lend support.

Guan Huan laughed heartily; the death vortex from his punch suddenly split, forming a massive black hole of fist energy.

"Ding Huan, I'll come help you in a moment."

Guan Huan still had the leisure to warn Ding Huan.

At this moment, he realized how immense his growth had been after entering the Creation Sage realm.

This transformation and splitting of the fist vortex, a technique that controlled a space with seamless fluidity, left no trace.

Just like his Ordinary Path—utterly plain.

By the time opponents realized it, they were all trapped within his fist vortex.

Ding Huan's response was the Life-Death Blade Seal he had unleashed.

Ding Huan had already seen Guan Huan strike.

One glance told him Guan Huan's power completely crushed Qu Ge and the others.

Same realm, yet Guan Huan's Ordinary Path was vast and majestic, its Dao rhythm smooth and its aura mighty.

Qu Ge's Great Planet Art sounded impressive.

In truth, its Dao rhythm was scattered, its domain utterly incapable of matching Guan Huan's Ordinary Path. Ding Huan suspected the Great Planet Art couldn't possibly be this weak—if it were, Qu Qu Beige would never have been so powerful back then.

Most likely, the Great Planet Art Qu Ge cultivated had long since become unrecognizable.

Regardless, he already looked down on the Great Planet Art.

A Dao technique that annihilates planets—and this is all it can do?

No longer paying attention to Guan Huan, Ding Huan's Life-Death Blade Seal split into twenty-seven Death Blade Qi.

Each Death Blade Qi was crystal clear, engulfing all twenty-seven Sages below the Eternal Realm.

Almost simultaneously with Ding Huan's strike, the twenty-seven Sages all unleashed their treasures and extended their domains.

As for those below the Sage realm, no matter how many came, they had no right to interfere in this battle.

Even with Ding Huan's powerful domain, facing the combined domains of twenty-seven Sages, it began to slowly crumble.

Ding Huan's heart sank—if his domain collapsed, he would be at absolute disadvantage.

He had made a tactical error.

He should have ambushed and killed a few Nine-Transmutation Sages right from the start.

At this moment, the once-powerful domain suppression abruptly weakened. All Qu Clan Sages felt their spirits suddenly locked by an invisible hand, struggling to breathe.

Even several Nine-Transmutation Sages now found their treasure's power and domain techniques drastically diminished.

Such weakness in technique's lethality—no Nine-Transmutation Sage, not even a One-Transmutation Sage, should be this feeble.

Boom—Boom—Boom!

Ding Huan's Death Blade Qi collided with the killing techniques and Dao principles of the twenty-plus Sages.

Dao laws shattered; a distant floating planet cracked with layer upon layer of fissures.

Ding Huan's Dao domain suddenly strengthened—alone against twenty-seven, he now held absolute dominance.

The domain was under Ding Huan's control; the endless Death Blade Qi surging from Pojie Dao swept through the space in an instant.

Among the Sages surrounding Ding Huan, some were not from the Qu Clan.

At this moment, nearly all non-Qu Clan Sages realized something was wrong.

The Qu Clan Sages were holding back—their techniques' lethality was less than half, some even less than one-tenth.

Not only that, they deliberately weakened their own domains.

Any cultivator not of the Qu Clan now carried a shadow in their heart.

That the Qu Clan was using them as pawns, making them cannon fodder.

At this point, unless one was Bai Chi, no one would willingly charge forward at full strength.

With this thought, all non-Qu Clan Sages instinctively reined in their spiritual energy and domains, and contracted their technique's killing momentum.

They served the Qu Clan Dao Court, not sold their lives to the Qu Clan.

Haven't they done enough for the Qu Clan over the years?

And in cultivation resource allocation, they were always last after the Qu Clan Sages.

Why?

The Qu Clan could hold back, yet they had to become cannon fodder?

Ding Huan's Death Blade momentum exploded fully; his Life-Death Blade Seal carried waves of the Dao of Descent.

Because Ding Huan unleashed his full power, the Qu Clan Sages opposite him, affected by the Gene-Slaying Dao, could not fight at full strength.

The non-Qu Clan Sages, unwilling to be cannon fodder, concealed their true power.

As their killing momentum clashed, Ding Huan held absolute dominance. The space grew so oppressive it seemed ready to explode; all within this Death Killing Momentum space sank into oblivion.

Killing momentum filled the space; all things sank into oblivion.

Several Sages tried to retreat from the battle, but as soon as they neared the edge of the blade trench Ding Huan had carved, they were dragged away by the Dao of Descent and vanished without a trace.

The Qu Clan Sages had no words to explain their plight; the non-Qu Clan Sages also sensed something was off.

This didn't seem like the Qu Clan using them as cannon fodder—because several Qu Clan Sages had already died.

They too were bound by the Dao of Descent; now, even if they wanted to escape Ding Huan's Death Domain, they could not.

Waves of technique and Dao laws shattered in the void.

Blood exploded continuously; by now, even non-Qu Clan Sages dared not hold back.

Holding back now meant death.

A Qu Clan Five-Transmutation Sage felt the pull of the Dao of Descent in the blade trench and hurried to break free.

But he misstepped, crashing into Ding Huan's Life-Death Blade Seal space, torn apart by Life-Death Dao into a mist of blood.

Everyone understood.

It was not that the Qu clan's saint had held back power, but that the Qu clan's saint seemed to be under some suppression.

Everyone began to fight desperately; if they didn't fight desperately now, they would never get another chance.

Ding Huan longed to activate the Death Blade Momentum and kill all twenty-plus men before him.

But even if the opponent was at a disadvantage, their numbers still crushed him.

If he dragged it out, he would still win.

But he absolutely could not drag it out.

Ding Huan let out a clear cry and summoned the Dusk Drum.

He needed to cut through the chaos with a swift blade.

Once Qu Ge's reinforcements arrived, it would be troublesome.

No matter how many come, as long as that Chang Yun shows up, it will be a major problem.

So he must destroy the Qu clan before Chang Yun arrives.

Dong dong dong!

As soon as the Dusk Drum was summoned, it erupted in the void with a series of soul-shattering drumbeats.

These drumbeats carried the Qu clan's gene-killing laws and spread instantly.

The twenty-plus Qu clan Dao Court saints trapped in Ding Huan's domain were all affected; their killing momentum involuntarily weakened.

The pressure Ding Huan had just added diminished further. Dong dong dong!

The drumbeats suddenly grew high and muffled, exploding again.

Though the drumbeats were high, the mood they evoked plunged hearts into sorrow.

A piercing loneliness, as if tearing heart and lungs, surged into everyone's hearts.

At that moment, except for the few Immortal Realm saints, nearly everyone was swept up by this lonely drumbeat, overwhelmed with grief.

Qu Yuan was the Nine-Transformation saint of the Qu clan with the greatest chance to enter the Immortal Realm, and also the strongest among those attacking Ding Huan.

Previously, he had already been affected by the Qu clan's gene-killing laws, his power limited to only half.

Yet he still forced himself to resist.

Half of Ding Huan's pressure came from him alone.

As the drumbeats rose, Qu Yuan's Samsara Thorn paused.

In the drumbeats, he seemed to return to a distant past, standing alone at the edge of a village bathed only in twilight.

Thin wisps of smoke rose from chimneys; farmers returned home with tools on their backs; children played outside the village…

A softness flickered in Qu Yuan's eyes.

The distant sunset slowly sank; startled birds flew up, vanishing into the deep forest; the ancient pines by the woods swayed gently in the breeze—everything was so beautiful.

Dong dong!

The drumbeat sounded again.

The scene before Qu Yuan abruptly changed.

The thin wisps of smoke vanished; the farmers, the twilight, the afterglow, the children—all disappeared.

Before him stood only ruins of the village, a ground littered with corpses.

They were all his doing.

It was the first living village he had fused with his Planet Technique, the place where he had once lived for a time.

An inexplicable sorrow filled his heart; Qu Yuan began to tremble with fear.

Bang!

Blood mist obscured his vision.

Qu Yuan looked down at his exploded chest.

It was the complete eruption of the Great Gene-Killing Dao Law.

He felt his soul gradually dissolving, even unable to preserve his split soul.

A deep sorrow surged in Qu Yuan's heart.

After a million years of cultivating the Planet Technique, how many villages, cities, planets had he destroyed…

Yet now, just before stepping into the Immortal Realm, he returned to dust.

Dong!

The drumbeat did not spare him.

Qu Yuan turned back and looked at the others; countless Qu clan disciples had already fallen.

Those Qu clan members still standing were like half-mad, charging in groups toward the deep gash torn in the Planet Dao City, then vanishing without a trace.

Among the Qu clan saints beside him, only he remained standing.

Dong dong dong!

The Dao-tinged drumbeats seemed never to cease.

They continued to pound deep into his spirit.

Qu Yuan's hand holding the Samsara Thorn trembled slightly; he gazed at the distant, beautiful void of the universe and sighed deeply…

The Dusk Drum buries new souls, melting bones; I dwell in this world, my hair white with snow; behold—the dusk drizzles, the drum drizzles!

A shattered body, a shattered Dao City, a shattered space, a shattered Dao…

A desolate and despairing Dao aura filled Qu Yuan's entire being with each drumbeat.

Qu Yuan dropped his Samsara Thorn and collapsed, his soul utterly extinguished.

Like a chain reaction, beyond the shattered Planet Dao City, countless others fell, their bodies torn apart, turning into clouds of blood mist.

Blood covered the corners of his mouth, his Dao rhythm around his body in chaos, Qu Ge stared blankly at everything before his eyes, muttering to himself: "I knew it, I just knew it..."

Boom!

Guan Huan threw another punch.

He hadn't held back at all—Qu Ge and the others' combat power just now seemed to have been affected by something, their strength dropping.