Chapter 2033

Clang!

The long wail of sword howls filled the world, a terrifying and frenzied cold killing intent flooding heaven and earth.

"A mere inner demon — nothing more!"

"Short-sighted!"

The Seven Killings Sword Lord let out a frenzied low roar: "Quasi-Nine Tribulation — the hope of a Nine Tribulation Sovereign is right before my eyes!"

"What is a mere bit of risk worth mentioning?"

"The Patriarch must be watching over me!"

"The Patriarch's spirit in the heavens is yearning for it as well — what is there to fear?"

Sword howls upon sword howls filled the world; the weakness in the Seven Killings Sword Lord's heart was swept clean, leaving only an intense longing for the Immortal Dao, without the slightest hesitation.

An Eight Tribulation Sovereign stirred up raging storms and towering waves across the star domains.

Yet strangely, the entire Divine-Buddha Great Thousand World was not affected in the slightest — none of the detection formations were triggered, not a speck of dust nor a wisp of rule was disturbed, as if it were something happening in a higher dimension.

An Eight Tribulation Sovereign and the myriad beings of heaven and earth do not dwell in the same world.

"Everyone,"

"At this point, why still hide?"

The Seven Killings Sword Lord looked toward one direction; there seemed to be a hazy black shadow there — or perhaps more — but he did not know for certain. He merely let out a low roar: "Come! Cut your way in here, ascend the Great Dao together with this Dao!"

"The chance of becoming an immortal is right before us — why hesitate and hold back?"

"The loser dies, the winner becomes an immortal — that's all there is to it!"

"That's all there is to it!"

"Come on!!!"

Wave after wave of sound spread out across the star domains.

The Seven Killings Sword Lord had always known that he was far from the only one watching this place — the Sovereigns of the other Holy Lands must certainly have designs on it, observing from afar.

Many were hesitating, wavering — sometimes loyal ministers of the True Immortal, sometimes not.

The situation had grown incomparably complex.

The Seven Killings Sword Lord roared; the rolling sound waves could only be received by Eight Tribulation Sovereigns.

Across the star domains, all was silent.

For a long, long time, it remained so.

No response came.

As if from beginning to end it had all been the Seven Killings Sword Lord's lone sleep-talking — that no other Eight Tribulation Sovereign of the human race existed here, that everyone was a loyal minister, a worthy general, with no traitors among them.

"Cowards!"

The Seven Killings Sword Lord gave a cold laugh.

He paid them no more heed, turned, and plunged into the planar passage; his figure gradually vanished, and none of the countless exquisitely sensitive formations were triggered in the slightest.

……

Did other Eight Tribulation Sovereigns exist within this stretch of star domain?

No one knew.

Apart from the Eight Tribulation Sovereigns themselves, no one knew.

Such a matter — enough to warrant the extermination of nine clans — could be trusted to no one but oneself. No Sovereign would conspire with another; every thought remained only within one's own heart.

Viewed from a higher dimension, multiple black shadows did indeed exist here — like a dark forest, never interacting with anyone, never taking the initiative to communicate with anyone.

"Seven Killings, you certainly have a gambler's streak."

"This old man is somewhat impressed."

One black shadow thought calmly to himself.

"The chance of success is far too slim!"

"Far too slim!"

In another place unknown to anyone, a black shadow thought coldly: "The True Immortal possesses part of an immortal's essence. This transcendent power, though weak, is terrifying in its very nature — unavoidable, impossible to conceal. How could one seize a True Immortal who is so weak?"

"The odds are too slim."

"Seven Killings has gone mad."

"Does the True Immortal truly exist beyond the planar passage?"

"Could the True Immortal have departed early, with all this being nothing but a diversion?"

Yet another black shadow thought coldly: "A True Immortal in their youth, beloved of the human race's fortune — to strangle them in the cradle is far too difficult, far too difficult. It seems within arm's reach, yet in truth is worlds away."

"Throughout history, True Immortals slain in their youth are few and far between — each and every one shrouded in darkness, each and every one involving the existence of other True Immortals and Sovereigns."

"Does Seven Killings possess such depth and such means?"

One black shadow after another strained to conceal itself, exchanging nothing with anyone, staring fixedly at the planar passage as a host of different thoughts surfaced in their hearts.

Many of those thoughts were entirely shared.

"Seven Killings,"

"You must succeed!"

"I am right here waiting — you must succeed…"

Many black shadows offered sincere blessings in their hearts.

Suddenly!

Every black shadow's gaze turned startled, fixing intently on the planar passage.

That singularity slowly began to swell; the terrifying aura of the Law-Annihilating Great Dao spread outward, and countless ninth-tier forbidden weapons born of the Law-Annihilating Great Dao exploded.

All that power gathered into a single point, violently triggered, forming an incomparably brilliant, incomparably searing, incomparably terrifying Great Sun Law-Annihilating Divine Light that slammed into the Seven Killings Sword Lord.

"No!"

"This is a trap! I haven't fully broken through this planar passage!"

The Seven Killings Sword Lord shrieked in terror.

This long-prepared Great Sun Law-Destroying Divine Light was only an attack approximating the Eighth Tribulation, but its main target was not the Seven Killings Sword Lord—it was the planar passage!

The planar passage was destroyed in an instant, severed!

This did not set the Seven Killings Sword Lord's heart at ease; it was as if he had plunged into a boundless hell, his whole body turning cold, even his Eighth Tribulation sword soul trembling.

The conspiracy to assassinate the True Immortal had been exposed!

Exposed!

A conspiracy to assassinate the sovereign had always been a path with no retreat—there were only ever two possibilities: the sovereign's death, or the utter extermination of the conspirator's nine clans. There was no middle ground.

And now, he had been exposed ahead of time!

What end awaited him in the future?

"No!"

"This is absolutely impossible!"

The Seven Killings Sword Lord howled madly.

In an instant he burned his sword soul, burned his authority, and hurled himself toward the shattering planar passage—before the passage was utterly destroyed, he transmitted into it a single head with bulging, furious eyes!

That was all he could manage!

The entire planar passage exploded with a roar and vanished completely.

This stretch of heaven and earth fell silent.

The layered Ninth-Grade formations across the entire God-Buddha Great Thousand World belatedly revived. Layer upon layer of Law-Destroying fleets emerged within the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong; star-domain Dao soldiers materialized one by one; branches of rule-authority bloomed throughout heaven and earth; and wave after wave of terrifying, invisible pressure instantly locked onto that lone figure in the starry sky.

"What audacity…"

Yuan Zhong said coldly, his heart brimming with killing intent.

"Seven Killings…"

"Master…"

The Seven Killings Sword Son, the Blazing Flame Sword Son, the Limitless Sword Son, the Bliss Holy Daughter, and others had been slumbering within the Supreme Great Sun Heavenly Palace, guarding the sovereign. In an instant they awoke, their hearts full of killing intent as they looked toward that figure in the starry sky.

It was a headless, towering being, fresh blood streaming from its neck, gripping a longsword, shrieking hideously.

The celestial stars were blazing; the Seven Killings star shone brighter than ever before. Strand after strand of rule-authority power descended from the nine heavens, falling upon this headless being, causing it to exude a terrifying pressure—its mere aura suppressing layer upon layer of grand formations, array upon array of Dao soldier formations.

A single headless being had suppressed this stretch of heaven and earth!

An Eighth Tribulation Supreme.

This was an Eighth Tribulation Supreme!

"Master…"

The Seven Killings Sword Son felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

The many prodigies of the Seven Killings Divine Dynasty, who likewise served within the Supreme Great Sun Heavenly Palace, likewise felt as though they had fallen into an icy abyss at this moment—despairing, deathly still, frozen, like corpses.

"Damn it!"

"Damn it all…"

The Seven Killings Sword Lord roared and howled in madness.

Hum!

Hum hum!

At this moment, layer upon layer of terrifying radiance descended, manifesting within the teleportation formations.

The Limitless Sword Lord, the Bliss Dao Lord, the Heaven-Burying Sword Lord… one after another, Eighth Tribulation Supremes arrived as though crossing ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains. Even the Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Supreme appeared, bearing the Imperial Dao heavy weapon of the Ancient Qingfeng Beidou Emperor, descending at this moment at any cost—loyal unto death.

The Human True Immortal had been assassinated—a conspiracy!

As loyal ministers, how could they possibly fail to come to her aid at the first moment, to surround and guard the sovereign at the first moment? Were they to be suspected of colluding with the traitor?

Impossible!

This was utterly baseless nonsense!