Chapter 681

This also could not stop Zhang Jian.

He stepped into the depths of the Tianling Dimension, his form vanishing into the void in an instant.

The Tianling Realm, Nanshen Divine Prefecture, vast and majestic.

The Nine Provinces Divine Dynasty is the undisputed hegemon of Nanshen Divine Prefecture.

Not only in Nanshen Divine Prefecture, but even among the divine dynasties of the Tianling Provinces, it ranks among the top three.

The vast Divine Prefecture governs the three ways of heaven, earth, and humanity, overseeing hundreds of millions of millions of kilometers of land, with all clans paying homage and myriad immortal and divine sects submitting; under the edge of the Nine Provinces Divine Dynasty, many powerful races in the Tianling Realm must seclude themselves to avoid disaster.

Deep within the Nine Provinces Divine Dynasty at this moment, a colossal temple stands towering.

This place is called the Nine Provinces Dao Venerable Temple, enshrining the orthodox sacrifice of the Nine Provinces Divine Dynasty, namely the Nine Provinces Ancestral God.

Besides, there are many sages of the divine dynasty.

At this moment, inside the Nine Provinces Temple, an ancient bronze bell mottled with rust hums softly, its clear chime echoing, the incense energy throughout the temple surging like an ocean, even stirring the divine dynasty's qi movement.

Affected by the bell's sound, golden light within the temple condenses into form, with several majestic divine manifestations emerging from golden idol dharmakayas, these figures radiating divine light majestically, as if the boundless divine wheel has condensed, within which the phantom of a boundless golden light divine kingdom appears.

At this moment, several deities gaze upon the ancient bell before the temple.

"The Awakening God Bell never rings lightly; only when great calamity befalls heaven and earth, or when the fortune of our Nine Provinces Divine Dynasty stirs, does it toll on its own—could another great calamity have arisen between heaven and earth?"

The leading deity's deep eyes flicker with worry.

Other deities, attired peculiarly and of extraordinary aura, also wear anxious expressions; one glances at the central golden idol dharmakaya of the Nine Provinces Ancestral God, sees it unchanged, and cannot help but speak.

"Jin Yu God Lord, has the Ancestral God's cultivation not yet recovered?"

Upon hearing this, the leading Jin Yu God Lord shakes his head.

"The Ancestral God has been cultivating deep within the divine kingdom; I too do not know his condition!"

Several eons ago, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God fought a great battle to preserve the dynasty's fortune and against powerful ancient gods of the Tianling Realm, then returned and directly entered the divine kingdom's depths to restore his vitality, appearing gravely wounded.

Now that the Awakening God Bell tolls, the Ancestral God still has not appeared—how could this not worry several god lords?

At this moment, the four god lords suddenly stir, their gazes turning toward the firmament above.

There, a star suddenly emits intense red light, shooting crimson beams onto the earth like blood, its radiance faintly eclipsing many imperial stars above, drawing the attention of many cultivators at once.

As that crimson star blazes, several meteors streak downward from heaven, vanishing in an instant.

Gazing at this, a deity clad in blue robes, his body suffused with countless starlight flowing and interweaving into several rings of stellar treasure wheels, slightly bends his finger; his face is gaunt, his chin bearing five willow-like long whiskers, his eyes clear as a river of stars; at this moment, as he bends his finger, stellar trajectories appear around him, but suddenly these paths violently rupture, his expression turning slightly pale.

Seeing the other god lords look his way, he speaks with some concern.

"Celestial omens shift, Yinghuo guards the heart—likely the extraterrestrial demon court has again dispatched immortals and gods to descend!"

The faces of the other several god lords also change somewhat.

These years, the extraterrestrial divine court has at times infiltrated gods into the Tianling Realm; these immortals and gods are no ordinary beings, and even if the divine dynasty alliance produces many strong ones to capture them, some damage is inevitable.

At this moment, deep within a vast divine kingdom, a deity with handsome features, his body entwined with boundless divine light, slowly opens his eyes.

His gaze turns toward the void beyond; at this moment he raises a palm, and deep in his palm a fire seed suddenly ignites into fierce flames.

Someone once told him that when this fire seed burns fiercely, it is the time when reinforcements for humanity in this realm arrive.

A thread of intense divine light glimmers in the depths of his eyes.

He no longer heeds his wounds, his form following the fire seed's resonance, transforming into a streak of light flying toward one direction of Nanshen Divine Prefecture.

Now he is in great danger, but the situation facing the Nine Provinces Divine Dynasty is even more perilous; one misstep could not only cause its ranking within the divine dynasty alliance to plummet, but possibly lead to outright fragmentation, to be devoured skin and bone by other alien deities.

The time he can endure is short.

Following the induction of the human-path fire in his hand, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God flies and leaps all the way, his speed extreme, soon passing through the territory of Nanshen Divine Prefecture; ahead lies a vast primordial wilderness region, called Chizhou.

Only a small part of Chizhou can sustain living beings; most of it is filled with terrifying red fire qi, within which only the Chifire tribe and some fire-affiliated powerful alien races can survive.

Yet this place is too monotonous; even some powerful fire-affiliated alien races do not particularly like dwelling in such a desolate environment, longing instead for the prosperity of the outside world.

Upon entering this region, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God becomes somewhat more cautious.

According to his knowledge, within Chizhou there also exists a terrifying innate divine realm, within which resides the fire-attribute ancient god progenitor.

At his peak cultivation, he would naturally not fear these alien ancient emperors and progenitors, but now he can only try to detour around them to avoid battle and worsening his injuries.

He senses that the arriving reinforcements are not within Chizhou; passing through it leads to a vast ocean.

Beneath the ocean lie hidden many terrifying water tribes, even water-dwelling alien races.

The ocean is boundless, vast and majestic.

On the surface, it is controlled by several powerful water-attribute ancient clans.

This is the Tian Yuan Sea.

The Nine Provinces Ancestral God glances at it, then flies eastward.

His speed is extreme.

After a hundred years, he arrives upon a vast divine prefecture where innate essence and qi are extraordinarily intense.

This is the central land of the Tianling Realm, where Dongli Haotu lies.

This is a primordial, vast Haotu.

The intense essence and qi seem liquefied, with divine mountains everywhere populated by ancient tribes.

Many extremely terrifying existences hide within; most major powers of the divine prefecture alliance are located in Dongli Haotu.

The Nine Provinces Ancestral God slightly furrows his brow, glances at the gradually flourishing fire seed deep in his palm, and can only follow its resonance to fly toward one direction.

Upon entering the southeastern border of Dongli Haotu, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God senses he is gradually approaching his target, yet the terrain before him makes him hesitate.

Gazing ahead, he sees a vast, magnificent wood-attribute essence and qi, with earth-attribute essence and qi extraordinarily abundant and pure.

This territory is not ownerless, but rather the domain of a divine-ancient clan called the Ziyu Ancient Clan.

The Ziyu Ancient Clan are descendants of the Ziyu Elder Ancestor, having transformed from earth-attribute essence and qi, born as ancient god-kings among innate beings, with extremely formidable cultivation.

Among their descendants, most inherit the power of the Ziyu Ancient God, innately able to wield earth-attribute and metal-attribute power, while a minority can grasp the laws of the cyan wood attribute.

After consideration, he still steps inside; from afar he sees a vast expanse of jade-green jade bamboo variants forming a bamboo forest.

The jade-green jade bamboo is a spirit seed native to the Purple Jade Ancient Clan, and the finest among them are worthy of being listed on the Hundred Treasures Ranking of the Spirit Realm.

After reaching adulthood, cultivators of the Purple Jade Ancient Clan must select a jade pillar to refine and use as their natal object to aid cultivation; it is said this purifies their bloodline divine power, making cultivation easier.

However, upon entering the Purple Jade Mansion, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God noticed that the cultivators of the Purple Jade Ancient Clan here were in a somewhat strange state.

Looking around, he saw that in many villages and towns within the Purple Jade Mansion, some cultivators of the Purple Jade Ancient Clan appeared deranged, behaving chaotically and upside-down.

Yet these cultivators themselves were completely unaware of their abnormality.

Including within the Purple Jade Mansion, some deities and powerful beings of the Purple Jade Ancient Gods.

Even the ruler of the Purple Jade Ancient Clan, the Purple Jade King.

The Purple Jade Ancient Clan's anomaly had not even disturbed the Purple Jade Ancient Gods cultivating deep within the Purple Jade Forbidden Ground; the Nine Provinces Ancestral God guessed that the Purple Jade Ancient Gods inside were likely also afflicted.

Though the Purple Jade Ancient God in the Dongli Vast Land is not considered a top-tier ancient god, as one of the innate ancient gods, its power is not to be underestimated—and yet it, too, had been afflicted.

Seeing this, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God's expression grew increasingly solemn.

He pondered slightly, then continued forward.

Passing through the central region of the Purple Jade Mansion, he arrived at a vast area where purple bamboo grew densely.

He knew this place was called Purple Bamboo Ridge, where every stalk of emerald purple bamboo contained innate purple qi, which in turn held the faint resonance of heavenly and earthly Dao laws—extremely precious.

The Purple Jade Ancient God usually boasted about this, rarely showing it to others.

Even if a major clan sought a single stalk of purple bamboo, they would have to pay a tremendous price.

This place was further protected by layer upon layer of forbidden laws.

Yet at this moment, deep within Purple Bamboo Ridge, all the forbidden laws had been opened.

At the same time, layer upon layer of strange omens appeared; the Human Dao Flame in the Nine Provinces Ancestral God's palm blazed fiercely, breaking free from his hand, tearing through the void, and flying deep into Purple Bamboo Ridge.

Shortly afterward, he saw the scene deep within Purple Bamboo Ridge.

From afar, he saw a magnificent earthly Dao rhythm flowing forth, as if the boundless origin of the earth itself was being revealed, gradually triggering resonance with the earthly Dao laws of the Spirit Realm; faintly, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God seemed to see the vast, boundless land of the Spirit Realm—mountains, rivers, and sacred peaks—manifesting.

Amidst the thick, vast divine light, part of the scene gradually became visible.

A divine figure clad in purple robes, embroidered with countless purple bamboo Dao patterns, emerged from within—handsome and radiant.

That was the Purple Jade Ancient God.

At this moment, the innate ancient god sat cross-legged on a stone bench, eyes slightly closed, as if immersed in boundless Dao rhythm.

Upon the central Purple Jade Throne sat another, completely unfamiliar divine figure, lounging with ease; his divine light was vast, within which could be seen boundless light, boundless wisdom, and boundless fortune forming a treasure wheel; farther off, it seemed one could see the heavenly void, the birth and death of boundless universes, and the divine power of the Dao's origin.

Boundless divine power flowed toward him; the Nine Provinces Ancestral God felt, as if under its gaze, his Dao heart had no secrets—its light illuminated the depths of his Dao heart, revealing old wounds and Dao scars.

Impossible to resist!

The Nine Provinces Ancestral God's face changed color; seeing the flame being gently pinched in the opponent's palm, his eyes twitched, and he immediately bowed.

"The Nine Provinces God pays respects to the Nine Provinces Ancestral God, Senior. I do not know where you come from—may I ask for your honored name?"

Zhang Jian opened his eyes, spoke calmly.

"I am the Earthly Emperor Elder of the Human Race from the Three Emperors' Heavenly Realm. You need not worry—I have come to support you!"

Upon hearing this, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God's expression shifted; deep in his eyes, a hint of joy appeared.

He knew the Nine Provinces God had hope!

As for outsider human races, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God had long been aware of them.

He had sent people multiple times to leave the Spirit Realm and enter the Three Emperors' Heavenly Realm to contact human holy land experts, seeking aid.

Besides the eight supreme Holy Emperors of the Three Emperors' Heavenly Realm, the highest position belongs to the powerful elders.

Each powerful elder holds tremendous authority.

The Three Emperors and Five Elders Council, upon receiving the allegiance of the Nine Provinces God, could dispatch an elder—this truly exceeded his expectations.

Zhang Jian glanced at the Nine Provinces Ancestral God, the corner of his mouth slightly curved in a smile.

After entering the Spirit Realm, he felt the suppression of the Spirit Realm's Heavenly Dao upon him; thus, upon arrival, he found a place and used the power of the Earthly Emperor's Golden Canon to re-adapt to the Spirit Realm's Heavenly Dao rules.

The Earthly Emperor's Golden Canon is profoundly mysterious—especially the Earth Dao Heart, which can draw down the will of the Earth Dao, quickly resolving his 'household registration' limitation.

As for the Purple Jade Clan, they are simply utterly unlucky.

When he entered this realm, he happened to be near this group of 'bamboo spirits'; seeing this blessed land, he naturally took it over without hesitation as a temporary residence.

But having just arrived, his prior understanding of the Spirit Realm's Heavenly Dao rules was shallow; thus, the Fivefold Eternal Dao Law Mountains and Rivers Map was distorted, causing the Nine Provinces Ancestral God to witness those strange phenomena.

At this moment, Zhang Jian waved his hand; a divine power lifted the Nine Provinces Ancestral God to his feet, his gaze falling upon him, and after a moment he said.

"You look in quite a bad state!"

"Please inform the Elder: I recently fought the founding ancestor of Jukezhou, was schemed against, and injured my origin..."

The Nine Provinces Ancestral God's face showed some helplessness.

At this moment, he sighed.

"These hidden wounds were left by various clan founding ancestors—uncommon, truly Dao injuries. If you had come later, I fear I would not have seen you!"

"Fortunately, now that the Elder has descended, even if I fall, I need not worry about the extinction of the Spirit Realm human lineage!"

Zhang Jian glanced at the Nine Provinces Ancestral God.

The injuries on the Nine Provinces Ancestral God's body were indeed severe; at a glance, he saw multiple traces of Dao laws left behind—like eternal shrapnel embedded deep in his primordial spirit, constantly eroding it; if not suppressed, this divine monarch's primordial spirit, and even his spiritual imprint, would be directly torn apart by these forces.

After a brief pause, Zhang Jian smiled.

"No problem—with me here, you won't die for now!"

Upon hearing this, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God's eyes brightened.

Zhang Jian then added.

"However, your injury cannot be 'healed' for now!"

Upon hearing this, the Nine Provinces Ancestral God's expression shifted; he looked up with surprise.