Chapter 163: The Outcome Is Set

If this battle is won, the Human Race will gain a chance to rest for ten thousand years.

When the dust settles on the third necromancer cataclysm, just as both races are waning, the dormant Human Race can rise with the tide and complete the heavenly protagonist's final metamorphosis.

More crucially, this avoidance strategy can preserve the existing foundation to the greatest extent, reserving a spark for the future great flourishing.

Even if defeated, the situation will not become worse.

Facing the Demon Race's absolute suppression that tears everything apart, if Zhou Yi cannot contend with Taiyi Shen, the Human Race's fate was already sealed before the wager was made.

The most ingenious aspect of this gamble lies in calculating the Demon Race supreme's pride with crystal clarity.

"Heaven and Earth bear witness!" Amid the hum of the Chaos Bell, Taiyi Shen's silver hair fluttered, his disdainful gaze fully displayed, "I shall see how big a storm you ant can stir up."

His challenge stems not only from the absolute confidence granted by the innate treasure, but also concerns the Demon Race emperor's honor; to avoid battle under everyone's eyes would be to admit inferiority to the humble Human Race.

The three ancestors of the Human Race watching the battle felt cold sweat seep from their palms.

They know well that Taiyi Shen wields the power of the Chaos Bell, which once annihilated the Twelve Ancestral Witches as a world‑ending artifact.

Grand Master Miaole's dust‑sweeping brush moved without wind, and his Dao heart, rarely stirred, rippled: "Dao friend, do you know that Taiyi Shen excels most at fighting alone?"

Zhou Yi, however, had already stepped into the void, mysterious Dao patterns shimmering around him. The scene reminded Sui Huang of a century ago, when this youth wielded a spark to carve a path through the Demon Race's hunting encirclement.

At this moment, though everyone was anxious as if burning, no one voiced doubt; the trust forged by countless miracles had already taken deep root in their bloodlines.

Dark clouds churned in the sky, Zhou Yi gripped his artifact tightly, his robe rustling in the gale: "If not forced, who would willingly face the Demon Emperor's might? The Human Race… has long had nowhere to retreat."

A barely perceptible gloom flickered in his eyes, his tone wrapped in seven parts resolve and three parts desolation.

Grand Master Miaole's knuckles turned white as he pinched his fingers, the jade tablet in his sleeve ground to powder. This chief disciple of Tai Qing Sheng Ren closed his eyes and sighed: "Heaven and Earth are merciless, treating all things as fodder."

When he opened his eyes again, mysterious Dao rhythm flowed around him: "This humble Daoist wishes to lend you a hand, Dao friend."

"Ha! The ant kind actually knows how to bully the few with the many?" Taiyi Shen stepped on ripples of void, the phantom of the Chaos Bell flickering behind him. His golden pupils swept the two, a palpable pressure crushing clouds for a hundred li: "What if you both advance together? I consent."

Zhou Yi suddenly burst into a bright laugh, his voice shaking the wandering demon qi. He stepped forward to face the Demon Emperor, his spine upright: "Since the Human Race's destiny has sworn, we must squarely settle a win‑or‑lose with Your Majesty."

He silently formed a seal in his sleeve, nine protective golden light currents coiling around his body.

Miaole gazed at the youth's resolute profile, a faint grateful glimmer in his eyes. He lifted his wide sleeves, the yin and yang energies materialized from void, condensing into a continuously flowing Tai Chi formation diagram: "This item may be temporarily lent to you to guard the spirit platform."

The Qian‑Kun trigram rose from the formation, actually suppressing the fluctuations of the laws within Chaos by half.

"Tai Qing Sheng Ren's proof‑of‑Dao artifact?" Zhou Yi's pupils narrowed.

The Tai Chi diagram hovered above his head, black and white radiance interweaving into a mysterious path, capable of sorting the laws of Heaven and Earth, harmonizing yin and yang of all things, and also possessing the power to suppress space and time.

The Demon Emperor, seeing this, for the first time restrained his contemptuous expression, and the Chaos Bell emitted a deep, muffled boom.

On the eve of the decisive battle with Taiyi Shen, Zhou Yi's spine seemed to bear the weight of a thousand mountains. Though the plan had been long devised, the secret strategy hidden in his palm flickered like an undecided star, wavering between life and death.

This trump card was originally reserved for the final battle of the cosmic cataclysm, but the war drums' rallying horns could not tolerate any hesitation.

He knows well that even if this battle is lost, the Human Race's destiny will not be severed; the Heavenly Dao's scales have their own balance, but if the Demon Race is allowed to run rampant, the Human Race's foundation will suffer a severe loss of vital energy.

When Grand Master Miaole appeared holding the Tai Chi diagram of circulating yin and yang, the purple aura hidden in the clouds already signaled Tai Qing Sheng Ren's will.

The innate treasure hung three inches above the crown, Chaos energy cascading like a waterfall, and Zhou Yi's eyes burst with dawn‑like radiance.

"This diagram shall be used by the Human Race to continue writing its destiny," Zhou Yi formed the Mountain‑River seal with both hands, gilded light flowing from his fingertips. Miaole's wide sleeves caught the wind, the eight‑trigram pattern on his brow flickering: "Since Master has established the Ren Sect, the Demon Race cannot cross even a step of the thunder barrier."

In the center of the battlefield, a strange sight suddenly appeared: five‑colored clouds rose around Zhou Yi.

The power of the ancient saintly body surged like molten lava, and under the protection of the Tai Chi diagram, it transformed into a chaotic spectacle reminiscent of the primordial opening of Heaven and Earth.

The azure lotus swayed, opening the primordial void; yin‑yang twin fishes roamed the splendid mountains and rivers, and above the nine heavens a phantom of the Immortal King gazed down upon all beings.

When Taiyi Shen's bell reverberated through the three realms, Zhou Yi's feet stepped on void, each step birthing a lotus. With each footfall, a heavenly law manifestation appeared, and the five great phenomena eventually merged into a sky‑covering scroll, enveloping the entire battlefield in a cycle of creation and extinction.

"As the sovereign of the Human Race, Taiyi Shen, do you dare to fight?"

Zhou Yi stood atop the nine heavens, a pressure of shattered void swirling around him, his mighty qi shaking the star sea, and the armor of millions of Demon Race soldiers rang loudly under the pressure.

This was the first time the Human Race saw their leader fully unleash his cultivation. Since the founding of the Zhe Tian Secret Canon, this emperor who holds the Human Race's authority has always been renowned for his wit. Even trusted confidants like Sui Huang have never truly glimpsed the depth of his cultivation.

"The Heavenly Fire Battle Division is ready to drum for our lord!"

"Mysterious Armor Guard, request permission to clear the way!"

Earth‑shaking war cries erupted from three iron‑blood legions, instantly sweeping across the entire Human Race's territory.

Hundreds of millions of people looked up at the figure that upheld the sky, the battle spirit in their blood surging like earth fire.

They finally understood that this sage who calculates stellar trajectories also wields the great power to scorch heaven and boil the sea.

On the other side of the firmament, crimson‑golden fire tore through Chaos. Taiyi Shen stepped slowly upon the world‑burning flames, and with each step a phantom of nine great suns rotated.

This Demon Race supreme who controls the Chaos Bell, merely by stirring his qi, caused the foundation of Mount Buzhou to tremble.

"Imperial blood forged the bell for ten hundred thousand years; today I shall drink the Human Emperor's soul," Taiyi Shen's voice shook the eight realms, and in the Demon Race battle formation banners that blocked the sky rose instantly. In their view, Taiyi Shen and the Chaos Bell are incarnations of the Heavenly Dao, far beyond what the weak Human Race can resist.

The great beings of Honghuang opened their Dharma eyes.

Beyond the thirty‑three layers of heaven, the saints' lingering gazes materialized into tangible Dao rhythms; deep within the Nine Netherworld, the vortex of reincarnation stilled because of them.

In a corner shrouded by Chaos, two twisted figures hissed like poisonous snakes, the golden‑threaded Dao robes on them still bearing scorch marks from the Zhe Tian secret technique.

Between Honghuang Tian Di, two ancient great beings now schemed in secret: the demon master Great Peng Bird and the Lord of the Sea of Blood, Ming He, who are bound by fate with Zhou Yi.

In the past, during the campaign to eradicate the Wan Huo Ancestor, the two had intended to seize the opportunity for proof of Dao, but Wan Huo self‑detonated at its source, grievously injuring the two saints, and Zhou Yi seized the chance to snatch the primordial purple aura.

Now the reincarnation of Wan Huo has become a settled fate, and the celestial strongmen all agree that the foundation for ascension to sainthood has already fallen into Zhou Yi's possession.