Chapter 479: The World is Shocked!

Chen Mu bowed his fists.

The Star Lords of Earth and Void, Heavenly Treasury, and Heavenly Joy, as well as the Red Phoenix Star Lord, also took their leave in turn.

Five figures turned into streaks of light, each flying back to their own star palace.

In midair, only Chen Mu remained.

He hung suspended for a long while, gazing toward the direction of the Giant Gate Star Palace, and bowed again from afar.

……

After staying another half-month at the Wu Qu Star Palace, Chen Mu finally solidified his realm of Rong Tian.

During those half-months, he sat daily within the grand hall, repeatedly circulating his cultivation technique, allowing his true qi and the power of his pact to repeatedly refine and harmonize.

At first, his true qi and the power of heaven and earth were still awkward, like two strangers facing each other in silence.

Gradually, the two began to cautiously touch and merge.

Later, they became like old friends—once his mind stirred, they blended seamlessly, with not the slightest barrier left.

Chen Mu also spent considerable time mastering the use of the power of heaven and earth.

Standing on the platform outside the Wu Qu Star Palace, he raised his hand again and again, letting the invisible power of heaven and earth condense, shift, and release within his palm.

From initially forming only a hazy glow, he later shaped it into the forms of knives, spears, swords, and halberds; by the end, those weapons forged from the power of heaven and earth had solidified to near-physical density, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

On the fourteenth day, Chen Mu finally achieved the state where his will moved and heaven and earth followed.

As soon as he willed it, the power of heaven and earth within several zhang around him instantly converged—whether for attack or defense, it obeyed him as if it were an extension of his own limbs.

On the morning of the fifteenth day, Chen Mu rose, took out the Star Token, and infused it with his true qi.

A flash of starlight, and his figure vanished from the hall.

When he reappeared, he was back in a secluded mountain hollow outside Wulong Fucheng.

This was the spot he had chosen as his landing point when he left, surrounded by dense woods and rarely visited by people.

Chen Mu first released his spiritual sense to scan the area, confirmed no one was nearby, then took out his disguise materials from his robe.

Soon, Chen Mu transformed into another appearance.

Around thirty years old, his face was ordinary, his skin slightly dark, his brows and eyes carrying the simple, weary look of a low-ranking martial cultivator.

Such people were countless in Wulong Fucheng—drown him in a crowd and you'd never find him.

Chen Mu nodded in satisfaction, changed into a dull gray coarse linen tunic, and walked slowly toward the city gate.

The city guards leaned lazily against the wall, asked perfunctorily, collected the entry fee, and let Chen Mu pass.

After entering the city, Chen Mu moved with ease through several alleys, arriving at the busiest street in the city.

Hero Hall had arrived.

It was high noon; the hall buzzed with voices, the scent of food mingling with alcohol drifting far.

Chen Mu stepped inside, climbed to the second floor, and found an empty table by the window in the corner.

He ordered a pot of tea and some pastries.

He poured himself a cup and sipped slowly, but his ears were already alert, catching every conversation at every table.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, a loud crash came from downstairs, as if something had been slammed onto a table.

Immediately, a gruff voice exploded.

"Yaoyue Sect has suffered a major disaster!"

The entire Hero Hall fell silent for an instant.

Yaoyue Sect?

That was one of the Qidawu Sects—a pillar of the orthodox path.

What kind of major disaster could it possibly be?

After a brief silence, hurried footsteps sounded at the staircase entrance, and a crowd surged upstairs.

At their head was a middle-aged man with a face full of coarse flesh, wearing a half-worn leather armor, a saber slung at his waist—he was clearly a mercenary who had long lived on the edge of death.

Behind him followed four or five others, all with grim expressions.

"Old Li, what did you just say? What happened to Yaoyue Sect?" someone couldn't help asking.

The middle-aged man, Old Li, walked to an empty table, sat down heavily, grabbed the teapot, and drank a large gulp, then wiped his mouth.

"Yaoyue Sect's mountain gate has been breached by the Changsheng Mo Sect!"

"What?!"

The entire second floor erupted.

Old Li raised his hand to quiet them, then spoke in a low, heavy tone, "It happened yesterday morning. The Changsheng Mo Sect launched a full-scale assault; their two Supreme Elders personally intervened. Yaoyue Sect's Ten Thousand Forms Ancestor was surrounded and slain on the spot. The Yaoyue Sect Master was gravely wounded and fled, whereabouts unknown. The disciples within the mountain gate—some dead, some fled… most are dead."

"Impossible!"

A young man leapt to his feet, his face flushed red, "How could this be! Yaoyue Sect is one of the Qidawu Sects, established for over a thousand years! Their mountain protection array alone can withstand a full-force blow from a Ten Thousand Forms cultivator—how could it…?"

"Mountain protection array?"

Old Li smiled bitterly, "I heard the Changsheng Mo Sect used some kind of device—one strike shattered the array. I don't know exactly what it was. But this news has spread across the entire world—it's true."

The entire Hero Hall sank into deathly silence.

Then, an even louder uproar erupted.

"How could a Ten Thousand Forms Ancestor be killed?!"

"That's nonsense—who doesn't die? Ten Thousand Forms cultivators live at most eight hundred years; when their time comes, they die too."

"That's not what I mean—the chance of a Ten Thousand Forms cultivator being killed while fighting is too low! If he wanted to run, even under siege he could escape! How could the Yaoyue Ancestor be surrounded and slain? Why didn't he run?"

"Run? The mountain protection array was shattered, the entire sect was being slaughtered—where could he run? If he ran, Yaoyue Sect would be truly gone!"

"The Changsheng Mo Sect has gone mad! Truly mad!"

The righteous-magic war has lasted until today, and the first major power has been wiped out... Sigh, who will be next?

Voices rose and fell—some shocked, some lamenting, some worried, some shouting curses.

The Hero Tower was in complete chaos.

Chen Mu sat in the corner, holding a teacup, his brows tightly furrowed.

Yaoyue Sect.

One of the Qidawu Sect, founded over a thousand years ago, guarded by a myriad-phase elder, its mountain-protection array said to withstand full-force attacks from peers.

Could such a power have its mountain gate breached overnight by the Longlife Mo Sect?

Could its myriad-phase elder have been surrounded and slain?

The truth behind this goes far deeper than what the rumors suggest.

Chen Mu set down his teacup, his mind racing.

If the Longlife Mo Sect dared strike at a Qidawu-level power, either they possessed a trump card capable of crushing myriad-phase elders, or they had allied with other Mo Sects.

Either way, it meant the intensity of the righteous-magic war would escalate utterly.

Previous battles were merely appetizers.

Now, the main course had arrived.

Chen Mu's gaze fell to the window, watching the still-bustling crowds on the street. They did not yet know a greater storm was quietly approaching.

Suddenly, Chen Mu remembered one person.

Shen Ge.

A disciple of Yaoyue Sect, once a renowned genius on the Potential Dragon List.

When Chen Mu was still in the post-heaven realm, he had met Shen Ge, who had aided him greatly—he was one of Chen Mu's few true friends.

Now that Yaoyue Sect has been destroyed, is Shen Ge still alive?

Chen Mu's brows tightened further.

Given Shen Ge's nature, if the sect had fallen and his master was unknown—perhaps dead, perhaps gravely wounded—Shen Ge would never survive in cowardice.

Either he died defending the mountain gate, or he broke through at great cost to seek vengeance against the Longlife Mo Sect.

Either way, the odds were grim.

But no matter what, he had to confirm it.

Alive, he must see the man; dead, he must see the body.

Thinking this, Chen Mu stood, left payment for the tea, and strode out.

Outside the Hero Tower, Chen Mu did not leave the city immediately, but first returned to his residence in Wulong Prefecture.

There, some things still remained.

Half an hour later, Chen Mu donned the attire of a merchant, his face altered to appear younger, and exited Wulong Prefecture's southern gate, racing toward Yaoyue Sect.