Chapter 487: One Step, Three Calculations—Exhausting Heaven

"Who wakes first from this great dream... I alone know my own life."

In a thatched hut, a man sat before a bed, feather fan in hand and silk headband in place, leaning casually against a table, picking up a white stone and tapping it lightly on the go board; on his handsome face lingered a look of nostalgia...

"In spring, I sleep long in the thatched hall; outside the window, the sun lingers slow."

On the board, black stones formed a single line, splitting the board in half like a fissure, severing three great white dragons in two, twisting the entire position into chaos.

Whoever looked at it could only say: black has already secured victory.

Yet the scholar with temples streaked with gray placed a white stone in one spot, rekindling the fading aura of the white stones.

He lifted away a dead black stone, subtly severing the vital vein of the black fissure.

Beneath Jiankang City, the dragon vein, pierced by three thousand human stakes at key points, now bore increasingly dense Yu Jiuyou fissures; tiny cracks had merged into one, and within the demonic clouds, the Three Heavenly Demons had joined hands!

The Ten Thousand Plague Demon transformed into countless strange Guchong, arranging themselves into a mysterious formation; the Kuquan Demon split into myriads of heart demons, slipping into those Guchong; each mindless, senseless Guchong suddenly glowed with eerie light in its compound eyes; the Gluttonous Old Demon opened his mouth and swallowed the myriads of insect waves...

A cruel smile spread across his face; his entire body was instantly devoured by the insect tide, and slowly, a demonic god fused from the Three Heavenly Demons emerged amid the writhing of countless Guchong.

It opened four arms, each large enough to blot out sun and moon!

Composed of the Sun-Moon-Blocking King Insect, ranked sixty-fourth on the Strange Insect List, this insect was no larger than a grain of rice, translucent as glass, revealing within its belly a black speck the size of a sesame seed, pulsing and swelling.

The Strange Insect List was compiled after the Heavenly Court's Plague Division banned countless vile Guchong from the mortal realm; those no longer on the Dead Insect List but still dangerously toxic were re-ranked.

The Sun-Moon-Blocking King Insect earned its place due to its ability to devour light.

This insect can swallow the light of sun and moon; alone in shadow, even mortal children can crush it—but when it gathers in swarms to blot out sun and moon, even Nascent Soul True Persons will be troubled. Once it obscures sun and moon, the darkness it creates becomes its own realm—a natural divine ability called Great Dark Heaven...

Great Dark Heaven has no form, no substance—only spiritual sense can exist within it!

Within it, countless insect spirits intertwine; once one falls in, they are pierced and twisted by the combined spiritual will of countless kin.

The four giant hands blocked sun and moon, allowing the demonic god to fully manifest in darkness.

It bore a demonic dragon head like a Glutton, its four hands—each blotting out sun and moon—covered in countless eyes; beneath it, a serpentine tail coiled deep into the fissure below.

From within Great Dark Heaven came the overlapping voices of the Three Heavenly Demons: "The Three Heavenly Masters have cleverly planned! The Nascent Soul True Persons of the Supreme Dao, Primordial Dao, and Spirit Treasure Dao are all within our calculations—none can come to aid! Yet we never expected the most reclusive Nascent Soul True Person of the Nanhua Sect would also meddle in this mess!"

"The Jiankang city defense array has been broken! This Great Dream Master must be the one you prepared to intervene at the critical moment and protect Jiankang!"

"Too bad—we three have been preparing this move for five hundred years: using countless strange insects summoned by the Heavenly Insect as our body, my Kuquan 's myriads of heart demons as our demonic consciousness, and the Gluttonous Zangshan Laozu devouring all, fusing us into one."

"This is the Eroding Soul Head! The Demon's Great Form! Within Great Dark Heaven, all form and substance vanish—you cannot withstand this strike!"

The colossal demonic form, hidden beneath four shadowed arms, swung its mountain-sized serpent tail, shattering space and striking hard against the great Yu Jiuyou fissure.

Even this tail was but a manifestation of spiritual will—actually, countless demonic spirits coordinated with the Yu Jiuyou to shatter a single point in space.

A sesame-sized black hole appeared beneath the Jin Ling dragon vein; then space began to collapse, fissures spreading rapidly—the Yu Jiuyou fissure was about to truly rupture the embryonic membrane of the Earth Immortal Realm, piercing the invisible barrier between Yu Jiuyou and the Earth Immortal Realm.

At that moment, a white go stone suddenly manifested, landing atop the sesame-sized black spot.

The white stone stabilized the rift in space; the land beneath Jiankang trembled faintly, like a go board with a final decisive move—an aura of suppression and stillness enveloped the area.

Zhang Zhang Tian Shi felt his Tian Shi Sword, planted to stabilize the Xuanwu Lake's water eye, trembling violently.

Across the vast Xuanwu Lake, countless black-and-white vortices spun endlessly; in the turning of yin and yang, a colossal phantom of the Xuanwu—tortoise and snake entwined—bore the lake on its back, turning to gaze toward Jiankang.

Zhang Zhang Tian Shi's right hand, sensing the Tian Shi Sword, had unconsciously formed a sword finger, still trembling slightly.

He was even more shocked than when he saw the Three Heavenly Demons fuse before his eyes; with a strained, solemn voice, he said: "It is an array!"

On Zhong Shan, the chain within the Locked Dragon Well shook violently; from the well rose a deep, resonant dragon roar; blue dragon qi sprouted from the mountain's roots and surged downward along its slopes...

In the imperial palace's underground crypt, Master Sima Shi's true body spat a mouthful of blood; the earth qi, bound by nine magical chains, churned wildly; the entire palace trembled.

One majestic palace after another collapsed; amid the ruins, an ancient stone city emerged—the Stone City trembled, and a deep, majestic tiger's roar echoed throughout the imperial city.

The White Tiger with staring eyes, riding rolling wind storms, burst from the imperial city and roared upward from Qingliang Mountain.

Master Sima Shi's topknot had come undone; his hair hung loose as he shook his head in disbelief: "Impossible! Impossible! The Tai Chu Palace suppresses the Lesser Yin Dragon Vein. Neither the Wang family of old nor Li Er before could shake it... the Lesser Yin White Tiger has long been under my Master Sima clan's control—how could it suddenly activate on its own?"

Beneath Zhu Que Bridge, the Qin Huai River turned crimson; dragon qi from the Lesser Yang position wound through the river, igniting a Zhu Que divine flame that spread across its entire length, rising into the sky as a soaring, head-up Zhu Que.

Xuanwu entwined, Qinglong bowed, Bai Hu roared, Zhu Que soared!

"The Four Symbols' Celestial Array!" Zhang Zhang Tian Shi gasped. "Who? Who understands the Four Symbols' Celestial Array better than I, its creator?"

The Jin Ling dragon vein ceased struggling; even though Jiankang City had sunk into the Great Dream Master's dream, the spiritual clouds gathered from the people's collective fortune suddenly expanded, forming a celestial canopy.

Within the spiritual clouds, entangled with Jiankang's divine path, the demonic embryo let out a piercing, wailing cry.

Yet it could not stop the righteous, brave, kind, and compassionate aspects of the Southern Jin people's hearts from blazing fiercely, transforming into pure white heartfire that burned away the most evil demonic embryo.

Eighty-one Heavenly Ghosts and nine Ghost Mothers manifested, shedding their monstrous forms within the flames, embracing each other as they found liberation...

"Heaven's will is the people's will! Heaven's heart is the people's heart!"

A sigh arose; the spiritual clouds gathered the people's wishes, forming an unimaginable array that merged with the dragon vein beneath the earth, re-erecting the national fortune dragon pillar...

A vast, sweeping aura spread outward, shattering the sky obscured by the Four Dark Palms of the Eroding Soul Head; the rolling demonic clouds dispersed, and sun and moonlight returned!

"This... is the Heaven-Earth Array!" Zhang Zhang Tian Shi stared, dumbfounded.

The Heaven-Earth Array merged; the human stakes driven into the earth by demonic forces, and the demonic clouds gathered above by the Three Heavenly Demons, all shattered at once.

The rolling demonic clouds were scattered in a single Zhen; the human stakes on the ground erupted one by one; all demonic cultivators across the land were stripped of their cultivation; water vapor surged from all sides, white clouds churned, heaven and earth's pure and turbid qi interacted, and torrents of spiritual energy became a gale, sweeping away all corruption...

"Heaven, Earth, Wind, Clouds... Dragon, Tiger, Bird, Snake!"

Master Sima Shi's pupils dilated suddenly; a thought flashed through his mind—one he dared not believe:

"This is—the Eight Array Diagram!"

Towering like a mountain, the colossal demonic body roared to heaven—but Qinglong, Bai Hu, Zhu Que, and Xuanwu stood at the four directions, heaven covering, earth bearing, wind and clouds arising; the overwhelming power of the Eight Array Diagram converged, and the mighty demonic body shattered piece by piece, dissolving into nothing.

The countless Guchong and demonic qi scattered, then, under the array's crushing pressure, turned to ash.

The Eight Array Diagram remaining atop Jiankang's ruins, with a single turn, utterly suppressed the Three Heavenly Demons.

The Gluttonous Zangshan Laozu's roar thundered across a thousand li: "How could Jiankang's city defense array activate on its own? Even if Master Sima Shi betrayed us, it shouldn't be this powerful!"

"This array's power can suppress Nascent Soul True Persons!"

The Kuquan Demon cried in terror: "This is beyond Zhang Zhang Tian Shi and the Master Sima clan's capability... this must be the array left by Lord Langya Zhuge (Wu Hou)!"

The Heavenly Insect Zangshan Laozu, seeing the Jin Ling dragon vein break free from the demonic array, watched the Yu Jiuyou fissure instantly suppressed by the Eight Array Diagram's might, and said in fear: "Friends, fate is against us—I'm retreating!"

"Heavenly Insect!" The Gluttonous Zangshan Laozu roared; Zhang, Tao, and Sun Zhang Tian Shi joined hands to summon sword, talisman, and seal, surrounding him within the Eight Array Diagram.

The Heavenly Insect Zangshan Laozu's countless Guchong forms instantly turned to ash; though his demonic consciousness was severely wounded, as long as the Miao regions still worshipped him as the Insect God, his residual demonic awareness hidden in other poisonous insects would eventually recover.

But the other two Heavenly Demons had no such fortune.

The Gluttonous Zangshan Laozu was surrounded and slain by the Three Zhang Tian Shi, aided by the Eight Array Diagram; within three exchanges, his immortal demonic body was destroyed, his demonic consciousness sealed and refined within the Divine Thunder Prison Talisman.

The Kuquan Demon split his demonic consciousness into myriads, attempting to flee into the Great Dream Master's dream, hiding among Jiankang's people's hearts.

But as soon as he entered the dream, he saw the Great Dream Master and a feather-fan-wielding, ethereal scholar seated across from each other before a go board, blocking his path.

The noble, handsome scholar pointed his feather fan and smiled: "Human hearts are fickle; heart demons take myriad forms—most difficult to calculate!"

"You have acted so wickedly, bringing ruin upon all living beings—and still dare to manipulate hearts before me? Come, enter my game. Let me see if I can calculate every twist of your heart demons!"

In an instant, the Kuquan Demon understood the man's identity.

He turned to flee—but before he could escape the dream, he was helplessly drawn into the go game, becoming a black stone; his heart filled with utter despair: heart demons, ever-shifting, should fear no heavenly calculation—but if one had refined heavenly calculation to this man's level, he had no chance of survival!

Soon, layers upon layers of karmic force surged upward, pressing his stone deep into the very heart of the board.

Master Sima Shi watched as the Three Heavenly Demons, moments ago so arrogant and invincible, now two dead, one fled.

No one could have foreseen that the Nascent Soul Immortals and Heavenly Demons drawn into Jiankang's upheaval would meet their doom!

The demonic sect's losses here were enough to pierce their very hearts; compared to this, even losing a hundred times more true disciples and Yin Spirit elders would not be as devastating.

The Three Zhang Tian Shi dismembered and sealed the Gluttonous Zangshan Laozu; only the spirit treasure—the blood-moon-shaped hook—pierced through the array by consuming its own essence, fleeing southward.

Tao Zhang Tian Shi descended, gazing at the scene before him, genuinely puzzled: "Today's demonic calamity... has been full of unpredictable turns! Who could have stirred the lingering Eight Array Diagram and brought the Heavenly Demons to ruin?"

Zhang Zhang Tian Shi chuckled bitterly: "Don't laugh, friend—but the Four Symbols' Celestial Array was arranged by me atop Lord Langya Zhuge's ruins. When I laid it out, the Eight Array Diagram was already shattered, its power long gone."

"I once took pride, thinking my array, encompassing the Jin Ling dragon vein and dividing the Four Symbols, surpassed Lord Langya Zhuge. Today, I see how far I fall short!"

Sun En also sighed: "Our calculations and the demonic sect's were evenly matched."

"Had we continued, we still had a few hidden moves—the outcome remained uncertain, and we had at most a seventy percent chance of victory. But that elder's move placed all three Heavenly Demons in certain death. Could Lord Langya Zhuge have foreseen all this thousands of years ahead, leaving behind a strategy spanning millennia?"

He could not help but doubt himself, and his admiration for that elder reached the utmost.

Tao Zhang Tian Shi also felt a pang of shame, sincerely marveling: "Thus, Lord Langya Zhuge is truly terrifying and awe-inspiring!"

Zhang Zhang Tian Shi sneered: "Now that the demonic calamity is shattered, it's time to settle old scores with Master Sima Shi!"