Chapter 397: Splitting the Chaos with Strength, Illuminating All Directions with Fire

The gray, chaotic egg-shaped space hovered above the southwestern borders of Nanxiang County; the crowd gazing upward felt as though they were looking upon a chaotic starry sky.

Within that starry sky, the fiery red, sky-piercing figure was impossible to ignore; merely by standing still, it caused the surrounding time and space to freeze.

First, the people within Nanxiang County were stunned into silence, followed by those in the Qisheng Palace, the Xuanyu Mansion, the various sacred lands, and the imperial palace.

One after another, powerful experts appeared, standing atop the clouds and gazing toward the south.

Above the imperial palace, the Retired Emperor and the Empress Dowager exchanged a silent glance.

Both wore grim expressions; they recognized that the location of the egg-shaped space was precisely where they had discovered a blessed grotto-heaven.

Both the imperial clan and the Zhu family had sent people inside.

However, although the sky-piercing figure standing within the egg-shaped space shone like the bright sun, making it difficult to see clearly, one could still discern that it was a woman, unrelated to anyone they had dispatched!

Above the Central Sacred Land, Wei Zhenjie was currently facing off alone against two Spirit Platform realm demon beasts.

At this moment, the one human and two demons were all solemnly watching the direction of Nanxiang County.

The two demon beasts were communicating via voice transmission.

"I heard that during the Primordial Era, a race of giants who could 'pluck stars with their hands and sever rivers and seas with their feet' lived in the polar regions of the four continents; it seems someone in Nanxiang County has obtained the inheritance left behind by the giant race."

"The human race is about to produce another powerful expert."

"We originally thought the chaos in Nanxiang County would divert the attention of the human race's experts, but we never expected them to relax their guard over the Demon Prison for even a moment."

The array core of the Central Sacred Land and the array eyes of the four great sacred lands; all sabotage attempts by the demon race against these five locations had been repelled.

"We acted too lightly; if the demon race had directly seized the Lingguang Hall, the human experts surely would have been unable to cover everything. Truly, I do not know why the Demon Saint refused to allow an attack on the Lingguang Hall."

"You are thinking too simply; the contest between the demon race and the human race is not merely over territory, but most importantly, a struggle for fortune."

"If the demon race had launched a massive offensive from the start, it would only have spurred the cohesion of the human race; it is better to seep in gradually. Look at Nanxiang County; the demon race did not even need to intervene much, yet the internal strife among humans has grown increasingly fierce."

"That is true."

While the two demons communicated via voice transmission, Wei Zhenjie was not idle either; he was using his One-Thought Connect to converse with the five Xuanyu generals.

Lu Zhenting: "Is that person the Hall Master of the Lingguang Hall?"

Wei Zhenjie glanced at the sky-piercing figure within the egg-shaped space: "Nine times out of ten."

Qin Feng: "I was wondering why she vanished for ten years; it turns out she was trapped."

Lu Zhenting: "Is she employing a technique of the giant race?"

This time, Wei Zhenjie did not reply; the Central Sacred Land possessed the inherited techniques of the giant race, and while they could also grow infinitely large, it came at the cost of consuming one's own energy.

When the sky-piercing figure in the egg-shaped space appeared, it stirred up towering waves of spatial energy and transformed the wind and clouds; this was clearly an external manifestation of mobilizing the power of heaven and earth and its laws.

It was the Law of Heaven and Earth Manifestation!

Only the Law of Heaven and Earth Manifestation could harness the power of heaven and earth and its laws for one's own use.

Watching the sky-piercing figure, Wei Zhenjie sighed inwardly; cultivating the Law of Heaven and Earth Manifestation placed no small demand on the physical body.

It seemed that over these ten years, although Nanxiang County had been in complete chaos, her strength had actually advanced by a huge margin!

The other powerful experts from various factions wore grim expressions; one by one, they took out their One-Thought Connect devices and swiftly issued orders: Cease all attacks on the Zhu Que Army immediately.

They had all vaguely guessed that the sky-piercing figure was the Hall Master of the Lingguang Hall, who had vanished for ten years.

The egg-shaped space reflecting in the sky instantly captured the attention of everyone.

"Bang~"

Just as various parties were making endless conjectures, a palm wreathed in flames suddenly shot out from behind the sky-piercing figure within the egg-shaped space, growing from small to large, expanding rapidly, and slamming fiercely toward the sky-piercing figure.

The flaming palm expanded swiftly, carrying the overwhelming power to burn the heavens; lingering on its surface was a layer of black flame, as if intending to shatter the sky-piercing figure with a single strike.

Upon seeing the flaming palm and the black flame, the Retired Emperor and the Empress Dowager above the imperial palace simultaneously changed color; one's eyes filled with tension, while the other's flickered with pain.

The Empress Dowager knew that Zhu Yan was dead.

Otherwise, Chu Junshan would not have been able to control the black flame.

Within the egg-shaped space, although the flaming palm expanded and surged with tremendous force, it still appeared somewhat insignificant compared to the sky-piercing figure.

The Pangu True Body technique cultivated by Chu Junshan had consumed vast resources, yet could only elevate his physical form to a hundred meters; against the sky-piercing figure standing a thousand zhang tall, it was truly unworthy of notice.

Everyone watched as the sky-piercing figure merely tilted its body slightly, then cleanly and decisively flung a fire axe toward the flaming palm.

"Boom~"

The fire axe struck the flaming palm with perfect precision; the moment they made contact, the flaming palm instantly disintegrated and shattered, turning into a sky full of sparks.

Immediately after, red light gathered in the right hand of the sky-piercing figure, and soon, another fire axe manifested.

The fire axe was flung out once more, this time chopping straight toward the direction from which the flaming palm had risen.

"Crack~"

It was not until the fire axe erupted with dazzling firelight that everyone finally saw a 'small fire person' standing not far from the feet of the sky-piercing figure.

The 'small fire person' was directly split in two by the fire axe, finally turning into flames and vanishing without a trace.

Witnessing this scene, the cultivators outside swallowed hard in terror.

Especially when the sky-piercing figure seemed to sense the outside world, lowering its head to glance down, everyone felt that indifferent gaze, which inexplicably spawned a despair of being as insignificant as ants.

From the direction of the imperial palace, a terrifying pressure suddenly erupted, causing hundreds of palace maids and eunuchs to instantly bleed from their seven orifices and die.

It was only because the Empress Dowager intervened in time to block the Retired Emperor's spiritual pressure that more lives were spared.

The powerful experts from all factions glanced toward the imperial palace, each lost in thought.

"Bang~"

"Bang~"

"Bang~"

Within the egg-shaped space, having disposed of the 'small fire person', the sky-piercing figure wielded the fire axe to fiercely chop at the boundary wall; every swing of the axe emitted a deafening explosion that pierced the nine heavens.

The power surging and gathering around the sky-piercing figure was not spiritual power, nor was it a technique; it was the most primitive, most brutal, and most direct thing of all—force!

It was the most desperate power erupted from the physical body.

With every swing of the fire axe in the sky-propping figure's hand came the mighty force to shatter star rivers; each strike made the hearts of all watching from outside leap in unison with terror.

"When chaos first parted, heaven and earth were like a chicken's egg; she is splitting open the heavens!"

On the Star-Gazing Tower, Tower Master Yuan Qi watched the gray, chaotic space above Nanxiang County with a sigh of emotion.

Others had also realized that the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall was trapped within the egg-like space and could not escape for now; thus, all factions began to act swiftly, seeking to maximize their gains before the Hall Master broke free.

The Phoenix Clan, disregarding the danger of spatial rifts and the obstruction of the Zhu Que Army, continuously dispatched phoenixes of pure bloodline deep into the Wutong Forest.

"Elder Fire Phoenix, unleash a few more soul attacks, and I will take away these thousands of Zhu Que soldiers."

Outside the burning village, a skull formed from coalescing black mist shouted urgently at Fire Phoenix, who stood at the Spirit Platform Realm.

He knew that once the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall returned, capturing the Zhu Que Army would become exceedingly difficult.

Glancing at the sky-propping figure still striving to cleave the world barrier, and acting with the intent to weaken the Zhu Que Army and incite internal strife among the human race, Fire Phoenix agreed to the black skull's request, threw back her head in a long howl once more, and launched another soul attack against the Zhu Que Army.

"Ah~"

Countless Zhu Que soldiers fell, their battle formation crumbling; Yang Zhao and several late-stage Infant Transformation cultivators, clutching Zhu Que tokens, each guarded a sector, struggling desperately to resist Fire Phoenix's assault.

During this time, the black mist swirling around the black skull grew denser, the skull itself expanded rapidly, its gaping maw swelling from a few meters to dozens of meters in an instant.

Once the Zhu Que tokens exhausted their capacity to withstand attacks from the Spirit Platform Realm, the black skull swallowed the entire Zhu Que Army in one gulp.

"Many thanks..."

Just as the black skull began to thank Fire Phoenix, a sound like the sky tearing apart cracked through the heavens above.

"Crack~"

An indescribable sound of the heavens splitting echoed through the void.

Wherever the crimson axe blade passed, the world barrier was forcibly torn open into a massive, burning fissure, from which surged a torrent of vital energy as mighty as the life-giving flood of creation.

Every living being within Nanxiang County felt this surging power of life; their vital energy strengthened, their physiques solidified, and in that moment, countless people suddenly realized how captivating pure physical strength could be.

Alongside the dense vital energy, the endless flames accumulated within the fire axe erupted explosively, like a primordial beast finally finding an outlet for its rage.

The flames spread like millions of firebirds beating their wings in flight, rushing into every corner.

Where the blazing fire passed, the void retreated.

In that instant, the skies above Nanxiang County blazed, illuminating all directions.

"Whoosh~"

The sky-propping figure flung the fire axe for the third time; the axe soared like a fiery meteor from beyond the heavens, slashing straight toward the southeastern region of Nanxiang County.

Seeing the fire axe heading directly for them, the three fire phoenixes and the black skull were struck with terror, each exerting their utmost speed to evade the strike.

Alas, the axe arrived too swiftly, reaching them in the blink of an eye.

The three fire phoenixes were severely wounded by the axe's lingering force, while the black skull was cleaved cleanly in two; the swallowed Zhu Que soldiers rained down to the ground.

The black skull rapidly reformed, no longer caring about the Zhu Que Army, and plunged underground, fleeing in haste.

"Whoosh~"

The moment the fire axe was flung, the sky-propping figure rapidly diminished in size, shooting out of the egg-like space like a meteor and flying toward the southeastern region of Nanxiang County.

Just before the black skull could plunge into the mass grave, a red fire lotus descended from the sky, instantly igniting the black skull.

"Ah~"

Black mist churned violently as a piercing, mournful scream echoed throughout Nanxiang County.