Chapter 491: Heaven‑Shaking Cataclysm

Below, the pressure at Tiebi Guan dropped sharply.

Although the aftershocks of the Supreme's battle remain terrifying, at least the Heavenly Dao pressure that directly assaults souls and wills has been largely neutralized by forces of the same tier.

The Nine Heavens Warriors regained their courage and strength, and together with the Other Shore Army, which had also been briefly stunned by the Supreme's arrival and then, under high command's harsh orders, launched a frenzied assault, once again charged recklessly into battle!

The warfire, in an even more brutal and crazed form, swept across the Bian Huang!

…

Just as the Bian Huang's Tiebi Guan erupted into a shocking clash of Heavenly Dao due to the descent of six Supreme beings, the battle temporarily fell into a higher‑level stalemate.

Deep within the true main current of the Space-Time River that threads through the Zhutian Wanjie and endless spacetime, a more covert and deadly upheaval is unfolding.

In the boundless depths of the Space-Time River lies the most mysterious and magnificent marvel of the Zhutian Wanjie.

Here transcends ordinary notions of space and time; it is the ultimate destination and flowing conduit for all traces of existence throughout history.

Looking outward, the vista is filled only with dazzling brilliance that makes the soul tremble.

It is not a static starry sky, but the living, ever‑racing flow of history itself.

Endless waves surge, collide, vanish, and are reborn upon the vast river surface whose source is unseen and whose end is unseeable.

Within each leaping wave, a clear silhouette of a complete era is reflected: the primal epoch of wild lands where gods and demons roared; the glorious age when the fire of civilization ignited the stars and myriad races clashed; and the final dirge of Jiemie, when the epoch's dusk fell, heaven and earth sang mournfully, and all things withered… Light and shadow flow, the air bears the weight of ages, and even a mere observer can feel the heavy burden belonging to countless lives and the destinies of civilizations.

Countless tributaries, coarse or fine, pour in from unknowable voids and then branch toward unknown horizons, representing parallel spacetimes, lost worlds, unfinished possibilities, and severed timelines. Under an indescribable Great Power, they converge into the main current before us, a stream that traverses and dominates all, roaring silently, moving eternally forward.

Yet deep within the main current lies a region that clashes grotesquely with the surrounding brilliance, instinctively evoking disgust and dread, like an ugly mold spot on a perfect painting, stubbornly persisting.

Zang Dao Gu Yu.

The river water here takes on a silt‑laden, putrid dark red, viscous and sluggish, as if it carries not time but solidified, aged plasma and Daozhang.

Above the surface, a year‑round gray‑black, heavy mist with the writhing quality of a living thing hangs.

This mist not only blocks Divine Sense and distorts perception, but also harbors a bizarre law of forgetting and ending; even a trace of it on an ordinary being can erase part of its existence or hasten its death.

The core of the ancient domain is terrifyingly Dead Silence.

It is an absolute stillness that even the void seems dead, darkness thick as ink, devouring all light and sound, like a massive mouth leading to the end of all things, and like an eternal grave that buries countless fallen Heavenly Dao and Supreme corpses.

Yet at this moment, this core dark zone, which should be eternally Dead Silence, is undergoing a chilling transformation!

"Goo... goo..."

A faint, bubbling sound like viscous liquid boiling rises intermittently from the deepest darkness.

What follows is a succession of ever‑stronger ominous auras, brimming with extreme malice, chaos, distortion, and decay!

The aura is like an ancient apocalyptic beast, long asleep, turning in a nightmare and beginning to emit dangerous pre‑awakening signs.

It yearns to break through this Dead Silence cage, to surge into the vibrant Space-Time River outside, to pollute, distort, and end all order and life that flow there!

At the edge of Zang Dao Gu Yu, within a relatively calm void that can monitor the core's fluctuations without being directly corroded by the ominous aura, four distinct yet equally towering and majestic presences, each capable of upholding the heavens, sit like four Eternal Divine Mountains, quietly seated, guarding this place.

On the left, a figure in plain robes radiates; his face is ordinary but his eyes are profound, surrounded by a faint aura of worldly fireworks that has witnessed all of life, yet seeming aloof above the ten‑thousand‑fold mortal dust, calmly observing the rise and fall of worlds—he is the Lord of the Red Dust.

Beside him, a being whose form constantly shifts between hazy celestial light and primal demonic aura, half‑immortal half‑demon, embodies a paradoxical yet harmonious balance of sacred and wild, its aura obscure yet unmatched in power—clearly a Divine Demon Immortal.

On the right, a figure in an imperial crown and divine robe exudes boundless majesty; behind him vague visions of countless Great Thousand Divine Universe worlds being born and dying swirl, his eyes opening and closing as if capable of shaping the heavens and commanding the laws of all realms—he is the contemporary Lord of the Great Thousand Divine Universe.

Between the three, slightly forward, sits another figure. He wears the simplest dark Dao robe, his visage plain, his eyes warm and tranquil like an ancient well that embraces all yet has no bottom.

He simply sits there, subtly in tune with the rhythm of the Space-Time River's flow, yet seeming independent of all turbulence.

He is the supreme being who once manifested in the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, rescued Feng Caichen and taught him the Tai Chu Nine Swords… Tai Chu.

Clearly, after resolving that causality, he proceeded straight to this peril‑laden Zang Dao Gu Yu, joining the other three companions in guarding it.

Though the four supreme beings sit in meditation, their intangible Divine Sense and Dao Rhythm have already woven a Miwang Datian, tightly monitoring every subtle shift in Zang Dao Gu Yu's core.

They have guarded here for a considerable span, and having sensed the ominous aura's unusually active, potentially eruptive trend, they united to suppress it here to prevent contamination of the river and chaos across the heavens.

In the silence, the Great Thousand Divine Universe Lord spoke slowly, his voice even yet tinged with a world‑weary indifference: "Over on the Other Shore, the stir is great. According to compiled reports, they have gone completely mad, launching a full‑scale war across the Bian Huang; the ferocity of their assault is unprecedented in a million years."

The Lord of the Red Dust, eyes still closed, interjected: "Ye Shengyuan, Kunxu Cai, and Geshu Wuyou have sensed the local crisis and have turned back from their respective places of enlightenment to rush to aid the Nine Heavens Ten Earths. With their cultivations, they should handle the overt pressure from the Other Shore without trouble."

"No trouble?" The Divine Demon Immortal's half‑demon half‑immortal visage furrowed slightly, his celestial light and demonic aura flickering together, revealing inner doubt. "Hope so. Yet… I always feel something amiss. That Night Clan youngster Ye Junlin, though talented, never truly rose before falling. For a dead, not yet Supreme junior, is it worth the Other Shore's massive war? Even to let those three old ones, who hide deep in the Space-Time River and fear death, manifest and return? The price seems too great, not their usual way."

His question silenced the surrounding void for a heartbeat.

At their level, they are accustomed to contemplating matters from the deepest causality and profit perspective.

"Could it be..."

Tai Chu, who had remained silent, now slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze calmly fell upon the boiling, intensifying dark core of Zang Dao Gu Yu, his voice gentle yet piercing through the haze:

"It must be related to the crisis of this Zang Dao Gu Yu we are guarding..."

His words seemed like a cold lightning bolt striking the hearts of the other three Supremes!

However, before they could savor the terrifying implication in Tai Chu's words—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

At several other special nodes of the Space-Time River's main current—far from Zang Dao Gu Yu yet critically positioned—multiple extreme energy surges, saturated with bizarre Dead Silence aura, erupted almost simultaneously!

The fluctuation is so familiar, sharing the same origin and nature as the ominous aura emanating from Zang Dao Gu Yu's core!

Its intensity is not even less than the sense of crisis here at Zang Dao Gu Yu!

"Those nodes!!"

The Great Thousand Divine Universe Lord sprang up abruptly, the phantom of the Great Thousand worlds behind him trembling violently, his expression changing for the first time!

"Ye Shengyuan's seat of power!!" The Lord of the Red Dust's eyes flashed like lightning, instantly piercing the endless spacetime barrier, pinpointing the exact location of the anomaly—it is precisely the spacetime node long overseen or closely watched by Ye Shizu, Kunxu Cai of the Kun Clan, and the supreme sword ancestor Geshu Wuyou!

These nodes function like gates or observation stations on the river; the three Supremes use them to comprehend the Dao, but more importantly, they guard them to prevent ominous forces from eroding the river itself from these critical points!

Now, due to the Bian Huang's emergency, Ye Shizu and the other two have had to depart to aid!

These vital nodes have briefly suffered a lethal defensive vacuum!

"Got them!" the Divine Demon Immortal roared low, celestial and demonic qi soaring, shaking the surrounding gray mist, "Lure the tiger from the mountain! This is the Other Shore's overt scheme! They correctly anticipated that Ye Shengyuan would not stand by as the Nine Heavens homeland fell, and would surely return!"

Tai Chu's expression grew fully solemn, he rose tall, his dark Dao robe moving without wind, "Their goal was never just the Bian Huang; it was these nodes! Moreover... using them as a conduit to achieve a deeper purpose!"

"We must stop the anomalous spread of those nodes at once! Otherwise, several nodes will go out of control, resonating with Zang Dao Gu Yu here, and may trigger a chain collapse, tearing an irreparable Liewen in the Space-Time River!" the Lord of Red Dust shouted urgently, his surrounding red‑dust karmic force already beginning to surge.

The four instantly unified their opinion, their bodies barely shifting, about to tear the Void, each rushing to the nearest anomalous node to suppress it.

However—

"Heh heh… only now wanting to go? Isn't it… a little too late?"