Chapter 494: Ultimate Existence

Jiang Tianyan's words, like the final piece of a puzzle, presented the horrific tableau of bloodshed, betrayal and sacrifice in full before the four Supremes.

Yet the core of that tableau—the deepest darkness and the most fundamental purpose—still shrouded in mist.

On the half‑immortal, half‑demon visage of the Divine Demon Immortal, murderous aura and solemnity intertwined; he stepped forward, his voice clanging like metal, and posed the most crucial question:

"What, exactly, is the ultimate conspiracy of the Inauspicious Clan? They have paid such a grievous price, sparing no ancient, possibly high‑ranking traitors, and even sacrificed nine Dark Ancestors as keystones… What do they intend to unleash? Or, rather… what are they awaiting?"

That question drew everyone's gaze onto Jiang Tianyan; the air was suffused with oppressive silence, and only the lingering, beast‑like dying breaths of ominous fluctuations deep within the Zang Dao Gu Yu stirred faintly.

Under the dim Space‑Time shadows, Jiang Tianyan's complexion grew even paler; they closed their eyes as if retracing a painstakingly dreadful Tui Yan Bu Suan, and when they opened them again, a barely perceptible weariness and a deeper heaviness lingered in their gaze.

His voice was slow and clear, each word seeming to bear an invisible weight:

"Specifically, what kind of being, in what form… With my power, and in such haste, even I can scarcely glimpse the whole picture. But…"

He paused, his tone becoming exceedingly solemn, even tinged with a hint of palpitations:

"I have exhausted a full fifty‑million years of Dao cultivation, burned a portion of the Great Derivative Heavenly Dao's Primordial essence, forced a glimpse into the veil of heavenly mysteries, and then, together with several other ancient entities adept at Tui Yan Bu Suan deep within the No Return, jointly performed calculations… Only after a back‑fire wound did I barely capture a fragment… a vague yet despair‑inducing piece of information."

He lifted his head, his gaze sweeping over Tai Chu, the Lord of the Red Dust, the Divine Demon Immortal, and the Lord of the Great Thousand Divine Universe, and said word by word:

"That is… within the Dark Clan, a supreme being that should have been utterly annihilated long before the ancient Epoch, its traces almost erased by time—a ultimate existence… Its dormant will or imprint seems to be awakened by this converging power, poised to… revive ahead of schedule!"

"What? The ultimate existence reviving?!" The Divine Demon Immortal's pupils suddenly contracted.

Jiang Tianyan had not finished speaking when their voice grew even deeper, delivering an even more terrifying conjecture:

"Moreover, the accumulated signs indicate that the terrifying Era Great Calamity… its approaching trend, due to this upheaval and the possibly reviving ultimate existence, has generated a bizarre resonance and pull… there is a great chance it will arrive ahead of schedule!"

"Ultimate existence reviving… Era Great Calamity… early?!"

Jiang Tianyan's final assertion, like two world‑ending divine thunders, struck the minds of every Supreme present with brutal force!

Dead silence filled the hall!

Even the mighty rush of the Space‑Time River seemed, at that moment, suppressed and devoured by an unseen horror.

A great terror and profound sense of crisis, born of primal instinct and beyond any cultivation level, swept over them like an icy, bone‑penetrating cold wave, instantly drowning their spiritual perception.

In the world‑worn eyes of the Lord of the Red Dust, reflections of the cataclysms recorded in ancient chronicles—each launched by the Inauspicious Clan of the No Return—appeared: eras of the heavens bleeding, the myriad realms wailing; epochs when constellations dimmed en masse and the fire of civilization was ruthlessly snuffed out; desperate vistas of countless Supremes falling and Tiandao collapsing… each time, a Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, a dusk of the Epoch.

The Divine Demon Immortal's breathing faltered slightly, the dual celestial and demonic qi becoming subtly disordered.

He recalled the legend of the twilight of a glorious Epoch, when an unspeakable dark ultimate existence descended, nearly dragging all heavens into an eternal dead silence… Could the prelude to this Epoch's end be unfolding early in this manner?

Tai Chu's expression grew utterly solemn, and deep within his warm, tranquil gaze flickered a fleeting vision of Chaos at its inception, all things vying to cross.

He sensed the torrent of Fate turning toward an exceedingly perilous fork.

The ethereal shadows of the Great Thousand World behind the Lord of the Great Thousand Divine Universe dimmed briefly, as if foreseeing countless souls wailing in struggle amid future calamities.

"Is the world‑ending cataclysm of this Epoch truly… about to arrive?"

The Lord of the Great Thousand Divine Universe murmured, his voice carrying a barely perceptible hoarseness.

After a long silence, Tai Chu spoke slowly, his voice still steady yet tinged with complexity: "What a pity. Had we, in earlier days, not been stationed here but had taken our post deep within the No Return, perhaps… we could have detected the traitors' signs sooner, or interfered with their designs; the situation… might have been different."

His words were not an excuse but a regret grounded in reality.

The Zang Dao Gu Yu is perilous, yet it is merely a segment of a long defensive line.

The No Return, however, is the true main battlefield and eye of the storm.

The Divine Demon Immortal nodded gravely, his voice laced with resentment: "What a shame, the Ominous Faction's scheming has surely not been a day's work; their layout is far‑reaching, their calculations precise. They even sacrificed so many Dark Ancestors, all to push that plan forward! Such ruthlessness and brutality far exceed the ordinary!"

"The most hateful, the most deserving of a thousand cuts… are still those unforgivable traitors!" The Lord of the Great Thousand Divine Universe's eyes flashed with icy frost, murderous intent nearly solidifying, the surrounding temperature dropping sharply, "Internal threats outweigh external foes! These parasites deserve a death a hundred‑fold more than the Inauspicious!"

The Lord of the Red Dust turned to Jiang Tianyan and asked another pivotal question: "Brother Jiang, have the traitors deep within the No Return already been executed?"

Jiang Tianyan shook their head slowly, grief and gravity interlacing on their face: "The incident erupted suddenly, and the traitors acted in multiple locations. In our haste, we could only eradicate those exposed on the spot or with solid evidence. But…" Their tone was resolute, "There are certainly deeper, still‑hidden ones! The great purge has only just begun."

He swept his gaze over the four Supremes, his voice turning earnest and urgent: "I have ventured out of the No Return this time to, first, inform you all of the truth behind this anomaly, and second… to earnestly request that you, fellow cultivators, accompany me into the depths of the No Return!"

"Now, due to the traitors' rebellion and the chain reaction from the sacrifice of the Dark Ancestors, our cutting‑edge forces have suffered considerable loss; the previously delicate balance has been shattered, and the pressure on the defenses has surged!"

"And that potentially reviving ultimate existence and the possibly early Era Great Calamity are a sword hanging over our heads!"

"The No Return… urgently needs such pinnacle forces to take up station, steady the people's hearts, reinforce the defenses, and… root out every traitor, purging the internal threat!"