Chapter 696: The Dark Main Path of No Return

Crossing billions upon billions of endless No Return branch paths, avoiding the countless terrifying fiends and strange inauspicious beings along the way.

Ye Wuque and the Nine Heavens Dragon Emperor were both stained with a trace of lingering baleful aura, their steps steady.

They had finally arrived at that land of infinite terror that made all living beings in Zhutian Wanjie turn pale at the mention of it... the range of the No Return Path Main Road.

This place was utterly different from the branch path areas outside.

The moment they stepped into this territory, a suffocating pressure originating from an ancient abyss descended upon them like a physical weight.

Even the Dao Rhythm of heaven and earth had completely stagnated, and the surrounding Void took on a deathly, dark gray hue.

There was not a trace of life, not a glimmer of light; it was as if this was a realm of utter extinction abandoned by the Heavenly Dao of all heavens.

The air was filled with nothing but an inauspicious aura capable of corroding the soul and eroding the Dao Foundation. Every wisp of this flowing aura carried a terrifying pressure like the end of the world, causing the surrounding Space to warp slightly, with faint signs of shattering.

Ye Wuque and the Nine Heavens Dragon Emperor both halted, standing at the entrance of the terrifying path ahead, where endless dark aura churned wildly like a sky-devouring giant beast. Both wore solemn expressions, their auras restrained within, yet they maintained the highest level of vigilance at all times, daring not the slightest carelessness.

They stood silently, extending their Divine Sense slightly, only to withdraw it immediately after a brief touch upon the aura ahead. Even so, both could clearly feel the heart-stopping terror contained within this dark, long road stretching across heaven and earth.

On the road ahead, endless darkness surged and churned like raging waves.

That darkness was by no means ordinary night or common yin evil aura; rather, it was a Primordial Darkness capable of devouring the ancient Dao and grinding down the laws of Zhutian. It was black as ink, heavy as a prison.

Amidst the churning, faint sounds of Dao lamentation could be heard—the final mournful cries of the Heavenly Dao laws being devoured by it.

This darkness had existed here since ancient times, enduring endless vicissitudes and calamities, never fading or dispersing, exuding a chilling aura of eternal death and everlasting extinction.

Anyone who sensed it would know that whether it was a living being's Flesh, soul, or will, or a supreme treasure, Divine Weapon, or Dao law—any existence that stepped into this darkness would be utterly devoured by this merciless darkness, leaving not even a single trace behind, as if it had never appeared in the world.

Let alone ordinary Zhutian powerhouses; even a supreme figure whose cultivation had reached the Heavenly Dao Supreme Realm, if they rashly set foot here, would have to be extremely cautious and proceed step by step.

With the slightest misstep, touching the apocalyptic killing intent within the darkness, they would instantly suffer Death Path Vanish, Soul Annihilation, and completely dissipate into this ancient darkness, without even a chance for Reincarnation.

The Nine Heavens Dragon Emperor's aged face was filled with unprecedented solemnity. His cloudy eyes were fixed tightly on the churning darkness ahead, his brows deeply furrowed. Even his vast Dragon Might had unconsciously reined in a few points.

He spoke slowly and deeply, his voice carrying a hint of gravity, a hint of fear, and a hint of respect for the ancient sages of Zhutian:

"This should be one of the legendary Ten Extinction-Level Main Roads of the No Return Path. Judging by this Primordial Darkness aura, it must be the dead-end road known in legend as the Dark Main Path!"

The No Return Path stretches across the Nine Heavens Ten Earths and Zhutian Wanjie, containing billions upon billions of branch paths within it.

Every branch path is extremely dangerous, hiding endless strangeness and inauspiciousness, causing countless powerhouses to balk at the thought.

But these billions of branch paths, without exception, all eventually converge toward one direction, and their destination is these ten Extinction-Level Main Roads!

An ancient legend has long circulated throughout Zhutian Wanjie: any one of these ten Extinction-Level Main Roads, in terms of terror and vastness, is billions of times more terrifying and billions of times vaster than all the billions of branch paths combined. The danger of the branch paths is merely a trace of residual power emanating from the Main Roads.

Countless ancient sages from the Nine Heavens Ten Earths and even Zhutian Wanjie, from ancient times to the present—many powerful figures with great righteousness and supreme cultivation—resolutely stepped into the No Return Path to explore its secrets and block the emergence of inauspiciousness. Yet the vast majority of them spent their entire lives only able to stop within the region of the billions of branch paths, without even the qualification to approach the ten Main Roads, let alone step into them.

The Main Roads, for the vast majority of Zhutian powerhouses, are forbidden lands where even approaching is not permitted—taboo places that exist only in legends!

Only those whose cultivation has truly touched the Heavenly Dao Supreme Realm, who control a great Dao and stand at the pinnacle of Zhutian, barely possess the qualification to spy upon this place, to stand at the entrance of these Main Roads and behold their true form.

And those supreme beings who can truly delve deep into the Extinction-Level Main Roads, walking and exploring within them, are, throughout the ages, extremely few and far between, countable on one's fingers. Each one is a top-tier powerhouse capable of shaking Zhutian.

Extinction-Level Main Roads, as the name implies—the word "Extinction" in their name is enough to illustrate their terror. All living beings within these Main Roads are not of the benevolent kind; they are all Extinction-level existences, each one taking the slaughter of living beings and the Destruction of the Dao as its mission, their ferocious might overwhelming the heavens.

The cultivation of a Heavenly Dao Supreme is likely the most basic requirement for stepping in here. Even a Heavenly Dao Supreme can only be considered an entry-level. From this, one can imagine just how terrifying these Extinction-Level Main Roads truly are.

But even with such danger, one must face a cruel fact:

The endless terrifying Bane Creatures that continuously surge forth from the billions of No Return branch paths are all born and emerge from these ten Extinction-Level Main Roads.

They pour out like a tide, flowing from the Main Roads to the branch paths, then spreading from the branch paths to Zhutian Wanjie—endless, impossible to kill completely, impossible to wipe out. They have become a sword of extinction hanging over the heads of all living beings in Zhutian Wanjie.

The Nine Heavens Dragon Emperor gazed at the churning darkness ahead, let out a soft sigh, his tone full of heaviness and helplessness. He continued speaking, slowly revealing the intelligence he knew:

"According to the intelligence gathered by our Zhutian forces over endless years, it can be confirmed that these ten Extinction-Level Main Roads should correspond to the ten supreme clans of the Ominous Faction. The Ominous Faction is not a single entity but is subdivided into ten supreme clans: the Strange Clan, the Dark Clan, the Inauspicious Clan, the Jiemie Yizu, the Calamity Clan, the Void Clan, the Finality Clan, the World-Devouring Clan... and so on—a total of ten clans, each controlling one Extinction-Level Main Road."

"Each of these ten clans represents unimaginable Great Terror and great despair. Within each clan, powerhouses are as numerous as clouds. If any one clan were to fully emerge, it would bring endless disaster and despair to Zhutian Wanjie, turning the Nine Heavens Ten Earths into a hell on earth."

"And the Dark Main Path before our eyes naturally corresponds to the Dark Clan among the ten clans."

"The strength of the Dark Clan is also extremely terrifying. Within the clan, there are countless great capable beings, with no small number of powerhouses at the Heavenly Dao Supreme level. Moreover, there are legendary Extinction Sequence beings stationed there. According to ancient historical records of the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, several apocalyptic calamities in history that swept through Zhutian Wanjie, causing countless living beings to suffer, were initiated by this Dark Clan. They are the mortal enemies of Zhutian Wanjie."