Chapter 822: The Twenty Heavens War

The Painter, standing on a picture of ten thousand dragons soaring, swings his brush in his right hand like a dragon; his three defiant masterpieces press down on the Weird Lord—Space‑Time River, Zhutian Huanyu, Terrifying Sword Formation—each painting simultaneously manifests the Tiandao, tearing the Weird Lord's bizarre heavenly curtain into countless holes, and he laughs loudly:

"Weird old man, my painting Dao is specifically to curb tricksters like you! Come! Let me see if your endless ages have any new tricks!"

The Weird Lord's surrounding Weird Dao Rules surged wildly, countless weird faces simultaneously emitted shrill screams, and the Weird Power continuously struck the Painter's Tiandao painting, attempting to tear an undefined breach in the artwork, but each impact was re‑framed by the Painter's new paintings.

Dan Tian Di then lunged at the Lord of Reincarnation.

The Dan Dao titan stood on the Space‑Time River, with the ancient lapis‑gold Dan furnace atop his head slowly rotating, ten thousand Dan flames blazing within the furnace.

He looked at the Lord of Reincarnation, his gaze warm yet firm, his voice a hum like the furnace forging ten thousand Dan.

"Lord of Reincarnation, you command the Reincarnation, grinding the beings of Zhutian into the Six Paths. Yet my Dan Dao can refine all things of heaven and earth into Dan, and can also re‑refine the Dao Fruit you have crushed back to its original form. Shall we test which is faster—your Six Paths Reincarnation Disk grinding, or my ten thousand Dan flames refining?"

The Lord of Reincarnation stared coolly at Dan Tian Di, the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk behind him slowly rotating, and the gate of the Six Paths opened.

He said nothing, but the surge of Wheel of Reincarnation Light clearly accelerated.

Because he knew well Dan Tian Di's tricky point—Reincarnation power is indeed domineering, grinding all Dao Fruit in the Six Paths, yet Dan Tian Di's ten thousand Dan flames can re‑refine the crushed Dao Fruit back to its original form.

That means each time he cycles Reincarnation, Dan Tian Di can refine it back once.

Their duel will be an interminable war of attrition.

Fate Emperor lunged at the Lord of Souls.

This ancient top master of the Fate‑Stepping Imperial Unicorn Clan, with the Fate River surging around him, the nine Dao Fate halos slowly revolving on his Qilin horn, his hoofprints etched four supreme Fate sigils in the Void—Life‑Death Reincarnation, Causality Retribution, Fortune and Misfortune Interlinked, Destiny Predetermined!

He looked at the Lord of Souls, his voice like the judgment of Fate:

"Lord of Souls, you corrupt the divine soul of the Order Daoist with Soul Dao, causing his fall. Yet do you know that every divine soul in this world has Fate? By harming his divine soul, you have disturbed Fate's causality. Today, I will, with the Way of Fate, reclaim that causality for him!"

The Lord of Souls' semi‑transparent spirit was still repairing, dozens of Order divine‑chain punctures still burning with silvery Order fire.

Facing the Fate Emperor, his cold dark eyes showed seriousness for the first time—because the clash of the Way of Fate and Soul Dao contests not strength but the depth of mastery over each Tiandao.

And the Fate Emperor's attainment in the Way of Fate is by no means subordinate to his control of Soul Dao.

At this moment, each half‑step transcendence has found its counterpart.

Eight masters of Zhutian Wanjie versus eight masters of No Return.

Ye Zhetian versus the Ominous Lord, Ye Beichen versus the Calamity Lord, Dust Emperor versus the Apocalypse Lord, Ox Lord versus the Devourer Lord, Honghuang Longzu versus the Void Lord, the Painter versus the Weird Lord, Dan Tian Di versus the Lord of Reincarnation, Fate Emperor versus the Lord of Souls.

Meanwhile, two other earth‑shaking half‑step transcendence battles are also shifting from the depths of No Return toward the Space‑Time River.

The great war between Xuan Tian Di and the Lord of Darkness broke out from the deepest part of the Dark Main Road, and wherever they passed, all Darkness Law and the Supreme Dao Principles of One Qi Transforms into Three Purities collided wildly!

The Lord of Darkness's Dark Origin and Xuan Tian Di's Three Pure Ones Clone—Tai Shi, Tai Yuan, Tai Chu—have battled for countless years, never yielding a victor.

The aftershocks of their clash swept across most of No Return, causing countless No Return clans along the way to tremble.

Now their battlefield is slowly shifting toward the Space‑Time River, the collision of the Darkness Heavenly Curtain and the Three Pure Ones' Dao light drawing ever nearer.

The great war between the Divine Demon Immortal and the Lord of Annihilation also spreads outward from the deepest part of the Jiemie Zhulu.

The Divine Demon Immortal's nine Reincarnation bodies—Shenzun, Mo Zun, Xian Zun, Gui Zun, Dao Zun, Fo Zun, Yin Zun, Jian Zun, Yao Zun—clashed with the Lord of Annihilation's Annihilation Origin on the Jiemie Zhulu, casting the sky and earth into darkness.

The unified nine‑bodied Divine Demon Immortal can push aside all foes of Zhutian, but the Lord of Annihilation, as the embodiment of Annihilation Origin, has such a unique life form that even his death becomes a form of 'Annihilation', making him extremely hard to eradicate.

Both battlefields are also closing in on the Space‑Time River, the Divine Demon Light and the Annihilation Shadow intertwining into a bizarre chaos.

Above the Space‑Time River, the Zhutian Wanjie and No Return sides, twenty supreme half‑step transcendents, are locked in a fierce war!

Ye Zhetian's Heavenly Emperor Cauldron shines with dazzling golden light, the Ominous Lord's ominous true form spans ninety trillion light‑years; Ye Beichen's Life‑Death Sword weaves black and white, the Calamity Lord's Calamity Dao diagram is dark red as blood; Dust Emperor's myriad worldly phenomena thrive endlessly, the Apocalypse Lord's End Eye is silent and abyssal; Ox Lord's horns pierce the ages, the Devourer Lord's devouring maw shreds the heavens; Honghuang Longzu's dragon body spans the Void, the Void Lord's void form seems both present and absent; the Painter's Tiandao painting covers the sky, the Weird Lord's bizarre heavenly curtain twists all paths; Dan Tian Di's ten thousand Dan flames blaze fiercely, the Lord of Reincarnation's Six Paths Disk slowly rotates; Fate Emperor's Fate River surges endlessly, the Lord of Souls' Soul Dao flickers with uncertain light…

At the battlefield's edge, Xuan Tian Di's darkness and the Three Pure Ones' light draw ever nearer.

Xuan Tian Di, One Qi Transforms into Three Purities—Tai Shi, Tai Yuan, Tai Chu—each clone and his true self strike together, firmly suppressing the Lord of Darkness's Dark Origin.

Although the Lord of Darkness's true body descended upon the Dark Main Road, each of Xuan Tian Di's Three Pure Ones clones possesses power surpassing ordinary Ultimate Leap; after the three bodies merge back into his true form, he reaches a very high level of half‑step transcendence, and the Lord of Darkness has never gained any advantage in their long‑standing tussle.

The Divine Demon Immortal's divine‑demon light and the Lord of Annihilation's annihilation light also draw near.

The supreme power of the Divine Demon Immortal's unified nine Reincarnation bodies clashes with the Lord of Annihilation's 'Annihilation itself' bizarre life form, creating the fiercest Dao contest.

Each time the Lord of Annihilation is wounded, he converts the injury into Annihilation Power, growing stronger with each battle;

The Divine Demon Immortal, through the supreme fusion of the divine and demon Dao, forcibly suppresses the spread of Annihilation.

The Ten No Return Primordials, and the Ten Zhutian Wanjie half‑step transcendents.

The Lord of Darkness and Xuan Tian Di, the Lord of Annihilation and the Divine Demon Immortal—four supreme beings' battlefield is merging into this Space‑Time River.

Twenty half‑step transcendents will soon gather above the Space‑Time River.

The Space‑Time River boiled over completely.

The entire river, from source to terminus, has rarely endured such a terrifying supreme Dao contest.

Countless timelines in the river were shredded into fragments, then re‑coalesced in the upstream torrent of laws, only to be pulverized by downstream battle aftershocks.

Past, present, and future have become indistinguishable; causality, Fate, and Reincarnation are all tangled in chaos.

The Ultimate Leaps have long withdrawn billions of light‑years away; they know such a level of battle is beyond their observation.

Even a fleeting glance could have a spirit shattered by a supreme being's inadvertently released Dao Rhythm.

The ultimate showdown between Zhutian Wanjie and No Return finally arrives as a balanced full‑scale clash.

The outcome of this battle may decide the fate trajectory of this epoch.

Will Zhutian Wanjie, under the protection of ten supreme beings, continue its brilliance, or will the Ten No Return Primordials of No Return utterly annihilate the realms?

All will be decided in this twenty‑heaven war above the Space‑Time River.