Chapter 52

Jiang Xuan stood upon the furnace, his might descending upon the whole of Shen Zhou; he first acted to slay the dragon, then refined Wu Dao Kuang Tian and the other two great myths — this series of actions caused an unmatched chill to rise in the hearts of all the masters present.

Everyone knew that if they did not kill Jiang Xuan at this moment, no one would be able to leave alive.

The combined strike of the four great myths, before this power, had no existence that could contend; whether it was Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma or Martial Saint Guan Yu, they would likely perish on the spot with regret, even the Ancestor of this world, the Xuanyuan Emperor, would have to temporarily avoid its edge.

"You think that by joining forces you can defeat me? Laughable and unaware!" Facing such a powerful combined strike, the sky-covering True Qi and Primordial Spirit attacks, all manner of killing moves, Jiang Xuan still stood unmoving, like an ancient divine mountain.

At the same time, an aura that would terminate all things surged forth before him, causing the heavenly phenomena to change color.

The next moment, a brilliant crimson sword light came from the horizon; crimson radiance filled the sky dome, illuminating the long heavens; even within the Nine Empty Boundless, it could trigger a certain strange transformation.

With the appearance of the sword light, even the meaning of emptiness within the Nine Empty Boundless was about to be extinguished, as if the great terror of the termination of all things was about to appear.

Locked onto by this sword, the four great myths only felt all the power within their bodies completely fall silent, their minds and True Qi a blank expanse, their thoughts losing the ability to operate.

Only a single thought emerged in the hearts of the four great myths.

"Sword light, unexpectedly can be so resplendent."

The sword fell!

The Xiao brothers, Bu Jia Lao Shen, Di Shi Tian — perished!

Rich vital energy billowed; this was the dragon origin energy and phoenix blood essence within the four demons' bodies; Jiang Xuan lightly clenched his single palm, all energy gathering, condensing into two fire-red energy spheres, one large and one small — precisely the dragon origin and phoenix blood.

The Heaven and Earth Furnace descended; the two fire-red energies, together with the dragon origins within Xiong Ba and the other three, all entered the furnace; the dragon and phoenix power of this realm was entirely devoured and refined.

As the Eight Trigrams Furnace Divine Ability continuously evolved, the ability to devour and refine was long no longer limited to only being able to refine after drawing into the abdomen; with a thought, the divine ability manifested, the Heaven and Earth Furnace emerged, and could likewise refine heaven and transform earth.

Jiang Xuan sat cross-legged in the sky dome; the Heaven and Earth Furnace turned into a miniature small furnace slowly rotating before his chest; the dragon origin the size of a child's skull and the phoenix blood the size of an egg were continuously refined and shrunk.

Amidst the refining, Jiang Xuan glanced at Xiao Sanxiao kneeling prone in the void, letting out a pained wail from time to time.

Toward this old man, Jiang Xuan did not know what assessment to make.

Should he appreciate that this man held great righteousness in his heart, willing to toil half his life to maintain Shen Zhou's peace?

Or despise him for abandoning wife and child for an ethereal, illusory prophecy, going away never to return?

Jiang Xuan could not know, but Jiang Xuan asked himself and found he could not do as Xiao Sanxiao did.

Hu!

Xiao Sanxiao painfully struggled to rise; the wounds on his physical body had already healed under the dragon-turtle power's effect; more was the soreness and suffering in his heart.

"Jing Tian... Xiao Ao... I have let you down!"

"I am unworthy to be a father, even more unworthy to be a husband! Puff!"

Seemingly thinking of his wife of first marriage, that ordinary woman who supported him in doing anything, Xiao Sanxiao's unbearably sore face appeared even more grief-stricken; with a puff, a mouthful of old blood sprayed out.

Ever since seeing in the Zhaoxin Mirror that his two sons were two of the Ten Demons, he had resolved to eliminate his own two sons for Shen Zhou's peace; but how could the kinship of blood thicker than water be severed just by saying so? The two sons perished in body and spirit right before him, not even leaving corpse bones behind; how profound was the grief in his heart?

The two sons became great demons driving the millennial great tribulation — was there also his reason within this? If he had not simply dropped a sentence and left back then, would the ending have become different?

Heavenly Will cannot be defied; the Ten Demons throwing the world into chaos is a fixed number; but if he had been able to properly handle his family affairs back then, his two sons would not have become great demons of the chaotic world; even if he had given them a little more care, would it have been another outcome?

Endless sorrow and pain surged into his heart like a tide.

As if a giant steel hand passed through his chest, fiercely clutching his heart, repeatedly crushing it.

Breathing was no longer smooth; his thoughts drifted who knows where, his gaze lost its soul, blank and dazed.

Unknown how long passed before Xiao Sanxiao regained his senses.

He looked up at Jiang Xuan sitting high in the sky dome cultivating, a moment of wordlessness.

This person truly is the first of a thousand ages, invincible under heaven.

Fortunately, although this person's heart is not like Nameless and him, such people of righteous and upright spirit, he likewise embraces the world, absolutely not a treacherous evil person.

The millennial great tribulation ended just like that; this person swept away everything with the momentum of smashing rotten wood and pulling down withered trees; the Ancient and Modern Ten Demons all perished.

Unknown how long passed; Jiang Xuan in the high sky finished cultivation; the vast life essence was completely absorbed; Jiang Xuan did not even know how strong he himself was.

"My gains in this realm cannot be said to be small: two great magic treasures, dragon origin and phoenix blood, all manner of martial dao resources; most important is clarifying the cultivation path."

"The most annoying thing in the world is not that the road is distant, nor that the road is full of hardships, but not knowing where the road lies; this barrier I have already passed through."

"The Lingxu Sect Master's cultivation should be Dao Palace First Heaven, or Dao Palace Second Heaven; my cultivation has already departed from the Zhetian Method; the two cultivation paths cannot easily correspond realm by realm; but vaguely I feel the previously seen Sect Master Li is very weak, terrifyingly weak! If forced to make a comparison, I should be between Dao Palace and Fourth Grade."

These associations and conjectures flashed through Jiang Xuan's inner heart.

"In the Zhe Tian Jie, artifacts that have not reached Great Power Weapons cannot interweave Dao and Principle; the magic treasures within my body are the same; Dao attainment not reached, magic power insufficient, then unable to outline the principles corresponding to the realm."

"After Great Power Weapons, although Dao has no high or low, cultivators have high and low; realms can correspond with Zhe Tian artifacts; as for combat power..."

Jiang Xuan anticipates a day when his left hand holds the Zhu Xian Four Swords to terminate all things, his right hand holds the Chaos Bell to fix the time-space of past ages, atop his head the Heaven and Earth Linglong Xuanhuang Pagoda makes ten thousand laws unassailable, his body draped in the Taiji Diagram evolving earth, wind, water, fire, and beneath him the Undying Heavenly Emperor roams the heavens.

With such configuration, the Undying Heavenly Emperor can be destroyed with a flip of the palm; the Emperor's son, what is he worth!

Hu!

Not paying attention to Xiao Sanxiao still secretly grieving, he casually tore; the Nine Empty Boundless space was as if split open by a heaven-opening divine axe; a divine radiance enveloped Xiao Sanxiao, throwing him out.

Jiang Xuan took a step out, appearing above the Dragon Island's high sky.

"Jiang Bangzhu!"

"Jiang Xuan!"

Sword Saint and Nameless sat cross-legged; their tightly locked brows only now relaxed.

Although the two had quite sufficient confidence in Jiang Xuan's strength, when they saw mysterious powerhouses continuously entering the Nine Empty Boundless, especially a full month having passed in the outside world yet still no emergence, the two could not help but sweat a handful.

Wanting to use the two divine weapons to enter the Nine Empty Boundless, yet fearing it would affect Jiang Xuan's plan, letting the great demon use this gap to escape; therefore they could only sit dryly on Dragon Island and wait.

Now Jiang Xuan has come out; that great demon should be forever left in the other realm...

(Chapter End)