The Stars Beyond

Chapter 511: Collapse Of The Great Barrier

Was it an illusion? He thought he heard footsteps. In this twilight of the gods, such abnormal sensations deeply unsettled him.

The heavens shattered, and the great barrier tore open. Fang Yuzhu clashed fiercely with the ancient madman, surrounded by a misty light rain as meteor after meteor crashed down around them.

The two figures broke through the divine lands, clashing their treasures against each other. Fang Yuzhu, usually so dignified and calm, now fought like the mightiest of war celestials. Her Moonslice Bracelet clashed thousands of times against the madman's Mortal Sword, sparking not mere sparks, but fragments of the highest rules. Striking the heavens, they sliced down stars; striking the earth, they crumbled divine soils; hitting the barrier, they invalidated ancient pacts and tore open rifts.

Time rewound. The two supreme elders from the Superlative Palace and the Gouchen Imperial Palace, Zhen Chao and Gou Chen, once again propelled the Roaming Ark in their pursuit to trace history and strike down the madman, Shang Yi.

The prowess of any celestial treasure was terrifying. The Roaming Ark, seemingly just a conveyance, now seemed more dreadful than any weapon of war, rekindling the light of ancient times.

“Is that...?” Even Zhang Daoling was shaken.

The Blood God Ape and the Demon Monarch's expressions drastically changed. Having endured the twilight of the ancient era themselves, they glimpsed vague scenes of massacres, conspiracies, and bloodshed within that retraced ancient light.

“Not fully clear, but this madman is certainly no ordinary figure. In those blurred visions, were the ancient emperors striking down 'the first man'? As the ancient era declined and the emperors vanished, was he somehow involved?”

“Or is it because he is the sole survivor of those times, he can thus reflect all those ancient scenes?”

Zhen Chao and Gou Chen, both of the transcendent realm, piloted the Roaming Ark together to trace and hopefully end the swordsman madman.

Many were surprised that these two, who had been fighting to the death with Fang Yuzhu, now allied with her against this ancient madman.

The madman was terrifying. High in the sky, wielding the Mortal Sword with great sweeps, he struck at Fang Yuzhu and her bracelet, releasing bursts of supreme rules that made nearby stars tremble and explode.

Facing the time-reversing Roaming Ark, he showed no concern. His pupils emitted dreadful beams, and he hummed an ancient chant.

With a boom, time collapsed. The Roaming Ark struggled violently, nearly breaking free from the grasp of the two supreme beings.

“It was indeed in your possession, and tampered with.” The face of the elder from the Superlative Palace darkened. Had they not been warned by those from the realm of immortals, they might have been unexpectedly killed by this madman in a sudden strike.

"Regrettably, human strength has its limit, it's difficult to fully refine two or three celestial treasures simultaneously," the patriarch of the Chaos Palace grumbled, barely controlling the Roaming Ark amidst his boundless fury.

Their second attempt to trace the madman's past had failed, but undeterred, they launched a third assault during his monumental battle with Fang Yuzhu.

This time, disaster struck. Their vessel was cleaved by the madman's supreme sword light. The highest laws of the cosmos vibrated violently, causing both elders to cough up blood. The sword light, seemingly dodged, had penetrated their hearts—any who saw the blade's light were as good as struck.

For a moment, both felt their spirits falter, their souls nearly torn apart, while the Roaming Ark continued to shudder violently.

The ancient madman grunted, forced to retreat, unable to pursue his attack. As Fang Yuzhu's Moonslice Bracelet swept by, his armor shattered, revealing his left arm. Were it not for his profound strength and cosmic prowess, he would have exploded on the spot.

The Mortal Sword, fused with his being, shone brilliantly, conjuring a protective light barrier around his body.

With a resounding boom, a lofty and ethereal figure appeared, wielding the Metamorphosing Banner, striking down with celestial might that overturned the Roaming Ark.

Had the two great patriarchs not regained their senses in time to erase the sword light from their minds, they would have been swept away by the supreme rules unleashed from the banner.

At that critical moment, the Heavenly Dragon arrived, choosing the most opportune moment to intervene, his intentions clear—to seize the Roaming Ark.

"It's you again!" Zhen Chao and Gou Chen's eyes flared with murderous intent, tearing through the void. Old grievances mixed with fresh enmity ignited their fury. The last time it had been this dragon who had ambushed them and stolen the Metamorphosing Banner. Now he was back for the vessel.

"We've been waiting for you. Surround him, gods!" The two transcendent beings activated the Roaming Ark's array, summoning eight of the most powerful deities and immortals, their sworn brothers.

"Attack!"

The Roaming Ark radiated light, disordering the annals of time, aiming to annihilate the Heavenly Dragon.

Beside Qi Tian, other formidable figures stood firm, including a golden figure of immense power and another draped in a silver robe, the founder of the Demonic Embryo Technique.

The battle between the Metamorphosing Banner and the Roaming Ark was fierce beyond measure, spilling over into the cosmos beyond the Great Barrier, shredding stars and ripping open the fabric of space in a magnificent display.

Outside, no one desired such a catastrophic battle to spill over into the mortal realm.

Ultimately, the battle of transcendent beings was for celestial treasures. A single such treasure could enable one to endure the eternal night of the supermundane, and possessing several might even defy the feared extinction of the mythic era.

For most gods and immortals, the mythic era had ended, and resistance seemed futile.

Now, only the transcendent beings clung to hope, believing that possessing the few celestial treasures still unclaimed might yet yield miracles.

With a thunderous crash, a corner of the Great Barrier crumbled, revealing the mysterious Life Pool, initially surging towards the Divine Palace, currently under ritual refinement by the Buddhist and Daoist factions.

The Divine Palace burst forth with boundless light as a Daoist master intervened, followed by a Buddhist sage emitting chants that filled the heavens with sacred texts and divine chains spreading wide.

Dodging the assault, the Life Pool then plunged towards the Undying Umbrella, disturbing the treasure currently being refined by the Demon Lord and the Shadow Couple.

Both the Divine Palace and the Undying Umbrella, held by ancient beings from a previous mythic civilization and refined through two mythic eras, proved exceedingly difficult to tame even now when seized by the inhabitants of the realm of Immortals.

"Even if not fully refined, it can still be used to kill enemies. You've interfered with us time and again, have we been too lenient? Not this time, you're not escaping!" raged the parents of the Demon Lord, affixing an ancient covenant device to the Undying Umbrella. Together, they wielded this celestial treasure in relentless pursuit of the Life Pool, determined to end it once and for all.

Inside the Great Barrier, chaos reigned supreme. Gods fled in droves, their once sacred lands and the immortals' paradises no longer tenable. The transcendent beings wielded their celestial treasures in a devastating war that extinguished stars in the external cosmos, a spectacle of horrifying grandeur.

As the Great Barrier tore under the might of celestial treasures, the gods began a complete exodus, their true forms erupting into the world. No longer content to dwell in a half-material, half-spiritual plane, any being of strength chose to enter fully into reality.

"The twilight of the gods, the requiem of the transcendent, it all comes to an end now," Elder Zhang sighed deeply, reflecting on the chaos unfolding around them.

Elder Ming from the Hades Blood Sect, visibly agitated, responded, "Zhang, stop with the reflections. Is your true self safe? My nine true lives were nearly extinguished, and I'm frantically escaping to the mortal realm as we speak!"

"I'm being hunted by the gods myself, but I'm about to escape. The Great Barrier is completely chaotic, and I must return to the mortal realm as well!" Zhang Daoling declared with a grave tone.

The Demon Lord made the same decision, withdrawing her true self. The Great Barrier was now a brutal battleground, the transcendent with treasures fighting relentlessly. She was half a step from transcending that realm herself, and staying would no longer aid her parents.

The situation had shifted too quickly; no one had anticipated that the Great Barrier would collapse entirely, accelerating the decay and disappearance of the transcendent.

Meanwhile, Wang Xuan had left the spaceship's cabin and stood in the cosmic void on the ship, observing a grand battle at the transcendent level.

Standing at his current level of understanding, he was originally unable to comprehend the events unfolding before him. However, with his unique spiritual heavenly eye, he captured the terrifying scenes, imprinting them into his mind for later analysis.

Jiang Qingyao stood beside him, her celestial sword slung across her back, also watching. The magnitude of the battle profoundly affected her.

Regrettably, the transcendent battle was too domineering and incomprehensible. Some combatants pushed to the deepest parts of the Great Barrier, while others ventured into the semi-material planes of the cosmic void, gradually disappearing from view.

Yet, the scenes, the masterstrokes, the supreme celestial battles they had witnessed were in themselves invaluable spiritual treasures. Wang Xuan grasped their styles, their states, their essences. As for the true scriptures, he lacked nothing.

Silently, Wang Xuan's inner landscape opened. As he meditated and triggered a divine intuition, it naturally unfolded.

"Come join me," Wang Xuan beckoned the Celestial Sword Maiden. He entered his inner landscape in the flesh, having previously battled a malevolent dragon there in his true form.

"Eh, it's truly a special inner landscape. Entering with the physical body feels significantly less resistant!" Jiang Qingyao followed, her physical form stepping into the inner landscape.

There, the two observed the battles within the Great Barrier and contemplated their own techniques.

"I have now reached the peak of the thirteenth stage. Either I venture into the Free Wanderer's journey, or I continue to break through, aiming for the nearly impossible fourteenth stage. I must grow stronger!" Wang Xuan whispered resolutely.

Now that the gods had descended into the world and his true self had returned, the most terrifying upheaval had begun.

Outside, in the blink of an eye, what was mere moments in the outer world equated to many days within the inner landscape. Now, Wang Xuan’s spiritual and mental fluctuations were exceptionally intense, as if he were truly stealing moments from time itself.

Various scriptures emerged in his mind, corroborating with the grand battles he observed within the Great Barrier. Perhaps this was his last time witnessing such a confrontation, for the future would hold no more.

"The era of the transcendent is ending, yet here I am, persistently forging ahead," he whispered softly.

Instantly, his understanding deepened. Scriptures transformed into light and then into words, swirling around him like flames, akin to a phoenix’s divine blaze, aiding in his rebirth.

"The barriers are slightly loosening. My cultivation can indeed still incrementally improve!" Wang Xuan stated calmly and clearly. Here, even if emotions fluctuated, they were corrected, returning to a state devoid of joy or sorrow.

"They've gone too far, following my true self all the way here, nearing the spaceship!" Elder Zhang erupted in anger.

His true self was indeed in a sorry state, bloodied and battered, as a group of immortals and deities, though fleeing their own calamities, had not intended to spare him.

"It was close; one of my true lives was nearly decapitated. We must flee," the Hades Blood Sect Elder exclaimed in panic, his transformation into one of the gods notwithstanding, he was still recognized.

The Demon Lord was in a similar plight, pursued relentlessly. After all, this was the land of the immortals, their home field. The gods and immortals who had escaped from the Great Barrier into the real world still remembered to target and hunt them.

"I hear footsteps again, this isn’t an illusion!" Wang Xuan stood up, his eyes electric, surveying the vast cosmos outside before looking deep into the inner landscape.

He approached the rugged walls of the inner landscape, his eyes emitting intense light as he stared at the "stone wall." Outside the inner landscape, someone was approaching, stumbling and faltering. The once roaring fire he had seen was nearly extinguished, with only trailing smoke remaining.

With a thud, someone collapsed against the stone wall outside. Separated by the boundary, it seemed that a great deal of blood was flowing, and the creature could not rise again.

Meanwhile, the outside world shook violently. A corner of the Great Barrier's supreme rules collapsed, causing a terrifying dimming across the entire realm of gods and the paradise of the immortals, extinguishing a vast area. With a thunderous crash, the Great Barrier shrank further, becoming dimmer.

Wang Xuan's body tensed as he stared at the rugged inner landscape wall, truly startled by the upheaval.

Another loud rumble followed; more of the supreme rules collapsed outside, reducing the divine sanctum's size again and extinguishing large areas.

As Wang Xuan kept his gaze fixed on the inner landscape wall, the staggering footsteps continued, and another figure fell, blood flowing.

Soon, time was up. The inner landscape was about to close. Wang Xuan and the Celestial Sword Maiden walked out together.

"Dare to pursue Zhang? You must be tired of living!" Elder Zhang bellowed. He had suffered losses and the situation was dire; his return had drawn a host of enemies.

The Hades Blood Sect Elder was also in distress. Despite having many true lives, being surrounded by gods made the Hades Blood Legion seem too few, and he was being chased relentlessly.

The situation for Demon Lord Yan Yan was the worst. The gods, aware that she had once refined the immortal umbrella and walked with those shadows, now prioritized her for elimination.

Coughing up blood, her body streaked with it, she suffered severe injuries. As the transcendent era ended, all the powerful beings went mad. Their era was over, and what followed no longer concerned them, but their killing intent remained, continuing their pursuit of enemies.

As the mythic age approached eternal silence, anger burned boundlessly in many hearts, filled with endless regrets and frustrations, unable to be vented.

With a swish, an archer bent his bow, shooting an immortal arrow across endless spacetime, piercing through the Demon Lord’s shoulder. Others, with eyes red with fury, rushed forward to attack.

Clang!

Wang Xuan, wielding the Godslaying Banner, crossed through the cosmic void in an instant, appearing beside the Demon Lord. With a sweep of the great banner, the heads of mighty deities flew off, decapitated by the banner's fabric.