Chapter 865: That Is... the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!

Beneath the swirling vanguard of dark fiends, which hung like an eclipse above the head of the world-swallowing tortoise, the besieged host arose. Led by Nalan Hongwu, they raised their weapons and charged into the fray.

Roars and battle cries echoed across the wilderness, stirring the souls of the combatants as though the spirits of ancient warriors, dead in battle long ago, had kindled a flame deep within their hearts.

Through the gloom of the malevolent miasma, they carved a bloody path.

This spectacle instantly galvanized every cultivator present, uniting their wills into an unbreakable wall.

The Haotian Mirror cast its radiance aloft, a beam of pristine light cascading into the battlefield as Lan Mo, Chief of the Wuwei Dao Alliance, and several elders forced their spiritual essence forward to drive the treasure.

"The vanguard of the fiends is broken! Follow the light of the Haotian Mirror and seize this chance to find the source of the miasma!" Lan Mo shouted.

The sky full of sinister, malevolent energy put most of the cultivators at a severe disadvantage; dispelling it now would drastically alter the tide of battle in their favor.

"Fifth squadron, hold your ground!" Zong Wu called out, looking down at the terrifying leviathan. The giant tortoise forced nearly every cultivator to dodge and weave just to survive, let alone strike back. "The rest of you, follow me! Sever the beast's legs!"

Soon, the squads leaped down from the beast's massive head. Simultaneously, several Magneto-Wind-Thunder vessels shifted their bearings, turning their main batteries toward the target.

……

"What do they think they are doing!?" The demon god seated upon the throne of bones spoke in a deep, rumbling voice. "Luoyou!"

"Present!" A demon general rose slowly, bowing in deep reverence.

"These mortals possess some measure of strength," the demon god said coldly. "Go and ask them if they wish to submit to my banner. Weak mortals always crave power and immortality, things that I can bestow upon them."

"Understood! To receive the favor of the Great General of the Nine Abysses is the highest honor for these mortals!" The general bore the face of a bird upon a human frame, his entire body wreathed in roaring flames that radiated a scorching heat like that of hell itself. "But... what if they refuse to submit?"

"They have slaughtered so many of my vanguard. Do they truly think they can leave this place alive!?"

……

The word 'Deity' is an ideogram formed from the characters for 'revelation' and 'expansion.' 'Revelation' signifies the awakening of wisdom; 'expansion' anciently resembled lightning, bearing the speed and essence of a lightning bolt, while also denoting the cultivation of virtue and morality.

Thus, in the myths of antiquity, the term did not originally refer exclusively to entities entirely separate from humanity; indeed, ancient legends began with the Three Sovereigns.

At the new shop in the East Continent.

At this moment, all the players—whether inside the shop or about to enter—had gathered outside the doors.

There were even many cultivators who had rushed over from other branches to lend their aid.

At this instant, it was not only the cultivators at the Half City shop who were trapped in a crisis.

If the descent of the Gui family immortal upon Jiuhua City had previously prevented most of them from feeling firsthand the terrifying power of an existence far above mortals, then now, they truly and fully understood the meaning of the phrase "beyond human capacity."

What shocked them most was that they had once thought a true immortal like Gui Ye was powerful beyond imagination. Now they realized how foolish that notion had been; within this vast, ocean-like aura filling the sky, almost anyone among the immortal host was vastly more powerful than Gui Ye of the Transcendent Cliff.

Confronted by such an army, an illusion gripped them: against so many immortals, even if the Emperor Abandoning Heaven himself were to arrive, how many could he truly slay!?

Above the nine heavens, the immortals looked down with cold indifference.

"I will give you one final chance," Venerable Miaofa said dispassionately from above the layered clouds. "Some of you do not have to die. Whether you abandon these unorthodox paths or face your demise, the choice is yours!"

"By what right!?" Old Ancestor Xiaoyao stepped forward, shouting, "What we learn is the orthodox Great Dao; what we know are elegant customs and rites; what we see are the ultimate truths of heaven and earth! Why should it be forbidden!? How dare you call it a side path, how dare you call it unorthodox!?"

"Is it not a bit too late to say this now!?" Venerable Miaofa thundered. "You slaughtered the immortal soldiers of my Sea of Ten Thousand Immortals and damaged the primordial spirit of an immortal of my Gui family. What insolence!"

"Had we not done so, were we meant to sit and wait for death!?"

"Good! Good! Good! You mortals insist on defying heaven!?" The furious roar of Venerable Miaofa reverberated through the sky.

He raised his palm high, then swept it down with cold detachment: "Then burn to ashes along with this place!"

In an instant, tens of thousands of immortal soldiers and generals, countless immortal artifacts, and a terrifying aura that seemed to exceed the very limits of their imagination surged forward like a tide, poised to swallow this mortal realm and these ignorant humans whole!

They did not understand what they had done wrong. Perhaps... weakness was the greatest sin in this world.

The sect master and elders of the Haotian Sect could not help but gaze into the distance beyond their sanctuary. For those ordinary mortals without cultivation, these cultivators could use their immortal arts to light a guiding lamp amidst the catastrophe.

But what about themselves...!?

Even as they saved those mortals, perhaps a hope lingered in their hearts that someone, or some existence, would appear in such a crisis to guide their own way forward.

Seeking the Dao for decades, dreaming of the Dao for millennia; to hear the Dao, one may die without regret.

"Kill—!" With a fierce roar, one person charged, followed by a second, and a third!

Wielding their magical treasures and flying swords, their eyes bloodshot, these cultivators charged straight toward the immortals in the sky!

Yet in the next breath, they fell one by one into the dust.

No matter how they struggled, they could not stand again. Even if they had made progress and could contend with a few immortal soldiers, how could they... stand against a saintly clan and an elder venerable!

But at that very moment, they suddenly saw a figure streak up into the sky.

"That... that is...!?"

As though celestial light had descended from the highest heavens, it illuminated the vast clouds above, casting its glow upon those peerless existences and likewise falling upon the figure ascending into the sky.

That unyielding silhouette, clad in golden armor and a golden crown, stood firm as the wild winds howled, as if fanning the roaring flames from Laozi's furnace that had yet to die out upon his body, sending his crimson cape billowing in the wind.

Everyone seemed unable to believe their eyes, instinctively rubbing them.

They were not mistaken. Though that figure was not nearly as towering as the myriad immortals of the heavens—appearing almost too small—he stood like an impassable chasm before the hundred thousand immortal soldiers and generals!

"A monkey!?" The immortal soldiers sneered once they saw the newcomer clearly.

And upon the ground...

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, with a body like mystical iron, fiery eyes and golden pupils, immortality, and... the seventy-two transformations...

"That is..."

"The Great Sage Equal to Heaven—!"

At this moment, everyone seemed unable to restrain their emotions, crying out at the top of their lungs: "It is... the Great Sage!"

.

.

This is all I can write today... I will make up the next chapter during the day, my writing speed really cannot pick up lately...

.