568: Chapter 569 The Imperial Edict is Issued!

Although the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord had managed to block the fatal blow in his haste, the extremely rigid and yang-aligned power of the heavenly punishment still pierced through his defenses, blasting him away and plowing a long, charred trench into the ground.

He stabilized his figure in a sorry state, his robes scorched and torn, his hair disheveled, and a trace of dark red blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, but he ultimately had not fallen on the spot.

However, the others were not so lucky.

The aftermath of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder spread outward like ripples, centered on the point of impact.

Wherever it passed, everything was reduced to nothingness.

Everything in Outer Way City was torn apart and vaporized like paper the moment it touched the thunder, leaving not even wreckage behind.

Those divine officials, Cultivators, and soldiers who were still looking up at the sky and had not had time to dodge could not even let out a scream before they were reduced to ashes.

Thousands of figures vanished cleanly from heaven and earth in that instant, as if they were brushstrokes being wiped away.

Their flesh and blood, Divine Soul, Magical Artifacts, and spiritual light—all traces of their existence were ground into powder within the thunder, with not even a lingering thought escaping.

Almost half of Outer Way City was leveled by that single strike.

Charred, deep pits replaced the originally bustling streets, and broken walls stood like tombstones in the ruins, with the air filled with a thick, acrid stench and deathly silence.

However, for the Divine Court, these dead living beings were completely insignificant.

The operational logic of the Divine Court had always been cold and efficient.

What they valued was never a specific person, but the official position and status carried by that person.

As long as the official record remained and the divine position existed, one could select the next successor from the masses at any time and fill it back in.

Those who died were merely some "Materials".

If the Materials were gone, just create more.

Talent is endless!

At this moment, on the ruins, the smoke and dust had not yet dispersed, and the scorched earth was still warm.

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord knelt on one knee, breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently, and the trace of dark red blood at the corner of his mouth had not yet dried.

He raised his hand to wipe the blood from his lips with his sleeve, then looked up, his gaze piercing through the sky full of drifting ashes and residual smoke, staring straight at the Celestial Emperor Palace that suppressed the Divine Court above the Nine Heavens.

In his eyes, extremely gloomy rage surged.

This was the second time!

He, the dignified Soul-Devouring Demon Lord, a Great True Lord in the Late Stage of the Nascent Soul, had actually been struck by lightning twice in a row!

Although this Physical Body was merely a shell temporarily occupied by his conscious Clone, being struck by lightning did not damage his true self in the slightest.

But the excruciating pain of the thunder piercing his Meridians and burning his Divine Soul was real!

No matter how high his cultivation was, he still had to feel the pain.

And pain aside, the key issue was his Face!

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord had roamed the Xuanxiao Realm for so many years, his fierce reputation was renowned, and even those old Nascent Soul monsters had to weigh their options when his name was mentioned.

And yet?

He had been struck twice in this backwater!

If word got out, where would he put his Face?

It was simply bullying!

This is unbearable.

The first time he was struck by the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, it was because his understanding of the Divine Dao system was not deep enough, and he had underestimated the Divine Court's counterattack capability.

But although he had suffered a loss, he had not taken it too much to heart.

At the time, he had only considered it a tentative misstep; even losing a conscious Clone was nothing.

But this time was different.

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's gaze gradually sank; beneath that surging rage was an increasingly greedy heart.

Not to mention anything else, the Divine Dao system alone had already involved four Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei was the founder, intending to plot against True Monarch Yuji Sitian of the Yujing Dao Court.

And he himself was the secret planner, and that mastermind whose identity was still unknown was also lurking in the shadows.

Four Nascent Soul True Monarchs gathering in one place simultaneously meant that the value of this place far exceeded his initial estimate.

I fear that apart from his own assumption that True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei wanted to use the "Divine Dao" to suppress True Monarch Yuji Sitian of the Yujing Dao Court, there were other, deeper uses hidden within this Divine Dao system.

But what those uses were, he did not know yet.

But he did not need to figure it out.

Because even if his judgment was wrong, it didn't matter.

As long as he could transform the Divine Dao system into a testing ground for the Reincarnation, and allow him to verify that Reincarnation Dao that had been silent for countless years, it would already be worth the entire cost of this conscious Clone.

So this time, he would not retreat!

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord slowly stood up, his scorched robes flapping in the wind of the ruins.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, sinking his consciousness into the already stabilized divine talisman of the [Divine Lord of Nine Heavens Moistening, Flowing Waves, and Universal Salvation] deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

That dark golden divine talisman rotated slowly in his Sea of Consciousness, the runes flowing like rippling water, radiating the vast Qi of the Water Virtue Divine Lord.

Although this Physical Body belonged to that "Wang Chan", this divine position was originally his own; now it was just returning to its rightful owner.

So after the "Possession" of the other party, he had also taken over the control of this body and this divine talisman.

The only thing that made him feel a bit confused and wary was that the mastermind behind the scenes had absolutely no reaction to this.

It seemed as if they did not care about the life or death of this Puppet.

"Forget it, let's solve the immediate trouble first."

He could feel that in the Celestial Emperor Palace above the Nine Heavens, a gaze like substantial pressure had already fallen.

At the same time, the Zixiao Divine Thunder began to brew again, seemingly ready to strike down at any moment.

So, he did not have much time left!

However, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord was not panicked by this.

Last time when he derived the Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld, although he was ultimately suppressed, leading to failure, that attempt was not without gains.

It was like dropping a drop of ink into a pool of clear water; although it was diluted until it was completely invisible, the trace of it having existed did not mean it ceased to exist just because it couldn't be seen.

Similarly, the Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld he had previously derived were already deeply imprinted within the rule framework corresponding to the Water Virtue divine position, and it was not something the Divine Court could remove just because they wanted to.

It was equivalent to leaving a "save file", and unless the Divine Court personally shattered its own existing system and "re-created the file", it would be impossible to completely erase the hidden danger.

But this was obviously impossible to achieve, so this time, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord did not need to start from scratch.

As long as he reactivated that save file and pushed forward along the path that had already been opened, the efficiency and speed would far exceed the original.

At this thought, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord did not hesitate.

He suddenly raised his hands, forming seals with both hands, his ten fingers flying.

One after another, obscure and ancient runes emerged from his palms, like thousands of fish leaping out of the water, spreading out in all directions.

Those runes were dim yellow, emitting a thick aura of Reincarnation, and wherever they passed, even the air seemed to become viscous and heavy.

"Rise—!"

A low shout rolled over the ruins like muffled thunder.

In the next instant, the entire ruins of Outer Way City trembled violently.

In those charred deep pits blasted out by the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, water suddenly gushed out.

But those water flows were not clear and transparent; instead, they were turbid and dim yellow, carrying an indescribable sense of heaviness, as if they were the river water flowing from the legendary Nine Nether Underworld.

This was the water of the Yellow Springs! It was derived from the Water Virtue Foundation; as soon as it appeared, it was like a sleeping giant beast being awakened, surging, spreading, and gathering madly underground.

Countless dark currents crisscrossed underground, connecting the entire underground of the Middle Three Heavens into a vast and complex water network.

Immediately after, the ground began to crack, and the rumbling sound was continuous.

The entire ruins of Outer Way City were torn apart as if by an invisible giant hand, with deep gullies crisscrossing.

Dim yellow spring water gushed out from the cracks, water vapor rose, and a murderous aura permeated the air.

And with time, these cracks continued to expand and deepen, as if to cut open the entire earth, revealing a passage leading to the Underworld.

The water of the Yellow Springs roared in the cracks, like ten thousand horses galloping, emitting a dull and vast booming sound that shook the clouds of the entire Middle Three Heavens.

And in the midst of this surging Yellow Springs, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord stood in the center, his body shrouded in a dim yellow halo of Reincarnation, like an ancient god walking out from the depths of the Yellow Springs.

He spread his arms, his ten fingers like hooks, constantly extracting the power of the Water Virtue authority from the divine talisman in his Sea of Consciousness and injecting it into the underground water vein network.

"The Foundation is set, only the last step is missing..."

The Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld, having form but no intent, how could it be missing the most important dead souls!

So as the water of the Yellow Springs beneath him gushed out from the cracks, spreading like a rising tide over the broken walls and covering the charred deep pits, it swallowed everything on the ruins inch by inch.

Wherever the river water passed, the last trace of the remaining aura of those dead living beings was swept into it, turning into phosphorescent blue lights flickering on the water's surface.

Like stars, it was as if thousands of dead souls had opened their eyes beneath the water.

These were the souls of the living beings in the city who had just been annihilated by the Zixiao Divine Thunder, and at this moment, they were emitting monstrous resentment, fueling the growth of this Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld.

The entire Outer Way City was being swallowed by a dim yellow, vast ocean at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And the ocean was still expanding, spreading beyond the city walls of Outer Way City, eroding toward the broader regions of the Middle Three Heavens.

Above the water, countless Reincarnation runes floated like duckweed, emitting a heart-palpitating aura.

Above the Nine Heavens, the expressions of those Divine Lords who were originally watching changed in unison.

They watched helplessly as that dim yellow ocean rose from the ruins of Outer Way City, spread, and swallowed everything.

It was as if something sleeping in the abyss was slowly waking up, intending to drag the entire Middle Three Heavens into the bottom of the Yellow Springs.

And the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord stood in the center of the Yellow Springs, the light of Reincarnation surging in his eyes, and a curve lifted at the corner of his mouth.

This time, no one could stop him!

Meanwhile, above the Nine Heavens, in the Celestial Emperor Palace.

An invisible gaze pierced through the heavy curtains of the Upper Three Heavens, crossed the ethereal sea of clouds, and cast directly toward the Middle Three Heavens that was being swallowed by the dim yellow ocean.

It was exactly True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei!

At this moment, he was looking down at everything happening below, his expression indifferent.

However, beneath that calm Face, anger was like a long-suppressed volcano, about to erupt.

For everything happening before his eyes, he had actually anticipated it long ago.

Since the first time he noticed someone trying to derive the Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld with the Water Virtue divine position, he knew that the person behind the scenes would never give up easily.

Since the move had been played on the chessboard, it was bound to go to the end.

But even with mental preparation, watching the dim yellow ocean spread wantonly in the Middle Three Heavens with his own eyes, he still couldn't suppress a surge of angry emotion in his heart.

This person's actions were tantamount to undermining him.

The Divine Court was the framework he had built with his own hands, and now someone was wreaking havoc within it.

In a way, this was no different from blocking his Dao path.

And the hatred of blocking one's Dao is irreconcilable.

But True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei did not lose his composure because of this, and he had no intention of casting down the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder again.

He knew that the opponent's momentum had already been established.

That Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld had already become entangled with the status of the Water Virtue Divine Lord and the framework of the Divine Court.

It was like roots taking hold deep in the soil; if one wanted to forcibly pull them out, one would inevitably have to tear apart the Water Virtue authority of the Divine Court along with it.

But this did not mean he would sit idly by and let the other party spread the Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld across the entire Middle Three Heavens like this.

However, before that, he urgently needed to figure out the identity of the person behind the scenes, and test how many more means this person was hiding.

Of course, he would certainly not take the risk himself.

Then, it was time for those high-level "workers" to take the stage.

The corners of True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei's mouth twitched slightly, his expression unreadable.

Those Divine Lords who were high and mighty on weekdays, enjoying the offerings of the Divine Court and the incense of billions of living beings, now it was time for them to make a contribution.

Once the thought was decided, in the Celestial Emperor Palace, in front of the imperial throne entangled with thunder, an Edict of dark mysterious gold, about a zhang long, suddenly condensed out of thin air.

Then it turned into a stream of light, flew out of the Celestial Emperor Palace, pierced through layers of clouds, and spanned across the Upper Three Heavens.

And at the very moment the Edict descended upon the Upper Three Heavens, all the Divine Lords seemed to sense it and looked up one after another.

They saw the Edict unfold silently above the Nine Heavens, with words appearing on it.

Every word on it emitted a heart-palpitating pressure, with thunder light appearing between the strokes, as if every word carried the power of the Nine Heavens heavenly punishment.

"Hao Tian Decree: There is an evil spirit stealing the position of Water Virtue, disrupting the heavenly rules, desecrating the earthly order, and causing chaos in the Nine Heavens."

"Now, I order all the Heavenly Gods and Divine Lords, each leading their own troops, to descend to the Lower Realm this day, sweep away the evil atmosphere, and execute this monster. Do not disobey."

Every word sounded like thunder, and every syllable echoed endlessly in the void, carrying unquestionable heavenly might.

The entire Nine Heavens seemed to tremble violently the moment the Edict unfolded.

At this moment, the expressions of all the Divine Lords present changed suddenly.

"Slay the Demon?"

"Let us... go deal with that madman?"

Once the Edict appeared, the Divine Lords exploded instantly.

They were ten thousand times unwilling to Face that fierce person who dared to derive the Yellow Springs and the River of the Underworld with the Water Virtue position.

The means that person had displayed back then were already chilling, and now that they had returned, they must have had even more sufficient preparations.

Whoever wants to be the first bird to stick their neck out can go, but they were certainly not willing!