571: Chapter 572 Coercion, Take Action!

At this moment, the instant the twelve Divine Lords fell, the entire Nine Heavens plunged into an unprecedented dead silence, as if the world itself had lost its voice for the passing of the twelve Divine Lords.

Immediately after, strange phenomena descended.

The first change was the imbalance of the power of the Five Elements.

The Fire Virtue fell, and the flames between heaven and earth dimmed in unison for an instant; the myriad lights in the Mortal world suddenly flickered unsteadily.

Even the radiance of the sun above the firmament seemed to be covered by a layer of gray haze.

The Wood Virtue dissipated, and the vegetation across the entire Middle Three Heavens drooped its leaves at the same moment; those vibrant vines withered and decayed instantly, as if all things had lost their vitality at once.

The Earth Virtue disintegrated, and a dull roar came from deep within the earth; mountains trembled, rivers changed course, as if the earth veins themselves were wailing.

The Metal Virtue was annihilated, and all weapons wept together; every metal object emitted a faint, sorrowful tremor, as if ten million swords were wailing in silence.

The Five Elements were in disorder, and heaven and earth were overturned.

Following this, a silent rain suddenly fell across the entire Nine Heavens, each drop carrying an indescribable sorrow.

The living beings of the Lower Three Heavens, the Middle Three Heavens, and even the Upper Three Heavens—whether Cultivator or Mortal, whether Divine Official or Essence Spirit and beast—all instinctively looked up at this moment.

Some felt their faces grow damp, and when they reached out to wipe them, they discovered that their fingertips were stained with scalding tears.

"Why... am I crying?"

Tears gushed uncontrollably from countless bewildered and confused living beings; even they themselves did not know where the sorrow came from.

This was the world mourning together, all spirits grieving in unison.

This was the response of heaven and earth to the fall of Divine Lords, a resonance triggered when the status of the Law shattered.

However, that pervasive sorrow and the strange phenomena could not affect the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord in the slightest.

He stood in the center of the vast Yellow Springs, his palms fluttering, manipulating twelve dusky chains of Law between his ten fingers.

At the end of each chain was tied a mass of Divine Lord Origin that was slowly melting.

Fire Virtue, Metal Virtue, Wood Virtue, Earth Virtue... the twelve masses of Origin were like twelve miniature stars.

Under his guidance, they sank one by one into the depths of the Yellow Springs, sinking into the earth vein that was taking shape.

Each time a mass of Origin merged, the waters of the Yellow Springs surged, and the aura of Reincarnation grew a fraction denser.

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord could clearly perceive that the Foundation of that long river of Reincarnation was consolidating and expanding at an extremely rapid speed.

It was like a giant net covering the entire Middle Three Heavens, slowly drawing shut.

Only one last step remained.

As long as the twelve masses of Origin were completely merged, the Land of Reincarnation would be considered initially formed.

From then on, beneath the Nine Heavens, there would be an eternal river connecting Life and Death and linking Yin and Yang.

However, at this most critical instant, a sudden change occurred!

Above the Nine Heavens, in the Celestial Emperor Palace, a force of irresistible power descended with a boom.

It reached down from above the Nine Heavens like an invisible giant hand, grabbing with pinpoint precision the twelve masses of Divine Lord Origin that were about to sink into the depths of the Yellow Springs, and yanked them violently upward!

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up.

He saw that above the Nine Heavens, the phantom of the Celestial Emperor Palace had appeared at the highest point of the firmament at some unknown time.

Within that towering palace, which was mostly entwined with thunder, a mysterious black divine light was slowly extending.

Like an invisible chain, it coiled around the twelve masses of Origin, dragging them upward with an unquestionable might.

It was True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei.

He had finally struck!

The playful smile on the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's lips was like the satisfaction of a hunter seeing his prey finally step into a trap.

He had been waiting for precisely this moment.

In fact, from the beginning to the end, his target had never been those twelve Divine Lords.

Although the Divine Lord Origin was a great tonic and truly crucial for establishing the Land of Reincarnation, without that most core shadow, the Land of Reincarnation would never be complete.

The true key was the Celestial Emperor Origin.

Within the Divine Dao system, the Celestial Emperor was the source of all gods and the ancestor of all Laws.

His authority and Origin were superior to all Divine Lords.

If one wanted to establish a long river of Reincarnation that truly connected Yin and Yang, one had to embed that supreme Divine Dao Origin into it, serving as the "source point" for the entire river.

Otherwise, Reincarnation would merely be a water channel without a source; no matter how vast it was, it would be difficult to truly function.

But the Celestial Emperor had always been hiding in the Celestial Emperor Palace above the Nine Heavens, never showing his face.

Although the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord had a thousand methods, he could not forcibly break into that prison cage shrouded by the Dao of Punishment to force him to appear.

Thus, he could only set a trap, using the twelve Divine Lords as bait, the position of Water Virtue as a lure, and the Yellow Springs Underworld River as a hook, to force the existence deep within the Celestial Emperor Palace to the point where he had to strike personally.

Sure enough, True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei took the bait.

He could have watched coldly from the sidelines when the twelve Divine Lords fell, knowing at that time that even if he struck, he would be unable to stop it.

After all, the opponent's status was that of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, and although, like himself, it was not his true self that had descended, their strengths were evenly matched.

But wanting to protect the twelve Divine Lords in front of an equal-level opponent meant he would inevitably suffer a great loss if he was distracted.

Moreover, those Divine Lords were merely a batch of "Materials" that could be replaced at any time to him; there was no need to care about their life or death.

But if the Origin after the Materials fell was swallowed up by the opponent, it would be genuine aid to the enemy.

Therefore, True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei could absolutely not sit by and watch this happen.

Thus, he struck.

Using the divine authority of the Celestial Emperor, he forcefully retrieved those twelve masses of Origin.

However, at the very instant True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei was pulling the twelve masses of Origin upward with the Celestial Emperor's authority.

A ray of extremely dusky light suddenly lit up in the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's pupils.

"I have been waiting for you for a long time."

He said in a low voice, his tone carrying an irrepressible excitement.

The next instant, he suddenly raised his hand, formed a seal with both hands, and the entire vast Yellow Springs boiled simultaneously!

The dusky river water surged and roared, and billions of ghostly blue phosphorous fires shot into the sky, as if countless dead souls had opened their eyes in unison at that moment.

On each of the twelve masses of Origin being pulled upward, the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's power of Reincarnation was attached; like maggots on a bone, it spread silently upward along that pulling force!

The speed of that spread was astonishingly fast, almost at the exact same instant True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei retrieved the Origin.

The dusky water of Reincarnation flowed upstream along that invisible channel.

Like an inverted celestial river, it forcefully poured into the firmament of the Upper Three Heavens!

In an instant, the Yellow Springs roared and the Underworld Sea surged to the heavens.

The pervasive dusky water of Reincarnation, like an inverted celestial river, surged upward from the Middle Three Heavens, sweeping toward the Celestial Emperor Palace above the Nine Heavens!

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord stood in the center of the Yellow Springs, his arms wide open, the power of Reincarnation pouring out like a breached flood, surging into that back-flowing channel.

The Land of Reincarnation needed a source point.

Since the Celestial Emperor refused to come out, he would drag him into the Yellow Springs together!

The dusky water of Reincarnation rushed up against the Nine Heavens, roaring like an inverted celestial river as it crashed toward the firmament of the Upper Three Heavens.

And just at the instant that dusky water light was about to touch the Celestial Emperor Palace, a purple-blue thunder light exploded out from within the palace!

That thunder light was not an ordinary thunderbolt, but the ultimate manifestation of the Dao of Punishment.

The Purple Heaven Heavenly Punishment Thunder, the legendary first thunder of judgment from the beginning of the Divine Court's opening, represented the most primitive power of adjudication of the Emperor.

The thunder light and the water curtain collided head-on!

Boom!!!

At that instant, the entire Nine Heavens trembled violently.

The water of Reincarnation and the thunder of punishment intertwined and tore at each other, eventually ending in annihilation.

However, the collision of the two supreme Laws was like an invisible giant hammer smashing heavily between heaven and earth.

In an instant, the Void Realm shattered, the Laws disintegrated, and even time itself seemed to pause for an instant at that moment.

The dusky water curtain was split open by the thunder light, creating a huge gap, but the purple-blue thunder also rapidly dimmed and decayed under the erosion of the water of Reincarnation, as if eroded by the years, peeling off inch by inch.

Two figures stood facing each other from afar within that gap where the Laws had disintegrated.

One stood above the Nine Heavens, his body wreathed in purple-blue punishment thunder light.

His face was hidden behind the pervasive electric light, and only that pair of indifferent eyes penetrated the thunder curtain, looking down.

That was the Incarnation of True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei manifesting through the Celestial Emperor's body; the Dao of Punishment was like a tangible scepter around him.

And the other stood in the center of the Yellow Springs, beneath his feet was the endlessly surging long river of Reincarnation, and his body was shrouded in dusky light of Reincarnation.

Like a Dominator who had walked out from the ancient netherworld.

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord looked up at the figure wreathed in thunder light, the arc of his lips not receding in the slightest, but rather widening even further.

"Hidden for so long, finally willing to come out?"

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's voice pierced through the roar of the shattering Laws.

However, True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei did not answer.

He only slowly raised one hand, and in his palm, a long spear entirely forged from purple-blue Heavenly Punishment Thunder condensed.

Countless ancient characters flowed on the spear, each character being an ancient penal Law, representing the most irresistible Law between heaven and earth.

"Punish Immortal!"

The voice of True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei was like ten thousand thunders ringing together, indifferent and vast.

Before the words had faded, the thunder spear had already left his hand.

Its speed piercing through the Void Realm was extremely fast; wherever it passed, even the Laws were forcibly torn apart, leaving behind a pitch-black Void Realm crack.

The thunder spear, carrying the most primitive power of adjudication of the Dao of Punishment, pierced toward the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord!

"Well struck."

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord laughed aloud, his palms suddenly clapping together.

"Reincarnation Returns to Ruins, Open!"

Rumble!

A giant door condensed from dusky light suddenly unfolded before him; on the door, countless scenes of the Life and Death Reincarnation of living beings flowed, billions of figures emerging and perishing endlessly within it, like an eternal scroll of Life and Death.

The thunder spear crashed into the door, and was actually swallowed up like a clay ox entering the sea, not even a trace of thunder light escaping.

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei's gaze darkened slightly.

He formed seals again with both hands, his ten fingers flying as he chanted true incantations.

"Purple Heaven Decree, Heavenly Punishment Manifests, Command!"

Five Heavenly Thunders of different colors simultaneously condensed from the Void Realm.

Cyan Eastern Wood Thunder, Red Southern Fire Thunder, White Western Metal Thunder, Black Northern Water Thunder, Yellow Central Earth Thunder.

The five thunders combined into a torrent of punishment interwoven with five colors, like the final judgment descended by the Heavenly Dao, crashing down toward the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord!

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's expression tightened slightly, but he had no fear at all.

He raised his hand to form a hand seal, chanting in a low voice.

"Life and Death Reincarnation, Six Paths All Empty, Yin and Yang Flow, All Phenomena Return to the End, Six Paths Revolve, Command!"

Six dusky wheels of light simultaneously unfolded around him, and in each wheel of light, a completely different scene of Reincarnation surged.

The Celestial Path shone brilliantly, the Asura Path had raging war fires, the Human Path had the myriad states of living beings, the Animal Path had birds and beasts, the Hungry Ghost Path had hunger fires burning the body, and the Hell Path had eternal sinking in calamities.

As the Six Paths revolved, the five directional Heavenly Punishment Thunders crashed into them.

But they were actually decomposed, worn down, and swallowed one by one by the six wheels of light.

Like a flood pouring into six diverging channels, they eventually returned to silence.

The two forces of the Dao collided repeatedly above the Nine Heavens.

Every clash caused the Void Realm to shatter once and the Laws to disintegrate a layer.

On that battlefield, the thunder light and the dusky color intertwined like eternal, inextinguishable aurora, dyeing the entire dome of the Nine Heavens into a broken and magnificent color.

And amidst this continuous, intense collision, True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei's gaze finally gradually darkened.

From the opponent's Dao of Reincarnation, he smelled a trace of a very familiar mark.

The core of that power of Reincarnation was indeed the Law of Reincarnation.

But deep within the background color of this Law, it faintly revealed an extremely greedy characteristic.

That was—Devouring!

Those thunder powers and Law fragments caught in the Reincarnation were, without exception, being silently devoured and assimilated by the power of Reincarnation.

However, the essence of the Dao of Reincarnation was not Devouring, but "Circulation".

The alternation of Life and Death, the separation of spirit and flesh, the succession of Karma—that was the true face of Reincarnation.

But the Dao of Reincarnation displayed by this person carried a thick "Devouring" background color on top of this "Circulation".

It was as if at the end of every Reincarnation, all remaining nutrients would be extracted, turning into nourishment for its own growth.

This characteristic was not unfamiliar to True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei.

Among the Seven Great Grotto-Heavens, whose Law was closest to the word "Devouring"?

The answer was simple.

The Soul-Devouring Demon Lord, Qin Guan!

That old Devil Head's Origin Law was the Demonic Path Divine Ability of devouring all things and assimilating everything.

Although this time he appeared in the world using Reincarnation, the Dao was not born out of thin air.

Any new Law must evolve from its own original Foundation, so no matter what, it was difficult to avoid being tainted by the characteristics of the original Law.

That hint of greedy Devouring background color in this power of Reincarnation was like a person, no matter how they changed their appearance, the habits in their bones were ultimately difficult to erase.

Therefore, this existence before him, who was practicing the Dao of Reincarnation using the body of Lu Ming, was highly likely the notorious Soul-Devouring Demon Lord from the Seven Great Grotto-Heavens!

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei recognized him.

However, so what if he recognized him?

Not to mention that the righteous and Demonic Paths were inherently at odds, just the fact that this matter concerned his own Dao path planning meant he could absolutely not have the slightest retreat.

The Divine Court was the Foundation he had founded with his own hands; it was the key chess piece he used to suppress True Monarch Yuji Sitian of the Yujing Dao Court.

If the Soul-Devouring Demon Lord successfully intercepted him here and embedded the Land of Reincarnation into the Divine Dao system, his hundreds of years of painstaking management would all go down the drain.

Therefore, today, no matter what, he must suppress and kill this fiend here!