575: Chapter 576 Going with the Flow

In the Void Realm, two figures faced each other from afar.

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei stared at Soul-Devouring's suddenly darkened face opposite him, a mocking arc slowly curving up the corner of his mouth.

The offensive and defensive dynamics had shifted.

Just moments ago, he had been burning with anxiety, fearing that Soul-Devouring Demon Lord would step into the Reincarnation passage a step ahead, seize the fortune, and thus advance his cultivation further.

But at this moment, he had figured it out: the appearance of two Nascent Soul True Monarchs would inevitably have drawn the attention of other true monarchs.

Even if the two of them shook hands and made peace at this moment, it could not dispel the doubts in others' hearts.

If someone intended to continue investigating further, the matter of the Divine Court could inevitably no longer be hidden.

Since it could not be concealed, rather than blocking it, it was better to guide it—he would directly expose it with Soul-Devouring Demon Lord.

If one hesitated and looked before and behind, they could never accomplish great things.

However, Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's cultivation had reached the Late Stage Nascent Soul Great True Lord. If they truly started fighting, he would undoubtedly not be the other party's match.

But originally, he never thought of winning against the other party; as long as he held back Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's true body and prevented him from exerting his full strength, the Clone on the other side would always be a breath short and unable to truly seize the Law of Reincarnation.

Therefore, holding him back was victory.

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei said no more, the lightning around his body violently exploded like a volcanic eruption.

The Dao of Heavenly Punishment displayed its true and complete picture in his hands for the first time.

Hundreds of millions of purple-blue heavenly punishment lightning bolts condensed around him into a massive Thunder Domain.

An ancient rune emerged within the Thunder Domain, which was the first primitive lightning from when heaven and earth first opened.

At the same time, it also represented the Heavenly Dao's most fundamental judgment authority over all things.

"Suppress the Prison!"

The instant the Thunder Domain expanded, the entire Void Realm let out an unbearable groan under his offensive.

The purple-blue lightning surged toward Soul-Devouring Demon Lord like a tidal wave.

Wherever it passed, the Void Realm shattered into spiderweb-like cracks, the order of the Law was forcibly disrupted and reorganized, and even the flow of time became blurred within that Thunder Domain.

Soul-Devouring Demon Lord let out a cold snort, neither dodging nor evading.

He simply spread his hands, and the Law of Reincarnation fully unfolded for the first time.

A dim yellow light spread in all directions with him at the center, like an ancient and mysterious Domain unfolding in the Void Realm.

Wherever the power of Reincarnation reached, those shattered void cracks began to slowly close like healing scars.

But the manner of healing was extremely bizarre, as if every crack was experiencing a certain "Life and Death" cycle.

Constantly experiencing shattering, reorganization, shattering again, and reorganization again, endlessly.

However, it did not end here; while sacrificing their Law Dao, the two also triggered their respective grotto-heaven powers.

The significance of the existence of a grotto-heaven could be said to be a masterpiece of a Nascent Soul True Monarch's great achievement regarding the Law.

Aside from bearing one's own Law status, its function could also be used as a reserve energy storage when suppressed by the Heavenly Dao.

But for these countless years, let alone mobilizing a grotto-heaven, true monarchs fighting each other basically never happened.

Therefore, when both of them mobilized their grotto-heavens at the same time, it meant that this battle had no foreplay and directly entered white-hot intensity—the two of them were playing for real!

Behind True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei, the phantom of Zixiao Grotto-Heaven suddenly emerged.

That was an unceasing sea of thunderstorms, with hundreds of millions of lightning bolts intertwining and crisscrossing within it, like a huge thunder dao furnace.

Pouring a steady stream of the power of heavenly punishment into his body.

Behind Soul-Devouring Demon Lord, a gloomy and profound phantom of Chaos emerged.

That was his Soul-Devouring Grotto-Heaven, where the aura of decay, devouring, and Reincarnation churned within the boundless darkness, like an eternally writhing abyss.

The phantoms of the two grotto-heavens collided in the Void Realm!

At that instant, the firmament of the entire Xuanxiao Realm lost its color.

The purple-blue lightning and the dim yellow light of Reincarnation intertwined and collided, and every contact caused the Void Realm to shatter inch by inch like glazed glass, with Law fragments splashing across the sky like a rainstorm.

The heaven and earth anomaly swept through the entire Profound Spirit Domain.

On the earth, no matter where they were or what they were doing, countless living beings looked up at the sky simultaneously, only to see an unprecedented wonder appearing above the firmament.

Half of the sky churned with purple-blue thunderstorms, like the descent of the doom judgment.

The other half was suffused with a dim, gloomy light, like the ancient netherworld swallowing the firmament.

The two kinds of light repeatedly tore and collided on the sky curtain, tearing the entire Void Realm into two halves.

This was still in the Void Realm outside the world boundary, and had not truly descended into the mortal world.

But even so, it still caused huge turmoil in Xuanxiao Realm.

Rivers flowed backward everywhere, mountains and rivers cracked, ten thousand beasts fled, and even the Spiritual Veins deep in the earth vibrated violently.

Some Cultivators with slightly weaker cultivation fainted and fell to the ground directly under this coercion.

Others had already knelt on the ground, shivering, thinking it was the sign of the end of heaven and earth.

However, beneath that seemingly world-destroying clash, a delicate balance was maintained.

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei went all out, operating the Dao of Heavenly Punishment to the extreme in his hands, frantically extracting the power of Zixiao Grotto-Heaven to pour into every bolt of lightning.

But Soul-Devouring Demon Lord was equally impressive; the status of the Law of Reincarnation was inherently half a notch higher than the Dao of Punishment, faintly occupying a slight advantage even in head-on clashes.

Yet that slight advantage could never be converted into a winning momentum.

Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's expression became increasingly gloomy.

He could clearly perceive that although his Clone was delayed a bit by him, it had already passed through that passage and entered the region of the Land of Reincarnation.

The intense aura of the Law of Reincarnation was already close at hand, almost within reach.

However, that Clone only shared about thirty percent of his Law power; if he truly wanted to pry open the Law of Reincarnation and bring it under his control, it had to be done by his true body exerting full strength.

In other words, with the power currently deposited in the Clone, it could not be achieved.

But now that his true body was tightly held back by True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei, the Clone always lacked that final breath.

He could not drag it out like this anymore.

A fierce look flashed through Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's eyes.

Long pain is worse than short pain; rather than being entangled by this eyesore for an unknown amount of time, it was better to put all eggs in one basket, completely crush this stumbling block first, and then turn back to leisurely plot for the Law of Reincarnation.

With this thought in mind, he suddenly made an extremely resolute decision.

Extract all the power of the Clone!

The Clone left behind in the Land of Reincarnation was decisively placed by him in a relatively safe corner.

Then, all the power of the Law of Reincarnation within that Clone was completely extracted, just like pumping all the water of a lake into another river channel, merging it into his true body's body.

The aura of Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's true body skyrocketed to a completely new level in that instant.

The dim yellow light of Reincarnation violently churned, condensed, and compressed around him, like a continuously collapsing star, emitting a suffocating coercion.

The phantom of the Soul-Devouring Grotto-Heaven behind him suddenly expanded several times, and the darkness spread like substance, completely swallowing that half of the sky.

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei's expression changed drastically.

He could feel that the aura of the opposite figure was climbing at a terrifying speed.

As if a fierce beast originally bound by ropes suddenly broke free from all shackles.

That momentum rushed forward like a landslide and tsunami, causing his Thunder Domain to tremble slightly.

"This madman!"

True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei cursed inwardly through clenched teeth, alarm bells ringing wildly in his heart.

Knowing that the other party was driven to desperation and had begun to leave no room for maneuver.

And with his current state, it was already unlikely to resist like before.

Even a slight carelessness could cause him to capsize in a gutter.

Therefore, almost instinctively, the thought of temporarily avoiding the sharp edge arose within him, and his figure slightly retreated, intending to first widen the distance to avoid his sharp edge.

But Soul-Devouring Demon Lord did not give him a chance to breathe at all.

"Want to run?"

Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's voice came as if from an abyss, cold and crazy.

"Too late!"

He had paid so much, and the sunk cost was already large enough; he definitely couldn't let this guy retreat completely unscathed!

Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's figure approached like a ghost, and the power of Reincarnation around his body poured out like a boiling tsunami.

The six turning light wheels unfolded simultaneously, transforming into six dim yellow long rivers that completely sealed off all retreat paths of True Monarch Chiyan Yinglei.

The terror of that power was such that even the Void Realm was pressed to shatter completely into a Chaos state, and Law fragments flew all over the sky like dust.

The two collided again, but this time the balance had already begun to tilt.

...

And on the other side,

above the distant ruins of the Divine Court, behind that already formed passage, within the Land of Reincarnation.

Soul-Devouring Demon Lord's Clone, whose power had been completely extracted, was sitting cross-legged deep within a withered and desolate stone forest.

That place was grayish-white and barren, with red land stretching for thousands of miles, and everything that met the eye was cracked, dried-up earth and rugged stone pillars.

Strong gales carrying Evil Qi whistled and shuttled between the stone forests, emitting whimpering sounds like crying ghosts.

This was an edge corner of the Land of Reincarnation, where grayish-white and desolation filled every inch of space, as if no living creature had ever set foot here since eternity.

The body of that Clone sat cross-legged beneath a huge grayish-white stone pillar, its eyes tightly closed, its expression stiff, like a forgotten stone statue.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

However, right within this space that was so quiet it was almost congealed, a leisurely and unhurried set of footsteps suddenly sounded.

Those footsteps echoed among the empty grayish-white stone forest, as clear as ripples on the surface of water, breaking the eternal dead silence of this desolate place.

A figure slowly stepped out from the shadows of the stone forest.

The newcomer had the appearance of a youth, with a face so handsome it was almost eerie, his slender outer eye corners slightly upturned, carrying an unspeakable and uncanny aura.

He was dressed in a seven-colored iridescent magical robe, with flowing light rotating on the robe's surface, and every color flowed slowly like a living creature, casting a colorful halo onto the grayish-white firmament around him.

However, the most eye-catching thing was the banner he cradled in his arms.

That banner was entirely dark yellow in color, and an ancient and profound aura circulated on the banner's surface, as if bearing the weight of a thousand jun.

As the banner trembled slightly, a faint, illusory dim yellow light penetrated from deep within the patterns on the banner's surface.

When the young Cultivator stopped in front of the Clone sitting cross-legged beneath the stone pillar, his slender eyes narrowed slightly, sizing up this fallen-silent shell.

But within his gaze, a hint of extreme oddness could not be concealed no matter what.

"Ah? Is it such a coincidence?"

He muttered in a low voice, then lowered his head to look at the banner in his arms.

"Could it be... the Reincarnation this guy has been searching for bitterly is the human emperor banner?"

The youth muttered to himself, then shook his head again.

"That shouldn't be, this is too ridiculous!"

That's right, the newcomer was none other than Lu Ming.

To be precise, it was the Jiang Wunian Incarnation that Lu Ming had previously left behind in the Seal of the Dao Venerable of Spirit Transformation.

Ever since this Clone was left here, it had been waiting for an opportunity.

According to Lu Ming's original plan, he was waiting for all matters here to conclude, freeing up time to fully refine and absorb all the harvests from this trip roaming Xuanxiao Realm.

After improving his strength, he would then set about studying how to open the Seal land and release the Clone trapped within it.

However, he never expected that by blind luck and coincidence, Soul-Devouring Demon Lord actually used the power of Reincarnation to open the passage leading here.

When that passage suddenly burst open, this Incarnation of Jiang Wunian clearly perceived the fluctuation surging from the outside world.

Following the fluctuation, he approached and saw this Clone that had already fallen silent.

Then his whole person was dumbfounded...

What difference did this have from seeing a ghost!

To be honest, from the moment Soul-Devouring Demon Lord occupied Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's physical body, Lu Ming had actually never truly resisted.

Of course he had the ability to resist, because this physical body had long been refined by him into a ferryman Clone using a secret method, and there was a nearly instinctive connection between it and his Primordial Spirit.

Soul-Devouring Demon Lord thought he had meddled with that divine talisman and believed he could perfectly control this shell.

Little did he know, Lu Ming could expel the foreign consciousness residing within it with just a single thought.

But Lu Ming did not do so.

He chose to let Soul-Devouring Demon Lord succeed in Possession, allowing the other party to practice the Dao of Reincarnation, derive the Yellow Springs Nether River, trigger the power of Heavenly Dao, and open the Reincarnation passage with this shell.

What he schemed from beginning to end was the exact same thing.

That was to borrow the hand of Soul-Devouring Demon Lord to find that long-lost Dao of Reincarnation.

And the reason why Lu Ming was so obsessed with the Dao of Reincarnation, the root of it all, lay in the banner in his arms.

human emperor banner.

This Magic Treasure that had accompanied him all the way, after undergoing multiple transformations, had long evolved a Law exclusively belonging to itself.

That was Reincarnation!

It was just that this aura of Reincarnation was ultimately too weak; it was acceptable to deal with Golden Core Cultivators, but wanting to play a role in confrontations at the level of Nascent Soul True Monarchs was far from enough.

Therefore, Lu Ming had always been looking for an opportunity to elevate the grade of the human emperor banner and refine it into a Tier 4 Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasure.

However, among the Materials he had scavenged so far, not a single item could assist this banner in completing its final transformation and leap.

Ordinary spiritual items simply could not bear the weight of the Law of Reincarnation, and truly matching heaven and earth rarities were hard to trace within Xuanxiao Realm.

But if the Dao of Reincarnation itself was embedded into the banner as a refining material, that would be another matter entirely.

Once successful, this human emperor banner that had accompanied him for a long time could transform immediately, and might even soar straight to the skies.

Ultimately crossing the restriction of grades and reaching a height that even he himself could not estimate.

Therefore, when Lu Ming saw Soul-Devouring Demon Lord proactively delivering himself to his door, he knew that the opportunity he had long awaited had arrived.

This was an excellent opportunity to get in touch with the Dao of Reincarnation!

Therefore, he cooperated throughout the whole process by feigning death, striking with the intention of the snipe and the clam fighting while the fisherman profits.

Once Soul-Devouring Demon Lord found the Dao of Reincarnation, he would immediately expel the opponent, reoccupy this physical body, and pocket the final victory fruits.