366: Chapter 357 The Sixth Incarnation: Heavenly Venerable (Forty-Five)

There was no stalemate, no earth-shattering collision, only one-sided, crushing annihilation and harvesting!

The three Dao Lords, along with their Dao Realm cores, perished and were refined in quick succession within a few breaths!

The Great Dao's lament and the terrifying fluctuations of their Dao Realm collapsing, which scattered upon their demise, could no longer be perfectly concealed. They exploded like three bolts of heavenly thunder across the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Realms, which were already on edge due to the deaths of 'Flowing Shadow' and 'Scarlet Sun'!

"Rumble—!!!"

The Great Dao's lament and destructive fluctuations generated by the successive fall and Dao Realm collapse of the three Dao Lords were like three supernovae erupting simultaneously in the silent Universe. Their terrifying ripples and light could no longer be completely hidden by any force, unscrupulously impacting and sweeping across the vast Heavens, shaking the perception of every living being, especially all beings at the 'Dao' level!

Panic was spreading, but extreme fear could sometimes spur desperate courage and a shared sense of righteous indignation.

This was especially true for those ancient existences who were inherently proud, had endured countless tribulations, and possessed steadfast Dao Hearts. When there was nowhere left to retreat and no way to escape, only one thing remained—

Kill!

"Too arrogant! Do you truly regard us all as lambs awaiting slaughter?!"

A roar, like the clang of metal striking metal that shook the stars, violently exploded from the depths of the Geng Gold Forbidden Zone, which had been silent for an unknown number of eons!

A pure, sharp beam of platinum sword light, seemingly capable of severing everything in the world, shot toward the sky, tearing through the Void Realm and revealing a majestic figure clad in ancient battle armor, with a face carved like a knife, and whose surrounding Sword Qi condensed into a tangible storm—the 'Geng Gold Sword Lord'!

This ancient Dao Lord, renowned for his path of slaughter using 'Geng Gold', possessing a fierce temperament, and who once challenged all heavens in the Ancient Era, was the first to fully awaken from his slumber. Carrying overwhelming Sword Intent and a heart set on a fight to the death, he took one step and arrived near the residual void space where the Dao Realms had collapsed!

His Sword Intent locked onto the spatial rift that was slowly dissipating but still emitting the cold Aura of the heaven refining cauldron, his killing intent as sharp as the dead of winter!

"The Ancient Venerables are unjust, slaughtering their peers! How can we stand by and watch?!"

Immediately following this, from the 'Green Wood Ancestral Land,' endless vines shot toward the sky, intertwining to form the phantom of a kind-faced but anger-filled, green-robed old man—the 'Green Wood Dao Venerable'!

Although he was not skilled in slaughter, his Dao of 'life', 'Nourishment', and 'Entanglement' had reached the Transcendent level. Now, to protect his peers and defend the Dao path, he resolutely emerged from seclusion. His vast vitality transformed into a sky-covering green curtain, following closely behind the Geng Gold Sword Lord and subtly forming a supportive posture.

"Count me in!"

The Void Realm shattered, and lightning surged like a prison!

A giant divine manifestation with three heads and six arms, entirely enveloped by purple destructive lightning—the 'Lei Huang Heavenly Venerable'—tore through the sea of lightning and descended. His Aura was violent and unrestrained, lightning flashing in his eyes as he stared intently at the residual Dao Rhyme of the heaven refining cauldron, his Battle Intent boiling!

"I am coming too!"

"I am here as well!"

"Such actions are no different from a Demon! They deserve death!"

"..."

As if ignited by the roar of the Geng Gold Sword Lord and the tragic sight of three peers falling consecutively, terrifying Auras, which were no longer concealed, erupted one after another from silent or vigilant Dao Realms and Secret Realms!

Some scattered the clear light of the 'Bright Moon Dao Lord' across the Star Domain, transforming into a cold tide of Taiyin that swept over;

Some manifested the 'Scarlet Flame Demonic Lord', burning the heavens and boiling the seas, crossing the Void Realm with unquenchable demonic flames;

Some displayed the myriad beast manifestation of the 'Hundred Beasts Dao Venerable', their roars shaking the heavens;

Some had the 'Profound Water Dao Mother' summoning the Nine Heavens Weak Water to annihilate all things;

... In a short moment, no fewer than ten existences, varying in strength but all having reached the Dao Lord level—including several ancient ones—responded, either out of righteous indignation, self-preservation, or for the continuation of their Dao Lineages. They tore through the Void Realm from all directions and different dimensions, descending upon this core spatial area that had just experienced three 'hunts,' where the Dao Rhyme was chaotic and the killing intent had yet to dissipate!

Some of them were familiar with each other, some had never met, and some even had past grievances.

But at this moment, facing the common, fatal threat of the heaven refining cauldron and the Ancient Venerable Alliance, all past grudges, Dao Lineage disagreements, and differences in temperament were temporarily set aside.

Streams of Dao Lord wills and immense magical power—some sharp, some heavy, some violent, some gentle—converged and resonated in the Void Realm, vaguely forming a torrent of resistance that, although somewhat disorderly, was vast, mighty, and shared a common enemy!

"Geng Gold, Green Wood, Lei Huang... and all you Fellow Daoists,"

The Geng Gold Sword Lord's gaze was like lightning as he swept over the Dao Lord phantoms or bodies that were continuously arriving. His voice was resonant and echoed through the Void Realm.

"The Ancient Venerables act against the natural order, using a cauldron to hunt the Dao, intending to sever our paths! Today is not a debate or a friendly spar, but a battle for survival! We must set aside past grievances and work together if we are to have even a sliver of hope, and perhaps..."

He pointed his sword at the location where the heaven refining cauldron's Aura lingered, his killing intent soaring to the heavens!

"—Break that cauldron, and slay those Ancient Venerables who regard us as mere dust!"

"Well said!"

"That is exactly what we should do!"

"Kill!"

The assembled Dao Lords responded one after another, their Dao Rhymes surging, and their Battle Intent erupting.

Although the Alliance was hastily formed and their coordination was clumsy, the gathering of several dozen Dao Lords, including ancient existences as powerful in slaughter as the Geng Gold Sword Lord, gave them an overall might capable of shaking the galaxies and making the stars tremble!

And just at the moment when these dozens of Dao Lords had completed their initial assembly, their momentum at its peak yet also at its most tense and sensitive—

"Buzz—!!!"

That area of the Void Realm, which had been torn by the heaven refining cauldron and had not yet fully stabilized, suddenly twisted and expanded violently once again!

A supreme pressure, far vaster and more terrifying than during the previous hunt, seemingly bearing the weight of all the myriad Daos of the Heavens, descended without any warning!

Immediately following this, within the suddenly constricted pupils of the Dao Lords, the spatial rift violently expanded, transforming into a massive gateway spanning the Star Domain and devouring all light!

Within the gateway, it was no longer a projection of the heaven refining cauldron, but the true body of the heaven refining cauldron—three-legged, two-eared, flowing with ten-colored dao patterns, and emitting a pressure that caused even the Dao Lords' Souls to feel stinging pain and suffocation. It slowly, yet irresistibly, 'squeezed' out inch by inch!

On the cauldron's body, the ten-colored dao patterns representing core Origin Daos such as 'death', 'life', 'Time', 'Space', and 'Destruction' burned with unprecedented intensity, intertwining to evolve terrifying phenomena of the sinking of the Heavens, the lament of the Myriad Daos, and the end of an Era!

The cauldron's mouth churned with Chaos mist, as if countless worlds were being born and dying within it!

But what shook the Dao Lords' minds most deeply, making them feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar, was—

In the Void Realm surrounding the body of the heaven refining cauldron, hazy figures, whose mere presence caused the surrounding Laws to warp, retreat, and lament, slowly materialized and solidified!