410: Chapter 401 The Sixth Incarnation: Heavenly Venerable (Eighty-Nine)

"Perfect timing!"

Facing the combined ultimate strike of the Nine Most Ancient Dao Lords, who were burning their Origin and sparing no cost, Dao Lord Shang Qing's eyes showed no fear; instead, a cold, sharp light flashed through them, as if saying, "Just as I expected."

He and Yuqing exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with unspoken understanding and resolve.

"Now is the moment!"

Dao Lord Yuqing gave a soft cry, and the Karmic Affinity and Mortal World Gossamer Robe enveloping her—which had seemed thin as a cicada's wing and ready to shatter at any moment—suddenly erupted with light!

But this light was not for defense. It transformed into billions of Mortal World threads, fine as gossamer yet incredibly resilient. In a manner so profound it seemed practiced countless times, they coiled backward toward the terrifying torrent of Divine Abilities launched by the nine Ancient Venerables!

These Mortal World threads did not meet the attack head-on. Instead, like a master weaver, they wove through, guided, and redirected the force against itself!

They skillfully wrapped around the edges of the Chrono Blades, using their intent to "sever the future" to pull them back, causing a subtle collision with the divine light of "Order Banishment," leading to mutual interference and deviation. They lightly touched the side of the Dao Lord of Death's Finger of Extinction, using the mystery of the Mortal World's "Arising and Ceasing of Affinities" to slightly shift its trajectory while triggering an instability in the Tribulation Fire the Dao Lord of Death was forcibly controlling. They moved through the gaps in the Ancient Venerables' attacks, using minimal cost to cause these root powers of different attributes—already imperfectly synchronized due to the rushed alliance—to consume each other, cancel out, or even... conflict!

This was not a hard resistance, but a mastery of skill over brute force, using the myriad phenomena of the Mortal World to pull at the myriad Laws, and using the impermanence of Karmic Affinity to disrupt the heavenly secrets!

Yuqing's Dao was never suited for frontal confrontation; it excelled at guiding, transforming, and borrowing momentum!

At this moment, she used her remaining Dao Rhyme as a guide and the "disharmony" and "flaws" within the nine Ancient Venerables' attacks as a foundation to perform the feat of redirecting a thousand pounds with four ounces!

"What?!"

The expressions of the nine Ancient Venerables changed slightly. They hadn't expected Yuqing, in such a heavily injured state at the end of her rope, to be able to execute such an exquisite response!

But it wasn't over yet!

"Karma... Reversal! Heavenly Mandate... Return to the Void!"

Dao Lord Shang Qing's hoarse voice rang out, carrying a resolution to perish together with the enemy.

He ignored the terrifying attacks that Yuqing had slightly delayed and shifted. Instead, he took the crack-filled phantom of the River of Karma—fueled by the burning of his final Origin—and violently hurled it upward toward the radiant phantoms of the ascension heavenly ladder and the throne of the dao!

Simultaneously, his hands formed seals at an incredible speed as he spat out a large mouthful of silver-white Dao Blood, merging it into the seal technique!

"Destiny! Aid me!"

Shangqing roared!

Buzz—!!!

The hurled phantom of the River of Karma did not attack any Ancient Venerable. Instead, it suddenly collapsed, transforming into infinite, extremely fine threads of Karma. These threads were not silver-white but carried a greyish aura that seemed to have settled over eternal ages—it was the last remaining Origin and Dao Rhyme of the Dao Monarch of Destiny!

It was the final "gift" or perhaps "foreshadowing" that the Dao Monarch of Destiny had likely planted before his complete dissipation, which Shangqing now forcibly recalled from the void by burning himself and using their common Dao as a guide!

These greyish karmic threads ignored space, ignored time, and ignored the terrifying combined attack of the nine Ancient Venerables. In a way that transcended common logic, they instantly wrapped, enveloped, and linked onto the ascension heavenly ladder and the throne of the dao!

More accurately, they linked onto some deeper, invisible "rule" or "concept" that constituted the existence of the "ladder" and the "throne"!

"With my Karma, I summon the traces of Destiny! With the authority of the Heavenly Mandate, I borrow... the eternal instant!"

Shangqing's voice seemed to come from ancient times, carrying endless exhaustion and a hint of liberation.

As his final seal fell, the greyish karmic threads wrapped around the ladder and throne suddenly tightened and glowed!

In the next moment, something incredible happened that shocked every existence, including the nine Ancient Venerables and Dao Lord Yuqing—

Time seemed to be infinitely stretched in this moment, yet also completely frozen!

It wasn't the great power of manipulating time like that of the Dao Lord of Time, but a more profound and fundamental "state"!

The world-destroying combined attack of the nine Ancient Venerables, when only inches away from Shangqing and Yuqing, suddenly became incredibly slow, as if trapped in the thickest amber. Every tiny energy fluctuation and Law trajectory was clearly visible, yet could not advance a single inch!

Shangqing and Yuqing themselves were also seemingly frozen in this "eternal instant," but their faces bore a hint of the long-anticipated relief.

And the radiant ascension heavenly ladder and throne of the dao, in this "frozen" state, seemed to have their Dao Rhyme and attraction become... clearer, more real, and even... more "within reach"!

It was as if this freezing of the "eternal instant" was not an obstacle but a "purification" or "refinement," temporarily stripping away the outer layers of illusion and interference to reveal something more core, more essential...?

"Destiny!!"

The Dao Lord of Time let out a roar of extreme shock and fury. He could best feel the terror of this "freezing." This was not a time stop, but a fixation closer to a "concept" or "state of existence," which even his Dao of Time found difficult to break in a short period!

"This is... the Dao traces left by Destiny, combined with Karma and Heavenly Mandate, to forcibly 'borrow' the concept of 'Eternity' from the moment the ladder and throne manifested and intertwined with the present world?!" The Dao Lord of Order realized instantly, his eyes full of disbelief. "He actually turned his final Dao Rhyme into the key to unlock this 'instant'?!"

"What a calculation! A perfect 'golden cicada shedding its skin,' a 'borrowing a corpse to return a soul'! A masterstroke of 'crossing the sea under camouflage' and 'replacing the plum with the peach'!" The Dao Lord of Death gnashed his teeth, feeling his own Dao of death also frozen and unable to function.

This "eternal instant" might only last for a brief flash, but for Shangqing and Yuqing, it was enough!

They had risked everything, even betting on Destiny's final trump card, all for this one-moment opportunity to break free from the encirclement and reach the ladder!

"Go!"

Dao Lord Shang Qing's voice rang out weakly but clearly in this "frozen" space-time. He and Yuqing's figures seemed to break free from some invisible restraint; though still slow, they firmly climbed the stairs bit by bit!

The nine Ancient Venerables were driven to madness, frantically pushing their Divine Abilities to break the freezing of this "eternal instant." But in their haste, how could this confinement—which fused Destiny's final Dao traces, Shangqing's burning Origin, and a certain power that triggered the essence of the ladder and throne—be so easily broken?

It seemed that Shangqing and Yuqing, in this lightning-fast yet infinitely stretched "instant," would continue to climb upward until they reached the throne!