Chapter — The Sword That Severed Heaven
The chapter begins in a pitch-black void.
There is nothing but endless darkness. Suddenly, a deep and ancient voice echoes through the darkness.
"Oh… Twelve Venerables."
The voice sounds as though its owner has known the Twelve Venerables for an extremely long time.
"It has been a very long time since I last saw you. I thought you would have died after that battle, but it seems you are still alive."
The voice pauses for a moment.
"But forget about all of that. This time, you won't be able to escape. You actually attempted to descend into the Lower World…"
The voice becomes colder.
"Unyielding, you have crossed the line."
At that moment, the scene changes.
We finally see the owner of that mysterious voice.
It is none other than Lord Gu Jen, the Sixth Ancestor of the Die Family.
Lord Gu Jen stands calmly in the darkness, holding a sword in his right hand.
He slowly places his left hand on the sword's hilt.
Then—
He takes one step forward with his right foot.
Shing!
His left hand suddenly draws the sword.
In the same instant, he swings it.
SLASH!
The sword strike tears through everything in its path.
The sky is split apart.
The land is severed.
Even the surrounding space seems to have been cut in half.
And most terrifyingly—
Lord Unyielding is cut apart by the same strike.
A Moment Earlier
A short while before this happened, Ekrox Die was preparing to launch another attack against Lord Unyielding.
The battle had already reached an extremely dangerous level.
Ekrox was completely focused on his opponent when suddenly—
Something felt wrong.
A terrifying presence was approaching from his left.
Ekrox immediately turned his head.
His eyes widened.
"What…?"
A sword slash was flying toward them.
It was so powerful that everything in its path was being severed.
Houses.
Land.
Mountains.
Space itself.
Everything was sliced apart as though it were nothing.
The slash continued forward without slowing down.
BOOM!
It finally struck Lord Unyielding.
Ekrox stared at the scene in complete shock.
The attack had cut through Lord Unyielding's clone from bottom to top.
However, this was not Lord Unyielding's true body.
It was only a clone.
Therefore, after being struck by the sword slash, the clone immediately began turning into countless particles of smoke and light.
Those particles merged with the Dao of the Lower World.
As a result, the Heavenly Dao's spiritual energy increased significantly.
Far away, several cultivators who had witnessed the attack were completely stunned.
One of them couldn't help but say:
"Who was that?"
Another cultivator stared at the enormous slash in disbelief.
"With a single sword strike, they cut through the entire land and even the sky…"
"Just how terrifyingly strong must that person be?"
Another person looked toward the Die Family.
"And the Die Family isn't ordinary either. They actually dared to confront a monster like that…"
Nobody knew who had launched the attack.
But everyone understood one thing.
The Die Family was not a family they could afford to provoke.
Ekrox Die was still staring at the direction from which the slash had come.
He was thinking about who could possibly have launched such a terrifying attack.
Suddenly—
He sensed someone approaching from behind.
Ekrox turned around.
It was Haru Kai.
Ekrox looked at him and asked:
"Did you do that?"
Haru Kai shook his head.
"No. I didn't."
Ekrox frowned.
"Then who launched such a destructive attack?"
Haru Kai thought for a moment.
"Hmm… I think it was our Sixth Senior."
Ekrox's expression immediately changed.
"The Sixth Senior?"
He looked toward the direction of the attack.
"Does that mean he was watching my fight?"
Ekrox suddenly puffed out his cheeks in annoyance.
"And he didn't even come to meet me!"
Haru Kai smiled helplessly.
"Maybe some work came up. That's probably why he didn't come."
He continued:
"Besides, the Sixth Senior rarely meets anyone. Most of the time, he simply stays in cultivation. Even within the family, I've barely seen him."
Ekrox crossed his arms.
"Still, Sixth Senior shouldn't have interfered. I wanted to fight Lord Unyielding myself."
He paused before adding:
"And he didn't even come to meet me afterward. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed his help."
Haru Kai immediately replied:
"That's exactly why he interfered."
Ekrox looked at him.
Haru Kai continued:
"You were taking too long."
"You always do this. Whenever you fight someone strong, you never finish the battle quickly because you're too busy enjoying the fight."
He sighed.
"If you and Lord Unyielding had continued fighting like that, the entire Lower World might have been destroyed."
Ekrox became silent.
After thinking about it, he finally realized his mistake.
"Oh…"
He scratched his head awkwardly.
"You're right. I didn't think about that."
He sighed.
"I got so absorbed in the battle that I completely forgot something important."
"With our level of power, the world itself can be destroyed."
Haru Kai nodded.
Where Is Lord Die Yuan?
Haru Kai suddenly asked:
"By the way, where did My Lord go?"
Ekrox replied:
"Young Lord Die Yuan?"
He thought for a moment.
"He's currently in the Dao of Void."
"He told me that he had something to take care of there. He also said that he wanted to test his power."
Ekrox continued:
"Before leaving, he instructed me to recruit the Ancestors of the Heavenly God Profound Sect."
He sighed.
"But I still haven't found any of their Ancestors."
Ekrox looked toward the destroyed battlefield.
"Now the entire Heavenly God Profound Sect has been destroyed."
"I don't even know if any of their Ancestors are still alive."
Haru Kai nodded.
"Yes. That's true."
He thought for a moment before continuing:
"When My Lord returns, I'll report everything to him."
"I'll tell him that the Heavenly God Profound Sect was ultimately destroyed by another person, and none of their Ancestors even appeared."
Ekrox frowned.
"Hmm…"
"But I've heard that the Heavenly God Profound Sect's Ancestors are extremely powerful."
"Their history goes back hundreds of thousands of years."
He looked confused.
"Yet after all this happened, not even a single one of them appeared."
Haru Kai's expression became serious.
"Exactly."
"Something is wrong."
"There must be something happening in the Lower World that we don't know about."
He paused.
"But I have a feeling My Lord already knows the truth."
Ekrox nodded slowly.
"Maybe."
He looked thoughtful.
"Our Lord is a very mysterious person."
"I don't even know whether he truly belongs to the Sixth Generation or came from somewhere outside it."
Haru Kai smiled slightly.
"I think My Lord is somewhere between the Sixth and Seventh Generations."
He continued:
"But it's still strange."
"From our perspective, the Sixth Generation was considered the weakest."
"Yet ever since My Lord appeared, that generation has risen into the Top Three."
Ekrox became silent.
Both of them understood the same thing.
Their Master's true strength and origins were something they could not comprehend.
Die Yuan's Journey
Meanwhile, somewhere within the vast universe—
Die Yuan was continuing his journey.
His seven clones had already been spreading across the Lower Worlds.
One clone had already destroyed 27 Lower Worlds.
The remaining clones had been doing the same.
After all—
There were seven clones in total.
At this moment, Die Yuan was searching through the universe for a suitable planet.
He wanted to find a world powerful enough to be worth refining.
However, after searching for many days, he still hadn't found a suitable planet.
Die Yuan became slightly irritated.
"I've been searching for so long, yet I still haven't found a single decent planet that I can refine."
Just then—
Ding!
A notification suddenly appeared from the system.
[Host, a Higher-Rank World has been detected nearby.]
[You are required to enter that world and gather experience.]
Die Yuan stared at the notification.
For a moment, he was surprised.
"Huh?"
"Why is the system suddenly asking me to do this?"
But then—
A smile slowly appeared on his face.
"If the system wants me to do it…"
His eyes narrowed.
"Then I guess I'll have to do it."
Die Yuan immediately began searching for the world detected by the system.
After traveling for some distance—
He finally found it.
A massive planet appeared before him.
Die Yuan looked at it carefully.
"Oh?"
"This world looks quite similar to our own."
He smiled.
"Let's go inside and see what kind of place this is."
Die Yuan entered the world.
As soon as he arrived, he sensed the surrounding spiritual energy.
He frowned slightly.
"Its spiritual energy is slightly weaker than our world."
He became curious.
"I wonder how strong the cultivators here are."
He looked around.
"But before I investigate anything, I need to find a place to stay."
He yawned.
"I'm actually getting a little sleepy."
Die Yuan suddenly looked downward.
He noticed something strange happening inside a massive forest.
"Wait…"
His expression changed.
"What is that?"
He looked more carefully.
"Are those humans… farming?"
Die Yuan became confused.
"What the hell?"
He looked around.
"Did I accidentally enter a Demon Region?"
He paused.
Then he carefully examined the people again.
At first glance, their appearance didn't seem particularly monstrous.
"Wait…"
Die Yuan narrowed his eyes.
"These people don't look like demons at all."
He observed them for a little longer.
"I think they're humans."
His expression became thoughtful.
"And judging from their aura…"
"They're probably Demonic Cultivators."
Die Yuan smiled.
"Interesting."
He looked toward the forest.
"But before I investigate all of this…"
He yawned again.
"I'll get some rest first."
And with that—
Die Yuan prepared to find a place to rest, completely unaware that this seemingly ordinary world was hiding far more secrets than he had expected.