Everyone knew the sacred spirit was extraordinary. Even so, none of them had expected that, even though Wang Sheng had not yet fully matured, he would already bring this many surprises.

They were already aware of his destiny as the sacred spirit from the Ancient Era and that he had inherited Ziwei's Daoist heritage. Those had been taken as the only reasons he grew so quickly. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

No one even imagined that in this arranged duel, Wang Sheng would be able to completely overwhelm Chang Lanzhi, who was just half a step from the Grand Dao Golden Immortal Realm and a well-known expert in the Immortal Saint Realm.

The Heavenly Court was already long gone in this era, and supreme treasures had long since stopped appearing. Even so, Wang Sheng's set of flying swords was powerful enough to inspire fear.

What shocked them even more was that he had revealed something far stronger and more profound: a Great Dao no one had ever heard of anyone mastering.

Heavenly tribulation—the "weapon" that the Great Dao used against living beings!

How could someone comprehend it? No, why could it be deduced and mastered in the first place? Why had the Great Dao not struck down this anomaly?

To the onlookers, the answer was clear: the Great Dao had allowed the sacred spirit to become an extraordinary existence!

The moment the heavenly tribulation power appeared, every great expert wondered how long they themselves would survive if Wang Sheng were not killed today.

The endless space was vast, and the Immortal Saint Realm was boundless. However, all of it existed beneath the Great Dao.

And Wang Sheng could one day become like the Immortal Emperor of the past. No, it was no longer a matter of possibility. Since he could harness the power of heavenly tribulation, it was a certainty.

Wang Sheng had already gained the recognition of the Great Dao. In the end, he would hold authority over the Three Realms and command the power of the Great Dao itself!

Such a being had to be erased. Luckily, he had exposed himself and fallen into their provocation.

Just when everyone thought that the heavenly tribulation power was Wang Sheng's greatest trump card, he drew a broken sword—a supreme weapon imbued with the Great Dao of Slaughter.

It was known as Yuan Tu, the very same sword that Minghe once wielded!

The Great Dao had erased him for obstructing the Six Paths of Reincarnation. The Blood Sea then turned into the Nether Realm. Still, in the Primal Era and the Ancient Era, he had been a terrifying being who could contend with saints within the Blood Sea.

Right now, Wang Sheng already had two nascent Great Daos that could rival Qinghua's Great Dao of Death.

The Great Dao of Pure Yang, the Stars, Heavenly Tribulation, and Slaughter converged within Wang Sheng, blazing across the starry space and piercing the hearts of countless ancient survivors.

We have to kill him! Now! Otherwise, he will tear apart the Immortal Saint Realm, and the Three Realms will no longer have a place for those who had destroyed the Heavenly Court!

Fortunately, they had prepared a contingency plan and deceived the experts of the Heavenly Court.

A Grand Dao Golden Immortal, famed for the Dao of Assassination, had already attached himself to Chang Lanzhi.

Chang Lanzhi managed to block Wang Sheng's Heavenly Ziwei Strike, but his long saber was knocked upward. Wang Sheng used the momentum of his descent to draw the broken Yuan Tu from his back, intending to cut Chang Lanzhi down.

During the over three hundred years that he had spent improving his cultivation realm, he had also reclaimed fragments of Yuan Tu from the Great Dao sword case. Since Wang Sheng had yet to reach the highest floor of the Sword-Forging Tower, he still hadn't completed Yuan Tu or fully grasped the Great Dao of Slaughter. Even so, the weapon was already strong enough to claim victory in one swing.

Not even Xu Zhongliang had accounted for this.

In his plan, Chang Lanzhi would defeat Wang Sheng, who would then fake his death and slip away from the chaos, quietly cultivating until the day he would return and astonish the world.

However, two things had slipped beyond his control: Wang Sheng's heavenly tribulation power and the Great Dao of Slaughter, his trump card.

It was not entirely a problem. After all, Xu Zhongliang had already told Wang Sheng to go all out. Only by shocking the enemy could the act feel real. However, Wang Sheng's display of power had gone too far.

Xu Zhongliang was well aware of the shadow attached to Chang Lanzhi as well. Still, he counted on the bronze mirror and the ice lotus on Wang Sheng.

That was when the shadow slipped into the back of Chang Lanzhi's head. Black light burst from his eyes as he pointed a finger straight at Wang Sheng's heart meridian, where his Primordial Spirit resided. He then unleashed pressure that was befitting of a great expert.

Wang Sheng's eyes widened as he quietly hid the bronze mirror beneath his flesh.

Xu Zhongliang clenched his fist and immediately told Wang Shan and Chun Yangzi telepathically, "Get ready to pull him out!"

On the other side, the gathered experts watched with dazzling gazes. They waited until the attack had crushed the sacred spirit into dust.

When the strike hit, a hole tore through the back of Wang Sheng, who was facing away from the Immortal Saint Realm and the Great Dao Gate.

A streak of sword radiance burst toward Chang Lanzhi from behind, forcing him to swiftly back away.

No matter how quickly the great expert within Chang Lanzhi tried to evade, the sword radiance clung to him without fail.

Wu Tianshou roared in fury, "Despicable! Shameless!"

Chun Yangzi, Wang Shan, and Xu Zhongliang rushed toward Wang Sheng at the same time.

The golden light around Wang Sheng faded rapidly. Starlight desperately enveloped him, but the hole in his chest remained open.

Within his robes, the bronze mirror had shattered. His heart meridian remained intact. Since the damage stopped just in front of it, Wang Sheng had to use his own immortal power to open a wound on his back.

All of this was completed within a single instant. Wang Sheng had reacted as fast as he could.

With his aura fading fast, a small wooden sword emerged from his chest and slipped into his long hair. His heavenly fate was successfully concealed.

"Haahkk—"

Wang Sheng lowered his head and spat out blood. Clutching his chest, he slowly turned around and swayed as if about to fall. Nevertheless, his gaze toward the countless beings ahead burned with dissatisfaction and resentment.

A cold smile appeared at the corner of his lips. His expression gradually calmed.

"So this... is what those who destroyed the Heavenly Court are like. In the end... you are not even worthy to be my opponents. Today... I have confirmed as much..."

His eyes slowly closed as dozens of streaks of light shot toward him again. Still feeling uneasy, they intended to grind him into dust.

However, the Heavenly Court's experts reached him first. Chun Yangzi and Wang Shan stood before Wang Sheng, shielding him. Xu Zhongliang caught him in his arms and poured immortal power into him.

Xu Zhongliang was only putting on an act, though. He let the immortal power disperse around Wang Sheng, making it seem as if he could no longer heal him.

The Great Dao trembled. Wang Shan and Chun Yangzi blocked most of the incoming attacks. They even took several strikes head-on. The aftershocks of the clash swept over the area again and again, washing over Wang Sheng.

Not only had the attack heavily injured him, but his Divine-Possession Art had already ended. Now, sustaining the impact from the shockwaves, he kept coughing up blood.

He was actually close to dying.

Fortunately, the three retreated quickly. A large number of Heavenly Court immortals charged forward, each one looking frenzied.

"Fall back!" Xu Zhongliang roared with a twisted expression. "We have to save the Grand Marshal!"

The battle was just about to start when it came to a halt. The Heavenly Court closed in at once, surrounding Wang Sheng and retreating toward the rear.

As the scene grew chaotic, a flash of silver light burst from the side. Someone had thrown a flying needle straight toward Wang Sheng's neck.

A warning rang through Wang Sheng's mind. Xu Zhongliang reacted instinctively and struck out with his palm. Afraid of injuring the Heavenly Court immortals around them, he could not use his full strength.

The needle pierced straight through Xu Zhongliang's palm and, having lost not even an ounce of its speed, drove into Wang Sheng's neck.

Space fell silent for a brief moment.

"Who is it?!"

"What are you doing?!"

The people around the one who had thrown the flying needle quickly backed away. One after another, everyone fixed their enraged glared on him.

The man laughed coldly. He then exploded, revealing the phantasm of a middle-aged Daoist clad in black-scaled armor. He stood with his hands behind his back, head raised as he laughed loudly.

He arrogantly remarked, "You're merely a sacred spirit, yet you dare contend with my master? I took you down with ease. She truly thought too highly of you! Now, in these Three Realms, no one else can compete with her for the seat of Immortal Emperor!"

Chun Yangzi growled, "You must be one of Feng Jiu's dogs!"

"Oh?" The phantasm laughed coldly as it slowly faded. It was only an avatar of a great expert. The true threat lay in the flying needle—a spiritual treasure.

"You even know her name. Lu Dongbin, she once said that if you are willing to submit, you may be granted a place among the Four Heavenly Ministers."

"Get lost!"

The phantasm laughed a few more times before the force of Chun Yangzi's slap scattered it.

At that moment, a point of golden light flew out from Wang Sheng's forehead. He went completely still in Xu Zhongliang's arms, his aura completely gone.

The Star Deity trembled all over. Guilt filled his eyes as he held the sword cultivator, unable to say a word or do anything.

The golden light was something that Xu Zhongliang had prepared for the great experts of the Immortal Saint Realm to see. However, now, Wang Sheng truly showed no sign of life.

The flying needle could kill even a Grand Dao Golden Immortal. Wang Sheng was only a Golden Immortal and had not yet even reached true immortality.

"This is all my fault... This is..."

Chun Yangzi stepped forward at once and took Wang Sheng from Xu Zhongliang's arms. With reddened eyes, he whispered, "Are you done acting? Huh? Are you done acting?!"

"I-I..."

Xu Zhongliang suddenly lowered his head and spat out blood. He tilted backward as Wu Tianshou hurried to support him.

Chun Yangzi frowned. Did I overplay it?

The point of golden light had already risen above the Heavenly Court immortals. It burst gently and formed a phantasm of Wang Sheng.

At that moment, the Great Dao trembled. All of this was part of Xu Zhongliang's plans, yet he still fainted from guilt, causing him to miss the rest of it.

In space, Wang Sheng's phantasm looked toward the Immortal Saint Realm. He raised his hand and pointed toward the Great Dao Gate.

"One hundred thousand years... One million years... Now, I return to the Dao. In the future, I will take hold of heaven."

The golden light slowly faded. A chill spread through the gathered experts. Many immediately started making calculations, yet no one could derive anything.

A storm rose in countless hearts.

A tertiary force had killed the sacred spirit from the shadows. The mysterious being named Feng Jiu—whom the Immortal Saint Realm had yet to meet—had made her move.

Nevertheless, the sacred spirit's final words suggested he would return.

A saber radiance burst through space and split the area in two. Erlang emerged from the depths of space enveloped in white flames, his presence fierce and overwhelming. In his left hand was a severed head.

"Ten men will be buried with him."

The ones he referred to were those worthy of fighting him.

***

The great battle that day descended into chaos. In the end, Chun Yangzi and Zhi Bing took Wang Sheng's body and left amid the turmoil, bringing Lishang with them.

Three months later, within the great Buddha statue of the Eastern Sky Region.

Lishang held Wang Sheng, who was hanging by a thread, in her arms as they entered the vortex into the Realm of Exiled Immortals.

Chun Yangzi and Zhi Bing remained behind. They searched and tried countless ways to break the Time-Cycle Grand Array.

The phantasm that had attacked Wang Sheng back then... had been Zhi Bing.

She had never shown it to anyone before, but the flying needle also belonged to her. Unfortunately, after being used just once, the natural spiritual treasure had been completely destroyed.

Wang Sheng's Primordial Spirit had been completely frozen at the time, not destroyed. That was how they made his death look real.

Still, Chun Yangzi muttered, "I wonder if Star Deity Wenqu will be alright. This might have hit him hard."

Qing Feng, who had been standing quietly to the side, was startled. He quickly asked, "Senior, what happened to my forefather?"

Chun Yangzi replied, "I will explain later. You two should go in as well. Escort Fei Yu back to Earth. Once he wakes, you can ask him. For now, the matter is settled. No one will be able to trace Fei Yu's location anymore.

"For the endless space, the sacred spirit is dead. Earth will have at least one hundred thousand years of peace."

Zhi Bing said nothing. She had already sat down to begin her comprehension of... wormholes.