Volume 4, Chapter 196 – Demon-Weapons Rise to Meet the Tribulation, Silver Shards Become New Life (Two-in-One)

In that instant, Bai Xiang opened her golden eyes and cast her gaze through the storm, through the cloud-layers, through the Thirty-Three Heavens Sea, until it came to rest on Pang Tiandao’s plain and unremarkable human face.

The distance between them was unquestionably immense. The place where he now stood was not something that could be measured by line of sight alone, but by the overlap of multiple layers of time and space. The true distance between them likely had to be counted in the hundreds or even thousands.

Knowing this was the final battlefield, Bai Xiang did not hesitate. Her figure blurred, and the arena tiles beneath her feet collapsed across a wide swath. She passed straight through the barrier of the black rift and appeared within one of the Heavens Sea’s vortex fissures.

“Hmph!”

The sword-bearing man who had approached her earlier immediately gave a cold snort. His figure shot upward in pursuit, and he followed her into the storm, tracing the path of her advance.

The remaining fifteen contestants immediately split in their responses.

Some chose to chase after them along this “heavenly road,” striving to break through the black-rift barriers and spiral upward through the Heavens Sea vortex.

But others, such as Meng Qiaosheng and Chang Hongyuan, chose to remain where they were and had no intention of taking any further part in the tribulation struggle below.

“So the Transmission Great Saint has personally made his move.”

Meng Qiaosheng drew a breath deep into his chest and sighed.

Having witnessed such a historic moment and glimpsed the broad outline of the mastermind’s plan, this trip of his could already be counted a complete success. It was time to start considering how to extricate himself.

As for Chang Hongyuan, he had reached the same decision after discussing matters with the people of Zhengtian Dao.

His master, Zhou Yuan, still could not be contacted, and ahead of him stood a terrifying enemy like Bai Xiang. There was no way he could gamble the future of Zhengtian Dao on a struggle that offered no hope.

It was safer to remain here and watch what happened.

“That’s enough.”

At that moment, in the fortress suspended in space within the outer atmosphere surrounding the planet, Young Master Shao snapped his folding fan shut.

“The lord has given the order.”

“The final plan begins now.”

As that message spread outward, endless changes began to take shape.

The first to be affected were the spaceborne satellites and stations that had long since been occupied and controlled by the Void People. These things, once called “technology” and “civilization,” should have lost most of their function under the interference of Loss of Order and become nothing more than piles of scrap metal. Yet now, as a layer of silver light flowed across their surfaces, huge bubbles of flesh suddenly swelled up from the metal shell of each construct, spraying blood like living organisms as they expanded in space.

The silent transformation spread with terrifying speed. Within only a few minutes, those constructs came alive. Their material had become a bright silver metal resembling liquid flesh, which then contracted and formed one massive sword-blade after another, plunging wildly toward the vast atmosphere below.

“The great tribulation is at hand.”

Young Master Shao looked down through the transparent glass at that magnificent sight, his eyes brimming with boundless fervor.

“This newborn dawn will become the prelude that ushers in the descent of Blood Heaven!”

The upheaval in space was only the tip of the iceberg.

The view followed blade after blade as they tore through the atmosphere, trailed red clouds, and crashed down to earth, wreaking indiscriminate destruction across mountains, rivers, wilderness, and cities alike.

The Sami Federation, the Ruffen Federation, the Yinbu Federation… every city currently under the effective control of Blood Soul Heaven suffered the heaviest bombardment. One hidden demon-human after another came darting out from concealed buildings, surging desperately toward the massive craters blasted out by the falling blades.

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A federal dignitary was standing in the street, trying to calm the public with a speech. After the first screams caused by the tremor, the crowd looked up in horror and saw the man’s neck suddenly elongate and shoot upward, his head attached to his body only by a long centipede-like tendril.

“Ah…!”

Instinctively, even more screams erupted from the crowd. Countless people shoved one another as they fled, until only the dignitary and his bodyguard remained in the street.

“At last, I can be free,” the dignitary moaned with feeling. His twisted neck turned toward the bodyguard. “Bring me our ‘friend.’”

The bodyguard silently lifted a silver briefcase and opened it, revealing a writhing mass of bright silver liquid inside.

With a bang, the dignitary’s head exploded. A nerve-like black shadow shot out from within, flew straight into the silver fluid, and fused with it in an instant, after which the violent transformation began anew.

Splurt, splurt!

As though the scene in space were being replayed on a smaller scale, tumors of flesh and blood-filled blisters burst across the surface. The briefcase turned into a lump of bright silver “metallic flesh-tumor,” then rapidly condensed back into human form, stronger and more vigorous than the dignitary’s original body.

“So this is the Sacred Weapon Clan… the new vessel for souls in the new age?”

The metallic silver figure opened its eyes. Mysterious Dao-patterns emerged across its surface, and at once its body took on skin-tone and clothing like optical camouflage.

“The fusion of demonic power, divine abilities, and technology.”

A wicked smile spread across its face as it lifted its eyes eastward.

“No wonder that one was willing to place such a heavy bet.”

Scenes like this were unfolding everywhere in the world.

Some, like the dignitary, had their skulls explode as hidden Spirit-Vein Demons slipped out and directly took possession of the Sacred Weapon Clan’s newly born bodies.

Some approached the craters, dug bright silver fragments out of the soil, and swallowed them in mad frenzy, only to begin their own spluttering mutation and evolution.

Still others were struck through by the silver-shard rain scattered when the giant sword-blades fell, and began mutating in a half-dazed state.

In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of metallic silver people had appeared across the earth.

They were enormously strong, impervious to blades and bullets, and capable of transforming their bodies into any shape of equivalent mass. They advanced without fear under the bombardment of defending armies, seizing streets and cities anew while driving groups of refugees toward the craters and forcing silver shards down their throats.

The number of silver people was rising every second. But the most fatal victims were cultivators who were being forced to accept this transformation passively.

“What exactly is happening down there?”

Inside a flying vessel headed out toward the void, hundreds upon hundreds of Void People cultivators stared down at the earth in dumbstruck confusion, questioning one another and talking among themselves as they tried to figure out what was happening below.

They were all people who had withdrawn from the three major divisions not long ago, each convinced that the fruits of the tribulation struggle had nothing to do with them. Their plan had been to obediently leave the main world, return to the outer void to preserve their lives, and only later judge whether they should attempt a return.

Then suddenly—

A cultivator standing in the corner underwent a dramatic change in expression. The left hand that had been resting on his sword-hilt suddenly seized the blade and flung outward, as though compelled to let the motion of his natal weapon carry through. In one stroke, it cut off his own head!

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“Liu Wu? What are you—”

The surrounding cultivators all changed color and scattered in a rush, only to see that even after losing his head, “Liu Wu” did not die. His body swayed twice, then thrust again—driving the blade deep into the severed opening of his neck and straight through his spine!

How could this be?!

Everyone was horrified beyond words.

Liu Wu was not within the Venerable ranks. If his head came off, he should have died!

Splurt, splurt!

The mutation spread rapidly across Liu Wu’s body, but this time it was different. Bright silver egg-like blisters burst out through his flesh, and the two substances quickly began overlapping and merging. In the span of a few breaths, they reshaped him into a metallic silver man, standing there with a dull expression.

“I… what am I…?”

Before the newborn “Liu Wu” could make sense of his state, the same shocking transformation began erupting throughout the entire vessel.

Every sacred weapon that had been forged by certain channels using the demon-weapon method began to mutate. Some directly drove their owners into self-mutilation and fusion. Others, like the Seven-Meridian Demon Dragon Spear, turned into bloody sludge and devoured their masters whole. The vessel immediately lost control amid the chaos and came crashing down to earth, gouging out a long gash beside an embankment.

“So it’s begun.”

Great Yu, Nine Provinces, northwestern desert.

In the deepest reaches of the yellow-sand barrier, Xue Fang and the oily-faced man stood before a structure built of huge stones.

The exterior had been worn smooth and rounded by years of wind and sand, but the cavern within still bore obvious traces of carving. Looking closely, one could vaguely make out Dao-patterns and murals, clearly marking it as an ancient ruin.

“And at a time like this…”

“Well, forget it.”

“Once Blood Heaven descends, there’ll be plenty of time.”

“What we’ve gained so far is enough.”

Xue Fang raised an arm and let it collapse into a mass of silver liquid. It splashed across the wall, taking a perfect rubbing of every carving into memory, and he then drew it back into himself at once.

After giving the oily-faced man an order, the two of them sprinted out. Their speed increased faster and faster… until at last they became two afterimages, rebounding from the sand with booming impacts and streaking east across the sky.

…

At the same time, inside the vast and sprawling “eye of the storm,” which was the arena encircled at the center, Chang Hongyuan had just been about to return to the aircraft and discuss with Gu Xi whether they ought to depart now, when he suddenly heard an angry shout from the front right.

“Ungrateful disciple! What are you doing?!”

He turned at once.

It was Daoist Luo Ying.

Luo Ying’s face was full of shock and fury, yet a strong, slender arm had pierced straight through his chest. His aged body was hanging in midair, swaying feebly like a hanged ghost.

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And the one who had attacked him was none other than Yang Chen, Dao Child of Qianyuan Sect and Luo Ying’s most beloved first disciple!

Yang Chen?

What was he trying to do?

At a moment like this… betray his sect and murder his master?

Chang Hongyuan and the others all stared wide-eyed in disbelief, only to realize that Yang Chen was not the only one causing trouble.

Several steel beasts had originally been parked across the broad arena. With Yang Chen’s sudden eruption, it was as if some invisible switch had been flipped. One after another, the aircraft hurled out numerous bright silver metal boxes, each one flying toward the people who had remained behind in the arena.

Yan Yaoluo of Haixin Sect… Meng Yan of Dameng Dao… Chan Master Lingku of Mingyuan Temple… and Shen Chongyang of Qinglan Immortal Sect!

What was going on?

Chang Hongyuan stared in utter bewilderment.

These Venerable Lord-level figures had not gone up? They had stayed behind just like I did?

Before he could sort through his tangled thoughts, the contestants who had remained below—besides the four Venerable Lords he had just named, there were also representatives from four Dao alliances, bringing the total to more than ten people, a clear majority of the sixteen qualifiers—each caught a metal box and pulled a handle to unfold it.

Click, click!

As though some hidden mechanism had been triggered, the silver boxes flipped and extended. The material inside turned into flowing liquid metal as it leapt outward, briefly forming overlapping skeletal outlines from multiple angles and layers in midair, only to curl violently inward and turn into weapons—swords, sabers, spears, bows… eight weapons of different kinds.

What in the world is this—

The moment Chang Hongyuan saw Chan Master Lingku catch a bright silver spear and narrow his eyes at him, instinct made him shift his footing and flash aside. In the next instant, a streak of silver light smashed into the aircraft behind him, blowing apart its rotors and fuselage in a single sweeping strike.

“Why is the Master attacking us?”

Seeing that Gu Xi had escaped at the last moment without injury, Chang Hongyuan felt a flicker of relief even as he retreated and shouted in anger.

He did not understand who these people really were, much less why he had suddenly become one of their targets.

“Didn’t your master tell you?” Chan Master Lingku continued pressing toward him with the spear in hand.

“This is the order of the Transmission Great Saint.”

“From this day onward, Dao-Void Methods and sacred weapon methods will merge, giving birth to a completely new lifeform—the Sacred Weapon Clan.”

So this is connected to those Sacred Court decrees from some time ago?

Chang Hongyuan was no fool. He understood in an instant that there had definitely been divisions within Demon Court over this as well.

But judging by the upheaval now before them, it was obvious that Pang Tiandao, the Transmission Venerable Saint, had dictated the final course!

“What ‘Sacred Weapon Clan’? This is Blood Soul Heaven’s thing! This is the demon-weapon path!”

Chang Hongyuan tried to reason with him between evasive maneuvers.

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He was truly shaken to the core.

If matters inside the arena were already like this, then it was not hard to imagine what the Void People sects and Void People cultivators outside must be suffering now.

A scheme, a conspiracy, of such terrifying scale—once unleashed, it would leave its victims no chance to struggle. The outside world was most likely already doomed!

“Blood Soul Heaven is nothing but the Great Saint’s chess piece.” Chan Master Lingku stabbed his spear in a frenzy and still had room to retort. “I knew you wouldn’t agree… no matter. Let the primary order serve as witness—witness the extinction of the old laws and the rise of the new dynasty!”

These people were mad!

Chang Hongyuan struggled desperately while forcing part of his attention elsewhere. He discovered that besides himself, Gu Xi, Meng Qiaosheng… even the woman in the green dress who had come with Bai Xiang were all being besieged by powerful enemies wielding demon-weapons.

Those weapons were not easy to handle.

Every single one of them was astonishingly tough, astonishingly heavy, and worst of all, they could alter themselves of their own accord in the midst of thrusts and strikes, as though they were alive and active in their own right. Ordinary methods of breaking and countering blows were useless against them.

At a time like this, rules or no rules probably no longer mattered.

But Zhu Qingluo saw more clearly than Chang Hongyuan did. She had no intention of staying there and exhausting herself against a crowd of enemies, because she had another goal altogether—she had to find her true original body and ask why she had supported Pang Tiandao and betrayed the wish she herself had once held.

So she merely sent out a few streaks of blue light to hinder them briefly. In the next moment, just like Bai Xiang and the sword-bearing man, she shot up from the ground and darted swiftly into the vortex, leaving only a delayed mirage-shadow cast among the clouds behind her.

At this moment.

At this very instant.

Bai Xiang stood upon a vast sea of clouds, unable for the moment to tell which of the Thirty-Three Heavens Sea’s gates this place belonged to.

“This realm is called the Wandering Cloud Sea.”

Along with that steady male voice, the sword-bearing man emerged from the clouds behind her.

“‘Clouds drifting for ten thousand miles, boundless and insubstantial.’ Many wondrous creatures live within these mists, and the laws here are not quite the same as those outside.”

Bai Xiang did not turn around. Her eyes remained fixed straight ahead.

“You are the one ranked first on the Venerables List.”

“Immortal Venerable Canglan, Yue Canglan.”

The man nodded. “I am.”

He slowly drew from his back a sword that looked crude, wrapped only in vine and leaves, and holding it upside down, cupped his hands toward Bai Xiang.

“I, Yue, began martial practice at the age of three and trained the sword at four. From the moment I first touched a sword, I knew this would be the only path I would walk in this life.”

“I have heard that Venerable Lord Bai’s swordsmanship reaches heaven.”

“I dare to block your path.”

“Please grant me your instruction.”