Chapter 285: What a Grand Banquet!
Chapter 285: What a Grand Banquet!
Everflowing Water plummeted!
The descent of a Fruit Position—how terrifying? Almost instantaneously, all cultivators across the realm who practiced Everflowing Water felt a suffocating pressure.
Above the Foundation Building Realm, the bitter sea roiled. A group of Foundation Building True Men gazed upward, witnessing a faintly glowing arc of dazzling white light. This light, crescent-shaped and veiled in mist, radiated an overwhelming aura of boundless divinity, its form indistinct yet brimming with the essence of divine power.
"Failure", Lv Yang murmured, shaking his head. This was clearly not the omen of a successful ascension, though Suo Huan had staked his last hope on rushing the Fruit Position.
Alas, he had fallen short.
Soon, Lv Yang spotted Suo Huan within the arc of light. His expression was blank, as if stunned by something unimaginable.
In a heartbeat, the celestial cultivator erupted into wild laughter—shrill, frenzied. His once-steady aura turned violently turbulent. His jet-black eyes flushed with blood-red, and his voice tore through the air in a hysterical roar:
"Such arrogance! Such audacity!"
"Why must you treat me this way? My Huan Xu Realm, me—Suo Huan! Haha! Suo Huan! Suo Huan! What a fitting title indeed!"
"Come out, you cowards!"
"I know you're watching!"
As he roared, three colossal Golden Core Dharma Bodies materialized around the slowly descending Everflowing Water, spanning heaven and earth.
Suo Huan instantly recognized these three Golden Core Sovereigns—the very ones who had orchestrated the Dao Contention War that obliterated the Huan Xu Realm. For a moment, his laughter grew more bitter. He had once believed his escape was thanks to Jie Tian's aid, but now it seemed otherwise!
"Gentlemen, the final course is served."
The True Monarchs' voices carried amusement, echoing in a realm imperceptible to ordinary True Men:
"Amituofo... Compassion incarnate. How rewarding that we spared this life back then. Today, his karmic debt is finally fulfilled. Let us guide this fortune to its rightful place."
"His golden essence is mine."
"Holy Sect, stand down! We divide as agreed. Break ranks, and this feast vanishes for all."
"Tch."
The three Sovereigns took their positions, their vast divine consciousnesses conversing. They had long settled their "distribution plan", and now they moved to seize Suo Huan.
"Pure Land funded my fortune—thus, my fortune returns to Pure Land upon failure. Dao Court bolstered my cultivation, allowing me to forge my golden essence—my essence goes to Dao Court in death. As for Holy Sect... they sought to destabilize Everflowing Water, perhaps even to absorb it?"
A feast of gluttony.
He was the main dish. Pure Land, Dao Court, and Holy Sect—the diners. Realizing this, Suo Huan’s laughter gradually faded.
He had suspected this all along.
From the moment he accepted their patronage, he had anticipated failure. Thus, this tripartite betrayal was no surprise.
What truly shattered him lay elsewhere.
The next second, Suo Huan swept his gaze across the three Sovereigns and chuckled: "Sir, after all these years of scheming... what are you waiting for?"
Boom!
As if answering his call, a monstrous surge of energy erupted from the Four Seas Sect, near the Dragon Palace!
"Hmm?!"
Below, the Foundation Building True Men turned in unison. Even the three Sovereigns above, mid-claiming Suo Huan, wore expressions of shock:
"An ascension omen?!"
"Tian Qiu? No—he was slain by Suo Huan! Without a body, how can his soul ascend? What Fruit Position exists without a physical form?!"
In moments, the three Sovereigns pieced it together. Simultaneously, the Dragon Palace gate of the Four Seas Sect swung open, spewing forth a tide of deathly energy. At its heart loomed a blurred dragon silhouette, slowly prying open a portal.
The Underworld!
What Fruit Position defied the need for flesh? None but the Underworld, master of reincarnation and endless cycles. The living rarely entered its domain—only souls could traverse its gates!
Yet here stood Tian Qiu, attempting to open its door!
"What does he intend?"
"Ascending while opening the Underworld... It’s Ang Xiao! He’ll drag a Fruit Position into the Underworld. Suo Huan was but a decoy?!"
"Tian Qiu is the true target!"
At that moment, the three Sovereigns watched as Tian Qiu's power surged. A star blazed in the heavens—a Water Element Fruit Position: Celestial River Water. This position bore the title, "When fire reigns supreme, water descends from the heavens to quench its blaze—only the celestial river flows thus."
Among water elements, this was the pinnacle!
This shift jolted the Sovereigns into action. They struck as one toward Tian Qiu, but a mighty dragon form intercepted them.
Four Seas Sect—Dragon Sovereign!
Once a celestial noble, a Golden Core Middle Stage cultivator whose Cave Heaven remained unbroken. His existence dated back to the founding of the Four Sects.
How much power lay in such a past?
Put plainly, he had met the Dao Lord himself!
The current Dao Lord remained unseen, and even most Golden Core Sovereigns had never laid eyes on him—or her. But Dragon Sovereign had.
Though suppressed by rivals for centuries, never advancing to Late Foundation Building, this did not signify weakness.
Now, Dragon Sovereign lunged, his colossal dragon form rising like an endless wall between the Sovereigns and Tian Qiu, cleaving heaven and earth. Across the Overseas Dominion, the sea answered his call. Another Fruit Position star flared in the heavens:
Great Sea Water!
Once, the True Dragon Clan ruled rivers and seas. Of the six water-element Fruit Positions, four had been theirs. Great Sea Water had once been the supreme sovereign of waters.
But after the celestial upheaval, the True Dragon’s reign crumbled.
Great Sea Water fell from glory, supplanted by Celestial River Water. Other positions were lost as well, leaving only one Dragon Sovereign.
A grudge steeped in blood!
"One last gamble!"
Dragon Sovereign knew the Four Sects’ Dao Lords would not intervene. With his Golden Core Middle Stage cultivation and Ang Xiao's aid, he dared to seize a chance.
Then—
As Tian Qiu flung open the Underworld portal, a lone, upright figure emerged from the tidal death energy.
His silhouette was unmistakably male, yet his face was shrouded in mist, obscuring his features. Unlike other denizens of the Underworld, he bore a physical body—though his qi was dormant, the solidity of his stance defied any mere soul.
"What a grand banquet", he murmured, smiling. His voice boomed, indeterminate in age or gender: "Why not let me share in the feast?"
Ang Xiao, the Veil-Sun True Monarch!
Before long, the world’s True Monarchs felt his presence once more.
In an instant, countless Sovereigns turned their gazes, seeking to pierce the misted veil of Underworld’s portal—and the enigmatic face of this new Monarch.
(End of Chapter)
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