Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

That saber had numerous lines of divine runes on it. As the old man slashed it down, over half those divine runes lit up.

“Split the Heavens 7!”

A huge saber-image soared into the sky, shaking the cosmos. The river of stars in the sky was cut and seemed to crash down with the saber-image. Long Chen’s heart pounded as he watched this saber-image fall. He sensed a similar will to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art within that blade. It was also ferocious, a domineering will that wished to tear through the heavens.

BOOM!

The old man’s saber landed squarely on the palace master’s Daynight Cauldron. A blinding light exploded along with divine energy.

Fortunately, the two of them collided up in the air, and everyone else immediately fled. If they were struck by those divine energy shockwaves, they would have immediately died.

The Daynight Furnace was blown back, and the palace master coughed up three mouthfuls of blood. With disbelief, he cried, “You’ve taken the next step and reached half-step Netherpassage?!”

All the Life Star experts’ hearts shook. They looked at the old man in shock.

Netherpassage. It was the realm after the Life Star realm. It was the most terrifying realm within the cultivation world.

The reason it was terrifying was because it required one to comprehend the profundities of life and death, which allowed them to open the gate to the Netherworld.

To reach the necessary level of comprehension was incredibly difficult. It was like a bottomless chasm in front of all peak Life Star experts. It was something they could not cross.

For Soul Transformation experts, there was normally a thirty percent chance that they could reach the Life Star realm if given enough time and resources. After reaching the Xiantian realm, going from Soul Transformation to Life Star was actually the step with the highest chances of advancing. 

It was much easier than advancing to Sea Expansion, Foundation forging, or Jade Core. The difficulty in reaching the Life Star realm lay in obtaining enough resources and having patience.

The Life Star realm required condensing the Life Star with the Yuan Spirit as a foundation. That was what made it require so much time. You had to cultivate the Yuan Spirit, and the stronger it grew, the greater your chances of success.

However, because people’s talent and resources were limited, many people who managed to reach Soul Transformation before the age of fifty would need to stay at the Soul Transformation realm for centuries or even longer in order to accumulate the required energy to advance.

There was only one chance to advance to the Life Star realm. If a Soul Transformation expert failed to make the advancement, they would never be able to break through naturally again. As a result, there were many Soul Transformation experts who either didn’t dare to make the advancement or failed their advancement due to impatience.

On the other hand, the Netherpassage realm was different. What was tested wasn’t one’s resources or talent. What was important was their comprehension of the Heavenly Daos.

Comprehending the profundities of life and death sounded simple. A Netherpassage expert could simply transmit their comprehension to their descendants, couldn’t they?

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. No Netherpassage expert would pass on their comprehension to their descendants. If they did that, they would lose those descendants.

The reason was that in the Netherpassage realm, each person’s comprehension of life and death would be different. The cultivation world had such a saying: there were as many Daos as there were cultivators. Each person’s Dao was unique.

Each person cultivated differently. Each person’s personality was different. Each person went through different experiences. This resulted in different understandings of the Heavenly Daos. In the end, each person’s view of life and death was also different.

That was why there was no way to rely on external power to charge into the Netherpassage realm. You could only rely on yourself. You had to find that spark of enlightenment, and that wasn’t something that could be forced.

It was unknown just how many amazing geniuses had had their paths severed by the merciless wall which was the Netherpassage realm.

To comprehend the mysteries of life and death was far too difficult. This place had gathered over a hundred thousand Life Star experts. Of course, after Long Chen and Liu Ruyan’s attacks, they had been cut down to under a hundred thousand.

However, despite that, despite there being around ten thousand of them that had reached the late Life Star realm, hardly any of them had reached the peak of the Life Star realm like the palace master or the Corrupt elder. They numbered in the dozens.

Each of those people was a monster that had lived for who knew how many years. They had already grown numb to their own age. Each day that passed was another day of their longevity gone. They had lost hope of ever advancing to Netherpassage.

Less than one in ten thousand Life Star experts would advance to Netherpassage. It was a completely monstrous proportion.

As for the old man, he had yet to truly reach Netherpassage. He had only taken the first step, which was to achieve his own understanding of life and death.

To truly advance, there was another requirement. This requirement was even more monstrous. He had to ‘die’ once.

Only by dying and being reborn could one enter Netherpassage. If you died and weren’t reborn, then you would truly be dead. The chances of dying on this step were very high.

As for the details regarding this, only Netherpassage experts knew them, and they were secrets that were not transmitted. So in the outside world, the Netherpassage realm was an unattainable dream.

However, in that attack just now, there had not just been a will to cut through the heavens, but also an element of life and death.

Such an element was something only a few experts who had long since reached the peak of Life Star could sense. That was why the palace master was absolutely shocked.

To have taken that step, although the old man was just half-step Netherpassage, his height had already far surpassed the palace master’s.

Even though he had the Daynight Furnace, the Heaven Splitting Blade was also an extremely powerful existence. With the old man and his half-step Netherpassage cultivation base in control of it, there was no way for the palace master to defeat it.

“It’s a good thing too. Then can we put this farce to an end?” The old man smiled slightly as he looked at the Heaven Splitting Blade.

The only reason why he had managed to reach this level of comprehension into life and death was because of Long Chen. If Long Chen hadn’t given him the High Priest’s wine, he might have been stuck at the peak of the Life Star realm for the rest of his life.

To be safe, the old man had even brought the sect’s core divine item, the Heaven Splitting Blade. It was also to intimidate everyone.

Originally, the Heaven Splitting Blade could not have been used like this. It was the only thing maintaining the sect’s karmic luck, and it was connected to their divine pool. Without it, their divine pool would wither.

Fortunately, Long Chen had managed to bring back the nine forms of Split the Heavens from Devil Spirit Mountain. With the complete form of Split the Heavens, the divine spring was revived and was accumulating more energy. It was now possible to use the Heaven Splitting Blade to fight without causing the sect’s destruction. However, it was only once they arrived that the old man realized he really had been right to bring it.

If he hadn’t brought the Heaven Splitting Blade, then even though he had reached half-step Netherpassage, he wouldn’t have any advantage against the Daynight Furnace.

The palace master’s expression grew extremely ugly. He had never expected a half-step Netherpassage expert to arrive. The old man’s spiritual yuan and the power of his Yuan Spirit had both far surpassed his.

Although he had the Daynight Furnace, due to his cultivation base, he couldn’t bring out its full power. Could it be that this battle was about to end just like this?

Pill Valley had made such a giant move, drawing over all the Eastern Xuan Region’s forces. If they had to leave just like this, what about their dignity, their reputation? How would they explain themselves to the sects that had lost all their disciples?

This Dragon Slaughtering Convention had been held with tens of thousands of disciples standing on Pill Valley’s side. Now less than a thousand of them remained.

As for Life Star experts, tens of thousands of them had been killed.  This was the most calamitous internal battle in all the Eastern Xuan Region’s history. If such a terrifying battle ended in their defeat, Pill Valley and those sects would become this world’s laughingstocks.

Thinking of this, the palace master’s expression sank. He clenched his teeth and crushed a jade tablet.

Space shook, and a figure condensed in the air. When that figure appeared, the palace master and all of Pill Valley’s experts bowed respectfully.

“Greetings, valley master.”

That person in the air looked to be in his thirties. He had shoulder-length hair, and his facial features were clear enough to show a dignified face that did not lose out in handsomeness.

Just by standing there, an air of immortal qi and primal chaos circulated around him. He was like a god, someone that people didn’t dare to look at. He was Pill Valley’s master, Yu Xiaoyun.

Yu Xiaoyun’s expression was dark. In fact, people could even sense killing intent.

“Didn’t I tell you not to disturb me unless Pill Valley was about to be destroyed?!” shouted Yu Xiaoyun.

The palace master quivered in fear. In all his years in Pill Valley, this was his first time seeing Yu Xiaoyun so furious. It seemed he had disturbed Yu Xiaoyun in the middle of a critical juncture of his seclusion.

The palace master didn’t even dare to speak, causing Yu Xiaoyun’s fury to rise even higher. He had already reached a crucial moment, and this disturbance ruined months of his work. He even had an urge to kill the palace master.

However, when he looked around, his expression softened. When he saw the old man holding the Heaven Splitting Blade, he seemed to understand.

“The Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s Heaven Splitting Blade is actually being used? And you’ve advanced to half-step Netherpassage? It seems your Heaven Splitting Battle Sect is starting to revive. But whether or not you’re reviving, you shouldn’t be so arrogant as to become enemies with the world. If you don’t give me a reason, don’t blame me for being merciless and exterminating your Heaven Splitting Battle Sect.”

Yu Xiaoyun stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring coldly at the old man and the others. Although they couldn’t sense his aura, everyone felt like their lives were in his hands, as if he could annihilate them with just a thought. That was a kind of power that caused despair.

The old man snorted and was about to return when Long Chen flew over. Standing beside the old man, he sneered, “Valley master, where did your Pill Valley learn to act like upholders of justice and the saviors of the world? Becoming enemies with the world? Can your Pill Valley represent the world? Are you saying that you, the valley master, can control everything that happens in the world?”

Yu Xiaoyun did not express any anger at Long Chen’s mocking. He indifferently shook his head. “The world is not one person’s. It can be thought of as the will of the people, as well as the will of the heavens. No matter how high a person’s cultivation base is, going against either one of those signifies death, while you, Long Chen, have gone against both. Everyone in the world has a duty to make sure you are killed as soon as possible. In order to remove evil from this world, even if we have to use a few unsightly methods, as long as the goal is for the world’s continuation, even if we have to bear the name of sinners, so what?”

“How hypocritical. Before, I thought you had some dignity, but now I find you’re a hypocrite just like the rest. People like you are the most sickening,” sneered Long Chen.

These words caused all the experts to quiver. Even for some of the old monsters, this was their first time ever seeing someone who dared to curse Pill Valley’s master right in the face. Long Chen’s guts were truly big.

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