Calamity of Tomorrow

Accompanied by Xiao Hun's nearly self-destructive actions, the twelve divine generals appeared to lose control in an instant, freezing on the spot.

Not far away, Wang Shouxuan witnessed Xiao Hun harming himself and then crawling towards Gu Lan, and was instantly shocked. What was this maneuver? Had Heaven developed a new Twilight Taoist Skill?

"Or could it be Gu Lan's aberrant power?" Wang Shouxuan looked at Gu Lan with caution, and the thought of Xiao Hun's terrible condition still made him shiver.

Although Xiao Hun had once sparred with Wang Shouxuan and even tried to coerce him into exploring this space together,

Faced with an aberrant enemy of humanity, one so heartlessly vicious and eerily powerful, Wang Shouxuan nevertheless took action.

He saw Wang Shouxuan's Nine Heavens Thunder Shadow Sword bring about thousands of lightning flares as he gripped it in his hand.

With the sword in hand, Wang Shouxuan's aura climbed incessantly. Blades of dazzling lightning danced and transferred around him, and the air seemed to carry the stench of melting metal at high temperatures.

"Wang Shouxuan is making a move?" Zhou Bai was slightly startled, hesitating for a moment whether to confront Wang Shouxuan or reveal his identity to the other.

The next moment, the Nine Heavens Thunder Shadow Sword had already slashed towards Gu Lan, trailing light and shadow.

Beneath this one sword stroke, the sword's lightning-flare silhouette tore through the space, like a white horizontal cut splitting the air right before him.

The entire hall seemed to be cleaved into two; the air, walls, and roof were split in an instant. Zhou Bai felt as if even the space was divided into left and right, and his Primordial Spirit experienced a sensation akin to being severed in two.

Zhou Bai realized this was an illusion brought on by an intense Sword Intent, but even from this fleeting illusion, he understood how swift and ruthless Wang Shouxuan's stroke was and how terrifying the Sword Intent it concentrated was.

Under this sword strike, a massive burst of blood exploded from Gu Lan's body.

Meanwhile, Xiao Hun also gradually regained his thinking ability. The 12 divine generals were operational again, unleashing destructive Taoist arts towards Gu Lan—or rather, towards the Banishing Immortal Sword in an attempt to seize it.

After a chaotic three-way battle, the entire palace was obliterated in moments, with hundreds of thousands of tons of bricks and pillars thrust into the sky, turning into a cloud of dust spreading miles around.

In this chaotic battle, Gu Lan's injuries worsened, as chunks of flesh fell to the ground, slowly vanishing as if being consumed by an invisible entity.

Bathed in the black light, the ethereal ascetic appeared increasingly solid, as if morphing from an illusion into a real person.

Her garments gradually shifted from bloodstained to a pristine white, seeming to revert to the celestial, long-haired female cultivator from 50 years ago.

"50 years of pain, 50 years of hatred, 50 years of solitude…"

"Am I finally going to be liberated?"

Just as a glimmer of hope flashed in the ethereal ascetic's eyes and she felt her condition improving, a scream escaped her lips.

"It hurts!"

"It hurts so much!"

Her stomach suddenly started to convulse as the tip of a blade inch by inch pierced through, tearing her skin to expose itself to the air.

The blade seemed to be composed of countless human body parts, with numerous blood vessels and sinews constantly twisting and expanding.

These vessels, centered around the ethereal ascetic's stomach, spread throughout her body, seemingly using her body as nourishment to grow.

Suddenly, the body of the sword trembled, and a huge eye opened upon it, emitting a strange, bloody light.

...

At the same time, high above the canyon, ten thousand meters up in the clouds.

A voice, accompanied by a strong intent, slowly swept through the atmosphere, "Blood Transformation Divine Sword, this time it is actually him."

Another thought enveloped a thousand-meter radius of the clouds like a hurricane, causing the sea of clouds to churn wildly.

"Ling Miao Superior has endured fifty years of agony, plus her original Primordial Spirit's power, along with the bloodline from her and those sinners, arranged by the Pseudo Divine Ritual.

Fifty years of accumulation, pain isn't just simply pain anymore; it has merged with resentment and despair, and with the aid of the ritual, these intangible emotions have transformed into substantial power, becoming the fuel to trigger the Blood Transformation Divine Sword."

"Unfortunately, a hundred years ago, the ritual hosted by Yun He wasn't successful. Waiting for fifty years caused her mind to nearly crumble, unable to complete the final ritual."

"But her granddaughter did very well. This time we extracted her sanity separately, using hatred as the driving force, allowing her rationality to persist until now. It is a good scheme that I think can be expanded on a large scale."

"There are still too many people; it seems that not so many are needed for the ritual to succeed in the end."

"No choice, we had to prepare materials based on the maximum demand before the experiment; having extras is normal, and adjustments can be made later."

"Reality will prove our theory, hatred is the best way to bear pain and despair."

...

At the same time, seeing this series of shocking changes, Zhou Bai and Wang Shouxuan both stopped their actions, and even Xiao Hun finally reached the end of his dire ordeal, stopping to heal himself. Though he was in great pain and badly injured, with the foundation of a seventh realm cultivator, he soon recovered his combat ability.

'What happened?' Zhou Bai thought to himself, 'Gu Lan isn't dead yet, can this ritual still continue? Or was it not necessary for everyone to die from the start?'

Just as Zhou Bai felt puzzled and uncertain about what had transpired, Ling Miao Superior suddenly opened her mouth and let out a sharp scream.

An invisible sound wave spread out in all directions from her body, within a thousand meters, everything it passed—walls, earth, palaces, streets—all shattered into pieces, as if everything had turned into dust in the air.

Faced with this earth-shattering roar, Xiao Hun, Wang Shouxuan, and others quickly retreated.

However, the severely injured Gu Lan remained motionless, staring in the direction of Ling Miao Superior, letting the sound waves hit his body, instantly ripping apart countless pieces of flesh.

'Get back, you idiot! Lend me your fur!' Zhou Bai, while maneuvering his flying sword to retreat, yelled at Gu Lan.

But Gu Lan paid no attention, instead letting his body continue to be heavily injured and disintegrated by the sound waves, trying to walk toward Ling Miao Superior. Finally, under the influence of the dire ordeal, he slightly turned, though his body was rapidly crumbling away, in the last moment, he seemed to throw himself in the direction where Ling Miao Superior was.

Zhou Bai sighed, maneuvering the flying sword to quickly retreat.

With Gu Lan's death, the eye on the body of the Blood Transformation Divine Sword grew more eerie and blood-red.

Ling Miao Superior howled, her body streaked with bloodlight as she sprinted forward, slashing at Xiao Hun with the sword.

Xiao Hun's expression changed, controlling the twelve celestial generals to counterattack, only to see the bloody sword energy successively shatter the Thousand-mile Ice Seal, One Breath Capture, Soul Chasing Demise Arrow, and other seven Taoist skills before it slowly dissipated.

Then Ling Miao Superior raised her hand, slashing down with another sword strike.

Xiao Hun changed color, saying, "Wang Shouxuan! The Sword of Slaying Immortals! If you don't want to die, join me in killing this mutant."