Chapter 507 |
Four months later, Laura True Spirit returned to the fleet, and not far behind her the Primordial Demons, dragging the Demon Realm with them, were approaching the outskirts of the Immortal Realm.
At the location of Daoyuan Heavenly Sovereign’s sect in the Immortal Realm, a beam of light shot into the sky and pierced the horizon. The void twirled around the point where the beam struck; vast energies rose from the Immortal Realm and merged into that nexus. Immortals belonging to Daoyuan’s sect and the other five Heavenly Sovereigns poured out like a full muster, using the Immortal Realm itself as the pattern for carving out the formation.
On that day every immortal in the fleet — including Congzhen — applied to return to the Immortal Realm. The mages readily agreed and entered their final preparations.
Laura’s arrival added another layer of assurance for the mages. After learning of the earlier talk with the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign and the commitments the mages had made, she cast Rebirth on the entire mage contingent, granting each person one chance to resurrect on the spot. She and the other True Spirit Mages were certain that even if Daoyuan harbored ill intent toward the mages, he would have only one opportunity to strike; if they could survive that blow, Daoyuan would no longer be a serious threat.
Over the next two months the enormous, intricate formation extended all the way to the edge of the Zhou Tian Star Array. The immortals laying out the formation ignored the mages waiting at the array’s exits and showed no sign of reticence; beneath their silence they were excited, perhaps uncertain what future Daoyuan had promised them.
After receiving the Zhou Tian Star Array’s secrets left by the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign, the mages quickly gained a certain understanding of Immortal Dao formations. They saw the new formation’s roles were energy aggregation and energy diversion — twelve major nodes and countless minor nodes.
Two months later, six Primordial Demons appeared openly outside the Immortal Realm. Each stood eighty thousand kilometers tall, a world unto itself; countless powerful fiends swarmed across their bodies in and out, yet none drew near the mage fleet.
Their arrival caused an uproar. These were enemies etched into immortal bloodlines — the most powerful foes since antiquity. Immortals outside the six sects, after a brief panic, all requested to fight, but were refused and restrained by the six Heavenly Sovereigns.
In frustration some headed toward the Primordial Immortal Hall, others to the Wanxiang Sect, but it was all in vain: no Heavenly Sovereign responded to calls for battle. They could only watch as the six demons walked into the Zhou Tian Star Array and halted at a distance that had never before been reached. Their demonic spawn and descendants easily penetrated into the Immortal Realm.
Aboard the Gate of Truth, Adam asked Aisha and Wendy, “Those demons — are they continuations of the Primordial Demons’ own wills?”
Aisha answered, “Laura True Spirit’s initial judgment had a gap. She later discovered that true demons are only the Primordial ones; the rest are formed from the Primordials’ thoughts. Only after devouring all life energy and souls can they be transformed into puppets with a degree of self-awareness.”
“So they can form a head?”
Aisha nodded. “If the energy is sufficient and there is an original Super-Void Lifeform body as the core, they can indeed form a head.”
“Daoyuan is going to resurrect a True Demon?”
“Exactly. Daoyuan intends to revive a True Demon.” Wanxiang Heavenly Sovereign herself answered Adam’s question. She came alone to the fleet, her whole presence exuding the exhaustion of death — it was hard to imagine she was a ninth-tier life. “He plans to use a True Demon’s body to take on the tribulation for him. After the demon endures the celestial tribulation, Daoyuan will be able to ascend unscathed.”
“‘The way lies within oneself, not borrowed from outside’… ‘cut out the external and merge with the Dao’ — ha! All lies!” Wanxiang sneered, pointing ahead. “When that demonic shadow solidifies, the True Demon body inside the Demon Suppression Abyss will burst out and fuse with it. Daoyuan’s six, the six Primordial Demons, and billions of immortals will all provide the energy needed for the True Demon’s resurrection.”
Wanxiang’s purpose in coming was to inform the mages that the ascension would begin in three days. The fleet was now restarting and slowly moving toward the Immortal Realm, its path laid entirely along the Zhou Tian Star Array’s live gate.
The surrounding void had been divided into countless small blocks by the two formations. A person with a poor sense of spatial orientation who wandered into them might never find a way out in their lifetime.
Wanxiang did not say more. She had actually intended to ask the True Spirit Mages to execute Daoyuan, offering the Wanxiang Sect’s complete entry into the Mage World as payment. In the end she did not voice that out: firstly, although she was a ninth-tier life, she still did not have enough leverage to call upon nine True Spirits; secondly, she could not go against the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign’s command.
Everyone nursed their own thoughts and the conversation ceased. A few hours later Wanxiang vanished. Just then the fleet struck a visible barrier and truly entered the region directly radiated by the Immortal Realm. They no longer relied on long-distance sight magic or starship radar — with the naked eye they could clearly see everything in the Immortal Realm.
The fleet halted there. They would not advance further; they would merely observe. Getting closer would only hand someone leverage.
The void was thick with both Immortal qi and True Demon demonic qi. They came from the same source yet opposed one another. Under the interference of overpowering wills they transformed into mindless energy-beings and slaughtered each other. When one side died, the other devoured it and turned it into a strange intermediate energy.
The six sects brought forth their deepest reserves; countless immortals flew out en masse, entering their respective energy nodes. Immortal light spread for tens of millions of li. The Desire Realm shattered as a whole and became exits of the Demon Suppression Abyss; endless demonic qi poured out.
The remaining planes of the Immortal civilization cracked open and portals yawned behind them. Endless high-grade demons emerged — oddly, they did not immediately show a wish to destroy; instead they walked resolutely into the nodes that belonged to them.
At this moment the only intact place was Da Luo Heaven, like a brilliant pearl set at the center of this strange disc.
The True Spirit Mages took up their positions. Nehem activated the Dark-Realm algorithm, placing the fleet at the junction of the Void and the Dark Realm.
The pillar of light suddenly flared. White flames shot to its apex and then rained down like drops, pouring into each energy node. The beings within sank into silent meditation and merged their energies into the formation. Five Heavenly Sovereigns of Daoyuan’s faction stepped out of Da Luo Heaven and unfolded their primordial spirits with full force; the formation’s radiance swelled and burned as fiercely as the sun.