Chapter 476: Sword and the Old Era

Shao Xiaoli stood beside him, staring blankly at the vast landscape.

They were far enough from the land that the mountains and rivers, no matter how rugged, appeared largely flat from their perspective.

The earth was a talisman paper, footsteps were brushstrokes, and bright light flowed smoothly across it, tracing clear veins and lines.

The entire land was pierced through in one continuous stroke!

Was this the true art of drawing objects from talismans?

On the divine throne behind them, Zhao Xiang'er looked at the bow. Although it was utterly different from the one thousands of years ago, it still opened the floodgates of memory like a key, superimposing past and present figures.

Zhao Xiang'er's cheeks still held a divine indifference, yet tears streamed down them.

Infinite golden light reflected in Ning Changjiu's pupils.

He stretched out his hand, making a grasping motion, as if seizing the giant bow that spanned the earth and drawing its invisible string.

"Jiajia, Xueci!"

Ning Changjiu suddenly called their names.

After eight years, the long-unheard voices resounded, and both women trembled profoundly.

"Return to the nation!!"

Ning Changjiu's call was a roar.

The Golden Crow flew out, spreading its wings in the darkness. A red sun rose, and the Golden Crow Sun Ancient Kingdom, sealed for eight years, opened its gates once more.

The Xueci Palace and Sword Master Palace opened simultaneously, golden light and snow-white sword auras intertwining as they surged skyward.

In the world shrouded by the Dark Lord, the Western Nation shone as brightly as day.

"Yes!"

They responded in unison, forming hand seals and transforming into two streams of light that flew into the Golden Crow Divine Kingdom, one to the left and one to the right.

The next moment, they appeared inside the two grand halls.

Behind them, Ye Chan Palace and Suzaku also arrived.

Suzaku covered the red handprint on her cheek, not daring to look at Zhao Xiang'er.

Ye Chan Palace gazed at the sky.

The barrier blocking the Dark Lord was weakening. In the distance, a colossal black sun permeated the atmosphere, and the faint, fragile sword lights still holding out on earth appeared delicate and easily broken beneath this black sun.

Although the Dark Lord had destroyed some innate spirits, most cultivators had not given up resistance. As the golden light flared in the west, they supported the struggle as if burning their very lives.

This was the dome of destiny they collectively upheld!

"Let's begin," Ye Chan Palace said to Suzaku.

Suzaku nodded obediently and extended her hand.

The authority over the relative space of the three thousand worlds opened at this moment. Ye Chan Palace simultaneously extended her hand, and moonlight flowed from her palm. Time, like water, rushed through the space constructed by Suzaku. Time and space authorities converged at this point, condensing into a single singularity.

This singularity was an empty space-time, revealing the essence of chaos and void.

Space-time needed to be given meaning.

And this meaning had to be something constant within space-time.

In other words...

Let there be light!

So, Ning Changjiu, clad in white, walked into this singularity.

The constant light surged forth, and space-time began to acquire meaning.

He looked back at Zhao Xiang'er.

Zhao Xiang'er understood. She came before Ning Changjiu, extended her hand, and clasped his.

Their fingers intertwined.

Zhao Xiang'er pushed the world's authority to its limit.

At this moment, even Shao Xiaoli and Liu Xiwuan understood!

Time, space, light, world... they intended to use these authorities as bones to construct a brand new heaven and earth!

Ning Changjiu looked at Zhao Xiang'er with a slight apology.

Soon, the entire Western Nation would explode.

"It's fine," Zhao Xiang'er smiled calmly.

The four walls of the Western Nation began to contract, quickly reaching their limit. Then, an explosion expanded at the speed of light.

The Western Nation exploded with a thunderous roar.

Throughout the history of the Mother Star, no explosion more magnificent could be found.

The expanding walls swept through like a hurricane at light speed, engulfing all fundamental matter within their range. But matter was not torn apart; the explosion seemed to occur in another space-time, and what they witnessed was merely its projection onto the human realm.

The center of the explosion was as silent as a tomb.

Ning Changjiu and the others floated within it, like gods creating primordial chaos.

Ye Chan Palace and Suzaku, using their authority over time and space, had created a chaotic singularity. Ning Changjiu, transforming into light, activated it, and then, utilizing Zhao Xiang'er's world authority, overlaid this new space-time onto the existing one.

In other words, they had truly created a brand new world!

This was no longer the Dark Lord's divine kingdom, but theirs.

Ning Changjiu was the first to open his eyes.

The explosion had occurred in an instant. The human world before him still looked the same: the dark sun descended, and sword lights stood tall, still struggling to hold on.

The world had unknowingly changed, yet those within it remained oblivious.

Ye Chan Palace also opened her eyes. She looked at Ning Changjiu and asked, "Is it ready?"

Ning Changjiu nodded and stepped forward. "In the myths of creation, the story of shooting down the sun is never absent."

The world was filled with light and darkness.

They were clearly divided in the sky, like two forces in a tug-of-war.

When this world was first formed, it indeed temporarily resisted the Dark Sun's invasion, but before long, the Dark Sun pressed back with an unstoppable momentum.

They had indeed constructed a divine kingdom.

But this divine kingdom still lacked the self-consistent divine pillars of mythical logic and and could not truly stand.

Ning Changjiu gazed up at the black sun.

The black sun seemed like a monarch of a dying era, holding a decaying scepter, yet displaying the most majestic figure, showing a once-flourishing age to those who resisted.

Heaven and earth were again swallowed by darkness. The golden light shimmering on his white robes was like the last firefly in a dim storm.

But his steps towards the dark sun remained calm.

He stood before the dark sun, like standing on a cliff, gazing at the boundless black sea, and spoke to the sword lights that still flickered and those that had already vanished:

"You are all the divine pillars of this new world."

His words became law.

The struggling cultivators suddenly felt an unprecedented power. In the past, they lived between heaven and earth like transient blades of grass, and heaven and earth operated indifferently, unmoved by their joys or sorrows.

But at this moment, they felt they had become the masters of the world.

Sword lights that were about to fade now shone brightly.

And the figures flowing within the sword lights were all epitomes of their lives.

Countless divine pillars erected across the world, supporting this newly born, tottering divine kingdom!

This was their world, and they did not welcome the Dark Lord's arrival!

Ning Changjiu grasped the colossal bow that spanned the world, slowly stepping backward. A humming sound vibrated in his ears—the twang of the bowstring being drawn. This deafening hum was like a roaring tidal wave, and also the first prelude of the new world.

Ning Changjiu's backward steps grew slower and slower.

No! He was not retreating; he was drawing the string with his body.

He himself was on the string!

His body was the arrow placed on the string!

Ning Changjiu turned his head to look at Ye Chan Palace and said, "Master, in this life, the Unobservable doesn't have to be annihilated."

Ye Chan Palace's thin lips moved, but before she could speak, Ning Changjiu opened his hand, relaxed his body, and transformed into a golden light, flying towards the dark sun.

In the world supported by sword energy divine pillars, that was the longest and most brilliant light.

This was the story of Hou Yi shooting the sun, and a creation myth that would be passed down forever.

Ning Changjiu looked up at the black sun, which expanded infinitely in his vision.

That was the demon called 'Gui'.

The grand talisman was complete; he transformed into a peach wood sword to slay the demon!

The arrow cleaved through the dark winds and waves, piercing deep into the dark sun.

He collided.

Past and present lives, former events, all flashed by like a dying person's last moments.

"Five hundred years passed, and the Great Sage broke free from his shackles, overturned the Five Elements Mountain, and tore the Buddha's mantra to shreds! He did not embark on the journey to the West, but instead donned his battle armor once more and summoned his divine weapon. He stood on the earth, eyes blazing with golden fire, looking at the gods and buddhas across the sky, and the immortals above the clouds! They were destined to tremble before him again, just as they had five hundred years ago..."

That was Ju Fu holding the Ruyi Dark Iron Divine Staff, raising the billowing banner of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven between heaven and earth.

The scene rewound, and Ke Wenzhou, holding his sword, stood before him, sighing softly, as if lamenting the sorrow of the living and the joy of the dead.

"A sage emerges in the human realm every five hundred years, and now... this sage is me!"

The young Sword Saint's voice rang in his ears, remarkably calm, like a Buddha watching vultures devour his flesh without changing expression, but he was not a compassionate Buddha; he was Ke Wenzhou, the Sword Saint!

The sword light cleaved towards the heavens.

The scene abruptly darkened.

"I have judged humanity's original sin; they will kill each other for generations, never stopping!"

In the sea of consciousness, the Sin Lord's eerie smile twisted as it was consumed by fire.

The Sin Lord was reduced to ashes.

The Tianji Battle Armor shattered. Beneath the golden mask was a charred, withered cheek, and it also uttered a venomous curse:

"You are the descendants of demons; one day, you will push yourselves into the abyss..."

Ning Changjiu cut it down.

Ning Changjiu felt as if he was walking on a flowing river, where comrades, family, lovers, enemies, familiar and unfamiliar faces, those who had departed and those who remained... everyone stood along this path, watching him move forward.

The Fish King lay dozing, opening an eye contemptuously to glance at him, as if it would never truly wake up.

The Blood Feather Lord squawked loudly, proclaiming the authority of the God of Light to the people.

The Old Tortoise turned his back, saying he would return to the temple to resume his old profession as a money turtle.

Figures of the demon race flew past his eyes, one after another. The Golden-Winged Great Peng and the Nine-Headed Lion looked at him without joy or sorrow, unaware of hatred or gratitude.

Further ahead, Lady Bai raised her head, looking at the void red moon hanging in the sky, shouting about destroying the world.

Lu Jiajia held a ruler, her white robes whiter than snow, assuming an air of teacherly dignity.

Siming crossed her arms, silver-haired and black-robed, extraordinarily cold and beautiful.

Zhao Xiang'er dangled her fair little legs, seemingly lost in thought, gazing at the sunset.

And Xiao Ling, Xiao Li, Xi Wan... they were all doing their own things as if no one else was around, occasionally glancing at him, their cheeks flushed, secretly smiling with pursed lips.

Everything still felt like the days in Xinning.

But Ning Changjiu knew that these were merely past events he had already experienced, now dissolved into fleeting illusions.

He never looked back again.

At the end of the road, the figure in the moon-gauze white dress was so ethereal.

Ye Chan Palace opened her arms to him, as if he were still that small, lovable deer.

Ning Changjiu smiled.

The string snapped, the bow broke, yet that single ray of light had flown into the darkness, piercing into the core of the Dark Lord!

He carried the belief of the entire human world, smashing like an egg against the heaviest shackles of the old era.

The vengeful spirit roared!

That was the Dark Lord.

For one and a half billion years, if the Evil Poem had not stolen the flame of civilization, it would forever remain a lonely ghost wandering the dead star domain, until its very last instruction was erased by time.

It dragged its ancient, weary body, ready to use its final strength to invade the human world and complete its last mission.

A golden arrow tore through the air, carrying the full might of the human world, and with one surge, pierced its outer layer, reaching its depths.

During this process, the arrow's golden light was also consumed by darkness. Countless whirlpools gnawed at the authority on his body. Ning Changjiu was powerless to stop it, nor did he try; he merely charged forward with a single thought, cutting through the endless darkness.

At the last moment, there was almost no light left on him.

So he extended both hands, using them to tear open the final darkness.

His hands were mere bones.

He broke through the Dark Lord's surface and crashed into its innermost core.

He saw the Dark Lord.

He saw the god whom the Divine Lords considered omniscient and omnipotent.

The Dark Lord was the crystallization of the previous civilization, and when that civilization departed, its technological level seemed to have reached a state of returning to simplicity—there were no intricate machines in this central space, only a light band connected end to end and a doll floating within the light band.

Such simple things controlled the colossal mass of star-ghosts.

The doll's eyes were closed, as if in a deep sleep.

Its appearance was delicate and simple, looking no different from a human. It floated in the center of the light band, with thin lines extending from its joints, connecting to the light band.

Ning Changjiu noticed that several other doll figures also floated on the light band.

Some of these dolls were tyrants crowned as emperors, some were saints clad in simple cloth teaching their ways, some were disabled youths leaning on canes, and some were girls wrapped in bath towels soaking in hot springs... This Ouroboros-like light band was also a river of time, and these dolls seemed to symbolize the various stages of that civilization.

This should have been an exquisite work of art.

But Ning Changjiu had no time to appreciate or ponder it.

The Golden Crow spewed flames. Within it, Lu Jiajia and Siming, exerting all their strength, poured all their power, along with their beliefs, into Ning Changjiu's body.

The Asura Golden Body manifested behind him, three heads and six arms, with a ferocious visage!

The spiritual form of Liu Xiwuan flew in from the path he had just opened, completing his Asura Golden Body.

Liu Xiwuan settled on the pure white sea of consciousness. In Ning Changjiu's hand, a silver sword instantly formed.

"Heavenly Mandate Sword Scripture?" Liu Xiwuan asked.

"Heavenly Mandate Sword Scripture!" Ning Changjiu affirmed.

Their thoughts merged in an instant, sparking fire.

Ning Changjiu, holding the sword, used the Heavenly Mandate Sword Scripture's ultimate killing strike, along with his Asura Golden Body and the combined strength of all humanity, to lunge at the puppet in the light band.

It was like a savage wolf from a primitive civilization furiously leaping, claws bared, at fully armed humans from tens of thousands of years in the future. But there was no fear in the wolf's eyes; it was a fight to the death, and an answer for survival.

'Intrusion! Intrusion! Intrusion!'

'Expel! Expel! Expel...'

Two entirely different voices continuously echoed in his ears.

Ironically, despite a gap of one and a half billion years, these two civilizations, at odds with each other, used the same prophecy.

The Dark Lord made the judgment to expel, and the puppet's form shifted to that of a tyrant.

How to expel?

It needed time for computation and thought.

Ning Changjiu, however, had already crashed into the artificially created time-light band.

His movement immediately slowed down.

Within the long river, time was a lock.

Before Ning Changjiu, many magnificent scenes appeared.

In these scenes, he saw countless grand cities, and faces of strangers. They wore clean, peculiar clothes, walking along smooth, wide streets. Steel monsters flew overhead, and from buildings resembling towers, light poured out, gathering in the sky to form a magnificent city.

This was just one corner of the world. People in another corner seemed to live in a different world, ragged and emaciated, dwelling in sewage-filled streets, yet their harbors held colossal, island-like arks.

In other corners, scenes of war smoke filled the air. Torrents of people surged forward, shouting something, breaking out from the encirclement of steel behemoths. They waved flags, using sheer will and flesh to overcome technological disparities.

Finally, red flags covered mountains and plains.

Scene after scene flashed before his eyes. They were all humans, so Ning Changjiu could empathize with their pain and despair.

But his sword energy did not stop.

The snow-white sword energy, like a cascading waterfall, cut horizontally through these scenes with the might of creation, traversing the rise and fall of civilizations, directly slashing towards the Dark Lord.

'Spirit Eater—depleted, extracting innate spirits—ineffective.'

'World altered, reason—unknown.'

'Danger detected! Danger detected!'

Different commands and warnings echoed in his ears.

Due to its immense size, the Dark Lord required a large amount of time for any computations.

For a moment, it couldn't find a countermeasure.

The protective light band and sword energy eroded each other, finally ripped apart by the sword energy.

He was more powerful than ever before, for behind him stood the entire world.

This collective spiritual will gave him the courage to bridge any technological gap across eras!

The light band broke in two.

The silver sword's light persisted.

The sword, along with him, plunged towards the puppet.

Zzzzt—

The sword struck the puppet's final defense, sounding like surging electricity.

This was a killing sword, honed in blood and death.

However, it had not achieved an instant kill in a long time.

For this, Liu Xiwuan had always felt unwilling.

She had always harbored the dream of openly thrusting a single sword stroke to slay the strongest enemy.

This dream was now within reach; it was a dream she was destined to bet everything on!

The spiritual form of Liu Xiwuan opened her eyes. Her entire being erupted with the whistling sound of surging sword energy.

Amidst the crackling electrical sound, this precise impact quickly transformed into destruction that filled the Dark Lord's entire body.

Within that colossal, indescribable darkness, whirlpools shattered one after another. The authorities swallowed by the whirlpools transformed into fragments that drifted out and scattered into the universe.

Ning Changjiu had crossed the civilization's light band, slowly thrusting the sword into the puppet's body.

In this central space, warning sounds continued to blare.

Soon, flashing red light filled the area.

The light band shattered.

The puppet's joints sagged.

'Final command—escape.'

This was the puppet's last directive.

Then, the light band shattered and diffused into the Dark Lord's massive, chaotic body. Its entire being revitalized as if in a dying burst, preparing to retreat towards the dead star domain.

Ning Changjiu's silver sword pierced through the Dark Lord's puppet body.

He also clearly heard the two words: "escape."

Eight years ago, he and his master had meticulously discussed the details of defeating the Dark Lord, even contemplating how to stop it if it tried to flee.

At that time, Ye Chan Palace proposed a plan—the Lunar Prison Decisive Battle Plan.

"I shall use a sword of ten thousand ages to slay an unparalleled demon."

This was the promise Ning Changjiu had made to her then.

Past words echoed in his ears.

Ning Changjiu, with his sword piercing the Dark Lord's body, flew straight forward with all his might.

He was still the arrow shot from the earth's bowstring; he had never deviated from his trajectory!

The Dark Lord, impaled by him, was powerless and had no time to change direction, so it was forced to retreat straight backward.

In the human realm, accompanying the myth of sun-shooting, there was also the story of Chang'e flying to the moon.

When the Dark Lord was lifted and peeled away from the atmosphere, Ye Chan Palace's eyes lit up.

That was the spark she had swallowed back then.

The spark had two abilities.

One was to record the true world, and the other was to ascend and fly to the moon.

While Ning Changjiu was still confronting the Dark Lord, she gracefully leaped up and flew towards the moon, like a fairy who had long lived among mortals returning to the heavenly palace. Even if the Jade Palace was cold and desolate, she would not turn back.

Suzaku could have departed at this moment, but she remained still, quietly watching Ye Chan Palace fly away.

Ye Chan Palace's figure circled past the Dark Lord and arrived on the moon.

She sat alone on the bright moon, the curved moon branch across her lap, waiting quietly.

When Ning Changjiu finally pried loose the Dark Lord and forced it to ascend straight up.

The moon arrived at its destined position.

At this moment, the moon, the Dark Lord, and the Mother Star were perfectly aligned!

This was their only chance to defeat the Dark Lord, and they would not miss it.

The moon blocked its escape path, and on the other side, the sun had burned for decades, day after day, spewing light, illuminating them all.

The Evil on the Heavenly Scroll sat in a wicker chair, looking weary.

The Poem sat beside him, watching the light re-permeating from outside the heavens with joy, completely oblivious that the aura of the black-clad youth beside her was growing weaker and weaker.

"Poem," Evil suddenly called her name.

"Brother, what is it?" Poem asked innocently.

"The sun is about to rise. I want to go for a walk downstairs," Evil smiled.

"Okay..." Poem obediently replied, helping him out of the chair and assisting him down the stairs.

Evil knew that in not many years, the World Tree, deeply rooted in the earth's core, would wither and rot, becoming nourishment to give back to the human world.

By then, people would no longer need the World Tree, nor the divine kingdom. The new world would itself be the divine kingdom, and every individual who constituted it would be a master of the world.

Poem helped him walk to the end of the street.

Evil stopped.

The trees in this world were lush and thriving under the sun's rays.

Yet he was about to die witnessing the sun.

But he felt no regret, for this was the price those who had lived in darkness must pay when they beheld the light.

Boom!!!

The Lunar Prison swept past behind it, and the Dark Lord's body crashed into it.

This was the final collision sound.

Innumerable colossal cracks appeared on the surface of the Lunar Prison.

Ye Chan Palace stood suspended above the moon.

She was so close to the moon that she no longer appeared as a young girl.

Her youthful figure became tall and slender, her gauze dress fluttering, graceful and beautiful.

A full moon outlined her head from behind.

She took this moon.

This was the moon, and also her blade.

When she slayed Yuanfu back then, she used this very blade!

Below, from within the Dark Lord's body, which boiled like black slurry, Ning Changjiu, holding the silver sword, flew out.

Golden light slowly drifted from his body, like falling cherry blossoms.

And on the verge of shattering Lunar Prison, a fragmented doll slowly crawled out of the black pulp. It raised its head, looking at an unknown point, only a lifeless voice emanating from it:

"Stars—shattered!"