Chapter 1935: Crazy

“What a terrifying sword strike…”“How terrifying Ba Zun'an is!”The Five Domains were horrified, at a loss for words to describe the current scene.

The dazzling golden sword bone pierced directly out of the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns and into the Northern Domain of the real world.

It impaled both Grandmaster Hua and Grandmaster Ghost high in the sky, nearly shattering them completely.

Below them, starting from the Spirit Elm and stretching northward, the residual sword light plowed through the sea and tore apart the land.

Waves rose high on both sides, reaching hundreds of feet into the air.

After three, then ten breaths, the ripples continued to spread outwards in layers, their power undiminished, unable to recede for a long time.

Rivers were split, seas parted, mountains cleaved, and land reshaped.

After a single sword strike, Grandmaster Hua fell silent.

The hearts of cultivators in the Five Domains, like the ripples in the ocean, could no longer find peace.

“Look, the World-Toppling Sword Bone is still active!”

Hua Changdeng, impaled high in the distant northern sky, his body cracked open with massive fissures, as if about to shatter into several large pieces.

His physical strength rapidly decayed, turning charred black and emitting an aura of decay.

This newly ascended Ancestral God's body, having just shed its divine chrysalis, before the eyes of the Five Domains…

was crippled!It was utterly incapacitated by a single sword strike!

In a daze, Hua Changdeng painstakingly lifted his eyelids, as if wanting to take one last look at the beautiful world below him.

The dazzling golden light was no longer visible. Looking around, the crimson blood stained the twilight, and all he saw was desolation.

“Ah…”Hua Changdeng let out a weak groan and slowly closed his eyes.

The climate in the Northern Domain was unexpectedly frigid; the biting wind caused searing pain throughout his body, even an Ancestral God could not endure it.

“Is this my fate? Yet, I am unwilling...So unwilling…”

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

The power of the sword bone had not ceased. It continued to rub salt into the wound.

The golden-yellow murderous intent solidified, as if afraid of not killing Hua Changdeng quickly enough, it furiously poured into his crippled body, further merging with his spirit and consciousness.

“Urgh... hngh…”Hua Changdeng’s consciousness completely faded.

His skull shattered into eight pieces. After falling unconscious, only half a row of teeth remained, rattling against his gums from the pain, producing dry, raspy sounds.

As it was pulled out, his chest and throat occasionally convulsed. His wounds had bled dry, and what he eventually gurgled out was a dark bluish-green soul blood.

“Hua Changdeng became an Ancestral God through the path of the Grandmaster Ghost, cultivating the soul, basing himself on the spirit. Similar to how a wounded soul affects the body, has Ba Zun'an pierced through from the 'body' to the 'spirit'?”

“The World-Toppling Sword Bone is truly that powerful?”

“Indeed! It's the three profound realms of sword enlightenment! Not the three realms of conceptual understanding like the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns or the Sword of Unparalleled Might, but pure attack and output!”

“Everyone, it seems not only his body and spirit are damaged, Grandmaster Hua’s consciousness also appears to be dissipating?”

“Heavens, we just witnessed him ascend to Ancestral Godhood, and now we are about to witness the fall of an Ancestral God?”

In fact, at this moment, very few of the various sects' live broadcasts could still clearly transmit Hua Changdeng's grim state from the distant Northern Domain.

However, there were many Half-Saints and Grand-Void cultivators in the Northern Domain. The group who had previously escaped from the temporal rift were all chilled to the bone and scared half to death by the sudden appearance of the World-Toppling Sword Bone.

They had thought the frontline battlefield was horrifying enough, never imagining that the main continent itself would be even more brutal.

Meanwhile, within the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns, cultivators from all over the Five Domains also tried to use the power of the dream to overcome distance limitations, to "closely" observe Grandmaster Hua's injuries.

Not many could do this, but there were still quite a few with outstanding spirit and consciousness. They only regretted that the Palm of Apricot had not yet developed a function to record Grandmaster Hua's miserable state through the dream, so they could boast about it in the real world.

However, Hua Changdeng's "feedback" suddenly became abundant.

After more than ten breaths of deathly silence, he began to convulse violently. From his wounds emanated ghostly energy, demonic energy, and a large amount of chaotic life force.

Not only was the cross-shaped ghost sigil on his glabella a red brand, but when his eyes suddenly opened, they were also bloodshot crimson, and his entire state became "demonic" and frenzied.

“Urgh urgh urgh... mumble mumble!”Hua Changdeng's facial features twitched rapidly. It was clear his own will was no longer in control of his crippled body.

The power of the World-Toppling Sword Bone had completely spread through his body, spirit, and consciousness, disrupting his merged state. However, that had already become a minor concern.

The most severe issue was that his "self," scattered across the various reincarnation memory scenes of the Grandmaster Ghost, due to the separation of Hua and Ghost, and suppressed by the World-Toppling Sword Bone…

could not return!

“Ahhh ahhh ahhh…”

After heart-rending, agonizing convulsions, the disintegration of his self, the imbalance of his power, and the disorder of his Dao heart...

The combination of all these side effects almost tormented him into a disoriented beast. Hua Changdeng opened his mouth and let out a piercing shriek:

“Kill—!”

A torrent of soul power erupted.

Yet, under the unconscious guidance, it lost its clear target for attack, simply rampaging and spreading outwards.

This shrill roar startled everyone in the Five Domains. However, it possessed no substantial destructive power.

Even a Grand-Void cultivator near the Northern Domain could evade it with a dodge.

But as soon as this feeble roar was uttered, those within the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns realized with alarm that the dream world was rippling and trembling like water.

“Is the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns about to be broken?”

It was not just the dream world that was becoming unsustainable.

With the dispersal of soul power high above the Northern Domain,

the seemingly indestructible World-Toppling Sword Bone also gradually disintegrated into golden-yellow specks of light, dispersing into the sky.

“Ba Zun'an…”

Someone acutely noticed Ba Zun'an swaying slightly above the Spirit Elm. The Dream Residence of Azure, tightly clutched in his palm, had vanished at some unknown moment.

The murderous intent chrysanthemum beneath him withered in the wind. The thousands upon thousands of ancient sword cultivator figures standing on its petals departed without a word, disintegrating one by one.

With a hum, the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns completely dissolved. The World-Toppling Sword Bone also flowed into the river of time, bidding farewell to reality and becoming a thing of the past.

“The Eighth Sword Immortal is also exhausted!”

Ba Zun'an was on the verge of falling from the sky. Fortunately, a figure in a red dress soared through the air just in time to help him descend to the ground.

There were two profound sword techniques. If used in the Ancestral God state, Ba Zun'an could withstand them.

However, his path to ascending to Ancestral Godhood had long since been severed by Hua Changdeng.

After even abandoning his Indestructible Sword Body, it was already difficult to unleash these two swords using only spirit and consciousness, let alone sustain them?

He had also wanted to seize the opportunity of Hua Changdeng's weakened state to directly finish him off.

But he was willing yet powerless.

The Storyteller helped her brother land, and soon realized that the arm she was gripping tightly in her hand was turning illusory.

“Don't joke like this, brother…”

Sweat trickled down the Storyteller's forehead, and she became extremely tense.

She remembered that after abandoning the Indestructible Sword Body, the act of pouring all his spirit and consciousness into the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns was a desperate gamble.

Now that the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns had disintegrated and the dream realm was no more, everything within it should disappear.

The spirit and consciousness that should have disintegrated within the dream naturally could not survive in the real world.

And Ba Zun'an was not skilled in this path.

His strength lay in the sword, not in his body, spirit, or consciousness. Which meant…

Ba Zun'an was also about to fall?

“No…”“No, no no no, no…”

Below Fusan City, Moon Palace Slave cried out tearfully.

She didn't rush to Little Eight's side. Instead, she turned and grabbed Yu Zhiwen's hands, her pretty face deathly pale.

But a thousand words suddenly caught in her throat.

She then frantically clutched the Black Rooster, as if grasping at a final straw of hope. Her hands trembled uncontrollably:

“You have a way!”“You must have a way!”

“Dao Qiongcang said you have an Apricot Realm, and when heaven and earth are first born, primordial purple energy must appear... Not enough, not enough... No…”

Moon Palace Slave muttered to herself, appearing almost insane, before suddenly snapping back to her senses:

“Yes! Yes!”“The Dao of Life, you can do it, your Life Amulet…”

She suddenly stopped again.

Even if the Dao of Life were transcended to reshape his body,

Ba Zun'an had lost his Indestructible Sword Body, and his sword intent would be difficult to re-gather. Most critically, the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns had trapped not only Hua Changdeng but also Ba Zun'an's spirit and consciousness.

A body reshaped in the real world could not connect with the spirit and consciousness from the dream world. These two were like the Yang and Yin realms, inherently never overlapping.

“I've thought of it!”

Moon Palace Slave had not given up. She suddenly looked up, tears streaming down her face, pleadingly gazing at the Black Rooster: “...The Infant-Forging Holy Plant.”

Within the Apricot Realm, at the center of the Shennong Herb Garden, the Infant-Forging Holy Plant suddenly began to tremble.

The Black Rooster remained silent. Yu Zhiwen gently squeezed Sister Yue’s cold hands, speaking as softly as possible: “What’s wrong with the Infant-Forging Holy Plant?”

“The Dao Infant produced by the Infant-Forging Holy Plant might be able to balance the dual powers of reality and the dream, allowing Ba Zun'an’s spirit and consciousness to temporarily reside within it.”

“As long as it can be stored temporarily…”

Moon Palace Slave truly lived up to her reputation as the former Holy Emperor's successor.

She knew several ways to save a person. The more critical the situation, the calmer she became. At the end, as if clearing the clouds to reveal the blue sky, she declared: “As long as we have time, we still have hope of saving Ba Zun'an!”

In the Apricot Realm, the Infant-Forging Holy Plant trembled and shook its head.

If Ba Zun'an were to unleash his profound sword techniques again, and cast the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns once more, and then, in both the real and dream worlds, relinquish a portion of his Indestructible Sword Body, spirit, and consciousness to it respectively...

Then it could create a Dao Infant that balances the dual powers of "reality" and the "dream," serving as a new vessel for Ba Zun'an's spirit and consciousness.

The problem was, even if it possessed such an ability to forge an infant,

could Ba Zun'an still unleash a third sword strike?

Normal methods couldn't save Ba Zun'an, nor was it realistic to pluck him from the river of time.

The third realm of the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns had long reached the level of an Ancestral God. It had found Yin-Yang balance in "dream" and "reality," thus it was not subject to the Ten Ancestors' Dao.

Therefore, the self lost and the spirit and consciousness trapped within that dream world and beyond, even if the Ancestor of Time were to return, what he would retrieve would likely be mere reflections in a mirror or flowers in water, not a living person.

Naturally, Xu Xiaoshou, who had transcended the Dao of Time, was also powerless to turn back the tide. Unless his "Dream Dao Disk" and "Reality Dao Disk" suddenly transcended the Dao, allowing him to walk Ba Zun'an's path.

The Black Rooster clucked. Yu Zhiwen could only say with difficulty: “Sister Yue, it says the Dao Infant cannot contain the Eighth Sword Immortal…”

Moon Palace Slave's pupils suddenly dilated, unfocused. Her gaze pierced through the Black Rooster:

“It can be done, Xu Xiaoshou!”“I know a secret method. As long as we refine an ancestral tree…”

“In that case, hand over the Infant-Forging Holy Plant, the Dragon Apricot, and the Nine Sacrificial Osmanthus to me. I have a way to save Ba Zun'an!”

Within the Apricot Realm, the Dragon Apricot, the Infant-Forging Plant, and the Nine Sacrificial Osmanthus all trembled in fear.

Shen Baiyu, who hadn't been named, was also so frightened that he nearly shriveled into a withered willow. He only regretted that his current strength had recovered too well, and hastily spoke:

“He cannot be saved!”

“Master Shou, this crazy woman’s secret method is known to the Ghost Willow, but with her ability, it would take thousands, even tens of thousands of years to refine an ancestral tree, and furthermore…”

“What if I refine it?” Xu Xiaoshou’s spiritual energy avatar suddenly appeared in the Shennong Herb Garden, and Shen Baiyu was immediately speechless.

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot ignited instantly, soaring into the sky. Its dragon scales seemed about to burst:

“Xu Xiaoshou!”“Xu Xiaoshou!!!”“I have sweated and bled for the Apricot Realm! I have risked my life for it! You and I are sworn brothers! Sworn brothers! Have you forgotten who desperately protected you and escorted you out when Dao Qiongcang came in?”

Xu Xiaoshou's avatar said, “I'm not joking.”

“Whew!” The Dragon Apricot's spirit finally calmed down a little. “As long as it's just a joke, you scared me to death! Don’t make such… Wait? What did you say?”

Xu Xiaoshou stared at Shen Baiyu: “If each of you were left with only a remnant of consciousness, but I guarantee to fully restore you afterward, could the energy extracted in the process refine a perfect Dao Infant for Ba Zun'an?”

“Awoo!” The Dragon Apricot's spirit went wild, rushing skyward and beginning to breathe fire in all directions, howling furiously.

“This one… no…” The Nine Sacrificial Osmanthus's spirit body trembled in fright, retreating step by step. “It cannot be…”

“Ah!” The Infant-Forging Holy Plant was also shocked into manifesting its spirit body. Its voice was like a young girl's first awakening to consciousness, yet its spirit body had a mature charm.

Shen Baiyu remained silent.

The spirits of the three ancestral trees all glared at him. Xu Xiaoshou also stared.

“It can.” The Ghost Willow nodded.

The Dragon Apricot's spirit lunged down, nearly tearing at Shen Baiyu with its claws. The latter hastily added:

“If Master Shou also uses profound sword techniques and casts the exact same Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns…”

“It can be done,” Xu Xiaoshou nodded.

The Ghost Willow's voice trembled, and it dared not look at the other three ancestral trees: “Master Shou is not adept at the dual paths of 'Dream's Illusion' and 'Reality's Truth,' and would still need to ascend to Ancestral Godhood to forcibly balance the dual powers of reality and the dream.”

“I have the Primordial True Tablet, so I don't need to ascend to Ancestral Godhood. Summoning an Ancestral God avatar will allow me to forcibly stabilize these two opposing forces.”

The Ghost Willow took a deep breath: “The Dragon Apricot and the Nine Sacrificial Osmanthus can be left with only a remnant of their consciousness, but after such refinement, the Infant-Forging Plant's power will be drained, and it will surely die.”

The Infant-Forging Holy Plant looked as if it were about to burst into tears.

The Ghost Willow looked at the deathly pale spirit body of the Infant-Forging Plant. She had already died once.

Feeling sympathy for a fellow creature, and having worked together in the Apricot Realm, no matter how arrogant Shen Baiyu was, he did not wish to see an ancestral tree companion suffer such a fate.

If Xu Xiaoshou truly did this, he would accompany him once.

But afterward, he would have to seek a new master and find another path to survival. After all, where there's one, there's bound to be a second, and no one could gamble on human nature.

Xu Xiaoshou fell silent.

In truth, he was unwilling to use such a 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' method from the bottom of his heart.

However, if the Infant-Forging Plant could survive, and Ba Zun'an could also survive, this would be a perfect win-win situation. He guaranteed that afterward, he could allow the four ancestral trees to receive ten times or more what they were giving up now!

But the Infant-Forging Plant would die...

Even if he forcibly refined it, Ba Zun'an wasn't the kind of person who would accept it... He absolutely would not accept it...

This path was impossible!

“There are other ways, right?”

Xu Xiaoshou motioned for the Dragon Apricot's spirit to calm down.

He could accept cutting off a tail to survive, but sacrificing his left hand to protect his right was something he absolutely could not do.

Shen Baiyu's gaze drifted towards the Holy Divine Continent, and its spiritual head shook slightly:

“There’s no time left…”“Originally, even if Master Shou acted, refining an Ancestral God would take half a year…”

Xu Xiaoshou sighed, his consciousness returning to the Black Rooster, and looked towards the battlefield.

Indeed, Ba Zun'an couldn't wait, and "Hua Changdeng" wouldn't give him the chance.

“Roar!”

The Northern Domain once again resounded with the roar of a mad beast.

Grandmaster Hua's body disintegrated, his spirit and consciousness disengaged. What should have been a certain death, accompanied by a long howl, saw three swords streak in from beyond the sky.

Body Ghost! Spirit Ghost! Consciousness Ghost!

These three sword ghosts of body, spirit, and consciousness pierced into his crippled body, remnant spirit, and remnant consciousness, striking vital acupoints and releasing the light of reincarnation.

“Heaven! Earth! Humanity!”“Three Talents return to their positions, undead spirits reincarnate!”

With a loud boom, the spectral image of the Grandmaster Ghost, which had been impaled and forced out of his body earlier, awakened a sliver of consciousness as if reincarnated, and after performing the technique, was forcefully drawn back into Hua Changdeng's body.

Like a final resurgence of life, Hua Changdeng, clad in a grim reaper's black robe, now only a faint half-figure, was resurrected.

He had completely given up on merging with the Dao. He sacrificed himself to recall a wisp of the Grandmaster Ghost’s remnant soul.

Yet, it wasn't to complete the Grandmaster Ghost, but to exploit him, swallowing his residual energy to desperately squeeze out his own last shred of strength.

The Grandmaster Ghost's technique…

Shen Baiyu's heart tightened, and he hastily spoke: “Cui Yin has a technique, Reversal of Banned Rebirth. Does Master Shou know of it?”

Xu Xiaoshou's avatar's expression grew solemn; he had heard a little about this technique.

Back then, in the Divine Ruins, by a twist of fate, he had "read" some scenes.

Reversal of Banned Rebirth seemed to be a forbidden art that burned one's potential to temporarily restore peak Ancestral God power.

At that time, God also sacrificed himself in the Thirty-third Heaven, shattering Cui Yin's physical body with his staff. Victory had seemingly been achieved.

But once Cui Yin unleashed Reversal of Banned Rebirth, the ensuing battle was unseen. The outcome was that God was left with only a remnant soul, forced to reside within Cao Erzhu's body.

The brutality of it was imaginable.

“A final burst of life?” Xu Xiaoshou saw something.

“Precisely!” Shen Baiyu's voice was exceedingly heavy:

“The Ghost Willow has seen Hua Changdeng cultivate sword ghosts, and knows that these three swords, when combined with the Grandmaster Ghost’s Dao of Soul, can forcibly unleash an effect similar to Reversal of Banned Rebirth, even without having fully grasped the authority of reincarnation.”

“Once this technique is unleashed, Hua Changdeng will undoubtedly perish afterward, but he can at least buy fifteen minutes of time. He has no other options; he can only fight to the death.”

Fifteen minutes…What could that change?

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized.

Abandoning his soul, abandoning reincarnation, abandoning the merge with Grandmaster Ghost and Grandmaster Hua, and even abandoning the Ancestral God realm.

Lowering his status, falling back to Holy Emperor, then disregarding his Dao foundation to re-tread the path of an ancient sword cultivator and attempt to ascend to Ancestral Godhood once more—a desperate act that completely ignored the future, focusing solely on the present, merely to cling to life.

But as long as he could devour Ba Zun'an's sword self, or fully comprehend his Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns and World-Toppling Sword Bone, unleashing profound sword techniques, he might not be without hope of ascending to Ancestral Godhood again.

This might mean forever losing the chance to "merge" with the Grandmaster Ghost, and being confined to the ordinary Ancestral God realm for life, later serving as fodder for devils and medicine.

But it could extend his life!He could extend fifteen minutes into a year, or even ten years.

Or even gamble for life from death itself. If by some chance he devoured Ba Zun'an, and then consumed Bei Huai and the Grandmaster of Medicine, he might not be unable to embark on a completely new "merge" path.

“Hiss!”

Thinking this far, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but gasp.

The Battle for the Dao was imagined to be brutal, but he never thought it could be this insane.

This was just Hua and Ghost. Beyond the continent, there were also the covetous Grandmaster of Medicine and Bei Huai, and even further back, Ancestor Demon and Cui Yin were lurking menacingly!

“They’ve gone mad, all of them…”