Chapter 670: Moral Principles as the Foundation

“Poor demon. You want to be a dog, yet they don't care about a dog's life at all.”

Vajra raised his head, his scarlet eyes looking towards the source of the voice. He saw the Woodcutter Sage approaching him from a distance, surrounded by the raging fires that were destroying Xiancheng. The Heavenly Master emerged from the conflagration, treading on magma, with fragments of Luofutian dragging long fiery tails across the sky behind him.

The Woodcutter Sage soon stood before him and said gravely, "Vajra, when you and I made the Pact with Earth Count, you told me that the destruction of Grand Emperor Heaven was not your doing, but someone else's. I didn't tell you then, but when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. If Grand Emperor Heaven falls, do you truly believe the demon race will survive?"

Vajra glared at him fiercely, hissing, "Sheke City is the farthest from the impact point and has the strongest defenses. The demons within the city can survive this collision. My demon race will not perish because of this!"

The Woodcutter Sage looked at him with pity and asked, "And what about outside Sheke City?"

Vajra was panting heavily.

Less than one percent of the demon race could be preserved in Sheke City. The rest of the demons were certain to die in the cosmic collision; there was no way for them to escape.

"Twenty thousand years ago, Chixi, with the alien star, fled pursuit all the way to Luofutian. The arrival of Chixi and the gods of the Chiming remnants made Luofutian uninhabitable, forcing you to act against Grand Emperor Heaven."

The Woodcutter Sage said softly, "Then who forced Chixi and those alien stars to Luofutian? And why precisely Luofutian? Haven't you considered the reason? Deep down, you know very well who the true enemies of the Chiming era were, but you dared not think that way. You still clung to a shred of fantasy. Now, it's time for you to awaken from that illusion."

Vajra burst into laughter, his voice sharp. "They certainly conspired against the Chiming remnants and my demon race, forcing us into war with Grand Emperor Heaven. But what about you? You're no better! You built those blood sacrifice altars! Lou Yunqu used those very altars to perform the blood sacrifice on Luofutian! How did you escape? In truth, you were waiting for the Celestial Heavens' people to arrive, to use their hands to blood sacrifice Luofu, and to force me into your camp! I'm no fool!"

The Woodcutter Sage looked at him and said unhurriedly, "You are indeed no fool, and I did have the intention of using the Celestial Heavens to drive you into my camp. However, if you believe that the Celestial Heavens wouldn't have blood sacrificed Luofu had I not built the altars, then you are far too naive."

Vajra fell silent.

The Woodcutter Sage continued, "Whether I built the altars or not, the Celestial Heavens would have blood sacrificed Luofu. By destroying Luofutian, your demon race's ancestral land, and using it to collide with Grand Emperor Heaven, Grand Emperor Heaven would also fall into death and desolation, with no living beings able to survive there. To seek survival and proliferation, the demon race would inevitably be forced into Yankang. The Celestial Heavens could then use your demon race to flatten Yankang. That is their true objective."

Vajra slumped, his voice raspy. "When you and I made the Pact with Earth Count, you already foresaw this day, didn't you? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Before today, we were enemies. Why would I have said anything?"

The Woodcutter Sage extended a hand and asked solemnly, "From this moment forward, are we allies or foes?"

Vajra hesitated as he looked at the outstretched hand. After a moment, their hands clasped firmly together.

Luofutian, falling obliquely, finally collided with Grand Emperor Heaven.

Beside the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge, Qin Mu watched in a daze as Luofutian descended from the sky. He saw Licheng, the divine city long ravaged by war, crushed to dust by Luofutian. Swarms of Grand Emperor Heaven's divine arts practitioners frantically pushed towards the bridge, and even he was jostled off balance.

People trampled each other, losing all camaraderie in their desperate attempt to escape.

"Mu'er!"

The Village Chief, Granny Si, and others pushed through the crowd towards him. Qin Mu turned to look at them amidst the surging mass of people, managing a strained smile. "I'm fine, really."

At the point where Luofutian fell, the ground resembled a shattered glass realm struck by a heavy object; vast stretches of land cracked and flew upwards.

Scarlet magma surged from the fissures in the earth.

The scene made the earth feel incredibly soft and fragile, like waves being flung into the air, surging and rippling in all directions.

These were walls of earth and stone, hundreds to thousands of miles high, or perhaps more accurately, waves of magma and flames. Even mountains thousands of fathoms tall became insignificant splashes within these colossal waves.

A hurricane born from the collision swept across, annihilating everything. Lightning turned into the most violent rain, blowing outwards with the wind, rapidly engulfing all parts of Grand Emperor Heaven.

A mushroom cloud of flames ascended into the sky, quickly impacting near the two suns painstakingly created by the Imperial Preceptor and Yankang's divine arts practitioners. Those two suns shattered into pieces under the impact, as if they were made of paper.

"Mu'er, go!"

The Village Chief and the others shouted loudly, "Hurry and enter the teleportation bridge! You won't survive this situation!"

Qin Mu stared blankly at the scene. Granny Si pushed through the crowd, rushed over, grabbed his hand, and without a word, pulled him towards the teleportation bridge. The bridge was teeming with people, all frantically climbing upwards, pushing and trampling one another.

Pulled by Granny Si, Qin Mu stumbled as he ascended. He looked back, his gaze somewhat bewildered. He saw gods and demons surrounding the cosmic collision, doing their utmost to withstand the world-ending impact, trying to buy time for the people there to escape.

Gods and demons from Grand Emperor Heaven and the Hanging Realm were torn apart in the brilliant light. The light incinerated their divine bodies, igniting them, evaporating them, reducing them to nothingness!

Even gods and demons were utterly insignificant before such world-destroying power.

He couldn't see the situation of the demon race on the other side, as Luofutian blocked his view. But he imagined that on the other side, a group of demon gods were also roaring and fighting desperately, trying to block the collision's shockwave to secure a glimmer of hope for their people.

They knew well that even as demon gods, they were powerless to resist, yet for their kin, they were willing to fight to the death.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." Qin Mu murmured.

Grand Emperor Heaven was finished. The people who couldn't evacuate were finished too, and the demon race, who had fought them for twenty thousand years, was likely finished as well.

At that moment, he saw the First Ancestor Human Emperor, the man who had fled a life-or-death battle twenty thousand years ago. Now, he descended from the sky, landing in front of the point where the two worlds collided.

The First Ancestor was confronting the mutually destructive energy of the two worlds' collision, buying time for the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge. His cultivation technique was the Heaven and Earth Heart Sacred Art, and his hand seals were the Heaven and Earth Hand Seals.

Standing amidst the world-shattering torrent of earth, water, wind, and fire, he seemed to momentarily return to that battle twenty thousand years ago, as if in a daze, he had become his past self from two millennia prior.

Only this time, he did not flee.

His cultivation technique, his hand seals, were precisely for confronting this scene: to establish the heart for a crumbling world, and to establish destiny for its common people!

Qin Mu watched the man from afar. It was the first time he had seen the First Ancestor so radiant and so serious.

The First Ancestor's Heaven and Earth Hand Seals were specifically designed to counter a world-ending catastrophe. The Heaven and Earth Hand Seals blocked the surging earth, water, wind, and fire, buying time for those rushing towards the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge to escape.

Suddenly, the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge vibrated violently. Runes on the altar's surface burst open with crackling sounds, and components forged from divine metals and materials began to break apart. Cracking sounds echoed from within the altar.

Qin Mu's expression changed dramatically, and he shouted sternly, "The bridge is collapsing! Everyone, don't go in, get back! The bridge is collapsing!"

His voice was loud, echoing all around, but even so, people continued to rush frantically onto the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge.

At that moment, the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge suddenly collapsed. The light that had surged into the sky vanished in an instant, and countless half-bodies fell from above. Most of the alien star in the sky had already entered Yankang. The remaining fragment, like a bowl, was instantaneously cut off by the enclosed space, leaving a perfectly smooth severance.

The severed fragment of the star fell from the sky, rapidly growing larger as it plummeted, about to smash into Grand Emperor Heaven!

Qin Mu's heart turned cold. Numerous divine arts practitioners, reduced to half-bodies, rained down around the shattered Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge. These were the ones who hadn't been transported to Yankang, severed in two at the instant space closed. Half their bodies remained in Grand Emperor Heaven, the other half in Yankang.

"What do we do?"

Someone cried out, like a helpless child, their voice hoarse with desperation: "What do we do? Without the bridge, we're going to die here!"

The sky crumbled and the earth split, meteors rained down, and the earth, water, wind, and fire continued to surge with extreme ferocity, creating a scene of utter apocalypse.

The First Ancestor Human Emperor still stood there, unleashing one Heaven and Earth Hand Seal after another, single-handedly resisting the world-destroying impact. This prince from the Kaihuang era was already exhausted to the point of spitting blood, his robes stained. The divine arts practitioners around the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge had survived until now solely because he had blocked the direct impact waves.

However, at this rate, the First Ancestor Human Emperor would eventually die from exhaustion.

Suddenly, True God Pang Yu flew forward and shouted, "Everyone, follow me!"

He joined the First Ancestor Human Emperor, combining forces to resist the impact, and cried out, "Preserve the lineage of my Grand Emperor Heaven!"

Venerable God Sang Ye and others were stunned for a moment, then rushed forward, surrounding them and desperately fighting against the crumbling world. The Village Chief, the Butcher, the Mute, and others were among them. Ma Rulai also led the monks to join.

The old Taoist priests of the Dao Sect, the ancient immortals of Yujing, the generals and dukes of Yankang, all stepped forward, risking their lives to resist and protect the divine arts practitioners of Grand Emperor Heaven and Yankang.

A young man carrying a box emerged from the crowd and walked towards the gods. The Cripple's face changed drastically, and he shouted, "Xing An, if you attack us now, I'll rob your ancestors' graves for eighteen generations!"

The young man said nothing, put down the box, and a true dragon belt flew from his waist. Xing An revealed his demon god form and joined forces with everyone to resist the impact.

Qin Mu shouted, "All who are still alive, follow me!"

He walked forward, and other divine arts practitioners stumbled after him. Qin Mu reached the First Ancestor's side, desperately unleashing divine arts to resist the impact. Tens of thousands of other divine arts practitioners felt a surge of passion in their chests, each performing their arts, transforming into great shields, desperately resisting.

"It is the vastness of chi!"

Amidst the world-shattering impact, a bold, unrestrained, and rugged voice sang: "It is the vastness of chi, fierce and enduring through ages! When it pierces sun and moon, what are life and death to discuss?"

It was the Butcher, a heroic figure of unrestrained spirit. Even at death's door, his grandeur remained undiminished.

A surge of boldness welled within Qin Mu's chest, bursting forth in an impassioned and soaring tone: "On it, earth's boundaries stand, on it, heaven's pillars rest. The three cardinal bonds truly derive life..."

The Butcher laughed heartily, drawing out the final line of the song: "And virtue is its root!"

The Blind Man used his Dragon Expansion Divine Spear to counter the impact, scoffing, "How sentimental..."