Chapter 537 Part 3

Chapter 537 Part 3: The First Ending (3)

Under the shadow of golden palms, the True Immortals that once seemed unbeatable are collapsing, their bodies and souls vanishing.

This power is far beyond their understanding and imagination; for a brief moment, it even sparked a fleeting hope in the hearts of the beings in these overlapping worlds.

But soon, the hope they had just felt was crushed.

After the True Immortals vanished, even more appeared in the void, thousands of them, densely packed.

At this point, it was not just the Undead Immortal Lord who had returned to life, but other beings from various realms as well.

There were the Great Sun Golden Crows flying out from a blazing sun, the gigantic Giant Kuafu, and the divine beings that perished in the ancient war between immortals and demons.

After reclaiming the fused divine power from the hosts of the Long Life Lock, even though the current entropy is not yet complete, it already possesses the creative power of a god capable of shaping the world.

If we say the ancestors are close to the way of heaven, then the end of all realms and the beginning of all realms merge with entropy, nearly resembling the very heavens and worlds themselves.

At this moment, the most powerful beings from all the heavens and worlds throughout history awaken with His thought, returning to the world as the Great Collapse sweeps through.

"Shatter the void with a finger!"

Qiao Mu pointed decisively, his finger shattering the vast emptiness; from the other side of the void, it pierced through the Great Sun Golden Crow, which had just awakened from the great sun.

Like the endless power of a vast ocean, it not only destroyed the body of the Great Sun Golden Crow but also extinguished the eternally burning blazing sun.

"Eight Armed Heavenly Dragon Fist!"

"Blood Sword Technique, Shadow Sword!"

Blood surged forth, and with a slash of Qiao Mu’s Human Emperor Sword, he split the Giant Kuafu, a being as large as a giant star, in two.

He displayed the martial arts he had cultivated for millions of years, excelling in fists, feet, fingers, hands, swords, and spears. His mighty strength filled the void, and the power of All Laws are Inviolable crushed the True Immortals into nothingness.

But even so, his enemies seemed endless, and with each death, they grew more and more powerful.

In this long battle, an ancient immortal finally approached, and a seven-colored celestial sword appeared from thin air, piercing Qiao Mu’s chest and belly.

Bones shattered, blood spilled into the void, as this revived ancient sword immortal waited to pierce Qiao Mu’s body.

All laws are unbreakable; they are not all-powerful, or else the Heavenly Emperor would not have died.

At this moment, Qiao Mu grinned, "I finally understand what it feels like to be one of those strong foes who died at my hands."

"After all, without the power of immortality…"

"I am just an ordinary martial artist who has lived for tens of millions of years."

His eyes widened, and a brilliant light turned into a dazzling sword beam, cutting the ancient sword immortal behind him in half.

This was the Eye Sword Technique he had used when he was still a Spirit Refining martial artist; now, with his advanced skills, even the martial arts of the mortal realm possessed the incredible power to transform decay into wonder, allowing him to sever this ancient sword immortal, breaking the seven-colored celestial sword.

However, his injuries eventually became more serious.

Waves of celestial light caused time and space to twist, and even the All Laws are Inviolable power could hardly resist completely; his body was pierced one after another by flowing light, and his injuries gradually worsened.

His enemies kept coming, and each time they died, they became stronger, endlessly.

The number of True Immortals that died at his hands has reached hundreds or even thousands, but it still seems never-ending.

The Long Life Lock host is merely a blend of infinite entropy and Pangu’s power from countless realms, and as the endless serpent of entropy, it clearly has a stronger immortality; even if body and soul are destroyed, it can return once more.

In the long battle, Qiao Mu’s body was pierced once again by the sword light; in the void, the sword light converged into a long river, quickly cutting his body apart.

This time, his physical form finally collapsed, turning into a mist of blood that spread out.

"Is he dead?" Xue Changhe frowned deeply, but he knew he could not join the fight.

The founding emperor Yan led the people to attack the Immortal Lord Qingxuan in the sky, leading to his death and the end of his soul. Yet, this giant of martial arts from Jiu Province could not even reach the True Immortal beings in the sky.

But in the next moment, the blood mist reformed into Qiao Mu’s complete body, his face pale and slightly tired in his eyes.

Even after losing the immortal power of the Long Life Lock, he had reached the peak of evolution among living beings after cultivating the Martial Arts True Body, standing alongside True Immortals and divine beings, possessing an incredibly strong life force.

Even if his physical body was slain, he would not easily die and could still reorganize his body.

However, this was not truly an immortal body.

Even with the vast accumulation of tens of millions of years and gifts from the Heavenly Emperor, he was still just a person.

Facing this never-ending and growing stronger enemy, even the former Heavenly Emperor would die.

This was a predetermined deadlock; when Qiao Mu chose to stand against entropy, it sealed his fate of failure and death.

The Heavenly Emperor died, and the Dao Ancestor did not fight against entropy to the end, already escaping this great turmoil of worlds through Qiao Mu’s sword.

Now he was all alone, deeply trapped in the ocean of calamity-bearers, almost drowning.

As this long battle continued, he would be injured and weakened, while the enemy could keep coming back to life, becoming stronger and stronger, ultimately leading to a certain death.

"My body is badly hurt, my spirit is weak, and I cannot return to my peak… If this goes on, I will die." Qiao Mu lowered his eyes, but he still held the stance of Long Life Fist, looking up at a big star falling towards him from above.

"No Move, No Thinking Skill; let your body follow the instinct of martial arts."

This was Qiao Mu’s first time using the No Move, No Thinking Skill in battle.

He lowered his eyelids, drew circles with his hands in front of him, and in a posture that human martial artists could not understand, pushed the vast star falling towards the Jiu Province back up into the sky.

"Hua strength, the stars shift and change."

The ability to live forever can be taken away by entropy, but the martial arts instinct built over millions of years will not deceive him.

Qiao Mu lowered his eyelids, suddenly leaned to the side, dodging several passing swords, and his body slipped into a crack in the void, entering another vast world that overlapped with the Jiu Province.

But this vast world had also been swept away by the Great Collapse, the sky falling apart, and living beings crying out in despair.

But with Qiao Mu’s arrival, this crumbling world suddenly fell into a brief quiet.

Huge waves, towering like mountains, crawled at his feet, while the collapsed mountain seemed to be pressed together by an invisible hand.

Qiao Mu, who is millions of years old, could rearrange the stars with just a thought. When he entered this great world, his immense power seemed to pause even the destruction around him.

Of course, this was only temporary.

Qiao Mu’s path as a martial artist focused solely on strength; all his techniques and skills were created for battle and for becoming stronger. His power was all about suppressing, distorting, and destroying.

It was like forcibly holding two magnets with opposite poles together; although they could be held for a moment, once he let go, they would immediately return to their original state.

With shining lights, many True Immortals, led by the Undead Immortal Lord, appeared in this realm, continuing their endless battle with Qiao Mu.

When Qiao Mu once again slipped into a crack in the void and exited this great world, the mountains slowly began to collapse again, and the waves on the sea started to surge once more.

"Entropy is an irreversible process…" This thought crossed Qiao Mu’s mind as he continued to fight and move with many True Immortals.

His figure traveled through many great worlds, temporarily preventing the destruction of these worlds, but the Undead Immortal Lord and others followed closely behind.

Qiao Mu’s body shattered over and over into misty blood, and by the end of the battle, his blood was almost completely gone.

The vibrant life force that was once beyond reach was now beginning to dry up, his skin cracked and colorless, and he was inevitably growing weak, with vitality fading as he approached his end.

Yet his fighting figure, along with his footsteps, shone in the countless worlds, witnessed by the surviving souls still clinging to life.

Qiao Mu’s fame spread only in the great world of Jiu Province; the creatures of many other worlds did not know his name, only that at this moment of chaos, an unnamed martial artist fought bravely across the worlds, gradually losing his strength.

When Qiao Mu appeared once more in the great world of Jiu Province, his once unmatched body was now riddled with wounds, with several large holes opening in his chest and abdomen, yet no blood flowed, as if he had run dry.

"Such injuries…" Qiao Mu looked down at the wounds on his chest and abdomen.

In the past, such injuries would have allowed him to come back to life instantly.

Even without resurrection, with his vast life force and perfectly mastered Shape Changing Skill, he could easily manipulate his flesh to heal.

But now he can no longer do it.

"Qiao Mu!" At this moment, someone communicated from a distance; the voice came from Wu Qizheng.

"All of your hundred bodies are still preserved in the Sky River Immortal Boat, and they are very well kept!"

Like Xue Changhe, Wu Qizheng could not intervene in such a battle and could only think of doing his part.

"It’s not necessary, let him use them in the future." Qiao Mu smiled slightly.

A hundred bodies that are over one hundred thousand years old are just a drop in the bucket for him now.

Knowing that Wu Qizheng and the others still have the will to resist and are thinking of helping him brought him a slight joy.

Before the crisis of the Great Collapse, the most powerful force in the worlds, the Heavenly Court, had already failed before Qiao Mu, leaving him isolated and unsupported now.

Yet he did not feel lonely, nor did he think he was fighting alone.

At this moment, Qiao Mu stood once again on the land of Jiu Province, looking up at the sky.

He saw that in the vast river of stars above, there were countless Undead Immortal Lords standing like swarming locusts, their numbers so many it made his skin crawl, all gazing down with blank expressions.

After a long and endless battle, the number of Undead Immortal Lords had decreased from over a hundred to nearly ten thousand, thanks to Qiao Mu’s fierce fighting, achieving a great victory.

At this moment, alongside the vast river of stars, an endless and wide river of illusory time appeared.

The rivers of stars and time represent an infinite extension of space and time.

In the past, above the rivers of stars, there was the heavenly realm, where the Heavenly Emperor resided, the supreme ruler of all worlds.

By the river of time, there was also the Outer Realm Heavenly Path Palace, untouched by the river of time, where the past, present, and future coexist everywhere.

But now, these two endless and wide rivers had quickly narrowed, ultimately converging into an infinitely small point of light.

Within the point of light, an enormous serpent revealed itself, as the infinities of time and space coiled beneath it, forming a single ending.

He is the end of all worlds.

The entropy of the last Chaos Era was the end of all worlds, and this Chaos Era’s entropy has evolved towards a beginningless and endless state.

It was only at this moment, when Qiao Mu was nearly out of strength, that the true form of entropy appeared fully before him, aided by tens of thousands of Undead Immortal Lords and other challengers.

"Qiao Mu, do you see yourself? You are no longer a human."

Voices that sounded exactly like Qiao Mu’s echoed simultaneously, coming from within the endless giant serpent, those challengers who all had the same face as Qiao Mu.

They said:

"Even if you are stripped of the Long Life Lock and immortality, you are still one of the offspring."

"The Dao Ancestor has already transcended all worlds, but you, foolish tool, are still resisting."

"After we merge with you, we will be complete."

"Daozu… What kind of charm did he pour into you?"

Qiao Mu listened quietly, supporting himself with the Human Emperor Sword and breathing softly, standing on the shattered ground, a slight smile on his lips.

"This is not greatly related to Daozu, but it is very much connected to you."

The enormous, towering serpent stood silently, not responding, just gazing down indifferently at Qiao Mu from the distant void.

Qiao Mu said calmly:

"I used to be just an ordinary person, not decisive, often lost and weak."

"The countless beings in this world are actually like me, living mundane lives, watching the days and months pass."

"It wasn’t until one day that I realized I could live forever that I broke out of my old constraints, no longer thinking about my life and personal interests."

"From then on, I could see my true desires clearly; my life became vast and free, doing whatever I wanted."

"People may criticize or praise me, misunderstand or overlook me… but nothing can compare to me following my own heart and desires; that brings me true comfort."

When a person is nearing death, their words are kind. Qiao Mu knew his end was near and had many things to say.

The enormous, silent snake remained still. After a moment, a voice emerged.

"As a part of me, merging with me is not death; it represents true immortality, which is a great gift for any living being."

"You can take back your intentions. If there is indeed a gift, I can accept it later."

Qiao Mu let out a loud laugh.

"What use is immortality to me? I do not seek eternal life!"

Qiao Mu looked around him, at the already broken vast mountains and lands.

In his eyes, it was as if he saw the flickering lights of the Wan family in Zhong Province, shining brightly in the world.

Even with his great strength now, he cannot see the past and future like the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter; what he sees is not the present scene, but rather memories from millions of years ago in his heart.

From Qiao Mu to Qiao Shui, Qiao Jin, Qiao Tu, Qiao Huo… the footsteps of the Qiao family echo on the land of Jiu Province, leaving behind blood and bodies, along with stories told by storytellers, and legends being passed down.

Now, Jiu Province is filled with their footprints; who in the world does not know you? The name of the Qiao family has already become famous throughout Jiu Province.

The peach and plum trees do not speak, yet paths form naturally; his old friends and the students from Peach Blossom Villa are spread across Jiu Province, and after fifty years, they have become the mighty pillars against the Immortal Gate in his stead.

Even if there are no Qiao in Jiu Province, and he did not return from the Return Ruins, they will still fight with unyielding spirit until the Immortal Gate is defeated.