Chapter 253

Chapter 253: Gu Daojin

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

Ancient chaotic beasts lunged unpredictably from the chaos. One swipe sent Great Emperor Ziwei flying.

"These beasts simply refuse to relent," Su Mu muttered grimly. He circulated his power; a celestial gate manifested as he employed the Book of All Mysteries. Instantly, thirty-six ancient characters drifted from the celestial gate, transforming into thirty-six distinct Great Daos.

Boom!

The thirty-six Great Daos intertwined like blades and swords, spanning the void.

"Kill!" Su Mu roared. As the intersecting Great Daos crashed down, dozens of ancient chaotic beasts were utterly shredded and suppressed.

"Elder Brother, there are far too many of these monsters. We must form the formation," Nine Palaces Emperor Venerable urged gravely, his gaze shifting towards Heavenly Talisman Old Man.

Heavenly Talisman Old Man gave a solemn nod.

"Whoosh!"

Channeling his power, he drew forth a primordial talisman from his Purple Palace. Countless divine patterns wove together like the very origin of the Great Dao, the single talisman brimming with boundless mysteries. With a mere thought, Nine Palaces Emperor Venerable produced a formation plate etched with six seal slots.

Qin Fei Yan flicked her long sleeve, sending a phoenix zither soaring into one of the plate’s seal slots. The teacher followed suit, casting a ruler-shaped discipline token into another.

The chess enthusiast produced a single black stone and a single white stone. Dragon Lord and Fairy of the Painting each manifested their profound abilities. With the magical treasures of the Seven Immortals of Cloud Capital converging upon the Six Paths Formation Plate, Nine Palaces Emperor Venerable judged the moment right and activated it. Formation patterns surged skyward in an instant, myriad laws converged.

"The Seven Ultimate Formation of Cloud Capital…" Ye Xu’s eyes flickered with recognition. This was the Seven Immortals’ ultimate technique; by joining forces in the formation, they could match a true immortal.

Rumble! Rumble!

The formation plate began a slow rotation, myriad Daos intertwining. A beam of colorful immortal light shot into the sky. Above the heavens, a terrifying vortex materialized, sundering the Heaven Deficiency Forbidden Land. The very power of the entire forbidden land began converging relentlessly onto the formation plate. Seven sacred imprints shone forth within the world’s void.

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

Rank upon rank of ancient chaotic beasts charged recklessly into the Seven Ultimate Formation of Cloud Capital. Yet, the moment they breached its boundary, the power of the Great Dao shredded them apart, leaving corpses too gruesome to behold.

"Young Yu, we hold here. Hurry and rescue Elder Brother Gu!" Heavenly Talisman Old Man’s voice pierced directly into the minds of Great Emperor Ziwei, Ye Xu, and Su Mu.

"We leave it to you both, Daoist friends," the Seven Immortals of Cloud Capital entrusted in unison.

"We will not fail this task," Su Mu nodded. Retrieving his celestial gate and grabbing hold of Great Emperor Ziwei, he flew alongside Ye Xu towards the place where Gu Daojin was trapped.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Once the three were gone, the Seven Immortals cast off all restraint. The Seven Ultimate Formation unleashed its full devastating power. A radius of over nine million miles was flattened into a chaotic void; even the Chaos Great Dao was briefly suppressed for several breaths.

Countless ancient chaotic beasts fell.

On the altars, the Chaotic Immortal King sensed the commotion in the Dao arena and muttered, "These youngsters truly have no regard for their lives, causing such a huge disturbance."

Nevertheless, he took no action.

He was in a hurry to refine the Hongmeng Purple Jade and return to his peak condition. It wasn’t worth wasting time on a group of ants. After all, given the strength of the Seven Immortals of Cloud Capital and others, they couldn’t possibly breach the Heaven Deficiency Forbidden Land or damage the chaotic Dao arena.

Elsewhere, Semi-Immortal Pan Ao and his companions also witnessed a terrifying scene.

The sky seemed to have melted into a black hole. Hordes of ancient chaotic beasts charged madly toward it, a sight that sent chills down their spines.

"Brother Dao, th-this commotion… it wasn’t caused by that group, was it?" A woman from the Zhuque Divine Clan exclaimed, her voice tinged with the urge to retreat.

"How could that be?" Semi-Immortal Pan Ao sneered. "If they possessed such power, would they even need to flee into the Secret Realm to escape our pursuit?"

"In my view, this phenomenon must be caused by a treasure within the Secret Realm."

The Seven Ultimate Formation of Cloud Capital sealed the heavens and earth from tens of millions of miles away, leaving Pan Ao and his group unable to perceive any sign of trouble.

"That makes sense."

"Then let’s hurry over there."

"If we’re late, we might not even get a share of the scraps."

…

Beneath the altar.

This place resembled a black hole. The void was scattered with minuscule particles, each exuding the aura of the Chaos Great Dao.

Faintly, a human silhouette could be seen, sinking and floating in the void, struggling incessantly.

With every struggle, however, his aura weakened further.

"Damn, what kind of cursed place is this?"

The man was disheveled, eyes bloodshot, reduced to skin and bones. His gaze was filled with exhaustion and despair. Trapped here for an unimaginably long time, he had lost all sense of duration.

"Am I really going to be trapped here till I die?"

Gu Daojin howled inwardly.

Throughout his life, he had craved adventure. Venturing into the Heaven Deficiency Forbidden Land was meant to savor the thrill of solitary peril and perhaps unearth some artifacts.

Even he had never imagined that someone of his cultivation might perish trapped in such a place.

Hum!

Just then, a purple beam flickered faintly in the distance. In the dark void, it resembled the frail flame of a candle, seemingly ready to snuff out at any moment.

"Huh?"

Gu Daojin gasped in surprise. "Light? How?"

Trapped here through endless ages, his world had been unrelenting darkness, unchanging.

His mana was entirely suppressed by the Chaos Great Dao; his vital qi was in disarray, rendering him incapable of channeling any power.

Were it not for the fact that he had already attained the level of Eternal Great Dao, he would have long been subdued by the Chaos Great Dao.

"This… this seems like the Purple Divine Fire."

As the purple flame drew closer, a flicker of joy appeared in Gu Daojin’s eyes. This light was unmistakably the very Purple Divine Fire he had imparted to Great Emperor Ziwei.

"Master!"

The voice of Great Emperor Ziwei rang out.

"I… I’m here!" Gu Daojin tried to roar in response, but his voice was horrifically hoarse. Moreover, the surrounding space was warped by the Chaos Great Dao, preventing his cry from carrying.

Call after call returned no echo.

"No answer…" Great Emperor Ziwei’s face fell with disappointment. "Could he… could he be gone?"

A dark streak seemed to cross Gu Daojin’s brow.

"Brother Yu, the master of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion deduced your master would be here," Ye Xu said with a smile. "This is likely due to the Chaos Great Dao distorting spacetime. We must be in a different temporal plane than him."

He mobilized the Great Dao of Creation. A small tower materialized in his hand—the very purple copper immortal tower the main body had entrusted to this Second Primordial Spirit Avatar. It was a true immortal artifact.

"An immortal artifact?" Great Emperor Ziwei’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Su Mu glanced at Ye Xu, a flash of insight passing through his gaze.

"To casually produce an immortal artifact… his background is genuinely mysterious," he thought.

In the lower realm, an immortal artifact was indisputably a sect’s national treasure.

Ordinary sects couldn’t even dream of possessing one, let alone a mere rogue cultivator?

Bang!

Ye Xu activated the purple copper immortal tower. Rays of violet light coalesced as the Great Dao thundered. A beam of purple immortal light, like a stellar ray, shot forth, sweeping in all directions.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

In an instant, the void was severed. The Chaos Great Dao fractured, and the heavens and earth cleared for one fleeting moment.

"You damned kid, this master isn’t dead yet! Right in front of you!"

Using every ounce of his remaining strength, Gu Daojin managed to bellow the words.

The sound reached them. Everyone locked onto Gu Daojin’s position instantly.

"Master!"

Great Emperor Ziwei’s pupils contracted sharply. Ahead, hidden in what remained of the darkness, he saw Gu Daojin—emaciated, reduced to skin and bones, utterly unrecognizable from the slightly plump elder he once knew.