The darkness burned like fire.
Silence boiled like water.
Slaughter roared like a death knell.
The entire void of the Lingluo Realm became distorted and blurry, much like hell itself, utterly terrifying.
On Blackwater Mountain.
The Old Beggar closed his eyes, his face ashen, his expression also complex—filled with shock, horror, but, even more so, discomfort.
Yes.
Discomfort.
The burning dark fire made every inch of his skin, every pore, every acupoint, every strand of hair ache with a piercing discomfort.
The boiling silent water seemed to seep in everywhere, steaming his spirit, his mind, his consciousness, and his will, making them all unbearably uncomfortable.
Most agonizing of all was the slaughterous sound, like a song of death; it truly felt like a death song from the abyssal hell, shaking one's soul and inspiring immense fear.
Suddenly.
He opened his eyes, a beam of disbelief and incredulity shooting from them as he said, "What in the blazes is this?
Awe?
Creation?
Or some Great Dao?
No!
It's none of those. This damn thing...
It seems like a Domain!"
Lady Blackwater had risen to her feet at some unknown time. Her bewitchingly beautiful face was cold and solemn as she stared intently, her voice heavy. "You are correct. This is indeed a Domain."
"What kind of Domain is this?
How can it be so terrifying?"
"I do not know either..." Lady Blackwater also carefully sensed the changes in the Lingluo Realm and said, "He should have comprehended some dreadful Domain based on those forbidden Great Daos."
The incarnations of the Ancestral Patriarchs from the Nine Heavens Immortal Path descended one after another, charging forward in an attempt to rescue the Great Dao Destinies.
However, without exception, they all became trapped within the mysterious Domain conjured by Gu Qingfeng, unable to move an inch.
Within the scene.
Ten Great Dao Destinies knelt in mid-air.
Their hair was disheveled, their seven orifices bleeding, their faces ashen, utterly wretched, their consciousness blurred.
Gu Qingfeng stood erect, his pair of dark, profound eyes sweeping across all directions as he roared sternly, "I don't care if you're from the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens or some other Primordial titan! Today, you sent these Great Dao Destinies here for no other reason than to force the Immortal Path and the Heavenly Dao to act. Now, there's no need for you to force them—I'll force the Immortal Path and the Heavenly Dao to act for you!"
Gu Qingfeng turned around, raised a hand, and pointed, shouting sharply, "Have your Destiny Guardians all roll out here for me!"
With this mighty shout, the ten Great Dao Destinies were shaken until their physical bodies twisted and blurred. Cracking sounds erupted all over their bodies as their meridians shattered completely, their cultivation dissipated, and their accumulated Creation vanished into smoke.
In legend.
Whenever one who bears a Heavenly Destiny encounters a life-threatening crisis, the Destiny Guardian would appear.
Sure enough.
With Gu Qingfeng's mighty shout, he not only shattered the cultivation of the ten Great Dao Destinies but also forcibly shook their Destiny Guardians into manifestation.
From within the bodies of the ten Great Dao Destinies, ten pure white beams of light shot out simultaneously. The beams soared skyward like azure dragons breaking through the sea.
The light beams not only contained rolling Heavenly Might but also vast, sacred, luminous energy.
The Heavenly Might was vast and boundless Heavenly Might; the sacredness was vast and boundless sacredness; the light was vast and boundless light.
This Heavenly Might, this sacredness, this light sought to illuminate the entire Lingluo Realm. Even Gu Qingfeng's Domain was shaken, wavering under the impact.
"There has never been anything sacred in my Domain!
Nor will there ever be any light!"
Gu Qingfeng's icy, domineering voice rang out as he stared at the heavens and roared, "Even if you are Heavenly Might, you will still roll down for me!"
Whoosh!
The dark fire instantly surged wildly, burning recklessly.
The silent water boiled madly, and the slaughterous roar, like a death song, became incessant.
Boundless darkness, infinite silence, endless slaughter clashed head-on with the vast Heavenly Might, the vast sacredness, and the boundless light.
What was unbelievable was that the light was suppressed until it was no longer boundless, the sacredness was no longer vast, and the Heavenly Might was no longer mighty. The ten beams of light were also suppressed, dimming down.
On Blackwater Mountain, the Old Beggar watching this scene was utterly stunned. He murmured in a daze, "This kid...
He damn well suppressed the Heavenly Might outright! Even the sacred light of the Heavenly Dao dimmed within his Domain! What in the blazes has this kid comprehended? This is too bizarre!"
"Have you not noticed a problem?"
Lady Blackwater asked.
The Old Beggar couldn't understand for a moment and asked blankly, "What problem?"
"Whenever a Great Dao Destiny encounters a life-threatening crisis, the Destiny Guardian appears. And when the Destiny Guardian appears, Heavenly Retribution descends simultaneously, judging those who defy the heavens."
"Right!
How could I forget that!"
Hearing this, the Old Beggar's heart skipped a beat. His mind had been completely immersed in the horror of Gu Qingfeng's Domain just now, forgetting everything else. Reminded by Lady Blackwater, he realized that the Destiny Guardians of the ten Great Dao Destinies had already appeared. Why, after so long, had the Heavenly Dao shown not the slightest movement? Not to mention Heavenly Retribution, not even a peal of heavenly thunder had sounded. There were no heavenly omens at all.
"What's going on?
Could it be that the Heavenly Dao in this Modern Era has really shut down?"
The Old Beggar thought again and shook his head. "That can't be. I heard a few years ago that some little bastard tried to seize a Heavenly Destiny and ended up being blasted to ashes by the Heavenly Dao's heavenly thunder. Wait... Could it be..." The Old Beggar seemed to realize something. "Could it be that the Heavenly Dao plans to play deaf and dumb in this matter?
If that's truly the case, then the scheming plans of those titan Ancestral Patriarchs this time will be utterly dashed."
Lady Blackwater stared intently at the Domain here and said quietly, "Perhaps his Domain suppressed the Destiny Guardians, temporarily preventing the Heavenly Dao's laws from sensing them."
"Impossible!"
The Old Beggar didn't even think before shaking his head in denial. "Unless this kid's Domain has transcended heaven and earth, otherwise, the Heavenly Dao's laws couldn't possibly fail to sense it."
"I hope my guess is wrong."
Right at that moment, whoosh! whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!
Figures rushed out from all directions—first twelve, then seventeen, then over twenty more...
One after another, they emerged in quick succession.
Lady Blackwater could tell these figures were not the Ancestral Patriarchs of the Nine Heavens Immortal Path but rather the Ancestral Patriarchs of various factions who had been lying in ambush—including those from the Primordial titans and those from the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands.
Lady Blackwater said indifferently, "These titan Ancestral Patriarchs have finally lost their patience and shown themselves..."
"Tsk tsk."
The Old Beggar grinned and said, "If these titan Ancestral Patriarchs don't act now, not a single one of these ten Great Dao Destinies will survive today. Even the Great Dao Destiny Hearts on their bodies might fall into someone else's hands. I reckon many are waiting for this kid to kill the Great Dao Destinies so they can snatch the Destiny Hearts—including these incarnations of the Nine Heavens Immortal Path Ancestral Patriarchs."
The Old Beggar shot an extremely disdainful glance at those incarnations of the Nine Heavens Immortal Path Ancestral Patriarchs and said, "The first batch of nine Patriarchs who descended might have genuinely wanted to preserve the lives of those Great Dao Destinies. As for these later Patriarch incarnations, nine out of ten are here for the Destiny Hearts. Those titan Ancestral Patriarchs are scheming against the Nine Heavens, and the Nine Heavens are also scheming against these titans. They're all birds of a feather, not a single good egg among them."
"That's why they say, 'the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.'"
Lady Blackwater also laughed scornfully. "It's just that there are far, far too many mantises and orioles this time..."