A swirl of ink flowed with the supreme divine rhythm.
The Phoenix Sky Empress painted her way to immortality, a tapestry of complexity so intricate.
The first thing to appear was a radiant moon, covering the sky and blocking the sun. As this scene sketched itself into existence, darkness fell outside the window.
A solar eclipse!
The moon, which should have been plummeting from the celestial dome, now seemed reluctant to descend, radiating brilliantly.
Switching day and moon!
Li Mo: “!”
He too gazed outside the window, his eyes widening in a daze.
Could this all be due to the unfinished artwork in front of him? Had it triggered this cosmic upheaval?
With every stroke added to the painting, the wonders of the universe deepened.
Within the scroll—
A stunningly beautiful figure materialized before the bright moon.
As she appeared, mysteries spread, and the world resonated in harmony.
She seemed to be the sovereign of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, the only one among countless beings, making everything else pale in comparison.
She was the one and only.
Li Mo focused closely and found that the Ice Chunk in the painting looked exactly as it had yesterday.
Time seemed to have lost its meaning for her.
Who saw the moon first by the riverbank?
In which year did the river moon first shine on a person?
Through the painting, she was… locking eyes with him?
Those complex eyes seemed to hold a thousand words, all mingling into a single, quiet sigh.
Her scarlet lips parted slightly.
No sound emerged.
Because at that moment, the sky outside erupted once more.
Boom—
Three divine rays pierced through the darkness, the fierce sunlight stirring the heavens as if they would obliterate the world.
It was the Three Great Suns.
In the depths of the skies, it seemed even the Almighty had fallen into a frenzy.
……
At Qingyuan Peak Temple.
In front of the fractured pieces of the Bronze Divine Tree, Ying Bing sat in contemplation, her lips suddenly pursing.
A powerful sensation surged in her heart.
Stepping onto the path of Guan Shen, she had developed a heightened sixth sense.
It felt as if something immensely important was unfolding.
Buzz—
At that very moment, the shattered pieces of the Bronze Divine Tree radiated mysterious brilliance, enveloping the temple.
Countless birds’ forms, imprinted by the will of Da Shang warriors, all alarmedly returned to the divine tree at that moment.
“What’s going on outside?”
The elder Shangguan Wencang furrowed his brow and asked.
Qian Bufan, just returned from outside, had a serious expression:
“Out there, suddenly, a solar eclipse has occurred. The three great suns are all being eclipsed by Taiyin in the sky.”
“A solar eclipse…”
Shangguan Wencang took a deep puff from his pipe.
He didn’t quite know what it meant, so he turned his searching gaze towards the sleepy old man guarding the temple door, who mumbled:
“It hasn’t been a solar eclipse in thousands of years. How bizarre…”
“What could cause the Bronze Divine Tree to react like this must be extraordinary.”
“Little Ice Girl probably can’t practice today.”
“Her dual mysteries aren’t yet complete; it’s too early.”
“Isn’t this just hoping she steps onto the path of Guan Shen soon to bring glory back to us in Hengyun Sword City?”
The elders chattered among themselves.
At that moment, a disciple from Ruyi Peak suddenly burst in.
His face was filled with urgency as he exclaimed:
“The traitor Yin Huaxuan has slipped away, using the chaos in the world to escape!”
“Huh?”
The elders sprang to their feet, all looking shocked.
Letting a traitor of the inner realm escape would lead to endless trouble; the situation was far from trivial.
As for the cosmic upheaval, it didn’t concern them. If the sky fell, there would always be tall folks to hold it up.
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If Yin Huaxuan managed to escape…
“He’s heavily injured; he can’t run far.”
Shangguan Wencang thumped the smoking pot angrily.
“Tell all skilled disciples to search in pairs, and dig three feet down if needed—bring him back!”
……..
At Yantian Sect.
On the towering Stargazing Platform.
“Everything is in chaos, complete chaos…”
An elderly woman, sitting like a stone statue, muttered to herself.
She took out that mysterious jade plate again, sliding the pieces upon it, starting to project.
The trajectory of the jade pieces grew increasingly profound, speeding up rapidly.
In the end, it even gave off a feeling that made one want to spit bl**d just from a glance.
Even the old woman couldn’t bear it.
It seemed she had seen something, and suddenly, her heart shuddered violently.
A faint golden bl**d trickled from the corner of her mouth, silently dropping onto the jade plate.
“Master!”
A young girl, gathered in a bun, had dared not disturb her before, but seeing her pallor now, she rushed to assist.
She quickly took out a small vial, filled with a crystal-clear liquid.
It was a full vial of Imperial Liquid.
“Master, what did you just see?”
The old woman shook her head and simply said:
“Related to the Qianlong List.”
“You… go to Yunzhou.”
…..
At Qiushui Pavilion.
Li Mo’s mind spun in chaos, his thoughts lost in empty space.
After a long time, he finally regained his senses, remembering the earlier events.
He had transformed the Ice Chunk painting into the scene of the Phoenix Sky Empress attaining immortality, becoming a manifestation of the Great Path, and then the world had erupted.
“This… has to be related to that painting.”
Li Mo intended to search for it.
But he found that the grand image of the Great Path was already gone from the table.
What’s going on?
Where’s my painting?
At this moment, he noticed his little world seemed a bit off.
The sun was gone.
What hung high in the sky was, surprisingly, a bright moon!
Now, with both the moon and the sun present…
It meant that in this little world, day would shift to night, and time would flow!
This also signified that he now possessed both Taiyin and the sun, two mystical elixirs!
How bizarre—suddenly having an extra mystical elixir to boot.
“If I’m not mistaken…”
“This bright moon is the one from that painting?”
Li Mo was momentarily stunned.
The image of the Great Path was imprinted in his little world?
It seemed to sense his thoughts.
The painting began to slowly unfurl.
Only it didn’t look quite like what he had seen before.
Ying Bing was nowhere to be found.
Yet within him, Li Mo felt…
She was present.
Profound and transcendent, the essence beyond time surged anew…
He was able to utilize the Guan Shen image from his little world to observe this Great Path manifestation!
Li Mo felt as though he had become a speck of dust in the river of time, a solitary boat adrift in the current.
In a daze, he noticed figures on the riverbank of the timeline, all staring at him.
Some were humans, some beasts; some were plain and ordinary, while others seemed like prisons of abyss, and some were incredibly clear, endless.
They were countless beings.
At this moment, he suddenly realized the benefits of his celestial body.
As long as it didn’t belong to the outer world, he could harbor it all!
As his enlightenment surged, the pathway within his consciousness soul also underwent endless refinement, shedding dust and starting to evolve towards a crystalline form.
He had unlocked his potential.
