Translator: CinderTL
In a Lesser Thousand World utterly desolate, filled with raging flames and molten lava, where not a single blade of grass could grow, a warship materialized outside its borders.
Moments later, a beam of Seven-Colored Rainbow Light tore through the void, traversing billions of miles to strike the world's surface with pinpoint accuracy.
Though the light intentionally restrained its power upon impact, the collision still resembled a meteor strike. A blinding flash and a torrent of fire erupted, instantly engulfing everything within a radius of hundreds of miles in a sea of flames.
Fortunately, the Lesser Thousand World itself was already ravaged by violent geological activity, its landscape awash in lava and flames. A few hundred more miles of conflagration hardly made a difference in the raging inferno.
Amidst the fire and blinding light, a figure materialized—Li Chunjun, who had traveled from the Azure Star Minor Realm.
Upon arriving, he immediately attempted to enter a state of perfect harmony with the World Will, seeking to merge his consciousness with the world's very essence. However, finding this Lesser Thousand World only marginally better off than the Jade Hill Clan's realm, he struggled to fully integrate his will with the world's.
Reluctantly, he abandoned the attempt.
His divine sense power, vastly superior to that of even Ninth Tribulation True Monarchs, surged forth, propelled by his Sixth Tribulation True Monarch-level Divine Sense. In an instant, it blanketed a radius of one hundred thousand miles.
Simultaneously, Mind Power from the Third Realm surged through his Divine Sense, radiating outward to blanket the Lesser Thousand World in a meticulous search for living beings and Heart Demons.
Within moments, he had made a discovery.
His body moved as one with his sword.
After traversing tens of thousands of miles, the Scarlet Sky Sword pierced through the Void, annihilating a creature with unstoppable force. As the Heart Demon contained within was extracted and incinerated by his Mental Power Fire, fragments of information flooded into Li Chunjun's mind.
"They're all gone..."
An entire Lesser Thousand World, teeming with tens or even hundreds of billions of lives, had been completely wiped out.
Having devoured one Lesser Thousand World, some Heart Demons, sated, slumbered within, replenishing their strength. Others had already fled to neighboring worlds.
Imprisoned in this Starfield by the Immortal God Race for countless millennia, these Heart Demons had been starved for so long that they refused to let a single morsel slip through their fingers.
Seeing this, Li Chunjun wasted no time. He systematically hunted down each recovering Heart Demon, refining them into nothingness.
Through this process, he discerned the Heart Demons' intended destination: the nearest Lesser Thousand World.
That world...
belonged to the Divine Race.
Immediately, Li Chunjun located Su Fang and the others with his Divine Sense. "Send me the coordinates. Leave the rest to me."
"Yes," Su Fang and the others responded.
However...
As the warship prepared to depart, Su Fang hesitated before asking, "Sword Master, repairs on the Golden Crow Battleship are progressing rapidly. We estimate it will be fully operational in two to three months. While the weapon and reconnaissance systems will take longer to restore, once the ship can move, we could attempt to leave. Why are we still scouring the area to eliminate Heart Demons?"
"Partly, it's about preparing for the worst—preventing an Ultimate Form Heart Demon from emerging within those two or three months. But there's another reason..." Li Chunjun paused. "We don't carry enough weight."
"Weight?" Su Fang blinked in surprise.
Then understanding dawned. "You mean... the Immortal God Race might not allow us to pass through the Immortal Great Wall? But... aren't they supposed to be close allies of the Human Race?"
"Better safe than sorry. Placing our hopes in others is foolish," Li Chunjun shook his head. "The best approach is to acquire sufficient power so that even if they blockade the Immortal Great Wall, we can still break through and return to the Human Race on our own strength."
Su Fang nodded hastily, daring not ask further. "We'll immediately gather more Heart Demons to ensure the Sword Master's Mind Realm reaches another breakthrough."
"Mm," Li Chunjun acknowledged.
He didn't return to the Azure Star Minor Realm. By now, six cultivators there had developed Mind Power, and the faith system promoted by Ri Ang and others was rapidly expanding. Huang Tian, Zuo Cheng, and the others could easily handle the occasional Heart Demon that strayed into the realm. If the numbers grew too large, they could simply notify him through the Heart Seeds, and he would handle it personally.
"I've been busy helping everyone refine Heart Demons for the past two months and haven't had time to delve deeper into the Flaming Phoenix Blood. Now's my chance..." Li Chunjun glanced down at the dying Lesser Thousand World beneath him.
Even if his cultivation went awry and he had to destroy this place, it wouldn't matter much.
Focusing his Heart-Mind, he began to delve deeper into the Flaming Phoenix Power and the power of his Destruction Dao Body. As he did so, his Heart-Mind seemed to slip into a peculiar state once more, his spiritual realm resonating with that of some great life form.
In this resonant connection, Li Chunjun's consciousness was rapidly drawn upward, relentlessly soaring toward the origin of his bloodline—that colossal entity so magnificent that even a single feather shone with the brilliance of a star.
The Innate Divine Being, the Undying Flaming Phoenix.
Unlike his previous near-miss, this time Li Chunjun not only sensed this magnificent life form but also felt as if he were...
...on the verge of grasping the fundamental essence of the power emanating from it.
This power resembled both the mind and the laws of nature, yet transcended both Mind Power and Dao Power in its profound mystery.
It seemed to embody the very essence of all existence, the foundational principle upon which the cosmos itself was forged.
This was the Great Dao!
Protected by the Undying Flaming Phoenix power within him, Li Chunjun wasn't crushed by this force. Instead, contact with it left an indelible mark upon his being:
The Flame Phoenix Mark!
A unique trace born from the Fourth Transformation of the Flaming Phoenix Bloodline.
The very essence of this mark reached directly into the Great Dao!
Even a mere glimpse of its true nature could assist cultivators in establishing a solid foundation in both the Dao and their mental fortitude.
This foundation manifests as Sword Intent.
"No wonder every being who unlocks the Flaming Phoenix Bloodline to the Fourth Transformation can invariably cultivate Sword Intent... The essence of the Flame Phoenix Mark is truly astonishing..." Li Chunjun marveled inwardly.
As he basked in this profound sensation, the mark on his body grew increasingly distinct.
The mark solidified from an ethereal presence, marking the Fifth Transformation.
The solid mark then ignited, forming either the Flames of Life or the Flames of Destruction—the Sixth Transformation!
And the Seventh Transformation...
It would directly manifest the fundamental essence of the Destruction Dao or the Life Law!
Possessing this sliver of essence would effectively transform the cultivator into half a Destruction Dao Body and half a Life Dao Body.
Comprehending these two Daos would become twice as efficient.
They would then be considered future seeds of Void Refinement!
Li Chunjun's Mind Power was exceptionally resilient. Even as he bathed in the radiant light of the Great Dao of Destruction and the Great Dao of Life, he remained completely unaffected.
As Li Chunjun drew closer to the Undying Flaming Phoenix, he resonated with the Great Dao of Destruction and, leveraging the advantages of his Destruction Dao Body, directly ignited the Flame Phoenix Mark on his body.
The instant the Flame Phoenix Mark flared to life, faint ripples emanated from ahead. These ripples were composed of two distinct forces: the power of Destruction and the power of Life.
Though fundamentally opposed, these energies coalesced perfectly on the Undying Flaming Phoenix's surface, forming a chain that stretched across Li Chunjun's path.
In that moment, Li Chunjun seemed to realize something.
"What a pity," he murmured inwardly, regret tinging his voice.
If his primary Dao, aside from the Great Dao of Destruction, had been the Great Dao of Life rather than the Great Dao of Void, his exceptional mental resilience would have easily allowed him to refine the Flaming Phoenix Blood to the seventh transformation.
But fate had other plans.
He had never fully embraced the Flaming Phoenix Bloodline, and instead of cultivating the Void Refinement Chapter of the Flaming Phoenix Chaos Scripture, he had chosen to practice the Great Void Kunpeng Art. Under these circumstances, he had inevitably stalled at the seventh transformation barrier.
Unless Li Chunjun achieved a monumental breakthrough in the Great Dao of Destruction or ascended to a higher realm of Mind Power, his sixth-revolution Flaming Phoenix Power would remain his limit for the foreseeable future.
"Sixth revolution... it's enough for now," Li Chunjun murmured.
The power contained within the Flaming Phoenix Blood was sufficient for three Nirvana transformations. These three transformations would more than suffice to fully refine the Gold Fusion into the Scarlet Sky Sword. If all went smoothly, the sword might even absorb seventy to eighty percent of the Primordial Dao Rhythm from the Eternal Light.
"Now, it's time to purify my Heart Demon while undergoing Nirvana transformations," Li Chunjun resolved, acclimating himself to the changes in his Flaming Phoenix Power.
The Blazing Phoenix Sword Qi had grown considerably stronger, but compared to the sheer volume of Essence Qi he now possessed, it seemed insignificant.
It was like comparing striking someone with a ten-thousand-ton block of iron to striking them with a ten-thousand-ton block of iron heated to a hundred degrees Celsius. Those who could withstand the weight wouldn't care about the added heat, and those who couldn't survive the heat wouldn't need the full ten-thousand-ton force to crush them.
Five days later, Su Fang and his group arrived at the Divine Race's Lesser Thousand World aboard their warship.
Li Chunjun showed no restraint when dealing with this Divine Race Small World.
After Su Fang provided the coordinates, he immediately activated the Void Bridge, maximizing the destructive power of this dao technique.
In an instant, he traversed nearly twenty billion li, unleashing a torrent of Void Power that slammed into the Divine Race's Lesser Thousand World.
Though his acceleration distance was less than twenty billion li, the full release of the Void Bridge's destructive force carved a colossal crater into the world—a gaping wound visible even from Su Fang's warship in space.
The crater spanned over three thousand li (approximately fifteen hundred kilometers).
But more terrifying...
As the crater formed, countless flames erupted, radiating outward in all directions like a resplendent belt of light.
Ten thousand li, thirty thousand li, one hundred thousand li, three hundred thousand li...
In less than a minute, this blazing firestorm had engulfed the entire Divine Race's Lesser Thousand World, first illuminating every corner with a hellish glow, then reducing those regions to charred ash.
Even within the ash, faint, flickering sparks lingered.
The horrifying spectacle left Su Fang and his crew on the orbiting warship breathless, their gazes fixed in awe and terror.
Annihilation!
This was a mass extinction even more terrifying than the previous destruction of the Hong Clan's Lesser Thousand World and the Wood Spirit Clan's Heart Demons.
One strike!
Nearly all Divine Race Believers within the entire Lesser Thousand World...
...annihilated.
(End of the Chapter)
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