Chapter 616: The First Move in Seven Hundred Thousand Years

The Black Fog Sea, Dongbo Imperial Manor.

Jing Qiu and Dongbo Yu looked at Dongbo Xueying and the Redfire Patriarch with confusion.

“Father, Patriarch, what exactly happened?” Dongbo Yu couldn’t help but ask.

“A minor nuisance,” Dongbo Xueying frowned.

The Redfire Patriarch, however, appeared anxious and pale. Within moments, he seemed utterly drained. Looking at Dongbo Xueying, he whispered weakly, “Xueying, it’s my fault for failing to protect the Solar Star Core Stone. The responsibility lies entirely with me. If you ever need to repay Lianjun Star Lord for the Solar Star Core Stone, I will bear the burden.” His voice was faint, for he knew—how could he possibly repay such a priceless treasure?

“My apologies… my deepest apologies,” the Redfire Patriarch murmured, his heart filled with resentment, guilt, and regret. He even questioned why he had sought Dongbo Xueying’s help in the first place. Had he not involved him, none of this would have happened. Now, how could Dongbo Xueying possibly repay the Solar Star Core Stone?

“This has nothing to do with you,” Dongbo Xueying said coldly. “This is between me and the Bamboo Sage. I claimed it as mine, yet he dared to steal it!”

“Jing Qiu, Yu’er, I must leave for a while,” Dongbo Xueying announced.

“Understood,” Dongbo Yu replied.

“Be careful,” Jing Qiu urged, already guessing his intentions.

“Don’t worry. A mere Bamboo Sage is nothing to me,” Dongbo Xueying grinned.

*Boom!*

He shot into the sky and vanished.

The Redfire Patriarch watched him leave, fists clenched, his heart seething with frustration. The Bamboo Sage’s mocking words echoed endlessly in his mind—*”Who told you to be weak?”*—gnawing at his soul like countless insects. Guilt toward Dongbo Xueying and fury toward the Bamboo Sage warred within him.

—

In a remote corner of the Divine Realm, atop the vast Ink Bamboo Continent, amidst sprawling palaces, the Bamboo Sage stroked a black bamboo stalk with a pleased smile.

“Who would have thought? From an ordinary Great Power like the Redfire Patriarch, I’ve obtained not one, but two Solar Star Core Stones. Hahaha! My luck is truly peerless! Once I present the second one to the Sect Master, who knows what rewards await?”

Suddenly, his expression shifted. He looked up, his gaze piercing the void to see a spatial rift tearing open above the continent. From it emerged a black-clad youth, his aura of slaughter flooding the skies.

The Bamboo Sage narrowed his eyes.

“Dongbo Xueying… So he actually came?”

He mused to himself.

On the Cosmic Deva-Demon Ranking, he was fifty-third, while Dongbo Xueying was fifty-second—their strength was comparable. Moreover, he was in his own domain. In his view, even if Dongbo Xueying attacked, it would be a futile effort, posing no real threat. Given Xueying’s intelligence, he doubted the man would be foolish enough to charge in recklessly.

Yet here he was.

“Huocheng the Flamewing isn’t with him,” the Bamboo Sage confirmed through karmic senses.

“Just him alone?” The Bamboo Sage smirked. “Has rage addled his mind?”

—

Stepping out of the spatial rift, Dongbo Xueying’s murderous aura blazed. His cold eyes surveyed the continent, where countless black bamboo stalks exuded an eerie, chilling presence.

“Bamboo Sage!” His voice boomed, amplified by the world’s energy to blanket the entire Ink Bamboo Continent.

“Bamboo Sage!” “Bamboo Sage!” “Bamboo Sage!”

The furious roar echoed endlessly, shaking the land. Many of the Bamboo Sage’s subordinates trembled, their legs giving way beneath the overwhelming will infused in the voice. Some weaker ones collapsed unconscious on the spot.

“Isn’t this the Dongbo Emperor?” A figure flashed into the sky, standing opposite Dongbo Xueying—a black-robed, dark-skinned man with intricate facial markings. The Bamboo Sage grinned. “Did losing a Solar Star Core Stone drive you to such recklessness? Dongbo Xueying, perhaps you overestimate yourself. Leave now, lest you humiliate yourself further.”

Dongbo Xueying’s fury burned hotter.

Seventy thousand years of cultivation.

He had thought his temper tempered to serenity, yet the Bamboo Sage had ignited his wrath anew.

Twice now, this man had stolen Solar Star Core Stones, flaunting his arrogance. Such a cultivator was beneath contempt—scum even among mortals, evil to the bone, yet blind to his own wickedness. Normally, Dongbo Xueying would ignore such filth, for the Abyss teemed with worse. But when someone spat in his face, he would not endure it.

“Old friend,” Dongbo Xueying murmured, flipping his hand to summon a crimson spear—the ‘Redcloud Spear,’ a blood-forged divine weapon nurtured to the pinnacle of World God artifacts. After eons of refinement, its power far surpassed ordinary World God arms, barely a step below a True God weapon.

“After seventy millennia… it’s time to kill again.”

Killing intent gleamed in his eyes.

As a mortal youth, he had slaughtered in the Ruin Mountains. Though age and power had mellowed him, his blade remained swift when needed.

“You truly dare?” The Bamboo Sage’s smirk faltered. “I thought you came to bluster and bargain. Yet after barely a word, you draw your weapon?”

“Dongbo Emperor, this is my domain. You cannot touch me,” the Bamboo Sage declared.

“Is that so?”

Dongbo Xueying’s voice was low. “Let’s test that.”

The Bamboo Sage’s face twisted. So be it.

“My formation was laid by my elder brother. Though he is but an average Venerable, his full-powered formation may not stop a Venerable, but it will certainly hold you.” The Bamboo Sage glared. “I’ve tested it myself—you cannot breach it.”

Dongbo Xueying met his gaze, then gripped his spear with both hands and swung.

*Boom—*

The Redcloud Spear expanded mid-swing, stretching across billions of miles like a celestial pillar. As it descended, the phantom of an immense landmass materialized around it—a continent vaster than the Ink Bamboo below, its shadow laced with countless black tendrils radiating crushing pressure.

The Bamboo Sage’s heart chilled.

“My first strike in seventy thousand years.”

Within Dongbo Xueying, Taihao Power surged. Unlike most energies, Taihao Power weakened outside the body but grew devastating when channeled through flesh. His physique, honed by the *Annihilation Primordial Body*, was monstrously strong—even at Three-Headed Divine Mountain, he had overpowered Qihai the Sea Emperor.

Now, his Taihao Power had reached the Fourth Revolution.

Taihao Power and the Annihilation Primordial Body were equals, synergizing perfectly. Energy and matter united, making him far stronger than during his Three-Headed Divine Mountain days.

Most crucially, seventy millennia of cultivation—far longer than his entire life before—had refined him. He had mastered all nine Divine Hearts, standing equal to Great Powers in insight, lacking only the final step of grasping a complete Heavenly Dao. Though he avoided chasing raw power elsewhere, he had poured everything into the *World Mysteries*—the path both he and Bloodblade the Divine Emperor deemed ideal for him to unify all laws under a single Heavenly Dao.

Seventy thousand years.

Accelerated time. The black feather. The tattered scroll. His genius had birthed five supreme techniques of the World Mysteries—each a peerless move even among quasi-Venerables. Thus, the gaps in his comprehension from Three-Headed Divine Mountain were now sealed.

This spear technique was one of those five—*Black Feather Continent’s Descent*.