Chapter 768: The Black Gourd

The black bird perched on the Divine Emperor Blood Blade’s shoulder suddenly expanded violently, blotting out the sky, its size surpassing stars by millions of times. The Divine Emperor’s figure flickered, splitting into two bodies—both simultaneously activating formations. Two colossal arrays manifested on the wings of the black bird, Fifth Uncle. One wing blazed with flames, while the other radiated icy coldness.

“Boom—!” Fifth Uncle flapped his wings, merging the forces of ice and fire in an instant, unleashing a terrifying wave of destruction that swept forward, annihilating everything in its path.

The combined might of the two avatars, the formations, and the black bird unleashed a power that left onlookers breathless.

Dongbo Xueying, standing nearby, was awestruck. This was the first time he had witnessed his master, the Divine Emperor Blood Blade, exerting his full strength. Though Xueying himself possessed three bodies—his true form and two avatars—they fought independently. In contrast, his master’s two avatars flawlessly coordinated the dual formations, amplifying their destructive potential explosively.

“What a formidable Ruler,” murmured the towering statue ‘Gugan Luo’ within the Chaos Flying Vessel, his expression shifting slightly as he observed from afar. “Without this vessel, even at my peak and armed with other treasures, I might not have been his match. To think such a terrifying Ruler could emerge from this universe—his strength is enough to withstand a few strikes from a Void God.”

A pang of envy stirred within Gugan Luo. His discerning eyes recognized that the ‘black bird’ was merely a unique lifeform, still only at the Ruler level.

Yet, with just one follower, the Divine Emperor Blood Blade could unleash such power. Before the Bone Ancestor, this man would be far more qualified to become a Holy Son than Gugan Luo himself. Of course, it was precisely because his own position was precarious that Gugan Luo had ventured out in desperation.

“Hmph.” Despite his envy, Gugan Luo remained disdainful. “He’s still confined to this universe. Once I obtain the treasures of the Ancestral Mother Cult, I’ll eliminate him as well.”

—

The Divine Emperor Blood Blade alone unleashed an overwhelming assault, while the other five—the Primordial Master, Lady Qianhe, Qing Jun, the Hall Master of Ten Thousand Halls, and Pang Yi—jointly controlled a massive formation, with the Primordial Master at the helm. Each strike from their formation tore open pitch-black rifts, exuding a bone-chilling lethality.

Meanwhile, the Infernal Ruler, Dongbo Xueying, the Abyssal Progenitor, and the Island Master of Time and Space fought independently, as the cultivators lacked sufficient powerful treasures to coordinate.

“Boom—!” Every flap of Fifth Uncle’s wings unleashed waves of devastating destruction.

“Swish—!” The five Rulers, led by the Primordial Master, manipulated their formation, each attack abruptly splitting space as they sought to tear apart the Ancestral Mother Cult.

Though Dongbo Xueying, the Infernal Ruler, and the others also attacked, their strikes paled in comparison, remaining within the bounds of ordinary Ruler-level power—far from threatening the Ancestral Mother Cult.

The Ancestral Mother Cult had three layers of defense.

The first was the Xu Mu Battleship beneath the Sacrificial Tower, its countless roots entwining around the structure for protection.

The second was the Chaos Flying Vessel hovering above the tower, extending its shelter.

The third was the formation Gugan Luo had provided earlier.

“Boom! Boom! Boom—!” “Swish! Swish! Swish—!”

The cultivators’ attacks were ferocious, yet they barely shattered the root barrier. The residual force was effortlessly blocked by the Chaos Flying Vessel’s passive spatial shielding.

“I overestimated them,” Gugan Luo sneered from within the vessel, shaking his head. “I even lent the Ancestral Mother Cult six formations, yet the first two defenses alone sufficed. The formations haven’t even been tested.”

“Hurry!”

“Activate it now!”

The Ancestral Mother Cult’s leaders were frantic, but the gaunt elder before the Sacrificial Tower remained calm, murmuring incantations. The process couldn’t be rushed—it had to proceed step by step.

As the elder continued, the tower’s energy surged, resonating with an immensely distant, supreme existence.

“Ancestral Mother…” The elder smiled beatifically, like a child nestled in its mother’s embrace. He could feel it—the boundless, infinite power before which even a leader like him was but an ant beneath the stars.

“Boom—!”

The Sacrificial Tower erupted with even greater force, synchronizing with the phantom towers appearing across the universe. The resonance stabilized into a rhythm, while the cosmic energy grew increasingly turbulent. Across the Divine Realm, the Material World, and the Dark Abyss, beings found themselves unable to absorb the rampant energy.

“It’s almost done,” the other leaders aboard the Xu Mu Battleship rejoiced.

“What do we do? We can’t break through!” Qing Jun’s expression tightened with urgency.

“That tower is shielded by the battleship, the Chaos Flying Vessel, and an enigmatic formation. We can’t even breach the vessel’s passive defense,” the Primordial Master said grimly.

The Divine Emperor Blood Blade was equally anxious.

What could they do?

The Ancestral Mother Cult needed six Sacrificial Towers to complete their grand ritual and reshape the universe. Each tower required protection, yet they only had one Xu Mu Battleship and one Chaos Flying Vessel—which was why they hadn’t deployed the towers earlier.

But now, with that mysterious formation in place…

The Divine Emperor, a master of formations, recognized its profound and unique nature. “This defensive array is even more formidable than the Xu Mu Battleship and the Chaos Flying Vessel,” he realized.

Though the Chaos Flying Vessel’s true defenses were unparalleled, Gugan Luo was severely injured. He had merely stationed it above the tower, offering rudimentary spatial shielding—far inferior to the formation’s might.

“Such a formation has never appeared before. Its design is alien to the Ancestral Mother Cult’s system—it must be Gugan Luo’s doing,” the Divine Emperor thought desperately. “If he’s intervening, he must be confident in protecting all six towers. What can we do?”

—

The cultivators were outmatched. Their resources paled against the Ancestral Mother Cult’s, let alone Gugan Luo’s.

“The Ancestral Mother…” Dongbo Xueying gazed at the First Sacrificial Tower, its energy rippling across the universe, manifesting phantom towers everywhere. With his mastery over space, he sensed them all. “How tyrannical.”

Upon reaching the eleventh layer of the *Traveler’s Hidden Scripture*—the Ruler realm—one could traverse the Chaos Void. The legacy of the ancient Void Traveler, Gu Qi, had imparted vast knowledge of the Chaos Void, including the Sacred Realm.

Given Gu Qi’s status, the intelligence he provided was immense.

The boundless Chaos Void, the Five Sacred Realms, and the terrifying existences—Ancestral Tianyu, the Sword Lord of Lakeheart Island, the Progenitor of Demon Mountain… These beings had reached the pinnacle of cultivation. The *Traveler’s Hidden Scripture* itself, once mastered beyond the fifty-first layer, would usher one into that ultimate realm.

It was an inconceivable level, with varying degrees of power. The creator of the Void Traveler lineage, for instance, was a being of unmatched might.

Among these ultimate existences, the ‘Ancestral Mother’ stood as an extreme tyrant. Her followers worshipped her exclusively, rejecting all other systems. The Ancestral Mother Altar could harness her power to transform entire universes into her dominion.

Such a being should have been shunned by other ultimate existences, yet the Ancestral Mother remained unchallenged—simply because she was too powerful.

“I have no choice but to use the Black Gourd,” Dongbo Xueying murmured, producing the artifact.

“Dongbo Xueying, are you certain?” the artifact’s spirit transmitted. “I must warn you again—as a Ruler, invoking the Black Gourd’s second-tier power will harm the universe. If unleashed recklessly, you could destroy it entirely.”

“I understand. I’ll control its range carefully,” Xueying replied.

At the Sovereign level, the Black Gourd’s energy had forced even Rulers to retreat.

Now, as a Ruler, the Gourd’s power transcended mere fluctuations—it could repel even nascent Void Gods. Ordinary Void Gods couldn’t withstand it. Such was its terrifying, unrestrained might—precisely what made it a ‘Path-Protecting’ treasure for Void Travelers at the Ruler stage.

“The Black Gourd?”

Gugan Luo and the Ancestral Mother Cult’s leaders, monitoring the battlefield, scoffed. They had witnessed its power before—wild, chaotic fluctuations barely reaching Void God level, inferior even to the Divine Emperor Blood Blade’s strikes. What use was it now?

“Pop.” Dongbo Xueying unsealed the gourd.