Clearly, the Imperial Pass was in dire straits. Two supreme experts, Wang Changsheng and Meng Tianzheng, were targeted by the Imperial Clan, besieged by their forces, and marked for execution.
This, however, eased the pressure on the other supreme beings of the Nine Heavens. With the main force focused on suppressing Wang Changsheng and Meng Tianzheng, they were temporarily spared from life-threatening peril.
But this was only a momentary respite. Once Wang Changsheng and Meng Tianzheng fell, the battle would be decided, and they would all be doomed.
“Too weak.”
“Wipe them all out.”
Someone murmured with hostility, radiating terrifying fluctuations as they led the remaining supreme beings to attack those defending the Imperial Pass.
An Imperial Clan member!
The defenders’ hearts sank—the worst had come to pass. A third Imperial Clan expert had arrived, tasked with their annihilation.
The Other Side had mobilized too many powerhouses for this battle, even deploying the Imperial Clan!
Including the one suppressed earlier by Meng Tianzheng on the Grand Dao chessboard, that made four Imperial Clan supreme beings!
“So feeble, yet you dare resist? None shall escape.” The Imperial Clan cultivator spoke lightly, unhurried, advancing step by step.
Yet, with each step, terrifying ripples manifested in the heavens. His footfalls upon the starry void were like stepping on water, sending out waves—symbols of the Grand Dao.
These symbols rippled outward, shaking the cosmos and oppressing all directions!
Not far away, a female supreme being from the Nine Heavens shuddered violently. She was under attack and swiftly retreated.
But other supreme beings from the Other Side closed in, blocking her escape.
“Futile. Your end is here. No one can save you now.” The Imperial Clan expert spoke coldly. He appeared young, in his twenties, but his eyes held the weight of countless years.
Meanwhile, the ripples beneath his feet intensified, spreading outward with thunderous force, shattering the surrounding void.
The elderly female supreme being, already grievously wounded and nearly fallen in the decisive battle, staggered, blood trickling from her lips.
Her white hair was streaked with blood—some from enemies, some from her own wounds. She swayed unsteadily.
“Pfft!”
As the Imperial Clan expert drew near, the female supreme coughed up a mouthful of blood, her face paling as she nearly collapsed into the void.
How could this be? The terror of the Imperial Clan had reached such heights?
“That’s the Nine Steps to Immortal Trampling—beware!” an aged supreme shouted from afar.
All the defenders at the Imperial Pass were veterans, survivors of past eras. But without the hope of immortality, they were now withered, their vitality drained, no longer at their peak.
“Futile. Nine steps, and your journey ends.” The Imperial Clan expert spoke indifferently, continuing his advance.
The Nine Steps to Immortal Trampling—its name alone spoke of its might, a peerless technique that shook the ages.
“Kill!”
The female supreme roared, knowing the situation was dire. She had to fight with everything she had, or she might never get another chance.
In an instant, radiant light flooded the heavens, drowning out the shattered stars in brilliance.
She was unleashing her full power against the Imperial Clan expert.
But it was too late. Already severely wounded, she was no match for the Imperial Clan’s full might.
“Fifth step… sixth step…”
The Imperial Clan expert counted his steps aloud. By the eighth, the heavens shattered, divine light surging like a tsunami, dispersing all of the female supreme’s techniques.
The ripples beneath the stars intensified, shaking her violently. Blood sprayed from her lips as cracks spread across her body—suppressed by the Grand Dao itself.
“Bang!”
Finally, her body fractured, multiple parts exploding in a gruesome spectacle.
“Time to depart.”
The Imperial Clan expert spoke coldly, summoning a blood-red demonic blade. With a hum, he swung it forward.
Though the female supreme resisted with all her might, it was futile. Her head flew, her soul obliterated.
The sight stunned all who witnessed it.
“Few remain. I shall send you all on your way.” The Imperial Clan expert declared emotionlessly, his gaze piercing the survivors.
“Ah—!”
A distant howl echoed—Meng Tianzheng, trapped within a formation, struggled violently to break free.
His eyes were bloodshot, having witnessed the fall of one supreme after another from the Nine Heavens.
These were his old comrades, united in purpose. To watch them die helplessly filled him with grief and fury, like a caged beast.
“When will you awaken? Revive, O battleblood of old!”
Meng Tianzheng lowered his head, murmuring to the great bow in his hands, as if chanting an ancient incantation to unleash something sealed within.
But despite his efforts, the bloodstained bow remained inert.
“Meng Tianzheng, you cannot escape. Your end is near!”
The Imperial Clan expert leading the assault against him rallied his forces, pouring their power into the formation to annihilate him utterly.
“A lifetime of cultivation, nurtured till now…”
Meng Tianzheng’s body blazed with light as he withstood their attacks. Had he not mastered the supreme mysteries of the Indestructible Scripture, he would have perished long ago.
To think—an Imperial Clan expert leading multiple supremes was refining him within a formation! Such a sight was unimaginable!
Only Meng Tianzheng’s unparalleled physique allowed him to endure the torment, to hold on.
Gently, he caressed the bow, regret flashing in his eyes. With a final roar, he mustered all his strength—and began destroying it.
“What is he doing?!”
Everyone was stunned, especially the defenders of the Imperial Pass, who watched in horror and confusion.
Meng Tianzheng was shattering his own supreme weapon!
This bow had been with him since before his rise, felling countless foes.
But after his path of “using the body as a seed” went awry, leaving him half-crippled, the bow too was damaged, vanishing from the world for ages.
Now returned, it had slain supremes with unmatched might. It should have been his most treasured weapon—why destroy it?
“Boom!”
With a final exertion, Meng Tianzheng snapped the bow in half—and from it spilled drops of blood, soaking into his body. He roared, his expression twisted with sorrow.
Why did the bow bleed?
Even the Other Side’s cultivators were baffled.
“Your Dao fruit, your achievements—all were within this bow. So that’s it. When your body and bow were ruined, you buried them, yet they birthed the vitality of the Grand Dao.” Wang Changsheng murmured in realization from afar.
Within the bow lay flesh, blood, even bones!
For beings of this level, containing a universe within a grain was no feat.
The bow held another world!
Faintly, a figure could be seen within—a young man, now torn apart as the bow broke, his growth interrupted, his body dripping blood.
“The Meng Tianzheng of old, his path—it still exists!” An aged supreme trembled, his voice thick with emotion.
“Back then, they said he was ruined, doomed to die. Yet he rose again. He severed his crippled body, sealing part of his true spirit within the bow to nurture.”
“Had this Dao fruit matured naturally and merged with his true self, his achievements would have been unimaginable!”
Some began to understand.
The old supremes of the Nine Heavens wore complex expressions.
They knew Meng Tianzheng had made the most painful choice—forcing the divine embryo awake prematurely by breaking the bow.
Drop by drop, true blood merged with his body. Meng Tianzheng’s aura surged, a terrifying presence swelling across the starry void!
“Did he… intend to ascend to immortality this way?” The Imperial Clan expert’s pupils contracted, his heart pounding. Even without knowing Meng Tianzheng’s past, he sensed the gravity of this moment.
“Quickly, kill him together!” the Imperial Clan expert roared, unwilling to risk any surprises.
But it was too late.
A vast aura erupted as Meng Tianzheng, wielding the blood-dripping bow, shattered the formation with a single step.
“Boom!”
He swung the broken bow like a divine weapon.
“Pfft!”
In an instant, a supreme being exploded, annihilated on the spot.
To gain strength now, Meng Tianzheng had sacrificed his future—forcing the divine embryo’s premature birth, its essence merging with him.
The path ahead was now shrouded in darkness, a tragic and regretful outcome.
But his power had indeed skyrocketed. Like a war god unchained, none could stop him now. His blood energy roiled, threatening to burst the heavens.
Faintly, the light of immortality radiated from him, illuminating the cosmos!
“Has he… stepped into the immortal realm?” The Imperial Clan expert was aghast.
And in that moment, Meng Tianzheng arrived. A single step spanned stars and eras—space could not hinder him, time itself seemed to dance.
With a thunderous crash, his fist collided with the Imperial Clan expert’s body.
“Pfft!”
The Imperial Clan expert coughed blood, sent flying with a scream.
“Boom!”
The broken bow descended like divine punishment. Meng Tianzheng, peerless in his might, wielded the weapon he had destroyed himself, striking the Imperial Clan expert before he could evade.
“Bang!”
Blood bloomed as the Imperial Clan expert’s body was severed in two, a rain of gore scattering across the void.
Meng Tianzheng—one foot into the immortal realm, transcending the pinnacle of mortality!
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