Mu Qingran rises higher, the phantom light of his *full Holy Crown* blazing behind him.
His golden–white radiance sweeps across the torn heavens, calming the roaring laws for a brief moment.
He looks at Xiao Yun and Lin Yong—both wounded, both gritting their teeth as their damaged concepts struggle to stabilise—
and he gives them a gentle, respectful nod.
"*Seniors… allow me to handle him.*"
His voice is soft, almost serene.
Yet with each word, the sky trembles.
Xiao Yun and Lin Yong meet his eyes.
In Mu Qingran, they sense something they themselves do not yet have—
a *complete anchor*,
a *perfect crown*,
a *will recognised by the world itself*.
They step back, not in retreat, but in acknowledgement.
The Ancient Divine Leader laughs sharply, scales glinting.
"Another insect comes forth?"
Mu Qingran doesn't answer.
He moves.
A single step,
And the sky is filled with light.
### *Mu Qingran's First Strike*
His palms come together—
the *Buddha Seal* forms instantly.
"*Eight-Fold Pure World—Annihilation Palm.*"
A blazing mandala of white–gold descends,
each ring humming with scripture-like runes.
The attack slams into the Ancient Divine Leader,
shattering a dozen floating continents beneath the blast.
The void shakes.
Laws tremble.
Even Xiao Yun and Lin Yong can barely watch the impact.
When the light clears, the Ancient Divine Leader stands surrounded by drifting smoke,
armour cracked, golden tail thrashing violently behind him.
A long, thin cut bleeds across his chest.
He growls.
"You are… not simple, insect."
Mu Qingran floats silently, eyes calm like a lake at dawn.
The Ancient Divine Leader raises his hand.
The third eye on his forehead bursts open—
releasing a beam of condensed law that splits the sky.
"*Divine Eye—Law-Severing Ray!*"
Mu Qingran raises his fingers.
A lotus of pure white appears.
"*Lotus of Unbound Mercy.*"
The beam crashes into the lotus.
The lotus shatters.
The beam fractures—
losing half its power before reaching Mu Qingran
and dispersing harmlessly across the sky.
The Ancient Divine Leader's eyes narrow.
"You can block my divine eye…?
You're more dangerous than those two."
He gestures at Xiao Yun and Lin Yong.
### *Mu Qingran's Aura Expands*
The heavens split open.
Behind Mu Qingran,
a towering figure of pure golden-white radiance forms—
*the Bodhisattva Avatar*,
Eight arms folded in different mudras.
Light rains from the figure like a monsoon.
Mu Qingran speaks softly,
voice echoing across all continents:
"**I walk the middle path of purity and wrath.
For every life you crushed…
for every spirit your race devoured…
Your karma stands before me.
Today…**"
He raises his hand.
"*I collect it.*"
### *Mu Qingran's Second Strike*
All eight arms of the avatar move simultaneously.
"*Tathagata Vajra Cycle — Eighteen Rings of Final Judgment!*"
Golden rings manifest.
Each ring carries its own law—
fire, water, time, space, light, shadow, destruction, silence…
The eighteen rings slam into the Ancient Divine Leader in a cascading chain.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Each impact tears through the void,
rupturing continents,
turning mountains into dust,
sending waves of torn laws spiralling through the world.
The Ancient Divine Leader staggers,
spitting blood.
But he doesn't fall.
Instead, he laughs—
harsh and sharp.
"Impressive.
Truly impressive.
A Holy Buddha Lord born in a small world."
His aura ignites.
The complete golden–white phantom crown above him rotates faster,
drawing in laws from all directions.
"BUT—"
He spreads his arms.
"**You are only an Early Crown Realm.
You are not enough to erase me.**"
The sky dims.
The void churns.
The world shudders.
Xiao Yun and Lin Yong step forward despite their wounds,
ready to join the fight once more.
But Mu Qingran raises a hand.
He smiles.
"Senior brothers…
trust me."
He steps forward again.
The battle is far from over—
And the next exchange will shake the Great Thousand Spiritual World to its core.
He charges.
His Buddha light erupts, illuminating half the Great Thousand Spiritual World.
The Phantom Crown above his head turns brighter, more solid, as countless prayers rush into him.
The Ancient Divine Leader, towering and monstrous, braces himself—
But he is forced backwards.
Step by step.
Strike by strike.
Seal by seal.
Every palm Mu Qingran lands tears apart continents,
collapses entire floating belts of mountains,
and sends space rippling like shattered mirrors.
Beneath them, mortals and cultivators scatter, fleeing as landscapes crumble.
But the Ancient Divine Leader is pushed relentlessly toward the outer boundary of the world.
The world will respond.
The phantom crown above Mu Qingran shifts—
its golden edges hardening,
its shape stabilising—
slowly turning into a Virtual Crown,
a stage beyond the Phantom Crown realm.
The Ancient Divine Leader grits his teeth,
dragging deep scars through the sky as he is forced into the outer layer—
the thin boundary between the world's sky
and the endless void.
There, floating above the atmosphere,
with the void swirling beneath his feet,
The ancient divine leader suddenly stops resisting.
And he smiles.
A chilling, knowing smile.
"Do you know why I allowed myself to be sealed?"
Mu Qingran pauses mid-strike, his robes fluttering in divine wind.
"What do you mean?"
The Ancient Divine Leader's golden tail sways behind him,
His third eye is opening wider.
"My realm," he says,
"was higher than Zhou Feiyun's."
Mu Qingran's eyes widen.
Everyone in the world believed Zhou Feiyun—the Heavenly Emperor—had barely managed to seal him through sacrifice.
The Ancient Divine Leader continues, voice calm and cruel:
"He could never defeat me in direct combat.
And yet he sealed me."
His dragon-scale armour glows with faint golden light.
"Do you not find it strange?"
Mu Qingran's heart tightens.
A subtle tremor races through the world's barrier.
The Ancient Divine Leader stretches out his arms.
"Let me show you… the true reason."
The world itself trembles.
World power—
the lifeblood of the Great Thousand Spiritual World—
begins to flood into the Ancient Divine Leader's body.
Streams of mountain-qi, river-qi, star-qi,
And countless mortal prayers flow toward him uncontrollably.
Mu Qingran's eyes widen.
"Impossible! The world should never aid you—!"
The Ancient Divine Leader laughs,
an echo that shakes sky and void alike.
"Zhou Feiyun never sealed me."
His scales brighten, divine aura expanding.
"I sealed myself."
The energy continues pouring in.
Above his head, the Phantom Crown swells and cracks apart—
then reforms—
not as a phantom anymore,
But as a Half-Virtual Crown,
a realm above Mu Qingran's current stage.
Mu Qingran takes a half-step back,
golden light dimming as he tightens his stance.
The Ancient Divine Leader spreads his arms wide,
gathering more and more stolen world power.
"Now…
let me reclaim what was always mine."
The void rumbles.
Mu Qingran realises—
This battle has become something far beyond a simple clash of saints.
It has become a fight for the fate of the entire Great Thousand Spiritual World.
Mu Qingran fights on despite the sudden disadvantage.
The Ancient Divine Leader, empowered by the world's own power, surges forward—
phantom crown shifting, half-turning into a virtual crown, radiating destructive law-pressure.
Even so, Mu Qingran does not retreat.
His Buddha light roars like thunder.
His golden staff arcs across the sky, smashing laws into ripples.
He meets the Ancient Divine Leader head-on,
matching force with force,
concept with concept,
law-string with law-string.
Still—
The pressure grows.
His golden palms begin to crack.
The light of his Buddha domain flickers.
But he does not fall.
Instead, he grits his teeth and pushes harder.
At that moment—
Two auras explode behind him.
Xiao Yun and Lin Yong return.
Their crowns glow again—
half-golden, half-crimson—
and the injuries on their concepts are already healing,
burning with the will of the world and their own unwavering determination.
They appear beside Mu Qingran without needing words.
Xiao Yun:
"We fight together."
Lin Yong:
"We end him here."
They step forward in unison.
Three crowns—
one golden-white,
one gold-crimson,
one crimson-gold—
flare in the heavens.
Buddha light, sword light, and war light coil around one another, intertwining into a storm of law-force that pushes back even the world-tainted aura of the Ancient Divine Leader.
The Ancient Divine Leader narrows his third eye,
shock flickering within the cold pupils.
"You three…"
His voice vibrates the entire outer world barrier.
"…are still fighting?
Even after seeing a fraction of my power?"
Xiao Yun steps forward, golden fire swirling around him.
"So what?"
Lin Yong's war aura shakes the sky.
"Power doesn't matter.
Will does."
Mu Qingran raises his golden staff.
"The Buddha does not retreat."
Together—
They charge.
Three newly risen crown-bearers,
three concepts blazing,
Three destinies woven into one strike.
Their combined force smashes into the Ancient Divine Leader,
tearing open the sky between world and void,
sending waves of shattered laws across both realms.
The battle resumes—
more violent,
more desperate,
more catastrophic than before.
And this time—
They fight as one.
Across the shattered world,
the ordinary people, mortals, cultivators, beasts, spirits, sects, clans…
All see the battle in the heavens.
They kneel.
They bow.
They cry.
They scream.
They pray.
Please save us!
Please protect our world!
Please let our heroes win!
Please—please—please—
Ten thousand voices.
One million voices.
One billion voices.
The world listens.
The banner appears again in the sky—
this time brighter,
heavier,
filled with overwhelming will.
It shakes violently.
A tide of world faith descends like a golden ocean.
Xiao Yun's broken crown glows.
Lin Yong's trembling crown rises.
Their phantom crowns mend.
Expand.
Solidify in shape and presence.
And then—
Both crowns become complete phantom crowns.
Power surges into them—
a tidal wave of law,
faith,
will,
and resonance with the world.
Their concepts roar—
Fire Emperor ignites the sky again,
Battle Martial Emperor regenerates from the sea of blood.
Mu Qingran receives less faith than Xiao Yun and Lin Yong.
but still,
His crown transforms further—
from half-phantom to—
Half-virtual,
matching the Ancient Divine Leader's stage.
Three crowns blaze.
The world's sky becomes three-colored—gold, crimson, and silver.
Xiao Yun steps forward.
Lin Yong steps forward.
Mu Qingran steps forward.
They march like three emperors of laws.
And together—
They strike.
Their combined force breaks through the Ancient Divine Leader's defence,
shattering the Scale Wings,
ripping apart Dragon Pulse,
and forcing the titan of the Ancient Divine Race
to stagger back for the first time.
Shock flashes in the Ancient Divine Leader's third eye.
He whispers:
"Impossible."
Xiao Yun's golden crown spins above him like a sun.
Lin Yong's crimson crown burns like a battlefield.
Mu Qingran's half-virtual crown radiates a budding divinity.
Three voices echo together:
"Today…
You fall."
The world shakes—
And the true clash begins.
Mu Qingran, Xiao Yun, and Lin Yong surge forward together,
their crowns blazing with world-will,
Their laws are tearing open the sky and the earth.
The Ancient Divine Leader snarls,
realising the tide is turning.
His scales crack.
Golden blood leaks.
His half-virtual crown flickers.
For the first time, fear touches his eyes.
And then—
He makes the choice that every Ancient Divine fears.
He extends his arms wide,
His third eye snapped open into a vortex of crimson light.
"BLOOD SACRIFICE TECHNIQUE!"
The words shake heaven and earth.
A deep, horrifying rumble echoes across the fractured continents of the Ancient Divine race.
One by one—
from Dao Saints to soldiers to children—
Every Ancient Divine trembles.
Then screams begin.
Crimson fire erupts from inside every member of the Ancient Divine race—
saints, warriors, civilians, and infants.
They ignite from within,
their bodies burning away in silent agony,
and all that fire—
all that life—
streams upward
as rivers of blood-flame.
The blood-flame surges through the void,
funnelling into the leader's body.
His golden-white phantom crown twists—
shatters—
and reforms into a glorious, fully virtual crown,
perfect, complete, and tyrannical.
The Ancient Divine Leader rises higher,
power rising like a crimson star.
"I…
have stepped into the Virtual Crown Realm."
Even Xiao Yun, Lin Yong, and Mu Qingran feel the pressure—
world-crushing, star-devouring.
But together, they stand.
And even if the Ancient Divine Leader has advanced,
The three crowns combined
still gain the advantage,
Their synchronisation is pushing him backwards.
The sky turns upside down.
The void cracks open.
Laws scream as the battle continues across continents and oceans.
Months pass.
The heavens tremble daily.
Thousands of mountains collapse.
Seas evaporate and reform.
The Great Thousand Spiritual World strains under the endless war.
Still—
no result.
Finally, on the shattered outer layer of the world,
The Ancient Divine Leader shouts:
"Enough!
You three…
How about we call a truce?"
They say nothing.
He spits golden blood and laughs.
"If we continue—
This world will suffer permanent damage."
They hesitate.
A damaged world could collapse,
destroying everything they fought to protect.
Seeing doubt, the Ancient Divine Leader speaks again:
"I swear on my crown—
I will leave this world.
I will no longer interfere."
Xiao Yun, Lin Yong, and Mu Qingran exchange silent glances.
They are weary, wounded, and torn.
A truce… might truly save the world.
They open their mouths to speak—
But suddenly—
"NO!!"
A voice erupts across heaven and earth.
Ancient.
Majestic.
Undying.
The World Will tremble
as golden clouds gather across the sky.
A figure descends—
formed from pure world power,
radiant, solemn, undefeatable.
Scales of light.
Dragon wings of qi.
A sword of heaven in his hand.
Xiao Yun's breath stops.
Mu Qingran's eyes widen.
All of the Great Thousand Spiritual World kneels instinctively.
Because the one who appears…
The one that the world will shape…
The one whose legend sealed the Ancient Divine Leader…
Is Zhou Feiyun?
The Heavenly Emperor.
The Saviour of a millennium era.
And he is still alive.
The Ancient Divine Leader turns pale.
"You…
Impossible.
You should be dead."
Zhou Feiyun steps forward, world-will surging like a tidal wave behind him.
A white–gold palm tears open the sky
and slams into Zhou Feiyun's devouring form,
shattering the vortex of destruction in one blow.
Zhou Feiyun staggers back, howling,
"WHO?!"
A figure steps out of the void—
calm, steady, terrifying.
Xiao Yun and Lin Yong both shout at the same time:
"Lin Yu!"
Lin Yu nods to them, expression firm,
Then turns his gaze toward Zhou Feiyun.
Zhou Feiyun's face twists into madness.
He senses it immediately—
Lin Yu stands in the Half–True Crown Realm,
The same level Zhou Feiyun barely reached through self-sacrifice.
The two clash.
Their crowns collide—
White-gold against black vortex—
and the void ripples like shattered glass.
Moments later, it becomes clear:
Zhou Feiyun is no match.
He tries negotiating, his voice trembling with greed:
"Let's stop!
You cannot kill me without destroying this world!
Let me go—
I'll even allow you to take the chosen ones!"
Lin Yu smiles.
A small, terrifying smile.
"Who said… I need this world intact?"
A shadow falls over the heavens.
From the void,
An entire world descends
like a second moon slamming toward the Great Thousand Spiritual World.
The ground shakes.
Space screams.
Chen Nan, Xiao Yun, Lin Yong, Mu Qingran—
Everyone looks up in disbelief.
It is the Dead World.
No—
It has already been reforged, merged, and reborn.
The Immortal Demon World.
Lin Yu speaks calmly:
"After conquering the Immortal and Demon world cluster,
I forged them into one.
Then I merged that world with the Living Realm.
The combined world grew…
and became far larger than the Dead Realm."
The fused world descends like a god's hammer,
pressing the Great Thousand Spiritual World from above,
trapping Zhou Feiyun in a cage of two world wills.
The wills resonate.
The sky rumbles with eternal authority.
Because of that merger,
Lin Yu's cultivation soared—
through Phantom Crown,
Then, by devouring the Weird Concept
into the Half-Step Virtual Crown,
and by refining the merged world
into a Middle World,
He stepped into Half-Step True Crown.
Now the two worlds will roar together,
Their combined power slammed into Zhou Feiyun.
Lin Yu lifts a hand.
"Devour."
A vortex forms—
but not Zhou Feiyun's devouring,
not his wild, twisted hunger.
This vortex is stable.
Absolute.
Perfect.
Mu Qingran, Xiao Yun, and Lin Yong join their crowns with Lin Yu's attack.
The three great crowns lock Zhou Feiyun in place,
while the Immortal Demon World's will pours down like a sun.
Zhou Feiyun screams—
a sound that shakes both worlds—
As Lin Yu devours him completely.
The moment Zhou Feiyun is erased,
The void trembles.
Lin Yu ascends into the True Crown Realm.
His crown erupts into full brilliance,
and the laws of the world bow before him.
Then—
He suddenly stiffens.
A pull tugs at him from above,
a cosmic force he cannot resist.
The pressure is so strong that even a True Crown cannot escape it.
Lin Yu's expression tightens.
"Ascension…"
He only has a moment—
a single heartbeat—
before everything collapses upward.
At that instant,
He gathers every remaining wisp of faith
from all the worlds,
all the followers,
all the descendants he sent across the void.
With that sea of faith,
He condenses a final Faith Clone.
It takes form—
a white silhouette in his own image—
just as the pull of ascension rips his true body upward.
Lin Yu looks at Xiao Yun, Lin Yong, Mu Qingran—
all stunned, all breathless—
And then—
He ascends.
His true form disappears into the higher cosmos.
His faith clone remains behind,
smiling faintly as the light fades.
A new era begins.