It wasn't just Lu Yang who noticed something was wrong.
At this moment, Sword Lord, who was truly facing off against the Primordial Saint, was the one most puzzled and most vigilant about the Primordial Saint's incredibly bizarre calmness.
Could there still be some backup plan?
But getting to this point, how could he possibly turn the tables?
Where did something go wrong?
At this moment, on the fourth tier of the [Paramita], that figure originally always enveloped by endless sword light finally manifested, revealing a graceful and elegant form.
Before this, she had always spoken with sword cries, her voice like clashing metal. Yet in front of the Primordial Saint, she no longer bothered with those useless concealments. She cleanly and swiftly released the sword light around her, her red lips parting slightly. Inside and outside the [Paramita], a crisp and melodious voice abruptly sounded:
"Primordial Saint, what are you trying to do?"
While questioning, Sword Lord didn't stop her movements. Holding a sword in one hand, she placed her other hand behind her back, all the light of endless destiny gathering at her fingertips.
Scenes flashed one by one within the light.
That was [Destiny], and also scenes of fate, views of the future. There was no destined ending within, only endless variations, like a churning river.
If [Inevitable Fate] was the result, then [Destiny] was the process.
The two were inherently closely related. Sword Lord deducing with [Destiny] at this moment was exactly wanting to see the Primordial Saint's backup plan and find traces of [Inevitable Fate]'s appearance.
However, the Primordial Saint gave no response to this, merely lightly tapping out a finger.
This finger didn't go to deal with Sword Lord again, but landed firmly on the [Paramita] beneath his feet, emitting a soft sound like shattering glass.
"Crack!"
In an instant, centering on the Primordial Saint, cracks spread across the fifth tier of the [Paramita] at a visible speed, then simultaneously spread upwards and downwards.
Above the fifth tier, shattered successively!
Below the fifth tier, none was spared!
This shattering didn't even stop after covering the [Paramita]; it spread all the way down to the Ancestral Dragon's sea of consciousness suppressed beneath the [Paramita]!
At this moment, all was dead silent!
In the Netherworld, in the Mortal World, countless cultivators and even mortals suddenly felt a sensation in their hearts. Looking up at the sky, they saw a ray of heavenly light in that infinitely high and distant vastness.
The heavenly light was resplendent. At first, it was no larger than a grain of rice, but as time flowed, it astonishingly expanded to the size of a bowl and chopsticks, then a table and chairs, a house, a city, a mountain... finally encompassing the universe.
Like the sun and moon hanging high, illuminating everything. It wasn't until it thoroughly filled the entire Light Sea that the sound of shattering finally transmitted over.
Boom!
The next second, the heavenly light exploded. The originally unified blazing white instantly disintegrated, transforming into red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—seven-colored brilliance leaping towards all directions.
Looking over, the entire Light Sea was shattered.
The first to show changes was the [Sea of Bitterness]. The water of endless concepts symbolizing all things in the Light Sea caved in at this moment, the churning ocean currents forming a vortex.
All the Great Daos and Dao Fruits located in the [Sea of Bitterness] became turbulent as a result. The fluctuations of the Dao Fruits' main bodies immediately affected the Dao Fruit stars cast down into the Mortal World.
The myriad stars lost their luster.
And the impact suffered by the [Sea of Bitterness] itself also rapidly spread to the Mortal World under the connection of concepts, from flowers, birds, fish, and insects, to mountains, rivers, and peaks, without exception.
Flying birds suddenly exploded.
Towering forest trees instantly withered.
Majestic high mountains turned into bottomless pits, and the vast ocean became parched earth. Heaven and earth were being dismantled into their original appearance at this moment.
The [Sea of Bitterness] collapsed!
This change quickly affected the Foundation Establishment Realm below. Synchronized shattering also appeared in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and finally crashed heavily into the Mortal World.
"Stop it!"
At this moment, Dao Tianqi didn't hesitate at all. The Netherworld floated up with a boom, drawing upon profound wonders, actively taking on that mighty power sufficient to destroy the entire Mortal World.
"Boom!"
Seven-colored brilliance filled heaven and earth. Every streak of colored light exactly corresponded to a component of the Netherworld, peeling it off bit by bit, shattering the foundation of the Netherworld's existence.
However, Dao Tianqi didn't retreat. His usually calm eyes were full of firmness. Allowing the profound wonders of the Netherworld to be continuously weakened under this shattering colored light, he still didn't retreat half a step. Until above the celestial dome, behind that colored light, a vast, murky, unified chaotic color surfaced.
The [Heavenly Dao]!
As soon as this brilliance surfaced, it immediately spread towards all directions of the Light Sea, taking over from the Netherworld which was about to thoroughly shatter, soaring past every corner of the Light Sea.
It flew over the [Sea of Bitterness].
Thus, the water of endless concepts regained stability. The reconstructed concepts allowed birds to regather flesh and blood, withered mountain forests to meet spring, high mountains to reappear, and mulberry fields to turn into the deep blue sea.
It flew over the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Thus, the shattered planes re-stabilized. The Dao Foundations of countless Foundation Establishment Perfected Ones were preserved, not falling in realm, their faces carrying the joy of surviving a disaster.
It flew over the Mortal World.
Thus, all anomalies were halted. The flying seven-colored heavenly light was forcefully condensed and suppressed, like a flying bird falling into a cage, no longer interfering with the Mortal World.
Only the Netherworld, it did not intervene in.
Seeing this scene, Lu Yang and Bu Tianque's expressions instantly turned dark: "Deliberate... this is just wanting the Netherworld to suffer heavy damage as a result!"
Sword Lord's thoughts weren't hard to understand. After all, once the [Paramita] fell, all Dao Lords would become Great Perfection of the Golden Core. Under such circumstances, if the Netherworld remained intact and continued to hold up a Dao Lord, wouldn't Dao Tianqi leap to become the strongest one? Sword Lord couldn't possibly accept this matter.
Fortunately, a gentleman could be deceived with righteousness.
Sword Lord deliberately delayed time, not letting the [Heavenly Dao] make a move at the first instance, just to make Dao Tianqi use the Netherworld to resist the fall of the [Paramita]!
Only after heavily damaging the Netherworld did she make a move.
It was a blatant moral kidnapping.
However, what made Lu Yang helpless was that Dao Tianqi actually fell for this exactly. He hadn't even realized he had been schemed against by Sword Lord until now.
"Boom!"
With a final explosive sound, the vast light color symbolizing the [Heavenly Dao] that appeared last above the celestial dome finally shattered as well, then rapidly grew massive.
Everything that used to be high and mighty was no longer difficult to touch...
The [Paramita] had fallen.
The Ancestral Dragon's body had long been completely burned out during the falling process. Its sea of consciousness turned into millions of fragments, and even the [Five Elements] was shattered at this moment.
Just as the Primordial Saint had said before, as an Innate Dao God, the Ancestral Dragon bore all the consequences of a failed transformation as a deity and ascension, exploding without any suspense. However, because the [Five Elements] was hollowed out, a considerable portion of the backlash from the falling stature still affected the Dao Lords.
The World Honored One bore the brunt of it.
The originally perfectly unified golden Buddha seemed to shatter tens of millions of times in an instant, finally covered in cracks, barely stuck together by endless Buddha light.
Next was the Spiritual Power Dao Lord.
Further up were the Dao Arts Dao Lord, Cang Hao, and Sword Lord.
However, this wasn't all. More importantly, in order to offset the destruction of the Mortal World caused by the fall of the [Paramita], the [Heavenly Dao] suffered heavy damage as a result.
The Netherworld similarly nearly disintegrated.
Sword Lord had anticipated all this long ago. The [Destiny] deduction just now had already revealed this future to her, so she didn't feel surprised.
'It's already very good.'
'To be able to snatch this glimmer of survival from the Primordial Saint's hands, this little bit of price is nothing.'
'At least after today, the [Paramita] is destroyed, while the damage to the [Heavenly Dao] can be slowly repaired. This time it's my turn to occupy the leading position...'
The next second, Sword Lord's pupils abruptly froze.
Not just her, including Dao Tianqi, Bu Tianque, the World Honored One, all the Dao Lords present, and Lu Yang, who wanted to catch a glimpse of the Primordial Saint's true appearance, were all dumbfounded.
Because as far as their eyes could see...
Where the Primordial Saint fell, there was no true physical body as imagined. There was only that tiny figure, as always, seemingly forever untouchable.