The sky plummeted with flowing fire, stars fell and their light faded.
The entire sea of light let out an overwhelmed wail of grief, until a palace brimming with netherworld qi lay horizontally at the very top of the sea of light.
"Rumble!"
The first thunderous sound was like an inextinguishable fierce fire falling into a pond, roasting the pond water, evaporating it into dense mist, as pure and terrifying destructive power surfaced.
Within the Netherworld, death qi was the very embodiment of death. Yet even "death" gave way to a far more absolute annihilation. Like writing wiped clean from a page, it disintegrated inch by inch, dissolving into formlessness before fading entirely—as though it had never existed.
"Amitabha."
In the next instant, accompanied by a vast and resounding Buddhist chant, the Foundation Establishment realm abruptly ascended, filling into the Netherworld and barely diverting a portion of the raging inferno.
However… it was still not enough.
The World Honored One exhaled slowly, a trace of gloom surfacing in the depths of his eyes.
'In the end, I am no longer a Dao Lord. Golden Core Great Perfection is far from sufficient to bear even a fraction of the sky's collapse.'
After all, that was [Paramita]—once the exalted abode of the Dao Lords. Now, having collapsed in a single day, and at that following Deity Transformation and Ascension, its terrifying might was enough to forcibly knock even a Dao Lord down a realm. In a sense, it was nearly equivalent to shattering a Dao Lord's immortality.
At this thought, the chill in the World Honored One's heart deepened.
Why are Dao Lords considered immortal?
Strictly speaking, it is not the Dao Lords themselves who are immortal, but the Primordial Spirit. Dao Lords entrust their Primordial Spirits to their Dao attainment lands. So long as that land remains intact, the Primordial Spirit will not perish.
Even when the disparity between individuals is vast—
Take the Primordial Saint and himself, for instance. One stood at the seventh tier, the other at the second. The gulf between them was so immense that the Primordial Saint could defeat him with a single hand.
But the Primordial Saint still couldn't kill him.
Because what the Primordial Saint possessed higher than him was merely stature. Although his Dao Heart was also stronger than his, his essence was still a Primordial Spirit, far from being as massive a gap as stature.
And if the Primordial Saint couldn't drive his Primordial Spirit away from [Paramita], he couldn't kill him.
But the current situation was different.
The current situation was that the various Dao Lords were forcing Dao Tianqi, making him bring out his own Dao attainment land to crash into [Paramita] in mutually assured destruction!
One must know, the mass of [Paramita] was much higher than that of the Netherworld. If the Netherworld was smashed to pieces, rebuilding it would inevitably be hopeless. But for [Paramita], that wasn't necessarily the case. The World Honored One estimated it would at most be smashed into multiple fragments. As long as they were pieced together, the difficulty of repairing it was nowhere near as high as the Netherworld.
Moreover, wasn't the Ancestral Dragon still there?
Unlike acquired Dao Lords, the Ancestral Dragon, as an Innate Dao God, had its Primordial Spirit entrusted to the sea of light. As long as the sea of light was not extinguished, it would not die as a Dao Lord.
And the scope of this "sea of light not being extinguished" was quite broad.
Simply put, even if the sea of light was smashed to pieces by [Paramita], as long as fragments still existed, the Ancestral Dragon would not die and would still have hope of resurrecting and returning.
Thanks to it—
The World Honored One deduced that [Paramita], which was based on the Ancestral Dragon as a foundation stone, had probably also usurped its immortality. That was why the various Dao Lords dared to use it to crash into the Netherworld.
Thinking of this, the World Honored One exhaled deeply, still unable to hold back:
"If the matter cannot be accomplished, temporarily retreat."
"Sisui will inevitably be released from his cage this time. With him holding the front line, we still have a chance of winning. Now that you and I have blocked a wave, the casualties in the sea of light won't be too severe..."
He advised Dao Tianqi once again.
However, he soon discovered that Dao Tianqi's expression wasn't quite right. He completely ignored the disintegrating Netherworld, instead looking at the sea of light.
His eyes, overflowing with the Light of Wisdom, revealed intense emotions.
Pleasant surprise? Shock? Admiration?
The World Honored One was incredibly familiar with Dao Tianqi and immediately noticed his emotional fluctuations. However, what puzzled him was, why would he have these emotions?
What did he see?
In the next second, the World Honored One gave up thinking, because there was no longer a need. Every person in the sea of light saw that soul-stirring scene.
"Senior Brother."
Dao Tianqi suddenly said faintly: "You are wrong. The myriad living beings behind us are not weaklings who can only accept our protection."
"At least under the governance of this Fellow Daoist, they are not."
"Lord Sisui is indeed very powerful, but relying on him alone is not enough to save the sea of light. The Dao Lord War of that year is the result."
One person cannot save the sea of light.
Originally, if the strongest person failed, then the group of people behind him could only drift with the tide, just like the ancient cultivators who followed Sisui back then.
"But... this one is different."
"He is not strong. He just forged a Primordial Spirit, his stature isn't considered high, and he doesn't even have the Light of Wisdom. Yet the reason he could reach this point is not because of himself."
But because of the people behind him.
At this moment, even Dao Tianqi's voice was somewhat in a trance. Beside him, the World Honored One also fell into silence, staring blankly at the scene slowly surging over.
That was a person.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
The muffled sound of footsteps was like the rhythm of heaven and earth, rising and falling with his steps. Wherever he passed, the vast sea of light was dyed with a layer of crimson.
He continuously walked upwards.
From the mortal realm, passing through the Foundation Establishment realm, passing through the Sea of Bitterness, finally arriving at the Netherworld. Standing together with the World Honored One, his calm gaze met him for a moment.
Then brushed past his shoulder, continuing forward.
And behind him, were densely packed figures with no end in sight. These figures jointly supported him, causing his stature to continuously skyrocket.
This was the scene that silenced the World Honored One. Because this was a power similar to his [One Mind], yet entirely different. He had once caught a glimpse of it, seeing a trace of clues from the Dao Lineage of the Investiture of the Gods Method. But now that it had truly reached great completion and was displayed before his eyes, he was still stunned.
Lu Yang's footsteps did not stop.
After passing the World Honored One, he soared again, finally stopping at a place not far from Dao Tianqi. He cupped his hands: "This poor Daoist is Lu Yang, greetings Fellow Daoist."
In the next second, he concealed nothing more.
"Fellow Daoist has worked hard."
"Keep some strength in reserve. Leave the rest to me... no, leave it to the sea of light."
This time, Dao Tianqi nodded happily.
"Good."
As his voice fell, the nearly shattered Netherworld finally retreated. And after losing the obstruction of the Netherworld, that sky's collapse fire, which had already been weakened by ninety percent, crashed down with a thunderous sound!
Almost simultaneously, Lu Yang's figure melted into the void.
In an instant, stars ignited one after another at the highest reaches of the sea of light. Thirty in total, linked into a single line, forming a vast and towering Great Wall.
Behind that Great Wall rose four divine lights that seemed to pierce the heavens.
Within those lights stood countless figures. There was the Light of Wisdom, cleaving through the firmament; there was sword qi, coursing across the universe; there was a woman, her spirit soaring; and there was a faint, ethereal shadow, from which endless pavilions and palaces unfolded.
Within those palaces, figures likewise stood in solemn array. Beneath their command stretched countless more, cascading layer upon layer—embracing the myriad living beings and enveloping the entire sea of light.
Countless sparks gathered, converging at last into a blazing radiance that swept across the expanse—like the rising sun scattering the long night.
"Rumble!"
The sound of the sky-collapse remained, yet that concept of great destruction rapidly receded from the hearts of the myriad living beings in the sea of light—replaced by tranquility and peace.
Then, a clear and piercing cry rang out:
"Rising to preside over the supreme immortal offices and govern the heavenly mandate—
with Heaven's will borne upon me, the Dao I uphold is naturally true."
"By decree, I pacify the seas and quell demonic miasma;
sword in hand, I suppress the axis and part the veils of devilish haze."
"Through waves of tribulation, the heart is tempered, the primal vow engraved;
having endured the mortal dust and its bitterness, I bear witness to true transcendence."
"With a crimson heart, I pity and save all living beings;
reforming the universe, I renew heaven and earth, ushering in a new spring."