The Edict to Slay Xiao Chen

The tolling of the bell echoed across the Nine Provinces, audible to all under heaven. It was not earsplitting, but it struck fear into the heart, as if it were a soul-calling dirge.

For whom did the death knell sound?

In that moment, the world fell silent. Half-ancestors grew mute, gods lost their voice. A foreboding unease, born from the depths of the soul, made many great figures unable to find peace.

Only after a long time did heaven and earth return to clarity.

The bell faded. Deep beneath the land of the Nine Provinces, nine ancient lamps seemed to have existed since ancient times, flickering with mysterious light.

Xiao Chen stood in the ancient village, lost in thought. The place was deathly still. Dimly, he sensed that something momentous was about to occur.

From that day on, the spiritual energy over the Nine Provinces grew ever stronger. Famous mountains and great rivers were already shrouded in misty radiance, as if the cavern-heavens and blessed lands of the primordial age were about to reappear.

After a brief moment of shock and doubt, the ordinary cultivators of the two realms once again began to contend for the famous mountains and great rivers.

But half a month later, a momentous event occurred: the "Kill Chen Edict" spread throughout the world!

Several half-ancestors of the Eternal Continent and the Cultivation Realm—the White Tiger Saint Emperor, the Three Grandaunts, the Sun Holy God—issued a decree to the world: slay the eternal sinner Xiao Chen.

This was an earthshaking storm. According to reports, in addition to the half-ancestors named above, more than ten other half-ancestors had also given their approval.

The Kill Chen Edict proclaimed that Xiao Chen had lost all humanity, that he had once again brought forth the malignant artifact from the ancient sealed village of the primordial age, and that he planned to use it to poison the world and exterminate all life in the three realms.

As soon as this decree was issued, it was like a meteorite crashing into a vast ocean, setting off a tremendous uproar that swept across the world.

By now, some things were no longer secrets. The existence of the Yellow-Clay Altar had long been known throughout the world. No one believed that Xiao Chen could be successfully slain. The cultivators of the world knew in their hearts what was really going on, for many had personally participated in the siege of the ancient primordial village.

With the pronouncement of the death decree, all directions stirred.

It was not only Xiao Chen who was to be killed. The disciples of the half-ancestors proclaimed to the world that the list of those to be executed also included Xiao Chen's accomplices. Though names were not explicitly given, people like Liu Mu, Yizhen, and Niu Ren were surely on the list.

The world was shocked. But what shocked them was not the "supplementary killing decree" of the half-ancestors' disciples, but rather the predicament of the half-ancestors themselves. Many discerning people already understood that the fate of the half-ancestors might be coming to an end. Otherwise, why would they allow their disciples to issue such an extreme killing decree? This was clearly meant to force Xiao Chen to make a choice, to make him abandon the Yellow-Clay Altar, perhaps even his own life. It was a naked final threat.

On the day the news spread across the world, a rolling sound wave echoed within the ancient village.

"Abandon the Yellow-Clay Altar. Extinguish the ancient lamps. If you do this, the world will be at peace."

No figure was visible. Only a vast voice reverberated in the sky. Xiao Chen looked up at the heavens and shouted only two words: "Im—possible."

"You must take responsibility for your own words." The vast voice suddenly withdrew, and heaven and earth fell silent. Such cultivation, even if not a half-ancestor, must surely be a personally transmitted disciple of one.

In the next moment, Xiao Chen's eyes blazed with fury, blood rushing to his crown.

A colossal white hand descended from the sky, blotting out the sun, and smashed down toward a nearby village.

In an instant, heaven and earth shook, fierce winds howled down, the earth's surface cracked and crumbled with a grinding sound. Houses shattered in a flash, the ground sank, and the terrified screams of the villagers lasted less than three seconds before everything on the surface was obliterated.

The yellow earth split apart. The entire village vanished completely.

"You! Have you no humanity? Attacking ordinary mortals?" Xiao Chen's hair stood on end with rage as he soared into the sky.

"This is only the beginning!" The white hand, like a mountain, pressed down toward another village. With a thunderous roar, the pitiful wailing ceased instantly, and the village was flattened.

"If we cannot destroy you, if we cannot destroy the ancient village, then let the neighboring villages be utterly annihilated. If you do not abandon the Yellow-Clay Altar, if you do not extinguish the ancient lamps, then let your fellow villagers, your friends, your loved ones—all of them—die!" At that moment, a golden giant hand appeared from another direction, crashing down upon a village below.

Xiao Chen was nearly driven mad. He watched helplessly as that mountain village shattered into ruins.

"Hahaha!" A wanton laugh reverberated between heaven and earth. Heartless words followed: "I said this is only the beginning. If you do not give up the Yellow-Clay Altar, your friends, your relatives, everyone connected to you, will be erased from this world, not a single one left."

In the distance, the white giant hand manifested into a white tiger. He said coldly: "Hu Ben, third son of the Saint Emperor." On the other side, the golden hand transformed into a golden-haired divine knight, who announced: "Aolituo, Sun God's Son." In his hand, he held an unconscious woman—it was Su Ying.

God's Son Aolituo shouted: "I will give you three days to consider. Otherwise, this woman will surely die." Hu Ben also said ruthlessly: "This time, it was only the destruction of your neighboring villages. Next time, it will be people truly close to you."

Xiao Chen bit his lips so hard they bled. Two beings of heaven-rending power could actually commit such an immoral act—bringing calamity to the innocent, striking at mortals. He pointed at the two and roared: "The Tiger Clan! The Sun Church! And all the half-ancestors of this world—I will never let this rest!"

"Abandon the Yellow-Clay Altar, or worse will happen." Sun God's Son lifted the unconscious Su Ying, staring at Xiao Chen with cold, ruthless eyes.

Xiao Chen activated the ultimate speed of the Eight-Aspect Worlds and charged forward. At this moment, he had only one thought: to kill these two.

Keke clung tightly to Xiao Chen's side, opening the Lost Paradise to enfold them, for the little one sensed immense danger. The energy fluctuations of the two before them were too terrifying.

"Haha!" Hu Ben laughed and tore open space, vanishing in an instant. Sun God's Son also tore through space with Su Ying and disappeared.

The two experts were gone. Xiao Chen raised his head and roared at the sky.

Great calamity! The people of several surrounding villages were all dead, slaughtered by divine might, their bones and flesh utterly obliterated, leaving not a trace.

Xiao Chen knelt on the yellow earth and kowtowed toward the villages. His heart was filled with sorrow, but he also fell into a dilemma.

To abandon the Yellow-Clay Altar or not?

If he abandoned it, the White Tiger Saint Emperor, the Three Grandaunts, the Sun Holy God, and others would surely escape the great tribulation safely, and he would never be able to avenge his wrongs. Moreover, he and those around him would likely all die. If he did not abandon it, then everyone who had any connection with him would soon fall into mortal danger.

Xiao Chen silently mourned the dead villagers, his heart dripping blood. This enmity must be avenged!

He knelt for a long time before rising. Forcing himself to calm down, he analyzed the situation before him.

The extreme urgency of the Kill Chen Edict clearly indicated one thing: the fate of the half-ancestors might indeed be at an end. At this thought, Xiao Chen's heart pounded. He had lit the nine divine lamps beneath the Nine Provinces, and what he had tolled might be the death knell of the half-ancestors. They did not have much time left.

Driven mad by the prospect of destruction!

The half-ancestors were being driven to madness.

The dead were gone. What mattered now was to protect the living. Xiao Chen shot into the sky with Keke, flying across the Nine Provinces. He had to find Liu Mu, Yizhen, and the others immediately, and then bring them back to the ancient village.

He was searching for them, and others were searching too.

The Kill Chen Edict had stunned the world.

Though everyone knew the truth of the matter, the half-ancestors were at the very pinnacle of the pyramid. Who dared to refute them? The disciples of the half-ancestors from both realms were spread across the world, and they would absolutely carry out their masters' killing decree.

The whole world was in motion. A great number of experts were searching for the whereabouts of Liu Mu, Yizhen, Niu Ren, and others.

Xiao Chen was frantic. He searched the entire world but could not find where his friends were.

The half-ancestors were forcing him to make a choice. There was no time left. If he could not find them soon, the maddened half-ancestors would do anything.

Xiao Chen roamed the world, but no one dared to touch him. Everyone knew that with the Yellow-Clay Altar, no one could kill him.

The Kill Chen Edict swept through the Nine Provinces like a storm. Later, half-ancestors of the Cultivation Realm publicly expressed their support, and the waves surged sky-high. Murderous aura filled the Nine Provinces. The half-ancestors' disciples were all on the move, seeking out those fugitives.

"I also send word to the world: whoever protects my friends, I will repay in full one day. Whoever harms my friends, if I survive, I will repay tenfold!" The situation was extremely dire. Xiao Chen, like the half-ancestors, transmitted a message across the world. The "Protect Friends Edict" and the "Kill Chen Edict" were issued simultaneously, stirring the winds and clouds of the world.

Three days later, Xiao Chen finally received news: the monk Yizhen was surrounded on Mount Song, and death was imminent.

Hearing this, Xiao Chen pushed the Eight-Aspect Worlds to their utmost limit—a thousand li in an instant—and appeared with Keke at Mount Song, where ancient trees touched the sky.

Amid the mountain ranges, ancient temples appeared from time to time. In the primordial mountain chain, murderous aura surged to the heavens. On a sheer cliff, Buddhist chanting echoed, and heaven and earth shared the grief.

The Imperishable Imperial Heavenly Bell hung suspended in the air, its entire body crystalline. Clear bell tones spread for dozens of li. Brilliant golden divine light shot straight into the heavens. Beneath the divine bell stood Ye Tian.

On the other side, jade light bloomed. A millstone-sized white jade palace rotated slowly, emitting hazy white mist, making the scene seem divine and unfathomable. Beneath the Nine-Tribulation White Jade Divine Palace stood Fang Tianqi.

Four others, their aura not at all weaker, also displayed their cultivation artifacts and stood in the air, trapping a white-robed monk on the mountaintop.

"Seeing the true form, all dharmas are empty. In an instant of enlightenment, all methods are one. Once the scenery can no longer be hidden, one meets the naked face."

Yizhen, in white robes as pure as snow, stood on the sheer cliff, ethereal and empty, transcendent and detached from the world, like an enlightened divine Buddha.

But when Xiao Chen arrived, his heart felt as if it were being cut with knives. He sensed that Yizhen's life had reached its end!

"Big brother… I only now know you were my brother… It was I who implicated you…" Bo Shi, the bald-headed man, clung to Yizhen's leg and wept loudly.

The white-robed Yizhen, like a Buddha statue, stood unmoving, quietly on the mountaintop. His spotless monk's robe fluttered in the wind. Only the lingering sound of Buddhist chanting echoed.

"How many times born, how many times dead, from ancient times to now it has always been thus..."

"Big brother, I don't want you to die for me! I would rather die in your place! If it were possible, I would wish for time to flow backward…" Bo Shi glared bitterly at the six in the sky. "Even if I die, I will come back to seek vengeance on you!"

"The monk Yizhen is a remarkable figure. Facing six elites of our Cultivation Realm alone and still performing like this is enough to make him proud. He deserves to be called a young holy monk." One of the figures between Fang Tianqi and Ye Tian, who held an Asura Umbrella above his head, sighed. The Asura Umbrella blazed with divine light, spinning slowly above his head, with chaotic mist surging out from time to time. He looked toward Xiao Chen and said, "The main one has arrived. Cut off his head and send it to him as a gift."

"In walking, emptiness; in sitting, emptiness; in speech, silence, movement—all are without emptiness. Even if the white blade is brought to my head, it is like the spring wind cutting through nothing..." Yizhen smiled as he stood, his form slowly fading, about to vanish like a bubble or a shadow.

"Yizhen!" Xiao Chen cried out, descending onto the sheer cliff. Looking at the transcendent white-robed monk, tears streamed down his face.

"Big brother… died because he saved me. He could have left calmly…" Bo Shi wept loudly.

"Why did you die before me?!" Xiao Chen shouted.

A transparent phantom drifted out of the collapsing flesh. A white-robed monk, a holy one smiling with a flower in his hand, hovered in the sky and said, "Who in this world cannot die?" He then transformed into a crystalline, translucent relic, falling to the sheer cliff.

"Big brother…" Bo Shi wept tears of blood. "My brother fought six alone, and because of me he would not retreat. He exhausted his strength and died… I implicated him."

"In a sudden awakening, the wondrous mind's source, the shell of ignorance cracks all the same. In a dream, there are clearly six paths; after awakening, empty hearts have no holy ones."

The calm and serene white-robed monk had vanished forever. Only the last echoes of Buddhist chanting lingered.

Xiao Chen felt a wordless bitterness. Grief filled his heart. A friend who had faced life and death with him had vanished like this. Even though his heart was as hard as iron, at that moment he felt his eyes grow moist, tears blurring his vision.

"Yizhen, you have achieved great enlightenment and departed… But in this world, no one can guide me!" Xiao Chen stood on the peak, his words calm, but his tone was ice-cold. "I will slaughter the whole world!" His eyes shot out two sharp beams, sweeping over the six in the sky. "Six elites of the Cultivation Realm—I will beat each and every one of you to death!"

The void shattered. Hu Ben, son of the White Tiger Saint Emperor, and Aolituo, son of the Sun Holy God, appeared in the sky.

"It seems word arrived in time, letting you witness the destruction of the white-robed monk." Hu Ben looked somewhat regretful. "The little monk had a touch of divine Buddha charm, with astonishing potential. It's a pity he died. If you still don't give up, you will suffer even more. The people connected to you will die one by one before your eyes, letting despair accompany you for life."

"You do this and still expect me to give up?!" Xiao Chen shouted furiously at the sky.

Aolituo said coldly, "The half-ancestors long knew you would refuse. From the last time you refused, we disciples understood: you would never agree. Since that is so, let you slowly savor the song of death."

"Then let the half-ancestors all die!" Xiao Chen roared.

Hu Ben looked at him coldly. "The half-ancestors have long been preparing methods to cross the great tribulation. You can slowly taste the sorrow of despair."

"Cross the tribulation? As long as I am alive, not one of them—White Tiger Saint Emperor, Three Grandaunts, Sun Holy God—will cross it!" Xiao Chen pointed at Hu Ben and Aolituo in the sky. "I have never hated any family, any sect, any person as much as this. But today, I solemnly swear that I will annihilate you all!"

"Kill us? That will never happen!" Aolituo sneered. Then, together with Hu Ben, he tore through the void and vanished with the six elites.