The Five Stone Kings Suppress the Sovereign

The battle of the Stone Man, who had shaken the ages and dazzled the present, though long fallen, was still unfathomable. Now, this was a battle of destiny!

The Five Stone-Man Kings of old, each transformed into a Dao imprint—their forms manifested, their divine essences fully revealed—and with living force, they trampled the Otherworld's Supreme King beneath their feet.

"Impossible!" roared the young Ancestral God, his face twisted with pain and disbelief.

The middle-aged War Ancestor charged forward, trying to intervene, but could change nothing.

The Dao imprints were intangible, untouchable; they could not be blocked.

Both men felt the same searing agony. Their ancestral god, worshipped by the Otherworld for countless ages, had been trodden underfoot—a truth they could not accept.

This was the cruel shattering of their faith! This was the brutal felling of their spiritual pillar! This was the savage trampling of their creed!

In their hearts, the former Supreme Stone King was the ultimate symbol of the Otherworld—one who had roamed the myriad realms, unchallenged, an unscaleable mountain, a monument that outshone the ages.

But now, the mountain had collapsed. The monument had shattered. Their spirit and faith had been trampled beneath someone's feet!

Their spiritual faith was crumbling!

It was an unimaginable defeat. Their iron wills broke, and this was more agonizing than death itself.

"No!" they both roared, charging madly.

But all they could do was watch as the five majestic figures, like five divine mountains, pressed their Ancestor down, slowly fading and disappearing into Xiao Chen's body.

The five towering, unfathomable figures trampled their Ancestor and led him away like a pitiful, powerless prisoner!

Though this scene lasted but a brief moment, it utterly defeated both men from the depths of their souls, shattering their spiritual faith.

"The ancient sun sets in the west!" the young Ancestral God roared, unleashing the long river of ages to sweep Xiao Chen away and using the falling red sun to annihilate him.

The middle-aged War Ancestor charged in at the same moment, striking decisively at Xiao Chen. He used his three souls and seven spirits to recreate the Hell Confining Pillars, trying to seal and split Xiao Chen.

Now it was a fight to the death. The two powerhouses had been driven mad by what had just happened.

A fierce battle erupted. The sky was filled with light and shadows, pulsing with divine power.

If not for the Celestial Realm's extreme solidity, they would have flattened heaven and earth. Even so, the great mountains and rivers in this region were battered by the shockwaves.

Meanwhile, the battle spread far, attracting the attention of certain beings from over a hundred thousand li away.

Xiao Chen dared not delay. He pulled out all his trump cards, for if he attracted a true giant, he would be in dire straits.

After a brief but intense struggle, Xiao Chen used the Divine Diagram to seal off all escape routes of the young Ancestral God, then hurled the Primordial Demon City into the sky. The palm-sized ancient city rapidly expanded, radiating an awe-inspiring aura, descending with the force of billions of jun.

"No!"

The young Ancestral God sensed the danger but could not flee. The Primordial Demon City pressed down on him like Mount Tai, covering him like a vast dark cloud with no retreat. With a thunderous crash, the city engulfed him, immobilizing him instantly. Then, with a flash, black mist surged, and he was trapped within the Demon City, pinned at its center.

"How dare you?!"

The middle-aged War Ancestor reacted, rushing to the Demon City and smashing against it, but to no avail. He could not shatter that ancient city—it had evolved from a Stone Man's Nirvana; how could he break it so easily?

A vast, ancient scroll unfurled across the sky, revealing a magnificent landscape of mountains and rivers. It was not merely a painting but seemed a real world suspended in the heavens.

In that world of majestic peaks and mighty rivers, five towering figures stood in the sky amid the picturesque scenery, lifelike. The five undefeated Stone-Man Kings seemed reborn, reappearing in the world after endless ages.

With a rustle, before the middle-aged War Ancestor could react, the ancient scroll descended. Though his combat power was astonishing, he could do nothing against such a sky-spanning scroll. He was drawn in.

"Ah!"

He screamed in agony. Entering the ancient scroll was far more terrible than being pinned by the Demon City.

The ancient scroll refined all divine power, constantly repairing itself. The War Ancestor was meeting the same fate as the Demon Lotus, his body dissolving, destined to be utterly annihilated and transformed into pure origin power to nourish the scroll.

These two captives were extremely important to Xiao Chen. He planned to steal their soul origin imprints through a technique of substitution, and through them, obtain the Dao essence of the Otherworld's Stone-Man King, unlocking the profound mysteries of the Dao.

But the middle-aged War Ancestor's imprint was now lost; once someone was taken into this scroll, they could only perish.

"I need to find a place to refine him. I must seize one Dao imprint to strengthen myself!"

Xiao Chen held the palm-sized Primordial Demon City in his left hand. Black light flickered, and the miniature city pulsed with an ancient aura, flowing with radiance. The Ancestral God inside had been reduced to the size of an ant, pinned and immobile.

He vanished from the area immediately. The recent battle had likely drawn attention, and he needed to change his position quickly.

With his powerful physical body, Xiao Chen repeatedly tore through space, traveling over ten thousand li before stopping in a verdant valley to refine his captive.

"Even if I am ground to dust, I care not, but you will die!" the Ancestral God within the Demon City snarled, his voice cold and filled with hatred.

Xiao Chen directly summoned the thirty-three War Swords into the palm-sized Demon City, intending to refine him on the spot and extract his soul origin imprint.

He had obtained the five Dao imprints from the great palace in the wastelands, but understanding them was difficult. His current plan of substitution to gain the Otherworld's origin was a shortcut.

He had to succeed. The Celestial Realm was too dangerous for him; only by raising his strength quickly could he survive.

"You!"

The Ancestral God was shocked and enraged. The thirty-three War Swords surrounded him, the Divine Diagram emerged, and he was about to be refined, his divine source imprint extracted. But he could not move, trapped and helpless.

Boom!

At that moment, the sky suddenly shattered. A spatial rift, who knew how many li long, stretched from a distant unknown region all the way to Xiao Chen's front. A boundless ocean of divine power surged out from the great rift.

With a thunderous roar, the entire valley and the surrounding divine mountains turned to ash. The whole spirit vein was flattened, nothing remained.

Xiao Chen was sent flying. If not for the Divine Diagram, which he could summon at any moment to block attacks, he would have been severely wounded.

"I've been found!" He had not yet seen his enemy but already sensed their dominance. He did not want to stay in the open and swiftly tore through space to flee.

But as he traveled through the void, the path ahead was suddenly cut off. A dazzling divine blade, hundreds of feet long, severed space and forced him out of the passage.

Killing intent was dense! For hundreds of li around, all the trees on the great mountains shed their leaves, drifting down as if autumn had come early.

A powerful enemy lurked in the dark.

Xiao Chen did not stop. He tore through space again, disappearing. This time he fled thirty thousand li, and sensing no one on the way, he used half of the Stone Skull to hide his trail. Only after confirming there was no pursuit did he emerge from the spatial passage.

But the moment he halted, a blade beam spanning hundreds of li slashed down from the sky, directly destroying the mountain range below.

He dodged quickly, leaping a thousand li away, shocked. His enemy had completely locked onto him! How was this possible? How could they track him so precisely?

Suddenly, he looked at the Primordial Demon City in his hand and remembered the words of the Ancestral God inside. All major factions had their own special marks.

Could it be that this special mark was preventing him from shaking off his pursuer? If so, it was very troublesome. Such marks could not be concealed.

With a hiss, the blade beam struck again, even more fierce and relentless, giving him no respite.

Xiao Chen did not flee. Instead, he shook the Primordial Demon City, shattering the Ancestral God pinned inside. Then he unfurled the ancient scroll with a rustle, sealing the remnants into it, refining him completely, leaving no trace.

"You little wretch! How dare you!" A roar like thunder shook down from the sky.

"You speak too late. I've already killed him."

Xiao Chen finally saw the one who had been hunting him all along. The figure was a towering giant, a hundred feet tall, with disheveled blood-red hair, eyes like two points of demonic fire, and a great blade as long as his body, like a mountain of divine power.

"You are courting death!" The giant swung his gleaming blade in a vertical slash.

This was a High Ancestral God, far more powerful than ordinary Ancestral Gods. He was at the Sixth Heaven, vastly stronger than the younger Ancestral God and the War Ancestor Xiao Chen had just killed.

Xiao Chen did not fight him. He fled again. It was not fear, but because he sensed several powerful divine thoughts probing the area. If he attracted a true giant, he would surely be doomed.

This time, he succeeded in escaping. The High Ancestral God did not follow.

Now he was certain that killing the Ancestral God pinned in the Demon City had destroyed the tracking mark, solving the problem.

He manifested on a vast grassland, waist-high green grass stretching endlessly.

Though he had shaken off the giant god and those powerful thoughts, Xiao Chen regretted that his plan of substitution had been interrupted. He had failed to complete it.

He sat down to cultivate quietly, intending to cleanse himself of the lower realm's divine essence and fully convert to Celestial Realm's energy, lest he be recognized again.

Three days passed. Xiao Chen completed a simple transformation, his spirit and energy greatly renewed. He had washed away the lower realm's essence, and ordinary cultivators could no longer see through his identity.

Suddenly, the great grassland trembled violently. In the distance, a herd of celestial horses came galloping—some on land, some in the sky. The spectacle was overwhelming, like a surging flood.

These were all divine steeds, tall and majestic, their fur flashing with light as they ran like the wind or soared through the sky.

"A strong cultivator," Xiao Chen observed.

He saw a man riding a winged celestial horse, galloping across the sky as if herding the herd.

At that moment, Xiao Chen also sensed several powerful divine thoughts probing the grassland. One of them said, "Horse Herder, we heard you have a Wood Spirit Treasure. Lend it to us."

"Another bunch of idle people trying to gather the Five Element Spirit Treasures to find that heaven-defying battle treasure. Unfortunately, I already lent my Wood Treasure to the Stone Corpse some time ago." The rider answered.

"Impossible! The Stone Corpse has been training in his demonic art and has been in seclusion. How could he have sent someone to take it from you?"

"The Stone Corpse awakened long ago. Not long ago, he even extended a powerful divine thought and wiped out the descendants of the Lotus King. If you dare, go ask him." The Horse Herder drove his herd toward the distance.

"Wait!" Several divine thoughts pursued him.

The Horse Herder seemed unafraid and did not stop. He taunted, "I heard that your faction lost an Ancestral God and a War Ancestor three days ago, and the killer hasn't been caught yet. I suggest you be careful too, or you might be hunted next."

"He is dead for sure!" A divine thought emanated a fierce fluctuation, cold and harsh. "Powerful experts are tracking him. He has no hope of survival."

"Many are watching. It's been years since anyone provoked your powerful faction. I wonder if this man can bring some surprise." The Horse Herder laughed loudly and rode away.

The grassland fell silent. Xiao Chen put away the half Stone Skull and reappeared on the meadow.

"What heaven-defying battle treasure could be so sought after that experts scramble for it?" he murmured.

At the same time, he frowned. Killing an Ancestral God and a War Ancestor had stirred no small disturbance. Many seemed to be paying attention.

This seemed like a fuse that might trigger some upheaval.

The Celestial Realm was vast, and it was rare to encounter cultivators in such a large area. Xiao Chen thought his enemy would take time to find him. But within a quarter-hour, he realized he was wrong. Before he could leave the grassland, the giant god who had hunted him three days earlier blocked his path. The massive figure materialized from a faint, empty state, solidifying before him.

"Did you think you could escape? Killers of my clan must pay with their lives!" The giant god held his hundred-foot blade, standing like a demon god, his blood-red eyes cold as a viper's fangs.

"And you think a High Ancestral God is invincible?" Xiao Chen swept his gaze around and found no other divine thoughts probing. He decided to fight here.

"In three days, you killed two of my experts. Many in the Celestial Realm know of it. If you don't die, where will my clan's face be?!" With that, he swung his blade.

In the blinding blade light were countless stars—refined divine stars far more solid than ordinary ones, containing devastating power.

It was like a whole starry sky crashing down on Xiao Chen, a deadly combination with the demonic blade.

"You are a child of the Chaos Lands!" In the moment of close combat, the High Ancestral God's eyes shot open. The bloodline told him his enemy's origins. His expression turned savage. "Sever your consciousness!"

A High Ancestral God was naturally a master of combat. He knew Xiao Chen's physical body was strong but his divine sense was not yet fully condensed, so he struck with a targeted divine art.

Xiao Chen merged with the Stone Skull, his whole body petrifying. He had tried this long ago: it made his flesh incomparably strong and completely sealed his divine sense, preventing it from being drawn out.

Though this slowed him down, Xiao Chen wanted a quick resolution.

With a bang, the Divine Diagram erupted, sealing heaven and earth.

Then two Heavenly Marks materialized, crashing forward.

With a rustle, the ancient scroll swept across the sky, attacking the giant god.

The Primordial Demon City expanded rapidly, towering between heaven and earth, rolling black mist surging, black light flashing, bearing down.

These were not Xiao Chen's own powers, but he had no choice. He would use every means to kill this High Ancestral God quickly.

With so many great killing weapons unleashed at once, even a High Ancestral God at the Seventh or Eighth Heaven would be dizzied. The sheer concentration of such divine artifacts was heaven-defying; anyone would be terrified.

With a thunderous boom, the Divine Diagram, the Primordial Demon City, the ancient scroll, and the Heavenly Marks all struck simultaneously. Even the Celestial Realm's solid land was reduced to chaos, completely devastated.

In the shrieking sound, the giant blade shattered, and the towering figure was torn apart, a million beams of divine light shooting in all directions. The giant god was instantly smashed to pieces.

"What a pity. This one was not a descendant of the Stone-Man King. I cannot use the substitution technique."

Xiao Chen swept the ancient scroll across the sky, devouring all the residual divine power.

At the same time, several divine thoughts probed the area. Xiao Chen fled immediately.

"Stop!" a voice shouted. A figure gave chase.

Over the next three days, undercurrents stirred in the Celestial Realm. The Otherworld faction had lost three experts in a row, filling them with fury.

Outside, many were gloating. It had been years since anyone had so continuously challenged the Otherworld faction.

Five days later, in a vast Gobi, Xiao Chen was blocked by the eight-heaven High Ancestral God who had been pursuing him.

"You killed my clan's experts and thought you could escape? Their aura clings to you. You cannot avoid your death!" The eight-heaven Half-Ancestor stood in the distance, calmly staring at Xiao Chen.

An eight-heaven Ancestral God was far harder to kill than a six-heaven one. For five consecutive days, Xiao Chen had neither shaken him off nor managed to kill him.

"You cannot escape. You must die! Though you have great killing weapons, my combat experience and techniques cannot be suppressed by mere external objects."

Thus began a chase that lasted for days. Divine thoughts frequently probed the area, watching the pursuit. Xiao Chen felt stifled, forced to cover his tracks.

On the seventh day, Xiao Chen's identity as a child of the Chaos Lands was finally exposed. During a close-quarters battle, the eight-heaven High Ancestral God detected the anomaly and recognized the Divine Diagram.

On the tenth day, no one knew what happened. In a vast region spanning ninety thousand li, a blood light shot up to the sky, and the pursuit stopped.

A day later, members of the Otherworld faction confirmed that the eight-heaven High Ancestral God had been killed.

"What! An eight-heaven expert died?!" someone from the Otherworld faction roared. "Wasn't he said to be an ant? An eight-heaven Ancestral God is more than enough to kill him. How could this happen?!"

It was said that someone had seen a snow-white little beast enter that region.

"That heaven-defying family? Damn it!"

"No, the white figure appeared after the battle ended, and then that man disappeared."