A deathly silence blanketed the entire Lower Third Heavens.
The cataclysmic explosions everyone had braced for never came. The Five Phoenixes Continent did not crumble beneath the weight of five imperial weapons.
Mountains still stood tall. Rivers still flowed.
Aside from carving out several massive, gaping craters that scarred the earth, the imperial weapons had done… nothing.
Everything remained calm and peaceful.
Everyone was utterly dumbfounded.
This was nothing like what they had imagined.
Hadn’t the saint-realm experts of the Upper Realm sacred clans declared that once imperial weapons entered Five Phoenixes, the ancient emperor auras within them would birth terrifying saint-realm ferocious beasts?
Then why… had absolutely nothing happened?
Forget terrifying, powerful beasts—not even a weak Origin Realm beast had appeared!
Something had gone wrong?!
Or perhaps the idea that imperial weapons could trigger such beasts was nothing more than wishful thinking on the saints’ part?
The expressions of experts from various high-martial sacred grounds across the Lower Third Heavens grew strange.
Many wore speechless, awkward looks.
“Could imperial weapons really summon ferocious beasts? Could all of this… have been a lie?”
“Who first claimed that imperial weapons would birth beasts? Was there ever any proof?”
“Have the sacred clan saints lost their minds? Why would they make such a foolish move—imperial weapons are priceless treasures—yet they just hurled them into Five Phoenixes like that…”
Many experts could not hide their schadenfreude, smirking faintly.
Moments ago they had been mourning Five Phoenixes’ impending doom, already pondering their own futures—whether to submit to the Upper Realm sacred clans or stand defiant to the end.
Now it seemed…
Five Phoenixes had not fallen at all. They no longer needed to wrestle with that question. Clinging tightly to Five Phoenixes’ coattails was clearly the smartest choice.
“Could all of this… have been a trap set by Lord Lu?”
“It’s possible. Look at him—smiling like a kid who just got candy.”
“Think about it carefully. If this really was Lord Lu’s scheme, just how cunning and vicious is Lu Ping’an?”
Cultivators across the Lower Third Heavens gazed in awe.
A setup?
Was this truly Lu’s doing?
Regardless of whether it was or not—at the very least, Five Phoenixes had turned the tables!
The beast Liu Ying had been slain. The Cloud Venom Vulture and Hell Hound had yet to emerge. Thus, the world-ending crisis hanging over Five Phoenixes seemed reduced to only the saints lingering in the Void Heaven.
And those saints, to the current Five Phoenixes, hardly qualified as an existential threat.
Five Phoenixes now boasted no small number of saint-level combatants.
Holding off these sacred clan saints—who no longer wielded imperial weapons—was far from impossible.
Things were growing more and more interesting.
Countless eyes gleamed with eager anticipation.
It felt as though a grand drama was about to unfold before them.
…
“Water Moon! You colluded with Lu Ping’an?!”
“What connection do ferocious beasts have with imperial weapons? None at all! Now our imperial weapons are trapped in Five Phoenixes—what are we supposed to do?!”
The saint-realm experts’ eyes turned bloodshot in an instant.
Not only had they failed to summon the ancient emperors, they had now lost their imperial weapons as well.
Judging by Lu Ping’an’s expression, recovering those weapons would be nearly impossible.
Originally three imperial weapons had fallen into Five Phoenixes’ hands. Now, with the addition of these five, eight of the ten sacred clans’ ancestral imperial weapons belonged to Five Phoenixes.
What a terrifying development!
Was Five Phoenixes trying to collect the full set of ten?!
At this moment, the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor was completely stunned.
Why… had events unfolded so differently from her expectations?
“Impossible… The beast Liu Ying clearly emerged because the Water Clan imperial weapon was lost, leaking ancient emperor aura… So why have five more imperial weapons descended without birthing any beasts?!”
“Does it need time?!”
“Time to brew and ferment?! No… that can’t be right. Logically, the moment we awakened the ancient emperor auras, if such contingencies truly existed, beasts should have appeared!”
“Could it be…”
Confusion clouded the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor’s stunning features as she sank deep into thought.
“Could it be my ass!”
The other five saints were already livid, abandoning all decorum and cursing outright.
“You must have conspired with Lu Ping’an! Bitter over losing your clan’s imperial weapon, you dragged the rest of ours down with it…”
“Truly the most venomous heart belongs to a woman! Water Moon of the Water Clan, your malice knows no bounds!”
The saints raged uncontrollably.
“It wasn’t me! I did no such thing! Stop spouting nonsense!”
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor tried to explain, but it was useless—the enraged saints refused to listen.
Eventually, too furious to bother, she gave up.
In truth…
The loss of these sacred clan imperial weapons did not harm her much. It might even benefit her!
Why?
Because the threat was gone.
With no one possessing imperial weapons, the Water Clan—which had become the weakest after losing theirs—was suddenly no longer at the bottom of the ten sacred clans.
Without imperial weapons, everything came down to raw strength.
And in raw strength, Sacred Ancestor Water Moon feared no one.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Retrieve the imperial weapons!”
Terrifying auras erupted.
The other saints understood this as well. Amid their fury, they unleashed their qi without hesitation, charging toward Five Phoenixes to seize their weapons back.
They didn’t care whether this was Lu Ping’an’s trap. The priority now was recovering the imperial weapons.
After all, they were their clans’ ancestral treasures. As long as they got close enough to Five Phoenixes, they could reclaim control through their primordial spirits.
Once the weapons were back in hand, their confidence would return.
With imperial weapons, they would still be among the strongest saints!
“Stop them!”
Gu Mangran’s body—revitalized by the crimson chrysanthemum divine medicine—trembled with energy. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
The hopeless situation had, against all odds, filled with hope once more.
Lu Jiulian moved as well.
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Without imperial weapons, facing these veteran saints, he was far from powerless!
The Demon Lord’s demonic qi soared skyward. The Demon Master’s devilish aura rolled like waves.
“No need to act. Let them come.”
Yet just as Gu Mangran, Lu Jiulian, and the other saint-level combatants of Five Phoenixes prepared to strike—
From within Five Phoenixes, Lu’s white-robed phantom atop the chessboard smiled faintly and spoke.
Hmm?
Gu Mangran and Lu Jiulian paused.
Lu raised a hand and pointed toward the saint in the Void Heaven who had glanced at his own imperial weapon and breathed a sigh of relief.
“That fellow is eyeing this young master’s imperial weapons. Go deal with him.”
“As for these remaining friends… this young master will handle them alone.”
Lu declared with bold confidence.
Yet his words turned the charging saints—radiating terrifying saintly might—livid.
Gu Mangran did not hesitate. He swung his coffin lid and charged straight at the saint stationed in the Void Heaven.
Gu Mangran was no fool. He understood the Void Heaven’s rules better than anyone.
Lu’s meaning was clear: these saints attacking was not the real danger. If the Void Heaven’s rules erupted, the saints—now without imperial weapons to hold them back—would all be trapped forever in the Void Heaven!
The stationed saint’s face instantly darkened.
He hadn’t even finished exhaling in relief.
Why were they suddenly coming for him?!
Hearing Lu’s words, he nearly roared in fury on the spot.
Since when were our clan’s imperial weapons yours, Lu Ping’an?!
Have you no shame?!
“I’m afraid I’m powerless to help. Good luck, everyone.”
In the end, reason prevailed over emotion.
Without hesitation, the saint in the void commanded his clan’s imperial weapon and fled beyond the Void Heaven.
This had all been a conspiracy!
A trap to lure them in.
And now, he had become the only saint still in possession of an imperial weapon!
That would become his greatest asset!
Within the Void Heaven.
The faces of the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor, Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor, and the other five saints changed dramatically.
Without imperial weapons, once the Void Heaven’s rules erupted, their flesh might be stripped away and their primordial spirits severed!
Watching the saint decisively flee with his imperial weapon—
Their eyes turned crimson with rage!
Lu’s calculations were masterful—he had forced away the saint using an imperial weapon to hold open the Void Heaven’s rules.
Naturally, those rules would now erupt!
If they continued toward Five Phoenixes to retrieve their weapons, they would likely be slain by the rules and buried forever in the Void Heaven.
Thus, without hesitation, they abandoned the weapons.
The sacred ancestors turned and fled toward the edge of the Void Heaven.
Weapons could be recovered later. But if they lost their lives here, there would be no later!
Terrifying saintly might surged, carrying boundless fury.
But…
This time, Lu had no intention of letting them leave.
His white robes fluttered as he smiled brightly.
“My friends, please stay a while longer.”
Yet his words had no effect. The saints did not even slow down.
Gu Mangran, Lu Jiulian, the Demon Lord, the Demon Master, and Zhu Long—all five saint-level combatants of Five Phoenixes—charged toward the stationed saint.
Faced with five attackers, the sacred clan saint wasted no time and fled with his imperial weapon.
Lu paid no mind to his ignored invitation.
In this critical moment, these “enthusiastic” friends would only turn back if they were fools.
With a thought, the Spirit Pressure Chessboard radiated light.
The chessboard domain suddenly expanded, instantly enveloping half the Void Heaven.
It trapped all seven saints within.
“Break it!”
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor, Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor, and others roared.
Saintly might surged as they unleashed devastating attacks.
Such strikes could shatter the void and escape the extraterrestrial battlefield.
Yet…
Within the chessboard domain, their attacks only rippled the void—they could not break free!
The saints’ expressions shifted dramatically.
“Lu Ping’an!”
Terror twisted the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor’s beautiful face.
On the Five Phoenixes Continent.
Lu’s expression turned cold.
He rolled up his sleeve, picked up a piece.
The chess piece fell like a shooting star.
A beam of spirit pressure crashed downward.
Pfft!
It struck the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor mid-flight, freezing her body in place…
She had initially dismissed spirit pressure beams—she had endured them before. But the instant it hit, her eyes bulged.
This new crushing sensation…
Her body stiffened. An uncontrollable groan escaped her lips.
The spirit pressure of a ninth-layer Qi Refiner…
Was no ordinary thing!
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor felt as though she were carrying an entire fourth-tier high-martial continent on her back.
“Lu Ping’an… you really did break through!”
The drastic difference in pressure convinced her: Lu had advanced. Lu Ping’an was now a saint as well!
The other saints had no intention of rescuing her.
Yet Lu, continuously channeling his primordial spirit and chaos energy at full intensity, placed five more pieces on the board.
Some black, some white.
Beams of spirit pressure filled the chessboard.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The saints fleeing across the void were slammed by Lu’s spirit pressure and pinned in place, as though imprisoned!
Meanwhile.
The sole remaining saint clutching an imperial weapon glanced at the five charging toward him, then at his trapped comrades under Lu’s spirit pressure chessboard.
Without hesitation, he fled the Void Heaven.
Hummm…
The moment the imperial weapon’s suppression vanished—
The long-dormant rules of the Void Heaven stirred violently, boiling like water brought to a sudden roil.
The aura of death spread.
Even saints felt chills at the power of those rules!
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor and others redoubled their efforts, desperately trying to break the spirit pressure seal.
They turned back—and witnessed a sight that nearly split their eyes with rage.
On the Five Phoenixes Continent.
Lu flashed with spatial profound meaning, tearing through the void to appear beside each imperial weapon.
Under the saints’ furious, cracking gazes, Lu erased their primordial spirit imprints and severed their connections to the weapons.
The Heaven Stealing Tower emerged.
Lu tossed the tower skyward. It soared upward, cascading countless rays of light.
The light fell, suppressing the imperial might of each weapon and drawing them inside.
Five imperial weapons—the very ones that had terrified the people of Five Phoenixes—vanished completely, their threat extinguished.
Pfft!
Within the spirit pressure chessboard domain.
The saints, witnessing this, coughed up blood in fury!
At this moment, they understood…
Their ancestral imperial weapons were gone for good!
“I have failed the ancient emperor…”
The saints’ eyes bled red as they cried out in despair.
Losing the weapons was bad enough—now even their lives hung by a thread!
“No! I cannot die here!”
Unwillingness flashed across the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor’s stunning face.
The thin cord at her waist swept outward, transforming into a lifelike water serpent.
The power of her sacred ancestor Dao weapon radiated.
The serpent blazed with ten-thousand-zhang radiance.
She detonated it outright!
Boom!
The terrifying explosion shattered the spirit pressure beam.
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor shot forward like a streak of light, fleeing the domain toward the edge of the Void Heaven.
Lu, who had just finished “uprooting” all five imperial weapons like pulling carrots, paused in mild surprise.
The other five sacred ancestors’ eyes lit up—they had learned.
They drew their own sacred ancestor Dao weapons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rang out continuously.
One figure after another tore free of the beams and escaped the spirit pressure chessboard domain.
Lu smiled.
He rolled up his sleeve again, calmly picked up a piece from the board.
His arm swung in an arc. The piece landed precisely on the intersecting lines.
A millionfold spirit pressure crashed down like towering waves!
The Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor’s face filled with despair!
He had been mere moments from escaping the domain.
Yet the spirit pressure beam struck again.
It slammed into him fully, pinning him motionless in the void.
“No!”
The Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor’s pupils shrank with terror and despair!
On flat ground, he would fear no such pressure.
But this was the Void Heaven… Watching the now-unrestrained rules, he truly felt death creeping closer.
“Lu Ping’an! Release me!”
“If you have the guts… fight me fairly!”
The Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor trembled with rage.
In a proper duel, why would he fear a newly ascended saint like Lu Ping’an?!
His imperial weapon was gone—and now even he, the grand Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor, would fall here?
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor, Wood Clan Sacred Ancestor, and the others who had detonated their Dao weapons did not look back.
They had to escape the Void Heaven before the rules fully awakened.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Across heaven and earth, terrifying blade light spanned the void—a blade forged from countless stacked rules.
The Blade of Rules!
Seven saints had entered the Void Heaven—what a formidable lineup. The rules had been provoked nearly to their limit.
Pfft!
The Blade of Rules swept past.
The five saints who had escaped the spirit pressure coughed blood in unison.
Yet they did not turn back.
The Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor, still pinned within the chessboard domain, let out a blood-curdling scream.
The blade light passed over him—over the spirit pressure chessboard.
The spirit pressure beams dispersed.
And the Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor… in an instant became drenched in blood, his flesh sliced away strip by strip.
His primordial spirit surged upward, attempting escape.
Yet it too was cut by the Blade of Rules—slice by slice, its aura fading.
In the end.
The Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor’s body stiffened, cold and lifeless, frozen in a pose of despair as it floated in the Void Heaven.
Under the onslaught of the rules, it continually exploded apart.
Across the Lower Third Heavens, every cultivator gasped in horror.
Cold sweat drenched their bodies.
A saint had fallen…
The Void Heaven trembled as though the Heavenly Dao itself mourned.
Saints cultivated using the power of the Heavenly Dao and were recognized by the Nine Heavens’ Dao.
Thus, upon their death, heavenly phenomena would appear!
“This is no profound immortal of Five Phoenixes. No phenomena for you.”
On the Five Phoenixes Continent.
The Heaven Stealing Tower, now laden with five imperial weapons, floated back. Lu raised a hand to catch the small pagoda.
His gaze cold and stern, he spoke faintly.
At his words, the entire world fell silent.
Lu flicked his wrist. A chess piece shot forward and landed with a sharp “snap” on the board.
Above the spirit pressure chessboard.
A beam of spirit pressure surged upward!
Boom!
It tore into the roiling, blood-rain clouds.
The clouds—seeming to weep blood—were ripped apart…
The heavenly phenomenon vanished.
The mourning of heaven and earth for a fallen saint… had been erased by Lu!
This concerned the Heavenly Dao of the Nine Heavens!
Lord Lu of Five Phoenixes… what domineering presence!
Cultivators across the Lower Third Heavens gasped again.
The escaping saints grew even more wary and chilled to the bone.
At this moment, they had no time to grieve the Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor’s death—without even the ceremonial dignity a saint’s fall deserved.
They only wanted to flee.
If they could not escape the Void Heaven, the Fire Clan Sacred Ancestor’s fate would be theirs!
Yet Lu was determined to keep these “enthusiastic” friends.
Five Phoenixes only wished to develop in peace.
Yet these people kept harassing it.
Lu decided to end the nuisance once and for all.
With a flick of his sleeve.
Five chess pieces flew from the box, swept by immense force and slammed onto the board.
In the Void Heaven, five beams of spirit pressure crashed down in succession.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor, Wood Clan Sacred Ancestor, and the others who had narrowly escaped the domain nearly cursed aloud in fury!
The spirit pressure beams were not overwhelmingly powerful—but they were infuriatingly disruptive.
Any delay meant the Blade of Rules would catch them, and they would all remain behind!
“Lu Ping’an! How ruthless you are!”
Dread and fury twisted the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor’s beautiful face.
She had truly been utterly ruined by Lu Ping’an.
The other saints roared in anger.
Within the Void Heaven, the silent, annihilating Blade of Rules swept closer.
The aura of death pressed in relentlessly.
Every cultivator in the Lower Third Heavens held their breath.
Could it be…
That today, six saints would fall in succession?!
Yet.
Just as the Blade of Rules was about to claim the Water Clan Sacred Ancestor and the others—
Suddenly.
The void tore open. Spatial profound meaning surged.
A figure shrouded in magnificent radiance emerged—noble, divine.
“Lu Ping’an of Five Phoenixes, your killing intent runs a bit too deep.”
A calm voice drifted through the air.
Boom!
Imperial might spread boundlessly.
The incoming rule power was forced back.
The Water Clan Sacred Ancestor and the others, who had felt death mere inches away, nearly collapsed from the strain.
But at least… they had survived.
Then they turned to the powerhouse who had arrived via spatial profound meaning and saved them.
Complex emotions filled their eyes.
“The First Heaven, the number one high-martial world among the Nine Heavens, leader of the ten sacred clans…”
“They have finally appeared!”
