Endless regulatory power turned into razor-sharp blades that slashed relentlessly through the void, like a meat grinder lined with spinning knives trying to carve Lu apart.

  Silver blades stacked into a perfect sphere, sealing him inside.

  Even Lu dared not underestimate these regulatory blades. If his guess was correct, they were likely created by ancient emperors—or beings on the level of ancient emperors.

  Though dulled by countless eons, their terror remained undiminished.

  These blades didn’t merely cut flesh; they severed the primordial spirit.

  Even sheltered within the silver sphere, Lu felt his soul shudder under the onslaught.

  The Thousand Blades that formed his chair had been nourished by his spiritual energy and primordial spirit for ages; their defensive might was extraordinary.

  At the very least, they would not break easily.

  Thus, this layered silver-blade shield was, to Lu, an absolute defense.

  Yet the soul-targeting regulatory assault still managed to affect him slightly.

  Truthfully, Lu hadn’t expected deploying the Grand Time Array to provoke such a violent reaction from the regulatory power.

  “In the Preaching Platform, nothing like this happened during deduction…”

  Lu frowned. This was genuinely unexpected.

  Of course, he didn’t particularly care.

  These regulatory forces weren’t actively wielded by an ancient emperor—they were passive, somewhat mechanical. Their strength was limited.

  Lu knew that once the array was complete, the blades would naturally disperse.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Terrifying explosions rocked the void.

  Qi Liujia stared in horror at the figure crossing the heavenly barrier.

  It didn’t appear particularly tall, yet it pressed down on him like an insurmountable mountain.

  This was the supreme existence of Little Thunder Sound Buddhist Realm!

  Qi Liujia had a premonition—this being was definitely above the Tribulation-Transcending realm.

  For such a powerhouse to cross worlds… how could he not be terrified?!

  “Young Master…”

  Qi Liujia gritted his teeth. Things had just become dire.

  Normally, the moment a being of this level stepped into the Void Heaven, regulatory power would instantly strike, slashing their primordial spirit.

  But because Lu was deploying the time array and drawing all regulatory blades to himself, the pressure on this newcomer was greatly reduced.

  That was probably the confidence allowing him to cross over.

  The unique nature of the Void Heaven made true experts of the Nine Heavens reluctant to enter.

  The stronger one was, the deadlier the regulatory backlash.

  The regulatory power scattered throughout the Void Heaven worked like a lever: weak beings faced weak resistance; the stronger you were, the stronger the counterforce.

  When Qi Liujia was young, he had witnessed it once.

  A supreme being from the Nine Heavens had crossed into the Void Heaven, seeking traces of ancient predecessors.

  The entire Void Heaven had quaked. Regulatory power coalesced into a hundred-thousand-zhang blade that cleaved the void, leaving the supreme being bloodied and fleeing in panic.

  Since then, no supreme being had dared enter.

  The figure seated on the prayer mat flashed the “Xing” profound word.

  In the next instant, he appeared just outside the Five Phoenixes.

  Qi Liujia gnashed his teeth and shot upward, coarse robes flapping wildly.

  “Senior! Halt!”

  He had to stop this person. If the other interfered, Young Master’s array deployment would be ruined.

  Drawing close, Qi Liujia still couldn’t clearly see the figure’s face—only that it was a buddha.

  Infinite Buddhist light shrouded the head, eyes serene, profound, ethereal.

  The “Xing” profound word?!

  Qi Liujia’s heart jolted as he stared at the prayer mat.

  His eldest disciple had taken the “Xing” word and reportedly brought it to the upper realm. He never expected to see it again.

  This person was connected to the upper realm.

  Likely the Great Venerable of Little Thunder Sound.

  The Great Venerable’s face was veiled in boundless Buddhist light, impossible to gaze upon directly.

  Qi Liujia opened his mouth to speak, but no sound emerged.

  The Great Venerable gently pinched a flower.

  Qi Liujia felt his primordial spirit shrink as though compressed into a single petal.

  He watched helplessly as the Great Venerable drifted toward Lu, who was still under relentless assault by regulatory blades.

  Lu wanted to erect a time array to accelerate the Five Phoenixes’ growth.

  Yet now he faced twin horrors: regulatory blades and a being beyond Tribulation-Transcending who had crossed worlds.

  Despair. Dead end.

  For a moment, all hope seemed lost to Qi Liujia.

  Lu, of course, sensed the overwhelming aura approaching.

  “Heavenly Human realm?”

  Lu’s brow arched.

  He had just defined the cultivation tiers. He didn’t know what the Nine Heavens called the realm beyond Tribulation-Transcending, but he had named it Heavenly Human.

  “Probably the Great Venerable of Little Thunder Sound… What does he want?”

  Thoughts raced through Lu’s mind, yet he remained perfectly calm.

  With a flick of his finger,

  the Phoenix Plume Sword shot forth.

  The nine swords did not merge; instead, they orbited the silver sphere in nine streaks of light.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Countless regulatory blades were repelled.

  Crack… crack…

  The Thousand Blades began to rotate, parting to reveal Lu seated calmly within, expression serene, black hair dancing.

  The Grand Time Array gradually stabilized.

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  After countless deductions in the Preaching Platform, Lu had accounted for nearly every possible failure.

  Success was within expectations.

  But the regulatory blades and the sudden appearance of a Heavenly Human realm buddha were not.

  Lu regarded the Great Venerable calmly.

  The Venerable’s face was shrouded in endless Buddhist light intertwined with a strange intent.

  Lu narrowed his eyes and spotted a blooming Primordial Spirit Flower.

  Hmm?

  Beneath the Buddhist radiance, the Great Venerable’s expression seemed to shift slightly.

  He discovered that Lu’s primordial spirit was… unnaturally powerful.

  Interesting.

  The only high martial world in the Void Heaven, rumored to be entangled with ancient emperors.

  There was indeed something extraordinary here.

  A man who would kill the Judicial Venerable without a word, who slaughtered Holy Lords left and right.

  Short-tempered, not overwhelmingly strong.

  Yet still so brazen.

  It was surely the regulatory power of the Void Heaven giving him courage.

  Supreme beings dared not enter, fearing the blades left by ancient emperors.

  The weak were heavily suppressed and couldn’t unleash their full power.

  Thus, with primordial spirit might comparable to the Immortal Transformation realm, this man could dominate the rule-protected Void Heaven.

  The Great Venerable’s thoughts churned as he locked eyes with Lu.

  Then he smiled.

  Under normal circumstances, even he would not dare enter the Void Heaven.

  But this time… an opening had appeared.

  “Lord Lu…”

  “Deploying a time array defies the heavens and disrupts the balance of high martial development in Pingyang Sky. Please dismantle it.”

  His voice rang out leisurely.

  Golden lotuses seemed to bloom across the void with every word, carrying an ethereal, authoritative air.

  Lu looked at him calmly.

  “This is the Void Heaven. How does it affect Pingyang Sky’s high martial worlds?”

  The Great Venerable seated on his prayer mat smiled like a buddha holding a flower.

  “Because Lord Lu refused the High Martial Registry, according to the rules… the Five Phoenixes small world will be classified under Pingyang Sky’s jurisdiction.”

  Far away, Qi Liujia—still suppressed—flushed with indignation and unwillingness.

  Why?!

  On what grounds should the Five Phoenixes belong to Pingyang Sky?

  The Five Phoenixes was clearly a high martial world of the Void Heaven!

  Lu raised a brow, genuinely surprised.

  “The Five Phoenixes is this Young Master’s world. What business is it of yours?”

  The Great Venerable showed no anger.

  “Amitabha…”

  “Lord Lu, do you know whose will that venerable you slew represented?”

  “The will of the upper realm. The upgrade and evaluation of every high martial world in Pingyang Sky is decided by them.”

  “By killing him, you severed the upper realm’s will. Great sin will descend upon you.”

  Lu shook his head.

  “This Young Master never joined the registry, and the Five Phoenixes answers to no one. On what authority do they condemn me?”

  He seemed to grow impatient.

  He had just finished the time array; he had no time to chat with this Great Venerable.

  “Dismantle this array. It contains the ancient emperor’s ‘Lin’ profound word. It will only invite greater calamity upon you.”

  The Great Venerable’s voice boomed like an ancient bell.

  Lu ignored him.

  The Thousand Blades reformed into his wheelchair.

  White robes fluttering, Lu sat calmly, gazing at the Venerable.

  Buzz…

  Crimson light surged.

  The nine Phoenix Plume Swords rose into the void and fused into one colossal sword, its feathers gleaming like a true phoenix tail.

  Sword qi tore across the emptiness!

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  In that instant, every regulatory blade in the void turned—abandoning Lu and aiming straight at the Great Venerable on his prayer mat.

  Whoosh!

  The phoenix sword light stretched for tens of thousands of zhang, carving an abyss through the void!

  Behind it came the endless clash of regulatory blades.

  The Great Venerable was bathed in Buddhist light that fell like a resplendent robe.

  “This monk offers Lord Lu one piece of advice…”

  “Abandon the Five Phoenixes and flee while you still can. The Void Heaven was never meant to birth a high martial world. Now that it has, it may involve ancient emperor secrets—or even the whereabouts of an ‘Emperor Weapon.’ This world will become a target for countless upper-realm experts. You cannot protect it.”

  “Nor can the one behind you.”

  His words thundered.

  Yet Lu’s expression did not change.

  The next instant, sword qi slashed down.

  The Great Venerable pinched a flower with his fingers.

  A buddha palm met the sword qi.

  BOOM!

  A golden lotus seemed to bloom in the void, unleashing a terrifying energy storm that shattered countless frozen continents.

  The prayer mat beneath the ancient buddha flashed silver-gray.

  The massive “Xing” profound word swirled.

  In a streak of light, he prepared to flee.

  But endless regulatory blades rained down.

  The ancient buddha let out a muffled groan.

  Just as the silver-gray light whisked him away,

  a chunk of flesh stained with golden-crimson blood was severed and left floating in the void.

  The regulatory blades continued to fall, soon reducing even that powerful flesh to nothing.

  The ancient buddha Great Venerable vanished.

  His aura completely extinguished within the Void Heaven.

  The oppressive pressure that had enveloped the entire void gradually lifted.

  Yet the words he left behind echoed like deafening thunder in Lu’s mind.

  After a long while, Lu calmed.

  He narrowed his eyes.

  Seated in his Thousand-Bladed Chair, he surveyed the surroundings.

  The void was silent.

  Filled with darkness, deathly stillness, and cold.

  Not a trace of life.

  Lu swept his gaze around and smiled faintly.

  He felt an enormous vortex trying to drag him in.

  “The one behind you…”

  Leaning back in his chair, Phoenix Plume Swords returned and embedded themselves as crimson ornaments.

  “Interesting.”

  Lu chuckled softly.

  “Does he mean the ‘General’ in the ancient tomb… or someone else?”

  The Great Venerable of Little Thunder Sound had entered the Void Heaven only to leave him with this tantalizing mystery.

  People who deliberately whet your appetite and then withhold the answer…

  Really deserved to be beaten to death.

  “Young Master… what do we do now?”

  Qi Liujia flew over, face pale, sweat beading on his forehead.

  “No need to fear. We’ll face whatever comes.”

  Lu rubbed the dark profound ring on his thumb, smiling.

  Seeing Lu still relaxed, Qi Liujia exhaled in relief.

  Perhaps Lu truly had some trump card beyond imagination.

  After all, to Qi Liujia, Lu was shrouded in mystery.

  “By the way, Old Qi—what exactly is the ‘upper realm’ that ancient buddha mentioned?”

  Lu suddenly asked, curious.

  Qi Liujia was taken aback.

  He frowned.

  “The upper realm involves many secrets. I don’t know much, but…”

  He gave a self-mocking laugh.

  “Because of my few ‘excellent’ disciples, I do have some understanding.”

  “Young Master should know this world is called the Nine Heavens. Originally, each heaven had an emperor presiding; all were roughly equal.”

  “But after that ancient war—immortals bled, emperors fell, myriad worlds wept—the Nine Heavens split into strong and weak.”

  Qi Liujia spoke slowly.

  Lu listened with interest.

  So the ancient war had been that devastating, affecting the entire Nine Heavens…

  “The Void Heaven is called the Ninth Heaven and is a forbidden land—the weakest of the Nine. Young Master knows this well.”

  Qi Liujia smiled.

  “Then come the Eighth Heaven Pingyang, Seventh Heaven Yuan Magnetic, and Sixth Heaven Blood Evil—three heavens of similar tier, though with differences in strength. Above them lies the upper realm…”

  Lu tapped the armrest thoughtfully.

  “So the upper realm is just a collective term for the remaining heavens?”

  “Yes and no…” Qi Liujia shook his head.

  “Legend says the First Heaven still has a living emperor, so it is not counted among the upper realm. To this day, no expert has managed to enter the First Heaven.”

  “Thus, the upper realm excludes the First Heaven—or rather, the First Heaven is even more noble and mysterious.”

  “Pingyang, Yuan Magnetic, and Blood Evil are controlled by the remaining heavens—those are called the upper realm.”

  Lu’s brow rose.

  So Pingyang Sky was a controlled territory?

  The Void Heaven had avoided control probably because of its pervasive, bizarre regulatory power.

  Qi Liujia’s weathered face twitched. He took a deep breath.

  “Young Master… the upper realm has another name.”

  Lu looked at him curiously.

  “What name?”

  Qi Liujia exhaled slowly, yearning flickering in his eyes.

  “The Immortal Realm.”

  …

  Pingyang Sky.

  Silver-gray light rippled through space.

  Far away, Holy Lords Tuoba and Qingling—who had been secretly watching—felt their hearts lurch.

  The next moment, thick bloody scent filled the heavens.

  The ancient buddha Great Venerable returned upon his prayer mat.

  Only… he looked miserable. A large chunk of flesh had been carved from his jade-like arm, blood still pouring out.

  The two Holy Lords sucked in cold breaths.

  That was the Great Venerable of Little Thunder Sound—the master of a Yan Six high martial sacred land!

  A terrifying expert of the third realm of Great Power, the Immortal Transformation realm!

  Yet after one trip into the Void Heaven, he returned with flesh severed and blood staining the void.

  Tuoba and Qingling exchanged glances, suddenly feeling incredibly fortunate.

  They had entered the Void Heaven and come back alive… their luck had been extraordinary.

  The ancient buddha seemed to smile.

  He raised a hand to cover the wound; regulatory fluctuations dispersed…

  Flesh swiftly regenerated.

  He glanced at Tuoba and Qingling with an enigmatic half-smile,

  then vanished in a burst of Buddhist light.

  Only the rich, buddha-scented blood mist lingered in the void.

  Tuoba and Qingling drifted closer, peering into the Void Heaven.

  Rumble!

  In their eyes, countless densely tangled regulatory blades still writhed.

  They inhaled sharply, hearts pounding with lingering fear.

  They silently vowed never to enter the Void Heaven lightly again.

  …

  The Grand Time Array was complete.

  A colossal sundial hung above the Five Phoenixes, as though marking the passage of its time.

  To the inhabitants, little seemed different.

  Though Lu’s strength had grown, because the time array now encompassed the entire world, the perceived flow of time remained unchanged for them.

  Lu maintained a ten-to-one ratio—perfect.

  Rumble!

  Within the immortal ruins,

  the origin waterfall began to collapse and dissipate.

  Many cultivators looked up in alarm. The sundial above had vanished.

  The River of Time was gone.

  Many felt a pang of loss, but the islands still brimmed with dense spiritual energy—a supreme cultivation ground nonetheless.

  The world at large noticed no great change.

  The sky was still the same sky; sunrise and sunset proceeded normally.

  They had no idea a time array now enveloped the entire Five Phoenixes.

  They lived within the mountain, unaware of the passing years.

  Above the vast sea,

  Lu rode his Thousand-Bladed Chair leisurely.

  Qi Liujia followed at his side.

  Feeling the peaceful, unchanged Five Phoenixes, Qi Liujia’s cheek twitched.

  The countless souls of this world likely had no idea they had just walked the line between life and death.

  Nor did they know that their time now flowed ten times faster than the outside.

  Lu, however, was quietly excited.

  With the time array complete, the cultivation speed of the Five Phoenixes’ people had increased—meaning his own cultivation speed had increased as well.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  As Lu and Qi Liujia drifted across the sea,

  from the direction of the Eastern Sea, near the primordial spirit platforms,

  a towering aura suddenly exploded skyward!

  Lu’s eyes lit up. On his system panel, spiritual energy reserves began skyrocketing…

  Qi Liujia was stunned.

  “Someone broke through!”

  The corners of Lu’s mouth curved upward.

  The first Great Power of the Five Phoenixes had been born.