Chapter 1377: The Heavenly Dao Is Unfathomable

"Incorrigible..." Gu Huojin remarked with a faint smile.

With that, he raised both hands, and two golden light waves surged endlessly from his palms, rushing toward the high sky.

The massive chaotic vortex was immediately stirred by the golden light, and the gray light surging from within grew stronger, pressing relentlessly toward Li Yuanjiu and the others.

The five-colored light on the small bottle was instantly suppressed, shrinking continuously like a firefly in the dead of night.

"Damn, we can't hold on..." Dream Mother exclaimed in alarm as everyone was forced to retreat step by step.

Li Yuanjiu couldn't help but sigh; his painstaking preparations were ultimately no match for Gu Huojin's far-reaching schemes.

Just then, a sudden change occurred.

In the high sky, behind Gu Huojin, a spatial ripple stirred within the void, and a huge silver rune emerged, followed by a silver illusory door that burst open.

Gu Huojin sensed it instantly, frowned, withdrew one hand, and struck backward with a fierce palm.

Golden light surged from his palm, transforming into nine golden flood dragons that charged toward the door.

From within the silver light door, a dark red light surged like a tide, colliding head-on with the nine golden dragons.

A thunderous explosion roared!

The silver light door shattered with a bang, leaving only a massive black hole in the void that lingered for a long time.

Almost simultaneously, two figures appeared before and behind Gu Huojin, one with a clenched fist and the other with an outstretched palm, striking at him.

With no room to dodge, Gu Huojin's golden light flared, and a golden figure resembling a dharma image suddenly emerged around him, shielding his body and withstanding the pincer attack.

Another explosion roared!

The golden figure burst apart, sending out a colossal golden ring of clouds that expanded and surged outward, forcing the two attackers back millions of miles.

The golden cloud ring gradually dissipated, the clouds turning into specks of golden light that vanished. Gu Huojin's figure emerged from within, his chest heaving violently, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth—he was injured.

"So it's you..." Gu Huojin said slowly, maintaining his stance to drive the grand formation while wiping the blood from his lips.

Feeling the pressure suddenly ease, Li Yuanjiu and the others quickly turned to look at the two who had appeared abruptly.

To their shock, they recognized the two figures.

They were none other than the Demon Lord and the Reincarnation Palace Master, who had supposedly been obliterated by Gu Huojin earlier.

Each of them was shrouded in a layer of light that resisted the erosion of the grand formation, with no law power leaking from their bodies.

"It seems Fellow Daoist Gu is not surprised by our return?" the Reincarnation Palace Master raised an eyebrow and asked.

"There are three supreme laws in the world. Though you two have not reached the pinnacle of your respective paths, you are still the ones closest behind me. If you were truly so easy to deal with, I would be disappointed. I am just puzzled—your two false bodies were so baffling that even I failed to see through them." Gu Huojin said with a smile.

"I have a blood brother named Shi Kongjie. His puppet law is also among the highest in the world. A puppet he crafted with all his might, fusing our law powers, could deceive Fellow Daoist Gu—nothing strange about that," the Demon Lord replied.

"I see. I always thought you brothers were at odds and that you had killed him long ago. I never expected it was just a play you two staged. Such a long setup—truly painstaking," Gu Huojin said in realization.

…

In the Demon Domain, the once magnificent Yeyang City was now largely destroyed.

The earlier battle between the rebel army led by Crab Daoist and the orthodox forces led by the Demon Lord had been extremely brutal. No one who experienced it would think it was a staged act.

In truth, it was not a performance at the beginning, nor even in the early stages. It was only when both sides were fighting to the death, on the verge of mutual destruction, that someone stepped in with news compelling enough to halt the war, preventing the final showdown.

That person was naturally the Reincarnation Palace Master, and the news was naturally Gu Huojin's scheme.

At that moment, in a secret chamber deep within the Demon Palace, a pale-faced Crab Daoist sat cross-legged on a cushion, his aura extremely faint.

More horrifyingly, the left half of his body, from shoulder to abdomen, had vanished, merging into the void—clearly the result of overusing the puppet law and being eroded by the Heavenly Dao.

Not far in front of him, Shi Chuankong stood with his hands at his sides, his face full of worry.

Earlier, when Crab Daoist extracted law power from the Reincarnation Palace Master and the Demon Lord to create the two puppet bodies, Shi Chuankong had been watching. At that time, Crab Daoist had suffered Heavenly Dao erosion, but it was far less severe than now.

However, not long ago, while meditating to regulate his breath, Crab Daoist suddenly suffered severe injuries, and the Heavenly Dao erosion worsened sharply.

After a moment, Crab Daoist let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes.

Seeing this, Shi Chuankong quickly stepped forward.

"Don't worry. It's just backlash from the destruction of the puppet bodies," Crab Daoist said, noticing his grave expression.

"Uncle, how are things over there?" Shi Chuankong asked anxiously.

"It's a long story..." Crab Daoist shook his head.

Just then, a strange fluctuation came from the void. Threads of law power began to seep from both of them, like silk threads drawn into the high sky.

"What is this..." Shi Chuankong was startled and asked quickly.

"Gu Huojin has activated the grand formation. Things are not looking good over there..." Crab Daoist's expression grew even more solemn.

…

In the outer void.

Han Li and Gold童 moved like lightning, racing through the celestial winds.

They had originally planned to enter a certain immortal domain through the still-open "windows" and then use the teleportation arrays within to reach the Middle Earth Immortal Domain. However, they found that, for some reason, all the teleportation arrays leading to the Middle Earth Immortal Domain, or even those near it, were nonfunctional.

After several attempts, Han Li decided to take Gold童 and travel directly through the outer void to the Middle Earth Immortal Domain, just as Yue Mian had once taken them across the void.

As they flew at full speed, an anomaly occurred: law power began to flow out of their bodies like crystalline threads, disappearing into the void.

"What's happening..." Gold童 halted abruptly, startled.

Han Li pondered for a moment and then said slowly, "It must be a change at the Heavenly Court..."

With that, he quickly activated his immortal spiritual power, trying to seal his law power to prevent further leakage.

"Can't seal it..."

To his surprise, he found that the outflow of law power could not be stopped.

"What do we do? If it keeps draining like this, we might not make it to the Heavenly Court before..." Gold童 didn't finish, noticing a green light glowing on Han Li's chest.

Han Li also sensed the change in the small bottle and quickly took it out from his chest.

The leaf-like patterns on it shimmered with light, and the glow enveloped Han Li's body. The golden threads leaking from him instantly vanished.

"It stopped," Gold童 said, his eyes lighting up.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Li casually shot a beam of light, connecting it to Gold童.

The light covering his body immediately spread, enveloping Gold童 as well, and the law power leakage from Gold童 ceased.

"It seems the small bottle can resist this strange change, but I don't know if it's temporary or permanent. We must hurry to the Heavenly Court without delay," Han Li said gravely.

Gold童 nodded, and their遁光 merged, vanishing into the distance.

…

In the Middle Earth Immortal Domain, Qitian Continent.

The Dragon Rising Peak of the Buzong Sect remained desolate as ever.

Yet, for some reason, the ancient peach trees on the peak today looked as if they had been battered by a night of heavy rain, their blossoms and leaves scattering, presenting a pitiful, desolate scene.

Without the cover of clouds or the shelter of flowers and leaves, the entire Dragon Rising Peak appeared bare, making the octagonal black stone altar standing on it seem even more conspicuous.

The black vortex suspended above the altar still churned with thick mist, but the aged face embedded in it was now only half remaining. With its disheveled hair and blind eyes showing a fish-belly white, it looked eerie and terrifying.

"The Great Dao's divination has three thousand paths; divining others is easy, but divining oneself and heaven is hard..." A hoarse, desolate voice echoed from the void, reverberating across the empty mountaintop.

Chen Tuan's blind eye swept over the fallen petals on the ground, then strained to look toward the distant peaks, and finally shifted to the vast sky above. His expression was troubled and hesitant.

"Enough, enough. I've lived on borrowed time for so many years, yet I never dared to cast this divination. Now, only half a卦 remains of the Great Dao's opportunity. Whether I can divine it... haha, it's up to the unseen heavens," Chen Tuan said with a bitter laugh.

He no longer cared about the outcome of the Bodhi Feast; he only wanted to know what the future held for Gu Huojin.

Having spoken to himself, he began to chant. Blood seeped from his blind eye, covering the white film over his eyeball. In the next instant, it seemed to ignite, turning into a beam of blood-colored crystalline light that shot forth, directly striking the void before him.

The void twisted, forming a black vortex that absorbed the crystalline light, establishing a blood-colored "bridge" between them.

However, this old man, who stood at the pinnacle of the prophecy law, was ultimately at the end of his strength.

The bridge had only just formed when, after a mere ten-odd breaths, it collapsed with a roar.

Yet the black vortex did not disappear. Instead, it flew toward Chen Tuan, merging with the black vortex behind him, slowly devouring his remaining remnant body.

"I never expected it to be like this..."

Between heaven and earth, only these words remained of Ancestor Chen Tuan.

In an instant, all the ancient peach trees on Dragon Rising Peak burst into flames without fire, black smoke soaring into the sky, like dragons rising from the peak and vanishing into the firmament.

…