The instant he heard that voice.
Ling Fan's eyes suddenly erupted with an incomparably brilliant cold light.
"Dao Yi!"
He looked up abruptly.
He was too familiar with this voice.
So familiar that he wouldn't forget it even if it turned to ash.
Because the owner of this voice.
Was his friend from his previous life, also one of the most powerful Heavenly Venerables in the Central Heavenly Realm, whose cultivation and realm were second only to his, and who was the most promising candidate to ascend to Great Heavenly Venerable after him.
It was this friend who, at the critical moment when the Ten Great Heavenly Realms besieged him, had viciously backstabbed him. If not for that, he would have had a chance to escape with his life!
This betrayal could not be washed away even with all the waters of the Central Heavenly Realm's countless heavenly rivers.
He saw amidst the rolling tribulation lightning.
A towering figure, as if piercing the heavens and treading the earth, rapidly condensed within it.
The figure wore a flat-topped Dao crown and a robe of Daoist rhyme, exuding a terrifying aura that transcended the great Dao, sweeping across the eight directions.
At the moment this figure finally condensed.
Even the tribulation lightning in the Heavenly Gate trembled beneath its feet.
"Is this why you betrayed me, to replace me and become the Great Heavenly Venerable!"
Ling Fan appeared as insignificant as dust before this figure that transcended heaven and earth.
But he showed no fear.
There was only endless hatred and coldness.
"Ling Qingyun, why couldn't you just die obediently? The current Central Heavenly Realm is no longer your Central Heavenly Realm. I have established the Central Heavenly Court, ruling over the thirty thousand great states of the Heavenly Realm, its might shaking countless realms like the sands of the Ganges. It is more brilliant and glorious than your era. Now... it is the era of I, Dao Yi Great Heavenly Venerable!"
"Since your vengeful spirit lingers, this Heavenly Venerable shall kill you once more!"
Boom!
A voice like the doomsday judgment descended.
The towering figure, piercing the heavens and treading the earth, transcending the great Dao, slowly extended a finger.
Under this finger.
The power of the Heavenly Dao was madly condensing.
This was power sufficient to destroy a world.
Ling Fan felt a great sense of alarm.
This was the true power of a Heavenly Venerable.
Even if it was only the power of rules set by Dao Yi, not even one ten-billionth of Dao Yi's own power, it was still not something the current Ling Fan could contend with. It was enough to obliterate any being below the Heavenly Venerable realm.
Ling Fan did not hesitate, nor did he make any futile attempts.
The Samsara Divine Cauldron flew out, and he directly entered it. Then, he gathered the power of the three great formations: the Yellow Springs Road, the Naihe Bridge, and the Yanluo Hall. He also shrunk his own heaven and earth into his body, forming a completely defensive posture.
At that very moment.
The finger of the Dao Yi Heavenly Venerable figure fiercely struck the Samsara Divine Cauldron.
"It's useless. You are not even an Emperor realm now. Even if you hide inside a divine artifact, you will be shaken into blood with a single finger from me."
"Clang!"
A world-destroying sound wave vibrated outwards.
In that instant.
Countless tribulation lightning dispersed, thunder dragons were annihilated, and even the tribulation clouds vanished. The destructive sound wave even spread to the Heavenly Gate, causing it to begin to collapse.
And within the Samsara Divine Cauldron.
A wisp of destructive power penetrated the Samsara Divine Cauldron, and in that instant, the Yellow Springs Road formation, the Naihe Bridge formation, and the Yanluo Hall formation shattered silently.
Ling Fan's body also began to crack, like a shattered porcelain vase forcibly glued back together, with terrifying spiderweb-like fissures.
Fortunately, he had shrunk his own heaven and earth into his body. The power of heaven and earth reinforced him, allowing his body to maintain its last bit of integrity and not completely shatter.
"Take advantage of this moment and charge into the Central Heavenly Realm!"
Ling Fan, enduring his severely wounded and near-death body, burned the countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures plundered from all the war fortresses of the Demonic Heavenly Realm, transforming them into pure and potent power. He frantically activated the Samsara Divine Cauldron, and the Samsara Divine Cauldron instantly turned into a thin beam of light. At the moment the Heavenly Gate was about to completely collapse, it rushed into it and disappeared.
The moment the Samsara Divine Cauldron vanished.
Everything was completely gone.
Only the towering figure of Dao Yi Heavenly Venerable, as eternal as the ancient heavens, stood silently between heaven and earth, looking in the direction where the Samsara Divine Cauldron had disappeared, without a word.
...
Central Heavenly Realm.
This was a boundless continent suspended in the universe. Countless stars, in front of this continent, were as minuscule as countless grains of Ganges sand.
The core area of the Central Heavenly Realm alone.
Had thirty thousand great states.
The territory of each state was often measured in trillions of miles. Even a Great Emperor realm expert would find it difficult to traverse a single great state to reach another, even if they flew continuously for a year.
The Heavenly Realm was too vast.
Without becoming a Heavenly Venerable, one could not measure the boundaries of the Central Heavenly Realm.
Not only was the territory of the Heavenly Realm vast.
The rivers, seas, mountains, sun, moon, and the beings upon the Heavenly Realm were also astonishingly large.
An ordinary river was often thousands of miles wide and millions of miles long.
A small pond was tens of thousands of times larger than the Stormy Sea and the Chaotic Sea of the Jiuhua Realm combined.
In the Heavenly Realm, mountains ten thousand zhang high were considered mere small mounds.
Everywhere were ancient divine mountains millions, tens of millions, or even billions of zhang high.
Heavenly materials and earthly treasures were also found everywhere.
Various primordial exotic beasts appeared endlessly, and even true dragons, ancient phoenixes, and qilin were not uncommon.
Moreover, the beings of the Heavenly Realm were born with the cultivation and power of the Great Spirit realm, naturally able to absorb spiritual energy. Some powerful races were even born with a nascent core, and their lifespans were unimaginably long.
Under such an environment and exceptionally favorable conditions, the number of experts in the Heavenly Realm was also unimaginably large, as countless as the sands of the Ganges.
In the Heavenly Realm.
Beings below the Manifestation Realm, such as those in the Golden Core and Nascent Core realms, had a status as low as slaves in the mortal world.
Saints in the Manifestation Realm could barely be considered to have entered the ranks of the strong.
Only by ascending to the Emperor realm could one truly possess the status of a powerful being and dominate a region.
As for Heavenly Venerables.
They were already beings of another level, transcending heaven and earth and the great Dao, living as long as the heavens, nearly immortal and indestructible, possessing an almost eternal life and lifespan.
Such powerful beings were supreme existences everywhere, looking down from above. In their eyes, ordinary beings no longer existed, and even time held little meaning for them. They would often enter seclusion for millions of years, with fleeting time passing in the blink of an eye.
In their eyes, there was only the pursuit of greater power, the cultivation of more potent magical treasures and divine abilities, and the struggle for the opportunity to become a god.
Beyond that.
Everything else was illusion.
...
Central Heavenly Realm.
Cold Mountain.
The Cold Mountain range was said to stretch for eighty billion miles, like an incomparably massive ancient dragon lying across the land.
For beings from small worlds like the Jiuhua Realm, a mountain range of eighty billion miles was an utterly unimaginable existence.
But for the Central Heavenly Realm.
Cold Mountain was merely a very, very remote and small place. Many important figures in the Heavenly Realm probably had never even heard of this place name.
At this moment.
Deep within Cold Mountain.
Suddenly, a turbulent stream of void appeared out of nowhere.
A tattered and unrecognizable figure, like a broken porcelain vase with cracks all over its body, fell out of the void
Turbulent stream.