Chapter 400: 399: The Master of the Big Hand (Additional update)
All the cultivators acted according to the righteousness in their hearts, adhering to their Taoist beliefs, and getting stronger through various means.
Suddenly, all cultivators staggered, looking into the sky in terror.
A large hand, shimmering with runic landforms, broke through the Broken Void, dripping with blood as it reached for the Nine States.
The cultivators had no idea what this hand was intending to do.
Cultivators at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage glared furiously. The young cultivators were ignorant, unaware of where the ladder to the Immortal Realm was located. Did they not know?
Although one at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage could not see the ladder, they could vaguely sense its presence.
The big hand was clearly trying to sever the ladder to ascend to the Immortal Realm!
Blocking the path of immortality was a grudge on par with killing one’s parents, stealing someone’s spouse, or even worse.
The cultivators at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage had had enough. Putting aside the effects of their actions on the Nine States, they began to make their move, determined to stop this hand in its tracks.
This hand, which had destroyed countless ladders to ascendance in many worlds, had never faced such fierce resistance.
No other world had the potential or abundance of cultivators that the Nine States had.
A new immortal emerged in the Nine States every hundred years on average, long surpassing any other world.
Not to mention, countless immortals had set up their Taoist traditions in the Nine states, sparking battles for supremacy.
Many immortals privately referred to the Nine States as the “Mini Immortal Realm”, indicating its significance.
At this time, there was no distinction between the way of righteousness or the demiworld. Even the neutral cultivators did not take a peacemaking attitude. This big hand had touched the interests of all the cultivators!
“Buddha’s Death Palm!”
“Ruyi Gourd!”
“Dao Yin Yang Transformation!”
“The Saint says: Think thrice before you act!”
“Brahma Tower!”
“Five-colored Divine Light!”
“Mount Heshan’s Stone!”
“Great Demon’s Sky-supporting Staff!”
Many Transcendance Tribulation Stage cultivators acted simultaneously, ignoring the harm they were causing to their own lives. They kept pulling out every trick in the book, attempting to stop the big hand at whatever cost.
However, it was useless. The big hand was unshakeable. Even the impact of Immortal Artifacts could not slow it down.
The gap between their cultivation and that of the big hand was overwhelming, leading to despair.
“Ancestor, why won’t you let me use the Yin Yang Heaven Seal?” The Sect Master of the Dao Sect was shocked, unable to understand the actions of the immortal elder.
The immortal elder gently shook his head and used his cultivation to forcibly suppress the Sect Master’s hand. “This is for your own good.”
“Our kind has its support in the Immortal Realm. Whoever dares to block our path to immortality, state your name!”
“The elder ancestors of the Immortal Realm will never let you off!”
“If this grudge is not avenged, I swear that I would no longer be a man!”
The cultivators at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage roared. They had been through countless life and death trials, but none were as disgraceful as today.
Cultivation… if they can’t reach immortality, what is the point of cultivating at all?
Jin Dao’s eyes were streaming with blood. He was on the cusp of ascension to immortality. How did this catastrophe occur at such a crucial moment?
This was even more unbearable than death itself.
The master of the big hand seems to be injured and bleeding more than when he was in Wei Gu’s World.
Just like in Wei’s World, the palm of the big hand was flashing bright with runes interacting with the ladder of ascendance, causing it to dissipate without a trace.
The runes did not contain any elements related to the law of time, and the part of the ladder related to the law of time was preserved.
The big hand brutally pulverized the remnants of the ladder related to the law of time into dust, disappearing completely.
“No wonder most of the pieces of the immortality ladder I obtained were related to time.”
Jiang Li reached an epiphany. The part of the ladder related to the law of time was not easy to destroy and required two steps. In the haste, the big hand might have overlooked something, allowing a portion of the ladder fragments to be preserved.
Jiang Li tore through the Broken Void. He finally saw who the master of the big hand was, and it sent chills down his spine.
The Ancestral Daoist!
It was the Ancestral Daoist who shattered the ladder to immortality.
The Ancestral Daoist was enormous, spanning the size of two states, akin to a gigantic figure who opened the heavens and forged the earth.
Yet this giant was in a horrific state, severely injured. One hand was pressing against his chest, protecting some cultivators with an inexhaustible supply of mana, preventing them from being torn apart by the Void.
This crude method caused damage to the consciousness of the cultivators, and they were likely to lose their memories.
His other hand emanated an array of bright runes. He was using this hand to shatter the ladder to ascension across the Ten Thousand Realms!
His blood spilled across the Void, his eyes vacant, blind, his consciousness hub ruptured, and hence unable to harness his Divine Sense.
Such injuries were irreparable, death was inevitable.
But what surprised Jiang Li even more was what followed.
Countless Heavenly Demons from the extradimensional realm were chasing after the Ancestral Daoist, hell-bent on witnessing the Daoist’s death.
“The Daoist sure lives up to his name, bearing such heavy injuries and still managing to hold up till now.”
“Silently completed the Three Corpses Severance and the Three Corpses into One, which threw us off his actual strength.”
“He shattered the ladder to ascension across the Ten Thousand Realms, trying to prevent us from finding the location of these realms.”
“But what’s the use? We followed him all the way here and remembered the location of the world.”
“Though the world is constantly moving, as long as we return quickly and record the position formula, all his efforts will be futile.”
All these extradimensional Heavenly Demons were clear-headed, indicating that they started as Heavenly Immortals.
The Heavenly Demons were overjoyed. Similar to a hunter’s delight in killing swift lions, they also enjoyed killing the strong.
Besides, killing the Daoist was a major contribution, with countless rewards.
It seemed as if Ancestral Daoist had heard the whispers of the extradimension Heavenly Demons. Suddenly, he pulled back, his rune-flashing hand crushed all the Heavenly Demons. Consequently, even the world coordinates remembered by the Heavenly Demons disappeared.
The Ancestral Daoist’s mouth was opening and closing, but he could not make a sound. He seemed to be laughing, or perhaps crying.
Staggering, he crossed the Void to the next and final world
His hand smashed the last immortality ladder and his body floated in the universe, causing the myriad of stars to alter their paths.
Using the last of his strength, he inscribed a stele and then transformed his body into a continent, providing a place for these cultivators he had brought back from the Immortal Realm to live.
Jiang Li came to the Ancestral Daoist’s side, remaining silent.
The extradimension Heavenly Demons were short-sighted and couldn’t figure out the Ancestral Daoist’s real condition, but Jiang Li could.
He was already dead before he arrived in the Nine States. The fact that the Daoist could still move was due to his sheer willpower.
It was hard to imagine that the Daoist was powerful enough to crush countless extradimension Heavenly Demons and the ladder of ascension just by sheer willpower.
But, the Daoist still died.
The Daoist sensed someone’s arrival. His body instinctively thought it was an extradimension Heavenly Demon. He tried to reach out, but he had no strength left. He used his Divine Sense and saw Jiang Li. It was as if he came back to life, he was immensely excited.
“Who are you… you are from the future…there are cultivators like you in the future…you are stronger than me…there is still hope…everything still has hope…”
The Daoist’s Divine Sense stuttered and reached out to Jiang Li. Feels relieved after seeing Jiang Li, and his soul finally departed.
Although Jiang Li had never met the Daoist, his heart sank when he saw him in such a state.
Jiang Li picked up the stele that the Daoist had inscribed in his dying moments. He had seen this stone monument when he first arrived in the Ming Zhong World. But at the time, the stele was damaged, and he could only see part of the content.
Finally, Jiang Li saw the complete stele.