Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 265: Flame Feather Demon Emperor, Supreme Battle!

Yes, tempering!

Sang Shoudao was not mistaken. At this very moment, upon the eighth Dao Platform within Gu Xiu’s Dantian Qi Sea, the Supreme Source was undergoing a radical metamorphosis.

The Wooden Top was systematically peeling away from the Supreme Source, while the Supreme Source itself was being subjected to the rhythmic impacts of a colossal hammer forged from the convergence of ten thousand sources.

Bit by bit, the energy was being forcibly smelted and hammered into the shape of Gu Xiu’s ninth, and final, Dao Platform.

To an outside observer, the Dantian’s internal landscape might look relatively unchanged, but the underlying reality was fundamentally different. Initially, the Wooden Top had been the active agent, hijacking the dense Source energy to passively forge the platform.

Now, Gu Xiu had seized absolute control. He was actively wielding the myriad sources as a literal hammer, intent on completely shattering the Supreme Source before recasting it from scratch!

The former method was akin to pouring molten iron into a mold to get a desired shape. The latter was throwing the iron block into a hyper-forge, melting it down, and hammering out every single impurity to forge a peerless blade.

The Hammer of Ten Thousand Sources currently gripped in Gu Xiu’s mental hands originated from the Hidden Abyss Spirit Carp, which contained the vast reserves of origin energy previously drained from the White Jade Fan.

For years, Gu Xiu had employed countless methods to grasp the esoteric path of Source Arts, but the door had always remained firmly shut. However, with the sudden invasion of the Supreme Source—or more accurately, the activation of the Wooden Top within it—Gu Xiu experienced a sudden, profound epiphany.

He could finally mobilize the origin energy within the Hidden Abyss Spirit Carp!

It wasn’t a natural mastery, like how a cultivator circulated their own Spiritual Qi, commanding it as easily as moving their own fingers. It was much closer to utilizing a high-tier Talisman. A cultivator might not comprehend the profound Heavenly Dao Rhyme woven into a Talisman, but by activating it, they could still borrow its power to manifest miracles.

The Wooden Top was the ‘Talisman’ in Gu Xiu’s grasp.

Furthermore, the more thoroughly the Wooden Top stripped the Supreme Source of Guan Xuelan’s influence, the more powerful his ‘Talisman’ became, granting him access to increasingly terrifying levels of origin power.

At this exact moment, mobilizing the myriad sources to form a divine hammer, systematically pulverizing the Supreme Source, and violently recasting it into a Dao Platform was well within his current capabilities.

Some might consider such an agonizing, labor-intensive process redundant. After all, the Supreme Source had already surrendered.

But for Gu Xiu, this brutal tempering was absolutely necessary. It was the only way to ensure total peace of mind.

“By subjecting it to the relentless strikes of the Hammer of Ten Thousand Sources, every single trace of karma attached to this energy will be annihilated. This means that once my ninth Dao Platform is finalized, it will bear absolutely zero karmic ties to Guan Xuelan!”

Gu Xiu muttered to himself, his spiritual focus absolute. He watched as the ninth Dao Platform slowly, magnificently took shape beneath his hammer strikes. He could even sense the previous eight Dao Platforms continuously extending threads of pure aura, weaving together to support the birth of the final pillar.

Gu Xiu knew with absolute certainty.

The moment the ninth Dao Platform solidified, it would be the day he officially stepped into the Golden Core realm!

While Gu Xiu was methodically obliterating Guan Xuelan’s Supreme Source and forging it into his foundation, high above the clouds of the Eastern Barrenlands, the true owner of that energy suddenly halted.

Standing atop her white divine feather, Guan Xuelan’s flawless face contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.

“The Supreme Source… something has happened to it!”

Due to her self-imposed karmic severance, she couldn’t actively scry the exact status of the Supreme Source. Yet, her soul violently throbbed with the undeniable sensation that something of immeasurable value was being systematically destroyed—violently amputated from her very being!

The feeling was sickening.

But maddeningly, she couldn’t turn back to Cloud Firmament City. Her sharp, glacial gaze was currently locked onto a figure hovering in the distant sky above the Azure Mystic Sacred Land.

It was a man clad in flowing robes of vibrant, fiery red feathers. His pupils were molten gold, and just by standing in the void, his body radiated waves of suffocating heat that warped the air, making it seem as though he could incinerate the heavens themselves.

Guan Xuelan’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “The Flame Feather Demon Emperor of the Ten Thousand Demons Nation?”

“The Azure Mystic Supreme?” The Flame Feather Demon Emperor sneered, his gaze equally lethal as it locked onto her.

It was the first time these two apex predators had ever crossed paths. No introductions were necessary; their respective auras announced their identities to the world.

“You are a reigning Demon Emperor of the Ten Thousand Demons Nation. Yet, you dare to cross into the Eastern Barrenlands, assault the mountain gates of my Azure Mystic Sacred Land, and slaughter my disciples?” Guan Xuelan’s voice echoed like cracking ice. “Is the Ten Thousand Demons Nation officially declaring war on the human race?”

As her gaze swept over her sect below, Guan Xuelan’s expression grew exceedingly ugly.

The grand entrance to the Azure Mystic Sacred Land had been reduced to an apocalyptic landscape of scorched earth and glass. Hundreds of outer and inner disciples who had been assigned to guard the mountain had been incinerated, their ashes scattering in the wind.

Even her surviving personal disciples were in pathetic states.

The most severely wounded was her second disciple, Yuchi Chunlei. The typically robust woman was currently covered head-to-toe in horrific, blackened burns. She was only remaining conscious through the sheer, stubborn circulation of her pure spiritual power, but her life force was flickering like a candle in a hurricane.

This brainless disciple of hers had been stationed within the Sect. When the Flame Feather Demon Emperor first descended, instead of immediately activating the Sect’s grand defensive arrays like a rational commander, the idiot had actually charged out to fight a Supreme single-handedly!

The result was as predictable as it was pathetic.

She hadn’t even managed to send a distress signal before the Demon Emperor swatted her from the sky, nearly turning her into charcoal. If Jiang Xun and his group hadn’t coincidentally returned to the sect at that exact moment and frantically activated the grand arrays, Yuchi Chunlei would have been beaten into a bloody mist.

Witnessing the devastation of her territory and the humiliation of her disciples, how could Guan Xuelan not be consumed by rage?

However…

Facing Guan Xuelan’s furious interrogation, the Flame Feather Demon Emperor merely threw his head back and let out a booming, mocking laugh.

“A war between the demon race and the human race? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your Azure Mystic Sacred Land truly has an inflated sense of self-importance! Why don’t you take a look around and ask if any human faction is actually willing to stand by your side in this?”

Guan Xuelan’s brow furrowed sharply.

The Demon Emperor took a single, earth-shattering step forward. His aura violently erupted, instantly climbing to its absolute peak. His voice rolled across the heavens like a pyroclastic flow.

“Since the founding of our Ten Thousand Demons Nation, we have proclaimed an ironclad law to the world: Human cultivators are strictly forbidden from refining the Myriad Beasts Heavenly Pearl, and they shall not orchestrate wholesale slaughters of Demon Beasts merely to harvest their cultivation!”

“Yet, your Azure Mystic Sacred Land—specifically, the Peak Master of your Spirit Beast Peak, Lu Qingyao—has systematically captured and butchered my clansmen to refine this forbidden artifact! She has imprisoned the souls of my kin, subjecting them to eternal torment, solely to artificially gorge her Nascent Soul!”

“She has flagrantly violated the greatest taboo of the Ten Thousand Demons Nation!”

“This Emperor has come personally to capture Lu Qingyao, extract her soul, and offer her in a blood sacrifice to avenge my slaughtered kin!”

The Flame Feather Demon Emperor’s booming declaration instantly echoed across the sky, detonating like thunder in the ears of everyone present.

Unconsciously, the gazes of thousands of surviving disciples turned toward the direction of Spirit Beast Peak.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xun, Xu Wanqing, and Qin Meran all slowly turned their heads. They stared in horrified silence at the mangy, feral dog cowering on the ground beside them.

The feral dog—Lu Qingyao—was currently trembling so violently she looked like she was having a seizure.

“Hmph!” Guan Xuelan’s cold snort suddenly shattered the tension. “I care nothing for the truth or falsehood of your claims. The singular fact remains: you have assaulted the gates of Azure Mystic and slaughtered my disciples. That is an act of war. You are now a mortal enemy of this Sacred Land.”

“Flame Feather, you are merely a fledgling bird demon who only recently stepped into the Demon Emperor realm. Yet, you have the sheer audacity to provoke my Azure Mystic.”

“Are you truly not afraid… that I will bury you permanently in the Eastern Barrenlands?”

“It seems the lofty Azure Mystic Supreme has no intention of reasoning,” the Flame Feather Demon Emperor’s golden eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Reason?” Guan Xuelan countered, her tone dripping with venom. “The moment you chose to violently crash through my gates, you forfeited any right to reason with this Venerable.”

The Demon Emperor paused, then offered a slow, predatory smile. “A fair point.”

“If a dispute can be resolved with fists, what use are pretty words?”

The moment the words left his lips, a single, impossibly radiant crimson feather materialized in the air before him. The feather glowed with blinding intensity, and at its base, a cluster of hyper-condensed crimson flames roared to life.

With a flick of his wrist, the feather shot toward Guan Xuelan like a laser beam.

“Let this Emperor see if the esteemed Azure Mystic Supreme actually possesses the qualifications to demand reason from me!”

The feather instantly broke the sound barrier, its aura erupting like a detonating volcano. As it streaked across the sky, the sheer, unadulterated heat radiating from the projectile literally set the atmosphere on fire. Half the visible sky was instantly dyed a terrifying, apocalyptic crimson.

It was a sight of unparalleled, breathtaking beauty—and absolute, lethal danger.

“Ahhhh!”

“My eyes! I can’t see!”

“Retreat! Get back inside the arrays!”

Screams of agony erupted from the Azure Mystic disciples below. Like fools, they had all craned their necks, eager to witness a clash between Supremes. They had completely forgotten the cardinal rule of the cultivation world: the methods of Supremes were not spectacles meant for the eyes of ants.

Hundreds of disciples who had merely glanced at the streak of fire had their retinas instantly scorched. The ambient heat wave crashing down from the sky made them feel as though they had been shoved into a blast furnace. Panic ensued as they desperately scrambled backward.

Fortunately, right before the fiery cataclysm struck, Guan Xuelan’s icy voice rang out.

“You dare use such a pathetic parlor trick against this Venerable?”

Instantly, the atmosphere surrounding Guan Xuelan violently inverted. A domain of absolute, unyielding frost, howling wind, and biting snow exploded outward.

Her Supreme Dao Domain: The Wind and Snow Domain!

The moment the domain manifested, the encroaching, apocalyptic heatwave was brutally suppressed. The sky-scorching flames rapidly dimmed and withered as they collided with her absolute zero blizzard.

Guan Xuelan calmly raised her right hand and made a casual pinching motion in the empty air before her.

It was a flawlessly timed, terrifyingly precise movement. The exact microsecond her fingers closed, the lethal crimson feather arrived precisely between her thumb and forefinger.

All the blinding radiance and heaven-incinerating flames had vanished completely. In her grasp, it was nothing more than an ordinary, dull red bird feather.

With a casual squeeze, the feather shattered into fine, harmless ash.

Witnessing this casual display of dominance, the Flame Feather Demon Emperor’s golden eyes narrowed to slits. “Your strength… it actually exceeds this Emperor’s expectations.”

“Oh, it will vastly exceed your expectations,” Guan Xuelan sneered. The right hand that had just crushed his attack suddenly balled into a tight fist. “Now, let this Venerable see exactly what gave a pathetic bird like you the courage to cause a scene at my door!”

CRACK!

In an instant, a terrifying concentration of absolute frost materialized directly around the Flame Feather Demon Emperor, completely encasing him in a localized blizzard. Following the motion of Guan Xuelan’s fist, the boundless frost violently contracted, attempting to crush him like a bug in a vice.

Facing the crushing pressure, the Demon Emperor merely raised an eyebrow.

He didn’t panic. He simply let out an angry, booming snort. His crimson feathered robes flared open, and a towering inferno erupted from his body.

The colliding extremes of absolute zero and absolute heat generated a massive, hissing cloud of superheated steam that obscured the sky.

A moment later, the steam slowly dissipated.

The Flame Feather Demon Emperor remained hovering in the exact same spot. He hadn’t been moved a single inch.

As the steam cleared, the two Supremes locked eyes, a newfound, heavy wariness blooming simultaneously in their gazes.

While the two titans began their earth-shattering exchange, cautiously testing the waters, millions of cultivators watching the apocalyptic lightshow from distant cities and mountain peaks erupted into chaos.

“I was wondering why Azure Mystic was suddenly glowing like a dying star and throwing off such insane Spiritual Qi fluctuations! I thought they were just tinkering with another grand array to seal the mountain. I never expected a literal Demon Emperor was sieging their gates!”

“I’ve been saying it for years! The Spirit Beast Peak of Azure Mystic is way too arrogant! The way they treat Demon Beasts isn’t normal beast-taming; it’s outright slavery and butchery. Now they’ve finally kicked the hornet’s nest!”

“It seems Azure Mystic’s pristine reputation is completely rotting from the inside out. First, we find out Jade Pill Peak’s Xu Wanqing is a fraud, and now Spirit Beast Peak’s Lu Qingyao is committing mass atrocities.”

“Well, they’re a relatively newly ascended Sacred Land. They haven’t suffered any real catastrophic losses yet, so they’ve never learned humility. But this Flame Feather Supreme… he hasn’t been a Demon Emperor for long, but he’s famously the most volatile, hot-tempered maniac among the Demon Ancestor’s thirteen lieutenants. He probably charged straight for Azure Mystic the very second he heard the news.”

“This is it! The two Supremes are locked in. This is a legitimate Supreme-level war! We haven’t seen a battle of this magnitude in the Eastern Barrenlands for centuries, and it’s happening right now!”

“…”

Countless cultivators were paralyzed with shock, and thousands of message talismans were frantically launched, instantly spreading the explosive news across the entire continent.

A battle between Supremes! The whole world was watching!

And simultaneously, as the news of the impending apocalypse spread, a specific group of individuals who had just finished gathering in a heavily obscured room in a certain city felt their eyes light up with predatory glee.

A Demon Emperor attacking Azure Mystic?

This was a heaven-sent opportunity!