Silver Sword Peak stood like a colossal silver blade amidst Mount Shushan.

At this moment, Li Xuanxiao, a disciple of Silver Sword Peak, sat cross-legged on the peak master's platform, his white robes fluttering in the wind.

Clutching the Peak Master Token tightly, his gaze burned like torches.

The sword formation had originally been missing a corner, but under Li Xuanxiao's control,

the sword energy from Silver Sword Peak shot forth like a rainbow piercing the sun, perfectly filling the gap in the formation.

Every sword in the formation seemed to sense Li Xuanxiao's presence, trembling and emitting clear ringing sounds.

As the gap was repaired, Mount Shushan's sword formation suddenly blazed with radiant light.

All the swords belonging to Silver Sword Peak lit up simultaneously, their cold glimmers resonating with the greater formation.

".........."

Mount Shushan had been plunged into darkness, but now exploding stars illuminated the night as bright as day.

After what felt like an eternity, the repeating crossbows finally ceased firing, having exhausted their ammunition.

Yet above the sword formation hovered countless stellar remnants, frozen in time and space like a spectacular meteor shower.

Mottled starlight scattered across the celestial expanse.

The sect leader of Ink Pool Sect showed no surprise at this development.

If Mount Shushan's sword formation could be suppressed so easily, all their previous preparations would have been wasted.

Countless mechanical kites spread their wings, preparing to launch a third wave of attacks following the crossbow assault.

"............"

Another streak of white appeared in Li Xuanxiao's hair, though he had no attention to spare for such trivialities now.

Everything unfolding before him had long escaped his control.

Or perhaps, from the very beginning, none of this had ever been within his grasp.

What could a mere forty-year-old Nascent Soul cultivator possibly accomplish?

He could influence and scheme regarding minor matters around him.

But faced with a world-shaking siege of this magnitude,

Li Xuanxiao felt nothing but overwhelming helplessness.

Everything was happening too fast—

far too fast for him to properly respond.

"Master... when will you return?"

All his hopes now rested on Lingxu.

".........."

Cangzhou.

The battlefield.

Wen Yuan stared intently into the distance.

The Ancient Bones Elder's body had been cleaved nearly in half.

The Thunder Seal within his dao bones—fused with a wisp of essence from the primordial thunder beast Kui—had been severed clean through.

Luo Zhi coughed up blood as countless strands of her Fate Spiderwebs were severed by Lingxu's sword.

Bai Li of the Nine Tails gnashed her teeth in anguish, six of her tails now severed.

The Toad gasped heavily, its mountain-sized body now shrunk to hill-like proportions.

Its lifebound treasure, the Eclipse Pearl that allowed it to devour stellar energy, now bore three visible cracks.

The Bloodfeather Roc Clan's dragon claws had lost four digits.

Even the Crimson Firmament Elder's lifebound Spell Seal, the Crimson Nirvana Seal, had lost significant spiritual essence.

Across the battlefield, each demon king faced their own Lingxu.

Too strong! So strong it bred despair in their hearts!

Meanwhile...

Luo Zhi, the Merry Elder, and Zhongzhou's top astrologer Goushengzi neared completion of their divination on Lingxu.

The Crimson Firmament Demon King stored his lifebound seal, running a finger across his forehead as golden pupils reflected sky-scorching flames.

From his vantage on Burial Armament City, Wen Yuan watched the Eastern Desolate Demon Territory's clouds ignite.

..........

Eastern Desolate Demon Territory.

A crimson world where a massive blood pool churned like a volcanic crater, continuously spewing fresh blood.

The boiling blood formed enormous bubbles as it roiled.

The Eastern Desolate demon tribes knelt facing Cangzhou, demons willingly walking into the blood pool one after another.

The blood washed over their bodies as they offered no resistance, silently allowing the pool to consume them until nothing remained.

And with each sacrifice, the blood pool amassed greater power.

Demon alchemists encircled the pool, chanting incantations.

The flesh of over 500,000 enlightened demon beasts automatically peeled away as their bones assembled into a towering blood staircase.

The Crimson Firmament Demon King's Skyburn Seal blazed like the sun between his brows, a colossal Vermilion Bird phantom manifesting behind him.

Even as he himself rapidly turned to ash within the phantom's embrace.

Luo Zhi sacrificed herself next, offering her Thousand-Faced Fate Spider form to the Crimson Firmament Demon King.

The Ancient Bones Elder extracted his own dao bones, channeling the sealed essence of the primordial thunder beast Kui into the Crimson Firmament bloodline.

The other demon kings followed suit—

Bai Li offered her nine-tailed essence.

The Toad's body shrank infinitely before being wholly absorbed into its Eclipse Pearl,

which then flew into the Crimson Firmament Demon King.

The Bloodfeather Roc Clan sacrificed their dragon souls...

As the demon kings sacrificed themselves one after another,

the Eastern Desolate blood pool surged violently up the skeletal staircase.

Finally, after consuming several demon kings and countless demon corpses,

the blood pool condensed into a single blood pill.

Amidst the flames, the Crimson Firmament Demon King was being reborn—memories unfolding...

......

"Let us stake everything... and fight him with our all!!"

The Crimson Firmament Demon King's gaze hardened with resolve.

When he reached out to catch a falling blood feather,

terrifying omens manifested across all of Cangzhou.

Great Ascension!!

The Crimson Firmament Demon King had broken through from Tribulation Transcendence to Great Ascension.

The sky rained fire, each flame containing fragments of refined cosmic laws.

The Crimson Firmament Demon King was refining this very world.

Then his body underwent a sudden metamorphosis—

his already colossal demonic form expanded severalfold!

Where there had been one head and two arms now grew nine heads and eighteen arms!

Each head displayed a different horrific visage:

some glaring furiously, others baring fangs, some grinning sinisterly...

His heart was composed of countless refined demon hearts.

Using the entire Eastern Desolate as catalyst and several demon kings as sacrificial offerings,

the Crimson Firmament Demon King had ascended to Great Ascension.

Lingxu's right hand tightened around his sword hilt, fingers flexing slightly to make the blade tremble.

The faint vibration seemed to echo his own rising excitement—

as if the sword too could sense the formidable power it would soon face.

Lingxu's heartbeat accelerated, feeling his blood begin to boil.

It had been so long since he'd felt this thrill.

So long since he'd fought at full strength.

"Great Ascension... how interesting."

The corner of Lingxu's mouth quirked upward as he raised then lowered his sword.

"Try my full-powered strike."

With a hiss, the dense miasma seemed to tear apart.

A single swordstroke to break ten thousand techniques.

The Crimson Firmament Demon King raised his hand.

"Come!"

"I've sacrificed the entire Eastern Desolate Demon Territory—

you think mere Great Ascension can't withstand one swordstroke?"

He grinned savagely, brimming with confidence.

"At Great Ascension... I feel as if I command all creation!!"

In this moment, heaven and earth seemed to bend to his will.

"Lingxu... crushing you now would be no harder than squashing an ant."

"Pfft!!"

In the next instant, Lingxu's blade descended.

The Crimson Firmament Demon King suddenly looked down to find his massive body engulfed by a pillar of sword energy.

"I..."

For the first time, he found himself struggling to resist.

His demonic form contorted violently yet couldn't break free.

What's happening? This shouldn't be possible—I should be invincible!!

"Against you, Lingxu... one Great Ascension clearly isn't enough."

The Merry Elder sighed.