CHAPTER 73: CHAPTER 73 - WHEN GODS WALK AMONG MORTALS

The golden pillar of divine light that erupted from the remote mountain cave didn’t simply pierce the sky—it shattered it.

Reality itself groaned as the beam of pure cultivation energy tore through dimensional barriers, announcing to every corner of the Lower Realm that something impossible had just occurred.

The Immortal Sect - Heavenly Cloud Peak

Elder Liu Changming was deep in meditation within the sect’s most sacred chamber when every alarm formation in the mountain range began shrieking at once.

The ancient cultivator’s eyes snapped open, his Late Dao Integration cultivation base trembling as waves of unfamiliar energy washed over him.

"What in the nine hells—" he started, then froze as he felt it. A presence so vast, so overwhelmingly powerful, that his thousand-year-old soul recoiled instinctively.

The chamber doors exploded inward as three more elders burst in, their faces pale with terror and confusion.

"Elder Liu!" gasped Elder Zhou Yifei, her usually pristine robes disheveled. "The southern monitoring array—it’s completely overloaded! Whatever this is, it’s beyond Great Vehicle realm!"

"That’s impossible," Elder Liu snarled, rising from his meditation cushion. "There hasn’t been a Great Vehicle breakthrough in this realm for 5,000 years, excluding the failed attempt 15 years ago, when that woman who revealed the Emperor’s weakness would definitely have died and might have reached the upper realm in several pieces. "

He recalled how fifteen years ago, a woman named Lily Qin—concubine of the Emperor and someone who claimed to come from a higher branch of the Immortal sect—fooled both them and the Emperor so that she could ascend to the upper realm.

Indeed, while doing so, she at least did a good job of revealing how the Emperor had lost all his strength, allowing the Immortal sect to claim his empire, which was located on land with a Draconic Spiritual Vein.

From this vein, the Immortal sect was boosting their ships’ technology and obtaining enormous Qi fuel—and the very reason they made the Empire fall and the Emperor reach death’s door, just to place a puppet emperor while they obtained the Spiritual Vein for themselves.

"And why is it coming from the period hell of the abyssal demon—"

His words died as another pulse of energy crashed over them, this one carrying something that made every elder in the room step back in shock.

It wasn’t just power—it was intent. Malicious, hungry, utterly confident intent that seemed to look directly at them through the dimensional barriers.

"Sect Master," Elder Liu commanded, his voice tight with urgency. "Summon the Sect Master immediately. And activate the Heaven-Piercing Communication Array. We need to contact the other major sects."

Elder Feng Qingyun, the youngest of the four, was trembling as he stared out the chamber’s crystal windows toward the south. "Elder Liu... look."

They all turned, and what they saw defied comprehension. A pillar of golden light stretched from the horizon to the heavens themselves, so bright it turned night into day across half the continent.

But more disturbing were the changes it was causing—clouds were flowing backward, stars were pulsing in unnatural rhythms, and the very air seemed to be singing with power.

"By the ancestors," Elder Zhou whispered. "What kind of monster could cause this?"

Azure Dragon Sect - Battle Hall

Sect Master Ling Haoran was in the middle of disciplining a group of unruly disciples when the first shockwave hit.

The Peak Dao Integration cultivator’s iron control shattered as his knees buckled, overwhelming pressure crushing down on everyone in the hall.

"Everyone down!" he roared, his spiritual sense screaming danger as he threw up protective barriers around the weaker disciples. Several of them were already coughing blood from the ambient energy pressure alone.

Grand Elder Ling Wei materialized in the center of the hall, his ancient frame crackling with hastily summoned power. "Haoran! The southern territories—something’s ascending!"

"Ascending?" Sect Master Ling’s eyes widened. "You mean breakthrough? What realm could cause this much disturbance?"

"I don’t know," the Grand Elder admitted grimly. "But I felt an echo of this power pattern once before, centuries ago, when I was just a Core Formation junior. My master told me stories of the last Great Vehicle tribulation of such extreme strength that shook the heavens and the earth, and even that didn’t shake reality like this."

The golden light was visible even through the Battle Hall’s thick stone walls, casting strange shadows that seemed to move independently.

Outside, they could hear the sounds of panicked disciples and the emergency bells of the outer courts.

"Gather the war council," Sect Master Ling commanded. "And send word to our spies in the southern regions. Whatever’s happening down there, we need to know if it’s a threat or an opportunity."

The Grand Elder nodded, but his expression remained troubled. "Haoran... there’s something else. The energy signature—it feels familiar somehow. Like we should know what this is."

"What do you mean?"

"Three days ago, we lost contact with Elder Feng Lianhua and her research expedition to the Abyssal Demon Realm. They were supposed to report back yesterday."

The two men stared at each other as the implications sank in. Elder Feng Lianhua—the ice queen who had never shown interest in anything beyond cultivation and sect politics—had vanished into a demon realm just days before this unprecedented event.

"Send a search team," Sect Master Ling ordered. "Now."

Blood Moon Valley - The Crimson Sanctum

Deep in the nightmare realm that served as the Blood Moon Valley’s headquarters, Patriarch Xue Wuji was enjoying a particularly exquisite torture session when reality screamed around him.

The ancient demon cultivator, whose soul had been stained black by millennia of atrocities, actually stumbled as pure, overwhelming yang energy crashed against his corrupt aura.

"What... what is this?" he gasped, his victim forgotten as golden light began seeping through the sanctum’s blood-soaked walls.

The corrupted formations that powered his realm were sparking and failing, unable to contain or filter the foreign energy.

His lieutenant, a Peak Nascent Soul ghoul with rotting flesh hanging from her bones, pointed a skeletal finger toward the south. "Master... look."

The golden pillar was visible even here, in their pocket dimension of perpetual darkness. But more than that—it was purifying things.

Wherever the light touched, the blood stains were fading, the bones decorating the walls were crumbling to dust, and the screaming souls trapped in their formation arrays were beginning to smile with inexplicable peace.

"No!" Patriarch Xue roared, pouring his power into reinforcing the corruption, but it was like trying to hold back the ocean with his bare hands. "Not my sanctuary! Not my beautiful suffering!"

But even as he raged, a part of his ancient mind was calculating. Power like this... if he could corrupt it, twist it to his purposes... he could ascend beyond anything the cultivation world had ever seen.

"Gather the Blood Guard," he commanded, his eyes gleaming with dark hunger. "We’re going hunting."

Hidden Valley of the Sword Saints

The legendary recluse known only as "The Blade" had been forging in silence for forty years, his Early Great Vehicle cultivation focused entirely on perfecting a single, ultimate sword technique.

The hidden valley where he lived was protected by formations that could hide it from the divine sense of immortals.

None of that mattered when the golden pillar erupted.

The ancient swordsman’s masterwork blade, still red-hot from the forge, began singing—a pure, clear note that harmonized perfectly with the distant energy signature.

His eyes, which hadn’t shown surprise in centuries, widened as he felt the resonance.

"Impossible," he whispered, setting down his hammer. "That energy pattern... it’s not just Great Vehicle. It’s something beyond. Something that shouldn’t exist in this realm."

He walked to the valley’s edge, his spiritual sense reaching out to touch the distant phenomenon. What he felt made his ancient heart skip a beat.

"Three essences," he murmured, his weathered face creasing in concentration. "Three different women, all bonded to... what? What could create a foundation strong enough to channel that much power without self-destructing?"

The sword in his hand continued its harmonic singing, and he realized with a start that his own cultivation was resonating with the distant breakthrough.

After forty years of stagnation, he could feel his understanding of the Dao beginning to shift, new insights crystallizing in his mind.

"Whoever you are," he said to the golden light, "you’ve just shown me the next step in my path."

For the first time in decades, The Blade left his valley, his form blurring through space as he headed south with the clear declaration.

"I, in search of a liege, will see if this strange energy I feel is worthy of my service."