Minister Huang turned toward Tianyi. His pallor was deathly pale. “Grand Elder Nine Heavens, what’s the current situation in the Numinous Realm?”

He had just learned from Tianyi that the Concealed Emperor had joined Perfected Huanglong in the fight against Divinity Yanxu, who controlled the Immortal Extermination Sword Formation. The fight between the three divinities would undoubtedly determine the outcome, but that didn’t mean battles in the Immortal Realm did not matter.

A grim determination appeared in Minister Huang’s eyes after hearing Tianyi’s report. “Grand Elder Nine Heavens, attack the Numinous Sword Sect and destroy its guardian formation. Open a portal and lead the rest of the immortals to destroy our final foe!”

Tianyi didn’t immediately obey but suggested, “How about I attack alone first? Even if my conduits perish, it’s nothing. But if more casualties appear among our ranks, it would not be worth it.”

Even the other immortals in the war room could not help but be surprised by Minister Huang’s decisiveness. Even in the Nahui Ollin System, they had not experienced such losses.

Even those tempered by the years of battle against devils could not help but hesitate once they faced such losses, but Minister Huang actually dared to gamble.

Yes, in their eyes, this was naked gambling!

What if the Numinous Sword Sect had a similar trump card? Wouldn’t it be sending their people to their deaths? The safer play would be to wait until the battle between the three divinities ended before continuing their crusade inside the Numinous Realm.

Did Minister Huang not understand? Of course he did. “Don’t forget that the Immortal Extermination Sword Formation is one of the strongest formations of the primordial era. It’s unknown if the Concealed Emperor and Perfected Huanglong can kill Divinity Yanxu. In that case, it would be better to destroy the Numinous Sword Sect while they fight. That way, even if Divinity Yanxu doesn’t die, we would have achieved our strategic objective.”

He held a hand to prevent one of the strategists from speaking up. “I know what you want to say. What if Divinity Yanxu loses all fetters and attacks us using guerrilla tactics? Then capture the core of the Numinous Sword Sect and use them as hostages!”

If this were a novel, the act of capturing people and using them as hostages would undoubtedly be despicable. However, none of the immortals present had any objection. Tianyi was the same.

What Minister Huang did not mention was that he could not trust Perfected Huanglong. After all, even if the divine dragon joined the Immortal Court, he was once the ruler of the Demon Clan. It was better to completely destroy the Numinous Sword Sect and force Perfected Huanglong to the opposite side of Divinity Yanxu. Even if the Immortal Court suffered a bit, it would be all worth it in the end.

After a brief but heated discussion, everyone compromised with Minister Huang’s plan.

Countless Tianyis reappeared in the sky above the Numinous Realm, outside the perimeter of the Numinous Sword Sect. As soon as he appeared, countless attacks shot toward his many conduits. A portion was knocked down, but the majority of them remained unaffected and aimed their palms at the Numinous Sword Sect.

Without Divinity Yanxu’s interference, countless Stellar Silences shot toward the Numinous Sword Sect’s guardian formation. That number was bolstered when the conduits that had crashed into the ground stood up and aimed their palms at the Numinous Sword Sect.

The Numinous Sword Sect’s defenders launched countless attacks in an attempt to shoot down the Stellar Silences. Most of the attacks were protected behind a layer of spacetime, causing most attacks to phase through or go around them. Only the attacks by the sword sovereigns had a definite effect on the miniature suns, causing them to go supernova ahead of time.

This created a chain reaction that caused the adjacent Stellar Silences to explode. The Numinous Sword Sect’s attacks might not affect them, but the same attack could definitely reach each other. Although many of them detonated ahead of time, the explosion still reached the Numinous Sword Sect—not to mention those that successfully landed.

One after the other, the miniature suns struck the guardian formation.

The ground quaked, and any bodies of water directly evaporated. Not even the trees were spared. It didn’t matter if they were spiritual roots or not. The lucky and powerful vegetation became husks, while the unlucky and weak ones directly turned to ash.

The once vibrant landscape around the Numinous Sword Sect directly transformed into a mirror-like desert. The sand that formed the desert was glass, melted by high temperatures.

The greatest change was undoubtedly the dome that appeared around the Numinous Sword Sect. Countless runes and energy crisscrossed to form a barrier. The runes and lines shifted around the dome, but the movements were jagged, as if someone had thrown a wrench in the gears that moved everything. Furthermore, countless lines crashed into each other, creating tiny explosions that delayed or disrupted the rotation of the dome.

This was the guardian formation of the Numinous Sword Sect. Its outer formations had nearly been destroyed, including the concealment formation, which meant that it was revealed to the world.

Upon seeing this, Tianyi marveled at the guardian formation of the Numinous Sword Sect. He could not sense it before because of the concealment formation. Although it was not as perfect or powerful as the Immortal Court’s guardian formation, it still had its merits.

No matter his appreciation, Tianyi would not hold back. Countless sword lights erupted from within, and the many formations also attacked. Part of the formations dispelled enemy attacks and stored them. Another linked formation would take the stored attacks and release them, turning defense into offense.

It would have stumped many attackers, but Tianyi was not one of them. He cared not for his own attacks used against him. Not to mention that his previous Stellar Silences were too powerful and had damaged, if not destroyed, many of the formations. Thus, the guardian formation’s counterattack weakened considerably.

Tianyi’s attack continued. The moment he destroyed the guardian formation was the moment the Immortal Court would rush in.

The situation faced by the Numinous Sword Sect was even more dire than when the ten suns ravaged the Primordial World. The Primordial World faced ten suns; they faced an infinite number of suns. Granted, they were miniature ones, but they would not stop until they were destroyed.

The sound of shattering glass stretched for millions of kilometers. The sheer volume would kill mortals. No matter how hidden away the Numinous Sword Sect was, there would always be settlements of humans or animals. Thus, Karmic Sin descended.

Because Tianyi was not bound by the Heavenly Dao of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, it descended upon the members of the Numinous Sword Sect. As one of the parties in the war, they held a certain amount of responsibility. Because it was evenly split, not many noticed the light amount of Karmic Sin attached to them. It didn’t even manifest.

Even if the top echelons of the Numinous Sword Sect discovered this, they would not care at this time.

“My, my, I didn’t expect that we would be in such a dire situation even after the Supreme Elder revealed the Immortal Extermination Sword Formation,” Emperor Bladeheart said, clenching a piece of straw between his lips. He shrugged and looked at his compatriots. “It looks quite hopeless. How about we surrender and become a vassal sect?”

“Even if it’s a joke, I’ll cut off your tongue if you so much as mention surrender one more time,” Emperor Saberbane rebuked. His harsh gaze caused the temperature to lower several degrees.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just too scared,” Emperor Bladeheart said, still with a silly smile plastered on his face.

“I know you two have always been at odds, but can you two settle down in this time of crisis?” Sovereign Southsword said. He turned to Emperor Bladeheart. “Especially you. It’s fine to joke in private, but don’t speak such discouraging words in front of others.”

None of the people present thought Emperor Bladeheart was serious. He may have seemed flippant, but he had his own bottom line.

Sovereign Southsword turned toward Emperor Solesword. “Sect Master, how do you think we should proceed?”

Everyone in the room turned toward him. The Numinous Sword Sect was, first and foremost, a force that focused on combat. Because of this, the sect master must be someone strong, but a sect master that only knew how to fight would only lead them to ruin. So, the sect master of the Numinous Sword Sect was chosen based on their management abilities, as long as they had sufficient power.

Sword immortals like Sovereign Southsword and Saberbane only focused on going further on their path and had no intent on forming a faction. The only other one who had the ability was Emperor Bladeheart, but he was in charge of the intelligence organization. In fact, he was the one in charge of eliminating the loose cultivator that defeated Sovereign Saberbane.

“The Immortal Court has started attacking us again. Although it’s only the Nine Heavens Sovereign, he’s not someone any of us can take on alone. Only someone like the Supreme Elder can suppress and kill him.”

At Emperor Solesword’s words, none of the people present objected. Loathed as they were to admit it, they knew that they couldn’t defeat the Nine Heavens Sovereign even if all of them teamed up.

“I don’t know how the Immortal Court produced an anomaly like this. If we knew he would reach such heights, we should have strangled him in the cradle,” Sovereign Saberbane said.

Sovereign Southsword shook his head. “Even if we knew, do you think we would take the gamble? As Sovereign Xi’s son, we would have to attack the heart of the Immortal Court back then. The casualties for a mortal or monarch would not be worth it.”

Sovereign Saberbane snorted. Everyone knew that it was impossible.

“At present, we cannot confront him, and it’s only a matter of time before the guardian formation is destroyed. Even if he attacks us alone without anyone else from the Immortal Court, it’s only a matter of time before he destroys us and the Numinous Sword Sect. Our only hope is to defend until the Supreme Elder returns,” Emperor Solesword said.

“Then what can we do? We can’t just sit here and wait for him to kill us, right?” a sword emperor asked.

“Kill us? I think he may want to capture us alive to threaten the Supreme Elder,” Emperor Bladeheart said.

“Capture us alive? I’d rather commit suicide before I let myself fall to such depths,” Sovereign Saberbane said.

“Calm down, there’s no need to go to such lengths. If all else fails, let’s just escape and lie low. Didn’t we send away some talented immortal seeds for scenarios like this? Even if they destroy our headquarters in the Numinous Realm, the Numinous Sword Sect will exist in our hearts,” Emperor Bladeheart said. Although his tone was still flippant, there was an undeniable and unshakable will in his words.

Sovereign Saberbane snorted.

“Let’s reveal the Allheaven Jianmu Formation,” Emperor Solesword finally said.

Many of the other sword immortals present frowned.

“Have we really reached this point?” Sovereign Saberbane asked.

Sovereign Southsword sighed. “We already reached this point the moment Supreme Elder Yanxu revealed the Immortal Extermination Sword Formation.”

Emperor Solesword nodded in agreement. “Even if we don’t reveal it, we can’t take away the Allheaven Jianmu Tree. In that case, we might as well use it.”

“We should start preparing to activate it after they destroy the guardian formation. It’d be best if the Immortal Court charges in before we activate it. If they don’t, we should just focus on defense,” Emperor Solesword said.

It was not a matter of if the Nine Heavens Emperor could destroy the Numinous Sword Sect’s guardian formation, but when.

The many immortals of the Numinous Sword Sect moved like a well-oiled machine. Everyone moved to their places, and even those that had no role retreated to a safe location in order not to hinder anyone.

Every one of them knew this was a life-and-death moment for the Numinous Sword Sect. To win, to endeavor, and to survive, everyone did their duty. Undoubtedly, there were those whose hearts wavered and wanted to flee or surrender, but they were swiftly cut down by their former compatriots. Those who held similar thoughts but had not revealed them could only bury them deep in their hearts.

The rumbling that engulfed the entire Numinous Sword Sect increased in intensity, with no signs of settling. Each time the quaking increased, the heat would increase. The weaker the guardian formation became, the less it could block the miniature sun’s terrifying heat. Aside from a few protected locations, all the water molecules evaporated.

With a resounding boom, the last layer of the guardian formation shattered. For a moment, all was silent, as if the world itself were witnessing the end of an era.

That silence did not last long as countless miniature suns whizzed and crashed into the defenseless Numinous Sword Sect. Upon impact, all the miniature suns expanded and went supernova. No matter the material, the buildings became blackened or directly disintegrated under the might of exploding stars.

----------------------------------------

Tianyi frowned from his position in the sky. He thought that the immortals of the Numinous Sword Sect would go crazy the moment he destroyed the last layer of the guardian formation, but it was disturbingly quiet. It was as if the Numinous Sword Sect had turned into a ghost town with no life present.

He knew that it was impossible. The seal on the Numinous Realm had broken when Divinity Yanxu unleashed the Immortal Extermination Sword Formation, but Tianyi had kept a close eye. He doubted that there was anyone in the modern era who could escape his senses using the Law of Spacetime.

So, where did everyone inside the Numinous Sword Sect go?

Minister Huang wanted him to open the portal and allow the immortals to rush in, but Tianyi felt something was off, so he ignored the Immortal Minister of War’s orders.

He raised his hand and prepared to unleash a single Constellation Cessation, but it was at this moment that a phantom figure appeared. It was a towering tree that resembled the pillar preventing heaven and earth from crashing into each other.

The tree’s branches elongated and grew, as if wrapping around the entire world. Although no visible formation appeared, Tianyi felt the world change. It was not like the advent of a formation, but something closer to a realmlord’s control over the world.

The world itself attacked every single one of Tianyi’s conduits, wanting to squash each one like a bug. The force deformed countless conduits and turned their humanoid shapes into small marbles.

A gold-green glow covered the lush crown of the phantom tree. Countless buds appeared among the branches, but as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button, the buds bloomed into flowers before swiftly wilting. From the leftover ovaries, fruits grew.

One by one, the fruits fell off. Before they could crash into the ground, they cracked open to reveal countless sword immortals, who soared toward each of Tianyi’s crushed conduits.