Young Noble Be Monster Slaying
Chapter 969: Pan (II)

Crown Prince Phoenix Sheep led the charge, roaring as he stormed ahead. Behind him, a massive wave of seventh-realm demonic beasts followed, their cries shaking the earth. They surged forward with unstoppable fury.

The disciples of the Celestial King Sect, stationed on the constellation disc, remained safe for the moment. But they couldn’t hold the line at all! Within moments, the disc had cut down hundreds, maybe even thousands, of large demonic beasts. Yet, tens of thousands more kept landing.

To make matters worse, the phoenix clan had sent a countless number of birds into the sky. They filled the air overhead, trailing flaming meteors behind them and leaving destruction wherever they flew.

The Divine Phoenix King’s blazing fireclouds slammed into a vast stretch of swirling starlight that filled the sky, all of it under the control of the Heavenly Star Grand Ancestor. When the two forces collided, the explosion cracked the heavens, and beams of searing starlight rained down like shards of pure energy. Each one cut through flesh and bone. Whether it struck a human or a beast, screams of pain filled the air.

The Celestial King Sect had already sent pleas for aid to the Divine Nine and the Terrestrial Ten. But their fastest and most reliable ally arrived first—the Celestial Pivot Pavilion.

A blinding streak of light tore through the sky. A sword came flying from the south!

The Divine Phoenix King had been clashing directly with Heavenly Star Grand Ancestor, but when he saw the sword strike, he was forced to surge forward several hundred zhang through the storm of starlight just to narrowly avoid the blade.

Several airships appeared overhead, and standing tall on their decks was the leader of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion, Enlightened Wulou.

"I am of the Celestial Pivot Sect. I have come to support you with the Seven-Star Sword!" Enlightened Wulou called out.

"Perfect timing!" the Heavenly Star Grand Ancestor replied.

The Divine Phoenix King spread his wings wide. He did not retreat. Instead, he gave a mocking smile and said, "You really dared to come?"

…

At Mount Reticence, within the Celestial Pivot Pavilion, Ye Yongxing had recently reached the pinnacle of the sixth realm and was now attempting to break through the Heavenly Gate. He had entered closed-door cultivation for this reason.

Given his age, there was no real need to rush. If he waited patiently for the right moment, he would break through eventually. However, the current situation showed that the rise to the seventh realm was now such a ridiculously fierce competition. All his peers were achieving a breakthrough one after the other.

It was even harder with monstrous talents like Chu Liang in the picture. Chu Liang was already competing with the other eighth-realm existences.

To be born in the same generation as someone like that felt like a cruel twist of fate. If he didn’t fight to keep up, he would be left behind. And if he did fall behind, what else could he do? The only option was to keep pushing himself harder.

It was hard to say whether this was a good thing or a bad one. Even so, with those prodigies leading the way, the younger generation was advancing faster than any before them, even though they were constantly pushed to their limits.

Even the most legendary eras of talent throughout history could hardly compare to this generation.

However, on this particular day, Ye Yongxing suddenly felt uneasy.

He opened his eyes and noticed something strange. A sheet of red had covered his vision, blurring everything in sight.

What’s going on?

He was startled and sprang to his feet and pushed open the window of his private chamber in alarm.

The square at Mount Reticence remained calm and quiet. A few disciples strolled past, and their footsteps were light and unhurried. That was how the Celestial Pivot Pavilion had always been. Their path of cultivation rarely led to conflict with others, and with the Seven-Star Sword in their possession, no one dared to provoke them.

They had lived this way for a long time, peacefully and apart from the chaos of the world.

"Why..."

Terror filled Ye Yongxing’s eyes, as if he had just seen something too dreadful to describe.

He had always seen death omens hovering over the people around him. That was why he avoided others, rarely spoke, and often kept to himself. Each person’s omen looked different, symbolizing many possible deaths that might come in the future.

Death omens were never set in stone. In fact, they often changed based on a person’s choices. For this reason, Ye Yongxing rarely explained what he saw. There was no point. Even if he warned someone, it would only shift into another kind of death.

After all, who in this world could escape death?

He had witnessed death omens since childhood, and over time, he had come to terms with it.

But today, every Celestial Pivot Pavilion disciple who passed by bore the same death omen—a scorching-red void.

What's going on?

Ye Yongxing burst out of his private chamber and stepped into the central square. As he looked around, his heart sank. Everywhere his eyes landed, the same scorching-red death omen floated above every disciple.

Suddenly, a streak of light flew out from Mount Reticence.

A disciple had just left the mountain gate. The moment he crossed the boundary, the red death omen above his head disappeared. It changed into something else entirely.

Ye Yongxing felt a chill down his spine. He instantly realized what was about to happen.

He rose into the air and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone! Leave Mount Reticence at once!"

"Hm?" Some nearby disciples looked up in confusion. They stared at Ye Yongxing, the head disciple chosen by Enlightened Wulou to be his successor.

However, Ye Yongxing had always kept to himself. To most of his peers, he was simply a quiet and strange young man who could see how people would die.

And so, no one responded to his warning immediately.

Ye Yongxing looked around and saw the entire sect covered in scarlet death omens. His face twisted in desperation, and he shouted again, louder this time. "Run, now!"

As if in response to his cry, a silver-white halo suddenly descended from the sky.

Of everyone present, only one seventh-realm elder reacted fast enough. He vanished in an instant, escaping through the power of the Great Dao of Distancelessness. Aside from him, only Ye Yongxing, who was already in the air, managed to flee in a streak of light.

All the other disciples of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion, along with the mountain itself, were trapped inside the silver ring.

In a flash, a separate space was sealed off from the rest of the world.

"The Celestial Cosmic Ring!"

"It’s Noble Dharma!"

Ye Yongxing turned to look at the elder in the distance. The two of them could only watch helplessly as everything unfolded. Immediately, Ye Yongxing shouted, "Where is my teacher? Where is the Seven-Star Sword?"

The elder replied with such heavy despair in his voice, "The demons from the West Sea came ashore to attack, so the Seven-Star Sword was sent to support the front lines!"

Ever since the demon attack on the Cloud Monastery, most of the immortal sects had become unwilling to send their legendary artifacts to help others. But with certain battles, like the one happening at the West Sea today, they simply had no choice.

No one had expected that this would leave them exposed to such an attack.

The light of the Celestial Cosmic Ring looked like a colossal millstone. After it surrounded Mount Reticence, it began to turn slowly. Everything inside the glowing halo, from lifeless objects to living beings, was gradually reduced to nothingness.

…

"There's nothing here..."

When Chu Liang opened his eyes, there was truly nothing in front of him. Not even darkness. It couldn’t be called pitch-black, because even black did not exist in this place.

It was a pure void. There was nothing to see, nothing to hear, and nothing to feel.

Is this... the interior of the Cauldron of the Great Dao?

He stared at the emptiness, but nothing changed for a long time. Unease slowly crept into his heart.

Am I failing before everything even starts? Is this what it means to be truly lost?

Chu Liang had no idea how much time had passed. It might have been ten thousand years, or it might have been just a single day. In this void, every moment dragged on with unbearable weight.

In his helplessness, he could only sink his divine sense into the White Pagoda. He watched the Large-Headed Dolls working tirelessly, their movements steady as they toiled day and night. As he felt his cultivation slowly improve, his heart began to settle. Only then did he feel a little more grounded.

The Large-Headed Dolls were like medicine, gently soothing the wear and tear on his spirit.

They continued circulating qi, round and round without rest. It felt as though they had been working for ten thousand years. Then, at last, Chu Liang noticed that something was starting to change in the void.

A speck of light appeared in the distance. It slowly grew, expanding until it took the shape of an egg. Inside that glowing shell, the outline of a human figure began to form.

The figure was vast and majestic. Seeing it made Chu Liang feel as though he were gazing up at a towering landscape that stretched far beyond the horizon.

The figure parted the void itself.

Seeing this, Chu Liang called out with an awe-filled voice, "Deity Pan—"