Chapter Forty: The Intent of Falling South

Boom!
Suddenly, Nan Luo felt his head struck heavily once more, his soul unsettled and adrift.
His divine body contorted and twisted, transformed into a streak of violet light, vanishing without a trace.
Hongjun, the Primordial Dao Ancestor, watched Nan Luo’s departing figure, his gaze deep as water, unfathomable. He murmured, “It seems it’s time to rearrange the board.”
“The position of Heavenly Emperor—truly a troublesome thing!”
With a light remark, Hongjun’s figure suddenly disappeared.
As Hongjun departed, the entire Violet Spirit World contracted into a single point of light and shot off into the void.

At the foot of Buzhou Divine Mountain—
A god clad in azure robes, with blue hair and sapphire eyes, was flying overhead, yet remained utterly motionless, like a sculpture frozen in time.
Countless demon spirits converged from all directions, their eyes hungry and fierce as they stared at Nan Luo, gripping divine weapons, also unmoving—clearly bound by the same force.
A flash of violet light swept across.
The god’s divine body abruptly regained movement, and he continued to fly forward.
Yet in Nan Luo’s blue eyes was a flicker of shock and deep apprehension.
His soul had been drawn into Hongjun’s Violet Spirit World for what must have been a year, yet in the real world, only a fleeting instant had passed.
If it were only Nan Luo, it wouldn’t be remarkable; after all, the God of Time, Ni Gu, could achieve the same, given enough power.
But Hongjun’s manipulation extended to all sentient beings at the foot of Buzhou Divine Mountain, his temporal laws binding them as well.
To alter the time of countless beings single-handedly—that is the mark of supreme power.
The myriad demon spirits, seemingly unaware they had just been frozen, resumed their vigilant gaze upon Nan Luo, unwilling to act rashly, trailing behind him.
Nan Luo became a streak of blue light, swiftly traversing the sky, heading toward the Buzhou mountain range.
Countless divine rays followed his blue light, all streaming toward the mountains.
A single blue radiance led, with myriad dazzling lights trailing behind—truly a splendid spectacle.
Cultivators along the way, witnessing such grandeur, could not contain their curiosity and brazenly slipped into the crowd, following the blue light.

Boom!
A vast blue light descended from the heavens, seizing the divine mountain known as Waterfire Mountain.
Buzhou Divine Mountain is the pillar of the primordial world, imbued with Pangu’s will; its spiritual energy is unparalleled, and three thousand laws are engraved upon it.
The Buzhou mountain range lies nearby, and some of its divine peaks are also touched by those law engravings.

Waterfire Mountain is renowned for its imprint of the laws of water and fire.
Similarly, Black-White Mountain, belonging to the two gods of darkness and light, carries the imprints of those respective laws.
Waterfire Mountain is divided into three thousand caves, each occupied by a master god-level cultivator.
But on this day, all three thousand cultivators were shaken to their core, their spirits trembling violently.
A vast, dazzling blue light descended from the sky, enveloping the entire Waterfire Mountain.
All living beings upon the mountain were annihilated in an instant, obliterated by the blue light—their souls scattered, bodies reduced to nothing.
An ice crystal throne appeared suddenly above Waterfire Mountain.
Within the boundless blue light, Nan Luo slowly sat upon the throne, eyes closed in meditation, utterly disregarding the myriad demon spirits outside the mountain.
The countless demon spirits and cultivators who had followed Nan Luo at last witnessed firsthand the ferocity and brutality of a primordial innate divine demon.
To kill as one wills, to destroy gods and scatter souls.
The multitude of cultivators gazed at the god upon the ice crystal throne with awe and dread—their hearts chilled by his ruthlessness.
For cultivators, the destruction of the physical body does not equate to true death; only when the soul is scattered is one truly gone.
Nan Luo not only slew the mountain’s denizens with a wave of his hand, but also destroyed their souls and spirits, eradicating them completely.
In an instant, countless divine rays fled Waterfire Mountain, seeking to distance themselves from this powerful and savage primordial god-demon.
Facing such ferocity, the cultivators admitted they dared not provoke him—they scattered quickly.
The massive procession dwindled instantly, leaving only a few dozen figures behind.
These remained calm, watching Nan Luo upon the ice crystal throne, equally indifferent to the retreating cultivators.
Those fleeing weaklings might fear Nan Luo.
But as scions of the great sovereign clans, these few were well accustomed to such massacres—slaughtering an entire mountain’s population was nothing.
Even slaughtering a city, a territory—they had witnessed such atrocities before.
The clan leaders of the great sovereign powers were all ruthless, violent primordial gods and demons.
Those few dozen regarded Nan Luo’s decisive and merciless aura, thinking to themselves how much he resembled the patriarchs of their own races.
They waited quietly outside Waterfire Mountain, awaiting the arrival of their clan armies.
Nan Luo, seated upon the ice crystal throne, felt the murderous urge in his heart recede.
Primordial innate gods and demons are by nature violent and bloodthirsty.
Having been tormented by Hongjun, Nan Luo’s wrath burned fiercely, his violence extreme.

The reason Nan Luo exterminated all living beings of Waterfire Mountain with such thunderous means—even obliterating souls—was not merely to vent his boundless fury.
Now, as his mind calmed, Nan Luo began to contemplate the future.
Though he had suffered Hongjun’s machinations, he had also learned unexpected truths, gaining tremendous advantage for what lay ahead.
The greatest benefit was discovering the Heavenly Emperor’s position within himself.
Holding that position, those supreme powers could not strike him directly, and Nan Luo could act boldly.
Since his birth, Nan Luo’s greatest fear had been accidentally upsetting the calculations of those supreme beings and inviting destruction.
Out of reverence, he had always proceeded with caution, never daring to act recklessly.
Yet, even if Nan Luo avoided trouble, trouble would seek him out.
As the future patriarch of the divine race and ancient Heavenly Emperor, Nan Luo had already profoundly altered the balance of the primordial world, casting a giant stone into its deep waters, stirring world-shaking turbulence.
This time, for instance, he had forcibly seized the Creation Jade Disc from Hongjun, thoroughly enraging the Dao Ancestor.
Without the Heavenly Emperor’s position, Nan Luo would surely have been slain by Hongjun.
Though Hongjun and other supreme powers could still strike from the shadows, as long as they did not act personally, Nan Luo had nothing to fear.
So long as he was given time, the divine race could accomplish the great unification of the primordial world.
Nan Luo could then, by virtue of the divine race’s fortune, forcibly ascend to the rank of Divine Emperor.
At that point, even the supreme powers would not deter him from a contest.
Without interference from those supreme beings, Nan Luo would be like a tiger descending the mountain, a dragon entering the water, soaring unimpeded through the heavens.
The next benefit was the legendary Creation Jade Disc.
As the foundation of enlightenment for Pangu and Hongjun, its practical value far surpassed any innate treasure.
Innate treasures like the Taiji Diagram, Pangu Banner, and Chaos Bell merely enhanced one’s combat prowess.
But the Creation Jade Disc increased one’s cultivation, allowing true strength to continuously grow.
Nan Luo’s journey to Buzhou was for three purposes: to break through to Divine Sovereign, to seek fortune, and to test the myriad races.
Now, Nan Luo had become a lower Divine Sovereign equal to a mid-tier one, obtaining both the Heavenly Emperor’s position and the Creation Jade Disc—supreme opportunities.
This journey had been fraught with eighty-one tribulations, and only one remained before perfection was achieved.
Nan Luo, seated upon the ice crystal throne, tapped it lightly, his blue eyes reflecting the distant armies of the myriad races. He laughed softly, “Now, only the matter of testing the attitude of the myriad races remains.”