Chapter 219: 219 Ascension
Although the other eight peaks still stood and the three Cloud Sun cities remained, the people\'s hearts were completely lost. The sect disintegrated almost instantaneously, with no chance of recovery!
At this moment, an untold number of grievances and resentments were condensed upon Ji Guantao.
In front of the Inner Mountain Gate, by the stone stele, the Mysterious Turtle raised its head, watching as Taihao Peak ascended higher and higher, muttering to itself, "A sly fox, a little fellow, their abilities are not bad at all."
"I hope you can succeed," it said.
With that, it suddenly shook its mountain-like body.
In the blink of an eye, the millennium-old Mysterious Turtle shrank to the size of a palm, scuttled on all fours, and shot forward with astonishing speed.
With a splash, it leapt into a swift-flowing river.
The karma was complete, freedom attained!
The stone stele that had stood next to the mountain gate for a thousand years shook, then thunderously collapsed!
At this very moment, Taihao Peak was more than three thousand zhang above the ground.
"What a move, Sect Leader Ji!"
Just then, a resonant and a melodious voice came simultaneously.
From the west and north of Taihao Peak, two brilliant clouds of rosy light swept through, the tumultuous clouds churning so intensely that they took on the appearance of thousands of troops galloping.
At the same time, two vast auras locked onto Taihao Peak.
The peak\'s ascension momentum was abruptly stifled!
Inside the Cloud Dragon Grand Hall, Mu Qingqiu, who was seated on the ground channeling her Qi, felt her complexion change.
Two Nascent Soul True Immortals!
They had arrived far too quickly.
Just a little more time, an incense stick\'s worth, and Taihao Peak would ascend above the Nine Heavens and break through into the Upper Realm.
Now, with an unexpected change, although relying on the Array to fend off the two True Immortals wasn\'t difficult, breaking through the boundary again became extremely challenging.
To fall short of success at the last step was an outcome Mu Qingqiu could not stand to witness.
No one knew better than she how much effort and heart her senior brother had invested for the Cloud Sun Sect to escape the impending disaster.
The True Person was willing to burn his own Golden Core just to intercept the two Golden Cores for a moment.
The problem was, having struck the Nascent Soul of Jiuyue Gate twice with the power of the Array, she now lacked even one ten thousandth of her usual strength. Powerless to act, she could not make a move.
Although Ji Guantao\'s expression remained unchanged, the solemnity in his eyes still betrayed his inner turmoil.
"Sect Leader, Qiu,"
An elderly voice entered the ears of both, declaring, "From now on, the future of the Cloud Sun Sect is in your hands!"
Mu Qingqiu suddenly cried out, "Supreme Elder!"
In the Central Array of Taihao Peak, an elder in plain clothes raised his head to look up at the high cave dome, where the Water Mirror was clearly showing the outside scene.
He lifted the Ancient Vine Wooden Staff in his hand, his fox eyes glittering with golden light, and three white tails unfurled behind him.
The next moment, the plain-clothed elder abruptly slammed his staff to the ground, and a gleaming golden Golden Core emerged from his mouth.
"Duo!"
With a commanding cry, a colossal fox tail phantom materialized out of nothing around Taihao Peak.
It wrapped around the majestic mountain.
The plain-clothed elder shouted in a deep voice, "Heavenly Fox, protect us!"
His body rapidly swelled, and above his head, the Golden Core burst into flames, generating a new fox tail behind him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two Nascent Soul auras locking onto Taihao Peak were suddenly and forcibly dispelled, and the mountain, freed of its restraints, surged upward in a powerful leap.
In the blink of an eye, it ascended another hundred zhang.
"Cloud Sun has protected me for five hundred years; only by sacrificing myself can I repay it!"
Before the two True Immortals could react, an old and heroic voice echoed through the heavens, as the fox tails encircling Taihao Peak solidified from illusion to reality, viciously lashing towards them!
Boom! Boom!
Clouds exploded all around, in an instant, heaven and earth seemed to shatter.
Boom!
The robed elder at the core of the grand array instantly exploded into a mist of blood, with his Golden Core simultaneously igniting into ashes and vanishing without a trace!
"Elder Hu!"
In the Cloud Dragon Grand Hall, Ji Guantao took a deep breath and, with eyes wide with fury, roared, "White Fairy!"
"Hehehe..."
A coquettish laugh suddenly rang out as the foundation rocks at the base of Taihao Peak shattered into pieces.
A gigantic white python emerged from the broken stones, coiling upwards around the pillar of Taihao Peak.
Its tail was pinned down at the bottom of the mountain by a thick and long Golden Cudgel, from which jets of crimson blood spurted out due to its violent struggles.
However, with the aid of the white python, the ascent speed of Taihao Peak suddenly increased tenfold, shooting up to the Nine Heavens in an instant.
Above it was the boundless Void!
"Break!"
Ji Guantao swung his palm out towards the Void.
His strike appeared ordinary, yet it harnessed the full might of the Cloud Sun Great Array.
With one palm, he shattered the barrier between heaven and earth!
A flash of light in the Void revealed a long spatial rift.
In the next moment, Taihao Peak "entered" into this crack.
At that moment, the white python entwined around the mountain violently twisted its body, desperately flicking its tail backward.
Crack!
The Golden Cudgel that was pinned onto it was unexpectedly flung off, falling towards the world below the Nine Heavens.
Accompanied by a light whimper, the now free white python slipped into the depths of the spatial rift, disappearing in the blink of an eye!
Taihao Peak also transformed into a beam of light and vanished without a trace.
Two vastly different majestic powers missed by a mere tenth of a moment and struck the rapidly closing spatial rift, causing the barrier between heaven and earth to tremble!
Two muffled grunts sounded almost simultaneously.
There was anger tinged with a hint of helplessness.
Even as Nascent Soul True Immortals, they couldn\'t have imagined such a Heaven-defying scheme from the small Cloud Sun Sect, let alone that it would succeed!
The most unbelievable aspect was that the Sect Leader Ji Guantao of the Cloud Sun Sect didn\'t ascend alone.
He had taken the essence of the entire sect with him, forcibly breaking through the barrier between heaven and earth to escape into the Upper Realm.
Such audacity and boldness even commanded the admiration of the two True Immortals!
Now that things had taken shape, even Nascent Soul True Immortals couldn\'t change the outcome and could only leave in frustration.
As for the tens of thousands of Cultivators and the several Immortal Cities of the Cloud Sun Sect\'s former site, both had lost interest in even glancing at them.
The Spirit Veins of Heaven Cloud Mountain had been drained, and the Spiritual Energy here had been nearly depleted. Although it would slowly recover a portion, there was no longer any difference between this place and any ordinary land in the Outer Domain.
Ji Guantao had run away with his sister-in-law, leaving nothing behind but a few scraps of meat on the bones.
They might as well leave them for the lesser sects that had suffered heavy losses to gnaw on.
In this realm, the Cloud Sun Sect was no more!
Tens of thousands of miles away, in the underground chamber of the Star Observation Pavilion in Great Qian\'s southern region, Nan Shao, Wang Chen\'s eyes suddenly snapped open.
[Five Elements Skill (Level 9): 0/900]
He had just successfully advanced to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation, only one step away from the Breakthrough Mansion.
However, at this moment, Wang Chen felt no joy at all, as if he had lost something.
There was an instinctive unease!
After pondering for a moment, Wang Chen flicked his finger and released a thread of Mana.
The Mandarin Duck Mirror hanging on the wall in front of him suddenly lit up, displaying the outside world.
His gaze abruptly sharpened!
----------
Here\'s the second update.