UCS Chapter 144

Chapter 144

“Carry out the execution!”

Before Gao Shi’s voice had even faded, massive golden chains extended into the sky. Amidst the dark clouds and heavenly fire, the chains stretched for ten thousand *li*, their ends nowhere in sight.

The chains seemed to exist in another realm; meteorites and lightning bolts passed right through them, unable to cause them any harm.

In a fleeting moment, a cold snort rang out, and a mass of heavenly fire, glowing with golden-red light, slammed directly into the chains.

This mass of heavenly fire was unlike the others; the instant it struck, the chains shuddered violently, nearly snapping apart.

Seeing this, Ying Bujie gently turned his Wheel of Dharma. With a shift of his figure, he multiplied—one becoming two, two becoming four, four becoming eight—until, in the blink of an eye, thousands upon thousands of clones filled the heavens and earth.

These clones formed an impenetrable shield around the chains, blocking out the anomalous heavenly fire.

Then, a multitude of voices rose in unison, chanting—

“Enter the cycle of reincarnation.”

The shattered power of the heavenly fire was entirely consumed by the omnipresent force of reincarnation; not a single spark fell upon the grand formation. As the cycle of reincarnation devoured spiritual energy and the laws of the Heavenly Dao, it grew ever more powerful, while countless ghosts of this realm wailed, cursing the Heavenly Dao for its heartlessness and injustice. Heaven and earth shook violently; it was as if the cosmos itself, enraged and feeling the scorn of a thousand accusers, summoned a massive meteorite—vast enough to blot out the sky—and hurled it straight down.

Gao Shi neither dodged nor retreated. With a scornful laugh, he expanded his giant axe until it towered dozens of zhang high, rivaling the heavens themselves. A single stroke split the mountain-sized rock, shattering it into a cloud of dust that filled the air.

Yet, the momentum of that axe did not cease; it tore open the firmament, revealing the void beyond.

Now unobstructed, the golden chains locked directly onto the Heavenly Dao!

It was as if the sun had been extinguished; the world lost its color, and the living beings below could not withstand the overwhelming might of the Heavenly Dao. Only Gao Shi and Ying Bujie stood in the void, staring it in the face.

The Heavenly Dao—boundless and formless, silent and shadowless—was the supreme principle governing heaven and earth.

By rights, the “Chains of Punishment”—forged by the God of Punishment—should have been unable to bind the Heavenly Dao.

After all, he held a mandate from Heaven, and the Great Dao was itself a part of the Heavenly Dao.

And yet, at this moment, they had bound it fast.

Gao Shi gazed thoughtfully at the “False Heavenly Dao” and suddenly chuckled. “So, that’s how it is.”

“My own path and the Path of Reincarnation both originate from the Heavenly Dao. You, meanwhile, only assumed the duties of the Heavenly Dao by chance—having devoured a portion of its rules. In my eyes, you are no different from the fallen immortals I once executed.”

At these words, the golden chains shuddered violently, their golden light flickering—a clear sign of the False Heavenly Dao’s furious rage.

Ying Bujie’s myriad avatars drew spiritual energy from heaven and earth, pouring it into the golden chains to stabilize them.

Gao Shi, axe in hand, stepped closer to the far end of the chains. It was a blurred, indistinct expanse; even though the False Heavenly Dao was bound, its true form remained impossible to discern. As Gao Shi drew steadily closer, the power of the natural calamity surged, causing the very fabric of space to show signs of fracturing. The grand formation array established below wavered precariously, like a blade of grass caught in a violent storm.

This world had long been exploited by the Heavenly Dao; in the beginning, even spirits lacked coherent form, existing only as apparitions born of obsession. Yet now, they faced an apocalyptic crisis that transcended the boundaries of the cultivation world itself.

Golden light blazed from the bodies of Gao Shi and Ying Bujie. Their golden light of merit transformed into a rain of gold, falling between heaven and earth to mend the shattered space; their faces instantly turned deathly pale. Ying Bujie merged his myriad avatars into one and stepped to Gao Shi’s side; together, they advanced toward the end of the chains. Gold and silver spiritual energy swirled between them, yet with every step forward, the pressure upon them doubled—for the entity before them was the Heavenly Dao that had governed this realm for tens of thousands of years, and their own powers remained suppressed.

Gao Shi spat out a mouthful of blood and let out a peal of laughter. “Do you acknowledge your guilt?”

The chains at the far end shuddered, emitting a thunderous roar akin to the collapse of the heavens.

[I am the Heavenly Dao; I am guiltless!]

Blood trickled from the corner of Ying Bujie’s mouth, yet his voice remained calm and unruffled, like the still waters of an ancient well.

“Whether you are guilty is not for you to judge; that verdict lies with all living beings.”

As if in response, the living creatures of this realm—their obsessions coalescing into an invisible force—surged toward the end of the chains.

Wails and sobs, furious curses, desperate pleas, and stern rebukes—the sorrow and rage of heaven and earth, the grievances and hatred of all sentient beings—were all contained within that force.

It was the collective condemnation of the multitude.

The indistinct mass of mist exploded outward, and the false Heavenly Dao—previously bound by the chains—finally revealed its true form.

It shifted and writhed ceaselessly, a sight too harrowing to behold directly. Ying Bujie gazed at it for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“So, it was you.”

“Merely a sinful soul.”

Ying Bujie swept his wide sleeves, and the shifting mass of the “False Heavenly Dao” coalesced into a human figure; Gao Shi fixed his eyes upon it—

It turned out to be none other than that Immortal Lord who, having once engaged in an illicit affair with a mortal, had stopped at nothing—even using his immortal power to destroy the world. “So, it was you—the condemned immortal, Ye Jun.”

Ying Bujie mused, “When the Underworld shattered, you should have been serving your eight-hundred-thousand-year sentence in the Hell of Knives. It seems that after escaping, you happened to merge with a fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s rules and arrived in this realm.”

Recalling the nature of the man’s past transgressions, Gao Shi sneered, “The punishment meted out to you back then was far too lenient.”

The False Heavenly Dao roared in anger, “The Underworld sentenced me to eight million years of torment and a hundred cycles in the Beast Realm, yet that wretched woman turned around and gave her heart to another. I refused to accept it!”

Gao Shi glanced at Ying Bujie in surprise. Ying Bujie explained, “That woman knew all along he was no mere mortal; she used his power to destroy an entire era, hoping to transcend mortality and become an immortal herself.”

“She was sentenced to five million years in the Hell of Tongue-Ripping and a hundred cycles in the Beast Realm for her crimes. Before serving her time, she tried to seduce a ghostly guard; the guard remained unmoved, but he happened to stumble upon the scene.”

The False Heavenly Dao laughed maniacally, “So, the first thing I did after escaping was to seize her. I tore her soul and body to shreds while she still lived, devoured her, and converted her essence into pure spiritual energy to nourish myself—ensuring she could never reincarnate again!”

“All those ‘three affections and six desires’ are nothing but base flaws. That spiritual flower had its spirit eroded by such emotions; he deserved exactly what he got!”

Gao Shi, never one for patience, hoisted his axe and sneered, “Ha! Just how deep was your love for that woman? You merely relished the sense of superiority derived from the gap between immortal and mortal. You have lived for millions of years—how could you fail to see through her intentions? You simply indulged her growing greed because you enjoyed the feeling of being flattered and fawned over.”

“All that talk of severing ties, renouncing love, and seeing through the vanity of the mortal world—it was nothing more than a mask for what you truly were…” “An utterly selfish wretch—you brought this ruin upon yourself, yet you blame the genuine affection found in this world.”

Gao Shi pointed his axe at the entity. “Enough talk.”

The False Heavenly Dao laughed aloud. “So what if the world reviles me? I remain the Heavenly Dao! The Spirit Flower is on the verge of withering; if he dies, he will dissolve into spiritual essence and feed back into me!”

“Did you think Zhang Wenxuan and the Kunpeng bloodline he controls recovered so quickly on their own? It was only because I granted them a moment to catch their breath!”

“I originally intended to possess Zhang Wenxuan’s body to directly control the Kunpeng bloodline, but he resisted fiercely, causing his flesh to crack. I simply dumped him at the Gao family’s doorstep, curious to see if he could get close to the Spirit Flower. What a waste of space—he ended up in a police station instead. Fortunately, he’s finally done something useful; otherwise, I’d really have to question my own judgment!”

“Ru Shou, it is uncertain whether the true Heavenly Dao even exists anymore, let alone how much of your Great Dao power remains. And let us not forget—it is spring. As the God of Autumn, this is precisely when your power is at its weakest!”

“Do you truly think you can execute this sentence with a single axe-stroke?!”

Gao Shi’s pupils contracted; he exchanged a glance with Ying Bujie, then turned back to the False Heavenly Dao and smiled. “Thank you for the update on my son. To repay you, I intend to show you exactly how much of my power has returned.”

His smile was as gentle as a spring breeze, momentarily stunning the False Heavenly Dao. Before the entity could react, Gao Shi’s expression hardened, and he roared—

“In the name of the Heavenly Dao—suffer judgment!”

He raised the giant axe high and brought it crashing down. The smile was still frozen on the False Heavenly Dao’s face when, the very next instant, the entity was abruptly cleaved in two! He was truly a “fake Heavenly Dao” that had devoured the rules of the true Heavenly Dao; even an Immortal would have had their soul utterly obliterated after being cleaved in two, yet he somehow retained consciousness. “You insolent brat—how dare you!”

Gao Shi poured the rage he had bottled up for over a decade into that single axe stroke. But that was not the limit of his power. The cleaving motion did not stop; the axe seemed to spawn thousands of phantom projections, all of which struck the fake Heavenly Dao simultaneously in the next instant, shattering him into countless fragments.

“Since you claimed my child was destined to suffer, I will slay you right now. You shall disgorge the spiritual energy you’ve absorbed over the years to mend the world’s barrier—and save my child’s life in the process!”

Those were the final words the surrogate Heavenly Dao heard. Even as his soul disintegrated into nothingness, he could not fathom why Gao Shi had struck with such decisiveness. Did he not fear that the destruction of the Heavenly Dao and the collapse of order would plunge the entire world into chaos?

“Feed it back.”

Ying Bujie did not hesitate for a moment. He activated the cycle of reincarnation; in the blink of an eye, countless soul fragments were pulverized and transmuted into the purest spiritual energy, feeding it back into the world.

The rift—previously held together precariously by the golden light of their merit—was sealed by the surging spiritual energy. The grand formation stabilized rapidly, channeling power back to the police officers stationed at its core. All living things hummed with joy and flourished, welcoming the revitalized world.

Gao Shi and Ying Bujie were instantly drained of all strength, plummeting from the high heavens.

A white cloud hurried over, grumbling and cursing as it caught first one, then the other.

Kong Miao gazed at the two men, their eyes tightly shut, and muttered incessantly while pulling out spiritual medicines and talismans as if they cost nothing at all. “I’m really something else, having a disciple like you!”

“Little Gao Shi, the trouble you stir up just keeps getting bigger!”

“If you two keep this up, I’m going to lose years off my life!”

Gao Shi struggled to extend a hand; his lips moved, but no sound came out.

Kong Miao snapped angrily, “You’re in this state, yet you’re still thinking about your son? Worry about yourself first!”

He turned to look at Ying Bujie, who was also gazing at him with a pleading expression.

Caught between the two children he regarded as his own, Kong Miao slumped in defeat. “Alright, alright—I’m already on my way to that little brat Gao’s location. You two just behave yourselves and take your medicine!”

***

Feiyu was carrying Gao Gusheng; the scenery on either side blurred into streaks of light.

Black mist swirled around Gao Gusheng’s exposed skin, shielding him from the lacerating force of the wind as they sped along.

A small squirrel poked its head out of Gao Gusheng’s pocket, its beady black eyes filled with worry.

Xiao Hong and Xiao Hei had burrowed into his arms right after he was rescued from the Heavenly Dao, and Feiyu had simply carried all three of them away together.

Feiyu seemed almost robotic—intent only on executing the order to carry Gao Gusheng away, completely indifferent to whoever else might be tagging along.

Gao Gusheng wasn’t worried about himself; bound by blood to Gao Shi and Ying Bujie, he could sense that they had fully regained their powers. Although they couldn’t rush over immediately, it wasn’t a critical issue.

Gao Gusheng was far more worried about his two dads; as for himself, he took a philosophical view—as long as his soul remained intact, he could always just switch to becoming a ghost cultivator if the worst came to the worst.

He tried to shift his body to a more comfortable position, but it was clearly futile; Feiyu had sealed his movements, rendering him completely immobile.

‘Damn it…’

Gao Gusheng cursed silently.

‘Do you even know how to carry someone? Your shoulder is digging right into my stomach—I’m about to puke!’

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