Yet Mingxin Daoren, who stood at the center of the storm, showed neither sorrow nor joy.
The glazed radiance around him grew ever more resplendent, like a pure lotus unsullied by the mud from which it rose.
“When the heart is like glazed glass, within and without are bright and clear. One who contemplates freely perceives that the five aggregates are all empty.”
He chanted softly. At some point, a string of ancient prayer beads had appeared in his hand, each bead reflecting an illusion born from a stray thought that had surfaced within him.
Then, under the illumination of his Dao heart, clear as a mirror, those illusions shattered one after another like bubbles.
This was precisely the fruit of his cultivation of the “Slaying the Three Corpses” method! Though he had yet to formally sever his good corpse, he already possessed, in rudimentary form, the good corpse’s quality of a mind like a still, clear mirror, able to see through all falsehoods!
He transformed his own thoughts into a glazed mirror dais. All manner of demonic obstructions became mere phantoms in the mirror, unable to shake his foundation.
“What?!”
Qianla’s true body, hidden within the miasma, let out a cry of shock and doubt. Her Red Dust Tribulation had actually had so little effect?
“Witch, is this all your trickery amounts to?”
Mingxin Daoren’s voice remained calm, but the glazed radiance suddenly contracted, gathering at his fingertip and transforming into a Glazed Heart Sword!
This sword was neither gold nor iron, but condensed from the purest intent to protect and the Dao principles of purification. It was meant specifically to sever heart demons and break evil spirits!
“Heart Sword, sever sin!”
He joined his fingers like a sword and lightly slashed toward the miasma filling the sky!
There was no earth-shaking momentum, yet the pink miasma was like dense fog cast beneath a blazing sun. With hissing sounds, it swiftly dissolved and thinned!
A pure, flawless beam of glazed sword light ignored the distance of space, following the source of that malicious intent directly as it slashed toward the core of Qianla’s divine soul!
Qianla screamed, feeling a tremor from the depths of her soul and the force of purification. She frantically activated her demonic power, and countless twisted, struggling faces of heart demons emerged around her, attempting to resist.
“Bewitching Heart Demon Seeds, sow demons beneath the heavens!”
She bit the tip of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of dark blood containing her natal essence. The blood transformed in midair into countless tiny black demon seeds.
They lunged at Mingxin Daoren!
This was her ultimate killing move. Once the demon seeds invaded the divine soul, a heart demon would be planted within. The victim would be subtly controlled by her, eventually falling completely into depravity and becoming her puppet!
The glazed sword light collided thunderously with the demon seeds filling the sky!
The anticipated violent explosion did not occur.
The glazed sword light was like a spring breeze turning into rain. Wherever its radiance reached, those ferocious demon seeds actually melted like ice and snow, letting out shrill screams before turning into wisps of green smoke and dissipating.
The sword light advanced like a hot knife through butter, directly penetrating the layers upon layers of heart demon defenses Qianla had laid down!
“No—!”
Qianla let out a despairing wail. The light of the Glazed Heart Sword was already reflected in her eyes, which were filled with utter terror.
“Pfft!”
A soft sound rang out, like a bubble being pierced. Qianla’s graceful body abruptly stiffened. The seductive, depraved aura around her receded like the tide, and the light in her eyes quickly dimmed, finally becoming completely hollow.
The core of her divine soul had been thoroughly purified and extinguished by the Glazed Heart Sword!
Her body collapsed limply. Before it could hit the ground, it transformed into pure dark energy and dispersed into the Realm Sea.
The second battle: Immortal Domain, Mingxin Daoren, victory!
With an absolutely pure Dao heart, he countered the uncanny art of heart demons and claimed another round!
The Immortal Domain camp erupted into cheers once more, morale soaring.
Successive victories, especially victories achieved through such targeted counters, greatly bolstered their confidence.
The good-corpse incarnation nodded slightly, approval showing in his eyes.
As for the Foreign Realm’s side, the atmosphere had already fallen to freezing point.
Chi Wang’s fury was almost taking physical form, turbulent currents of time raging around him. Wushang remained silent,
but his clenched fists revealed the turmoil in his heart. The blade of laws in Dao Wang’s arms hummed ever more urgently.
In the blink of an eye, of the three carefully selected quasi-Immortal Kings, two had already fallen!
Only the final existence remained, one shaped like a shadow and adept at corroding the divine soul.
Everyone’s gaze focused on him.
Next Chapter: Thunderous Righteous Law vs. the Shadowless Heart-Nightmare
Having lost two great generals in succession, the Foreign Realm camp was filled with a suffocating rage and disbelief.
The final quasi-Immortal King—Shadowless Heart-Nightmare Youyan.
His shadow-like body, which had no fixed form, rippled faintly, giving off an even colder, more eerie aura.
He had originally been kept as the finale, the final trump card.
He was meant specifically to target any opponents who might appear with flaws still remaining in their Dao hearts. None had expected the situation to deteriorate to this point.
On the Immortal Domain’s side, they had won two battles in a row, their momentum like a rainbow.
Lu Yan’s killing aura had yet to fade, while Mingxin Daoren’s sacred bearing was solemn and dignified.
Everyone’s gaze fell on the final combatant from the Immortal Domain—the Thunder Emperor from the Primordial Ancient Realm!
The Thunder Emperor took a deep breath and stepped forward.
The lightning around him was no longer as purely fierce and violent as before. Instead, it faintly revealed a kind of restraint and rhythm, as though searching for some balance between destruction and vitality.
He looked at that writhing mass of shadow, his gaze sharp as lightning.
“Primordial Ancient Realm, Thunder Emperor. Please enlighten me!”
Youyan did not respond. The mass of shadow suddenly spread outward like ink dripping into clear water, instantly dyeing nearly half of the ancient battlefield black and enveloping the Thunder Emperor within.
This was not a domain, but his innate talent—Dark Shadow Heart Domain!
Within this domain, light, sound, and divine sense were all greatly weakened. Only countless intangible and formless strands of nightmare power remained, specialized in corroding the divine soul and amplifying inner fear.
Like maggots clinging to bone, they seeped toward the Thunder Emperor’s sea of consciousness from every direction!
“Feel… eternal silence and fear…” Youyan’s spiritual fluctuation wound upward like a cold venomous snake.
The Thunder Emperor instantly felt as though he had fallen into a bottomless abyss, his five senses growing blurred.
Deep within his heart, his confusion about the road ahead, his worry that his own thunder was too fierce and unyielding, and even that hidden trace of brutality born from power itself, were all magnified a thousandfold!
Countless twisted illusions representing failure and depravity bred within his mind, trying to tear apart his Dao heart and make him sink into oblivion!
This was precisely what made Youyan so terrifying. He did not attack directly, but constantly eroded and corrupted, causing his opponent to collapse from within!
Atop the Imperial City, Immortal King Wuzhong and Immortal King Liudao Lunhui wore grave expressions.
They knew the Thunder Emperor was at a critical juncture, his state of mind unstable to begin with. Now, encountering such an opponent specialized in attacking the mind and spirit, he was in extreme peril!
The Thunder Emperor’s body began to tremble faintly. The lightning around him flickered unpredictably, sometimes blazing white and violent, sometimes dim and pitch-black, revealing the fierce struggle within his heart.
He could even see a terrifying vision of the future in which he transformed into a dark thunder demon and slaughtered all living beings!
“Hold fast to your true heart! Thunder is the command of Heaven, wielding punishment, yet also containing vitality!
“It is not a tool of destruction, but the authority of protection!” In his mind echoed Lu Xuan’s guidance, as well as his own understanding of the Great Dao of Thunder.
“My Dao… what is it?”
Amid the endless whispers of the heart-nightmares, he questioned himself.
Was it to pursue the ultimate power of destruction?
No. How would that be any different from darkness?
Was it simply to protect? But without thunderous means, how could he awe the wicked and treacherous?
“It is balance! It is righteous law!”
A flash of enlightenment exploded like thunder in his sea of consciousness!
“With thunder, I shall shatter darkness; with thunder, I shall also awaken life!
“My thunder shall be like the Heavenly Dao, rewarding good and punishing evil, combining hardness and gentleness! This is my ‘self’!”