Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: The Nine Heavens Grand Empyrean Mystic Thunder Shield

"Do you still need proof? Although time is short, taking one of you to the moon wouldn't be a problem, but you would most likely die along the way."

Lan Yi's words landed like a physical blow, striking them fiercely across the face. At this moment, the obsession of the Five Emperors trembled slightly. They fell into self-doubt and existential crisis, and unconsciously even deactivated their obsession-formed weapons and withdrew their power.

This was the tragedy of spiritual entities.

To live without an obsession was worse than death.

Once an obsession fell into turmoil—commonly known as the shattering of one's Dao heart—their combat prowess would plummet drastically. Whether one instantly became a demon or instantly attained Buddhahood were both entirely possible outcomes.

After all, the Five Emperors were the pinnacle obsession-holders of this world.

Although their obsessions were shaken, they did not degenerate into demons, nor did their obsessions completely collapse to dissipate between heaven and earth. Their faces looked as though they had just awakened from a nightmare. Within a few short minutes, they forced themselves to return to normal. Yet once restored, the five obsession-holders were forced to confront a fatal question.

Where should they go from here?

"To die quickly and painlessly in battle is the courtesy you deserve as human beings. Since you already know the truth, will you do it yourselves, or shall I help you along?"

Lan Yi's form had already shifted from human shape into a fierce raptor.

His mental power and electromagnetic avatar overlapped, bringing his martial arts realm terrifyingly close to the Dharma Manifestation stage. The Dao-rhyme of the Divine Destiny Cluster [Luo Qian] allowed Old Devil Lan to have a ravenous, all-you-can-eat feast within Artificial Divine Realm 2055, though it also came at a certain acceptable cost.

The Thunder-Phoenix-Sparrow raised its wings.

Urging the Five Emperors to make a decision quickly.

If they wished to fight, they could die heroically as human beings; if they wished to flee, it mattered little, as two percent of his power was enough to annihilate them instantly.

"Please wait. Are you saying that all obsession-holders have been deceived by that system? That we have been accomplices to the apocalypse all along?" The Crimson Emperor was the first to speak.

"I do not wish to explain it a second time."

"If you trust us, could you give us a little time to return to the underground, gather all the obsession-holders, explain the cause and effect, and then let us... make our own choice?"

This seemed like an unlikely choice, akin to letting a tiger return to the mountains.

Yet Lan Yi looked seriously at these five individuals, gazing straight into their eyes.

In the end, he let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Even obsession-holders, dying for their obsession, cannot always conquer the instinct to survive. But I am willing to give you this chance."

No matter how many times it took, as long as there was still hope, Lan Yi would do the exact same thing without ever growing tired of it. He did not look at all like the apocalyptic Old Devil Lan who chose world destruction.

After all, there was a resonance of civilization.

The core of the River Civilization in Artificial Divine Realm 2055, the final flash of human nature, could roar for the Yangtze, for the Yellow River, and march unflinchingly to their deaths. As a primordial spiritual energy cultivator of the River Civilization, how could he not be moved by this? How could he not grant them a chance? As long as there was hope, even Old Devil Lan would appear magnanimous and gentle.

Only thus could they truly be human.

The Five Emperors reined in their power and made a gesture toward the void.

Barely a few seconds passed.

The divine mirror captured them, instantly transferring them back to the underground city.

Left hovering alone high in the sky, Lan Yi felt a lingering, curious interest in the spiritual energy fluctuations left behind by the divine mirror. This obsession-formed weapon, which symbolized the destiny of a faction's artificial divine realm, indeed possessed some extraordinary methods.

Letting the Five Emperors return to the underground city could hardly be called letting a tiger return to the mountains.

To a spiritual energy cultivator, once an obsession-holder's techniques were witnessed even once, they could basically be dismantled and countered. To eradicate obsession-holders, once their spiritual energy spectrum was mastered, even across a distance of twenty thousand kilometers, relying solely on his electromagnetic avatar with two percent of his power, Lan Yi could instantly obliterate them.

It was faster than killing evil spirits!

If they wished to remain human, Lan Yi would grant them dignity; if they ultimately chose not to act like humans, Old Devil Lan would help them find that dignity.

Lan Yi had every right to be confident.

Because just moments ago, making use of the planet's ionosphere and outer space, he had completed a Dao-technique. This Dao-technique had miraculous efficacy when used against spiritual entities and ironmen. In the scientific terminology of the prime world, it was described as: black lightning or ball lightning.

Divine Heaven Peak Dao-technique: Nine Heavens Supreme Firmament Profound Thunder Shroud!

This was an intricate and high-level Dao-technique that could only be mastered upon reaching the Heavenly Palace realm, and it was also a super-Dao-technique.

Executing this Dao-technique allowed one to envelop a target a thousand miles away with the Nine Heavens Supreme Firmament Profound Thunder, clinging to them like mud and a shroud, hence its alternative name, the Nine Heavens Supreme Firmament Profound Thunder Shroud. Once enshrouded by this technique, the profound thunder would instantly release energy capable of vaporizing a nuclear-powered battleship, displaying extreme sensitivity toward metal or spiritual entities. The active micro-particles within would further grind and destroy the target's structure at a microscopic level until it was completely eradicated.

Because it wrapped completely around the target, it somewhat resembled the process of refinement.

To put it simply.

This Dao-technique obliterating spiritual entities or metallic lifeforms constituted dealing true damage.

Without other defensive measures, spiritual entities and metallic lifeforms could stack armor for a lifetime and it would still be utterly useless!

Even the tortoise-shell defenses of the underground city would be of no avail. Once the spiritual energy spectrum of the Five Emperors was exposed to Lan Yi, they could still be instantly refined by the Nine Heavens Supreme Firmament Profound Thunder Shroud at any time and from anywhere!

What made it even more repulsive was that this Dao-technique came with a built-in tracking effect.

Within the range enveloped by the Dao-technique, any spiritual entities or metallic lifeforms would automatically attract the Nine Heavens Supreme Firmament Profound Thunder Shroud.

In other words.

After clashing with the Five Emperors, Lan Yi could act entirely like a true immortal, leisurely destroying the underground city's obsession-holders from afar using his Dao-technique. As for right now, whether it was his main body or his avatar, Lan Yi was quietly circulating his techniques, familiarizing himself with this Dao-technique while awaiting news from the Five Emperors.

He was in a fairly good mood right now.

He just hoped no blind evil spirits would wander over and blindly take a hit of this profound thunder.

Fifteen minutes later.

The figure of the Crimson Emperor appeared high in the sky.

At this moment, this obsession-holder was engulfed in churning obsessions, and the overflowing spiritual energy and dangling spiritual energy structures around him made him look utterly terrifying. To put it another way, the Crimson Emperor was currently covered in blood, sustaining minor injuries, panting heavily as he glared with red eyes to find Lan Yi. The Human Emperor Banner in his hand was caked with the severed limbs and broken fragments of fellow obsession-holders.

"We have eliminated a portion of our companions who refused to die."

"Remarkable," Lan Yi praised with genuine sincerity.

Death was not terrifying.

What was moving was this capacity to organize people to march toward their deaths.

"The remaining companions are all willing to make the sacrifice. We hope your true body will come to send us off on our final journey, and if possible, leave one or two followers behind with you to see if you can break the curse of this damned apocalypse."

Rather than a request, it was the final, collective obsession of the obsession-holders after an internal bloodbath. They no longer harbored any obsession to survive; they only hoped their sacrifice would have meaning.

"Leaving a few obsession-holders behind is not a problem."

Lan Yi calculated inwardly. Once the obsession-holders were reduced to just a few survivors, the mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes should no longer be able to sit still. As the ultimate product of time crystals and the primordial evil spirit of this world, it would definitely attempt to stop Lan Yi.

And as long as it stepped into the fray, then as the source of karmic suffering in the cycle of reincarnation, it would have nowhere to run!