Published at 24th of June 2026 6:18 am

Chapter 1885: The Highest Firmament Battle IV

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"This is bad," Heavenly Wolf Khan thought without revealing any of his emotions to anybody. He had expected Death Reverence to oppose their actions. Still, the existence of the Heaven Cardinal was beyond his calculations, let alone the fact that the latter had access to Anti-Dao Matter.

"What do we do now?" someone asked.

"Gourd Empress, share your power of light with everybody," the Heavenly Wolf Khan explained.

"What? You want your Dao to be corrupted?" she asked. Even with the uniqueness of her Dao, she had to be extra careful when creating this gourd from the remnant powers left inside Star Manifestation by the Vessel Seed. Now, the commander was asking them to share the power with everybody?

"The cardinal is using a power that is fundamentally the antithesis of all law whose origin is still connected to Grand Dao," the Khan explained. "Only by using an independent source can we escape its influence."

"But, but…" Even when they were creating a Longevity Technique, they didn't use his majesty's source — all for the faint hope of surviving this ordeal and continuing their cultivation path. But now?

"There is no turning back. If we can survive this, there is still hope of purifying our [Existence]. But if we hesitate, we will all die."

"I have no problem," Yin-Yang Origin Dragon immediately agreed; he did not expect to survive this ordeal. All his calculations indicated that there was a slim chance of survival, and that slim chance was only because he doesn't deal in absolutes.

"Alright, fine," the Myriad Gourd Empress sighed. The last shred of hesitation was now gone. Now, it was all or nothing — there was no turning back.

"There is another way," Star Manifestation suddenly added.

"No," the Heavenly Wolf Khan replied.

"Just give me the power of light, and only I will be infected."

"I said no."

"Come on, commander, you know this is the best approach. I'll stop the cardinal's powers, and you guys can concentrate on dealing with that creature and getting to Grand Dao."

"It would be better for everybody to share light corruption instead of you ruining your life out of an unnecessary sense of guilt."

"Commander, you should listen to me. This is the —"

"Enough! I've made the decision. Are you going to continue undermining my authority?" Heavenly Wolf Khan stared him directly in the eyes.

"I-I…I understand."

"Time is of the essence, so let's move."

Given the speed at which these beings' minds operated, this conversation took less than an attosecond. And after agreeing on a decision, the Myriad Gourd Empress acted, condensing a potent light source that everybody absorbed into their bodies.

Soul Revenance — who was disgusted by the sudden appearance of the golden gourd — felt even more disturbed after these people absorbed the light source. Meanwhile, the Heaven Cardinal frowned upon understanding what these people had done. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of his Anti-Matter Cube, and he did not expect these people to have access to the Highest Sovereign's source; more importantly, he did not expect them to be so resolute.

"Do these people think things will go smoothly now that they've dealt with the cube's power?" the Heaven Cardinal sneered. The cube was basically useless against that creature, yet he could still fight it to a standstill. He was going to show them why that is. Coldly glancing at Star Manifestation and the Heavenly Wolf Khan, the cardinal did not back down. On the contrary, he went on the offensive.

[Striking Flaw Palm]

No one is perfect — except maybe Grand Dao, but even that's debatable. And when a life has imperfections, it means it has flaws. With his vast knowledge, the Heaven Cardinal can easily find the tiniest flaws in his enemy's attacks and destroy them. On top of that, he can easily predict his enemy's movements, almost as if he were aware of what they would do before they did it.

"This is so infuriating," Star Manifestation thought. As soon as they used a technique, the cardinal would either predict and evade it or instantly counter by targeting its flaws. Meanwhile, the two of them had to be extra careful to avoid the flaws of their bodies and souls being attacked.

"Don't think about your next attack, just rely on instinct," the Heavenly Wolf Khan ordered. "And make sure that at its core, each of your attacks is constantly changing its form. We must be unpredictable."

"I've been doing that, but it's not working."

The Heavenly Wolf Khan squinted, wondering when this bastard had become this powerful. In all their previous encounters, the expeditioners have primarily relied on their numerical advantage, and only a few of them have displayed such raw power.

With a thought, the Khan took a moment to check on the other side of the battle, and the furrow on his brow deepened. He chose those two as the undead's opponents because their Daos could operate in perfect harmony to seal the creature. However, despite using their best tactic and all their strength, they were having trouble completing their task.

"We need a new plan, and we need it now."

"I know. Give me a moment to think." The Khan swiftly analyzed the situation, his mind operating at its highest level to create a solution. The crux of the issue is the cardinal's Heaven Dao. After weighing the pros and cons of their teams and the enemy, the Khan realized the solution had been staring him in the face from the start.

"Initiation [Existence Bondage Ritual]," he ordered.

"What are you doing?" Star Manifestation asked. The ritual was what had previously linked them to the Nine Spirit Lion, allowing them to share his nine lives. But what was the point of activating it now?

Heavenly Wolf did not explain. Instead, he calmly watched as a semi-invisible thread connecting all four of them slowly manifested, and he smiled. Clenching his fist, he punched. As usual, the Heaven Cardinal was about to evade, when he felt something off.

"Now," the Khan thought. Using that brief moment where the opponent's thoughts and actions were in disharmony, he pounced. His attack suddenly split into a black hole and a white hole, both exerting an intense pull and push on the enemy at the center.

"This is," the Star Manifestation thought. That attack perfectly utilized their Star Dao. More importantly, it also contained the dragon's Yin-Yang Dao. A look of understanding flashed in Star Manifestation's eyes. Without hesitation, they pointed their fingers to release a beam. However, it did not contain the power of stars: no, it was a combination of the Khan's War Slaughter Energy, perfectly balanced by the Power of Life through Yin-Yang.

The Heaven Cardinal moved his head, but the beam left a scar on his face. And that was just the beginning. With these two working together and with access to four Daos, the workload on the Heaven Cardinal's mind increased drastically, thereby reducing the accuracy of his predictions.

"How annoying," the cardinal thought. He could have easily increased his calculation output, but that would require him to stop his primary task: analyzing the essence of Death Reverence's power. As long as his understanding reached a certain level, the Heaven Cardinal was confident he could modify the Anti-Dao Cube to target that creature.

"I was so close, but these bastards had to intervene," he thought, his teeth gritting tightly. "Fine! That's how you want to play? Fine! The Beyonder's power is foreign, so I can't grasp a sliver of its essence in such a short period. But the Highest Sovereign is still a being from the Emperor Origin Universe. I don't believe that using all my knowledge, I cannot find the counter to the fake version you're using."

The Heaven Cardinal temporarily stopped his analysis of the Soul Revenance to focus on the Infinite Divine Court. Taking a more defensive stance to protect himself, he delved into the intricacies of this power, waiting for the right time to counterattack.

…

"How is it?"

"Nothing. I may be just on edge," the duchess replied. She thought she had sensed something in the Highest Firmament, but after quadruple-checking, she found nothing anomalous.

"Alright, but let's keep our guards up," Wang Wei nodded. The current duchess was just a projection of a projection, so it's not impossible that she sensed something that wasn't there, but he wasn't willing to take any risk.

"Hmm? What's that cube? Why does it give me a dangerous feeling?"

"It's Anti-Dao Matter."

"Anti-Dao Matter? Don't tell me it does what I think!"

"It's the nemesis of anyone who does not have a true Dao Quintessence," the duchess nodded.

Wang Wei groaned, "First, it was the eternal characteristics, and now, this bullshit. All of a sudden, it begins to feel like all our cultivation is useless — just another foreign object that can be taken away."

"It's just the natural order of Heaven and Earth," the Duchess stated. "First, we are born from Heaven and Earth. We spent most of our lives relying on it. We then die, and our souls, memories, and Dao comprehension will return to Heaven and Earth after we die. Saints are the ones who took the approach of detaching themselves from this process, and sadly, only third-step powerhouses can be considered an independent Heaven and Earth. But, they are still equals.

"However, after taking that last step, you can become a Hongmeng Saint, truly standing above Heaven and Earth. By then, you have a choice whether to annihilate, reward, or completely ignore Heaven and Earth."

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