Published at 4th of October 2026 7:47 am

Chapter 1972 Final Confrontation III: Pain Issue

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Swish!

Before Wu Hong could react, Gu Chang'an appeared in front of her and punched her. The sound of bones creaking reverberated through the walls, followed by Wu Hong flying out of the throne room and into the hall, crashing into a pillar. With her terrifying fleshly body and strength, the pillars should have crumbled, but the opposite appeared: they were perfectly fine while she suffered another round of damage.

Swish!

Gu Chang'an appeared once again before Wu Hong fell to the ground. He placed his hands in front of her face and uttered, "Regress." An unknown power entered her body and soul and began to systematically weaken her strength, starting with her soul. The temporary Saint Soul rapidly regressed to a Quasi-Saint's Perfect Soul, and that was just the beginning. If she didn't react in time, it was only a matter of time before the soul became a normal Paragon Soul, an Empyrean Soul, all the way until she was nothing but a mortal.

Wu Hong reacted swiftly as a rune manifested on her forehead: the power of Error Dao spread to every corner of her body, nullifying Gu Chang'an's technique by forcefully creating a flaw or error. And without missing a beat, Wu Hong also counterattacked by hurling the Error Rune toward Gu Chang'an.

The All-Knowing Emperor sneered before punching the rune. With his current strength, he should have annihilated the thing with one attack. However, the moment his hands touched the rune, Gu Chang'an "accidentally" made a mistake and failed to gather the correct amount of strength required to eliminate the rune.

Wu Hong used this brief moment of respite to move away from the pillar while also trying a second wave of attack. She condensed an Energy Absorption Array with the intent of devouring the energy or power in the library to replenish hers while also destroying Gu Chang'an's limiter.

"You're wasting your time," Lady Ai said. "The library is impenetrable. You won't…what the hell?" For a moment, Lady Ai wondered who amongst them was the Tribunal Lord.

"That's too little," Wu Hong thought. The moment she stepped into this place, Wu Hong had released the new Quantum Arrays she had built. And as soon as she learned the library was Gu Chang'an's limiter, she released even more, tasking them to embed themselves into every corner of the library and analyze it.

The result was rewarding. Gu Chang'an's system wasn't anything unique. In fact, he just created an artificial Heavenly Dao tasked with protecting his limiter. It was so effective because Gu Chang'an used a method similar to the Grand Unified Will; he fused countless souls into his artificial Heavenly Dao to enhance its power and ability to deal with Saint Wills.

After learning the truth, it was simple for Wu Hong to create a method to absorb the energy source powering Gu Chang'an's technique. Unfortunately, she absorbed only a small portion, far from the amount needed to shut down the technique.

"Use my power to boost your array."

"The Power of Obsession? That could work. If —"

Bang!

After seeing his failsafe method fail, Gu Chang'an didn't play around. A brush materialized in his hand, and he wrote the characters for the word [suppress]. The Error Rune stood no chance under those characters, and Wu Hong, well, she couldn't even react fast enough to protect herself. Luckily, she was prepared for that possibility; Grand Dao acted by raising a powerful barrier.

Wu Hong granted. The characters didn't just release terrifying gravity-like pressure, but also spiritual and conceptual pressure: her powers, physical stats, her thinking speed, her emotions—everything was drastically suppressed.

Numerous thoughts flashed in Wu Hong's mind as she pondered her next course of action. But before she could act, an unknown spatial energy swallowed her. By the time she, Lady Ai, or even Grand Dao reacted, they had already been teleported outside of the library.

Wu Hong looked at the red sky and the floating books and couldn't help sighing deeply: she had missed a great opportunity.

"No need to be depressed. This is the first time Gu Chang'an had lost confidence in his defense and was forced to change the battlefield; this is a victory for us."

"Such a small setback is not enough for me to be depressed," Wu Hong replied. However, something else was bothering her: the injuries. As a cultivator, she's been injured countless times, many of which were more severe than the current one. But somehow, this one was different. The pain was like this constant, gnawing feeling that refused to abate.

She could ignore previous injuries through sheer pain tolerance or by focusing intensely on the battle, but this one wouldn't be ignored; it insisted, always reminding her of its presence. Wu Hong found it painful, annoying, and distracting.

"You're in pain, aren't you?"

"...Yes," Wu Hong admitted.

Lady Ai sighed deeply. "It's my mistake. I forgot you don't have a Flesh Source. We need to change our previous tactic."

"What do you mean?"

"You won't last long. The pain will intensify as time goes by, and eventually, it will be too much for your body, soul, and even [Existence] to bear. And knowing Gu Chang'an, once he notices this weakness, he'll exploit it. So, we can no longer outlast him."

"...Is this how you're always feeling?"

"I have a Flesh Source which helps resist the pain, but I understand what you're dealing with."

Wu Hong paused. She couldn't fathom how someone could spend countless yuan epochs with this eternal, gnawing pain that keeps intensifying with every minute. Now, she understood one of the reasons Lady Ai's hatred was so intense.

"Respect to you."

"Well, thank you. But let's focus. Do you have other methods?"

"I have," Wu Hong replied, looking at Gu Chang'an, who teleported in front of her. Lady Ai was about to ask more questions when Wu Hong suddenly flew away from Gu Chang'an.

"What are you doing?"

"The battlefield is too close to Emperor Sui."

"I didn't expect you to be this kind."

"I'm not doing it out of kindness. I fear that bastard Gu Chang'an would swallow him as energy to heal or further boost his strength."

"Smart."

Beams of light tried to intercept Wu Hong, and at first, they failed — until Gu Chang'an accelerated their speed. After traveling a few million light-years, Wu Hong found herself surrounded on all sides, and the battlefield was still too close for her liking. So, she activated the Genesis Language to suppress the spatial hidden rules, granting her the ability to teleport.

After reaching near the end of the Book World, Wu Hong finally stopped and immediately summoned a projection of the six Grand Constructs. Because of the Grand Dao and the Heavenly Emperor Era, she already had absolute authority over three of them (River of Fate, River of Time, and Six Paths Samsara), and she could still utilize a decent portion of the rest.

As soon as Gu Chang'an teleported to their relationship, he was attacked by six independent domains connected to each of the Grand Constructs. The All-Knowing Emperor did not hide his disdain. On a fundamental level, a domain is the lesser version of a Dao Source, but the difference between them is so vast that words are not enough to describe it.

So, with a casual wave of his hand, his Book World instantly suppressed the domains, crushing them in a matter of seconds. Wu Hong was not discouraged by this outcome; on the contrary, she had expected it. As the domains resisted their fate, a projection of the Heavenly Court materialized in the sky.

The six domains turned into lights that fused with the six Grand Constructs, which collapsed and turned into six colorful orbs: yellow, grey, black, purple, blue, and white. Lady Ai and Gu Chang'an were both confused about what she was planning, but the former was intrigued, while the latter was weary.

[Six Luminous Cannon]

The six orbs fused into an array suspended before the court, turning into a rainbow-colored swirl of immense energy. Gu Chang'an's face grew serious as his extraordinary sense warned him of immense danger. He raised his hand, and the entire Book World trembled; Gu Chang'an didn't want to risk it and enacted the best defensive barrier in his arsenal.

However, it was pointless. The court released a terrifying being that embodies the fundamental aspects of the universe: laws, time, fate, death, primordial chaos, and Qi. All six powers were in perfect harmony, complementing and supplementing each other to achieve maximum power. On top of that, they were also empowered by Lady Ai's obsession.

Wu Hong sighed in relief. With this attack, Gu Chang'an will not die, but he should be incapacitated or severely injured, which will shift the tide of the battle in her favor.

"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."

As soon as those words echoed in her mind, Wu Hong's eyes squinted. There Gu Chang'an was, fully intact, with no signs of injury — not even a scratch. In fact, even his clothes had returned to a pristine state. If not for his pale face, anyone would have thought he was a perfectly healthy middle-aged man.

"How is that possible?"

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