With great effort, he raised his head bit by bit, looking up at the Heavenly Palace and Wu Chao above him.

His eyes... were dazzling to the extreme.

"You're wrong," Lu Yuan said softly. "I'm not waiting for a breakthrough. I'm waiting for you.

"Waiting for you to push your so-called Heavenly Palace Sect Martial Arts to the limit.

"You are already so old, like a tottering setting sun, while I am the ascendant sun of early morning.

"You are the last face of the old era...

"I was already taking advantage of you. If I didn't even let you fully unleash your ultimate technique... then even if I were to strike you dead... others would say my victory was unearned."

Saying this, Lu Yuan offered a faint smile.

BOOM!

At this moment, the progress bar for his advancement to Grandmaster finally reached one hundred percent.

On the Job Panel, an information prompt quickly popped up—

[All prerequisites for Class advancement have been met. The [Fighter] Class is now advancing.]

Lu Yuan's Spiritual Power rapidly converged towards the center of his brain.

A bloodline in the center of his chest swiftly wove itself together; within a breath, it condensed into a fist-sized blood orb. This blood orb was connected to his entire body. At its center, a pitch-black crow's feather quivered gently.

The thunderous rumbling within his chest was incessant. His internal organs, his blood and flesh—all of it began to glow at this moment. This light quickly permeated outwards from his body, seeping from every pore on his skin.

In an instant, all of Lu Yuan's injuries vanished. The faded, blood-red lotus-eye pattern on his back also disappeared completely.

CRACK! CRACK!—

His entire body was being reconstructed.

An indescribably majestic aura, like a signal fire, surged from his body, soaring upwards, as unstoppable as the sun rising in the east.

The terrifying pressure that had been enveloping him was instantly shattered and dispersed by this aura. Even the clouds overhead were blasted apart. The majestic, lofty, and imposing Heavenly Palace phenomenon wavered precariously, revealing its illusory nature, like a flower in a mirror or the moon in water...

Wu Chao's expression changed drastically in that instant. A look of incredulous shock and profound dismay appeared on his face. His expression hardened, and then, with a flash in his eyes, he soared into the air. His figure completely merged with the trembling Heavenly Palace phenomenon, becoming one with it.

He stood upon 'Heaven,' gazing down at Lu Yuan with the cold indifference of Heaven's Will itself, then struck out with a palm from afar. A cold, indifferent roar issued from his lips:

"Heavenly Palace Sect's Ninth Form—I Am the Lord of the Heavenly Palace!"

As Wu Chao unleashed this palm strike, a colossal, tangible white hand materialized beneath the clear sky. Bearing the entire Heavenly Palace phenomenon, it crushed vast expanses of air as it thundered down towards Lu Yuan.

This seemingly divine technique left all onlookers so stunned they nearly suffocated, momentarily forgetting even how to think. They could only watch, transfixed, as the colossal hand came crashing down.

The Penglai Heaven Lord, Wu Chao, was incredibly strong, the undisputed sovereign of an era. Only now, however, did everyone truly comprehend... just how overwhelmingly powerful was Wu Chao?

A legend! A legend of Pure Martial Arts! He was undoubtedly a legendary figure, an unparalleled monument in the annals of martial history!

However, facing Wu Chao's palm strike, which seemed to bring myth into reality, Lu Yuan's expression remained utterly unmoved.

The reconstruction of his body continued, the metamorphosis within him still underway. His eyes shone brightly as he watched with a certain appreciation while the colossal white hand descended from the sky, coming straight for him. After appreciating it sufficiently, his gaze shifted to one of pity and regret.

WHOOSH—

A darkness deeper than night itself billowed up from behind Lu Yuan. It silently spread towards the colossal white hand and the Heavenly Palace complex phenomenon it bore.

The epic phenomenon of an evolving ancient city-state, which he had been sustaining from the very beginning, now finally reached its concluding chapter.

Upon the desolate, deathly-still ruins of the land, a black crow with wings that blotted out the sun and nine hundred and ninety-nine eyes upon its head quietly manifested.

It was an apocalyptic scourge, a cataclysm of doom. When it spread its wings, the light of the sun, moon, and stars was utterly consumed. All existence... would be consigned to the Netherworld.

Lu Yuan stood on the high platform, his entire body glowing. The phenomenon of the Hundred-eyed Dark Crow rose behind him. Facing the colossal white hand looming above, the Heavenly Palace complex phenomenon, and Wu Chao enthroned high upon 'Heaven,' Lu Yuan lightly extended a finger.

He murmured softly, "In this Netherworld... where can the Heavenly Palace be found?"

As his words concluded, at that very instant, everyone present on Martial Saint Island—their consciousness, their senses—all plunged into an eternal night.

It was as if the world itself had been devoured by darkness...

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