Chapter 458 – Breakthrough: Entering the Earth Immortal Realm

The shadow handprint blotted out the sky and sun, giving Mu Lin the feeling that although the world was vast, there was no escape for him.

That eerie divine soul fluctuation was even more obscure and subtle.

Upon contact with it, Mu Lin’s divine soul faintly glimpsed a complete, illusory world.

That world was perfect, magnificent, and immeasurably vast.

At this moment, this immense world emanated a pulling force, attempting to drag Mu Lin’s divine soul into it.

He had a feeling that if his divine soul were to go there, it would inevitably sink into oblivion.

Fortunately, while the enemy had a world, Mu Lin had one too.

“Hum!”

The moment he was attacked, Mu Lin’s True Spirit Karma Diagram unfurled, and the Netherworld, opposite to the Yang World, was instantly opened by Mu Lin.

“Clang!”

In the next instant, the Mountain River Great Cauldron pressed down like a mountain range, its suppression immediately stabilizing Mu Lin’s divine soul.

Using world against world, Mu Lin resisted the opponent’s pulling force.

However, while he blocked the opponent, he also discovered that because the opponent existed in an illusory dimension, not the Yang World, his Netherworld could not reflect its soul reflection.

…

Mu Lin could not reflect the soul reflection of the Nightmare Clan leader, and soon he found that he could not reflect the soul reflection of the Night Demon Clan leader either.

In Mu Lin’s perception, the opponent had merged with the night of the world.

To reflect its soul reflection in the Netherworld, Mu Lin would have to completely reflect the night of this entire region.

But the power of night it had fused with was too immense; Mu Lin was powerless to achieve this.

“Indeed, a Celestial Master is not easy to deal with.”

“Being one with heaven and earth, fighting them is like confronting the Azure Heaven!”

After sighing, Mu Lin had no more time to ponder or attack.

The sky-blotting shadow handprint was about to seize him.

Seeing this, Mu Lin immediately drove his clones, having most of them transform into streaks of light to flee.

A few other clones, however, burned themselves completely, charging toward the sky-covering giant hand.

“I am the sun!”

“Boom!”

The moment they collided with the sky-covering giant hand, Mu Lin’s clones exploded under the support of an endless Dominating Will.

“!!!”

The attack power of Calamity – Great Sun was still reliable. The terrifying nuclear explosion released endless light and heat, tearing apart the giant hand and illuminating heaven and earth.

However, before Mu Lin could rejoice, he frowned upon discovering that although the sky-covering giant hand had indeed been torn apart, when the light of the nuclear explosion faded, countless shadows surged from all directions, reforming the giant hand.

Moreover, in the next instant, the giant hand suddenly exploded, transforming into thousands of shadow beasts.

These monsters included two-winged dragons, scorpion-tailed lions, gargoyles… thousands of shadow beasts exuding powerful auras and appearing as if alive, they chased after Mu Lin’s clones.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

In the air, Mu Lin’s clones, transformed into streaks of light, continuously collided and battled with those beasts.

“Clatter…”

Countless chains flew horizontally, and numerous flames boiled and exploded.

Relying on Calamity – Avatar Great Sun, Mu Lin tore apart countless shadow beasts. However, the moment those beasts were destroyed, they would rise again from some dark place.

Such seemingly endless beasts rendered most of Mu Lin’s attacks utterly ineffective.

“Against his spells, I can’t win; I’d only be worn down to death.”

Realizing this, Mu Lin immediately narrowed his eyes and scanned his surroundings.

He was using his Double Pupil Technique to search for traces of the enemy.

But… he couldn’t find it. Or rather, the aura of the Night Demon Clan leader was everywhere in Mu Lin’s sight.

Wherever shadows existed, there was the aura of the Night Demon Clan leader.

“…”

This was the Celestial Master—united with heaven and earth, their mana endless, their aura omnipresent, their status supremely lofty.

For cultivators below the Celestial Master level to confront them, forget about harming them—you couldn’t even locate where the enemy was.

This feeling was like mortals defying the Azure Heaven, utterly powerless.

Fortunately, Mu Lin was no ordinary man.

Upon discovering that the Double Pupil Technique alone couldn’t locate the enemy, Mu Lin immediately activated his Sky Observation secret art.

Sky Observation, advanced from calligraphy and painting, allowed Mu Lin to perceive the fundamental threads of all things.

And the Night Demon Clan leader’s aura also fell within the scope of Sky Observation.

“Hum!”

With Sky Observation activated, Mu Lin’s aura immediately became lofty and detached.

Using this special Eye Technique to survey his surroundings, Mu Lin finally located the whereabouts of the Night Demon Clan leader.

—At this moment, Mu Lin still couldn’t see the specific appearance of the Night Demon Clan leader, but he observed its source.

A Source Rune containing countless mysteries—”Night”—appeared in Mu Lin’s vision.

“Found you!”

Upon discovering the enemy, Mu Lin’s figure in the air no longer flew about aimlessly but instead ignited completely, transforming into Calamity – Great Sun!

In the next moment, using the Rainbow Transformation secret art to increase his speed, Mu Lin’s numerous figures charged straight toward the Night Demon Clan leader.

“Perish with me in the flames.”

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

As Mu Lin charged, the Night Demon Clan leader naturally didn’t just watch. It manipulated countless shadow beasts to block Mu Lin.

At the same time, overwhelming shadow spells, with a sky-covering momentum, bombarded Mu Lin’s figures in a frenzy.

The excessively dense attacks and the bombardment covering heaven and earth meant that even with the Rainbow Transformation secret art, over a dozen of Mu Lin’s clones were blasted apart mid-air.

However, their explosions released boundless light and heat, temporarily breaking through the Night Demon Clan leader’s blockade.

Thus, over a dozen of Mu Lin’s clones still reached the front of the Night Demon Clan leader.

“I am the sun!”

Without hesitation, the Mu Lin clones that reached the target location immediately self-destructed.

And to annihilate the enemy in one go, Mu Lin didn’t just have one clone self-destruct.

Over a dozen of his bodies exploded simultaneously.

“Rumble!!”

The successive nuclear explosions made the world seem unable to bear it.

The earth shook and cracked, the air temperature rapidly rose and boiled.

Craters like meteor strikes appeared on the ground, leaving the land scarred and devastated.

At this moment, Nightmare Heaven was a scene of apocalypse, as if hell had descended upon the Mortal Realm.

This was the terror of Calamity – Great Sun. The knowledge from his past life, the Golden Crow’s talent, combined with the characteristics of the Calamity Monarch, had elevated Mu Lin’s destructive power to the level of a Celestial Master.

Just as he had once said, he truly was the world’s great catastrophe, the terminator of all things.

Given time, Mu Lin could gradually cleanse the entire surface of the earth.

Such power made Mu Lin believe he was qualified to wound a Celestial Master.

Not kill, but wound—this was Mu Lin’s wariness and respect toward the Celestial Master.

But soon, Mu Lin’s pupils contracted as he realized… he had still underestimated the Celestial Master.

The previous attack was indeed terrifying, but the self-detonation of Calamity – Great Sun had not harmed the Night Demon leader.

Through the Eye of Sky Observation, Mu Lin discovered that the nuclear blast of the Great Sun had indeed scattered the power condensed by the Night Demon.

However, the scattered energy did not perish amidst the light and flames.

It spread along with the light and flames—the stronger the radiance released by Mu Lin’s Calamity – Great Sun, the faster the shadows expanded.

When the endless light faded, the shadows coalesced once more.

At this moment, it was nearly unscathed.

“Where there is light, there is shadow. You… can never kill me!”

As these words fell, the shadow energy transformed into a sky-shrouding hand, reaching out once more toward Mu Lin.

At this moment, the Night Demon leader’s aura showed not the slightest decline.

As for Mu Lin, the Clones that had made the Earth Immortal tremble upon his arrival had already perished in great numbers.

Now, only thirty-three Clones remained on the battlefield.

And it was foreseeable that even if all thirty-three Clones were to detonate, even if they exploded right beside the Night Demon leader, due to the law of shadows, Mu Lin… would still find it difficult to kill it.

“The Celestial Master… truly is formidable!”

Gazing at the sky-shrouding hand, Mu Lin felt endless emotion.

However, at this moment, Mu Lin only felt emotion—not… fear.

The reason for this was, first, that Zhang Hetian had taken action.

Mu Lin was never a lone wolf, nor was he a rogue cultivator without backing, destined to be bullied.

He had powerful protectors. At this moment, the commanders of the Black Fiend Legion and the Thunderclap Legion, along with Zhang Hetian, seeing that Mu Lin was outmatched, acted as previously agreed and launched a fierce assault on the Night Demon leader, the Nightmare leader, and… the Insect Apostle.

While the three commanders took action, Zhang Hemiao also arrived by Mu Lin’s side, comforting him: “Don’t be disheartened. Losing to a Celestial Master is no disgrace—they are powerhouses who can become pillars of the nation wherever they are.”

“Your defeat today is only because you are still young. I believe that one day, you will surpass them…”

Zhang Hemiao was offering comfort, but before she could finish, Mu Lin’s voice rang out.

“You’re right. I will surpass them.”

“And not ‘one day’—today, I will surpass them.”

With these words, Mu Lin’s consciousness immediately connected with the True Spirit Karma Diagram, unleashing all the energy he had previously accumulated and stored within this scroll.

He was about to break through.

Today, Mu Lin would fully step into the realm of the Terrestrial Immortal!!

…

(End of Chapter)