Chapter 2695: Emperor's Illusion

Boom! Thunder rumbled across the vast universe. Dark clouds covered the sky like a massive black veil, shrouding the world in darkness. Daylight instantly turned to night. Lightning ripped through the clouds, revealing faint and eerie array patterns that flickered in and out of sight. A terrifying power enveloped both heaven and earth.

"Zhe Xian Tian Di Zhen."

Ye Chen murmured softly, recognizing this scene as a tactic commonly used by the Tian Mo.

"What in the world is happening?"

Countless people rose to their feet, staring blankly at the sky. The younger generation among them had turned pale with fear.

The elders narrowed their eyes. Having lived long lives, they had seen much, including the ominous Tian Mo pillars that rose to the heavens, evil and destructive. Yet, each time one appeared, it was shattered in an instant by a devastating force.

From what they could see now, that destructive power must have come from the emperor of the Tian Jie.

"How unsettling."

The Kunlun sect leader frowned, his aged body trembling involuntarily.

The other old figures were much the same.

If even they were trembling, the younger generation fared worse. Their minds quaked, their souls were drowned in a chilling cold, as if they were being stalked by the god of death, on the verge of being dragged into the depths of Jiu You.

Ye Chen had already ascended into the sky, heading straight toward the source.

Accompanying him was Xiu Luo Tian Zun. His earlier premonition had proven true—there was indeed a Tian Mo invasion, and it had come swiftly.

"Let's go take a look."

Those attending the wedding ceremony took to the skies in droves.

Behind them, the Kunlun Shen Zi and Huashan Shen Nu exchanged a sideways glance, followed by a dry cough.

There was no end to the awkwardness; it only kept getting worse.

How could getting married be this difficult? First, there was the Tian Ting invasion, and now the Tian Mo. They certainly knew how to pick their moments. Who knew if there would be more trouble when they rescheduled the wedding? Or perhaps, their union had simply invited the wrath of heaven and earth?

With a helpless smile, the two adjusted their vibrant red garments and stepped into the void.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry."

Urgent calls rose one after another as people from both heaven and earth surged like streams, converging toward Nan Tian Men. The massive disturbance shook the entire Tian Jie.

"Here they come again, offering themselves up."

In Buzhou Mountain, Xuan Di hovered in midair, hands clasped behind his back as he gazed toward Nan Tian Men.

Having inherited the emperor's memories, the shadow of the emperor harbored immense hatred for the Tian Mo. But each Tian Mo invasion of the Tian Jie was also his most thrilling moment. The Tian Jie was no pushover—it had a peak great emperor guarding it. Whenever a Qing Tian Mo Zhu appeared, it was always destroyed in a single strike by Dao Zu.

This time, since he hadn't seen Hong Jun destroy the Mo Zhu, it was likely that Hong Jun intended to let the Tian Mo in.

"Time for a grand slaughter?"

Xuan Di chuckled, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he anticipated watching that great emperor massacre the Tian Mo.

"Master Ancestor, the Tian Mo are invading."

In the Tai Shang Xian Yu, cries of alarm filled the air, their tones laced with urgency.

No need for reminders—Dao Zu had already emerged from his mountain retreat, striding step by step through the heavens. He glanced at the vast sky and the Zhe Xian Tian Di Zhen, but remained unmoved. That immortal array might fool the masses, but to a peak great emperor, it was nothing more than a laughable facade.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

At Nan Tian Men Mountain, the Qing Tian Mo Zhu hummed ominously. Layers of dark aura spread across the four seas and eight directions, devastating everything within a radius of hundreds of thousands of li. Mountains, palaces, and ancient cities were all reduced to flat wasteland, barren and lifeless. The Tian Ting veterans who had been guarding Nan Tian Men were instantly obliterated into ash, entering the cycle of reincarnation in the Tian Jie.

"Is that the Qing Tian Mo Zhu?"

Elder Xian Zun who had arrived gazed from afar, unable to suppress the tremor in their hearts. Many of them were seeing it for the first time, while others had only heard of it in legends.

More people arrived, crowding together, filling the ground and the skies.

Even on the outskirts, figures dotted the peaks of mountains that hadn't collapsed.

Ye Chen had reached the forefront, standing with his feet on the Golden Xian River and his head beneath the vast starry expanse. Inhaling the Tian Mo aura, his blood boiled uncontrollably, his killing intent barely contained.

"You all are quite something."

Tian Zun sighed, glancing at Yue Xin beside him.

Yue Xin's delicate form trembled, her eyes misty with frost that had congealed into ice.

The reincarnated ones felt the same, their eyes brimming with hatred.

It was a Mo Zhu like this in their past lives that had unleashed countless demons, devouring the spirits of Da Chu and obliterating that once-beautiful land. Their memories were stained with blood.

Ye Chen said nothing, fixing his gaze intently on the Mo Zhu.

He held a hope—that among the invading Tian Mo, there might be someone from his homeland reincarnated.

"The emperor has arrived."

Someone cried out in surprise, drawing everyone's eyes upward.

In the void above, Dao Zu manifested his true form, as if standing at the end of time itself—distant and untouchable. Even the heavenly sounds of the great dao that accompanied him felt ancient and weathered, with chaotic dao principles evolving the heavens and earth.

His presence instantly calmed the restless crowd.

Though the Qing Tian Mo Zhu was fearsome, the Tian Jie had a great emperor to protect it.

Dao Zu looked down at the Mo Zhu but did not strike to destroy it.

As Xuan Di had said, it was time for a grand slaughter. It had been endless ages since he had tasted the blood of the Tian Mo.

This aligned with Ye Chen's hope—don't destroy the Mo Zhu so quickly; at least let him see the Tian Mo first. If there were reincarnated ones among them, he wanted to bring them back home.

Dao Zu made his move, lightly flicking his sleeve.

The earth trembled as ancient copper pillars erupted from the ground, piercing straight into the vast sky. Each one was etched with imperial dao divine patterns, with law chains crisscrossing between them, forming a massive sealing barrier that trapped the entire world.

Then, from Dao Zu's brow, a beam of imperial light shot out.

It wasn't just light—it was a jade disc, inscribed with the nine palaces and eight trigrams, marked with imperial dao imprints. This was Dao Zu's life-bound imperial weapon, the legendary Zao Hua Yu Die.

The jade disc hovered in the ether, like a blazing sun illuminating the world. Strands of chaotic qi descended like immortal rain from the chaos, nourishing the universe, with faint dao principles hidden in the void.

The onlookers stared in awe. Among imperial weapons, the Zao Hua Yu Die was far more profound than the God-Striking Whip, engraved with the three thousand great daos and capable of creating the heavens and earth.

"Illusion realm."

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. With his keen insight, he could see that Dao Zu was using the Zao Hua Yu Die to forge an illusion realm that enveloped the heavens, the earth, and the Qing Tian Mo Zhu.

Dao Zu's intent was clear.

Wait for it—the Tian Mo emerging from the Mo Zhu would fall into this illusion realm the moment they appeared.

An illusion realm created by a peak great emperor—who could escape it?

Ye Chen took a deep breath, feeling a surge of gratitude toward Dao Zu.

The Tian Mo trapped in the illusion would lose their senses, becoming mere walking corpses without any combat ability. This would make it easier for him to find the reincarnated ones.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The Mo Zhu hummed again, as if a barrier had lifted. No figures emerged yet, but surging demonic energy rolled out first, unleashing hordes of Tian Mo. Each was clad in pitch-black armor, wielding icy war spears, their eyes blood-red and filled with savagery, like demons straight from hell.

The less resolute among the younger generation turned pale with fright at the sight.

The elders, however, remained relatively composed.

The Tian Mo were terrifying, but so was the Tian Jie. Just look at the void—there stood an emperor. With him guarding the place, no matter how many Tian Mo came, it would be futile, even if they were emperors themselves.

"Kill!"

The Tian Mo charged out with thunderous roars, like an ocean of shadows surging in all directions. They devoured everything in their path, leveling mountains one after another and collapsing ancient cities in succession. Living beings were slaughtered en masse, turning everywhere they went into mountains of corpses and seas of blood—a true hell on earth.

But that was only the world as the Tian Mo saw it.

In reality, the moment they exited the Mo Zhu, they had entered Dao Zu's illusion realm. They were charging and killing within the illusion, not in the real world.

In the true realm, as they moved, they suddenly froze in place, like stone statues standing motionless, their expressions vacant and their eyes hollow. They had truly become walking corpses—puppets, perhaps, was a more accurate term.

"The emperor's illusion realm is truly dominant."

Xiu Luo Tian Zun clicked his tongue in amazement, instinctively looking up at the Zao Hua Yu Die. Wherever its light shone, an illusion realm formed. Not just the Tian Mo—even he would be drawn into it if he stepped inside.

"Why aren't they moving?"

The clueless younger generation scratched their heads in confusion. Hundreds of thousands of Tian Mo had charged out and just stood there motionless. This was nothing like what they had imagined.

The elders, however, understood perfectly—it wasn't that the Tian Mo weren't moving; they had been pulled into the emperor's illusion realm.

"What a treasure."

The Chaos Cauldron emerged from Ye Chen's body, clearly enamored with the Zao Hua Yu Die and constantly tempted to swallow it. If it could digest that imperial weapon, it wouldn't need to eat for centuries.

"You'd choke on it."

Emerging alongside it was the Chaos Fire, as if it knew what the cauldron was thinking. You're not on that level—dreaming of devouring a peak imperial weapon? You'd burst.

Compared to them, Ye Chen, as their master, remained quite composed. His eyes burned like twin torches as he hovered in the vast sky, scanning the Tian Mo one by one. If there were any reincarnated ones, they wouldn't escape his gaze.

Regrettably, he found none.

He wasn't the only one searching—Tai Shang Laojun and the others were looking too, for their own reincarnated people. The Tian Jie had its own cycle of reincarnation, and some might have been reborn in the Tian Mo domain after a catastrophe.

Like Ye Chen, they all shook their heads in resignation.

Buzz!

With no reincarnated ones to find, the Zao Hua Yu Die unleashed its full power, trembling with a thunderous hum as heavenly thunder rained down. Any Tian Mo touched by the rain was instantly reduced to ash. In the illusion, they might have been rampaging invincibly, but unbeknownst to them, they had already stepped onto the path to the underworld.

The Mo Zhu's humming never ceased.

Each vibration brought forth waves of Tian Mo, their demonic energy rolling like a black tide, an endless sea of figures that made one's scalp tingle. They came in the hundreds of thousands, wave after wave!

Yet, no matter how many arrived, it was all in vain—they emerged only to enter the illusion realm.

Over time, even the younger generation caught on, frequently looking up at the sky and the Zao Hua Yu Die. Its light, shining across the world, carried supreme power that could disrupt one's mind. Weren't those Tian Mo just babbling nonsense in the illusion?

That was why Dao Zu was called an emperor—his illusion realm was utterly dominant. Millions of Tian Mo had come to the Tian Jie, only to become mere decorations, ants waiting to be slaughtered.

Once again, it proved how crucial it was to have a great emperor standing guard.