In the dark and profound space.
Taixuan Ancestral God's entire body glowed. Layer upon layer of dazzling, brilliant rings of light expanded mightily behind her, chaotic qi overflowing, primordial divine light pervading—as if she were opening a brand-new heaven and earth.
She wanted to break open and tear apart this cage.
Yet no matter how hard she tried, using thousands upon thousands of methods, she could never break free.
Wave after wave of dark tides, from unknown void zones, continuously buffeted forward, completely crushing all her attempts and efforts.
That dark power seemed to be rooted within the void, with no way of knowing how it birthed and invaded, practically seeping in everywhere.
Taixuan Ancestral God felt she was about to go mad. This was the first time in her life she encountered such bizarre methods, and the speed of the invasion was far more terrifying and rapid than any of the records about the Dark Origin she knew, like a plague.
Moreover, one must know, she was an Ancestral God, not some ordinary being—and yet she couldn't even suppress it.
The trick Gu Changge had used on that severed arm of hers was far more terrifying than the Dark Origin substance.
This made Taixuan Ancestral God shudder with cold, a supremely horrifying conjecture faintly emerging in her heart.
On the surface he was the Alliance Leader of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, but in secret, could he be the true mastermind behind the invasion of the entire Vast Expanse…?
Could the Lord of Heaven's Proxy truly have no relation to him?
And under the influence of this space, the firmament of the entire Taixuan Divine Realm was also collapsing.
Endless black rain poured down in torrents, as if heaven and earth had breached their dikes, submerging all the nations.
To all the subjects of Taixuan Divine Realm, this was a scene akin to world-ending calamity. All subjects and deities were terrified and despairing.
Beyond the heavenly curtain, the Multiversal Void Sea quaked, strange and filthy phenomena sprouted everywhere, and the dark power invaded, corroding.
Taixuan Ancestral God's expression was as dark as water, grim to the extreme. She could not break free, yet could constantly see all the happenings outside.
Every time one of her divine kingdoms vanished, she could feel her own power diminishing and weakening.
Once her divine realm collapsed completely, there would be no good outcome for her either. Not only would her divine power wane, but her entire body would likely be eroded and occupied by that substance akin to the Dark Origin, truly falling into darkness.
This outcome was absolutely unacceptable to her.
In the next moment, she let out an angry roar, her true form expanding within this unknown space, her divine power boundless, divine flames surging around her like vast, boundless starry rivers.
She performed all kinds of divine arts and Dao methods from past and present, even burning her own Divine Authority, attempting to blast through this space.
However, the icy cage seemed forged from eternal dark divine metal, emitting strange and terrifying light, truly capable of grinding away even the Great Dao.
Not to mention the divine arts she performed—the instant they touched it, they dissolved and shattered.
The cage stood immovable, permeated with an aura of eternity, completely sealing her firmly within.
"Is this the dark cage that even those supreme experts throughout the endless ages of the past and present were powerless against?" For the first time, Taixuan Ancestral God felt what despair truly was.
No wonder those Ancestral Dao Realm existences who had passed eight Heavenly Decline Tribulations would turn pale with fear when the Black Calamity Catastrophe was mentioned.
Though she had lived through that era, she had chosen to hide away in endless space-time and never truly made contact.
Originally, she had felt somewhat fortunate about this, not caring much, believing it had nothing to do with the Divine Dao Civilization system and could never implicate Ancestral Gods like them.
But sometimes, calamity simply arrives like this.
Thump, thump, thump…
Suddenly, a strange and eerie sound rang out in this void space.
Taixuan Ancestral God looked over. She could see that outside the cage, a terrifying black cocoon was gestating, black mist like towering waves enveloping it layer upon layer.
Within it was a consciousness exactly identical to her own, like a beating heart, emitting surging, astonishing life force.
This was precisely the consciousness she had sensed earlier.
Taixuan Ancestral God had completely not expected that in such a short time, that consciousness had already expanded to this degree.
"The old gods shall die, the new gods shall rise."
In the next moment, Taixuan Ancestral God's expression changed. Faintly, she heard a pleasant voice like heavenly music ring out.
That familiar voice seemed to freeze all the blood in her body, her expression full of gravity and dread.
Crack…
The terrifying black cocoon began to shatter, cracks emerging. First, a flawless, slender, snow-white foot stepped out, straight and exquisite, as if the most perfect masterpiece of the heavens above. No matter what kind of man, the instant they saw this scene, they would be entranced and utterly lost in it.
Yet Taixuan Ancestral God's expression grew increasingly unsightly.
The black cocoon continued to shatter, and as the figure gestated within walked out, the shattered cocoon threads scattered, turning into a skyful of black mist, which she swallowed and absorbed into her body.
This was a figure both blurred and perfect, standing amidst the vast and boundless void, as if stepping out from multidimensional space-time.
Ring after ring of divine halos surrounded her, each layer like a ring of nebula, within which scattered all sorts of worlds and universes.
Each divine ring seemed to contain innumerable vast worlds being gestated, with myriad heavens and worlds arising, perishing, and evolving.
What differed from Taixuan Ancestral God was that the worlds around this figure were all permeated with a dense aura of darkness—holiness no longer present, radiance no more.
She kept her eyes closed, her face sometimes ancient and obscure, sometimes majestic and solemn, sometimes bewitching and amorous, sometimes cold as frost—changing every moment, impossible to truly see clearly, filled entirely with boundless dark mist.
The entire space-time seemed unable to accommodate her true form; a single divine ring alone was enough to fill this dark, profound void.
"How can this be…"
Taixuan Ancestral God looked at this figure nearly identical to herself. Her face could no longer be described with mere shock and grimness; it was a trembling fear.
"What are you afraid of?"
"I am you, you are me; the two of us were originally one."
Suddenly, that figure before Taixuan Ancestral God opened her eyes, a face completely identical to her own drawing near. She was beautiful and bewitching, the corner of her lips hooked upward, dense darkness pervading.
"Where exactly did you come from? How could you have a body identical to mine?"
Taixuan Ancestral God demanded, unable to suppress the fear surging in her heart, terrified to the extreme.
"Where did I come from? I was created by the master."
"And I am not your body; I am your consciousness. What you see is only the surface."
"However, now, you are my consciousness."
The Dark Taixuan Ancestral God smiled, her beautiful face full of mockery.
She reached out her hand and directly passed through the dark cage just like that, grabbing Taixuan Ancestral God by the neck.
No matter how Taixuan Ancestral God resisted, it was completely useless. The moment her power passed through the figure before her, it was as if passing through a layer of hazy mist with no substance, dissipating instantly.
"From now on, I am Taixuan Ancestral God."
The Dark Taixuan Ancestral God smiled faintly, and her figure immediately vanished into this dark and profound space.
"He truly is the Lord of Heaven's Proxy…"
Within the dark cage, Taixuan Ancestral God had narrowly escaped death, her heart full of horror. At this moment, she finally confirmed a fact, her gaze fearful, her voice trembling.
Had Gu Changge, from the very day he laid down that bait, already foreseen this day?
He was not only going to move against the true world Dao lineages of the entire Vast Expanse, but had already set his sights on reaching into the Divine Dao Civilization.
In a single day, Taixuan Divine Realm was invaded by a skyful of dark light.
All the divine kingdoms turned into dark kingdoms, and the Taixuan Ancestral God who emerged from the divine realm not only did not stop any of this, but immediately gave the order for all deities to gather forces and attack the other divine realms. She wanted to plunder resources and condense an even more powerful Dark Divine Authority.
This piece of news stirred a tidal wave throughout the Divine Dao Civilization. Whether Taisu Divine Realm or Hao Shang Divine Realm, all fell into shock and terror.
Taixuan Divine Realm had suffered dark erosion, indicating that the Dark Clans had already begun making a move against the Divine Dao Civilization.
The way Taixuan Divine Realm was so brazenly deploying its forces clearly showed it had something to rely on, and what made the other Ancestral Gods even more terrified and fearful was—since when had one as powerful as Taixuan Ancestral God fallen into darkness?
Meanwhile, on the other side.
At Yao Yao's deliberate request, Gu Changge finally received that princess from the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty.
In the courtyard, beside a jade table, Jiang Weiyang wore a snow-white long dress. Though she wore a veiled hat that concealed her true face, she was still extremely uneasy. Her fair white hands tightly clutched the hem of her skirt, her back ramrod straight, afraid of showing any hint of discourteous or unladylike behavior.
She had been constantly looking forward to "meeting" Gu Changge.
Just when she learned from Yao Yao that Gu Changge had returned to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, she once again shamelessly begged Yao Yao to report this.
As for whether Gu Changge agreed to see her or not, that was unimportant.
Fortunately, her painstaking wait was not in vain. She learned from Yao Yao that Gu Changge had agreed to see her. That night, she was so joyful, excited, and nervous that she couldn't sleep the entire night.
Early the next morning, she had two maids help her wash and dress while she personally picked out several sets of beautiful dresses, changing back and forth, comparing for a long while before finally deciding on this spotless, pure-white long dress.
The only regret Jiang Weiyang had was that the birthmark she had deliberately left on her face made one half of her face a patch of bluish-black. Without special methods, it couldn't be removed or cleaned up in a short time.
Under these conditions, she finally followed Yao Yao to the courtyard where Gu Changge usually cultivated in peace, and waited there for him.
During this period in the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, her understanding had gradually deepened. Through the conversations of the cultivators and beings around her, she gradually realized that the Alliance was not as evil and terrifying as the outside world made it out to be, like a dragon's pool and tiger's den.
Only by truly understanding could one know that the stability of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance's order far surpassed that of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty.
This was the embryonic outline of what a new era would look like before its birth.
As for the deeds related to Gu Changge, they were what she heard the most and was most interested in. Even if she sat in a teahouse within the city and found a corner by the window, as long as she could hear cultivators and beings discussing matters about the Alliance Leader, she could sit there listening the entire day without the slightest weariness or boredom. Instead, sometimes she would even take the initiative to go up and ask questions.
The more she understood, the stronger her curiosity and reverence for Gu Changge grew. This emotion made her toss and turn, unable to sleep through the night, wishing her eyes could see the light and personally behold his true face.
From the few brief, warm words she heard when he saved her during State Preceptor Xingming's attack that day, one could also anticipate that this was surely an extraordinary man, with divine grace like jade and an immortal bearing.
Gu Changge, however, paid no mind to the countless messy, strange thoughts currently running through this Weiyang princess's head.
To be honest, although this Weiyang princess was hailed as the treasure of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, under the current precarious and turbulent circumstances, stripped of the dynasty's protection, she was not much different from an ordinary woman.
All her many halos meant utterly nothing before Gu Changge.
The reason he wanted to see her was also due to other factors. Jiang Weiyang's appearance in the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, in a certain sense, was actually the scheme of the Weiyang Emperor Lord Jiang Yun.
Gu Changge was also just about to make a move against that constantly hopping Master of Fate, so he could conveniently use this to turn the tables.