Outside the Ancient Treasure Civilization, watching this scene, the people of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty trembled constantly, not from fear, but from excitement and elation.
Ji Hanjing had long anticipated that Gu Changge would likely take action, but she had not expected him to descend here in person. With a single move, he intimidated the entire Ancient Treasure Civilization into deathly silence, and from the depths of endless spacetime, captured the Master of Fate with one palm.
Such methods and strength had surpassed her imagination. It seemed that in Gu Changge's hands, End of the Path existences were already as insignificant as ants.
"Just how strong is he? Has he been recovering all these years? Or has he always been like this?" Ji Hanjing murmured.
At the very beginning, when she was the artifact spirit of the Book of Scavenging and met Gu Changge, she only felt he was terrifying, but she had never imagined he was this powerful.
It seemed that over these years, he had acted very rarely, but each time it had been earth-shattering, overawing the cosmos across ancient and modern times.
"The Alliance Leader has personally acted…"
Jiang Weiyang's bright eyes fixed tightly on the scene within, her gaze finally falling on the Master of Fate, revealing deep hatred.
The biggest mastermind behind the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty had finally been caught.
Without Gu Changge, perhaps she would never have been able to exact revenge in this lifetime with her own cultivation, let alone rescue her parents from his hands.
"If you had honestly established the Alliance of Righteous Unity and continued down the path I arranged for you, wouldn't you have obtained what you dreamed of in the future? What a pity you tried to be clever, broke free from the fate I arranged, and walked a path you knew led nowhere, yet insisted on opposing me."
Gu Changge stood in the air, lightly withdrawing his palm. That boundless spacetime was healing, and everything just now seemed to have become an illusion.
Only the Master of Fate remained, seized before his eyes, his entire body as if bound there by an invisible force, unable to move.
Hearing these words, his originally somewhat refined face suddenly twisted, as if filled with monstrous resentment and fury.
"I hate this, I hate this…"
In that instant, countless scenes and images flashed through his mind, as if Gu Changge's words had revealed many truths he had not understood before.
He used "fate" as his Dao, and was called the Master of Fate, but the "fate" of the world encompasses everything, including fortune, destiny, and so on.
At this moment, he felt that the fog that had always obscured his vision had cleared, and his comprehension of fate had suddenly reached a realm he had never attained before.
Of course, this was not a sudden breakthrough. At this level, the accumulation for each realm required countless ages, countless insights, and opportunities to advance.
The Master of Fate merely sensed that he was doomed to die this time, with no possibility of escape. Thus, the final radiance before death allowed him to understand many truths he had never known.
In fact, back when he sent Elder Xingying to appear in the Immortal Chu Dynasty, he had already been bound by an invisible net of destiny.
From that moment on, Gu Changge had actually already seen the future. The reason he knew of his existence and yet allowed him to secretly establish the Alliance of Righteous Unity to oppose him was precisely to stir up this pond that is the Vast Expanse, making all the creatures hiding at the bottom reveal themselves.
He, the Master of Fate, had always been that chess piece, never changing.
And now, everything in the Vast Expanse was operating according to what Gu Changge wanted. This chess piece of his had vaguely sensed some crisis in the unseen, so he had risked cooperating with Progenitor Xu. But if he had followed his instinct then and not resisted that thread of fate, perhaps the situation would not have turned out this way.
"I regret it! If I had discovered your existence before the Immortal Chu Dynasty was destroyed, I would have used every means to make you pay. But I hesitated then, I was wary. From that moment on, I should have foreseen this day, should not have allowed you to recover your former strength, so that in your hands, I have no power to resist at all."
"You monster, you monster who should not exist in this world, you will sooner or later be reckoned by the Heavenly Numbers. No one can leap out of the laws and break the rules; even someone as powerful as you can never do it."
The Master of Fate's eyes turned bloodshot, his hair hanging disheveled.
At this moment, he looked nothing like an existence who had reached the End of the Path realm, but like a madman who had lost everything. He was cursing wildly; though he knew the outcome was already set, he still could not resign himself to it.
Above the Reincarnation Sea, it was all deathly silent.
Whether the Ancient Treasure Imperial Ruler or the Sovereigns of the Five Great Royal Clans, they all fell silent at this moment. No one would offend Gu Changge for the sake of the Master of Fate; it was no longer a matter of being rational or not.
If anyone interfered and obstructed at such a time, Gu Changge might truly intend to overturn the Ancient Treasure Civilization completely.
Moreover, from the Master of Fate's words, it seemed the karmic ties between him and Gu Changge had existed long ago. It was just that for some reason, Gu Changge had not acted against the Master of Fate, but knowing his purpose, had deliberately arranged a fate for him and waited for him to walk down that path.
The Master of Fate had used countless forces and kingdoms, countless living beings as puppets throughout his life, manipulating their fates. But in the end, he himself became someone else's chess piece.
This truly is a case of cause and effect: the karma he imposed on others would one day return to him.
"Even now, do you still think you have a chance to escape all this?"
Gu Changge seemed only to smile. With another wave of his hand, dense karmic lines immediately appeared on the Master of Fate's body. Those lines instantly extended into infinite planes of spacetime, seeming to land on certain living beings.
However, as those karmic lines spread and extended, soon the sounds of figures shattering came from the nihilistic spacetime. In the next instant, three glowing figures were entangled by the karmic lines, as if transformed into chains, binding them all together and throwing them here.
One of them wore a white robe, having once appeared on the battlefield of the great war between the Alliance of Righteous Unity and the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, holding the Fourth Ancient Killing Formation in hand.
Above the Ancient Treasure Civilization, Ji Hanjing looked at this figure with complex eyes, recognizing him as the descendant of her sister, with whom she shared a bloodline, who had been refined into one of the Bodies of Five Aggregates by the Master of Fate.
As for the other two figures, one wore a black robe, filled with killing intent, his eyes full of madness and violence, bound by countless chains, unable to move. The other was a very ordinary man with a plain aura, like a mortal.
These were all backup bodies left by the Master of Fate, his remaining Bodies of Five Aggregates. Each could transform into his original body and take calamities for the original body when it suffered misfortune.
Apart from these three figures, a small world like a bubble suddenly flew out from the Master of Fate's forehead. Then the small world split open, and two figures appeared.
Jiang Weiyang, above the Ancient Treasure Civilization, upon seeing the two, immediately had her vision blurred by tears.
"Thank you, Alliance Leader, for saving our lives."
The Weiyang Emperor Lord Jiang Yun, who had not yet been refined into one of the Bodies of Five Aggregates by the Master of Fate, being unexpectedly rescued this time, immediately guessed something and hastily pulled the woman beside him to kneel, full of gratitude and reverence.
Gu Changge only nodded slightly, showing no intention to say more.
"I'll fight you to the death…"
All his backup plans had been thrown here at this moment, with no further possibility of resistance. The Master of Fate suddenly roared, intending to perish together, shattering his own Dao Fruit to deliver a painful counterblow to Gu Changge.
"Perish together? A desperate fight? But in my eyes, you now don't even have the qualifications of a fish."
Gu Changge only smiled, but his eyes were utterly devoid of emotion. He raised his wrist, and that great hand materialized again, seizing the Master of Fate just like that.
"Having reached the End of the Path after all, killing you like this would be a pity, and a waste of your years of opportunity and cultivation. Now that the Epoch Cataclysm is approaching, I don't want to cause unnecessary slaughter."
"The Ancient Treasure Civilization can also watch and see what happens in the end to those who oppose me."
"I am unwilling…"
Within that heaven-covering great hand, the Master of Fate felt the majestic power coming from all directions, boundless and infinite, and let out his own furious roar.
Above his head, a Dao Fruit seemed to manifest, crystalline like jade yet shrouded in mist. That Dao Fruit emitted billions of rays of light, inconceivable light, possessing great wisdom, great perfection, the most superb knowledge and power—the entire endless lifetime creation of an End of the Path figure.
But now, on that Dao Fruit, cracks covered it densely, like a spiderweb, like porcelain about to shatter.
And above his head, boundless waves could be seen surging; it was a River of the Dao of Fate, seeming to extend into infinite planes and dimensions, spanning across countless spacetimes. All the Dao methods he had ever cultivated were, in this instant, deduced to an inconceivable stillness, as if he had become that "fate".
At this moment, no matter what kind of existence witnessed this scene, they could not help but feel palpitations and shock.
An End of the Path figure shattering his own Dao Fruit throughout ancient and modern times was simply unimaginable; such a thing had never happened before. If it truly exploded, that kind of energy would affect who knows how many universes and spacetimes—it would be an utter catastrophe.
"Refine."
Seeing this, Gu Changge merely closed his hand gently. That surging River of the Dao of Fate seemed to be ignited by an indescribable flame, licking and enveloping the Master of Fate's Dao Fruit.
In an instant, all the energy and inconceivable phenomena were completely shrouded within.
Around it, countless wondrous truths could be seen emerging—spacetime, destiny, karma, years… various supreme Daos and principles were intersecting and clashing.
The Vast Expanse rumbled loudly; in every universe, this tremendous din could be heard, as if worlds were colliding, about to give birth to some power beyond the imagination of all beings.
"Ahhh…"
The Master of Fate's eyes were red as he watched his Dao Fruit being refined. From it seemed to waft a pill's fragrance, rich and pure, far more precious than any heavenly treasure or ancient rarity. Just a whiff seemed capable of making an ordinary person ascend on the spot and enter an inconceivable realm.
"This is my Dao Fruit; no one can refine it. If you want to take it, then I might as well directly discard it…"
He roared, his flesh and soul seeming to enter a state beyond human comprehension at this moment. Before him, an unclear road emerged, but now, with supreme will, the Master of Fate shattered that road, inch by inch, collapsing into dust. He seemed to transform into a state existing beyond the Three Realms and Six Paths, the Transcendence that the world pursues, leaving only the so-called "form".
"This is the tendency to achieve Supreme Shattering…"
"Could it be that this calamity has instead helped the Master of Fate, making him abandon everything and forge his own path with supreme perseverance?"
Many existences watching this scene felt shock and tremors, finding it somewhat inconceivable.
But in the next moment, this state did not last long. The Master of Fate's flesh and soul both seemed to completely shatter, turning into a stream of clear energy that fell into that Dao Fruit.
How difficult was Supreme Shattering? He had only accidentally glimpsed a thread of opportunity, but clearly failed. All paths ahead were destroyed; nothing of his flesh and soul remained. Only the discarded Dao Fruit was preserved, still being burned and tempered by the Fire of the Dao of Fate.
"Hahaha, though I cease to exist, in that instant just now, I also saw a thread of a future that has never appeared. Everyone will die. The future has been cut off; there can be no future anymore."
"Epoch Cataclysm? Hahaha, it's not an Epoch Cataclysm at all. This is something that has never appeared from ancient times to now, something that could never appear. Everything will be overturned, everything will be restarted…"
"Progenitor Xu, you schemed against me, but soon, you will come to accompany me."
The Master of Fate's furious roars and mournful shouts, at the moment his soul and flesh aura completely vanished, resounded like great bells across countless universes and worlds.
"That fellow is dead and still going crazy. Did he think I hadn't anticipated this long ago? The future you see is not necessarily the future; what we see is not necessarily it either. But I have long grasped the truth within his flesh and blood. As long as I rely on this thread of truth, even if all of you die and everything restarts, I can still appear again."
In a distant place, Progenitor Xu was covered with a layer of light combining illusion and reality.
Hearing the Master of Fate's mournful roars before death, he sneered coldly, then without hesitation, tore through billions of layers of space again, leaping billions of times within, appearing in a mysterious unknown region.
Above the Reincarnation Sea, all the auras and fluctuations quickly vanished. A spinning pill appeared there, the size of a fist, yet containing countless wisdom and mysteries of the world, as if a sage was expounding the Great Dao of heaven and earth within it at every moment.
No one doubted the efficacy of this pill. It was refined from all the life's creations and Dao Fruit of an End of the Path figure. From ancient to modern times, and perhaps even in the future, there would at most be only one such pill.
Countless gazes fell upon that pill, undisguised in their covetousness and fervor, but then they desperately suppressed the greed in their hearts, not daring to show anything unusual.
The Ancient Treasure Imperial Ruler and others no longer knew what to say. Even the Sovereigns of the Five Great Royal Clans, who were also at the End of the Path, trembled inwardly. If Gu Changge could casually strip the Master of Fate's Dao Fruit, then dealing with them would naturally be just as easy.
Such a method was something even the Lord of Reincarnation, who controlled the Authority of Reincarnation, absolutely could not accomplish.
"Is the Alliance Leader truly intending for our Ancient Treasure Civilization to submit?" asked the Ancient Treasure Imperial Ruler, his eyes full of deep wariness. Gu Changge's methods had surpassed his imagination. In his view, Gu Changge had even reached a point… where he was no longer acknowledged or accommodated by the Vast Expanse.
Perhaps only one who truly held the complete Authority of the Heavenly Dao would have the qualifications to contend against him.
"Do you think what I just said was merely a joke?" Gu Changge put away the pill transformed from the Master of Fate's Dao Fruit and said, "Heaven will no longer be Heaven, and man will no longer be man. Therefore, I intend to slay Heaven and reform everything. Whether it be the Ancient Treasure Civilization or the Land of the Nine Heavens, in this surging great trend, if you do not clearly grasp your own positions, then I will have no choice but to take action and make you choose."
"It will not be limited to the Ancient Treasure Civilization. Next, the Land of the Nine Heavens, the Nightmare Demon Domain, Immortal-Forgetting Mountain, the Lifeless Hall… all Daoist traditions and forces throughout the Vast Expanse, no matter how long they have existed, whether since the beginning of creation or after the birth of the Vast Expanse, must all submit to my Heaven-Slaying Alliance."
"This Pseudo-Heaven Era should also come to a complete end."