The combined roars of over 16,000 beasts dropped on the 33 Heavens like a multitude of thunderclaps, resounding in a dissonant harmony. 12,000 stood half-step into the Heavenly God Realm, 4,000 half-step into the Empyrean Monarch Realm, and 7 at the Demi-Emperor stage. Each represented the peak of a realm and a failed breakthrough into the next. Yet, across the 33 Heavens, the unprobed Serpent Domain aside, no clan could single-handedly take them on.
It started with confusion, deadened by the nightmarish roars, feral screams and billowing killing intent, from the lowest to the highest-ranking celestials, most just stared at the sky, numb, and unable to come up with a coherent response. The commoners didn't see a beast tide. No, their mind lost, they witnessed the apparition of a chimera of wrath—covering the entire Highest Heaven's sky. Strangely, despite the irresistible element of surprise, the beast horde didn't aim for the Divine Palace, a peculiar move that should have left many baffled, and ensured the destruction of the Empyreans.
The beasts and Harun alone knew the why. The Golden Crow Ancestor had an inkling, but regardless, he ignored everything. Ignored the loss of his most outstanding descendant's talent, ignored the "who" and "how" behind the beasts' escape, cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts, and stretched out his right hand. A golden greatsword surrounded by several floating black feathers appeared in his hand, and without hesitation, he lunged at the seven Demi-Emperors.
"Golden Crow clan elders, Divine Army, gather in the capital to meet the invaders! Rajan, lead all the clansmen and subordinates below the Celestial Knight Realm we have in the Divine Capital to evacuate the civilians!" The Golden Crow Ancestor ordered, but while all the clan elders at hand instantly obeyed his command, Rajan floundered, not out of fear of the beast horde but…
Ignoring the rising tide, Rajan's eyes shifted back to Soran, who stood at the complete mercy of Harun—unable to muster the tiniest bit of strength. The loss of Divine Power was a rare but documented occurrence that'd leave a celestial powerless for three years at least. If Rajan didn't throw caution to the wind and come to his son's aid, Soran's life ended here.
Ruthless. He had to be ruthless, follow his grandfather's directives, battle the enemy, and earn merit for the clan by safeguarding the people! Did he, though? The words felt hollow in Rajan's mind. He couldn't give them any credit. The Dao Pledge too held no weight. Even if Soran was half-crippled, even if by going against his Dao Pledge he risked sure death, even if the world's destruction stood at his back, Rajan couldn't ignore Soran's condition.
He couldn't abandon him to death!
"Rajan! There are over 100 million celestials in the Divine Capital alone waiting for us to shelter them! Over 100 billion men and women in the Highest Heaven that may not survive this day without our response! Are you going to give them all up for one child? Did you forget why your father founded the Eternal Sun Valley and gave it that name? Damn it, snap out of it!" The Golden Crow Ancestor snapped in a mental message. Although the two sides had yet to trade blows, as he raced toward the unshackled beasts, the Golden Crow Ancestor realized that the situation...had already reached a catastrophic level. And depending on two people's reactions, he might very well lose his life here.
Alas, his words worked in reverse, and Rajan's face twisted with rage.
"You sick old thing, shut the fuck up! I am supposed to give up my flesh and blood to fight for the safety of complete strangers? What do I know of them? What do I owe them? What do their lives and death have to do with me? It's with bullshit like this that you caused my father to die early!" Rajan spun toward the Golden Crow Ancestor's direction, stabbing him with a bloodshot gaze, despite the distance.
"As a husband, you traded your wife's life to reach the peak of your realm! As a father, you caused all of your children to die before their time! Who are you to shelter the common people, when you can't even protect your own? Big words but little means! Mind your business!" Rajan spat at his grandfather, and without waiting for his reaction, barreled toward the Imperial Dao Pavilion.
His words were like thorns pricking at the most sensitive parts of the Golden Crow Ancestor's heart. Gritting his teeth, the Golden Crow Ancestor suppressed his emotions, had Rajan replaced with another Golden Crow elder, and focused on his main task.
…
Jiyan's five, chained flying swords turned into silver light bolts as they pierced through Baraw's skull, neck, heart and legs! The move came out of nowhere, without an ounce of presence or killing intent, yet the blows struck with brutal force and peerless precision. Too absorbed by the calamity taking shape before his eyes, Baraw didn't realize the change until the whistle of Jiyan's blades reached his ears. But by then, it was too late.
Before he could showcase his battle-prowess and divine skills, the World-Devouring Serpents' 21st chosen collapsed, his brain torn, his head severed, and his heart skewered.
Instantly, the six lower-ranked chosen leaped out of Jiyan's range, ignoring Baraw's unchangeable fate to focus on escape and reorganization. Mental messages unfurled, and using the last breath of a God, that split of a second in which he saw through all that befell him, Baraw gathered all that remained of his cultivation and...self detonated!
Or at least he tried to. But before his move could take effect, a golden chain pierced through Baraw's chest, and erased all resistance from him. The same scene replayed all around. From poisoned to sane celestials, from serpents to former imperials, all those cultivators without Dao Foundations saw golden chains pierce through their chest and latch on their hearts.
The Golden Crow clansmen were no different, and as Rajan's form turned into a bright flame meteor, breezing through kilometers in a breath to reach the scene, over 10,000 celestials' eyes glazed over—Soran's included!
"I take my flesh as the furnace, their lives as the fuel, and my heart...as the flame!" Harun started his incantation, while his soul teleported from the Extreme Yin Prison to return to his body.
"No...nooo...NOOOO!" Seeing golden flames of an incomprehensible origin wrap Soran, Rajan neared madness. Alas, often, a surge of rage and indignation couldn't alter fate. Harun knew it well, and so brought the incomplete celestials' existences to a grand finale!
"Heart Refining Incantation!"
Flame whirlwinds trapped the 10,000 celestials, setting their very incarnation ablaze. In that instant, they regained their wits, and saw their lives unfurl before them. Rajan arrived fast enough to cling on the burning Soran's frame, but despite his cultivation base, couldn't suppress the golden flames.
"Fare...well, fa—" Soran didn't get to finish his words, and vanished in a puff of smoke. The captured serpents and celestials suffered the same fate—destroyed in body and soul while Harun refined the very essence of their existence into his Heart of Reincarnation. Only the surviving mortal-born remained.
Ominous clouds gathered above Rajan, while within his Internal Heaven, calamities abounded. By breaking his Dao Pledge, Rajan triggered the most dreadful Defiance Tribulation he could meet in his realm—ensuring that without external help, his life ended now. Without a word, he closed his eyes.
Having achieved his goal, Harun would naturally not stay close to the grieving Rajan, and though he previously thought him at the peak of the Heavenly God Realm, it was now abundantly clear that Rajan was a genuine Monarch.
Thankfully, from the moment he activated the Heart of Reincarnation, Harun entered a state of temporary acausality—both alive and dead.
Alongside Jiyan, he escaped from the Imperial Dao Pavillion, leaving the rest of the 33 Heavens' fate in the clashing ancients' hands. But having anticipated Silav and Dilnaz's position, Harun didn't doubt that the Highest Heaven was beyond saving. Blood trickled down Rajan's lips, and his eyes opened wide, brimming with a suicidal determination.
"According to ancient records, we come from the Golden Reprieve World. However, our clan's lifestyle and culture always vastly differed from others. It wasn't until my generation that we started breaking those ancient customs and blended with this realm. But I know grandfather deceived us. The truth is elsewhere, hiding in the secret art transmitted from one clan master to another.
Soran, I was never fit to lead the Golden Crow clan to hegemony. Neither is your great grandfather.
This era belongs to you...and I shall give you back your chance!" Unprecedented determination flared in Rajan's eyes, and he spread out his arms.
"Ancient Ones, I offer you my flesh, I offer you my life, I offer you my soul…to call upon the Ancient Legacy!
Ancient Legacy: Inverted Truth!" A misty-white glow formed around Rajan's arms—spreading across his body. Rajan's heart turned into a white flame, burning alongside his soul to fuel this legacy skill. In that instant, all could feel the laws of causality challenged by Rajan's will, and the truth of the events nearing reversal.
But as Rajan saw success in reach, the cracks in truth and causality came to an abrupt stop. Everything returned to the natural flow, and Rajan's eyes trembled in confusion.
"Why? Why? Why isn't it working!" He squealed in grief.
"Your bloodline is too far removed from the source, and your existence stained beyond repair. But above that, you're weak. So weak that it makes my eyes bleed. With your insignificant cultivation and inexistent foundation, you want to alter reality? Laughable," an ancient voice rumbled in Rajan's mind, crushing what remained of his hopes.
His heart and soul burned to nothingness. And so Rajan died, accomplishing nothing.