And Shan Gu?
He was lying buried under piles of countless other corpses.
To kill the Stellar Language level monster he had held it down for an entire three breaths of time with his insignificant Firmament Fixing realm cultivation base, crossing seven major realms and an entire super realm to match the beast.
He had begged Han Xuanyuan to deal the killing blow, but at the angle that Shan Gu was holding it, he was bound to get hit by the attack and perish alongside the monster.
This was an ending nobody could bear but nothing could be done.
The beast was too powerful and was suppressing the entire battlefield singlehandedly.
With one arm it had pushed Han Xuanyuan to the ground, unable to lift himself even an inch.
With one foot it had held Ye Chen down until all six of his wings were broken.
With its other hand, it had squeezed Gong Potian and Rao Wongzhi until they were mere breaths away from death.
At this moment Shan Gu had jumped out of the ground, breaking it in two his battle force surged to transform into a white aura where ten thick, jagged golden lines swam like alligators in a swamp.
He kicked the monster on the back of its head.
Thrown off its balance the creature fell to the ground with an earth-shaking crash.
Shan Gu kept kicking and punching it while it was down as the rest escaped from its clutches, gasping for breath but Han Xuanyuan knew there was no time to waste so he got down to smashing as well.
But seeing him Shan Gu shouted.
"Use your Pulsar!"
"But it will take too much time to load." Han Xuanyuan shouted back but Shan Gu just shook his head.
"I'm holding him down aren't I?" He said with an unrelenting voice.
"No! The range is too large, you'll die too!" Xuanyuan shouted with disbelief, Shan Gu couldn't sacrifice himself, it just couldn't happen.
But the monster would not give them more time, it had been gathering strength and lashed out just now but was suppressed by Shan Gu.
"I can't hold it off for much longer! The next time it attacks will be when it breaks free!"
"Load the cannon Xuanyuan, if it doesn't die we will!" Ye Chen called in from the back as he held off the rest of the Celestial Realm beasts.
Gong Potian and Rao Wongzhi were powering a guardian array formation that defended the other sides from infiltration.
Han Xuanyuan could see the strained expression on their faces and knew they could not hold on much longer.
With that he decided, he was going to initiate a battle technique he had performed only twice in the past, each time reaping the life of a Stellar Language Realm expert.
Taking a deep breath, a large array of formations appeared under his feet. It was separated into five circular discs, the one in the middle being the smallest and a full circle while the other four were just extensions of its radius.
This was a Upanishad Formation and within the discs were countless minuscule runic engravings that were constantly squirming and changing into different shapes and symbols - the key characteristic of Upanishad Formations.
To comprehend the Upanishad Formation one had to achieve utter dominance over a Dao.
For Han Xuanyuan that was the Dao of Gravity.
He had only ever learned one battle technique and it was his ultimate killing move for the Law Path.
The Pulsar Cannon was a technique that condensed the force of gravity into a singular sphere of pure power that would destroy anything and everything within its path.
This technique could only be performed with a Upanishad Formation and was incredibly exclusive, thus its majestic power could only be assumed to surpass everything else in the Law Path.
It took him a quarter of an incense stick's worth of time to fully flesh out the technique and it was simply breathtaking.
The moment it appeared in the sky above them, it began to pull upon everything, creating a vortex that pulled at the very fabric of reality as the first layer was shredded and pulled into the sphere like a bit of cloth tucked into a hole, revealing the cold and desolate void hidden underneath.
With a roar, he instructed everybody to move aside and so they did, Gong Potian and Rao Wongzhi jumped out of the guardian formation's control unit and Ye Chen used his domain to propel himself out of the way.
Now only Han Xuanyuan, Shan Gu, and the monster were left.
The beast bared its fangs and hissed in ultimate aggression, but it was all for naught.
Even with the unstoppable force it squirmed with, Shan Gu kept holding it back and as the Pulsar Cannon descended, everything went white and a blank ringing echoed in everybody's ears.
The monster was ripped to shreds and Shan Gu's body was nowhere to be found, assumed to have been flung off somewhere due to the sheer anti-gravity produced in the collision between the sphere and the monster.
But that is how Shan Gu had left that world, or so everybody thought he did.
Regardless, the rest were still barely hanging on to dear life.
At this moment when a particularly gruesome and barbaric-looking Stellar Creation level monster had thrown Han Xuanyuan into the sky, he was struck with a sudden spark of enlightenment that lit his cultivation like a flaming matchstick in a dense prairie.
His journey on the Body Path was extremely rough and uncultured. He had no clue what to do and how to proceed but now he finally gained insight like never before.
He knew what he had to do and he knew how to do it in the most perfect way possible.
His current physical strength could barely match the Stellar Creation realm but its base level was only at the Firmament Founding realm.
Before setting on this expedition he had broken through into the super realm and fought for the position of Holy Son in the sect.
For his breakthrough, he had identified nine particular points in the body where it seemed as though a special structure was missing.
Something like an organ but more ethereal and in possession of greater splendor.
And as he stared at the sky, through the dark clouds that covered the brilliant stars of the world, his breath was taken away, he knew what he had to do.
He condensed all his martial comprehension into a singular point of unbridled grandeur and inserted it into one of the nine slots, the slot right above where his Dantian was supposed to be.
It was his Martial Purity Star and it represented his unshakeable willpower to achieve ultimate power and protect those he loved from the corrupted clutches of this heartless world.
And now as he was flung into the sky, through the corner of his eye he catches an exceptionally magnificent view.
From within the vast and boundless stretches of dark gray clouds, he glimpsed at the brilliant starry sky of this world.
Countless gleaming stars shone brightly, dissipating some of the depressing clouds and piercing through into the cold and merciless battlefield like a beacon of hope, cleansing his mind of all the doubt and uncertainty.
He condensed all his new martial comprehension and condensed another star.
This time from all the beautiful and loving portions of memories, creating something that signified his ultimate pursuit for a secure life.
To help him remember that he was not just fighting for himself, he was fighting for his friends, his fallen comrades, his sect, and for all of humanity against these monsters!
With a loud explosion, the Unshakeable Hope Star emerged in his body and the bead of golden light flew itself toward the slot in his heart, embedding itself deeply as strength overflowed in Han Xuanyuan's body.
But he was not done yet.
He had materialized his Yang, but his Yin still needed an outlet.
All the hatred and anger and resentment that he had for these monsters could not be curbed and so it all flowed into his martial comprehension, mixing with it and coloring it a violent shade of red.
The star condensed rapidly, it was burning his body, just waiting to be able to release its power and annihilate everything that caused him pain.
It was not just for revenge, it was to administer complete and utter suppression onto those creatures that took his friend away from him, that threatened to destroy his sect and hurt the people he cared for.
His family, his friends, his fellow disciples, and the caring elders of his sect.
As he thought of them his eyes turned red and the dark red star shone brightly like a piece of hell torn off and brought into the world to cause nothing but chaos and destruction.
And thus, the Wrathful God Star was born, embedding itself into the slot within his right arm.
But he was still not done, countless specks of light were swimming within his body, waiting to be used to complete his fourth star.
And so he did, with all the positivity and negativity used up in his last two stars, this final one should be filled with nothing but the cold and cruel part of himself that could only think about accomplishing his goals, by whatever means possible.
This was his calmest, yet most terrifying power so far.
Bringing forth not just strength, but also the ability to calculate and suppress everything with not just force but also control.
This was the Bloodless Massacre Star that represented not only his capacity to cause destruction without expending a single ounce of force, but also his capacity to cause destruction without leaving anything behind - not even a drop of blood!
Embedding itself into his left arm, it caused shockwaves to ripple across the entire battlefield, sending earthquakes and storms starting from him.
Three consecutive breakthroughs occurred within a fraction of a second and by the time he landed on the ground, the Stellar Creation level beasts had been utterly pulverized and mixed into the air, being swept across up into the sky.
The aura he exuded was not just powerful but incredibly suppressive, to the point where none of the beasts on the battlefield could even raise their heads and only lay on the ground, not even attempting to resist.
Not because they knew it was useless, but due to primal fucking fear.
Fear for the strong, fear of their own weakness, and surprisingly, fear of death.
A quality they had never expressed before.
Something that Ye Chen was shocked at seeing, he thought these creatures were only mindless machines for conducting impartial slaughter.
And his questions would soon be answered in their entirety and then some, as in a moment, from all the edges of this battlefield emerged countless Stellar Language level beasts and Ye Chen knew it was over.
Gong Potian and Rao Wongzhi had already crushed their teleportation talismans.
They knew it wouldn't work, but they were at the end of the rope and any chance was a better chance.
But Han Xuanyuan had nothing to fear, he could kill one before, so he could kill a hundred now.
If he can kill a hundred now he can kill a thousand tomorrow, he would keep killing until they were wiped off the face of the world!
And as this thought floated through his mind, a brilliant blue aura emerged across his body, it was incredibly pale like the sky on a clear sunny day but it was indeed blue and from within it swam a singular, thin white line that was barely visible.
From the outside it seemed as though nothing had changed, the mist surrounding his body was still very white but the increase in power he felt was simply intoxicating.
To test out his newfound strength he exploded toward the nearest Stellar Language level monster and pulled his arm back in a punching motion, easily breaking the sound barrier as his feet cracked the ground with every step he took.
Coming up to the monster, he was so fast that the creature couldn't even react before he punched its face, directly piercing through its skull and arriving at the opposite side.
But he did not stop there, he went left to kill another monster, right to kill another, and he killed until all the Celestial Realm monsters from the entire battlefield were congregated around him, leaving the rest of the battlefield looking incredibly desolate as there were only the countless mountains of corpses forming valleys and the never-ending rain of ash and soot.
In one of those valleys sat Ye Chen and Gong Potian, they were leaning against each other's backs.
Ye Chen had retracted his wings as they were already broken, there was no possible use for them until he could recover completely.
The two were waiting for Rao Wongzhi to show up.
Before he left he had said he saw something very important and was going to scout it out, insisting that the two of them not follow him and rest instead.
Their energies had long since been depleted and now was a perfect chance to replenish their reserves.
After a while, they recovered substantial stamina, sat cross-legged opposite each other, and began to absorb the mystical energies in the air.
Due to the death of so many powerful monsters, the air was simply overflowing with mystical energies.
The two had never seen a place so concentrated with energy, it took only half an incense stick's burning worth of time for them to replenish ten percent of their total energy reserve.
Although the constant sounds of explosions and earthquakes and crashes were distracting, they still maintained a steady rate of refinement and managed to replenish half of their reserves by the time Han Xuanyuan had killed off his 70th Celestial Realm monster.
But just as Han Xuanyuan turned around to face the next Stellar Language level creature, he was thrown back by an irresistible force, crashing into the ground as he easily lost his balance due to all the unbalanced forces.
There was a dark vortex spinning in the sky and from it descended a creature in flowing olive green robes, its face was hidden but its form was streamlined and very slim.
It had just raised a hand, revealing a dark gray palm, to swipe Xuanyuan out of the sky.
As he got up and looked back at the figure, his heart subconsciously started beating much faster as he realized a true peak powerhouse had appeared, and it didn't seem to be hiding its murderous intentions.
The figure was simply overflowing with anger and killing intent like a waterfall.
Its chin was raised so high that its face could not be seen, but as it looked downwards to glance at Xuanyuan, shivers were sent down his spine.
The being had incredibly beautiful eyes, they did not belong to the same species but this type of attraction was not bound by the aesthetic standards of race.
That charming pair of eyes would end up being something Xuanyuan could never forget, the beautiful gradient of dark gold cut down the middle by black vertical slits for pupils.
But those cold and paradoxically heart-warming yet heart-breaking eyes were showing only a single emotion, utter disdain.
The initial period of rage and impulsiveness was replaced entirely by a condescending air that removed Xuanyuan from his stupor and caused him to furrow his brows in irritation as he realized he had digressed.
This being was on a whole other level, being able to distract him with just its eyes alone.
But his maintaining eye contact with the figure had apparently angered it because it immediately appeared before Han Xuanyuan, almost like teleportation.
'How did I offend it already??' But he had no time to finish that thought as the same hand that had flung him onto the ground struck his neck, grabbing it easily and pulling him up while choking him.
It was simply unbelievable, he was not even given a moment to realize what was going on before he was picked up like a chicken and then his neck was crushed as though it were foam.
Or so the figure had thought would happen.
Han Xuanyuan's battle force surged once more as the blue color deepened further and an additional white line appeared around his body, swimming like an eel in freshwater. The lines were now thicker and much more robust looking.
Feeling his power almost double, he clamped both his hands onto the figure's arm and hastily pulled it away from his neck, all in a split second as the creature's disdainful eyes were tinted with slight surprise as the grip on his neck was alleviated for half a moment.
But this was enough as he released himself and pulled back as fast as he could.
Standing opposite the being by a fair distance, he extended his Upanishad Formation and began to load the Pulsar Cannon once more.
Now was not the time to think but take action, he was completely powerless against the creature just then, he could not bear leaving himself at its mercy and began to gather his focus as he pumped the laws through the Upanishad Formation, like ultrafiltration at Bowman's capsule in the nephron, the world laws were pushed through the array discs at super high pressures and the filtrate floated towards the sphere that was slowly condensing above his head.
The figure in the olive robes did not seem to mind however, as it did not even bother to speak with him and instead just floated up into the sky, sitting down on the air in a lotus position, as though waiting for something.
In the time it would take for two incense sticks to burn, Xuanyuan created a Pulsar Cannon far larger than he ever had before and it still did not feel out of control so he kept on increasing it, but the strain placed on his mind was becoming greater and greater, and soon it would become to chaotic to bear.
But just when he was thinking this, another figure descended from the vortex that had grown more than a hundred times larger.
'How the fuck did I not notice that growth?' He thought in disbelief as cold sweat trickled down his back, the being that had just arrived was incredibly powerful.
Far more powerful than any being he had ever encountered, and that's saying something because he had met the grand elder of the previous generation of the Myths and Deities Sect and that ancestor was a Galaxy Cluster realm master!
"Cho Miyeon, why have you not killed this human yet?" The new figure, dressed in abyssal blue robes, called out to the creature in olive robes with a slight annoyance in its high-pitched yet terrifying voice.
"The human has set up a Upanishad battle art, master. I wanted to wait for your arrival before taking care of him." The creature in olive robes replied politely in a quiet yet equally high-pitched voice.
"Fine, kill it now." The creature in dark blue robes said nothing further as it stepped back and allowed the creature in olive robes, Cho Miyeon, its alleged name, to fight against Xuanyuan.
Han Xuanyuan knew he was fucked but had still not given up hope, the Unshakeable Hope Star spun rapidly within his body as an unprecedented vigor arose within him.
Just as he thought his rise in power was over, his Wrathful God Star began to spin with equal velocity, granting his body a crimson hue above the golden light that was already being radiated, causing the strength in his body to surge.
With this spiritual overhaul, his excitement skyrocketed, and the battle force covering his body deepened furiously, attaining a cerulean color. The number of lines increased as well, jumping directly to four thick white lines that flew around his body like flood dragons above a river.
But before he could make any moves with his newfound power, the figure in the dark blue robes suddenly arose from behind Cho Miyeon and pointed at him.
A streak of dark purple light shot out from its dark gray index finger and struck Han Xuanyuan's chest directly, piercing through incredibly easily.
It was over before he could realize what had just happened, his vision fading, the incredibly beautiful yet cold eyes stared at him in apathy as the last thing he heard was the high-pitched voice of the blue-robed figure.
"The human was too strong for you, he may have taken your life." It said.
And he could barely make out the olive-robed figure taking its hood off to reveal a purplish gray face and move its mouth in response, but his vision blackened just then and he had no recollection of what happened afterward.