Chapter 433: Ling Xi Opens the Heavenly Gate

Before the towering Heavenly Gate, thousands of zhang high, Immortal Ling Xi stood alone. She raised her head to gaze at it, yet could not see its end—an overwhelming sense of insignificance welled up from within her.

Behind her, hundreds of gazes landed on her—all from her master. Yet she couldn’t tell which one was real.

She only knew that perhaps only by stepping through the gate before her could she pull her master back from illusion into reality.

With this thought, Immortal Ling Xi reached out and pushed the Heavenly Gate. It was immensely heavy, but with all the strength in her body, she slowly forced it open, the gates creaking as they parted to both sides.

When the gate was fully open, light and shadows from within flickered in her eyes.

Seeing his disciple staring at the scene beyond the gate as though petrified, the elderly man standing in the middle of the Path to Heaven couldn’t help but call out, “Ling Xi, how about… we don’t go in? Crossing this threshold—whether it brings fortune or calamity—is uncertain. Come back, child. Your master is trapped here, but it’s not so bad…”

Hearing this, Ling Xi came to her senses and turned around—only to be shocked to find that the hundreds of masters who had been behind her were now all gone.

Only one remained—the one standing at the center of the Heavenly Steps. He was the one she had always believed most resembled her true master.

“Master… Senior Brother is dead… He died twenty years ago… slain by a great demon of Northern Huangtian…” Ling Xi’s voice was calm, devoid of discernible sorrow or rage.

“That…” The old man trembled slightly, then gave a bitter smile. “So it was fated. No one is to blame… no one is to blame…”

“Child, come back. Mr. Gu once said that behind that gate lies a group of cultivators no different from demon cultivators… If you truly step through, will the Ling Xi that emerges still be you?”

“Master, I saw… I saw all that happened in this world beyond these twenty years…”

“I have to go in. If I don’t, I can’t save you. I can’t avenge Senior Brother…”

With that, Ling Xi turned once more to face the inside of the Heavenly Gate.

At some unknown point, just beyond the threshold, a hazy figure had appeared—only a step away from her.

It had no distinct features, only the vague silhouette of a human, like a drifting spirit. The figure reached out toward her, as if to guide her through the gate.

From that figure, Ling Xi sensed a boundless, overwhelming power—so vast that even the True Immortals she once knew seemed like mere ants before it.

In that moment, a strange thought rose in her mind: if she merged with the figure, she could inherit its power!

“Master… after you were gone, I also took on a disciple… I always taught her that one must cast off all worldly attachments and desires to walk the path of immortality.”

“But only now do I understand—if I can’t even save those around me, then what use is such a path?”

“Whether what I see now is real or illusion, true or false—as long as there’s even the slimmest chance—I want to try and pull you both back.”

With that, Ling Xi reached out and grasped the hand of the figure before her!

In that instant, it was as if heaven and earth resonated—a mysterious, ancient force surged forth like a sleeping dragon awakened, bursting from beyond the Heavenly Gate and flooding her entire being.

The power was at once gentle and domineering, cool and blazing, capable of piercing all yet encompassing all.

Ling Xi’s eyes shone with an unprecedented brilliance—like the brightest star in the night sky.

“Disciple…” The old man watched the scene before him with complex emotions. From the aura radiating from her body, he felt the unmistakable boundary between the mundane and the immortal.

Yes, that feeling of a mortal gazing upon an immortal!

Had this been a matter of righteousness, he wouldn’t have worried—in fact, he’d be proud. After all, his disciple had walked a path he never could.

But the problem was… he had seen it with his own eyes—someone once climbed the stairway easily, only to turn back of their own will, unwilling to associate with those behind the gate.

On that day, when Mr. Gu departed, the stairway began to collapse.

At first, he thought it meant there was no turning back from the Path to Heaven.

Later, he understood—it wasn’t that there was no return. The Path to Heaven itself didn’t want to let him go. It tried to force him into the Heavenly Gate!

Yet in the end, Mr. Gu still left—he had no idea how he managed it, but it was enough to make one thing clear: if the Heavenly Gate were truly so great, why would someone so easily walk away?

…

“A brocade pouch?” The Flood Dragon Emperor blinked, then chuckled. “Sounds exactly like something Mr. Gu would do.”

“You delayed the battle for the sake of 200,000 kin, allowed yourself to be restrained, and treated the authority to unite the realm as nothing—I admire that. If you were of the demon race, I might’ve chosen you too, just like Mr. Gu did…”

Buzz… buzz…!

Suddenly, a strange ripple disturbed the tranquil sky, as though the folds of space-time were gently smoothed by an unseen hand, or as if a corner of the heavens had been lifted.

In an instant, a brilliant halo appeared—spanning the heavens like a full moon stretched into a glowing arc connecting two worlds.

Within that circle stood a celestial maiden, her robe shimmering with radiant light, skirts swaying lightly in the wind.

Her beauty was cold and ethereal, like a frost lotus in the heart of winter. Her gaze held a chill aloofness, detached from all mortal dust.

At this moment, her icy gaze pierced through the circle, staring down coldly and sharply at the world below.

And at the end of her gaze stood—the Flood Dragon Emperor!

In just a moment, he recognized the figure in the halo—it was Immortal Ling Xi, long vanished!

Under her frigid stare, he actually felt an indescribable pressure!

Not far away, Heaven Arbiter Ashen laughed heartily when he saw Ling Xi use the power of the Heavenly Dao to break the boundary between worlds. “Good, good, good! At last, a chess piece shows its worth.”

“Not entering the Heavenly Gate, but using the illusory Heavenly Dao to bridge the worlds—quite clever!”

Beside him, Gu Ning’an said nothing. He merely looked at Ling Xi beyond the arc of light, lost in thought.

BOOM!

With a gentle point of Ling Xi’s finger, the sky seemed to rip apart. The once peaceful blue sky suddenly turned violent and chaotic.

A blinding thunderbolt tore from the clouds above, its magnitude like the wrath of the heavens itself.

The lightning bolt was massive—like a silver dragon roaring through the heavens, bearing a destructive force capable of obliterating everything, and it struck straight toward the Flood Dragon Emperor!

Lightning flashed, illuminating the entire sky, revealing the Flood Dragon Emperor’s suddenly grim expression.

Realizing there was no escape, determination flashed in his eyes. A powerful aura erupted from his body—and in a near-mad state, he met the world-ending thunder head-on!

BOOM!!!

The lightning collided with his body, erupting in a deafening blast!

Thunderlight and shockwaves engulfed everything in chaos. When the dust finally settled, the Flood Dragon Emperor stood scorched and mangled—his body charred, his flesh torn, a bloody figure barely left standing…