After devouring the phantom of the Black Coffin, which had merged with six avatars and contained a bizarre, deathly intent, the Human Emperor Banner unlocked its second Grand Array: the Black Coffin Annihilation Array!

Qi Yun carefully studied the mystical properties of this new Grand Array.

This Grand Array did not excel at direct lethality. It was a formation purely for Sealing!

Once activated, it could summon a phantom Black Coffin to forcibly seal enemies inside, cutting them off from the outside world and suppressing their Magical Power and Divine Soul.

It would condemn them to eternal damnation, with no hope of rebirth.

The truly terrifying aspect of this Grand Array was that it had perfectly inherited the horrifying "infinite stacking" trait of the Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin!

As long as it was given enough time and energy.

It could summon phantom Black Coffins one after another, stacking them layer by layer upon the sealed target!

If one coffin isn’t enough, then ten!

If ten aren’t enough, then a hundred!

Under the crushing weight of that endless, ever-stacking Daoist Intent of annihilation, even a Foundation Establishment Master would eventually be utterly overwhelmed by the increasingly heavy Seal if they couldn’t break free at the first opportunity.

In the end, their Divine Soul would be annihilated, forever buried within an endless, dark sarcophagus, with no hope of release.

"Not bad." Qi Yun nodded slightly, quite satisfied.

The Black Coffin Annihilation Array might be somewhat lacking in offensive power.

But for trapping and sealing enemies, especially troublesome opponents who were difficult to kill quickly, it was undoubtedly an excellent trump card.

With a flick of his sleeve, he put away the Human Emperor Banner, which pulsed with Spiritual Light.

He raised his gaze again toward the main body of the Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin in the distance, which still emanated an ominous aura.

The Foundation Establishment Masters who had been ensnared by the phantom Black Coffins and failed to escape in time had now been dragged into its dark depths, just like He Sha.

Their fate was likely sealed.

Having "devoured" nearly ten Foundation Establishment Masters, the Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin’s aura grew even more sinister and grim. The spectral light flowing across its surface seemed alive.

The surrounding space twisted and collapsed in its presence, exuding a heart-stopping pressure.

After that bizarre attack from the Black Coffin, the surviving Foundation Establishment Masters all kept their distance from the malevolent object without exception.

A strange equilibrium and silence fell over the battlefield. Only the Black Coffin, like a lurking beast, quietly pulsed with an aura of death.

Just as everyone was silently making their own calculations,

CRACK—!!!

A terrifying roar, as if the Celestial Vault were cracking and Heaven and Earth were being upended, erupted from the Ninth Heaven without warning!

Everyone looked up in horror. The Celestial Vault, already murky and heavy from the great battle, was being forcibly ripped apart by an unimaginable, supreme power. A massive fissure, thousands of miles long, tore across the sky from east to west!

Before everyone’s horrified eyes,

a Magic Sword of indescribable size slowly extended its tip from the fissure in the Celestial Vault!

The Magic Sword was ten thousand feet long and had a primitive, grayish-cyan color.

Magnificent patterns of the sun, moon, stars, mountains, and rivers were naturally etched upon its blade, as if it bore the weight of an entire world.

Before the sword even descended, a boundless, terrifying Sword Intent capable of annihilating all creation crashed down like the galaxy pouring from the heavens!

Under this Sword Intent, everyone, whether at the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment realm, felt as insignificant as an ant. Breathing became difficult, and the flow of Magical Power within their bodies grew sluggish.

The next moment!

The ten-thousand-foot Magic Sword trembled slightly!

HUMMM—!!!!

It was the only sound left between Heaven and Earth!

The Magic Sword transformed into a streak of cyan light that pierced through Heaven and Earth, hurtling ferociously toward the main body of the Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin and its heavy aura of death!

SHKCH—!!!!

There was no violent explosion, no earth-shattering collision of energy as one might expect.

The instant the Magic Sword’s indestructible tip, capable of shattering the Ten Thousand Laws, touched the Black Coffin’s surface, the incomparably hard coffin was pierced as easily as a hot knife through butter!

The tip entered through the front and exited through the back.

The entire process was faster than thought.

It left behind a massive, smooth-edged hole from which a pure, destructive Sword Intent and chaotic death qi continuously escaped!

The Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin’s surging aura of annihilation faltered, like a punctured balloon.

It then let out a pained wail and began to tremble violently!

The ten-thousand-foot Magic Sword, its momentum unbroken, pierced through the Black Coffin and carried the heavily damaged Mountain-Suppressing Artifact with it, pinning it firmly to the shattered earth below!

A dead silence fell over Heaven and Earth.

"It’s the Cyan Sect’s Vast Sea Dust True Monarch!

I never thought the Cyan Sect would be the first of the Four Sects to make a move."

Having witnessed the ten-thousand-foot Magic Sword descend like divine punishment from the Ninth Heaven, irresistibly piercing the infamous Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin and pinning it to the earth, the surviving Foundation Establishment Masters snapped out of their initial shock. They began to murmur among themselves, their tones a mixture of surprise and contemplation.

The great ship of the Zombie Alliance had capsized, and the vast inheritance it left behind was destined to become fresh sustenance for the entire Northwest Cultivation Realm.

But as the saying goes, a centipede doesn’t topple even in death. Swallowing such a rich prize without consequence would be no easy feat.

Therefore, someone had to step up and act as the "Meat-Splitter," using absolute power and prestige to clear away the Zombie Alliance’s lingering scourges and carve up the spoils.

However, being the "Meat-Splitter" was not so simple.

Whoever took the lead in carving up the spoils would inevitably shoulder the greatest karma for the Zombie Alliance’s destruction.

In the future, there was no telling how much trouble would come from the Zombie Alliance’s scattered remnants, its hidden agents, or even factions that had old ties to the Alliance and sought to stir up trouble.

It was no different from placing oneself at the heart of the storm.

Across the entire Northwest, the only ones with the qualifications and power for such a task were the four great hegemons.

Everyone had initially guessed that either the domineering Fengduo or the Yellow Springs Netherworld—which had recently lost considerable resources in a conflict with the Holy Sect—would be the first to act.

But no one had ever imagined that the Cyan Sect, always so detached, mysterious, and low-key, would be the first to jump in.

"Among the Four Sects, the Cyan Sect has always been the most mysterious.

For them to act so out of character this time, striking first to bear the immense karma of destroying the Zombie Alliance..." A knowledgeable-looking Loose Cultivator Master stroked his long beard, his brow furrowed as he softly voiced the doubt on everyone’s mind.

"Could it be... that the Cyan Sect has some internal, undisclosed problem? Do they urgently need the Zombie Alliance’s inheritance to compensate for it?

Or... have they divined something?"

His voice was low, but it sent ripples through the crowd’s thoughts.

It was true that while the "Meat-Splitter" had to bear the primary karma, it also meant they could justifiably take the largest and most valuable slice of the pie.

A prize of that magnitude was enough to tempt any power.

But the Cyan Sect’s past actions showed they were never ones for shortsighted gains.

They focused more on achieving a clear Sword Heart and remaining above worldly affairs.

This uncharacteristic haste inevitably set minds racing.

"Could the Cyan Sect have some secret intelligence? Do they know about some treasure hidden within the Zombie Alliance?"

"Or maybe the Cyan Sect has sensed a crisis we’re unaware of and needs to bolster its strength quickly?"

"In any case, since the Cyan Sect struck first, the glory of taking the initiative and the largest share of the Zombie Alliance’s legacy will likely fall into their hands.

Now, we just have to see how the Holy Sect, the Yellow Springs Netherworld, and Fengduo respond..."

The crowd murmured, their gazes shifting between the distant Black Coffin pinned by the Magic Sword and the still-unseen Vast Sea Dust True Monarch hidden in the heavens above, each lost in their own thoughts.

This unconventional move by the Cyan Sect had undoubtedly introduced a new, unpredictable element into the delicate balance of power in the Northwest.

’The Cyan Sect...’

Qi Yun remained silent. His right hand, hidden within a wide sleeve, began to move, silently divining the karmic threads of fate.

While the Foundation Establishment Masters were still speculating about the Cyan Sect True Monarch’s pre-emptive strike,

the will of the Vast Sea Dust True Monarch had already descended like an invisible tide, blanketing the former lands of the Zombie Alliance.

The ten-thousand-foot Magic Sword remained, pinning the Chaotic Heaven Black Coffin in place.

But its blade hummed and split into billions of minuscule, intensely condensed, cyan Sword Threads!

These Sword Threads were not for combat. Like the most precise probes and conduits, they instantly pierced every inch of the thousands of miles of scorched earth below, entering every fissure.

They even plunged deep underground into the crisscrossing nodes of the Spirit Veins!

"VMMMM—!"

To the naked eye, vast streams of Earth Vein Spiritual Qi—some turbid, some foul with Yin Sha, some pure—were being brutally extracted from deep underground by the cyan Sword Threads.

They transformed into countless multicolored torrents of Spiritual Qi that surged upward and poured into the massive spatial fissure in the sky!

This wasn’t a simple extraction.

This was using the Supreme Sword Dao to rip out the very roots of the Earth Vein essence that this land had accumulated over ten thousand years!

The already lifeless scorched earth visibly grew even more desolate, losing all its spiritual nature.

In an instant, it seemed to weather a million years, transforming completely into a true dead zone devoid of all spirit!

Next, the billions of Sword Threads, as if alive, wrapped themselves around collapsed peaks and broken ridges.

Where the Sword Threads passed, they did not cut, but decomposed!

Broken mountains, ten thousand feet tall, were enveloped by the cyan Sword Threads. Like Ore tossed into an invisible furnace, their outer layers of useless rock and soil crumbled away like weathered sandcastles.

Meanwhile, the special mineral deposits, Jade Marrow, and even the ancient corpses and Yin Sha Crystals buried deep within—all saturated by the Zombie Alliance’s millennia of Corpse Qi and Yin Sha—were stripped out and extracted with pinpoint precision!

For a moment, it seemed a bizarre "Treasure Rain" was falling from the sky.

Countless Celestial and Earthly Spiritual Objects were swept up by the sword light and cast into the spatial fissure.

As for the mountains that had been "dissected,"

they were reduced to low, worthless hills.

HUMMM—

And then!

At the Sword Guard of the ten-thousand-foot Magic Sword, a primitive Talisman Seal suddenly flared to life, emitting a vortex-like suction.

In an instant, the Yin Wind howled and Ten Thousand Ghosts shrieked!

Visible streams of gray and black energy converged on the Sword Guard from all directions.

This foul energy, which ordinary Cultivators would avoid at all costs, was forcibly refined and purified by a profound Sword Intent as it neared the Talisman Seal on the Sword Guard.

It transformed into wisps of pure Taiyin Nectar and Essence of Ten Thousand Souls, which were collected as well.

Yin Yang, life and death—all could be used for Refinement!

BOOM!

With a cyan light that illuminated Heaven and Earth, the Sword Threads converged, forming hundreds of thick chains of Sword Qi. Like the hands of a giant, they plunged deep into the ruins of the Zombie Alliance Headquarters!

"RUMBLE!"

Huge swaths of rubble and ruined walls were ripped from the ground and left suspended in mid-air.

Dao Patterns flowed along the Sword Qi chains, faintly connecting to numerous half-hidden, subtle pocket dimensions.

These were precisely the various Shiyi Realms that the Zombie Alliance possessed!

As far as the eye could see, across the thousands of miles of the former Zombie Alliance lands, the very face of Heaven and Earth had been altered!

This was no ordinary treasure hunt.

This was the dismantling of a world itself!

The surrounding Foundation Establishment Masters watched, their Hearts and Spirits trembling and their mouths agape.

Such methods were far beyond their understanding of "power" and "looting."

Before a True Monarch, their previous squabbles over Magical Treasures and materials...

...seemed like ants scrambling for crumbs at the feet of a giant!

Qi Yun gazed at the world-altering spectacle, his fists clenched unconsciously as a fiery glint appeared in his eyes:

’With a single thought, create a vast sea from nothing; with a single glance, discern the essence within a mote of dust.

This is the might of a True Monarch...

Moving mountains, filling seas, Refining Heaven and Earth!’

...