Li Mu's eyes remained unchanged as he surveyed his surroundings, his gaze sweeping over the stars locked by Law Divine Chains, over the million-strong army, and finally resting on the closed-eyed golden War God statue.

He smiled.

It was a smile of cold appreciation, like one observing interesting prey.

“A grand gift, indeed a grand gift,” Li Mu murmured to himself.

“Using a Star Domain as a cauldron, army Souls as fire, and a million Cultivators as fuel… He doesn't want to kill me; he wants to refine me and this Lieyu Battleship, along with my Dao Origin, into an unparalleled ‘Yang Dao Divine Pill.’”

What a grand scheme, what boundless ambition!

Just then, a grand and majestic voice emanated from within the golden War God statue, resonating through the entire Star Domain via the Formation's harmony, each word carrying an intent like burning flames.

“Yin Realm remnant!”

The voice did not come from the Yang Realm King, but from the marshal overseeing the grand Formation—an old general whose Aura was unfathomable and whose body was wreathed in nine-colored Divine Flames.

“The King long ago anticipated your arrival. You consider yourself the hunter, yet you are unaware that from the moment you stepped into the Yang Realm, you were already an object within the cauldron!”

“By the King's decree: seal the heavens and earth, activate the furnace! Refine this fiend along with his vessel! As a warning to others, to display the Divine Might of our Yang Realm!”

“By the King's decree!”

The million-strong army roared in unison, their voices transforming into tangible golden shockwaves that swept through the Void Realm.

“Om—!”

One hundred and eight stars instantly dimmed, their billions of years of accumulated Origin fire being frantically extracted by the grand Formation, turning into one hundred and eight sky-piercing golden pillars of light that poured into the golden War God statue’s body!

The War God statue’s tightly closed eyes suddenly opened!

What kind of eyes were they? They held no emotion, only a pure, destructive will that incinerated everything. Two golden divine lights shot from his eyes, instantly crossing vast distances and striking the Chaos barrier of the Lieyu Battleship.

Boom!

The Lieyu Battleship's indestructible barrier trembled violently for the first time, the entire battleship groaning under the immense pressure.

This was merely… the prelude to the grand Formation’s activation!

Immediately after, the golden War God statue slowly raised the flaming greatsword in its hand, its blade pointing directly at the Lieyu Battleship!

In an instant, the entire “Great Sun Furnace Killing Formation” fully activated. The Qi and blood of the million Cultivators and the Origin of the one hundred and eight stars all transformed into fuel, causing the greatsword to ignite with a pale Divine Flame capable of melting space-time.

This sword, even before it struck, released a trace of sword pressure that caused the surrounding Void Realm to collapse and evaporate in large sections!

Facing this world-ending strike, which was enough to make any realm Master despair, Li Mu's expression remained calm.

Li Mu slowly raised his hand, and within his palm, a Chaos axe quietly appeared.

“You want to refine me?”

Li Mu took a step, his figure appearing outside the Lieyu Battleship, standing alone against the million-strong army and the world-ending sword about to descend.

“I'm just afraid your cauldron… isn't hard enough!”

The moment his words fell, Li Mu’s seemingly flimsy white robe fluttered without wind, and an indescribable ancient, primordial, vast Aura exploded outwards from within him!

That was not magical power, nor Divine Thought, but a “Domain.”

Chaotic Dao Domain!

A gray mist, centered on Li Mu, swept out in all directions, like the primordial color before the birth of the primeval Universe. It lacked the domineering heat of Yang Law, and the cold stillness of Yin Law; it possessed only an ultimate attribute that encompassed everything and obliterated everything.

The golden divine light, the world-ending sword pressure, the scorching high temperature capable of melting stars—the moment they touched this gray mist, they were swallowed and assimilated silently, like a clay ox entering the sea, failing to even stir a ripple.

The Chaotic Dao Domain rapidly expanded, completely enveloping the enormous Lieyu Battleship, forming a place of absolute tranquility. Regardless of the external Chaos of collapsing stars and boiling Laws, the area covered by this gray mist remained like an eternal divine land, isolating all calamities.

On the Lieyu Battleship, three thousand Mahayana Disciples who followed Li Mu, and over a hundred thousand Great Qian Cultivators, watched this scene through the portholes, utterly shaken.

“This… is this Master’s Dao Domain? It can actually withstand the heaven-burning might of the ‘Great Sun Furnace’!” A burly man, built like an iron tower with bulging muscles, who was Da Niu, exclaimed, his face flushed with excitement, his fists clenched, his eyes filled with fervent adoration.

“More than just withstanding it!” Lin Xiaolun, a handsome young man with bright eyes beside him, stared intently at the gray mist outside, his voice trembling slightly with excitement: “Look, that golden Law Divine Flame is being disintegrated and swallowed by Master’s Dao Domain! Master… he is, by his own power, confronting the ultimate killing Formation laid down by the entire main army of the Yang Realm!”

“Master is mighty!” The simple-minded Tie Tou was even more direct. His face flushed red as he bellowed at the top of his lungs, as if only this could release the excitement in his heart.

They had followed Li Mu and witnessed his relentless advance through the Yin Realm, but they had never imagined he could be so powerful! With one person's strength, he protected a battleship and confronted the most formidable war machine of an entire Star Domain!

Outside, in the star-filled battlefield.

Li Mu stood in the center of the Chaotic Dao Domain, his robes fluttering, his expression indifferent. He looked at the golden War God, which gathered the Souls of a million soldiers and the power of one hundred and eight stars, and at the world-ending greatsword about to descend, slowly raising his right hand.

In his palm, the ancient Chaos axe spun, without the slightest earth-shattering Aura, instead resembling a dusty ordinary object.

“One axe, to shatter your army Soul.”

Li Mu flicked his finger, and the Chaos axe transformed into a streak of light, shooting forth.

The moment it flew out of the Chaotic Dao Domain, it was like a fish returning to the sea, a Dragon entering the Nine Heavens! It expanded violently with the wind!

In an instant, the palm-sized axe transformed into a colossal Chaos Great Axe stretching across the sky, tens of thousands of miles long! On its blade, there was no sharpness, only a profound void, as if it could cleave through time and space, and split open eras!

The moment the giant axe appeared, the entire “Great Sun Furnace Killing Formation” paused. The light of the one hundred and eight stars flickered for a moment, as if encountering some natural nemesis.

The golden War God statue’s greatsword, capable of incinerating all things, finally descended!

And the Chaos Great Axe, with a seemingly slow but in reality time-transcending speed, met it!

There was no deafening collision.

The blade of the Chaos Great Axe lightly landed on the spine of the flaming greatsword.

“Crack…”

A faint, almost inaudible sound of cracking, yet it clearly resonated in the hearts of the old marshal commanding the grand Formation and the million Yang Realm Cultivators.

That was not the sound of a physical object shattering, but the collapse of “momentum” and “intent”!

The pale Divine Flame burning on the golden War God statue’s greatsword, which condensed the overwhelming Battle Intent of a million Cultivators, began to rapidly extinguish from the point of contact with the axe blade! A Dao rhythm of destruction and return to nothingness spread madly along the sword body. Wherever it passed, all light, heat, Battle Intent, and Law were transformed into the most primordial Chaos!

Boom!

The ten-thousand-zhang-tall golden War God statue violently shook. The arm holding the sword cracked inch by inch, dissolving into countless specks of light. For the first time, an emotion of “fear” appeared in its eyes, which were lit by the Origin of stars.

“This… how is this possible?!” The old marshal commanding the grand Formation paled in horror, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood. That axe strike did not shatter power, but the very Soul of the Formation!

Li Mu’s expression remained unchanged as he made a grasping motion in the air.

The Chaos Great Axe traced an abstruse trajectory in the air, then rose again.

“Two axes, to sever your Law Chains.”

The second axe struck down with full force!

The target of this axe was not the War God statue, but the myriad Law Divine Chains connecting the one hundred and eight stars, forming a heaven-and-earth net!

The axe light was like a gray celestial river, spanning the Star Domain.

“Zheng! Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!”

A series of dense sounds, like breaking zither strings, resounded throughout the entire starry sky. Those golden Law Divine Chains, thicker than mountain ranges and indestructible, were as fragile as straw ropes under the axe light, being severed in large sections!

With the Law Divine Chains broken, the Foundation of the grand Formation was shaken.

The one hundred and eight stars trembled violently, their light dimming at a visible rate, as if all their essence had been drained. Millions of Yang Realm Cultivators simultaneously groaned, their faces turning ashen. Those with weaker cultivation even bled from their seven orifices on the spot, their Dao Foundations damaged.

The backlash of the grand Formation had arrived!

“No! Stabilize the Formation! Quickly!” The old marshal's eyes were bloodshot as he roared frantically, attempting to reconnect the Laws.

However, Li Mu gave him no chance whatsoever.

“Three axes, to shatter your Star Cauldron.”

The third axe, and the final one, descended with supreme power to end all things!

This axe no longer struck at a single point, but transformed into an ocean of Chaos, a boundless expanse of Dao, covering the entire core area of the grand Formation!

It was an attack that could not be resisted, evaded, or understood.

It was as if the will of the Universe intended to revert this Acquired-transformed starry sky back to its Origin, returning it to Chaos!

“Rumble—!”

Heaven and earth collapsed!

The one hundred and eight stars serving as the Formation's Foundation, under the cleansing of this ocean of Chaos, were rapidly “obliterated” from the outside in, turning into nothingness, without even having time to explode.

The ten-thousand-zhang-tall golden War God statue let out an unwilling, silent roar, then completely disintegrated and vanished into the heavens and earth under the force of Chaos.

The “Great Sun Furnace Killing Formation” that enveloped the entire galaxy, the peerless “grand gift” the Yang Realm King had prepared for Li Mu, crumbled under three axe strikes!

Vanished into thin air!

Dead silence.

The entire starry sky fell into an unprecedented dead silence.

The million-strong Yang Realm army floated motionlessly in the Void Realm, staring at the scarred battlefield with extinguished stars, their faces filled with shock and bewilderment.

Their proud, supreme killing Formation, capable of refining realm Masters, was just… broken? Broken by one person, with three casual axe strikes?

This had already exceeded their comprehension and shattered their Dao Heart!

The old marshal commanding the grand Formation was even more thunderstruck, trembling all over, his face ashen. He looked at the lone figure in white, standing amidst the Chaos, his eyes filled only with endless fear.

That was not a human; it was a demon god! An ancient deity walking the world!

Just then, a calm but supremely majestic voice, without any warning, resounded in everyone's hearts, as if coming from the deepest part of the Yang Realm Star Region, from the very source of light and heat.

“You are… very good.”

The moment the voice sounded, the Yang Law, which had been chaotic due to the shattered grand Formation, instantly became incredibly docile, as if prostrating before its king.

In the Void Realm, golden Law Divine Lotuses bloomed out of thin air, paving a sky-reaching grand Dao that extended from the end of the Star Domain all the way to Li Mu’s front.

At the end of the grand Dao, a figure slowly walked forth.

He was also dressed in a simple white robe, his face so handsome it seemed otherworldly. His golden hair flowed freely, and with every step he took, the sound of the Great Dao accompanied him, the light of myriad stars paling before him.

He merely walked, and this shattered starry sky stabilized anew, calming the fear-trembling hearts of the million-strong army in an instant.

He was the sole Dominator of this bright world.

The Yang Realm King!

He had appeared.

He did not look at his utterly defeated army, nor did he pay attention to the old marshal who was ashamed to death. His gaze, from beginning to end, rested on Li Mu. In his golden pupils, there was no anger, no killing intent, only an appreciation and fervor like a divine craftsman seeing an unparalleled raw jade.

“You are qualified to be my opponent.”

The Yang Realm King’s voice was calm, without the slightest hint of worldly emotion, yet it seemed to be the only truth in the Universe, his words becoming Law. He walked step by step, the grand Dao paved by Law Divine Lotuses disappearing inch by inch behind him, as if the path he had walked was already history, an un-traceable past.

The Yang Realm King stood ten thousand zhang away from Li Mu, the two facing each other across the distance.

One was the supreme Dominator of this bright Universe, every inch of his body flowing with pure Yang Law, an Incarnation of light and heat, the epitome of order and dominance.

The other came from the dark opposite, yet transcended Yin and Yang, his body wreathed in ancient Chaos Qi, as if he was the primordial wisp before the Universe’s creation, the beginning of all things, and also the end of all Dao.

Their confrontation completely froze the recently shattered starry sky. Time seemed to lose its meaning, and space transformed into a static painting. The million-strong Yang Realm army, along with everyone on the Lieyu Battleship, felt a suffocating sensation originating from the depths of their Souls.

This was the collision of “Dao,” the invisible clash of two fundamentally different ultimate philosophies.

“Three axes, to break my grand Formation. Not bad.”

In the Yang Realm King’s golden pupils, the appreciation grew even stronger. “This King has traversed countless ages, suppressed forbidden zone upheavals, quelled epochal catastrophes, seen countless Prodigies, and slain many self-proclaimed realm Masters. But to crush this King’s Yang Law so effortlessly with your own Dao, you are the first.”

The Yang Realm King’s tone was not like praising an enemy, but more like evaluating a perfect work of art.

Li Mu retracted the sky-spanning Chaos Great Axe, returning it to palm size, where it hovered in his hand. He looked at the Yang Realm King, his expression still indifferent: “Your cauldron, indeed, isn't hard enough.”

A single sentence made the hearts of the million-strong Yang Realm army, just calmed by the King’s Divine Might, leap back into their throats. Arrogant! Too arrogant! Facing the sole Dominator of the Yang Realm, he still dared to utter such provocative words! (End of chapter)