Just as the three world-ending attacks were about to make contact with the Divine Body’s skin—
"RISE!!!"
A sound loud enough to shatter eardrums.
A crater a thousand feet deep instantly exploded into the earth beneath the Lingma Mountain God’s feet.
Harnessing this terrifying recoil, the rock giant, weighing untold millions of tons, defied all logic. Like a meteor streaking backward against the current, it shot straight up into the sky with unstoppable momentum!
"What?!"
The Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon was just about to savor the sight of its prey being crushed when its pupils suddenly shrank.
It had never imagined this clumsy turtle could jump so high and so fast!
Because the target had vanished so suddenly, the three fatal Decree attacks merely grazed the afterimage the Mountain God left behind. They then slammed into empty space, canceling each other out in a massive explosion that threw up a cloud of dust and smoke.
Meanwhile, Chu Bai, piloting the Divine Body, had already soared a thousand feet into the air.
The wind howled around the heavy Divine Body, and its ascent began to slow under the pull of Gravity.
But it was enough.
Because there, at its destination, a golden step as wide as a public square floated silently in the Void.
"Get... UP!!"
Controlling the Divine Body, Chu Bai made its one remaining giant hand grip the edge of the Celestial Ladder, then heaved with all its might.
THUD!
The thousand-foot-tall Divine Body landed thunderously on the first step of the sacred and solemn Qingzhou Celestial Ladder!
Golden light pulsed as the Dynasty’s Destiny formed an invisible barrier, instantly cutting it off from the violent turbulence of the Void outside.
Standing at the core of the Divine Body, Chu Bai looked down upon the three fuming Divine Spirits below.
He didn’t stop devouring the Spiritual Mechanism. On the contrary, using the dense Dao Charm on the Celestial Ladder—which was closer to the Celestial Dao—he began to absorb it even more greedily, more ferociously.
Within the Underground Palace, the Cultivators who had narrowly escaped death had yet to collect themselves when Chu Bai’s deafening roar exploded deep within each of their Divine Souls:
"This is our way out! This is our chance to win!"
"Everyone, don’t just close your eyes and wait to die!"
"Follow me—and ascend the Celestial Ladder!"
At the edge of the Cyan Nether Realm, the roar of its collapse was the only remaining sound.
The once-vast world was now curling in on itself like a scroll set aflame, rapidly shrinking toward its center.
Torrents of black Void turbulence, like countless greedy maws, gnawed madly at the world’s edge. The unlucky few who were too slow to escape couldn’t even scream before the very ground beneath them crumbled, plunging them into the endless darkness to become motes of dust in the Void.
The only remaining safe zone had been compressed to an area less than two miles wide.
Meanwhile, in the central region, the aftershocks from the battle between the three Foundation Establishment Divine Spirits raged like a meat grinder. Violent gales, corrosive acid rain, and concussive shockwaves had turned the area into a death zone for all living things.
The thousand-odd surviving examinees were now huddled in the fissures of the crumbling world, trapped.
Forward lay the Divine Spirits’ battlefield, where a single touch meant death.
Behind them lay the Abyss of the Void, from which there was no return.
"It’s over... There’s no way out..."
A Noble Family Descendant in tattered brocade robes collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with despair as he stared at the encroaching darkness just behind him.
Just then, however, a beam of golden light that pierced the very heavens flared to life in the center of the battlefield.
The light was sacred and immense, imbued with the unique majesty of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and it shone with extraordinary brilliance in the dim, apocalyptic world.
"Th-that... What is that?"
Everyone instinctively looked up.
They saw that within the golden light, the Celestial Ladder—once illusory and ethereal, as if not of this world—was beginning to solidify, inch by inch, as a giant stone hand took hold of it.
THUD!
A dull, heavy sound echoed.
The thousand-foot-tall Lingma Mountain God, wreathed in five-colored Divine Light, had actually withstood the siege of three Evil Gods and taken a single step onto the golden stair!
As it ascended, the illusory Celestial Ladder solidified beneath its feet, bearing the weight of its mountainous body.
"Someone is climbing the Celestial Ladder..."
"Is that... the Lingma Mountain God? No! Why would a Divine Spirit climb the Celestial Ladder of our Human Race?!"
A commotion erupted in the crowd. Then, those with sharper senses suddenly widened their eyes and gasped:
"That’s not just a Divine Spirit! Inside that body... there’s the aura of a Human Race Cultivator who just broke through! An extremely turbulent one!"
"It’s a Foundation Establishment! That’s the pressure of the Foundation Establishment Realm!"
"Who is it? Who could possibly possess such a colossal body and such terrifying power, daring to carve a path to survival right through a battlefield of Divine Spirits?!"
While everyone watched in stunned disbelief, the Lingma Mountain God, now standing on the first step of the Celestial Ladder, suddenly paused.
It turned slightly, and its giant left hand, which gleamed with a metallic luster, swept down toward the despairing ’ants’ below.
RUMBLE—
The rock plating on the Mountain God’s chest and abdomen rumbled open, and a beam of gentle yet irresistible, earthy-yellow Guiding Divine Light instantly enveloped all the survivors below.
"If you don’t want to die, get up here!"
The voice was as loud as a Bell, suffused with an undeniable authority.
Everyone’s vision blurred, and their bodies lifted into the air uncontrollably. By the time they came to their senses, they found themselves inside a vast and magnificent underground Stone Palace.
The first thing they saw was a massive White Jade Altar. Surrounding it were over two thousand ’seniors,’ faces stained with blood but eyes burning with fanaticism, all frantically channeling their Spiritual Power.
And at the very center of the altar, a figure seen from behind, wreathed in five-colored Dao Charm like a Divine Monarch, was seared into everyone’s memory.
"This... This is..."
The thousand or so newcomers were still reeling from the shock.
At that moment, the Clay Soil Land God, who had been coordinating from the side, dared not delay. It shrieked, "That is Lord Envoy Chu Bai, who came from the outside just like you! He seized this Divine Body to bring you all to safety! Don’t just stand there stunned! Get into the formation and channel your Spiritual Power! Help the Lord Envoy ascend another step!"

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