Clouds bled golden fire.
The Divine Sky Court's siege had begun.
Above the Thousand Veil Sect, two Sky Envoys descended with divine weapons drawn, their auras eclipsing the mountains. Beneath them, thousands of spirit-armored disciples rallied behind Xu Shen, their chi threaded together by the Soulwheel Forge he had awakened.
It wasn't just a sect anymore.
It was a choir of evolution.
Envoy Li Yanshu conjured a massive scripture wheel in the sky—rotating faster than sound, inscribed with laws of judgment.
"Xu Shen," he roared, "you walk a path that violates reincarnation, legacy, and order. The heavens sentence you to dissolution."
Xu didn't move.
Didn't speak.
He raised his right hand.
[Devourer Path – Echo Bloom: Third Resonant Layer]
[Fragment Share: Tactical Empowerment Engaged]
[Result: 5 Cultivators temporarily ascend to Domain Rank]
Five Thousand Veil disciples surged into the sky, golden fire in their veins, moving as one.
They weren't weapons. They were verses of a living scripture, written by Xu Shen's will.
And when they clashed with Li Yanshu's disciples, the sky sang.
Flame met frost. Blade met wind. And in every strike, Xu Shen's rewritten legacy pulsed—refusing to consume, but refusing to break.
Envoy Lin Yue stepped forward, wielding a spear of void-glass and silence.
She didn't speak.
She just attacked—a streak of light faster than sound, faster than thought.
She reached Xu Shen in one breath.
He turned.
And met her with a single palm.
[Memory Fragment Fusion: Life #2,003 — Starlight Collapse Palm]
[Law Override: Impact > Causality]
The strike landed.
There was no explosion. No thunder.
Just Lin Yue disappearing, flung into a separate dimension woven by impact alone.
Above, Executioner Rong Ta removed his blindfold.
The moment he did, reality split.
Xu Shen flinched.
Too soon. I'm not ready for him.
Rong Ta's eyes were pure white—devoid of will. Not a person, but a sword forged by heaven.
And it pointed at him.
Yue Qian reached Xu's side. "You can't face him yet."
"I know."
"Then run."
Xu Shen turned his head.
"No."
He raised both hands.
And ignited the Infinite Soulwheel Forge fully.
"I won't run from heaven."
"I'll show it how to remember."
Rong Ta moved.
His sword did not cut space.
It cut time.
The Thousand Veil Sect trembled as timelines split and rearranged.
But Xu Shen held firm.
Because now, he wasn't standing alone.
He was standing atop ten thousand lives.
And behind him stood thousands of cultivators empowered by his choice not to devour—but to share.
CLASH.
Heaven met legacy.
And heaven broke first.
The bell that signaled execution cracked.
The flames consuming the sect reversed.
The forbidden scrolls burst open and sang.
And the sky—
Burned.