Hyper-Dimensional Player

Chapter 856 - 86: Ascending Lingxiao! Beheading the Jade Emperor! (Part 1)

Daoist Zhang is dead.

This True Immortal, marked with eight golden stars, had his head severed by Duncan with a single stroke of the sword.

Everything around began to gradually collapse. The jade-like dome cracked and fell piece by piece. Duncan held the head of Daoist Zhang in his hand, feeling the divine power and cultivation he had acquired from this human form, his expression calm. Suddenly, he spoke to the headless corpse before him: "This calamity began because of you. Did you think that abandoning a mortal form would allow you to escape this disaster?"

The man was indeed dead.

His cultivation was indeed taken by Duncan.

But at this moment, Duncan, though his True Yuan had increased significantly and his cultivation had greatly advanced, had not acquired the most critical elements.

Divinity, Divine Format, Divine Position.

Upon hearing Duncan’s words, the collapsing jade dome suddenly reversed as if time had flowed backward, instantly restoring its original magnificent appearance. The head resting in Duncan’s palm gradually disintegrated into dust and vanished, and even the headless corpse before him also slowly faded into nothing.

Atop the throne in the gleaming hall, a mysterious and dignified phantom appeared, wearing a crown and emperor’s robe with a majestic presence. Like a supreme ruler of the heavenly realms, his cold eyes slowly opened. With a voice resembling rolling thunder, he spoke with authority, gaze indifferent as he looked down at Duncan: "I have already faced this trial with my mortal form. The Law of Cause and Effect is now settled."

"Why are you pressing so hard?"

Duncan stood within the jade-paved hall, looking up at the figure manifesting the Jade Emperor’s form, and calmly said: "It is not I who press on you; it is the heavens that demand your life!"

"Moreover,"

"Such a great cause and effect, the death of merely a mortal form is not enough to settle the karmic retributions."

Under the Heavenly Dao, the foremost enforcer.

The Legendary Level gold card of the Way, the Heavenly Dao, and the Human Path, the chief sweeper.

Daoist Zhang’s cultivation was indeed high.

An eight-star golden mark, equating to a level forty-plus character in the extended planes of the Western Dungeons and Dragons—the pinnacle of existence in those terms. Such a level of spellcaster in a world with few restrictions could easily sink a continent, destroy a plane, explode a planet, or kill a god without much effort.

But to the status of the Jade Emperor, Zhang Daoist’s strength was somewhat lacking.

The True Immortals of this world equate to weak to medium divine power in the Western context. An eight-star golden mark is an insurmountable chasm for mortals, but for a True God Level being, this power is merely the threshold for world creation participation.

Realizing he had lost the initiative, Daoist Zhang decided to sacrifice a pawn to save the king.

He was originally a mortal form enduring the cycle of reincarnation, akin to one of Duncan’s human forms, although he was a reincarnated divine soul, differing significantly from Duncan’s mortal vessel.

This act was akin to cutting off a limb to survive.

Upon encountering Duncan in his merged state, Daoist Zhang first tried to appease him. Seeing Duncan unmoved, he decided to take advantage of the situation, stepping into Duncan’s trap. The power of the Law of Cause and Effect backlashed, seriously injuring him, and then Duncan beheaded him with a single stroke.

By dying, he intended to bear all the karmic retributions, preserving his most essential original divine soul, which is represented by the Jade Emperor’s form before him.

According to his calculations, after his mortal demise, the backlash from karma should dissipate.

In this life, his mortal form had repaid his karma.

Everything resolved.

It would no longer affect his next life, nor would it impact his original divine status.

But he underestimated the extent to which this world’s Heavenly Dao wished for his complete death. The Heavenly Dao actively brought the Great Freedom Celestial Demon Lord here, ensuring that just the death of his mortal form would not suffice.

No matter how many times you traverse reincarnation, bringing the Great Freedom Celestial Demon Lord means cutting off your cycle, giving you no chance to rise again.

Duncan, who had slain outer Demon Gods and numerous Outer Heaven Demons, by rights should have already been forced to Ascend and shatter the void, but now he was firmly nailed in this world.

The form of the Jade Emperor gazed at Duncan, momentarily perceiving the laws, seeing the countless mortal desires surrounding Duncan. Millions of wish powers bound him like shackles, voices of adoration and expectation, countless calls of "Your Majesty," even made the Jade Emperor’s form show a hint of astonishment.

"You have actually bound yourself with mortal wish power?"

With disbelief, the Jade Emperor Daoist Monarch said slowly: "Are you not afraid that backlash from mortal karma will eventually lead to your demise?"

A great vow.

When hell is empty, only then will I become a Buddha.

Duncan’s childlike agreement is the same, locked in this world by mortal wish power until his great vow is fulfilled.

But his great vow is far more dangerous than an empty hell, for Duncan’s mortal form is deeply bound with the fate of the Central Plains dynasty. Coupled with the state of being blessed by the Heavenly Dao, it means that the paths of earth, heaven, and man all bind his mortal form.

If any mistake arises, such as changes in the mortal dynasty or calamities in the Central Plains, the resulting backlash could cause Duncan’s mortal form to die instantly.

A great vow borrows high-interest loans!

A normal dynasty’s fate cannot save Duncan. If it’s only a dynasty’s fate lasting two or three hundred years, during karmic retribution, Duncan’s mortal form would turn to dust. It needs to be a flourishing age far exceeding that of the Han and Tang to repay part of the great vow’s wish power, and even that would barely suffice. If a ’world falls’ scenario occurs, Duncan is so deeply bound to the Central Plains’ fate, he would not escape death and dissolution of his Dao.