novelbin Chapter 840 - 378: Crown Prince Golden Crow, The Rebellion and Ascension to Emperor (2)
Chapter 840 - 378: Crown Prince Golden Crow, The Rebellion and Ascension to Emperor (2)
The entire Netherworld began to tremble, cracks splitting open across the sky as wandering souls scattered in all directions.
Seeing this, Ye Qingzhou’s expression grew solemn.
He had not expected his Sword Techniques to trigger such severe consequences. If the Solar Crown Cataclysm were to fully erupt, not only would the Netherworld be destroyed in an instant, the mortal realm would also be affected.
"It’s still not too late to stop now."
The Empress forcibly endured the backlash of the Solar Crown; for once, a trace of urgency appeared in her voice. "If you and I join forces, we can still suppress the Solar Crown Cataclysm!"
Ye Qingzhou looked at the situation that was gradually spiraling out of control, then at the Empress, who was barely managing to hold on, yet he remained unmoved.
He sheathed his longsword, formed a Sealing with both hands, and the Yin Yang Qi around him turned into countless fine threads, winding toward the rampaging Solar Crown.
"Void Illuminating the Nether, Fix Qian and Kunn!"
The Yin Yang Qi was like the finest of threads, weaving into a net that wrapped around the Solar Crown layer by layer.
The sky of the Netherworld split into countless fissures, the purple-black cloud layer like shattered glazed glass. Ye Qingzhou’s sword tip hovered three inches above the Solar Crown, while the net of Yin Yang Qi had temporarily bound the rampaging Golden Crow Resentful Spirits.
The Spiritual Light around him flickered—though "Fix Qian and Kunn" could temporarily stabilize the situation, the Empress’s Divine Spirit was still violently shaking and could break free at any moment.
"Now!"
Ye Qingzhou suddenly shouted, pressing his sword down hard. "Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
A blazing golden light cleaved down from the Void, a hundred times more dazzling than any Pseudo Day in the Netherworld.
The Crown Prince Golden Crow appeared, treading on clouds of fire. Every feather on his wings flowed with liquid sunlight, and in his hand he held a longbow condensed from pure True Flame of Sun.
"Yuzhu, you imprisoned my brothers for ten thousand years; today, the debt is due!"
The Crown Prince drew the bow to its full, yet the arrow was not material, but an ancient, obscure segment of Curse.
As the arrow left the string, the entire Netherworld resounded with the Feather Race’s primordial sacrificial chant.
The Empress’s Profound Purple Feather Robe billowed violently. She tried to activate the Eight Yin Wheel to distort time, but found the Feather Race inscriptions on the disk flaking off piece by piece, turning into golden light and rising into the sky. "Impossible... this is... the Cloud-Breaking Celestial Bow, the Golden Crow Spirit Summoning Spell?!"
The instant the arrow pierced the Solar Crown, nine shrill crow cries tore through the clouds.
Nine cracks appeared upon the surface of the crown, and from each fissure burst blinding golden light.
Seizing the chance, Ye Qingzhou withdrew his sword and retreated, watching as nine miniature suns struggled free from the crown, linking together in the Netherworld’s dark firmament to form a resplendent golden ring.
"Big Brother!"
The smallest of the Golden Crows let out a childish cry; within the flames, one could vaguely see the form of a small bird. "We were ambushed by this witch with the Laws Destruction Golden Arrow; even our Origin was taken by her... ah!"
Before it finished speaking, the Empress suddenly crushed a piece of Profound Jade at her waist. The nine Golden Crows simultaneously screamed in agony, their flames dimming.
The Crown Prince Golden Crow’s eyes nearly split. "You actually refined their True Spirits into Netherworld Jade?!"
His wings flared open in fury, countless fire-feathers shooting toward the Empress like a torrential rain, yet upon touching the Eclipse Chains they were devoured by strange black flames.
Ye Qingzhou’s pupils contracted sharply. He saw it clearly—the so-called "Eclipse Chains" were in fact nine chains entwined with the souls of Golden Crow dead! The point where each chain sank into the Solar Crown corresponded exactly to the Origin of a Golden Crow being imprisoned.
"Ye the kid, help me sever the chains, quickly!"
The Crown Prince Golden Crow let out a long, piercing cry. His form suddenly split into nine fiery silhouettes, each taking a different shape.
Some were like sharp swords, some like long whips, others turned into Heavy Hammers—these were precisely the Weapons that the nine Golden Crows had each excelled at in ages past.
Ye Qingzhou understood at once; his longsword flashed out of its sheath again.
This time, the Yin Yang Qi upon the blade no longer intertwined, but instead separated completely: pure white vital Qi condensed into the sword’s edge, while pitch-black death Qi became its shadow.
"Void Illuminating the Nether, Sever Causality!"
Where the sword light passed, time and space froze for a fleeting instant.
The Empress had just raised the Nether Feather Celestial Balance Ruler when she saw her own reflection in the sword’s shadow fracture—that was the very moment she had ambushed the Golden Crows back then!
The ruler’s body collided with the sword edge, without any earth-shattering explosion, only a crisp "ding," as though the strings of fate had been plucked.
The first Eclipse Chain snapped with a crack!
The Golden Crow phantom trapped within cheered as it rushed into the corresponding small sun. In the instant they fused, the sky of the Netherworld was burned open into a massive golden hole, through which the sunlight of the real world cascaded down like a waterfall.
"Don’t even think about it!"
The Empress was finally enraged to the extreme; the Solar Crown erupted with unprecedented brilliance.
This time it was no Pseudo Day, but the true "Solar Crown Cataclysm"—the crown shattered completely, and the Resentful Spirit of a three-legged Golden Crow manifested in full. Yet this Golden Crow’s body was pitch-black, blood-flames flowing in its eyes; the moment it appeared, it began indiscriminately devouring the surrounding Netherworld Qi.
Ye Qingzhou was hurled dozens of zhang by the shockwave, and before he even hit the ground, he saw an even more terrifying scene.
The remaining eight Eclipse Chains actually took the initiative to coil around that mutated Golden Crow, while the Empress’s figure gradually grew illusory amidst the black flames.
"She’s going to refine herself into the Resentful Spirit!"
The thought had barely flashed through his mind when countless mounds swelled up from the Netherworld’s ground; innumerable souls clawed their way out of the earth, screaming as they were sucked into the mutated Golden Crow’s body.
Yet the Crown Prince Golden Crow grew uncharacteristically calm. He decisively recalled the nine fiery silhouettes; his true body hovering at the center of the nine small suns, he began to chant a Spell with bizarre syllables.
With each word spoken, one small sun merged into his body, and his Feather Robe gained another ancient pattern.
"Ten Sun Soaring in the Air, the Feather Emperor returns..."
When the seventh sun merged, the Crown Prince’s radiance was already too intense to gaze upon, yet his voice reached Ye Qingzhou’s ears with uncanny clarity. "Ye the kid, please fix Qian and Kunn for three breaths more!"
At his words, Ye Qingzhou did not hesitate to damage his own Divine Spirit, pouring his Thought and will into the sword.
The longsword immediately let out a trembling Dragon’s Roar; Yin Yang Qi once again wove into a net, this time directly shrouding the mutated Golden Crow that was in the midst of transforming.
"Fix!"
The instant the sword net touched the black flames, blood gushed from all seven of Ye Qingzhou’s orifices, his soul on the verge of collapse.
He felt as though he were contending against the full weight of the entire Netherworld; the skin of the arm holding the sword split open, inch by inch. But just as the sword net was about to collapse, the final two small suns merged into the Crown Prince Golden Crow’s body.
"Brothers of one heart..."
The Crown Prince’s figure suddenly vanished, leaving only a single pure ring of light between heaven and earth.
That was not a sun, but a perfect golden ring formed by ten Golden Crows joined head to tail, with the Feather Race’s most ancient imperial sigil floating at its heart.
"Ten Sun Soaring in the Air!"
Wherever the golden light swept, the mutated Golden Crow let out a wail of unwilling despair.
The black flames on its body ebbed away like a receding tide, revealing the original resplendent golden feathers.
The Empress’s phantom was violently forced out; in shock, she realized the Nether Feather Celestial Balance Ruler in her hand was melting!
"No... this is impossible..."
She lowered her head to look at her gradually transparent hands. "My Netherworld Authority..."
The Nether Feather Celestial Balance Ruler was her life-bound Divine Artifact, forged after her reincarnation as the Yunzhu Divine Bird. It bore the Dao of death and darkness, Indestructible, utterly unbreakable by external forces.
Now that it was crumbling, there was only one reason: the scheme she had plotted for tens of millions of years had ultimately turned to water poured into a bamboo basket—nothing at all.
The golden ring slowly descended, and when it touched the Empress’s crown, it suddenly compressed, turning into a brand-new Solar Crown—devoid of the gloomy Nether patterns, containing only the leaping True Flame of Sun.
At the instant the crown was formed, all wandering souls ceased their wails; golden rain began to fall from the sky of the Netherworld, and tender green sprouts emerged from the scorched earth.
Ye Qingzhou knelt on the ground, propping himself up with his sword, staring at this unimaginable spectacle.
Amid the rain of light, the phantoms of ten Golden Crows circled around the Crown Prince before finally all merging into that new Solar Crown. The Crown Prince’s body reformed, his Feather Robe now an imperial robe of white with golden patterns. At the center of the Solar Crown on his brow was set a nine-colored, shifting gem—that was the crystallization of the Golden Crow Origin of the nine.
"My thanks, Fellow Daoist Ye."
Having become the newly ascended Feather Emperor, the Crown Prince Golden Crow smiled and cupped his hands toward Ye Qingzhou. Not only had his form of address changed, but his voice also carried an ancient, timeless vicissitude. "From this day forth, the Yin Yang order shall return to its rightful course."
The figure of the Empress Yuzhu was already faint as mist.
She gazed at her hands, which were slowly dissipating, then suddenly sneered. "You think... this is the end?"
The Empress Yuzhu abruptly drove her remaining right hand into her own chest, wrenching out a wisp of purple-black Origin. The corner of her lips curved slightly. "My Solar Crown is the very boundary between dusk and dawn. Those who bow will cross, those who look up shall turn to ash."