In less than a day.

Every single Celestial Demon—formed from the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, limbs, and other parts of Zhao Yin’s body—had been devoured and refined by Wang Xiao!

And with that.

The great calamity that had plagued this world for an entire epoch finally came to an end!

However.

After the great calamity, not even one in ten of the living beings in the Ten States, or even the Foreign Countries, survived.

It would likely take a very long time for things to fully recover.

The disciples of Dragon Tiger Mountain thus took on the great responsibility of restoring civilization.

Fortunately, Zhuge Yuntao was the Supervisor of the Observatory. In the past, all the laws and decrees of the Great Hao Divine Dynasty had come from his hand.

Wang Xiao naturally gave him full responsibility for the task of rebuilding.

As for Wang Xiao, after devouring all the Celestial Demons, he immediately entered closed-door cultivation.

He began to comprehend the tenth Limit Breaking: Vacuum Shattering!

With the Cultivation Technique he had obtained from Zhao Yin,

he no longer needed to exhaust himself analyzing and deducing the path forward for this breakthrough.

The process should be significantly shorter!

Wang Xiao made a rough calculation. He only had about twenty years left before he had to leave this world.

Naturally, he wanted to use this time to break through to the Vacuum Shattering realm, and then take a trip to the Underworld.

He wanted to see if he could refine the Curiosity [Reincarnation Pool]!

Refining the [Reincarnation Pool] would activate a new ability in the Book of Space-Time.

It was something Wang Xiao eagerly anticipated.

...

Time always has a way of slipping by unnoticed.

In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.

After twenty years of recovery and rebuilding,

Dragon Tiger Mountain was once again a bustling, prosperous place, bearing no resemblance to its former tragic state.

The cities here had all been relocated, leaving behind only sprawling villages.

Today,

Dragon Tiger Mountain was exceptionally lively. Incense and candles were lit everywhere, and colorful lanterns and banners were hung to welcome the first Grand Celestial Sacrifice since the end of the great calamity.

Over the past twenty years,

Wang Xiao’s presence had made Dragon Tiger Mountain the foremost of all Daoist Sects in the world.

The leaders of every sect and school had now gathered at Dragon Tiger Mountain to celebrate this grand occasion.

"Senior Brother, do you think Master will emerge from his seclusion today?!"

A charming young woman couldn’t help but ask, looking toward Ji Chuchu.

She was Yan Zhiqiu, daughter of Yan Chiyang.

She had since grown into an adult, and her cultivation had reached the Entering the Hall Realm.

Such a pace of cultivation was considered quite fast.

Ji Chuchu shook his head.

"Master has been in seclusion ever since he sealed the heavens all those years ago. No one knows when he will emerge."

Yan Zhiqiu asked,

"Rumor has it that Master’s cultivation has long surpassed the Dao Realm. Why is he still in seclusion? Don’t tell me there’s another realm even higher than that?"

"Well, there probably is..."

Ji Chuchu suddenly recalled the sight of his master transforming into a ten-thousand-zhang-tall figure, and his heart filled with awe.

In his heart, his master was the very definition of invincible.

He wouldn’t be surprised no matter what realm his master broke through to.

Just as the two were speaking,

RUMBLE!

A world-shaking roar suddenly echoed from the heavens.

Everyone looked up in shock.

They saw a piercing beam of golden light suddenly shoot out from the back of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

The golden light was impossibly brilliant, impossibly turbulent.

Like a meteor streaking upward against the current, like the celestial river Tianhe pouring in reverse, it slammed heavily into the firmament!

CRACK!

A shattering sound, like silk being torn, suddenly rang in everyone’s ears.

Immediately after,

the heavens were torn asunder by the golden light, revealing rifts in space itself!

Within the golden light, the figure of a man in a Daoist robe slowly emerged.

Seeing this figure, everyone was utterly and inexplicably stunned.

Ji Chuchu and the other disciples of Dragon Tiger Mountain fell to their knees in unison!

"We respectfully welcome the Ancestral Master!"

"We welcome the Celestial Master out of seclusion!"

"May the Celestial Master live as long as the heavens!"

Before everyone’s watchful eyes,

the figure, bathed in golden light, vanished into the spatial rifts in the sky.

Zen Master Kong Ming and the other Dao Realm experts who witnessed this were so shocked they could hardly contain themselves.

"This... is this Ascension in the Daylight?!"

"Master Wang... he’s ascended?!"

They had read ancient texts that spoke of this. They knew that when a cultivator’s cultivation reached its absolute limit, they could achieve Vacuum Shattering and perform Ascension in the Daylight!

But in all the endless ages past, not a single person had ever reached such a realm.

And yet, right now,

someone was actually performing Ascension in the Daylight, right before their very eyes!

For a time, everyone stood rooted to the spot, their Heart Spirits reeling, utterly unable to compose themselves.