Chapter 75: The Roar of Awakening

Shen Zhaoqing could feel Gu Chang’an’s desperate grip on her hand. She could hear Ling Shuangjue’s low, ragged breaths in front of her, and she could see the distant mist of blood that stained the pristine snow.

These people…

These women, who normally fought each other tooth and nail, who would say anything to claim her, these troublesome, exasperating women, were now forming a final defensive line with their broken bodies.

Was it all because of her cursed ‘Dao Source Body’?

Was it merely for the comforting aura emanating from her?

Why?

Why should they fight to the death for her sake?

Why should she be nothing more than a coveted mascot, passed from hand to hand, only to be forged into some damned ‘Sky-Stabilizing Instrument’ in the end?

A surge of unprecedented fury and indignation instantly overwhelmed all of Shen Zhaoqing’s rationality.

She refused to be a burden, forever hiding behind others. She would no longer stand by, watching others bleed and die for her.

She yearned for power.

She craved the strength to overturn this entire chessboard.

“Aaaahhhhhh—!!!”

Shen Zhaoqing threw her head back and let out a heart-wrenching roar.

At that very moment, the long-dormant Dao Source power within her seemed to awaken, stirred by the sheer intensity of her emotions.

That power was no longer the gentle, life-nurturing trickle she knew. Instead, it transformed into a raging torrent, capable of devastating the heavens and earth.

Simultaneously, the wisp of Netherworld Spirit Fire in her dantian, which had once coiled around Jue’s body, ignited like a spark tossed into boiling oil, instantly detonating an entire internal volcano.

Immortal Dao represented vitality; Demonic Dao, destruction.

Two opposing forces, both originating from the fundamental essence, clashed and fused within Shen Zhaoqing’s body in a manner that bordered on self-annihilation.

Boom—!!

The dull thud echoed not from the outside world, but from the depths of Shen Zhaoqing’s dantian.

The bottleneck shattered.

The barrier to Foundation Establishment had fallen.

In an instant, the spiritual energy within a hundred-mile radius seemed to respond to an ultimate summons, rushing madly towards Shen Zhaoqing’s dantian.

The overwhelming attraction manifested as a colossal, visible vortex of spiritual energy, pouring furiously into Shen Zhaoqing’s body.

The sheer magnitude and purity of this spiritual energy far surpassed a hundred, even a thousand times what ordinary cultivators experienced during their Foundation Establishment.

As the spiritual energy entered her body, it condensed, compressed, and liquefied within her overstretched meridians at a devastating speed.

Foundation Establishment was achieved in an instant!

A massive tide of spiritual power, like a breached dam, surged outwards from Shen Zhaoqing, spreading in all directions.

The first to bear the brunt was the arrogant, star-studded net above her head.

“What?!”

For the first time, Luoxinghe’s face, usually impassive and confident, was etched with profound shock.

A breakthrough in the midst of battle?!

And under conditions where the power of laws was completely sealed?!

How could this be possible? It utterly defied the common sense of the cultivation world!

Luoxinghe attempted to activate the Star Track Plate once more, intending to forcibly suppress this anomaly, but it was already too late.

The tide of spiritual power, a raw fusion of pure heaven-and-earth spiritual energy and Dao Source power, disregarded all laws and reason. It violently slammed into Luoxinghe’s intricate star net.

*Crack.*

*Crack.*

The crisp sounds of shattering echoed across the heavens and earth.

The ‘Heaven-Earth Net,’ woven from countless stars and reputed to seal all things, snapped inch by inch under the impact of that furious spiritual tide. It dissolved into a flurry of starlight fragments, vanishing without a trace.

“Pfft!”

With the Star Track Domain broken, Luoxinghe’s mind suffered a backlash. She violently coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, her face instantly turning ashen.

Her star-blue eyes were filled with utter disbelief.

Her pride, her infallible ‘Star Track Plate,’ had actually been…

…blown apart by a mere Qi Induction realm cultivator’s battlefield breakthrough?!

This was an absolute farce!

Before she could recover from her shock, two attacks, brimming with monstrous killing intent, seized this fleeting opportunity and assailed her from left and right.

“Heavenly Derivation Pavilion, you shall be punished!”

Gu Chang’an’s voice was as cold as the Nine Netherworld’s ice. She poured the last vestiges of her True Essence into the Frostbright Sword, unleashing a pure and unadulterated ‘Forgetfulness Slash’ that aimed directly for Luoxinghe’s glabella.

“Die!”

Ling Shuangjue’s Abyssal Slaughter Sword also erupted with its final, ferocious might, a dense, unyielding crimson rainbow tearing towards Luoxinghe’s heart.

One immortal, one demonic; one from above, one from below—their coordination was flawless.

Both were at the end of their ropes, but this strike burned their last drops of vital blood and Divine Soul. Its power was formidable enough to threaten any cultivator in the Soul Transformation Realm.

Luoxinghe’s pupils abruptly constricted.

‘Forget it!’

From the moment Shen Zhaoqing started her outburst, everything had spiraled out of her control.

Facing this inescapable, deadly assault, a flicker of ruthlessness flashed in Luoxinghe’s eyes. She fiercely bit her tongue, spraying a mouthful of vital blood onto the small Heavenly Mechanism Plate before her.

“Star Shift and Orbit!”

*Bang!*

Her figure became ethereal the instant the sword light and blood-red rainbow reached her, then, with another *bang*, it dissolved into scattered starlight, vanishing from her original position.

The next second, her true body appeared a hundred feet away in the snow pine forest. A trace of blood hung at the corner of Luoxinghe’s lips, and she glared venomously at the crowd in the ruins, especially at Shen Zhaoqing, who was still enveloped by the spiritual energy vortex.

Her meticulously crafted plan had utterly failed.

“Shen Zhaoqing… Dao Source Body…”

Luoxinghe stared deeply at her, as if to engrave her image into her soul. “I remember you. We… will meet again soon.”

Before her words fully faded, her figure completely merged with the shadows, disappearing without a trace.

With her departure, the oppressive aura that had shrouded the heavens and earth finally dissipated like smoke.

The crisis was temporarily averted.

The snow, once again, began to fall.

Shen Zhaoqing slowly opened her eyes.

Her gaze was brighter than ever before, and beneath the peach blossom tear mark, a faint golden stream of light seemed to flash and vanish.

Shen Zhaoqing could feel an unprecedented, surging power within her. In her dantian, liquefied spiritual energy had coalesced into a small lake.

Her Dao foundation was stable and indestructible.

This was the Foundation Establishment realm.

She lowered her gaze to her hands, then slowly lifted her head, surveying her surroundings.

Gu Chang’an, her sword hanging beside her, knelt on the ground, her aura weak, yet her clear, cold eyes were fixed intently on Shen Zhaoqing.

Ling Shuangjue stood not far away, her white robes stained with blood, her face pale. However, the madness and brutality in her blood-red eyes had significantly receded, replaced by an intensely complex scrutiny.

Not far away, the unconscious Yuange was protected behind Gu Chang’an, her feathered robe dim.

Further still, Tuoba Yanxue lay in a pool of blood, her chest rising and falling faintly, her fate unknown.

And those Azure Wolf Iron Cavalry who had forever become part of this snowy landscape to protect her…

An unprecedented weight pressed upon Shen Zhaoqing’s heart.

She suddenly understood.

Survival first, living a carefree life—from the moment she awakened this accursed physique, it had all been a joke.

As long as she lived, the ‘Dao Source Body’ would ensure that such a battlefield of carnage would never end.

There was no escaping by hiding.

The only path forward was to rise, step onto the chessboard, and break the hands of those who played the game, one by one, limb by limb!

This chaos in the Northern Reaches was merely the beginning.

The true enemy—the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion, that group of charlatans who viewed all living beings as pawns and sought to control everything—had already bared their fangs.

Her destiny and theirs would become even more fiercely intertwined in this collapsing Xuanwei Era, never to be separated.

Shen Zhaoqing inhaled deeply, drawing in the cold, blood-scented air, and slowly clenched her fists.