Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 476 Immortals Descend to Earth
Above the nine heavens, a place higher than the clouds and farther than the starry sky.

Passing through that chaotic and unclear area, you will arrive at a shattered land.

It was as if a pair of terrifying hands had crushed the entire world and then scattered the fragments haphazardly into the void.

Pavilions and towers, verdant peaks and flowing streams are still faintly visible, but these extremely luxurious things are now dilapidated, and there is a lot of rotten and foul-smelling stuff in them.

This is the Immortal Realm, the former site of the Heavenly Court.

Amidst these countless fragments, a relatively intact palace floats in the air.

Among them stood a towering divine tree, half-dead, with only a few yellow leaves left on its twisted branches, but its roots still firmly gripped the earth, connecting several different fragments of the Heavenly Court together.

Beneath the sacred tree, a snow-white deer lay quietly on the ground.

Its fur is as smooth as the finest silk, shimmering with a warm, precious light in the hazy interplay of light and shadow. The pair of crystal-clear antlers atop its head, intricately branched, resemble works of art sculpted from ice and jade.

However, this seemingly auspicious white deer was surrounded by a group of ragged, decaying, and broken puppets.

Their auras were sometimes ethereal, sometimes fiery, sometimes profound, but without exception, they were all powerful enough to astonish mortals.

They were all at least cultivators at the Dao Integration Realm.

They were all "senior experts" who ascended to the immortal realm back then.

There was a once-mighty sword immortal, whose sword is now broken and half of his body has been corroded by some force, leaving only bones; there was a master of illusion who could bewitch all living beings, whose eyes are now empty and only broken illusions flicker unconsciously around her.

It is a legend of someone who knocked on the gates of immortality and ascended to heaven in broad daylight 48,000 years after the shattering of the Heavenly Dao!

However, after ascending to immortality, they were not greeted with carefree bliss, but instead became puppets like corpses, servants and collectibles of the white deer before them.

Just as the Great Sage Overturning the Sea crushed the reindeer, the white deer in the Immortal Realm stood up.

This once auspicious creature spoke in human language, filled with hatred, saying: "Mere mortals, ignorant of the will of Heaven, insist on being enemies of the Heavenly Court; they deserve to die a thousand deaths!"

Unfortunately, none of the puppets in front of him responded; only the white deer was talking to itself.

In the original plan, Chen Ye would sign a life-and-death contract to become his puppet, and then the white deer would bestow upon Chen Ye a special divine power to harm people, allowing him to kill this ancient demon immortal while the Great Sage of the Overturning Sea was not paying attention.

Don't think that mortals are helpless against immortals. As long as your supernatural powers and secret techniques are powerful enough, even a weak insect can kill a true immortal.

This shattered celestial realm is proof of this. Who would have thought that just because Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva went mad, the Heavenly Court and Mount Ling would be destroyed?

Who could have imagined that the fall of Heaven and Mount Ling began with the death of the Antarctic Immortal?

The white deer was the mount of the Antarctic Immortal. He had personally witnessed the Great Sage Overturning the Sea smash his master's immortal body to pieces, directly sending his soul down to the mortal realm.

The death of the Antarctic Immortal enraged the Heavenly Court.

With the death of the God of Longevity, all the gods and Buddhas are now living in fear.

Later, the Heavenly Court sent troops to capture the Great Sage Who Overturned the Sea.

Despite it being Erlang Shen, the True Lord of Manifestation, who personally led the troops, despite the Heavenly Court's strong and well-equipped army, and despite only dealing with a mere Great Sage of the Overturning Sea, a great victory turned into a Pyrrhic one.

Erlang Shen's celestial hound, Xiaotian, has died, and the heavenly soldiers and generals have suffered heavy casualties.

No one could have imagined that a mere Great Sage Who Overturns the Seas would be so troublesome.

Bai Lu couldn't understand why, even after winning, they only suppressed and sealed the Great Sage of the Overturning Sea, instead of sending him to the Dragon-Slaying Platform to be skinned and dismembered.

He expressed his dissatisfaction to the Heavenly Court, but nothing came of it.

Looking back now, there are many unusual aspects to it.

The Old Man of the South Pole is no ordinary deity. As one of the Three Immortals of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity, he governs the lifespans of both mortals and immortals. Although immortals generally live forever and the Old Man of the South Pole doesn't usually need to concern himself with this, it's not that he truly has no say in it.

As an elderly person, how could he have died so easily?

Even if the immortal body is destroyed, the soul remains. With just one immortal pill and one peach, one can be brought back to life.

But the Antarctic Immortal died so thoroughly that even his soul fell into the underworld and was directly sent into reincarnation.

The white deer once appealed to the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, hoping to rescue its master, but there was no response, and all the news seemed to have sunk without a trace.

Later, both Mount Ling and the Heavenly Court fell into chaos, and no one cared about the life or death of the Antarctic Immortal. Even the legacy left by the Antarctic Immortal was divided up by the immortals of the Heavenly Court.

The white deer, the mount of the Antarctic Immortal, was almost ridden by someone else.

What exactly happened back then? Why did the immortals of Heaven and the Buddhas of Mount Ling perish one by one, and why did they die so mysteriously, even silently? By the time they were discovered, a third of the important officials of Heaven had been gone.

Even after the Heavenly Court was shattered, the White Deer never understood the truth.

Looking back now, I'm so glad I didn't know much, otherwise I would have died long ago.

The battle was so fierce that the sky darkened and Bai Lu couldn't even tell who was rebelling and who was suppressing the rebellion.

Those who had grudges in the past also took advantage of the situation to settle personal scores.

The white deer saw the Great God of the Three Altars and Seas pierce the chest of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King with his Fire-Tipped Spear, and Manjushri Bodhisattva had his hand bitten off by his own mount, the Green Lion... Chaos broke out in the heavens, and many immortals perished.

The white deer had no choice but to hide.

Fortunately, the Antarctic Immortal died early, and the white deer, as his mount, was an insignificant character that no one cared about, yet he managed to survive until the very end.

When he emerged from the ruins, he saw the corpses of gods and Buddhas, as well as the shattered immortal realm.

During the 48,000 years since the Heavenly Court was shattered, the white deer tried many methods to barely revive a peach tree, using its roots to connect the fragments of the Heavenly Court, thus barely managing to find a foothold.

However, the dying peach tree could not last forty-eight thousand years, so the white deer had to search for various treasures in this broken heavenly court to nourish the only remaining peach tree.

The corpses of heavenly soldiers and generals served as nourishment, and there were also scattered elixirs from the Tushita Palace... It was originally thought that the shattered Heavenly Court was also an untapped treasure trove, but Bai Lu discovered that many things had long since disappeared.

All the gods and Buddhas with names and surnames have disappeared without a trace; perhaps they are dead, but he cannot find their remains.

The Jade Emperor, the Queen Mother, and the True Martial Emperor were all nowhere to be found; only the corpses of those minor figures could be seen.

Bai Lu wasn't sure if they were dead or missing, but considering that even the Heavenly Court was shattered like this, the battle must have been extremely fierce, so it wouldn't be surprising if these powerful immortals had died.

There's no time to worry about anything else; the most important thing is to survive.

Later, the mortal realm finally became inhabited, and cultivators began to appear.

At that time, the mortal and immortal realms were completely separated. The white deer only sensed something, but could not interfere in the mortal realm.

Until finally, a mortal cultivated himself into an immortal and ascended to the celestial realm.

The white deer captured the mortal, and after learning about the changes in the mortal world, it killed him and used him as fertilizer to irrigate the peach tree.

Later, more people ascended to heaven.

Some failed to make it through that shattered area, dying in the endless turbulence and peril, while others were lucky enough to survive and encountered the white deer.

A cultivator who fails to understand the difference between magical power and spiritual energy can only be considered a false immortal. The white deer deals with these false immortals effortlessly.

They killed one group and then controlled another. Over 48,000 years, this large group of puppets has been gathered before us.

Little did anyone expect that one day the Great Sage Who Overturns the Sea would break the seal.

At that moment, the white deer sensed something and quickly retrieved two precious pearls. These were the eyeballs gouged out of the head of the "Thousand-Mile Eye," who had died by someone's sword, his head chopped off.

Knowing that the Thousand-Mile Eye's pupils were extraordinary, the white deer refined them into a magical artifact.

Only through these two beads can one see through the barrier between the mortal and immortal realms and witness everything that happens in the mortal world.

Then the white deer saw the enormous dragon body of the Great Sage Overturning the Sea, and saw many mortals gathering around him.

Unfortunately, the white deer only found the eyes of the all-seeing eye, but not the ears of the all-hearing ear.

They can see, but cannot hear anything in the mortal world.

Moreover, the separation between immortals and mortals is so vast that even magical power cannot bridge this distance. This is why the clone created by the white deer is so rigid, only able to act according to pre-set commands.

As a result, Chen Ye escaped.

The Great Sage of the Overturning Seas and he were sworn enemies, so Bai Lu naturally could not sit idly by and wait for death. Who would have thought that Chen Ye, this mortal, would actually escape this calamity?

"It's a pity I can't descend to the mortal realm myself."

The commotion caused by the descent of a true immortal to the mortal realm was too great to be concealed from the Great Sage Overturning the Sea.

Even though the Great Sage Who Overturned the Sea was sealed for 48,000 years, the White Deer was not confident that she could defeat him.

The Shattered Heavenly Court is his home turf; only here can he possibly contend with this Great Sage of the Demon Race.

However, we cannot allow the Great Sage Who Overturns the Sea to accumulate power in the mortal realm, nor can we allow mortals to become his puppets.

With this in mind, Bai Lu walked towards the puppets in front of her.

"You all come from the mortal realm, and many of your disciples are likely your juniors. Go down to the mortal realm, or return to your respective sects and regain power as 'Ascension Ancestors'!"

Regardless of what the Great Sage of the Overturning Sea intends to do with these mortals, it's definitely the right thing to do first and foremost thwart his plans.

As for the lives of mortals, Bai Lu didn't care. It would be best if a fight broke out and the Great Sage Overturning the Sea slaughtered the mortals. Perhaps a few exceptionally talented individuals could cause some trouble for this great demon sage.

If she's lucky enough to gain control of these mortal cultivators' sects, then the White Deer will have many methods to use through them, ensuring that the Great Sage Overturning the Sea will suffer.

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Lu's mind stirred.

In an instant, several dark streaks of light pierced through the surrounding ruins and hovered in front of the puppets.

A broken halberd, a cracked mirror, blood-stained prayer beads... many treasures, all once used by gods and Buddhas, have now been defiled, their spiritual essence lost, and most are no longer of great use.

But precisely because it is tainted by the filth of this broken Heavenly Court, its wickedness is no less than that of a true immortal casting a curse.

If they find the right opportunity to launch a sneak attack, even the Great Sage Who Overturns the Seas will suffer losses.

Although this is a dragon, it does not have the ability of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven with its bronze head and iron bones. In the end, its dragon scales are not as good as those that have been burned in Laozi's alchemy furnace.

"Take these with you," Bai Lu added coldly. "If you encounter that demonic dragon, use these magical treasures to deal with it. Remember to keep them safe and do not use them lightly."

After saying this, the white deer gently shook its antlers, and several rays of light shone down on the puppets.

The puppet, which was originally dressed in rags and had a broken body, suddenly became ethereal and otherworldly, as if it were a true immortal from the Heavenly Mountain.

The white deer nodded in satisfaction, then stepped on the roots of the peach tree with its hooves.

The remnant roots of the Peach Tree seemed to be imbued with some kind of command, with countless lights and shadows converging in the void before them. The space rippled like water, then opened its portal.

It was an extremely unstable spatial rift, a secret passage that forcibly pierced through the mortal and immortal realms using the power of the Peach Tree.

Without the slightest hesitation, the puppets rushed into the twisted rift one after another.

Once all the puppets had entered, Bai Lu quickly closed the passage, but the half-dead peach tree still lost several leaves.

The heavens are shattered, and all things wither.

But Bai Lu had no choice; only the shattered Heavenly Court could still provide what she needed for cultivation.

The mortal realm is far too fragile. A true immortal could destroy it with a mere gesture, and it is constantly being driven away by the mortal realm. It is not a place to linger for long.

No matter how chaotic the celestial realm is, only this place can accommodate the white deer for a long time.

As the spatial rift closed completely, several inconspicuous streaks of light fell from the mortal realm.

A beam of light fell upon the Mirage Sect on the cliff by the sea, and a graceful female immortal revealed her true form, none other than Huan Li, the third-generation leader of the Mirage Sect.

She had expected to be welcomed by a large group of disciples and followers, but when she landed on the mountain gate, she saw only ruins.

The Mirage Sect was completely empty, devoid of any sign of life, as if it had been ransacked.

The mountain gate was destroyed, the palace collapsed, the herb garden was dug up, and even the spiritual veins exuded a sense of depletion as if they had been forcibly drained. Even the mountain-protecting formation was mostly dismantled.

"How could this be?! Who destroyed my Mirage Sect?!"
With a furious shout, she waved her wide sleeves, and thousands of colorful clouds, like raging dragons and snakes, soared into the sky, shattering the clouds within a hundred miles.

A hazy, colorful mist descended, enveloping the entire cliff and obscuring everything.

Meanwhile, in the far reaches of the ocean, beyond the reach of even seabirds, a completely different stream of light fell to the surface.

Within that light, a figure rode the waves.

He did not display any earth-shattering supernatural powers; he simply walked slowly, humming an ancient and ethereal ballad.

However, wherever his toes touched, the surging waves were tamed and transformed into a smooth, still glass mirror.

He was a handsome man, his moon-white silk robe gently swaying on the still sea. His silver hair, like melting moonlight, cascaded down to his waist. His eyes were even bluer than the sea, a sign of his merman bloodline.

Such an unusual phenomenon had already alarmed the cultivators of Tianxin Island.

Several ships sailed through the waves like arrows, surrounding the uninvited guests.

In the midst of this tense, deathly silence, the merman finally stopped singing.

He looked around at his nervous younger generation and asked loudly, "I haven't returned home for a thousand years. Don't you recognize me anymore?"

The cultivators on Tianxin Island could tell that he was of merman blood, but they wondered when such a fellow merman had appeared on Tianxin Island.

Someone shouted, "Who goes there? State your name!"

The merman sighed and introduced himself as "Hai Yan, the sixth generation leader of Tianxin Island".

(End of this chapter)